Steering the redevelopment of downtown's east side. Negotiating a Target Center renovation. Trying to regain lost state aid. Rebuilding streets. Changing the police culture. Addressing the city's racial employment gap.
Those are some of the challenges facing the next mayor of Minneapolis, now that R.T. Rybak has announced he won't run next year after a dozen years in office. A growing number of candidates are lining up for the job, which will pay about $103,000 annually, to lead a city of nearly 400,000 people.
That winner will first need to address the unprecedented challenge for a Minneapolis mayoral candidate: accumulating the most votes in the first highly competitive race using ranked-choice voting.
"Rybak may need to stay in office while they count the votes," said Brian Rice, a politically active lobbyist and lawyer.
Council Member Betsy Hodges and former Council President Jackie Cherryhomes have declared their candidacies. Council Members Gary Schiff and Don Samuels, school board member Hussein Samatar, theater executive Tom Hoch and Park Commissioner Bob Fine say they're considering a run.
On Thursday, Rybak himself sketched out an agenda for the next year that may well outlast him, including police department reform, reducing gun and youth violence, reducing the achievement gap in schools, expanding youth opportunities, assisting North Side redevelopment and renovating Target Center.
Hodges and Schiff are veterans at shaping the city budget while Fine has voted on park budgets and city levies. Fine said he'd cut taxes and preserve core services. Hodges said overseeing budget approval gave her a firsthand knowledge of the city. Schiff is considered a zoning and land-use expert.
Budget strains