Readers Write: Minneapolis DFL endorsement, homeless encampments

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

John Rash’s column expressing dismay over the DFL endorsement process was exactly correct (“DFL convention mess reflects poorly on our great city,” Strib Voices, July 22). However, his comments were more pragmatic than philosophical. He correctly equated the sloppy endorsement process to the potential damage to the image of Minneapolis as a city that does things right.

My bent is philosophical. During this time of challenge to our fundamental democratic system of government, the Democratic Party must perform as a counterbalance to the current disordered system. In a time when we have a president who exceeds the mandate to execute the law by disobeying it, ignoring court orders and trampling individual freedoms; when we have a Supreme Court that gives the president license to commit criminal acts as long as those acts are part of their job as president; when Congress has surrendered its function as part of our traditional checks and balances, we cannot afford any display by the Democratic Party that has any resemblance to an array of circus clowns climbing out of a teeny-weeny little car.

Richard Masur, Minneapolis

•••

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and his campaign filing a challenge to the DFL endorsement process because state Sen. Omar Fateh won the endorsement is, frankly, silly. After the first ballot, when it became clear that the odds of Fateh winning the endorsement had grown, the Frey campaign reportedly ordered its delegates to leave the convention, in a seeming attempt to break the quorum and prevent a second ballot. It failed, because the campaign didn’t have the numbers to succeed. (Just like it didn’t have the numbers to get Frey the endorsement.) Quorum was kept. Fateh won the endorsement fairly. These are all basic facts that both Frey and the state DFL should keep in mind. Nothing is more of a threat to DFL unity than throwing out the stated will of Minneapolis delegates to favor the incumbent. If Frey is looking to stay in office after November, he has an interesting way of showing it.

•••

I am flabbergasted at how a mayoral endorsement convention was allowed to devolve into a process — rather, lack of process — where the delegates and other leaders decide to make it up as they went along when the proscribed processes failed so miserably! Was there any professional leadership from the state DFL on site? While it was in the city of Minneapolis, did the state organization have anyone there holding the city leaders accountable? It’s beyond belief that this was as ugly, dysfunctional and messy as it was.

Regardless of who one was supporting for the endorsement, this lack of oversight, abuse of rational and tested processes and lack of use of rules and regulations is disgraceful. I am embarrassed for our state and embarrassed to support the DFL, and I expect a lot more from the state organization. While I am not normally into shaming people for their work, in this instance I will say that all of you should be ashamed of yourselves and the state organization. The city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota will soon follow our nation on its slide to complete and utter failure if you continue on this route.

Hubert Humphrey, Don Fraser and Arvonne Fraser must be looking down with great sadness.

Ellen Joseph, Minneapolis

The city spent $330,000 in the last half of 2024 alone “clearing” encampments. By this, what is meant is wanton destruction of homeless people’s property, the tents that serve as their only roof they have over their heads, along with their belongings inside, and the offering of “resources” that were only able to meet the dignified housing needs of nine of the 227 people displaced. The rest of these people had to start over, missing any number of critical items including shelter, documents and food preparation tools, and many fled to nearby municipalities, especially St. Paul. Minneapolis didn’t solve its homeless problems, it exported its unwanted people and the associated cost of caring for them to its similarly hostile neighbor, a thoroughly shameful solution.

Thomas Rivet, Minneapolis

•••

In a recent commentary on homeless encampments in Minneapolis, author Joe Tamburino said the city needs to “proactively ... stop camps from forming.” He suggests this could be accomplished through stricter enforcement of ordinance laws regarding the construction of tents and other structures.

Tired punitive measures like this have been the city’s go-to response to homelessness for decades. No matter how many evictions are performed, new encampments crop up again in due time. This tactic doesn’t address the underlying problem: Homeless people lack housing because it is unaffordable/inaccessible to them. Evicting encampments when the residents have nowhere else to go just means they’ll continue to be homeless in a different part of town or in a neighboring municipality like St. Paul. This endless cycle of evictions and police harassment accomplishes nothing except to brutalize and humiliate our unhoused neighbors (these “cleaning operations” come at a great expense to taxpayers as well, of course).

Louis Gagnon, St. Paul

•••

In regard to Sabri and the E. Lake Street encampment, I am glad someone has granted a few unhoused neighbors in Minneapolis the right to rest in some semblance of a dwelling with (hopefully) a decreased risk of police violence in the name of property rights and city ordinances. However, it disheartens me to see that some of our most vulnerable residents are seemingly being used as pawns by a capitalist landlord in a sort of “gotcha” to the city. Minneapolis has flaunted its success in addressing the “homelessness issue,” but razing encampment communities and forcing folks to be homeless in a darker corner or another city is unfortunately nothing to celebrate. To anyone who feels uncomfortable seeing homeless people in their neighborhood, I would implore you to work up the courage to ask them how their day is going and if they would like a meal. If you happen to be so brave, take some time while in the taqueria line or Wendy’s drive-thru to reflect on how many missed paychecks or medical emergencies or lost documentation it might take for you to find yourself in their position.