Vision

During my first term, my office has fought hard to improve the lives of working people. Read about what we’ve been able to accomplish here. But there’s so much more we need to achieve in order to ensure vibrant, equitable, safe, and healthy communities in Hennepin County.

Vibrant Communities

  • Transit: We deserve the ability to travel safely, affordably, and quickly by transit. Our communities have been calling for faster, more robust, and zero-fare transit service for decades. We must convert the momentum and financial support from recent infrastructure investments to expand low-cost rail and bus options to more Hennepin residents.

  • Housing: Housing is a human right. Hennepin communities are struggling with housing costs that have now risen faster than wages for multiple generations. We need to build and preserve housing at all levels of affordability, and particularly for those with the least wealth and the greatest barriers to access.

  • Economic Development: People deserve vibrant communities. After nearly two years of unprecedented economic disruption, many local entrepreneurs and small businesses have struggled and adapted to a new reality. We need to create opportunities for local business growth and invest directly in our communities.

  • Anti-Displacement: We must prevent residential, economic, and cultural displacement in our communities. Over the years, large-scale public projects have been designed to increase vitality and economic growth at the expense of marginalized people and low-income households. We must ensure that those who have been disinvested in benefit the most from the amenities that come with increased public investment.

Equitable Communities

  • Labor and Workers: Everyone should be protected and supported at work, and workers should have the right to form or join a union. We need to ensure people have jobs that offer good wages that can support their families, benefits on the job, and a voice in their workplace. Hennepin must invest in programs that train residents to learn the skills they need to be successful in the workplace.

  • Racial Justice: For hundreds of years, people of color have been disenfranchised and purposefully harmed by the development of this nation. We must work to repair this harm in everything we do to move closer to a society that has racial justice for Hennepin residents.

  • Expanding Ballot Access: Every resident should have the right to vote. Hennepin has invested millions in increasing access to the ballot box and continues to lobby for changes at the state level. We must prioritize convenient ways to cast ballots in order to increase voter participation, especially for people with higher barriers such as students, people of color, and veterans.

  • Expanding Shelter Access: The current economic system in this country is putting enormous strain on renters and people with fixed incomes, which has led to a massive increase in the population of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. We must ensure that there are enough shelter options and that those options are dignified, restorative, and welcoming.

Safe Communities

  • Emergency Response: Everyone deserves to feel safe in their community. This will require serious shifts in how we approach emergency services, law enforcement, and criminal justice. We must center those who are experiencing unequal treatment from these services and create systems that meet people's needs.

  • Violence Prevention: We have to treat community violence as a public health crisis and a symptom of under-investment in our youth and social safety net programs. It is important to center victims in our solutions and invest in measures that are proactive, not reactive.

  • Redesigning County Roads: People rely on Hennepin’s 2,200 miles of roadway to get their kids to school, go to the doctor, and get food and necessities for their families. This important infrastructure must be improved to meet the current and future needs of residents—our roads should be welcoming whether you drive, bike, walk, roll, or take transit.

  • Immigrants and Undocumented Residents: Everyone should have access to the resources in our communities without being criminalized. We need to strengthen protections and invest in services that ensure all our neighbors are safe and can comfortably call Hennepin home.

Healthy Communities

  • Environmental Justice: Communities of color and working class communities experience disproportionate impacts of climate change and air pollution. We need to aggressively invest in renewable energy such as wind, solar, and water, while also working to eliminate reliance on services like the Hennepin Energy Recovery Center (HERC). We must be purposeful in how we redesign Hennepin to be equitable for all, so we may repair and heal the  communities harmed by environmental injustice.

  • Mental Health: The past few years have had a drastic impact on the mental health of people in our communities, deepening an already growing crisis. Mental healthcare is essential to creating healthy and safe communities. We need significant investments in programs that are preventive and responsive to the mental health needs of all of our residents, with particular emphasis on addiction and chemical dependency services.

  • Public Health: Public health is an indicator of community health and resiliency. The current pandemic has brought to light the grave disparities in public health access and outcomes. Although Hennepin has declared racism as a public health crisis, we must continue to fight and invest more to achieve health equity for all.