"There's No Democrat or Republican Way to Pick Up Garbage"
Minneapolis knows it will never win any beauty contests, or become a tourist destination. But city leaders know what makes the city great: it works.
Reporter Jeff Severns Guntzel cites the No. 1 rankings Minneapolis keeps racking up: #1 Biking City, Gayest City in America and Most Literate City.
City Council President Barb Johnson explains that even though politics are divided in Minneapolis, the wheels keep turning regardless:
"That party stuff just does not get in there," she says. "Why? Because there is no Republican or Democratic way to pick up the garbage. And because you have to be able to perform. When somebody calls 911 and needs a police officer, you have to send a police officer. If a water line breaks in front of somebody's house, it has to be fixed. It isn't policy, it is doing the work. And that's what city government is all about."
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Published on Monday, November 21, 2011 in
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