Stick to the Potholes: Why Minneapolis Needs a City Council, Not a State Department

It’s time for the Minneapolis City Council to put down the global map and pick up the city budget.

There is an old saying in local government: “There is no Democratic or Republican way to fix a pothole.” It’s a reminder that at the municipal level, ideology is supposed to take a backseat to the basic, gritty work of keeping a city running. You pay your property taxes so the trash gets picked up, the snow gets plowed, the police show up when you call, and the water stays clean.

But if you’ve spent any time watching the Minneapolis City Council lately, you’d be forgiven for thinking our elected officials are auditioning for roles in the U.S. State Department or the United Nations.

Recently, Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer sent an email to her constituents that hit the nail on the head. She pointed out that the council has been burning daylight on resolutions that have absolutely nothing to do with the day-to-day lives of Minneapolis residents. We’re talking about formal stances on the normalization of relations with Cuba, “urging” European banks to stop doing business with companies linked to ICE, and trying to big-foot the University of Minnesota’s internal labor negotiations.

Shaffer’s point was simple and, frankly, refreshing: Minneapolis needs municipal leaders who are focused on Minneapolis.

The Cost of Distraction

When the City Council spends its “time, energy, and city resources” (as Shaffer put it) debating the geopolitical nuances of the Caribbean or the investment portfolios of banks in Zurich, something else is getting ignored. In a city where property taxes are a constant source of stress for homeowners and where public safety remains the number one concern for almost every neighborhood, this kind of global grandstanding isn’t just a waste of time—it’s an insult to the taxpayer.

Take the resolution regarding Cuba. Whether or not you think the U.S. should normalize relations with Havana is a perfectly fine topic for a debate at a coffee shop or in the halls of Congress. But what does a Minneapolis City Council resolution do to change federal foreign policy? The answer is: nothing. It is a piece of paper that carries zero weight in Washington D.C., let alone Havana.

The same goes for the resolution targeting European financial institutions. We have people sleeping in tents in our parks and small business owners struggling to keep their lights on after years of economic instability. Does the City Council honestly believe that a sternly worded letter from 350 South 5th Street is going to make a multi-billion dollar European bank change its global divestment strategy?

Overstepping the Bounds

One of the more frustrating examples Shaffer cited was the council’s interference in the University of Minnesota’s labor dispute with graduate fellows. The University is its own “coordinate unit of government.” It has its own board, its own budget, and its own complex labor relations.

When the City Council jumps into a standoff between the U and its employees, they aren’t helping. They are meddling. As Shaffer noted, this actually interferes with the ability of another government body to do its job. It’s a classic case of “virtue signaling”—passing a resolution that makes the council members feel good about themselves without actually having the authority or the responsibility to deal with the consequences of the deal they’re demanding.

A Pattern of “Performative Politics”

This isn’t a one-off issue. This council has a well-documented track record of choosing global headlines over local headaches.

Look back at the Israel-Hamas ceasefire resolution from earlier in 2024. The council spent weeks embroiled in a bitter, divisive debate that brought out hundreds of protesters, shut down meetings, and deepened the rifts in our community. And for what? Not a single person in the Middle East saw their life change because of a vote in Minneapolis. Meanwhile, while the council was busy trying to solve the world’s most intractable conflict, our own “backyard” issues were reaching a breaking point.

And then there is the recent push to “abolish” the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. In February 2026, the council majority didn’t just call for common-sense reform; they essentially declared war on federal enforcement. They passed a resolution demanding a total halt to all federal funding and enforcement related to immigration.

Think about the sheer disconnect there. We are currently staring down a $2 billion budget under massive strain and a police department that is at least 119 officers short of where it needs to be. Instead of figuring out how to fill those squads or keep our own neighborhoods safe, the council is busy trying to trigger a constitutional crisis with Washington. By demanding an end to all federal funding, they are literally inviting the White House to pull the plug on millions of dollars in grants that pay for our city’s infrastructure and emergency services.

When you prioritize slogans over street lights and symbolism over safety, the people who actually live here are the ones who pay the price. When the council treats City Hall like a laboratory for radical social experiments, they lose the thread of why they were elected in the first place: to make Minneapolis a functional, safe, and affordable place to live.

The Expertise Gap

There’s also the matter of expertise. We elect council members to understand zoning laws, TIF districts, police staffing levels, and sewer maintenance. We do not elect them—nor are they vetted—to be experts on international trade, federal immigration enforcement, or Caribbean diplomacy.

When a politician steps outside their lane to comment on issues where they have no jurisdiction, they are essentially telling the voters: “I find the job you hired me for to be boring, so I’m going to do this other thing instead.”

If a plumber showed up at your house to fix a burst pipe but spent three hours lecturing you on the nuances of the Japanese stock market while your basement flooded, you wouldn’t call him an “activist.” You’d fire him for not doing his job. Our City Council is currently watching the metaphorical basement flood while they draft memos to Europe.

Back to Basics

Minneapolis is a great city, but it is a city with real, local problems. We have a transit system that needs to be safer and more reliable. We have a downtown that is still trying to find its feet in a post-pandemic world. We have plummeting commercial real estate valuations. We have a “High Yield” property tax environment that is pushing out long-time residents. We have a failing school system. Our list of serious issues is long.

None of these problems can be solved by a resolution about Cuba.

Council Member Shaffer is right to call this out. It takes courage to be the person in the room saying, “Let’s stop talking about the world and start talking about the Ward.” It isn’t “anti-progressive” to want a city council that focuses on the city. In fact, the most progressive thing a local government can do is provide excellent, reliable services to its citizens so that everyone—regardless of income—can live in a city that actually works.

It’s time for the Minneapolis City Council to put down the global map and pick up the city budget. We don’t need 13 amateur secretaries of state. We need 13 people who are obsessed with making Minneapolis the best-run city in the Midwest.

If they want to change the world, they can run for Congress. If they want to represent Minneapolis, they should start by focusing on the issues that actually stop at the city limits.