Ellison and Martinez debate ahead of fall election 

Fifth ward council race may come down to housing, jobs, and public safety 

Residents of North Minneapolis’s Ward 5 gathered in pews at New Salem Baptist Church last Wednesday evening, July 26, for a public safety town hall debate between City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison and Pastor Victor Martinez. The two are set to face off once again in the fall after Ellison’s victory in 2021, in which Martinez came in third after three rounds of ranked-choice voting tabulation. 

Wednesday’s town hall focused on public safety. But there were a range of topics discussed, including affordable housing, employment opportunities, and youth resources. Both Ellison and Martinez share a focus on these issues according to their campaign websites, though they diverge on their approach to public safety. 

Ellison along with other members of the Minneapolis City Council put forth a motion to replace the police department with a department of public safety in 2022. That initiative failed with only 43 percent voter approval. Since then, the City has struggled to maintain and retain officers, as staffing shortages continue to plague the department. 

Martinez’s campaign website describes Ellison’s support for a department of public safety as taking away resources from MPD. He further criticizes Ellison on his campaign website by claiming that his constituents find it hard to reach him, and he blames Ellison’s policies for the closure of Breaking Bread Café, which announced it will close its West Broadway location on August 25. 

The town hall between the two candidates for the 5th Ward council seat was subdued and facilitated by Latonya Reeves who read questions written by attendees aloud. Each candidate was given an allotted time to answer and an opportunity to respond when necessary. As the questions were read, both candidates did their best to differentiate themselves from the other. 

One of the questions that came up addressed the City’s approach to rent control. The council has approved a charter amendment in the past that would allow them to regulate rent. They sought to draft an ordinance that would fix rental increases at three percent a year, a motion that was struck down when Ellison and two other Muslim councilmembers were out for the Eid holiday. 

Ellison responded to the question regarding his approach to rent control as requiring residential input and a process to find out what would best serve Minneapolis, not a one-size-fits-all approach. 

“The answer to that question will be borne out through the public hearing process, through studying policy, through staff recommendations, through council amendments. The answer to your question is borne out through the process, and we have not yet gone through that process,” he added. 

Martinez took issue with Ellison and his colleagues’ approach to rent control, calling it too strict and arguing it would drive out landlords, who would then displace their tenants once they sell the house. 

“It’s one thing to say that this is what you want. And it’s another thing to see the forces that are in our city that are pushing rent control. They want a strict three percent. They have a strict vision of what they want. Now if our council member has a different vision that’s more flexible, I would love to hear that in an article. I would like to see that in a tweet,” said Martinez. 

Martinez went on to say that he would be in favor of some measures that would curtail the issue of corporate landlords who reside outside of the community, who increase their tenants rent by hundreds of dollars. 

During the town hall, a question arose about new development projects being built and why affordable housing units did not seem to be designed to accommodate families on the North Side, since a large number of the units were studios and one-bedrooms. Ellison pushed back on this claim and stated that he has been able to secure most of the affordable housing development funds for area residents. 

“In the last two years, we’ve gotten both 80 and 70 percent of all the perpetually affordable homeownership money that the City has to offer here on the North Side,” he said. “I take a big point of pride in that. In addition, we’re building a number of townhomes—about 17 units in Glenwood, which is quickly gentrifying—all geared towards ownership. 

“I not only want people to have an affordable place to rent. I want people to have an affordable place where they can own and build wealth and pass something on.”

Both candidates addressed the recent closures of corporate businesses in North Minneapolis, including Walgreens and Aldi, and the loss of jobs following these closures. Martinez was skeptical about Ellison’s plans to secure work opportunities for North Minneapolis residents in light of these events. 

“We just lost three, four major businesses and we’re talking about having more work. That doesn’t work,” he said. “If big corporations that had deep pockets can’t survive in North Minneapolis, what’s gonna help a mom and pop that has less capital, less influence, less ability to get big money from downtown to survive here?”

Ellison responded to Martinez’s doubts by stating that despite the exodus of these larger businesses, locally owned businesses were thriving in North Minneapolis. He pointed to Sammy’s Avenue Eatery and Renewable Energy Partners as examples of businesses continuing to operate on the North Side. 

A notable area of difference between both candidates has been their stance on public safety. Martinez referred to the time Ellison and other council members, who took part in calling for the defunding of MPD, as a way to contrast his approach to public safety from the incumbent council member. 

“Public safety for me is an ecosystem where the different parts have their role to play. I support all the different public safety systems. But in order for the systems to work, they need to be supported. You don’t take from one part of the system to give to the other,” Martinez said. 

Ellison responded by stating that his office had already been working on the plans to create an integrated public safety approach well before the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent riots, one that he credits Mayor Jacob Frey for adopting. 

“We had already started creating that in my first year in office in 2018. We didn’t wait for the murder of George Floyd to make investments in trying to start a behavioral crisis response team. We didn’t wait until the murder of George Floyd to say we need an office of violence prevention. But they were small things when we first got them started. After George Floyd those programs were in demand and grew rapidly,” he stated. 

Kaytie Kamphoff, an English teacher at Patrick Henry High School and a 1^st Ward resident, was in attendance at the town hall and shared her interest in knowing where every candidate stands regarding one-time funds for Minneapolis Public Schools. 

“I think a lot of our community members, especially when we say that our students don’t have a space to be—especially in wards four and five—that we need to be funding our public schools because they’re for everybody,” she said. “I want to know from all the candidates in every ward, do you support one-time funding.”

Kamphoff’s main takeaway from the town hall was that Ellison had a more collaborative approach to governance based on his responses compared to Martinez, who she views as seeing himself as the solution for every issue.

Matha Holton Dimick, former judge and county prosecutor, believed both candidates did a great job of expressing their views and that the format of the town hall helped get their points across. She stated that she was against the call to “defund the police,” but based on the issues in MPD with the hiring and retention of officers, it seems as though that effort worked. 

In light of the recent Department of Justice findings, Dimick believes that there needs to be a united approach between community members and City officials to solve the public safety issues in the city. 

“We have to be able to have a cohesive group look at those recommendations and actually work together to improve police relations. It’s not all on the police. It’s not all on the community. I would like to see us work together better. I really worry about whether or not that’s gonna happen,” she said.