Vetaw faces three in first re-election challenge for Ward 4 seat

Incumbent LaTrisha Vetaw, Republican Angela Williams, Marvina Haynes and Leslie Davis are vying for the Minneapolis City Council’s Ward 4 seat.

By David Pierini, Editor

A Republican, a single mom who says “the rent is too damn high” and a conspiracy theorist who believes COVID-19 is a hoax are set to challenge incumbent Minneapolis City Councilwoman LaTrisha Vetaw for the Ward 4 seat on Nov. 7.

DFL-endorsed Vetaw was first elected two years ago and quickly found her seat on the council among its more pragmatic members. Her votes favoring strong-mayor governance, clearing homeless Tencampments and opposing stricter regulations on rent increases put her at odds with activists and progressive colleagues.

A League of Women Voters forum at North Market on Sept. 20 gave a handful of Ward 4 voters a glimpse into four very different candidates.

Vetaw displayed the polish expected of an incumbent who has held two different elected offices, her first being an at-large member of the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board.

Marvina Haynes brings life experiences to the table, especially with the issue most important to her, rent control.

Angela Williams declared herself a Republican in her filing. She wants each Ward 4 neighborhood to have commissions to address public safety concerns. She said she favors each neighborhood having private security patrols.

Leslie Davis mostly used his time mostly to call the coronavirus a lie. He drew gasps from some in the audience when he used a slur offensive to native Americans while telling a story that strayed from the initial question. At one point, an audience member interrupted a Davis rant, urging the forum moderator to cut him off. He was allowed to finish.

Platforms and positions
Vetaw said “constituency service is my jam,” and touted her availability to Ward 4 voters. She has a service office in the Camden neighborhood that she rents with her own money and says she is always available to take calls and listen to residents. She said when Northsiders complained about street lights, she said she secured $300,000 for lifting improvements and another $1 million for crime prevention programs in the ward.

She chairs the Public Health and Safety Committee, which has focused heavily on recruiting and retaining police officers, which are at an all-time low with the department.

She supports the Upper Harbor Terminal project, saying it will enlarge the tax base to fund more city services and believes that baked into the project are assurances that Northside neighborhoods will benefit from the development, such as affordable housing.

Vetaw is against rent control because it hasn’t worked in other cities, she said. Instead, she would continue to push for the building of more affordable housing, especially through city programs that help first-time buyers and people of color buy a home.

“I love serving you all down at city hall,” Vetaw said. “It’s truly been the joy of my life to serve the ward, representing Ward 4 and all of North Minneapolis. There’s no dividing line. What my office prides itself on is listening to you, talking to you and finding out what your specific needs are.”

Haynes developed a desire to run for office while waging a public campaign to free her brother, Marvin Haynes, who is in prison for a murder he said he did not commit.

Her decision to file has also come from her own struggles with making rent and being overcharged by a corporate landlord. “I think I am qualified to do this “I think I am qualified to do this job because I’m a longtime member of Minneapolis who has lived in all of the disparities and the poverty that has happened with this current authoritarian regime,” she said.

Her vision for public safety would divert some money from police to some of the root causes of crime, such as poverty. “If we think about a pie having eight pieces, the police get six of those pieces, we don’t have money for youth to have jobs or resources,” she said. “Put some of the money towards housing resources, mental health resources.”

Williams has also dealt with housing insecurity and from having lived in public housing in North Minneapolis, discovered that tenants didn’t know their rights and were being taken advantage of. In 2019, she started the non-profit Housing Resource Network to help ten tans defend themselves against bad landlords.

“Affordable housing? I hate that term because housing is not affordable,” she said. She believes police should have all the resources they need to keep communities safe and provide a constant presence. She also mentioned private security for communities though it is unlikely the city would adopt that model.

“I am running because basic city functions are not being executed to the satisfaction of the citizens in this area,’” Williams said. “I don’t want to treat people as numbers. I want to treat people as people. We need people who are for people.”

Davis admitted his candidacy was based on his beliefs about COVID-19.

“I need this council position in order to amplify and broadcast the virus lie,” he said. “This is a hoax, a global hoax perpetrated on people worldwide. And it needs to be addressed now. We can talk about snow shoveling and speeding in the streets, things like that. But right now, the focus of everything has to be (about) ending the lie.”

Davis said he had the scientific evidence but did not offer it during the forum.