"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.

1 minute read

November 22, 2011, 8:00 AM PST

By Tim Halbur

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."

FULL STORY: The Partisans Will Never Find Us Here: Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the Art of Getting Shit Done

Monday, November 21, 2011 in GOOD Magazine

Government / Politics Minnesota City Rankings Minneapolis

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