MPRB Candidates - Who Supports the Plan?
MPRB Candidate Guide - Who Supports the Plan?
Friends of (Lake Hiawatha) Bdé Psíŋ has been communicating with candidates for Minneapolis Park Board to understand their positions on vital aspects of the redesign. All candidates had the opportunity to respond to a questionnaire, which inquired on the following topics:
Whether the candidate will work towards implementation of the plan
Support of Dakota people, lifeways, and history
Support of Black golfers and history
Safety concerns regarding stray golf balls on 43rd street
Foraging opportunities
Coexistence with non-human relatives
As Friends of (Lake Hiawatha) Bdé Psíŋ, we’ve ranked each candidate overall as well as their specific questionnaire responses, in order to give a brief picture of who are the strongest allies of the redesign.
We used the following symbols to rank the candidates along a continuum:
✅ Strong yes
☑️ Weak yes
⚠️ Concerning Response
❌ Definite no
❔ Unclear
Not all of the candidates responded to the questionnaire, and some candidate’s answers were lacking. We used other sources, such as voting records or candidate forums, to inform our rankings. The links to those sources are provided as applicable.
You can see our full questionnaire, along with each candidate’s responses, at this link.
At Large Candidates
Tom Olsen✅
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ✅
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ✅
Michael Wilson✅
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ✅
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ✅
Amber Fredrick✅
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ✅
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ✅
Meg Forney❔☑️
Support for the plan: ✅❔
Honoring Dakota people and history: ☑️
Honoring Black golf community and history: ❔
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ☑️❔
Expanding foraging: ❔
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ❔
Mary McKelvey ☑️
Support for the plan: ☑️
Honoring Dakota people & history: ☑️
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ❔
Expanding foraging: ❔
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ✅
Averi M. Turner ❔
No response to questionnaire.
Support for the plan: ❔
Honoring Dakota people and history: ❔
Honoring Black golf community and history: ❔
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ❔
Expanding foraging: ❔
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ❔
Adam Schneider ☑️✅
Support for the plan: ☑️
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ☑️
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ☑️ ❔
Matthew Dowgwillo ❌⚠️
Support for the plan: ❌
Honoring Dakota people and history: ❌⚠️
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls:
Expanding foraging: ❌⚠️
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ⚠️
District 1 Candidates
Dan Englehart ✅:
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ☑️
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives:✅
Dan Miller ❔
No response to questionnaire.
Support for the plan: ❔
Honoring Dakota people and history: ❔
Honoring Black golf community and history: ❔
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ❔
Expanding foraging: ❔
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ❔
District 2 Candidates
Charles Rucker ❔
No response to questionnaire.
Support for the plan: ❔
Honoring Dakota people and history: ❔
Honoring Black golf community and history: ❔
Addressing danger from stray golf balls:
Expanding foraging: ❔
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ❔
District 3
Kedar Deshpande ✅
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls:
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ✅
District 4 Candidates
Andrew Gebo ❔
No response to questionnaire.
Support for the plan: ❔
Honoring Dakota people and history: ❔
Honoring Black golf community and history: ❔
Addressing danger from stray golf balls:
Expanding foraging: ❔
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ❔
Jason Garcia ✅
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ☑️
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ✅
Jeanette Colby ☑️
Support for the plan: ☑️
Honoring Dakota people and history: ☑️
Honoring Black golf community and history: ❔
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ☑️
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ☑️
District 5 Candidates
Steffanie Musich ✅☑️
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ☑️
Expanding foraging: ☑️
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ☑️
Kay Carvajal-Moran ✅
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ✅
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ✅
Colton Baldus ✅
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ✅
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ✅
Expanding foraging: ✅
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ✅
Justin Cermack ❌⚠️
Support for the plan: ❌
Honoring Dakota people and history: ❌
Honoring Black golf community and history: ⚠️
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ❌
Expanding foraging: ❌
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ❔
District 6 Candidates
Cathy Abene ☑️
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ✅
Honoring Black golf community and history: ☑️
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ☑️
Expanding foraging: ☑️
Coexistence of humans with all relatives: ☑️
Ira Jourdain❔
(Answered the first question in the questionnaire.)
Support for the plan: ✅
Honoring Dakota people and history: ❔
Honoring Black golf community and history: ❔
Addressing danger from stray golf balls: ❔
Expanding foraging: ❔
Coexistence of humans with all relatives:❔
League of Women Voter Forums:
Landback and Indigenous cultural heritage question:
Meg Forney (56:21)
Tom Olsen (1:00:23)
Michael Wilson (not present)
Amber Fredrick (1:01:42)
Mary McKelvey (58:28)
Averi M. Turner (59:47)
Adam Schneider (57:22)
Matthew Dowgwillo (1:02:47)
LWV District 1, 3, 5 forum 10/29/25:
Landback and Indigenous cultural heritage question:
Dan Englehardt (48:38)
Dan Miller (46:48)
Kedar Deshpande (45:42)
Steffanie Musich (43:16)
Kay Carvajal Moran (44:39)
Colton Baldus (not present)
Justin Cermak (47:57)
Hiawatha Links question:
Dan Englehardt (1:01:14)
Dan Miller (1:03:33)
Kedar Deshpande (58:46)
Steffanie Musich (1:02:15)
Kay Carvajal Moran (1:00:16)
Colton Caldus (not present)
Justin Cermak (59:35)
LWV forum districts 2, 4, 6 on 10/29/25:
Landback and Indigenous cultural heritage question:
Charles Rucker (not present)
Andrew Gebo (52:32)
Jason Garcia (50:03)
Jeanette Colby (48:48)
Cathy Abene (51:22)
Ira Jourdain (53:41)
Protect wildlife question:
Charles Rucker (not present)
Andrew Gebo (32:00)
Jason Garcia (29:41)
Jeanette Colby (33:02)
Cathy Abene (30:48)
Ira Jourdain (34:40)
Combating Climate Change question:
Charles Rucker (not present)
Andrew Gebo (37:16)
Jason Garcia (39:26)
Jeanette Colby (36:09)
Cathy Abene (40:37)
Ira Jourdain (38:13)