The following Q&A took place prior to the Endorsing Convention on March 3.

Candidate Questionnaire for Dean Zimmermann from the Minneapolis/5th District Green Party

1. Please tell us about your past experience and how it might qualify you to be a Green Party candidate for the office for which you are seeking endorsement.

I have been an environmental and social justice activist for over 40 years. I began my activism in the Ban the Bomb movement, working with the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the War Resisters League.

In the early '60's I helped put together the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and also worked for two summers with SSOC, the Southern Student Organizing Committee. This organization formed chapters on white college campuses to support the work that was going on at that time to end "Jim Crow" laws, written and de facto, in the deep South.

Later in the '60's my focus shifted to working to end the Vietnam war. This included traveling to almost every college campus in North Dakota to build resistance and opposition to the war.

In the early '70's I worked to build a network of natural foods co-ops, helping groups in every corner of the Upper Midwest to organize buying clubs and co-op stores. This movement was instrumental in changing the eating habits of millions of people.

From 1976-79 I returned to live in my hometown of Carrington, North Dakota where I organized a chapter of the US-China Peoples' Friendship Association. Through this organization I worked to promote the opening up and normalization of relations between China and the US.

In 1979, I returned to Minneapolis and immediately became active in safe energy and Indian Treaty rights issues. During the 1980's I worked at the community level with efforts to spread the concept of cooperative work enterprises, as well as being active in local politics in order to promote a greener world. In addition, I was actively engaged in parenting my two young sons, Klaus and Scogin.

In 1993 I took my many years of "green" activism, community involvement, and political experience to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board where I have been able to turn my beliefs and values, especially about the environment, into public policy. I am still an elected member of that Board, Green Party endorsed during the last municipal elections, from Park District 3.

Currently, I am a member of the executive board of The Green Institute, serve on the St. Anthony Falls Heritage board, and am a board member of the Middle Mississippi River Water Management Organization. Of all of the currently announced candidates for the Ward 6 City Council seat, I am the only candidate who has been, and is, an elected officeholder.

2. What do you hope to accomplish by running for office?

It is my hope that by running for the Minneapolis City Council in Ward 6 that I will put forth proposals and solutions to problems specific to my ward that reflect Green Party values I believe to be critical to creating a more livable, a more sustainable world for future generations of Minneapolis citizens. I also see my candidacy as providing a viable alternative vision to that currently proposed by other Ward 6 candidates who belong to the only other political party in Minneapolis, the DFL.

3. What are the main three or four issues of your campaign, and which, if elected, would you focus your efforts on when in office?

A. I intend to make the municipal bureaucracy more user-friendly to the residents of Minneapolis, especially those citizens of my ward who are immigrants confronting a bewildering sea of rules and regulations and feel overwhelmed by all that they are expected to understand; and the citizens who are aged or infirm and have not kept informed or apprised of changes in local ordinances and/or zoning; and the citizens of Ward 6 who are renters, many for the first time, who do not understand their rights and responsibilities; as well as the concerns that homeowners and small businesses must deal with when coming face to face with a seemingly hostile city hall.

B. I intend to focus on the issue of affordable housing within Minneapolis for both renters and people looking for affordable single-family homes.

C. I intend to focus on issues of racial profiling and CODEFOR involving the Minneapolis Police Department, as well as how to implement better community policing programs. I will advocate for a restorative justice program, especially at the juvenile justice level.

D. I intend to focus on ways in which Minneapolis can be helped to be made more pedestrian and bicycle friendly, including how the city can play a more active role in improving our citizens' public transit needs.

E. I intend to focus on shaping a comprehensive energy policy for the city of Minneapolis, including the building and use of neighborhood level bio-mass, solar, and wind power generating stations that can supply electrical power to most homes and businesses within each neighborhood.

4. The Green Party is based on ten key values. Tell us how you will incorporate each of these values in your positions during your campaign and if you are elected. Are there any of these values you do not share? If so, which are they and please explain why you do not share them.

As stated in the speech I delivered at my campaign kick-off on Sunday, February 11th: "I believe that together we can build a community full of respect for diversity [racial, ethnic, sexual, spiritual, and cultural]. I believe that through renewed efforts at building a decentralized decision-making process of grassroots democracy, our city can truly become a place where social and economic justice reign for all. I believe that true prosperity comes from a healthy local economy. I believe that the backbone of any community is locally owned and operated businesses that are based in our neighborhoods."

Though this was not explicitly stated in my kick-off speech, I would like to add: That through implementing and using sustainable energy practices starting at the neighborhood level, we can introduce our city to greater energy self-reliance and a cleaner, greener environment that will benefit not only ourselves for today and tomorrow, but for future generations to come. I believe that we must incorporate more cooperative ways of interacting -- not just at City Hall, but in our neighborhood groups, and yes, even our families -- that are based on caring and mutual respect. We need to replace power-based systems that emphasize dominance as ways of operating in all spheres of our lives, with relationship-based systems emphasizing cooperation, shared power, and personal responsibility.

I feel as though the 10 key values were written to exactly express who I am and what I have dedicated my life's work toward. There is not a single Green Party value that I do not share as my own.

5. How would your candidacy and, if elected, your service in office, contribute to the growth of the Green Party of Minnesota?

I feel that I have the best chance to be the first Green candidate to be elected to the Minneapolis City Council. I already have a large base of political support, even outside of my ward. With this base, added to by citizens who will encounter me, perhaps for the first time, during my campaign, I shall be able to inspire more people to participate in the Green Party.

In my 40+ years of activism there have been dozens of false starts on putting together the party, organization or caucus that will take us to a new level of democracy and justice. The Green Party, so far, is the most realistic hope yet that I have experienced. I am truly convinced that this will be the first new party since the Republicans came together around slavery. I am truly convinced that people can and will be inspired by the "politics of joy and justice."

6. Is there anything in the Green Party state platform with which you disagree? If so, what?

Not that I have seen or been made aware of.

7. Explain your positions on the following subjects, and be as specific as possible:

Election Reform: All elections should be publicly financed. All one person offices should be elected under an instant run off system, or barring that, there should be a run off between the top two finishers. All multi-person councils should be elected in a system of combining district representation plus several at-large representatives to represent the votes of those groups that did not get district representatives in proportion to the overall total votes. One US senate seat from each state should be reserved for women.

Affordable Housing: The city should contract with unions and/or developers to build good solid housing that the city could own and sell through a number of different programs including, but not limited to, contract for deed, traditional mortgage, or co-operative housing. The city should also keep ownership of some of these properties as permanent rental housing and act as landlord, either through the MCDA or through contracting with private firms. The important thing is to take the speculation out of housing. Rental costs should be based on what it takes to build and maintain buildings, not on how much the "market" can bear or gouge.

Rent Control and Tenants Rights: See my answer above. In addition, there needs to be a broader public conversation about how to protect the rights of tenants and landlords. Currently I am attending the Whittier Alliance Rental Property Owners meetings in order to educate myself more fully on this issue. I am also in contact with the MN Tenants' Union and would like to see this organization at least partially funded through NRP and/or other municipal monies.

Livable Wage: It should be high enough for an individual or a family to not only meet basic needs but provide for some disposable income as well. A livable wage is the right thing to do and it should be applied broadly and it should be dealt with soon.

Police/Community Relations: New police hires should be required to live in Minneapolis. More police should be on foot in neighborhoods. Police should be trained to work with citizens in a friendly and neighborly manner rather than work as if they are an occupying army. There has been far too little of the "To Serve..." portion of the MPD's motto acted on in recent years. And there is some merit to the claim that the "...and To Protect" portion of the motto only applies to some Minneapolis citizens.

Transportation/City Planning: It is my goal to make it as easy to ride one's bike to work as it is to drive. We need more dedicated bike routes. More affordable housing downtown, incentives to live close to work, and cheaper bus fares are but a few strategies that can help to clean our air while reducing gridlock on our highways and streets. I fully support a fast train service.

Environmental Quality: Environment is my middle name.

Airport Issues: A high speed rail line between the Twin Cities and Chicago, if built right, could reduce the number of flights in and out of MSP by 10%-20%. Older noisy planes need to be phased out as fast as possible.

Crime: To reduce crime, make more things legal. The largest cause of crime is the prohibition of marijuana and other drugs. We need to totally rethink our drug laws. The other major cause of crime is poverty. Adding more cops to reduce crime is like adding freeway lanes to reduce congestion; before we know it we will find ourselves living in an armed police state.

Economic Development: Small businesses create the most jobs. We need to encourage small business and home- and garage-based jobs. The ridiculous idea of prohibiting people from running businesses out of their backyard garages only encourages more traffic onto city streets (pollution and congestion) and leaves us with no "eyes" on the block during the day (supervision of kids and nuisance crimes).

Civil Rights: Without universal civil rights there can be no democracy.

8. If you discovered a significant budget surplus, what would you advocate the City Council do with the money?

If I discovered a significant budget surplus I would invest it in the city's infrastructure and give a grant to the Park and Library boards to do the same. Government spending is one important way to create jobs.

9. Are there any issues that are specific to your ward, and if so, what is your position on these?

We are very concerned that with the coming of light rail transit on the eastern border of Ward 6, in the East Phillips neighborhood, property values will rise and may lead to the gentrification of the area. We are in danger of making it impossible for poor people to live in our city. Economic diversity is a vital element to the urban mix that increases our city's vitality.

10. If you are endorsed, what, if any, expectations do you have of the Minneapolis/5th District Green Party regarding your campaign, and if elected, your service in office?

I would assume the Green Party would publicize my candidacy through its regular print and electronic publications. I would hope the party would help recruit volunteers and give my campaign access to and use of its database that has records to all Green Party members and "Green"-friendly constituents who live in my ward. When in office I would expect the Green Party to give guidance and constructive criticism on important issues. I also would hope that I could call on the party to help raise public awareness and mold public opinion when needed on certain issues and projects.

* * *