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Minnesota is hosting the 2026 Special Olympics, and Ward 2 has the honor of many events being held at the University of Minnesota. The 2026 Special Olympics USA Games will unite 3,000 athletes, 1,500 coaches, 10,000 volunteers, and 75,000 fans from all 50 states. Through the power of sports and inclusion, the USA Games will spark a change that transforms lives, communities, and the world. Join us for the Opening Ceremony on June 20th at Huntington Bank Stadium featuring musical acts Demi Lovato and Jon Batiste!
The City Council honored Special Olympics Week with an honorary resolution. Thank you to the Minneapolis Advisory Commission on People with Disabilities (MACOPOD) and Special Olympics leadership for being part of the celebration.
Council Member Wonsley with Council Members Warren and Whiting, leadership of the Minneapolis Advisory Commission on People with Disabilities (MACOPOD) and leadership of the Special Olympics.
I attended a meeting hosted by the Prospect Park Association (PPA) for the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) to present on the redevelopment of Glendale Townhomes. There were also members of Defend Glendale & Public Housing Coalition in attendance. MPHA gave a brief presentation overviewing their process, followed by question and answer for the majority of the time. On June 17th, MPHA will hold a meeting at Luxton and present their proposal for the rehabilitation of Glendale. Thank you to all partners for spending the time to discuss this important matter.
Prospect Park Association Meeting about Glendale Townhomes Redevelopment
I joined one of the City’s contracted violence interrupter teams, Metro Youth Diversion, on their daily route. It was great to see how Metro Youth Diversion workers engage with local businesses and neighbors to foster community safety from the ground up. Over the last several months, crime has decreased and violence prevention is a significant part of why. On our walk-along, we saw violence interrupters connecting with diverse members of the community to create supportive, safe conditions for all neighbors. Thank you to Metro Youth Diversion and our Neighborhood Safety Department for bringing these comprehensive services to our vulnerable communities.
Council Member Wonsley and Vice President Osman in Cedar-Riverside with Metro Youth Diversion.
Seward is full of people doing incredible work.
SCCA exists to help connect those efforts, support local businesses, and create opportunities for the neighborhood to thrive.
We're currently looking for new board members to help lead that work.
SCCA is a nonprofit organization that works to support and strengthen the Seward business community. We bring together local businesses, organizations, and community members to promote economic vitality, advocate for neighborhood needs, organize events, and create opportunities for collaboration.
As a board member, you'll help guide the organization's priorities and initiatives. Board members attend monthly meetings, participate in projects that match their interests and skills, and serve as supporters for the Seward business community. Whether your background is in business, nonprofit work, or community organizing, we'd love to hear from you.
Interested in learning more before making a commitment?
Join us at our Annual Meeting on June 23 from 4:30-6:00 PM at Matthews Park. It's a great opportunity to meet current board members, learn about SCCA's work, hear about upcoming projects, and connect with fellow business owners and community members.
Add it to your calendar!
If you're interested in joining the board or would like more information, please email info@sewardbusiness.org.
Help us build a stronger Seward, together!
Flyer for SCCA Annual Meeting
Summary: Working alongside labor and community groups, I and several of my colleagues are leading the City Council to regulate autonomous vehicles in Minneapolis to protect workers.
Background: Waymo autonomous vehicles (AVs) are currently on Minneapolis streets mapping and testing. Waymo has stated that they plan to launch commercially in Minneapolis soon.
There are many questions that come up when we think about AVs, but the first and foremost one is what happens to workers who rely on driving for income to support their families. Automation threatens to displace these workers and push thousands of working families into poverty.
A few years ago, the Minneapolis City Council took on Uber and Lyft because we believe that Minneapolis drivers should earn minimum wage equivalents when working for multi-billion dollar Silicon Valley companies.
Now these same drivers, many of whom are workers of color and immigrants targeted by Operation Metro Surge, are asking the Minneapolis City Council to protect them from losing their income altogether because tech billionaires want to automate their jobs. As local legislators, our job is to protect vulnerable communities from extractive billionaire tech corporations, and build a pro-worker economy where everyone can thrive.
There are also many questions about how autonomous vehicles might impact our infrastructure, our public transit, and our climate goals. Local government doesn’t need to be passive and assume these impacts are inevitable– we have the responsibility to work with community to pass responsible regulation that creates a city where workers and residents come before corporate profits.
Last week, I hosted a panel discussion to hear from drivers, labor leaders, and transportation experts about potential impacts of AVs in Minneapolis.
This week, Council Vice President Osman, Council Members Chavez and Chowdhury and I stood alongside drivers and organized labor to announce the launch of Workers Drive Minneapolis, a local ordinance protecting drivers from displacement due to automation. Thank you to the Minnesota Uber Lyft Drivers Association, SEIU Local 26, ATU Local 1005, Teamsters Joint Council 32, and Our Streets for your leadership.
At the City Council Meeting, we gave Notice of Intent to Introduce legislation for business licensing for commercial use of autonomous vehicles. Notice of intent to introduce is the first step in the legislative process and it does not include any specific policy language. We also authored a staff direction to get more information on the potential impacts that AVs could have. We will use this research to guide responsible policymaking.
Over the coming months, my co-authors and I will be working closely with stakeholders including drivers, labor unions, city staff, and experts from around the country to develop responsible regulations at the local level that support the creation of a strong statewide framework in 2027. We will keep you all updated as that work moves forward.
Key votes: The City Council voted unanimously to approve a staff direction related to the impacts of AVs on labor, transit, infrastructure, and sustainability in Minneapolis. On June 25th, the City Council will consider whether to introduce and refer regulations for business licensing of AVs.
Council Member Wonsley with co-authors Vice President Osman, Council Members Chavez and Chowdhury, drivers, and labor leaders supporting Workers Drive Minneapolis.
Summary: The City Council rejected Mayor Frey’s proposal to grant exclusive development rights for the People’s Way to the Minnesota Agape Movement.
Background: Last week, the Business Housing and Zoning Committee voted to recommend that the City Council deny granting exclusive development rights for the People’s Way to the Minnesota Agape Movement.
When the City purchased the People’s Way site, it made a public commitment to reparative justice and to honoring the community vision to transform the site into a permanent memorial and hub for racial healing. The City promised to not just listen to community, but take their lead. But the City has fumbled this process from start to finish.
Throughout my time on the City Council I’ve prioritized oversight of the Frey administration’s procurement processes, but I’ve never seen a contract mishandled in the unique way that the People’s Way contract has been.
The selection process for the People’s Way was supposed to be completed last spring. But the Frey administration essentially delayed action for a year. Community members reached out to City Council offices asking about the delays, but the Frey administration didn’t provide the reasoning. This left Council Members with no answers to give to the community. I’ve never seen a delay and radio silence during a procurement process like this before or since during my time at City Hall.
Despite the promises for a restorative and reparative process, the Frey administration finally came forward with a proposal to grant development rights to Minnesota Agape Movement, contradicting community preference as well as common sense. The City's own community survey conveyed a preference for another developer. City staff have publicly acknowledged that they don’t believe that the Agape plan is feasible. With all of these acknowledgements made, I do not understand how the administration could make this recommendation in good faith.
Residents have publicly asked if this selection was due to political patronage because they could not see any other plausible reason for Agape to be selected.
There was significant harm done by the Frey administration in these actions, further exacerbating lack of trust and credibility between the community and the City. This is exactly why I never wanted the City to be the final decision maker on the selection.
I voted against granting development rights to Agape because is clearly not fiscally or legally viable in addition to completely contradicting the City’s stated values around community engagement and reparative action.
I also believe there needs to be a thorough analysis of what went wrong during this procurement process. I’ve talked to the City Auditor about next steps and will keep the public updated.
In the meantime, community members have already suggested pathways forward. I am committed to doing everything I can to honor the commitments that have been made. And I urge the Frey administration to listen and propose actions that reflect what residents have been demanding for years.
Key votes: City Council voted 10-2-1 to deny Agape exclusive development rights for The People’s Way. Council Members Rainville and Vetaw voted in opposition and Council Member Warren abstained.
Summary: Residents who would like to share their thoughts on data centers in Minneapolis can speak at a public hearing on June 16th at 1:30, or submit comments online.
Background: In May, the City Council passed a six-month moratorium on data centers. The moratorium has an exemption for data centers under 350 square feet within downtown.
The intention of the moratorium is to give the City Council time to learn more about the impacts that data centers will have on our electric grid, water usage and treatment, tax base, jobs, and the goals in the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. It also gives the City Council more time to hear what residents think about data centers. With this information, we will be better equipped to write regulations to protect residents from big tech data centers, which are fundamentally about extracting our resources for billionaires to profit from.
I worked with Council Member Chowdhury to author a research directive to ensure the City Council has a thorough understanding of these impacts before the moratorium expires in November.
Based on what other cities are experiencing with data centers, I anticipate that the City Council very well may need more than six months to study the impacts of data centers and write strong regulations to protect residents. People all over the country are telling horror stories of what data centers promised, and what they delivered. There are stories of data centers illegally stealing millions of gallons of water beyond what they were authorized to use. Data centers are driving up utility rates and creating noise pollution.
The local government’s job is to protect our city from these extractive and exploitative forces. It is our responsibility to make sure that our neighborhoods continue to become more affordable, walkable, and sustainable. We must make sure that our residents have clean water and reliable power. We must champion the creation of healthy workplaces, and living wage jobs. A recent Gallup Poll that found 7 in 10 Americans oppose data centers.
Many Trump-aligned big tech companies have a documented history of successfully using their money to stop elected officials from passing regulation. We are seeing this dynamic play out at the State Capitol and at Minneapolis City Hall, where data center lobbyists have been successful at persuading elected officials to advance extremely weak regulations or none at all. The public hearing on June 16th is an opportunity for working class people to speak out against corporate lobbyists pushing data centers in Minneapolis.
Public Hearing on Data Centers in Minneapolis
Testify in person
- June 16th, 2026 at 1:30pm
- Minneapolis City Hall (350 South 5th St) Room 370
- Any resident can speak for two minutes
Testify in writing
- Submit testimony any time before June 16th at 1:30pm
Key votes: The Business, Housing and Zoning Committee will host a public hearing on the proposed six-month moratorium on data centers, with an exemption for smaller data centers and an area downtown, on June 16th at 1:30pm. The Committee will then vote on whether to recommend the moratorium to the full City Council for final approval.
Contact Ward 2
Visit: minneapolismn.gov/ward2
Email: robin.wonsley@minneapolismn.gov
Phone: 612-673-2202
City Hall
350 S. Fifth St., Room 370
Minneapolis, MN 55415
For reasonable accommodations or alternative format please contact 311. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can use a relay service to call 311 at 612-673-3000. Para ayuda, llame al 311. Rau kev pab, hu 311. Hadii aad caawimaad u baahantahay, wac 311. |
