Dear neighbor, 

In 2025, the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) will spend approximately $155 million on “caring for park assets, protecting the environment, serving the city’s youth, and investing in employees.” If we want a vibrant and resilient Minneapolis, we need to put our money where our mouth is. After all, a budget is not just a simple spreadsheet, but a document that reflects our values and priorities. We need to make sure our policies and decisions follow through on this.

Here are four ways MPRB can contribute to a resilient and equitable local economy:

Uplifting Park Workers: During last summer’s park workers’ strike, most of our current commissioners stood by as MPRB management tried to crush fair contract efforts, but the workers prevailed. Not only was this unfair to the workers who create and maintain one of the best park systems in the nation, but it was also unfair to the people of Minneapolis. If elected, I will be an advocate for the park workers, lift up their voices, and make sure MPRB management goes into contract negotiations in good faith. As we know, unions aren’t just good for workers, they are good for everyone. 

Expanding Third Places: Familiar and accessible public spaces, such as parks, also known as third places, can help strengthen community bonds and allow people to exist in low-to-no-cost spaces that are not home or the workplace. They can also help attract new customers to nearby businesses, increasing revenue for our local entrepreneurs and activating commercial corridors, making them safer and more welcoming.

Prioritizing Businesses that Support Our Values and Local Economy: MPRB is budgeted to spend tens of millions of dollars this year on contracts with outside businesses and organizations to complete projects and provide services. To make the most of our money, the park board needs to set better policies on how to choose which bidders receive contracts. I want to amend our bidding process to give priority to businesses and organizations that have unionized workers or a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) and make sure our tax dollars go to businesses that respect workers and are rooted in Minneapolis.

Supporting Food Trucks: Our city is home to dozens of food trucks that not only serve us delicacies and sweet treats that can’t be found anywhere else, but they can also bring new people to our parks. Unfortunately, I do not believe MPRB is doing its best to support our food trucks. At the moment, they can only reserve spaces two days in advance, and the guidelines are from 2012. If elected, I will update our food truck policy and make our parks an appealing and realistic place to serve food. 

Our park system is award-winning for a reason. It can create a vibrant and resilient Minneapolis; we just need to set the right policies and act according to our values.

If you support our vision for the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, please consider volunteering or donating to our grassroots campaign.

As always, if you have any questions or thoughts you would like to share, please feel free to reach out. 

Thank you and have a great day, 

Adam Schneider

3/24/2025