Edina City Council (2024)
Another post about local Edina politics, this time the city council race.
There are three candidates for two open positions; you get to vote for two:
- Ryan Daye
- Carolyn Jackson (incumbent)
- James Pierce (incumbent)
Carolyn Jackson
Let’s get the easy one out of the way first.
Jackson has been on the council for four years now and is running for re-election. She was far and away my favorite candidate in 2020 and that’s unchanged now.
She has an extraordinarily long resume when it comes to working with the city of Edina. It would take too long to list it all out, but she was the chair of the Edina energy & environment commission, chair of the Edina community foundation, chair of the Edina Morningside rotary club, on the committee for an affordable housing group, president of her PTO… the list goes on and on.
As a result, she has a realistic view on what the city council does and how to be effective on it. I was most impressed with her answers during the candidate forum (where she often gave useful context on top of the question before answering - great stuff). On top of it all, she definitely shares values with me (such as a focus on climate resilience).
James Pierce
Like Jackson, Pierce has also been on the city council for one term and is running for re-election.
Pierce seems like a fine city council member to me. Before joining, he was part of Edina’s race and equity task force. Pierce focuses his campaign on his business credentials, which matters a bit less to me than other issues. That said, he’s similarly focused on diversity & inclusion and affordable housing, so it’s not like he’s all business - that’s just the experience he brings to the table.
I’m not blown away by Pierce’s answers during the candidate forum but I also have no qualms with his answers or anything he’s done in the past term.
Ryan Daye
Daye moved to Edina in 2021, joined the Edina planning commission in 2023, and is now running for city council. What that means is that he is, by far, the least experienced candidate running.
This inexperience showed in the candidate forum. Some of his answers were just bad or uninformed (e.g. proposing making Edina more walkable as a way to reduce solid waste… huh?) More importantly, he overall seemed focused on cutting services (“must-haves vs. nice-to-haves”) to reduce taxes; but to be blunt, I’m actually a fan of higher taxes in exchange for more services.
Regardless of personal views, Daye strikes me as needing more experience with both living in Edina and being a part of our local government.
Conclusion
I would rather vote for more knowledgeable and experienced candidates, and given that I have no qualms with Jackson or Pierce, I am voting for Carolyn Jackson and James Pierce.