Marion Greene for Hennepin County Commissioner District 3
Sean: We’ve been interviewing as many candidates for Hennepin County commissioner as possible to spotlight this impactful, often under-discussed position. Today we’re talking to Marion Greene, the incumbent Hennepin County commissioner for District 3, who is seeking reelection in November. We spoke to her challenger, Abdi Ibrahim, on our Sept. 18 episode. Greene began her tenure on the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners in 2014. Before serving on the county board, Greene served in the Legislature, where she was chief author of legislation to fully fund all-day kindergarten and co-author of legislation to establish the health insurance exchange that is now MNsure. Before running for public office, Greene was active in the community and worked in the private sector in policy and marketing. I know you have a busy schedule. Commissioner Greene, thank you so much for joining us today.
Marion: Thanks for having me.
Sean: Commissioner Greene, I get to ask you this question in both the past and future tense. How has your work as an elected official most tangibly impacted the community you live in? And going forward, how do you want your work to impact that community in the coming years?
Marion: That’s such a great way of putting it. A lot of the county’s work requires that longer-term point of view. The principal thing that has impacted the community is the pandemic, and being chair of the board during that time. Together with my colleagues, I helped make sure all of the federal and state dollars coming through counties were intelligently allocated and really responded to the moment.
One of the themes we tried to take up at that time was: Are there ways to do this work that also create long-term impact? For example, something I really championed, as one of the first in the nation, was buying hotels to serve as emergency shelter and then transitioning them after the pandemic into deeply affordable housing. That’s work I’m really proud of that, knock on wood, is a little bit in the rearview mirror.
Work I did in the past that I’ve been so glad of lately is on immigration and how Hennepin County interacts with and supports more recent immigrants in our community. About 10 years ago, I established an immigrant legal defense fund to help people ensnared in deportation proceedings by our local version of Trump: the sheriff at the time. Thank goodness he’s not the sheriff any longer. That work expanded into more in-house work. We had contracted it out, but we saw how much trust we were able to build in the community, so we brought more immigration support in-house. We provide that for residents seeking services who may have an immigration-related barrier, like documentation, that just needs to get over the finish line so they can access services. We were so glad to have that in-house expertise during the ICE occupation and Operation Metro Surge, because we could call on it immediately.
Looking ahead, housing affordability in our region is of course an ongoing issue. Other work I’m proud of that’s ongoing is being a champion for transit. We’re poised to finish the Green Line extension and are now looking at the Blue Line extension. In the meantime, we’ve secured Minnesota’s first consistent transit funding, in the form of a three-quarter-cent sales tax that goes to the Met Council. I’m really excited about where that’s going to take our region. And I spearheaded the development of our first-ever climate action plan, and we’re now executing on it. So that’s exciting, continued work.
Sam: In your opinion, what can elected officials do to help build stronger, more resilient communities?
Marion: Oh gosh, that’s a really massive question, Sam. I think we need to focus on basics like housing affordability, in terms of policymaking and funding. But we also need to be out there as forces for connection in the community. I’ve been working to attend every annual meeting of the neighborhoods in my district, or show up at a potluck that might be a community event. Being out there and being known, and not just known as a person.
Sean mentioned at the top that Hennepin County is such a low-profile layer of government. I often tell people that if you don’t know about Hennepin County, that means things are going well in your life, because you don’t need our safety net services. But nonetheless, I want people to think of us when they’re looking for resources. For example, I have somebody in my district who’s building a film club and trying to connect with arts funding. I can facilitate that. So I guess I’d describe both tangible and intangible elements.
Sean: I want to ask about what’s at the top of your priority list if you continue to serve. But I also want to challenge you on something. There’s the idea that if you don’t hear about Hennepin County, it’s because things are going well. But we also hear the counterpoint that folks don’t hear enough from people at the county level. They play a significant role in our lives, but people don’t know how to reach them, how to be heard by them, or how they can respond. So I’m hoping you can talk about your priorities, but also address that idea: If we don’t know about Hennepin County officials, maybe it’s because they aren’t doing the right outreach. They should be finding their constituents and making a deeper connection.
Marion: That’s certainly a point of view that I think reflects some reality. There’s been a shift in politics, in America and on the county board. I would say a generational change. When I was first elected, my platform was all about bringing eyeballs to Hennepin County. I’m not saying the county was doing bad things, but we spend a fair amount of property tax dollars on residents’ behalf, and I want to make sure I’m responsive and connected and that people feel like they’re getting something for their money.
A lot of great work used to happen more in isolation from the community. Now there’s more expectation that elected officials will connect with the community. I wish I had statistics on this, but I notice it in the increased number of emails I get as an elected official. That’s great. It tells me we’re getting the word out about who Hennepin County is. It also tells me people are more activated. So I need to make sure I’m not taking credit at Hennepin County for what I think is a societal change. I still need to get out there and continue to elevate our work.
One of the challenges the county has is that we don’t have a single executive. Unlike a city, which has a council and a mayor, and the mayor is often viewed, for good or for evil, as the person who speaks for the city, we are a board of seven equal people. We each get one vote, and even the chair gets one vote. I think that makes coverage of us a challenge, because it’s like, well, who do you listen to?
Another challenge we need to own and overcome is the Twin Cities media market. The media market isn’t just Hennepin County, it’s really the Twin Cities, and a lot of Twin Cities media is consumed by the entire state. Think of the Star Tribune changing its name to the Minnesota Star Tribune. These are all things we need to navigate. But I do think there’s been a change in expectations, and the county board and I as an elected official need to get ahead of that, be responsive and rise to the new level of engagement.
Sam: One thing that came up with your challenger, Mr. Ibrahim, was the HERC, and it seems like everybody wants it closed. Is that your position as well? And if so, what is your preferred timeline for closing it?
Marion: That is definitely my position. I think we should close the HERC, and the county board has voted unanimously on that, so I can say with confidence that’s my colleagues’ point of view as well. The devil’s in the details, of course. We’ve set a timeline of sometime before 2040.
I’d like to highlight that we’re the one layer of government that, besides saying we want to close the HERC, is actually doing something about it. We’re working hard to figure out ways to get recyclables and organics out of our waste stream, so we don’t have as much waste as the HERC currently deals with. Some folks say, “Let’s just close the HERC and figure it out later.” But I am not a proponent of landfilling. I think landfilling is figuratively, not physically, the lowest place we want to put waste. We also don’t want trash to pile up in the streets. I don’t mean that as some overdramatic threat. But I do want to say to the city of Minneapolis, for example, which has voted that it wants Hennepin County to close the HERC: OK, that’s great, but what’s your plan to manage your waste? Where are you going to put it?
The way I and others phrase it is: I want to close the HERC, and I want to do it responsibly, so we have somewhere to put waste. The underlying issue with the HERC, and waste in general, is consumption and the habits we have as Americans. We need to work on that cultural change, and the county is doing this in many ways: trying to get folks to recycle, to compost, to reuse and to reduce. The reusing and reducing parts of the triangle are underemphasized in current consumer choices, and that’s really where we need to see wholesale change.
Sean: Commissioner Greene, let’s imagine a world where you have a day when you’re not thinking about the incinerator, you’re not thinking about immigration and you’re not thinking about transit. You’re thinking about leisure. You have a day off in your district. What is Commissioner Greene doing?
Marion: Oh gosh. Let’s see. My spouse and I are big arts consumers, so I’d definitely throw in something like an exhibit, going to a gallery or seeing a show. We’re big fans of the Out There series at the Walker, which happens in January and February. Highly recommend. So that would be on the list. We’re also ice cream fanatics, so there would definitely be ice cream involved. And I’ll say, at least for myself, we’re not ice cream snobs. It doesn’t need to be the fanciest ice cream, but we like ice cream. And then of course our dog and a couple of friends.
Sean: That sounds like a pretty pleasant itinerary, and you can take a scoop of ice cream 12 months a year. That’s Marion Greene, the Hennepin County commissioner for District 3, who is seeking reelection on Nov. 3. You can find our conversation with her challenger, Abdi Ibrahim, in our September episode. Commissioner Greene, I know you have a very busy schedule. We appreciate you taking some time to chat with City Cast Twin Cities today.
Marion: I’m so glad to be here. That time flew.
