Spiral Bound Journal

New Leadership's Promise

"And with that, the City Council meeting is adjourned."

Jonathan sat and allowed the Council Members to file out of the chambers before standing up. He knew they had quite a task ahead of them preparing to disseminate messaging about the latest rent control developments to stem from this particular meeting. The decision to implement rent control on multi-unit buildings at least six years old was likely to not sit well with some of the more ardent voices in South Minneapolis, but he felt that this was much more tenable than the flat out policies across the river in St. Paul. For his part, he would have to set this issue aside once he walked out of the room, as he needed to review some notes for an upcoming meeting with the county to discuss proposals for redesigning traffic flow on Lake Street.

As he walked into the hall, he found Stephanie waiting for him. Though she didn't smile, she gave him a slow, welcoming nod as he closed the gap between them.

"Hi, Councilor," he greeted him. "Need help with something?"

"Not help, per se," she started, "but I figured I'd take a little bit of time to talk to you before I draft my presentation for the ward."

"Huh. I would expect your ward to be happiest with this balance since the amount of older and newer apartment buildings is pretty even."

Stephanie shook her head, her ebony coils waving. "No, no issues on that front. I was actually curious if you had gotten a chance to review the school board meeting notes."

Jonathan blinked. "Which ones?"

"The ones from the special meeting on the history curriculum."

"Oh. Uh, no, I haven't. I've been a bit focused on this rent control stuff and the Lake Street headache."

"Okay, that's fair. Even with that god awful K-Mart being obliterated things are somehow still a mess."

"Oh my God, yeah," Jonathan replied with a chuckle. "So is there anything I need to know about the school board meeting?"

"Well, like everything else, it was a mess," Stephanie replied with a frown.

"Did you attend?"

"In person. There wasn't too much pushback, but there was a rather vocal contingent from the southwest that just wouldn't budge."

"Anything in particular?"

At that, Stephanie adjusted her tablet in her hands and shifted in her flats. "They said that they had objections to the texts being primarily digital, but I suspect that that was not what really bothered them."

Jonathan shook his head. "It usually isn't. I know that there was no buy-in to the proposal to use contingency funds to buy paper texts. What do you think was their actual concern?"

"Honestly? My guess is the notion of the racial discrimination module being presented at the middle school level. I think only a sliver of the vocal ones are against it altogether, but I think the majority of them want to see it taught later, such as junior year."

"That's a little late, though."

"I agree," Stephanie replied with a forceful nod. "I tried to explain that with including some recent research on child development in regards to racial biases, but no one was having it."

"Did anyone else jump in?"

"Felicia and Counsela. I was asked about the research by Maggie and Hank after the meeting, so I suspect that they didn't speak because they weren't aware of this data."

"That makes sense."

"I think the school board is going to need your help on this," Stephanie pleaded. "While there are some things that we can negotiate with the history curriculum pilot, I don't think this is one of them. As much as I don't want to say this, I think that group nears to hear it from you."

Jonathan stood for a moment and contemplated Stephanie's last sentence. It was a very quiet pseudo-dog whistle. At the same time, it was also a request for his negotiation skills, skills that had already been pushed by the rent control compromise and would be needed for the Lake Street project. On the other hand, the national press for Minneapolis stemming from this history curriculum pilot was a major improvement given everything that had happened in the last six years. While the school board was not under his mayoral purview, Jonathan did have some political capital that he could put to work to help the school board feel supported.

"Would I need to do anything before the next meeting?" he asked.

Stephanie shook her head. "I would try to read the notes in the next couple weeks to find areas for negotiating some sort of compromise. As much general support as the pilot has, having the wealthiest corner of the city pushing back is a headwind none of us need."

"Ain't that the truth. I'll tell you what. My county meeting is in two days, but after that I likely will not have to touch that issue for at least a couple months. I will have time next week to go over the notes, and then we can meet towards the end of the week to discuss things. Will that work?"

That brought a small smile to Stephanie's face. "It will. Thanks, Jonathan. I owe you for this."

"You don't owe me anything."

The two parted ways, each armed with even fuller plates than they had just a few minutes before.



Word count: 897

Prompt 6-Virtues ▼

Following from yesterday’s heroics, today I want you to consider virtue. A virtue is a positive trait or quality deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. You only need to cover one and it needn’t be the most important one, but show us is important in your world.

Write a scene in which a character demonstrates a virtue.

*Noteb* What is considered a virtue? What is thought valuable or admirable?
*Noteb* Why is this quality held in esteem?
*Noteb* What is the opposing vice to this virtue?
*Noteb* Are there detractors who undermine the reasoning behind this virtue? Is this quality considered a virtue within only one subculture or faction?