In our final interview with Katie Jones as a 61A House of Representatives candidate, we spoke over Zoom on Oct. 22. I asked her about what she realistically can do at the State-level, based on her priorities and what 61A residents are talking with her about.

Southwest Voices:  I would love to start by explaining to me and the readers what work you're able to accomplish as a member of the House of Representatives.

Katie Jones:  State legislators set State policy. They set budgets, set structures for how important systems within our state work. From health care to insurance to building code to education, transportation. The State government plays a really important role in people's lives. We use roads every day. We send kids to school. We regulate commerce, making sure that commerce between businesses is fair as well as between consumers and business is fair.

SWV: And I ask you this just because I think sometimes, especially with the House of Reps, where we don't get to see you very often, it's hard to grasp what you do. So thank you for that. And conversely, what are some things that you can't address?

KJ:  So direct interactions with the government are less likely to be from the State. So your local responses with regards to building code is going to be at the City level. With regards to public safety that's going to be provided at the City level. Schools–the State gives money for schools. We create the general structure of how schools should operate in the state, but the local decisions are made by the local school board. It’s the State that has indirect and kind of high level, structural oversight and policy making. Whereas the City and the County and the school board have more of that direct engagement.

SWV: So then, as you have been talking to people, what concerns have you been hearing from voters that you can address as at the house?

KJ: I'll start with a couple of things that I've heard from a lot of folks, with regards to the economic situations in downtown and Uptown. It has to do with commerce, housing, regulation, and budgeting. I think that especially in downtown, if we're going to have downtown come back, we need to have more people be there. If we can provide incentives, and the State has a much bigger purse to be able to provide incentives for office to residential conversions, or some other type of conversion, so that we are bringing more people downtown.

Actually, there was just an article today in the Star Tribune about single-room occupancy, which I think is an interesting idea. We may have to partner with the City, because how land is used or a building is used, that is in the jurisdiction of the City. We can get the incentives, but the actual implementation will need to be in partnership with our City Council and the mayor.

On the Uptown side, and I've been saying this since day one at the caucuses, are small business grants that the State provides money for MSA streets–municipal state aid streets. I want to set aside a small amount for every commercial corridor that gets MSA dollars for small business grants because we know that small businesses are the lifeblood of our communities and we need to help them survive these reconstructions. Road construction is inevitable and it's honestly quite unfair to have the access to your business totally ripped up and to not somehow be compensated. In our city, we make adjacent property owners pay for part of the improvement. I think that tax structure may have worked when our commercial corridors were really the lifeblood of our economy, but that has changed. So I think we need to be looking at our tax structures to make sure that we're not losing small businesses. We know they are valuable here but a lot of our economic growth comes more from online services.

One more thing I hear about is housing. People have concerns about the rising costs of living and a big part of that is housing. We have a majority renter district here and so that's really on top of my mind. How do we grow and have more abundant housing throughout the state? So that's the thing I want to be working on, and we know how. We want housing options. People are also concerned about encampments, and how do we make sure that everyone has access to a home. And so we need a full plethora of options. And that means everything from legalizing the ability to build more homes to also ensuring that we've got the supports and structures for folks to get off the street.

SWV: What would your approach be to fully funding or getting more funding for Minneapolis Public Schools, especially when we're in Minnesota which is now nationally known for Gov. Tim Walz, who himself is known for fully funding the state’s education. But if you talk to people in our district, they'll say, we're not fully funded. So what would your approach be?

KJ: This is a really critical point and it's something I also hear a lot about on the doors. I don't think any one person is going to have the full solution here. Representative Sam Sencer-Mura has been organizing a working group around this with school board, City, County and State-level leaders, and so there are members of the Minneapolis delegation that are part of it. I went to the first meeting because they wanted every person of the Minneapolis delegation to be aware of what is happening. But there's a smaller working group because it's hard to work with so many cooks in a kitchen. So I'm really looking forward to hearing more about what they're cooking up, if I'm going to use that analogy.

But in general, one of the things that I think we need to do is put a pause on new charter schools. We know about $1 billion goes to charter schools. We know we've had accountability issues. There have been a number of articles fairly recently that they're not serving our students. So we need to be taking a hard look at that, because those are education dollars going outside of MPS.

SWV: it's an interesting time with Frank Hornstein leaving office, and there's a DFL candidate and a Green Party candidate. Can you talk a little bit more about being a DFL candidate specifically, and what you bring to the table?

KJ: I think all of the parties, there are overlaps in values and there are overlaps in our ability. What's most important to me is that we see our values realized. And I want to create a more just, resilient and thriving Minnesota, and I think the best way to do that is to be a member of the DFL.

SWV: And why should people vote specifically for you, Katie Jones?

‍KJ: Because I have shown that I've got the experience to realize that vision. I've been working in the community for over a decade at the neighborhood, City, County and State level. I've written adopted policy because representatives, like Representative Hornstein, have trusted me and my expertise and be able to bring in the voices of stakeholders to make sure that a policy that we're working on is going to be implementable.

SWV: Is there any other topic that you want to bring up that we haven't gotten to?

KJ: I would like to emphasize again and again how important it is to vote. I've been door knocking a lot and in some of my recent conversations I found people who are like, ‘I don't think I'm gonna vote.’ And it crushes me every time. And when I tell them, ‘Your voice matters. If you don't vote, someone with more power and more money is going to be making decisions for you,’ it starts to sink in. I know I've made a couple of people reconsider. It is a privilege to be living in a democracy and if we want to have a better state, if we want to have a better country, we have to participate.

Katie Jones participated in the 61A candidate forum in September, moderated by the League of Women Voters where she spoke on numerous policy issues. The forum is available to watch on YouTube.

Check this map to see if you are a 61A resident. The election is Nov. 5.