Lisa Goodman

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Lisa Goodman

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Minneapolis City Council Ward 7

Successor: Katie Cashman

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Education

Bachelor's

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Personal

Profession

Nonprofit executive director

Contact

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Lisa Goodman was a member of the Minneapolis City Council in Minnesota, representing Ward 7. She assumed office in 1998. She left office on January 1, 2024.

Goodman (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Minneapolis City Council to represent Ward 7 in Minnesota. She won in the general election on November 2, 2021.

Elections in Minneapolis are officially nonpartisan, but the Minneapolis City Charter allows mayoral and city council candidates to choose a party label to appear below their name on the official ballot. Ballotpedia includes candidates' party or principle to best reflect what voters will see on their ballot.

Biography

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Goodman earned a degree in political science and labor relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Goodman's experience includes working as the executive director of Minnesota NARAL, an instructor at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, and the director of fundraising for Paul Wellstone's 1990 U.S. Senate campaign. She founded Dog Grounds, was a member of the Minnesota Racing Commission, and a board member for the Animal Humane Society, the Family Housing Fund, Jewish Family Children Services, Meet Minneapolis, and the Midwest Health Center Foundation.

Elections

2021

See also: City elections in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2021)

General election

General election for Minneapolis City Council Ward 7

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Lisa Goodman in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Lisa Goodman	61.9	7,206	0	Won (1)
		Nick Kor	26.3	3,066	0	1
		Teqen Zéa-Aida	7.2	833	0	1
	Submit photo	Joanna Diaz	4.1	477	0	1
		Undeclared Write-insUndeclared write-in candidates may advance past the first round in some ranked-choice elections. If the official source reports write-in votes by candidate name, Ballotpedia displays them alongside the ballot-qualified candidates. However, if write-in votes are reported without a name, they will instead be included in the total write-in votes figure in Round 1. Please consult the official elections source for more details about unnamed write-in candidate vote totals past Round 1.	0.5	57	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,639
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

2017

See also: Municipal elections in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017) and Mayoral election in Minneapolis, Minnesota (2017)

Minneapolis, Minnesota, held a general election for mayor, all 13 seats on the city council, both elected members of the board of estimate and taxation, and all nine members of the park and recreation board on November 7, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was August 15, 2017.

Incumbents ran for re-election to all but two of the city council seats. Ward 3 Councilman Jacob Frey filed to run for mayor instead, and Ward 8 Councilwoman Elizabeth Glidden opted not to run for re-election. Incumbent Lisa Goodman defeated Janne Flisrand, Teqen Zea-Aida, and Joe Kovacs in the general election for the Ward 7 seat on the Minneapolis City Council.

Minneapolis City Council, Ward 7 General Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Lisa Goodman Incumbent	52.26%	4,742
Janne Flisrand	31.21%	2,832
Teqen Zea-Aida	9.79%	888
Joe Kovacs	6.60%	599
Write-in votes	0.14%	13
Total Votes		9,074
Source: Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services, "2017 Minneapolis Election Results," accessed November 22, 2017

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Lisa Goodman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2021 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

• Click here to view an archived version of Goodman's campaign website.

2017

Goodman's campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“	Constituent service I love municipal Government because it is closest to people. What we do or don’t do at the city matters to residents and our quality of life. The most important part of being a city council member is representing my constituents, that means constituent service is job number one. I answer my e-mail personally and quickly and our office responds to constituent requests usually the same day and always within 24 hours. When you call my office, we answer. When you ask for help, we respond and when you need information we provide it. Attending neighborhood meetings and events is the best part of the job for me. I love sharing what’s going on at city hall and most importantly listen to what you’d like to see go on in city government. I am visible in the community and have had over 1200 residents attend one of our monthly Lunch with Lisa meetings making city government accessible and interesting. Affordable housing As chair of the Community Development Committee, I have dedicated much of my time as a member of the City Council leading our affordable housing agenda. An unfortunate side effect of the growth we have seen is low vacancy rates, limited affordable homeownership options, rising rents and conversions of affordable housing to market rate with minimal protections for tenants. Our poorest neighbors are often hit hardest. I believe a wide range of resources is needed to address this issue, including development of new housing, partnerships with community land trusts to purchase homes and ensure perpetual affordability and the preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing. This is all part of an holistic approach to assist in the development and preservation of affordable housing in our city. I founded the city’s affordable housing trust fund and made sure it was fully funded annually. I have helped change policies in the city to focus financial resources on those at very low income levels with a special focus on hard to house populations such as those who are formerly homeless, or have a disability that makes finding affordable housing all but impossible. I support using tax credits, bond financing and very occasionally tax increment on some very specific projects as part of a toolbox for preserving existing affordable units. I strongly believe we need to focus building new housing in areas of the city where there are a lack of affordable options because integration of affordable housing into market rate projects and higher income neighborhoods will better help us address racial and economic disparities citywide. Because of the city’s housing policy 515 new affordable housing units were produced in Minneapolis in 2015, more than any other community in the Metropolitan area and more than the next 3 combined. In 2016 Minneapolis received a Housing Performance Score of 100 out of 100 available points from the Metropolitan Council, and the city’s total investment for preserving existing affordable housing and new construction in 2017 is nearly $110 million. Going forward, we need to: Change our requirement for tax credit and bond financed projects to require 30 year affordability if not perpetual affordability. Require notice for owners who want to sell and convert affordable housing to market rate so that preservation strategies are pursued before tenants are evicted and rents increase dramatically. Pursue changes to laws that will prevent evictions without cause. Strengthen the ability of tenants to report life safety problems in apartments, prevent retaliations, and require effective and timely remediation. Hold the line on developer fees and the total cost per unit for new construction. Small business and smart development I believe we fulfill our longstanding commitment to move Minneapolis forward by creating opportunities for every one of our residents by emphasizing growth. Growth is critical for our city as it provides increases to our tax base, which eases the pain of property taxes and fees and allows us to more readily pursue our progressive goals. I have made it my business to prioritize promoting economic development in Minneapolis to help small businesses grow, fill up empty storefronts and office space, and create more local job opportunities, Going forward we need to: Improve small business navigation so that each small business opening in our city has an easy time getting appropriate approvals. Work to expand and retain jobs in our city by helping existing business find access to capital, trained employees and business expansion opportunities. Eliminate overlapping and redundant regulations so that business can get licensed and operating more quickly. Support business in our city by ensuring a well trained workforce focused on career pathways for the jobs we have and our employers know now they will need in the future Environment and sustainability I have led on environmental issues on the CIty Council. I have been successful in making Minneapolis a greener and more sustainable city, and while some sustainability measures cost more upfront, their costs over the life of the investment are much lower. All of the investments we make in clean energy, green infrastructure, local food, transportation and water systems are opportunities for us to support local businesses and train our residents for the jobs of the future. The City needs to make sure its investments touch every corner of the City and are conditioned on a minimum level of social benefits that help us address educational and economic disparities. Going forward, we need to: Move in a more efficient direction in our relationship with energy, working with utility, non-profit and community partners to implement city-wide residential and commercial energy-efficiency programs using financing such as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) bonds and Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) funding Leverage the franchise agreement with Xcel Energy to gain commitments for more roof-top solar energy installations in the City, including more community solar garden projects that offer subscriptions to small businesses, non-profits, and residential ratepayers at all income levels Expand efficiency projects like the Green Business Cost Share program, which promotes investment in sustainable green infrastructure by providing funding for Minneapolis businesses to make energy and water efficiency improvements in our buildings Work with the University of Minnesota to establish a baseline for measuring our urban heat islands, the temperature difference between the downtown core and the surrounding area, as we develop strategies to mitigate its effects Make sure City policies support the development of a network of electric vehicle charging stations to support electric vehicle use Test new energy technologies and create pilot projects for systems such as solar-powered streetlights, micro-grid systems and smart-grid improvements	”
—Lisa Goodman's campaign website, (2017)

Endorsements

2017

Goodman received endorsements from the following in 2017:

• AFL-CIO-Building Trades
• AFL-CIO-Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation
• AFSCME Minnesota Council 5
• Laborers' Union Local 563
• Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors
• Minneapolis Firefighters Local 82
• Minnesota Nurses Association
• Stonewall DFL
• Teamsters Joint Council 32
• Womenwinning
• U.S. Sen. Al Franken
• Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton
• Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith

See also

2021 Elections

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Candidate

Minneapolis City Council Ward 7

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Minneapolis City Council Ward 7 1998-2024	Succeeded by Katie Cashman