Pine Salica

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Pine Salica

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 2, 2021

Contact

Campaign website

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Pine Salica ran for election to the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation in Minnesota. Salica lost in the general election on November 2, 2021.

Salica completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Pine Salica was born in California.

Elections

2021

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

General election

General election for Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation

Select round: Round 3 Round 2 Round 1

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Steve Brandt in round 2 , and Samantha Pree-Stinson in round 3 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Samantha Pree-Stinson	34.5	29,495	2,704	Won (3)
	Submit photo	Steve Brandt	37.3	31,876	-12,464	Won (2)
		Pine Salica	28.2	24,137	2,616	3
	Submit photo	Kevin Nikiforakis	0.0	0	0	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Samantha Pree-Stinson	28.9	26,791	1,194	Won (3)
	Submit photo	Steve Brandt	47.9	44,340	1,668	Won (2)
		Pine Salica	23.2	21,521	735	3
	Submit photo	Kevin Nikiforakis	0.0	0	-5,815	2

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Samantha Pree-Stinson	26.8	25,597	0	Won (3)
	Submit photo	Steve Brandt	44.6	42,672	0	Won (2)
		Pine Salica	21.7	20,786	0	3
	Submit photo	Kevin Nikiforakis	6.1	5,815	0	2
		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.	0.8	755	0

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 95,625
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign themes

2021

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Pine Salica completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Salica's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m Pine Salica, they/them/theirs, and I’m running for the Board of Estimate and Taxation. I believe in stepping up to do the job. I’m not afraid to question core assumptions underlying decisions and move toward doing the right thing. Government is a process, not a result.

I have a background in quality assurance and state government customer service. I know that without quality – without someone making sure we’ve double checked everything along the way and that the product is safe and does what it says – you have nothing. In government, quality requires trust. I work to earn the trust of the people I help by relating to them directly, and making sure I’m as transparent as I can be about the information they need.

The at-large seats on the Board of Estimate and Taxation are designed to be conservative seats, that make sure our city council and park board (and once upon a time our library system, before we handed that over to the county) don’t overtax the citizens. Instead of conservative board members, we’ve had regressive ones for the past dozen years, preventing us from funding our priorities. It’s time for a change.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Housing is a human right. We don’t currently have the public housing levy that statute allows us to do. Instead, we’re funding public housing as part of the general budget. This impacts Minneapolis Public Housing Authority’s ability to keep up with all the improvements and repairs that need to be done, since any of their projects can be cancelled if something more compelling comes across city council’s desk. Of course, they’re not a perfect agency – no city, county, state, federal agency is perfect – but we can help fill the gaps in their ability to fund their projects by setting aside money for this important public need.
• Property taxes are based on the valuation of your home, performed by the city assessor. Landlords pass the cost of the property taxes on to their tenants in collecting rent, people who own land pay it as a bill. The value of your home that the city finds must be accurate. There is an appeals process if there has been a mistake, but it’s a bureaucratic process that disadvantages renters – if you aren’t the property owner, you can’t appeal. And it takes an investment of spare cash and spare time, which not everyone has access to. What this means is we have to make sure we’re doing it right the first time.
• We have a serious need for radical investment – not the same stadiums and parking ramps downtown, but across the city, in all the wards, there are places we can invest and make a huge difference. We haven’t been budgeting in line with our stated priorities – vision zero, complete streets, racial equity, addressing the climate emergency among others – and we can change that.

Community Question Featured local question

How would you balance the needs and desires of existing business and housing communities with new development? Would you take gentrification and displacement into consideration when planning neighborhood development?

On the Board of Estimate and Taxation, I wouldn't have a lot of weight on these issues, with the potential exception of TIF districts or bonding projects.

I believe that you can't gentrify a car parking lot, you can only welcome people to better use the land. I believe that one of the ways gentrification happens is when people buy duplexes and make one home out of them. I believe in listening to the people who live in the area and making sure they are not displaced if they do not choose to be. Depending on the outcome of City Question 3, we may be able to have further city support for people as well. But I believe that there are abusive landlords out there who are not only being abusive through unreasonably raising rents, but they may also not be properly maintaining their housing. And people need to have options, in their neighborhoods, for where to go if the landlord becomes abusive.

And I also believe that we need to plan for future climate impacts, including people relocating for climate issues, into the area. There are a lot of places where we're not using the land we have to the best of its full use, and while public housing is a fantastic solution I am doubtful that we'll have the ability to build as much as we need in the time frame we need it - it's more expensive than we can bear the cost of alone at the city level.

Community Question Featured local question

Please list the criteria you would use to evaluate which projects are worth maintaining or starting in Minneapolis when it comes to public infrastructure.

I would make sure it is aligned with our stated goals and policies that have already shown us what the people want - the transportation action plan, Minneapolis 2040, complete streets policies, our modal priority framework, as well as any other relevant policy. We have done a lot of public engagement around those policies and we need to respect everyone's time and energy by applying those policies directly.

Community Question Featured local question

What do you think about the city's environmental health? Would you make any changes to current policy?

Once again, the Board of Estimate and Taxation does not have a direct role to play in deciding this. But, I am glad to share my opinions, as they will shape other issues.

Our environmental health has many dimensions, soil, water, air, sound, light among others.

Taking care of each other means treating every tree in the city as a piece of infrastructure, for example. It was carefully selected and planted by park or public works staff, and we care for it (do maintenance) by watering it during a drought. It brings cleaner air and water, as well as providing shade, a windbreak, and a sound barrier. Our city trees are possibly the most underappreciated pieces of civic infrastructure.

Our current policies are mostly there when it comes to environmental health - it's the implementation that needs to be improved. And I'm ready to help support that work.

Community Question Featured local question

What role do you feel police should play in Minneapolis? What are your thoughts on the city council’s proposed changes to the Minneapolis Police Department?

Once again, the Board of Estimate and Taxation does not have a direct role to play in deciding this. But, I am glad to share my opinions, as they will shape other issues.

If there's not someone with a gun out already, I don't expect that sending someone in with a gun will de-escalate the situation and bring actual safety with them. If there is someone with a gun, or if we are otherwise required to send someone with a gun to the situation, then a police officer is likely an appropriate (and required) solution.

Community Question Featured local question

What would you like Minneapolis' public safety system to look like by the end of your term? What would you do to accomplish your vision of public safety?

The Board of Estimate and Taxation doesn't have a lot of input on what this will look like. Additionally, depending on the outcome of City Question 2, it will be constrained further still.

If we are still required to have a police department that does not report to any other department, it may end up being very similar to today.

If we are given the option to have an Office of Public Safety, I would like it to holistically address root causes of public insecurity - housing insecurity, food insecurity, health insecurity - by specialists who can help people in crisis. Expecting people who carry around deadly guns to also be experts in all the various fields of security problems is just expecting too much from them and we need to have the right tool for the job - send the right kind of person to deal with the problem, instead of expecting a one-size-fits-all officer with a gun to help a person experiencing homelessness or hunger.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I'm passionate about funding our already-stated priorities, and right-sizing our responses to the issues we face. I'm passionate about making sure we, as a city, have the ability to tackle our challenges, not limiting ourselves to maintaining the status quo. We must change a lot of what we have, up to last year, accepted as normal costs of living in a society. The world has changed, and we must keep up.

We must take the climate crisis seriously. We must take public health seriously, in all its aspects, from the pandemic to police to insulating our homes. We must recognize that these issues are tied to each other inherently, not in opposition to each other.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

The BET has members that have a stake in many facets of the city’s tax levy and revenue sources, ensuring that no single represented interest or entity has exclusive control over the issues subject to its jurisdiction.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was working at the dining hall at my university's cafeteria. I shifted around positions, but my favorite was working the omelette bar. People brought me veggies to fry up and put in their brunch omelettes, and I enjoyed bantering with my coworker and customers while we worked. The best part was that because I worked there, they'd let you eat all the food you wanted before you left for the day, which came out to have been worth a couple extra hours of pay each time. The downside was that the grease from the omelettes got all over you every shift.
I worked there for about a year.

Tell us your favorite joke.

What's the difference between a cat and a semicolon?

One's got claws at the end of its paws; the other's a pause at the end of a clause.

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Note: Community Questions were submitted by the public and chosen for inclusion by a volunteer advisory board. The chosen questions were modified by staff to adhere to Ballotpedia’s neutrality standards. To learn more about Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Expansion Project, click here.

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