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From balloons to politics
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UPDATED April 7, 2009, 9:23am
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By Jake Weyer & Cristof Traudes
Longtime Minneapolis resident and business owner Meg Tuthill is running for the Ward 10 City Council seat
After roughly 40 years of living and working in Minneapolis, Meg Tuthill, best known for her family-run balloon business at 25th & Hennepin, is making her first run for public office. The 60-year-old Lowry Hill East resident and co-owner of Tuthill’s Balloon Emporium launched her campaign for the Ward 10 City Council seat in early December. She said she hopes to bring “better representation” to constituents. “I love this place. I live here. I do business here,” Tuthill said. “I don’t just weekend here or evening here — I live and work in Minneapolis, so I see a lot of stuff going on, and what the city does and doesn’t do affects our daily life a lot.” What the city isn’t doing as well as it could, Tuthill said, is focusing on local issues. She said she worries that City Hall is often “wasting its time” on too broad of issues, such as a resolution to end the war in Iraq or a ban on circus animals — both issues current Ward 10 Council Member Ralph Remington has introduced. “[A City Council member’s] job is to look at local issues, things that affect the day-to-day living in the city of Minneapolis,” Tuthill said. “Issues that should be handled at the state and federal level should be handled at the state and federal level. Things we can have some impact on should be handled at the City Council.” Tuthill said her campaign focuses on improving safety and environmental sustainability, getting the foreclosure crisis under control and making the city’s budget more transparent. Improving how the budget is managed is another priority, she said. “One of the things that’s important is I bring a business background to the City Council, and they haven’t had a business background in a long time,” Tuthill said. “I know from being in business for a long time that we make a lot of tough decisions on money.” Tuthill has lived in Minneapolis since she was 19. She and husband Dennis started out in the dairy business and eventually moved on to the balloon and party-supply operation they run now. They have always lived nearby. “It just made sense to work where you live,” Tuthill said. “Before anyone was talking about energy shortages, it just made sense to us to not commute.” She has a long history of community activism: She served several times on the board of directors for her neighborhood association, led efforts to clean alleys and preserve area homes and parks, and has participated in city development processes. She has also spent much of her spare time volunteering in Minneapolis Public Schools.
Note: An earlier version of this story ran in the Dec. 29 Southwest Journal.
ABOUT MEG TUTHILL
Age: 60 Occupation: co-owner, Tuthill’s Balloon Emporium Family: husband, Dennis; three grown children, Carmen, Mitch and Matthew Neighborhood: The Wedge Governmental/personal experience: founding member, Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association; frequent neighborhood voice at City Council committees; 30-year volunteer at Minneapolis Public Schools; founding member, South Hennepin Business Association Endorsements: DFL Feminist Caucus, Stonewall DFL Website: www.megtuthill.com Phone: 377-3123, 377-4011 E-mail: megfor10thward@gmail.com Party: Seeking DFL endorsement
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