👋 Welcome back! Hope you got outdoors over the weekend.

• Partly sunny with highs in the low 80s, per NWS.

🦅 Sounds like: "Fly Like an Eagle" by the Steve Miller Band.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Sandy Smith!

Today's newsletter is 1,034 words — a 3.5-minute read

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is pressuring the city’s semi-independent Park Board to trim its budget for next year.

Why it matters: Minneapolis’ parks are the city’s crown jewels, and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board says further cuts to its staff would jeopardize the maintenance of the city’s greenspaces, rec centers, parkways and trails.

Yes, but: The mayor’s budget already calls for one of the largest property tax levy increases in the city’s modern history (11.3%).

• And taxpayers would face an even bigger hike (11.9%) if Park Board members get all they're asking for.

The big picture: Minneapolis is the only major city in the U.S. with an elected Park Board, and some of its members are tired of these annual budget clashes with the mayor.

• They’re also concerned that after years of this back-and-forth, the parks’ share of city revenues has slowly eroded to something less than equitable.

What they’re saying: “It’s an attack on the Park Board, and it's an attack on our autonomy,” Park Board VP Kedar Deshpande tells Axios.

The other side: Frey says he supports Park Board independence, which he believes protects the parks as a civic asset.

• But “every other department in the city found efficiencies” to lower the levy increase — and now, he contends, it’s the Park Board’s turn.

Zoom in: In his budget proposal, Frey pushed parks officials to increase their portion of the property tax levy by 2.5% — effectively, a $3.1 million cut to the parks’ roughly $160 million budget.

• “I will negotiate up from the 2.5%,” Frey tells Axios. “I am hopeful that they will negotiate down” from their current request for a 5.86% park levy increase.
• The mayor believes the Park Board could save money by exploring “common sense” moves to eliminate overlap with the city: “Why do we need two payroll departments? Why do we need two IT departments?”

Friction points: A similar attempt at consolidation with the city failed in the early 2000s, park officials say — and while Park Board president Tom Olsen is open to exploring it again in the long term, he tells Axios it isn’t a short-term budget fix.

• “The city is fixated on pennies on the dollar rather than the root causes of the overages in their budget,” Deshpande adds.

What we’re watching: The arbiter of this dispute is the city’s Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET), which sets the city’s maximum property tax levy.

• BET member Steve Brandt has called the mayor’s park levy request “unrealistic” and BET member Eric Harris Bernstein says he supports the park board’s proposal.

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PSA: Get out and enjoy the daylight while you can.

What's happening: This week, Twin Cities communities will see their final 8pm sunsets of the year.

• The east metro has until tomorrow to enjoy daylight until 8pm.
• St. Paul's last day to catch post-8pm sunrays is Wednesday — and Minneapolis follows on Thursday.

The bottom line: It's time to get through your summer bucket list!

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📸 St. Paul Council President Rebecca Noecker plans to introduce a resolution calling on the city and county to end contracts with Flock over concerns about how data collected by the automated plate readers are used. (WCCO)

• Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher says the city would "become a much more dangerous place" without the technology, which he credits with helping reduce car thefts.

👮‍♀️ As a growing number of cities pull back on the technology, Anoka's sheriff signed a new contract for dozens of Flock cameras and drones. (Sahan Journal)

• Several DFL legislators just announced plans to revive legislation to regulate the automated plate leaders statewide.

Police say there's "no known connection" between the four bodies found near Minneapolis bodies of water over the span of five days. (Star Tribune)

🍽️ The Gnome in St. Paul and Bar Brava in Minneapolis both closed late last week.

🚔 Minneapolis police arrested a far-right activist following clashes at a protest he staged downtown. (WCCO)

We're grateful to have readers like you who value staying informed about what's happening in your community.

Why it matters: Your readership helps make local journalism part of the daily conversation, and a membership is another way to show your support.

🫶 Become a member today. You'll help us continue delivering clear, trustworthy reporting focused on the place you call home.

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👋 Audrey here! For the last five years, I've been the one choosing what new Minnesota State Fair foods the Axios Twin Cities team should try on day one of the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

This year, we decided to give you, our readers, the power to decide what we taste-test.

• ➡️ Click here to take our survey and pick which State Fair foods we should try.

Is there a new flavor combo you're particularly curious about? Or maybe you're wondering if a hot new food will be worth the wait (in line).

• 🤮 And of course, some of you might just feel like torturing us by telling us to taste-test something that you think looks gross!

Go vote!

If banana-flavored drinks are skyrocketing in popularity — as we wrote about last week — Axios reader Jan Unstad figures her old boss, former U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz, was "ahead of his time."

Unstad sent us this pic of Boschwitz at the 1984 State Fair offering banana milk for 20¢ a glass at his "Rudy's Super Duper Milk House" booth on Dan Patch Avenue.

We'd also point out that "root beer milk" also sounds an awful lot like a forerunner to dirty soda — another current trend.

• Jan tells us they'd trade their root beer milk for some cheese curds from the booth next door.

The bottom line: Boschwitz had success in politics and the home improvement industry, but maybe he should've gone into the beverage business.

🤿 Kyle thanks his aunt and uncle for hosting a super fun pool party!

🍳 Torey is still thinking about the Cafe Alma breakfast sandwich her husband and son brought back from their Saturday morning pastry run!

🫣 Audrey would like to apologize to her father for bailing on yard work this weekend.

🏈 Nick, who is still on sabbatical, probably has a take on the Vikings' 13-3 loss to the Ravens in Saturday's preseason opener.

Today's newsletter was edited by Larry Graham.