2022, Overachievers: Steve Cramer took over the Minneapolis Downtown Council eight years ago, with an eye toward reinforcing downtown’s renaissance, but has spent much of his tenure advocating for basic needs—initially safety and security, and for the last two years, downtown’s very survival. Downtown Minneapolis remains among the most shuttered in the nation, the legacy of post-George Floyd civil unrest, police shortages, and a Fortune 500 corporate sector steadfastly unwilling to reopen offices. His current goals are focused around a January inflection point, when those large companies have stated they will turn the lights back on. “It’s the key to reanimating downtown,” he says. The MDC’s 2022 will contain more “reanimation initiatives,” and despite the Sisyphean nature of his job, Cramer says he has no plan to pack things up. 

2017 Hopefuls: Minneapolis pol turned public-minded inside player, Steve Cramer seems destined for a long run at the influential council, which may not run downtown, but certainly pays the freight. The downtown apartment boom and countless new stadia are gifts that uniquely benefit downtown and the council, which largely represents the business community’s interests (and funds the Downtown Improvement District), will reap the benefits of all the dynamism they create. Yet Cramer will see his mettle tested on the ambitious reinvention of Nicollet Mall and the unending quest to add vitality to downtown’s skyway-riddled streetscape.