Responsible Fargo.

Responsible Fargo. Empowering Fargo residents to advocate for a city government that is representative, transparent, and responsible. Inquiries: [email protected]

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What’s in the binder? Wrong answers only.
08/31/2026

What’s in the binder? Wrong answers only.

Let’s be honest about this. Fargo’s restrictive liquor-licensing system isn’t a free market. It’s scarcity created and m...
08/26/2026

Let’s be honest about this. Fargo’s restrictive liquor-licensing system isn’t a free market. It’s scarcity created and maintained by municipal policy.

When City Hall decides only so many licenses can exist, existing license holders don’t just get permission to operate. They get protection from future competition. An aspiring entrepreneur can have the capital, location, concept and customers ready, but none of that matters if Fargo’s licensing structure won’t let them through the door.

And look where that scarcity has led.

Ownership concentration across Fargo’s more restrictive license classes is hard to miss. The same ownership interests appear repeatedly across licenses already scarce by design, while new entrepreneurs face unnecessary barriers to enter the market. Maybe that’s coincidence. Or, maybe it’s exactly what you’d expect when City Hall limits supply and existing license holders benefit from scarcity.

Don’t believe it? Submit an open records request to the Fargo City Auditor’s Office, review ownership records yourself, and proclaim this “wrong.”

Nobody’s saying those businesses did anything improper. But why should the Liquor Control Board have so much power over access to a market where scarcity increases incumbent value?

If competition is restricted by design, calling this “free enterprise” seems generous.

Several U.S. cities are seeing citizen-led efforts to ban or restrict automated license plate readers (ALPRs), including...
08/26/2026

Several U.S. cities are seeing citizen-led efforts to ban or restrict automated license plate readers (ALPRs), including Flock Safety cameras.

In Auburn, Maine, residents submitted more than 1,800 signatures for a citizen initiative banning Flock cameras. The city clerk certified 1,647 signatures, exceeding the requirement. The City Council must now either adopt the ordinance or send it to voters in a special election.

In Huntington, West Virginia, residents launched the “Get the Flock Out” ballot initiative after the City Council approved a $2.1 million Flock surveillance system. Organizers are collecting signatures for an ordinance that would prohibit third-party mass-surveillance systems and void the city’s Flock contracts.

In Wilder, Idaho, a citizen petition seeking to prohibit ALPRs and other surveillance technology collected enough valid signatures to advance through the municipal initiative process.

These campaigns show that residents can use the local initiative process to put surveillance policy directly before voters.

Would Fargo residents support a citizen-led ballot initiative to ban ALPR cameras in Fargo, North Dakota?

Fargo City Commissioner Michelle Turnberg calling Tim Mahoney’s roughly $38,000/year Fargo Cass Public Health contract “...
08/21/2026

Fargo City Commissioner Michelle Turnberg calling Tim Mahoney’s roughly $38,000/year Fargo Cass Public Health contract “cronyism” would carry more weight if she showed the same outrage toward the much larger favors City Hall has showered on Downtown Fargo for decades. Try counting the zeros.

Fargo has stacked Renaissance Zone exemptions, PILOTs, TIFs and other incentives to steer development into one favored business district. The City’s own planning documents acknowledge that stacking incentives helped fuel Downtown’s “resurgence”.

Then there are the parking ramps. Fargo’s 2025 Downtown Parking Study showed a $558,009 operating loss based on 2024 financials, while repayment timelines for publicly backed parking investments can stretch multiple decades.

And let’s not forget openly advocating for the Downtown convention center. Calling it a “$40 million project” is laughable. Financing assumptions contemplated roughly $41.2 million in 25-year bonds at 6% interest, putting principal and interest near $80 million before additional subsidies, operating costs or future capital expenses.

But apparently $38,000/year is where Michelle suddenly discovers “cronyism.” Please. Give me a break.

For more than 20 years, Fargo’s commission-style government has poured extraordinary attention, incentives and financing into Downtown, and it still dominates City Hall’s agenda.

Apparently “cronyism” depends on who’s spending Michelle is talking about.

DEVELOPING: Black Coffee and Waffle Bar in downtown Fargo is reportedly facing financial difficulties….
08/16/2026

DEVELOPING: Black Coffee and Waffle Bar in downtown Fargo is reportedly facing financial difficulties….

Wow, who saw this coming? Gov. Kelly Armstrong is asking the right questions about Flock cameras. Public safety matters,...
08/13/2026

Wow, who saw this coming?

Gov. Kelly Armstrong is asking the right questions about Flock cameras. Public safety matters, but so does privacy.

If law enforcement has access to a system capable of tracking vehicles across a community, then residents deserve to know exactly who can access it, why they can access it, how searches are documented, and what safeguards exist against misuse. Are monthly audits alone really enough?

Technology like this shouldn’t operate on a simple “trust us” standard. If Flock cameras are going to remain part of public safety infrastructure, clear policies, strict access controls, meaningful oversight, and transparency should be the bare minimum.

The question isn’t whether the technology can be useful. It’s whether government has put enough guardrails around something this powerful.

08/11/2026

The founder of grassroots group and page Fargo First has an interesting message for South Fargo residents: they “100% back this ward system.”

Do you agree that South Fargo would benefit from having its own direct representation at City Hall?

WATCH 🎥

Leon Francis

At some point, you have to wonder whether the opposition can make a serious argument against neighborhood representation...
08/10/2026

At some point, you have to wonder whether the opposition can make a serious argument against neighborhood representation itself. So far, much of the criticism has focused on the special election and why it isn’t simply being folded into November. That sounds like a fair procedural question until you read the law: state law requires the special election.

NDCC 40-04-10 requires the governing body to call a special election within 60 to 90 days after a sufficient petition to change from the commission form is certified. This isn’t a scheduling gimmick or some procedural tactic being used by people with an agenda. It’s literally what state law requires.

The credibility problem gets worse when some of the same people telling everyone else to “do your own research” are proposing city primaries, hybrid ward-at-large systems, or simply moving city elections to November without first checking whether those options are even allowed under state law. Guess what? None of those alternatives are allowed.

Maybe it’s time to debate the actual question:

Should Fargo neighborhoods have direct, geographically accountable representation at City Hall?

Vote YES on October 6.

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