Gary Dean Zimmermann is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

 and member of the Green Party of Minnesota

Green Party of Minnesota

The Green Party of Minnesota is the fourth largest political party in Minnesota and was founded in 1994 on the Four Pillars of the Green Party: Ecological Wisdom, Social and Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, and Nonviolence and Peace...

 in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. He was an elected member of the Minneapolis City Council

Minneapolis City Council

The Minneapolis City Council is the governing body of the City of Minneapolis. The City Council is composed of 13 single member districts, called wards. Barbara Johnson is president of the council. The council is dominated by members of the DFL Party with 12 members. The Green Party has one member...

 from 2001 to 2005. Before that, Zimmermann initially served on the Minneapolis Park Board as a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party

Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party

The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is a major political party in the state of Minnesota and the state affiliate of the Democratic Party. It was created on April 15, 1944, with the merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer–Labor Party...

.

Dean Zimmermann was convicted August 10, 2006 in federal court of accepting bribes in connection with his official duties. He was found guilty on three counts of accepting cash from a local real estate developer who had business before the City Council of Minneapolis.

In December 2006, Zimmermann was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his felony convictions and served his sentence in the minimum security wing of the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood in Littleton, Colorado. Zimmermann was released from prison in July 2008 and returned to Minneapolis.

Dean Zimmermann has been an outspoken proponent of personal rapid transit

Personal rapid transit

Personal rapid transit , also called podcar, is a public transportation mode featuring small automated vehicles operating on a network of specially built guide ways...

 (PRT). He developed a proposal to build a PRT system in Minneapolis consisting of 31 miles of track and 68 stations. Zimmermann "teamed up" with Minnesota State Representative Mark Douglas Olson

Mark Douglas Olson

Mark Douglas Olson was a Minnesota state legislator representing House District 16B. First elected in 1992, he served until his term expired in January 2009. Notably, after his re-election in 2006 Olson was arrested and subsequently convicted of one of two fifth degree domestic assault charges...

, a Republican from Big Lake, Minnesota

Big Lake, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,063 people, 2,117 households, and 1,570 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,688.4 people per square mile . There were 2,206 housing units at an average density of 614.3 per square mile...

, to promote PRT in the media.