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For several months, Council Members have been approached by numerous members of the community and city staff with concerns about mismanagement of the Neighborhood Safety Department. I have taken these concerns extremely seriously. As the Chair of the Administration and Enterprise Oversight (AEO) Committee, I have a responsibility to ensure that Council is using our oversight function to ensure that the administration is delivering services equitably, efficiently, and in alignment with city policy frameworks. Unarmed public safety services are a critical part of the city’s public safety ecosystem. This means when the city fails to administer the programs according to policy and national best practices, public safety services are undermined across the city and residents are put in unnecessary danger. These programs are critical, and it is unacceptable for potential mismanagement to go unaddressed when concerns have broadened to not just contractors, but governmental partners, and national groups. I am committed to working with the administration, my colleagues on Council, and legislative staff to address these concerns in the following ways:
- Earlier this year, I authored a legislative directive about mismanagement in the Office of Community Safety, the Office that houses Neighborhood Safety. I wrote this legislative directive in response to conflicting information given to the Council by the administration on the department’s capacity and need for support. This coincided with a number of community groups citing concerns about the department failing to pay contracts for unarmed safety workers in a timely manner. The presentation on that legislative directive is this Monday, April 29th at 1:30pm in the Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee. I encourage everyone to watch the presentation as we discuss previous challenges and steps that have been taken to address them.
- Last week, Council Member Chavez and myself, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Public Health and Safety (PHS) Committee, wrote a memo to Mayor Frey outlining our concerns and requested a response and offered our support in taking immediate corrective actions to ensure the city is not negatively impacting the delivery of public safety services. In response to this memo, we will be meeting with Mayor Frey and President Payne to discuss our concerns and next steps.
- Council Member Chavez and I have met with the Audit Department to discuss procedural options for situations where there are allegations of fraud, waste, or abuse. This meeting also reinforced the need for the Council to have access to nonpartisan staff who can provide effective assistance in supporting the Council in our oversight roles. We learned about a number of options at said meeting and are currently exploring them further.
I remain committed to ensuring to my authority on Council to ensure that the Neighborhood Safety Department is effectively and efficiently delivering high-quality unarmed public safety services to the public.
Key votes: No votes taken.
Mayor Frey asked Council to vote in support of his proposal to put an Election and Voter Services (EVS) center in the former 3rd Precinct building at 3000 Minnehaha. I and the majority of my colleagues voted against the concept plan.
Two years ago, I led the Council to allocate funding for community engagement. For the past two years, it has been extremely disappointing to watch the administration use this funding to conduct misdirected community engagement and fail to attend numerous community meetings held by various stakeholders surrounding the former 3rd Precinct. As a result, the Mayor’s proposal is completely out of line with what residents have been asking for. I have heard the community’s frustration at this disconnect and voted against the concept plan.
Community members continue to work together on proposals that reflect their priorities for the site. The Longfellow Community Council conducted engagement which found that residents prioritized using the building for social services, a memorial, a Black cultural center, or green space. Residents are working with state legislators on funding for a Black Cultural Arts Center.
The administration needs to engage with residents on the future of this site, and cannot do that with a predetermined plan for an Election and Voter Services center as the predetermined outcome.
Instead, Council Member Chavez and I wrote a legislative directive that aims to fill in the gaps in Mayor Frey’s proposal to turn 3000 Minnehaha into an EVS center. The legislative asks:
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Explanation of how future engagement at Minnehaha 3000 will integrate truth, healing, and reconciliation and other recommendations that were provided in the 3rd Precinct Engagement report. As of now, leadership and staff in the Mayor’s administration have shared that they likely may delay Truth and Reconciliation efforts to 2025, despite the fact that Council allocated significant funding to this work last December so that we could guarantee residents deliverables this year. Truth and Reconciliation cannot wait until 2025, and it must accompany redevelopment efforts for 3000 Minnehaha.
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An overview of past projects involving City land or former City property that have or are in the process of being developed into community-centered projects. The city has partnered and developed community-centered projects that show that there are a multitude of ways that the city can approach this site. We’ve seen the outcomes of rubber-stamping city-mandated projects that do not have the buy-in of residents, especially those most impacted, and that would likely generate intended and/or unintended harm. A key example is the Roof Depot building, where the Mayor attempted to push forward a proposal that had essentially zero community support and that would cause more environmental harm to an over-polluted community. After a 10 year struggle, the community successfully blocked the city’s proposal and are now able to focus on developing the Roof Depot building into the community-created East Phillips Urban Farm. City leaders ended up wasting a lot of time and money opposing the community vision for the site. Instead of repeating that mistake, I want to make sure that the redevelopment of 3000 Minnehaha is community-led, not city-led.
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An analysis of the existing space(s) for the Elections & Voter Services Division and the options for relocating those functions to a new location or other City properties. The legislative directive also asks for short-term opportunities to increase and maximize voter turnout, such as voter pop-ups. A presentation by city staff highlighted the areas of low voter turnout, which also reinforced that 3000 Minnehaha is not the right place for an EVS center if the stated goal is placement in an area to increase local democracy. I am strongly supportive of finding a permanent home for our EVS workers and voters. The lease for our current Election and Voter Services division location expires in 2029, which leaves staff and council plenty of time to scope potential sites in the next several months. Despite how the administration is approaching this conversation, the Council has demonstrated through the support of the legislative directive that we can both strengthen our local democracy and honor the wishes of local residents and their community vision for 3000 Minnehaha.
Key votes: Council voted 7-6 against the concept plan for an Election and Voter Services center at the former 3rd Precinct. Council voted 9-4 in support of the legislative directive on truth and reconciliation and ownership options for the former 3rd Precinct, and analysis of other options for Election and Voter Services.
The Minneapolis City Council passed a comprehensive amendment to the tobacco ordinance April 25. The amendment makes the minimum per-pack price of cigarettes one of the highest in the country and ends price discounts. It focuses on reducing health disparities and on youth initiation of commercial tobacco products, and it protects the health of the city’s residents as a whole.
My colleagues and I had a number of questions and amendments about the regulations, which played out during over an hour of discussion at the City Council meeting. One key piece of discussion focused on the city’s only existing cigar lounge, which is located in Uptown. The conclusion was a vote to allow the lounge to continue its current operation through the end of this year, at which point there will be a limitation that customers can only sample products for 15 minutes of every hour. I brought forward an amendment to remove language that explicitly prohibited sitting out of concerns for accessibility to all residents of different physical needs.
The ordinance does not in any way restrict vapes or e-cigarettes. Council discussed how these products are used much more widely amongst young people than traditional cigarettes, and how there is a need to regulate these products as well to dissuade potential new users.
The ordinance includes:
- Increasing the minimum per-pack price of cigarettes and other commercial tobacco products to $15.
- Ending price discounts and coupons for commercial tobacco products.
- Increasing the penalties for licensees that violate City policy.
- Ending the sampling “loophole” for any new commercial tobacco products shop.
An increase in prices is known to decrease commercial tobacco use.
- For every 10% increase in the price of cigarettes, adult smoking decreases by 3-5% and youth smoking decreases by 6-7%.
- An increase in price leads to more attempts to quit.
- Calls to quit lines increase when prices increase.
- A study that looked at raising the state-level minimum price of cigarettes by an average of $2 per pack projected a resulting reduction in cigarette consumption by 15.9%.
Key votes: Council unanimously approves tobacco ordinance.
Council Members Chavez, Osman and I are bringing forward policies to add data disclosure and fare transparency to the city’s requirements for rideshare companies. These requirements help riders, drivers, and the city have the basic information needed to enforce the minimum compensation policy.
Council Members Chowdhury, Cashman, and Payne amended our introduction to include the option to change compensation rates. I have consistently stated that any changes to the compensation rates should be motivated by data, rather than pressure from corporations trying to protect their profits. There is not any new data indicating that the current rates in the Minneapolis ordinance are incorrect. I am grateful for the several new rideshare companies who have decided to start services in Minneapolis in response to our ordinance that guarantees minimum wage equivalent for drivers.
Council continues to stay in close conversation with our state legislature, encouraging them to pass a statewide policy to complement our policy in Minneapolis. Later today, leaders of the state legislature and a representative from the Governor’s office are meeting with me, Council Vice President Chughtai, and Intergovernmental Relations Chair Chowdhury to learn more about the current status of state legislation.
Key votes: Council votes unanimously to introduce and refer subject matter related to enforcement of minimum compensation rates, and determining minimum compensation rates.
Council authored an honorary resolution in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). We honored many of the leaders in our community who are doing the incredibly hard and meaningful work of raising awareness, preventing sexual assault, and supporting healing spaces for survivors. My office brought students who are leading sexual assault prevention work on campus to receive the award and heard comments from Mariam Hassan, chair of the Sexaul Assault Task Force. Thank you to all those doing this crucial work in our communities.
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My office nominated Glendale Townhomes for historic designation. Glendale is the only townhome style public housing in the city of Minneapolis, and has a rich history. It was nominated for historic designation by former Ward 2 Council Member Cam Gordon, but did not ultimately receive designation. Following requests by residents of Glendale and members of the Prospect Park community, my office resubmitted the nomination. The application has been accepted and will be heard at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting on June 4th.
Key votes: No votes taken.
The City is recruiting members for a newly formed African American Heritage Work Group. This body will serve as an advisory board to the City Council on efforts to document and honor African American history. Community members who are knowledgeable on the topic of African American heritage are encouraged to apply by May 12.
Up to 15 community members will be included in the work group: 13 to be appointed by council members and two by the mayor. The work group will advise on the selection of 25 properties associated with Black history in the city to be surveyed for inclusion in a Minneapolis African American Historic and Cultural Context Study. At least three properties will eventually be nominated by the City for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
The African American Heritage Work Group will meet approximately every one to two months between July 2024 and June 2025. The meetings will be organized by City staff and will be open to the public. The group will be asked to suggest relevant research materials; advise on the properties to be surveyed for the context study; review draft reports; and make recommendations about next steps. After the work group concludes, staff will report to City Council on the group’s activities and recommendations.
For more information about the African American Historic and Cultural Context Study, visit the City website.
Potential applicants can find more information about the African American Heritage Work Group by calling 612-673-2216 or emailing lims@minneapolismn.gov.
- Many student loan borrowers who are on an income-driven repayment plan or are working towards public service loan forgiveness (PSLF) have been in repayment for years, sometimes decades, and should otherwise qualify for forgiveness under one of these programs, however not all of their time in repayment has counted toward forgiveness. As a result, countless borrowers have been delayed in getting the debt relief they are due. The Biden Administration is taking steps to fix this problem by doing a “payment count adjustment.” During this adjustment, the Department will review borrower’s accounts and will credit borrowers for months in repayment that had previously not counted toward forgiveness. But there’s an important upcoming deadline for borrowers in order to take full advantage of the upcoming payment count adjustment.
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Federal student loan borrowers with commercially held FFEL or Perkins loans need to apply to consolidate those loans by April 30, 2024 in order to fully benefit from the payment count adjustment. Once those loans are consolidated, borrowers will see their progress toward forgiveness update automatically, and for many borrowers this could result in their debt being forgiven in its entirety. Most consolidation applications take at least 60 days to process, but it could take longer, so applications should be submitted as soon as possible.
- Information on the payment count adjustment can be found here, and borrowers can submit their application to consolidate at studentaid.gov/loan-consolidation/
FASA Information from the State of Minnesota: The FAFSA has been revamped for the first time in 40 years and is designed to help more students qualify for federal aid.
- 7.1 MILLION total students expected to be eligible for Pell Grants
- 665,000 more students will receive Federal Pell Grants
- Over 1.7 million more students will receive the maximum Pell Grant
- All students will be able to access the maximum financial aid for which they are eligible
It is not too late to file the 2024-2025 FAFSA or the Minnesota Dream Act Application to receive financial aid for the 2024-2025 academic year. There are many financial aid opportunities at the federal, state and school level to help pay for college or trade school this fall. The Office of Higher Education (OHE) Financial Aid staff can assist with general application or process questions. Students can contact 651-642-0567 (Option 2) if they have questions. The line is answered Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Students and families may also watch the recordings of the Ready, Set, FAFSA! Webinar series offered by OHE earlier this year. The series was created specifically for students and families to help them prepare for the college-going process.
There has been a very concerning string of assaults and robberies in Dinkytown, Marcy Holmes, and around the University of Minnesota. My office is working closely with MPD, UMPD, students and University. Immediate actions steps that MPD and UMPD will be taking will involve increasing patrol presence around the impacted areas. Today, another meeting was held to discuss other action steps, to which my office will share updates on next week.
Hundreds of University of Minnesota students have formed encampments and marched demanding that the U divest from the state of Israel in protest of the genocide in Gaza. This is part of a protest movement at dozens of college campuses across the country. I stand in solidarity with students protesting for justice in Palestine and urge the University to honor these students' rights to free speech.
I was honored to speak at a panel organized by the Humphrey School of Public Policy alongside my colleagues Council Member Chavez and Council President Payne, and our colleagues from across the river in Saint Paul Council Members Bowie and Johnson. It was a great opportunity to share our experiences and speak with young policy leaders in our community.
I toured the University of Minnesota food pantry. The food pantry provides thousands of healthy meals and groceries to students and helps address campus food insecurity.
The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Educators are bargaining for contracts to ensure that all educational professionals have fair compensation and dignity on the job. Educators’ work conditions are student learning conditions, and our students succeed when their educators succeed.
Negotiations were stalling until the union called for a strike authorization vote earlier this week, after which the union and the district reached a tentative agreement on a contract for teachers. There is still no tentative agreement for educational support professionals (ESPs), a disproportionately BIPOC and female workforce who are also crucial to student success. I urge the district to negotiate a fair contract for ESPs as well as teachers.
Contact Ward 2
Visit: minneapolismn.gov/ward2
Email: ward2@minneapolismn.gov
Phone: 612-673-2202
We've moved while work is being done in City Hall. Our office is in:
Room 100, Public Service Center
250 South 4th St.
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For reasonable accommodations or alternative format please contact 311. People who are deaf or hard of hearing can use a relay service to call 311 at 612-673-3000. TTY users call 612-263-6850. Para ayuda, llame al 311. Rau kev pab 311. Hadii aad Caawimaad u baahantahay wac 311. |
