By Elizabeth Shaffer, Ward 7 City Council Member
This week the City Council made front page news in the Minnesota Star Tribune. Not because we passed $2.8 million in additional emergency rental assistance. Not because we debated approving the purchase of a site in south Minneapolis for a new training and wellness facility for our first responders. And not because the council upheld the Mayor’s veto of temporarily extending the pre-eviction notice period from 30 to 60 days.
No, it was for matters far less substantive, but highly illustrative of how out-of-touch the council is from its core responsibilities. The article’s subheading is a pitch-perfect distillation of what frustrates so many residents about the dynamics of local politics: “While debating whether to normalize relations with Cuba and urge Europe to stop doing business with Homeland Security, acrimony broke out among council members.”
Did you catch that? The cause of our rancor was a debate about foreign policy and lobbying European financial institutions. Is any of that going to bring more jobs and housing to our city? Lower your property taxes? Make our streets safer? The answer, of course, is no.
During the last election, I heard something consistent from residents across Ward 7: they are tired of a city council that performs for an imagined global audience while the pressing, day-to-day concerns of actual Minneapolitans — public safety, affordability, economic vitality, basic livability — are treated as boring afterthoughts.
City Council fiddles, while Uptown — proverbially — burns.
In the midst of the furor, I was attempting to describe what I understand to be the core job of City Council: enacting ordinances that govern our city, creating policies that direct city operations, managing city finances, and engaging residents in decision-making. That’s the job description. It’s a big job.
Watch my direct comments here (Editors note: This is worth the 2 minutes):
I don’t think national and global events are irrelevant to our work. They’re not. Decisions made in Washington or Brussels or St. Paul shape what’s possible here. But there’s a difference between understanding that context and thinking our job is to weigh in on every global development. When we pass resolutions about matters entirely outside our authority — as the council has gotten in the habit of doing — we don’t amplify our voice, we dilute it. We signal that we think the world is listening to us, when the reality is that they are tuning us out.
And based on what we witnessed Thursday, I can’t blame anyone for doing that. Moving forward, I am committed to raising the level of decorum on the dais and sharpening the rigor of our discussion so that Minneapolitans can understand the real stakes of the substantive issues and challenges that will determine whether Minneapolis becomes a success story or a cautionary tale.
Bringing government together to work for Uptown
On Wednesday, March 25th I spearheaded an exciting meeting at the Fifth Precinct to bring leaders from a range of government agencies together to discuss new and coordinated strategies for addressing the challenges in Uptown, especially those related to unsheltered homelessness, open air drug use and drug dealing, crime, and overall livability concerns.
It was encouraging to hear the work that is already happening. MPD is now working more closely with staff at the Walker Library to address crimes they see occurring around their property. This coordination has already led to the apprehension of someone with an outstanding murder warrant.
In addition, law enforcement now has access to a location in the Rainbow building where MPD, Park Police, and Metro Transit police can have a more visible presence in the heart of Uptown to deter crime. This is thanks to the generosity of the building owner, and even Annunciation families who are bringing snacks to support the officers who drop in.
The Fifth Precinct has also implemented directed patrols focused on the Uptown and Stevens Square/Nicollet Avenue area. Two extra officers are spending roughly 5 hours a day split between these two focus areas, and have already made a number of arrests.
Faith Randall, the Fifth’s Crime Prevention Specialist has been working with local businesses and the Community Prosecutor on posting and enforcing trespassing notices, so that people who are coming to Uptown to cause problems are geographically restricted from being there. Everyone is welcome in Uptown, unless you’re there to cause trouble.
We were also joined by leaders from Hennepin County Opioid Response and the Minneapolis Department of Health. Commissioner Chaplin stated Minneapolis will start rolling out the Mobile Medical Unit to Uptown periodically, starting as soon as April. The Mobile Medical Unit will hopefully soon have approval to carry Brixadi, a drug which can help people get off of fentanyl and on the path toward sobriety by curbing withdrawal and cravings. County and City officials are committed to providing services in such a way that we are meeting people where they are and not just attracting more problematic behavior.
We agree that we can’t simply arrest our way out of this problem. Pairing social services with effective law enforcement combines compassion with respect for the rights of the general public.
Our gathering this week included other elected officials, law enforcement leadership from MPD, Park Police, and Metro Transit, representatives from the Mayor’s Office, Hennepin County Library security, the County’s opioid response team, the Minneapolis Health Department, Metro Transit community affairs, and CPED. This problem doesn’t belong to any one agency, and neither does the solution.
All of us have heard from residents, housing providers, and the business community that Uptown’s decline can no longer be overlooked.
This group will be meeting monthly, and we will be adding whomever we need to our group, including probation officers. With all of us coming together, the renaissance of Uptown isn’t something that will happen “someday,” but begins now.
Via Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer. This is an excerpt, view the entire newsletter here…
Thank you Ms Shaffer!
Thank you CM Shaffer. It’s refreshing to hear a CM that actually takes their job description seriously. We need more like you and less of the drama that’s been playing out with the DSA CM. It’s a shame that a council that is paid so much from our tax dollars gets so little accomplished. We have a city to repair. Let’s get on that shall we please?
Fantastic!
Thank you for your service and for the good news!
Excellent piece, and THAT video, great job CM Shaffer in trying to break it down for all. Now, just hoping that at least one of the Wonsley DSA voting block is actually listening to all of the feedback as they reread the description for the job that they have been brought it to do for this city. 🗣
On the issue of the training center, and all that anti cop activity that happened at the council meeting on Thurday, I so appreciated both Whiting and Osman’s vote on this. They may have understood that there are some financial issues to settle first, particularly related to the ICE siege, as we find our way through this recovery period, and that should happen first, so that any training facility, ( a project of this scale, intended to benefit all of our multiple community safety depts and divisions) can be viewed from a less burdened lens.