Resolution Opposing a National Registry

At the last full Council meeting of 2016, Council Member Reich moved a resolution opposing the creation of a national registry or surveillance based on ethnicity, national origin or religious affiliation. This resolution follows other recent City resolutions expressing solidarity with all people of Minneapolis and solidarity with the Muslim community.

Ward 1 residents Corein Brown and Mark Turbak initially brought the request for this resolution to Council Member Reich and they crafted much of the language. When Brown addressed the Council at the resolution presentation, she commented that "the majority of our newly immigrated countrymen and women did not come to the United States because they wanted to immigrate rather, they came here out of necessity, out of fear, and out of loss. Whether they remain here and become citizens or eventually are able to return home, at this time it is our responsibility to ensure that they are well cared for and that we do not add to the increase of fear and pain with unconstitutional measures like surveillance or registry."

Council Member's Message

As the City Council approaches the final days of budget setting for 2017, I believe it’s useful to highlight some aspects of this complex process. While the overall City budget is large, those dollars get broken down into specific department budgets. Each department is overseen by a Council committee that actively manages that department’s spending priorities and goals. Here is a small sample of the budgetary matters that I have been working on in the course of my committee work:

Transportation & Public Works

Due to our groundbreaking Streets & Parks funding agreement, the Public Works department is poised to significantly accelerate our infrastructure maintenance program beginning in 2017. This infusion of dollars will support the values we as a City have expressed through our Access Minneapolis Plan and our robust new Complete Streets Policy. Beyond that, the Public Works department will continue to have a key impact on sustainability in our City through their work on maintaining our water quality, innovating through stormwater infrastructure, and greening our City fleet.

Community Development & Regulatory Services

We have included significant resources for affordable housing projects and housing stabilization and these resources, such as the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, allow us to leverage additional dollars from outside resources and jurisdictional partners. The budget will also continue to support two important business support programs: B-TAP, the City’s business technical assistance program, and the newly-launched C-TAP, our co-op technical assistance program.

Public Safety, Civil Rights & Emergency Management

In addition to ensuring that we have a solid baseline of funding that supports the operations of the Second Precinct, I am particularly supportive of our funding for a new Co-Responder Pilot. This innovative program will pair Crisis-Intervention-trained police officers with mental health experts while responding to 911/CIT-related calls. This program, which was recommended by some strong community advocates as well as by the Police Conduct Oversight Commission (PCOC), offers significant promise as a de-escalation tool and I welcome its implementation, even as I encourage the Police Department to continue to seek new ways to foster a healthy community relationship.

There are still opportunities to make your voice heard on the City’s 2017 budget. In addition to the Dec. 7 public budget hearing at 6:05 in Room 317, City Hall, you can submit comments on the proposed budget online. All comments submitted online by 3 p.m. Dec. 6 will be entered into the public record and shared with the mayor and council members.

City Increases Support for Affordable Housing

The City Council has approved revisions to the City’s investment policy in an effort to help preserve affordable housing in Minneapolis.

The policy change allows the City to invest in mortgage backed securities where the underlying mortgages are for properties that are “naturally occurring affordable housing” (NOAH) properties in Minneapolis. Naturally occurring affordable housing generally refers to unsubsidized multifamily rental housing affordable to households with incomes at or below 60 percent of the area median income ($51,480 for a family of four.)

Rents in NOAH units average between $500 and $1,200 per month. Minneapolis has about 23 percent of these affordable units in the seven-county metro area, roughly 38,000 units. The strong real estate market has made these properties more attractive to investors and subsequently led to dramatically higher rents at many buildings and a displacement of tenants who can no longer afford these increased rents.

Investments in NOAH properties could help finance 800 to 1,100 rental housing units in Minneapolis, depending on purchase prices. The investments would be guaranteed by agencies of the federal government, which have strict underwriting criteria. The guarantee of the federal agencies is necessary to make the mortgages eligible investments under state law. The goal is to help NOAH property owners reduce rents for tenants and invest in additional capital improvements in buildings.

City Passes Resolutions Affirming One Minneapolis

The City Council and Mayor Betsy Hodges have passed three resolutions affirming the tenets of One Minneapolis. The first was a resolution condemning violence and hate speech, and expressing solidarity with Muslims and all those targeted for their ethnicity, race or religion. The resolution recognizes that the United States was founded by immigrants, many fleeing religious persecution, who enshrined freedom of religion as one of the nation’s fundamental legal and ethical principles.

The second resolution declared November to be Transgender Awareness Month. The vote by council members came two days before the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors the memory of those murdered because of anti-transgender prejudice.

The third was a resolution standing with all members of the one Minneapolis, rejecting the politics of division, bigotry, hate and fear. The resolution commits the City to fighting for the rights, freedoms and interests of all of the members of the Minneapolis community, no matter skin color, gender, the way of worship, birthplace, sexual orientation, or any other identity.

City Minimum Wage Update

The City Council is directing staff to review and bring back recommendations on increasing the minimum wage in Minneapolis by ordinance. The staff recommendations are to be returned to the Committee of the Whole in 2017.

The action directs staff to work with stakeholders, review policies from other cities, review and incorporate results from the forthcoming minimum wage study, and recommend a minimum wage policy to bring before the Committee of the Whole by the second quarter of 2017; and to formulate a plan for engagement to bring before the Committee of the Whole on or before Oct. 5, 2016.

The City first acted on minimum wages in April 2015 with a resolution committing the city to a study of the effects of establishing a minimum wage regionally and locally. The results of the minimum wage study are expected in September.

City of Minneapolis Passes Safe and Sick Time Ordinance

On May 27, 2016, the City Council passed the “Safe and Sick Time” ordinance which ensures paid safe and sick leave for most employees within the City of Minneapolis boundaries. The new ordinance will not take effect until July 1, 2017. This is the first ordinance of its kind in the State of Minnesota. Click HERE for more details and to read the ordinance itself.