Read on Twitter
Minneapolis City Council starts amending the 2021 budget now. Goes until 4 pm. They won't finish today.
Amendment from Cunningham, Bender, and Fletcher.
Council President Bender: "these are real and specific proposals that are ready to go next year." There's more to do, but this is what's ready and in need of investment.
Council President Bender: "these are real and specific proposals that are ready to go next year." There's more to do, but this is what's ready and in need of investment.
Regarding overtime, this is how they plan to use the City Council's budget power to hold MPD accountable. Holding $8 million in a reserve fund that can be released if the Chief comes to the council with a plan.
Steve Fletcher: "Believe me I am frustrated that I don't have a lot more." But these are the things that are ready to go. Mental health crisis response teams implemented. Training 911 operators to effectively triage mental health calls. Taking more report-only calls out of 911.
Fletcher: The 750 officer "authorized strength" is a reflection of where we are now, it's not a cut.
Bender: Same number of officers in 2021 as the mayor's budget.
Bender: Same number of officers in 2021 as the mayor's budget.
Bender: This is a very moderate, very incremental, practical plan. We didn't take the approach of bringing something we didn't think people would support, that could be negotiated back. This is the time to make good on our commitments to move work out of MPD.
Gordon: "This is the both/and that people have been asking for."
Cam Gordon talking about a time before paramedics. Someone had to invent a way to get injured people safely to the hospital rather than relying on police.
Jeremiah Ellison: "This is the bare minimum, the baseline of what we should be seeing." Time that we decide to invest in these programs. Stop imagining that these things will manifest some day "out of the ether, by accident maybe." Time to stop relying on a policing-only model.
Ellison: This isn't about who thinks the problem is really bad and who doesn't. This is about what's going to work to make people safe. Some on the council have resigned themselves to the idea that the occasional police killing is the cost of doing business for public safety.
Here's Ellison in the Star Tribune today: "Conventional wisdom has produced chaos and injustice in Minneapolis" https://www.startribune.com/conventional-wisdom-has-produced-chaos-and-injustice-in-minneapolis/573269511/
Ellison: The way budgets work is, if you do something in the economic development realm you take it from that pool of money. If you're going to do something in the public safety realm, you take it from that pool of money.
Palmisano: Never heard it from any council members that police killings are the cost of doing business. Never heard anyone say that.
Ellison: We say it with our actions.
Palmisano: We disagree on the source of the money.
Ellison: We say it with our actions.
Palmisano: We disagree on the source of the money.
Osman: "If an individual is having a mental health crisis, they need help, not the police." Police are not helpful. "We have to find an alternative way."
We need more research. "Taking money from MPD is not going to solve the problem of mental health." We disagree on the source.
We need more research. "Taking money from MPD is not going to solve the problem of mental health." We disagree on the source.
Andrea Jenkins: "I try to assume the best intentions from everybody until they prove me wrong. I hope we can all be as thoughtful as that. I stepped into public service not to have an idea that the cost of doing business is the loss of life."
