Good morning everyone. My name
is elliot payne, president of
minneapolis city council.
before we convene our meeting,
we have the presentation of one
horary resolution recognizing
disability pride month. I'll
invite council member whiting to
give that presentation.
» Thank you. And I'll invite
our honored guests to come on
up, as well. Thank you.
u thank you for being here.
resolution for 2026 disability
pride month. Disability pride
month is celebrated in july to
acknowledge that the americans
with disabilities act of 1990
(ada) was signednto law on
july 26, 1990; and thousands of
resides who have disabilities
live, work, learn, and play in
the city of minneapolis; and
whereas: people with
disabilities are valued and
essential members of the city o
contributing to its economy,
arts, and sports communities; ad
whereas: people with
disabilities have intersectional
identities that improve
communities and enhance culture
thugh their lived experiences; d
whereas: the city of minneapoli
acknowledges the long history o
discrimination against
minneapolis residents with
disabilities and recognizes the
decades of activism and advocac
by the disability community,
including the city of
minneapolis's advisory commiee
on people with disabilities
which was established in 1976; d
whereas: the city of minneapoli
acknowledges that the lives of
people with disabilities are
rth celebrating this month and
every month, and that
protections under the ada must
be preserved for generations to
┘now, therefore, be it resolve┘
that the mayor and city council
do hereby recognize an
celebrate july 2026 as
disability pride month in the
city of minneapolis.
[ applause ]
thank you. And I'll pass it
over to our guests here. We
have our honored guest ken,
chair of our minneapolis
advisory committee on dability
disabilities. I'll pass
it over to ken to say a few
notes. Thank you, ken.
» Thank you. I'd like to
extend greetings from my
committee members that serve on
the minneapolis advisory
committee on pple with
disabilities. And I'm really
happy to report that as of last
year with the redesign of city
advisory boards and commissions,
we, for the first time in a
very, very, very long time had
full membership with a member
representing each of our seats.
we expect the same thing to
continue this year. So tt's
not done alone. That was done
by everyone, and especiallycoune
to the important work. I want
to just say just a couple of
words about people that live
with disabilities and the value
they bring. I don't need to
share -- you guys all kno that.
but it's really important that
we recognize and uphold our
values in ways that go beyond
just our daily work. And what
we each represent individually.
resolution sounds really simple,
right. Words get made, put on
paper, and they're nice words.
but the importance is what those
words mean. And it codifies
what we believes a city and as
an entity, a municipality that
reprents citizens of all
stripes and sizes and
conditions.
and for my, many, many years,
people with disabilities were
not visible. We were kept
separate. We were kept behind
the scenes. It was shameful.
there was a lot of negativity
attached to living with a
disability. Especially a
visible disability. But life
has changed. And we have e
edger manied -- emerged as our
rights have been restored and
focused on to make life as equal
as possible for everybody.
and because of that, we are
independent today. We're out
and about. I doubt you go
through ur day without seeing
somebody with a disability in
the community just in your daily
work. We're visible, we're
proud, and this resolution puts
all of that together and adds
the city of minneapolis, the
council members, and the mayor's
value of what people with
disabilities bring to all ofur
work. It makes our city better.
it makes us better as human
beings. And I'm so proud to be
representing the minneapolis
advisory committee on people
with disabilities, which, by the
way, celebrates its 50th year
of existence! As mayor frey
shared last night at our council
meeting, we're probably one of
the oldest and longest-standing
disability advisory committees
in a municipality in the u.s.
this is 50 years of accumulated
work! So I thank you. We
can't do this alone. We can't
make anybody do anything. We're
here to advise, and thank you
for putting the spotlight on
people with disabilities with
lived experience of disability
to help us all be a better city
and a better council and
better serve our citizens. I
appreciate being here and your
work and I want to lift that up.
thank you.
[ applause ]
» Thank you. I couldn't say it
better myself! Anthony, if you
have anything. Otherwise we can
take a picture over here. Zoe,
if you can note where you're at,
that would be perfect.
» Thank you everyone. At this
time, I'm going to call this
regular meeting of the city
council for july 16th to
order. The clerk will call the
roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Present.
» Council member warren.
» Present.
» Council member shaffer.
» Present.
» Council member wonsley.
» Is absent. Council member
chughtai is absent. Council
member whiting.
» Resent.
» Council memr chowdhury.
» Present.
» Council member stevenson.
» Present.
» Council member rainville.
» Present.
» Council member vetaw.
» Present.
» Council member palmisano.
» Present.
» Vice president osman. Is
absent. President payne.
» Present.
» 10 members present.
» L the record reflect we
have a q quorum. Let me
remind all that this meeting is
broadcast live to enable greater
public participation. The
broadcast includes real time
captioning as a means to
increase the accessibility of
our proceedings to the
community. All speakers need to
be mindful of the rate of our
speech. We ask all speakers to
moderate the speed and clarity
of their comments. I'll also
note we've been joined by
council members wonsley and vice
president osman. With that, the
agenda for today's meeting is
before us. Any amendments to
the agenda? May I have a motion
to adopt the agenda?
» So moved.
» Second.
» The clerk will call the
roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member yne.
» Aye.
» Shaffer.
» Aye.
» Wonsley.
» Aye.
» Whiting.
» Aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member' palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.>> there are 12 ayes. ?
» >>: that carries and the
agenda is adopted. And the next
item is acceptance of the
minutes from our regular meeting
of june 25th. May I have a
motion to accept the minute s .
.
» So moved.
» Second.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Warren.
» Aye.
» Shaff.
» Aye.
» Wonsley.
» Aye.
» Whiting.
» Aye.
» Chowdhury.
» Stevenson.
» Aye.
» Rainville.
» Aye.
» Vetaw.
» Aye.
» Palmisano
aye.
» V vice president osman and
president payne.
» Aye.
» We have the referral of
petitions, communications, and
reports from proper committees.
may I have tt motion, please.
» So moved.
» Second.
» Clerk will call the roll.
» Chavez.
» Aye.
» Warren.
» Aye.
» Shaffer.
» Ye.
» Wonsley.
» Aye.
» Whiting.
» Aye.
» Chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Stevenson.
» Aye.
» Rainville.
» Aye.
» Vetaw.
» Aye.
» Palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» 12 ayes.
» That carries and the matters
have been referred. The next
order of business is the
presentation of reports from our
standing committees, . Wll
begin with the report ofur
budget committee given by the
committee's vice chair, council
member shaffer.
» Thank you, mr. President.
the budget committee is bringing
forward one item. Item one
accepts 3w-6789 rny
discretionary community project
funding programs for evaluation
problem nature codes and proves
appropriation of funds to the
office of community safety.
I'll move approval of this
item.
» Council member shaffer has
moved approval of the committee
report. Any discussion? Seeing
ne. I'll ask the clerk to
call the roll.
» Chavez.
» Aye.
» Warren.
» Aye.
» Shaffer.
» Aye.
» Wonsley.
» Aye.
» Hiting.
» Aye.
» Chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Stevenson.
» Aye.
» Rainville.
» Aye.
» Vetaw.
» Aye.
» Palmisano.
» Aye.
» Osman.
» Aye
» President payne
» Aye.
» 12 ayes.
» That carries and the report
is adopted. Next we have the
report of the business, housing
with and zoning committee given
by the chair, vice president
osman.
» Thank you, mr. President.
we're bringing 17 items forward
today. One approves a liquor
with limited entertainment
license for bill's bait shop.
two approves an extension of
premises and street cafe license
for bryant lake bowl. Item
three a wine and strong beer
with no entertainment license
for antojitos.
. Four approves a financing
for the grain exchange
conversion project. This item,
item five is variance appeal for
the property at 4710 sent
forward without recommendation.
six approves six liquor
licenses. Seven is approving 24
liquor license renewals. Eight
is two gambling licenses. Nine
is amended breakfast barf
mibar of minnesota. 10
is bid for minneapolis
convention center. 11 loan
restructure for jigija business
center. 12 is minneapolis homes
financing rehab project. 13
altdtive financing program. 14
is hennepin county housing and
redevelopment authority. 15 is
loan contract with metro con
issue chum of community
developers. 16 approves two
street vacation north of
franklin avenue west. And
lastly item 17 is a local
historic landmark destination
for the lakeshore arms
apartments. Sent forward
without recommendation. I'll
move for approval except for 5,
15, and 17. Thank you.
» Vice president osman has
moved approval of the committee
report minus items 5 and 15.
any discussion on the remainder
of the report? Cncil member
whiting.
» Thank you, president payne.
» And 17.
» I have to note, I'll have to
recuse myself from item number
15 for a personal conflict.
» Noted. Council member
chowdhury.
» Thank you, presidentayne.
I wanted to take a second to
highlight item number one. It's
a big dl for the restaurant to
come into the 12th ward. In
corner used to have chicago's
taste authority, which provided
a lot of activation in the area,
walkable area for community
members to come and walk in thee
bill's bail shop, a woman-owned
local business to come into the
neighborhood and to provide a
bar and karaoke and all the
activations is something that
has spread across the 12th
ward. People want me places
where they can walk at night to
grab a drink or hang with
friends. And I have never seen
so many e-mails and calls andtes
business. And any type of
business coming in. It
highlights how exciting it is
and how dynamic it will be for
the neighborhood. I wanted to
thank the business owner for
coming into the committee and I
so wanted to take some time to
thank the neighbors who reached
out to my oice in support of
this. And shared what they're
hoping for in the location.
» Seeing no one else left in
queue, I'll ask the clerk to
call the roll on committee
report minus items 5, 15, and
17.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Wren.
» Aye.
» Shaffer.
» Aye.
» Wonsley.
» Is absent. Council member
whiting.
» Aye.
» Chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Stevenson.
» Aye.
» Rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 11 ayes.
» That carries. Next we'll
take up item number 5, and I'll
recognize council member vetaw.
» Thank you, president payne.
I would just like to move to
grant the appeal submitted by
wayne behalf of family
partnership llp regarding the
decision of the zoning board of
adjustment denying the
application forhe variance
from the screening requirements
for refused and recycling
containers on the property
located 4710 humbolt avenue
north based on the findings you
should have it in front of you.
so I'd like to make that
motion.
» Second.
» That's been moved and
seconded. Any discussion?
seeing none. I'll ask the clerk
to call the roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» Aye
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye.
» Council membe chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» 11 ayes.
» That carries. Next we'll
take up item number 15. Is
there any further discussion on
this item? Seeing none I'll ask
the clerk to call the roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Ab contain.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President pay.
» Aye.
» 10 ayes and one abstention.
» That carries. Next up item
number 17 and I'll recognize
council memr shaffer.
» Thank you, president payne.
I'm making motion to deny this
designation for several reasons.
I'll take a few minutes to
outline that. While historic
p preservation is important
to me, and it should be to
everyone. This is a marginal
nomination of a property that's
not remotely unique. It happens
to be located, also, in a
transit corridor surrounded by
more dense multiunit housing.
this area is growing fast. And
while the current owner says
they have no plans currently to
redevelop the property, granting
this designation would forever
forclose the possibility in an
area rapidly growing two blocks
from the southwest light rail,
and is one of the city's bright
housing spots. Out of seven
significant criteria, only one
was found in the staff report in
lims. Reportedly embodies the
spanish style of the early
20th century. Nothing of
historical note happened here.
and it's not a unique resource.
the staff report alone documents
17 other properties throughout
the city by the same architect,
c.j. Bart in the same style,
from the exact same period,
1930s. It's not a unique
resource. The problem with this
nomination is that in order to,
quote, embody the style, it is
not enough to be simply one of
an example. But embodiment
means it should be a very good
to exceptional example. A
review of the quick review of
the staff report here shows that
it's not the case. Look at the
moorish mansion, for example.
this is an average to below
building on the docket here
today in environment where many
other better candidates exist.
if there's truly a need to
preserve an example of spanish
eclectic, we should find the
best example we can set and find
that sets the standard or
embodies this particular style.
this isn't it. Another
important difference between
this property and the other
dozen half of c.j. Barts
apartments, those other
properties are largely located
in residential areas. That are
not on major transit routes and
aren't growing by leaps and
bounds. While the area
surrounding these properties
look largely like they did in
the 1930s, the lake shore arms
does not. It is bounded by lake
point condos to the east,
roughly 20 to 25 stories. And
several mid rise apartment
buildings five or six stories to
the west. It's on a major
transit route already, and
designating historical
significance to this particular
building will permanently
foreclosure the preferred
development designated for the
area under the 2040 plan.
while I appreciate the urge to
preserve our history, this
particular nomination creates
more problems than it solves.
these apartments, in this style,
are abundant. This isn't close
to the best example. And it's
setting on lake street has
changed. And modernized
drastically in the intervening
90 years. And this can be
expected to continue for the
foreseeable future. If we want
to preserve the feel of spanish
eclectic in the 1930s, there
are better places to do it in
the city than here. I
respectfully request my
colleagues join with me to deny
the historic designation for the
ward 7 property.
» Is there a second?
» Second.
» Council member stevenson.
» Yes. Thank you. I spoke
with council member shaffer
yesterday and asked this. I
want to the ask again. Is there
any way that we could delay this
and have staff think about it
more? I think that you told me
that this is a strong case. And
that you think staff is somewhat
behind it. And so I would be
interested in supportingtaff
and supporting you at the same
time. So I'm wondering if we
can make that happen.
» No. We're going to move this
forward today. Just because of
the work that I've already put
into this and writing the fact
finding and working with staff
behind the scenes. And bringing
forward the arguments we feel
are most pertinent to the
decision.
» Council member chavez.
» Ah, thank you, president
payne. Is staff here to answer
a few questions? So what was --
can you walk us through the
original item, which is business
item number 17. That was
brought forward to council. And
what was staff recommendation.
» President payne, members of
the council. My name is erik
hansen, director of cped. And I
just walked in. So I'm not
exactly sure what item we're
talking about. I think it's the
historic designation of the
building on lake street.
» Yes.
» Okay. All right.
if it would -- if I could get
some assistance from president
payne. Could we delay this and
I can get staff from -- oh.
there we go. I was just about
to get him.
[ laughter ]
all right. Rob.
» Rob.
» Welcome! I you can
introduce yourself.
» Defer to rob for the
information.
» Thank you, erik hansen.
cthank you. I believecouncil ma
question. Could you repeat it.
» Yeah. What is item number
17. So the public understands.
what was the recommendation from
staff? And if you can start by
introducing yourself.
» Sure. Rob skill lek I can in
planning. The item that we're
considering today is the
landmark designation of lake
shore arms apartments located at
3026 lake street west.
considered by the minneapolis
hpc at their meeting in june.
and this went in front of
business, housing, and zoning
committe at the last meeting.
staff recommending approval
based on a study conducted over
the past year following the
buildings nomination back in
august of last year.
so city staff recommending
approval of the heritage
preservation commission voted to
recommend approval at a
business, housing, zoning
committee and forwarded without
recommendation. So that's where
we're at now. This is, again,
considering the landmark
designation of lake shore arms
apartments.
» Tha you. Yeah. I had a
question. Because that was my
understanding. And the
business, housing, and zoning
committee. It's part of why I'm
undecided on what to do with
this particular item. I think
staff has done their work. Has
done their own findings. And
then the other component I'm
concerned about is the variety
of other buildings that could be
designated for heritage
preservation in the future. And
what impact that would have, if
we were to then move forward
with the other buildings. And
what it would do to the
development of housing across
the city. However, that --
those are case-by-case
scenarios. So that is not a
decision we have to do, umm, but
I think that -- I don't know if
I'm ready to support the motion
brought forward by council
member shaffer today because I
need to have more information in
front of me. Given that staff
has a different position on
this. So I would appreciate a
delay so I can could have more
time. But if we don't have more
time, then I guess I have to
make a decision by what I have
in front of me.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Hey, thank you, president
payne. I think it was wise for
us to forward thisithout
recommendation to the committee.
I think one thing, and just my
observation, as we take up
historic preservation items. Is
this council needs to develop
its ability to discern these
items when they're before us.
that's not to cast blame on any
of us. It's a very wonky type
of item. And I think it's a
skill set that we need to grow
in the way we have needed to
grow on our quasi judicial
items.
I had a question for mr. Skill
lek I can. This is based in our
process. The way that we're
taking this eye up now where
it's coming before us as a city
council and we're voting on it,
is this related to the ordinance
change we took up last term?
» Council member president
payne, council member chowdhury:
this is very similar to how
how landmarks were considered.
there's two parts to considering
the ndmark. The first is the
nomination that's what happens
in order to itiate the study
process. The second is the
designation which is being
considered now. It comes with
the resolution formally
designating a property to become
a landmark. That process has
changed in some ways. But the
way landmarks is designated is
very similar to how it was und
the previous ordinance.
» If it was any -- any landmark
preservation item in the future,
or this one, if it were to move
through, how doest then go to
the hpc? Is there a time in
which it goes before them and
they begin work. I'm trying to
better understand what comes out
of our vote here. If it was an
affirmative vote, clearly, if it
was a vote in the negative, it
would just halt all together.
but that would be helpful to
know.
» Sure. So if a landmark is
approved for designation, then
that is essentially a decisn
that lasts in perpetuity. Any
changes to the property would
come forward for staff review or
heritage preservation commission
review. Depending on the scope
of work being proposed. We
would review changes to make
sure they meet the standards for
rehabilitation. Will are used
throughout the country to
evaluate changes to the historic
properties.
if the landmark designation is
denied and this is different
from the pr previou
ordinance. There's no language
to guide what could happen in
the future. So if it is denied
today, or if a decision is not
made, there's a possibili that
it could come back in three
years to be reconsidered with
additional informaon.
» Okay. And then how many
landmark designations have we
taken in the last -- I'll say,
like, two or three years.
» It's generally about one to
one and a half a year, on
average.
» Right.
» If we're doing averages. We
bring forward for landmark
properties.
» Yeah. Thank you. I
appreciate it. I think the
place where I'm sitting, and I
appreciate council member
shaffer's work on this.
absolutely. I'll note, I feel
like -- let me know if I miss
anything. I didn't get any
information on the findings
ahead of time. Which I think
would have been valuable to sit
with ahead of this meeting. I
do think it's not atypical for
us to take our time on historicd
landmark designation
discussions. I think the john
cook house was a gre example
of needing to take time for
discernment. The thing that
gives me pause is not being able
to take time with the current
findings, not being able to have
enough time to dig in with staff
and the fact that staff did put
this up for an approval under
one criterion, which is
required. I'm not opposed to
voting this down. And I'm not
oppod to voting this up. But
I don't feel like we have the
proper discernment on this item.
if we're not going to delay, I
don't feel comfortable -- one, I
don't feel comfortable taking on
a vote on this today. I think
it's my bottom line. And I
think based off that, I'll have
to make a decision if we're
going to vote on this. But a
delay, I think, would be
appreciated. I don't think it's
atypical for us to take our time
on this. Even if it's just one
cycle. I think we got to bring
up -- build our muscle on this
topic. Because there are going
to be more items like this that
come before us. And then under
our ordinance change, now
council members in partnership
with community members can bring
up items for historic
preservation designation in the
future. And that's a new change
that we also have to better
understand.
» Vice president osman.
» Thank you, council president.
I want top remind the members,
council members here. This was
a public hearing. We had the
opportunity to, of course, hear
from the staff and, also, hear
from the owner of the building.
t actually. Had a wonderful
presentation where he kind of
compared similar apartments out
there in our city. Same type of
apartments. And I think maybe
all of them were not designated
and explained to us the
uniquenesses of this apartment.
and he acknowledged that. But I
also -- we had an opportunity to
hear from him. Both sides. Not
just the commission here. But
also from the owner of the
apartments. We had a lengthy
conversation. I don't see the
point of delaying. We do have
the staff to answer the
questions. And we also have the
dais here of the owner of the
apartment. If there's any
questions for those folks that
are actually know a lot about
the item. We can ask and I
think we should make a decision
and kind of move forward from
here. Thank you.
»
» Council member stevenson.
» Okay. I guess we're not
going to get more time to get
staff to maybe change their
minds on this. While you're
here, can I ask you. There's a
case that's been brought upaboue
best example of this te of
architecture. Do you see
validity in that case??
» Council president payne.
council member stevenson.
staff, the way that the finding
is written is that a property
would embody that specific style
of architecture. So it we do
look at every sgle property
that we have the availability to
look at and the studies to see
what the comparisons are. And
deciding if a property merits
landmark status for being
considered in this situation.
an example of a style of
architecture, through the staff
believed. So it understanding
council member shaffer's
comments on it. And there is
the ability to in the findings,
take into consideration any
public comment received. And
with public comment that's been
received. Understand that
council member shaffer disagrees
with staff's findings with the
additional research provided by
the property owner.
» Okay. I gue what I'm
asking is, if this building
would get destroyed, would the
city of minneapolis be losing
something special or others that
are equal or better in this
style?
» Council member president
payne, council member stevenson.
there's -- it's not, you know,
there's no -- we have no
knowledge of it being destroyed
in the future. Or plans to be
demolished. And we look at
properties as they exist and as
it exists. Staff did reco
recommend --
» Okay. Thank you. Is there
any further discussion on this
item? Seeing none. I'll ask
the clerk to call the roll on
the motion to deny historical
designation.
» Council member cvez.
» Can you --
» You want t to clarify the
vote destruction. What was
stated is different than what we
have listed.
» The motion in front of you is
what was distributed by council
member shaffer, moved and
seconded, denying the local
historic designation for lake
shore arms and apartmentses.
apartments.>> thank you. An ayd
deny?
» Council member chavez.
» I don't want to -- I don't
want to deny.
[ overlapping speakers ]
this is so confusing. I'm
sorry. Council member chavez.
» Okay.
» Microphone.
» If I don't want to deny the
preservation here, I need more
time, obviously. Am I aye then?
» You would be a nay.
» Okay.
» It's just the whole thing.
okay. No.
» Okay.
» Clerk will call the roll.
» Council member cvez.
» No.
» Council member warre
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» No.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member h vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are nine ayes and two
nays.
» That carries. And that
completes the biz report. The
next report is from our climate
and infrastructure committee.
which will be presented by that
committee's chair, council
member wonsley. And before we
move on, would you like to be
recognized for your consent
items on the business agenda?
» Aye on consent and then we
did not take up the historic
designation --
» We just did.
» I would like to be recorded
an aye was affirmative in
supporting the historic
designation or nay. Nay.
» Okay.
» Clerks, did you get that?
all right. Now I'll recognize
council member wonsley to give
the climate and infrastructure
report.
» Thank you. I'm going to land
it over to vice chair stevenson,
c who chaired that meeting.
» Thank you, chair. Thank you,
mr. President. The climate and
infrastructure committee is nine
bringing forward nine items.
one considering the lyndale
avenue reconstruction project.
two resolution for a gift
acceptance. Three a resolution
for gift acceptance for
brookings transportation
initiative. Four resolution for
a gi acceptance for
minneapolis foundation. Five
resolutions for support for the
minnesota department of
transportation highway 280
project. Six land sale wedge
point park to minneapolis park
and recreation board. Seven
authorizing grant applications
to minnesota department of
transportation. For 2026
federal highway safety
improvement program. Eight
accepting the low bid for west
river road phase ii project.
nine approving a legislative
directive proposed closure of
hennepin energy recovery center.
I'll move approval the report
cept for one.
» Moved approval of the report,
minus item number one. Is there
any discussion on the remainder
of the report? Council member
shaffer.
» Yeah. I wanted to stop a
moment and pause for the little
victories that we are helping
for the park board. In the
selling of the wedge point park
parcels in the lowry hill
history neighborhood. Something
I've been tracking for the last
four years. I wanted to
acknowledge and thank city staff
for their work in seeing this
through to completion. And I'm
happy for the neighborhood. And
I know couil member chughtai
would share those same
sentiments, if she were here.
this is a win for the
neighborhood.
» Council member stevenson.
» Sorry. I think I was trying
to get in first in line for the
discussion on the next item.
» Got you. Seeing no one else
left in queue, I'll ask the
clerk to call the roll on
climate and infrastructure
report minus item one.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Council member wonsley items
two through nine.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 12 ayes.
» Those items carry. Next
we'll take up item number one,
and I'll recognize council
member stevenson.
» Thank you. I'm going to move
to amend this item. The
amendment is in front of you.
it's c & I number one by
stevenson. These amendments
have been done in close
consideration with director
sexton, and ward 10 office and
ward 7 office, council member
shaffer's. So we have done our
best to take all these voices
into account. And make sure
that this approval of the
municipal consent goes through
smoothly. And is taking
everyone's voice into account.
I'll note that as folks can see,
livable lyndale is her and
they have delivered to us
literally thousands of postcards
in support of this plan., and
more in terms of safety and
pedestrian and bike and bus
improvements. And we have heard
from probably hundreds of folks,
manyrom the business
community, who are against. And
so to -- given there's large
contestation over this item, I
think it is right that we are
striking a comprise. This
comprise does not get everything
that I want, by any means. And
this comprise does not give
others who may disagree with me
everything they want, by any
means at all. What it does do,
this is approving of a design
and the way we have written our
resolution is approving a
resolution that has really taken
everybody's voice int account.
we have listened and we have
listened and we have listened.
and given that this street is
over 90 years old, it's time to
be rebuilt. And this is the
comprise that is the right
comprise to do that.
construction is tiflt for
businesses. And I believe we'll
be considering another amendment
soon to help alleviate that
somewhat. I think this body and
maybe the county and state
should consider different ways
to support businesses through
construction. Ut I would ask
my colleagues to please approve
this. Because this is the
compromise I think is right and
I think works for everybody.
and I'm going to quick read my
amendments. And I'm going to
read all the amendments that
have happened in the last two
weeks. Some of them mine some
of them not.
so, one, is prioritize the
preservation of existing healthy
mature trees along lyndale
avenue. The second one is we
are striking with consent from
director sexton design
modifications to the proposed
medians to ensure driveway
access and business operational
needs. This is something that
he's talked about they're going
to do anyways. To make sure
that deliveries can happen in a
safe matter. Number three, work
with city staff and c
corridor stakeholders to
minimize disruption to
businesses. And ensures access
during construction to the
extent possible. And then
lastly, or almost lastly,
prioritize shortening the
alternate duration of project
may include extended
construction work hours as
permitted by the minneapolis
health department. And then
later, whereas, the city of
minneapolis supports the county
and accessing the federal funds
from the project and timeline
that is required to get the
funds. So I will move this
amendment for approval.
» Second.
» Council member stevenson has
moved att item one for
approval as amended. While we
can take the amendments up. So
council member stevenson has
moved to amend item number one,
that's been seconded. And I'll
recognize council member
shaffer.
» Thank you, president payne.
umm, I'll just share my thoughts
here. First of all, number one,
I appreciate the discussion and
problem solving that has been
happening both in my dialogue
with the ward 10 office and
council member stevenson in t
last few days. Really, throwing
out the idea of trying to get
some language for extended
hours, actually, specified in
some of the amendments, which
did not happen. Umm, but I want
to say that I really appreciate
all the feedback that I've been
given on this topic. And really
trying to see and recognize the
effort that people are making to
try to bridge the divide. That
being said, I simply cannot
support the proposed design
concept due to the impact on our
small businesses. The business
community has opposed the plan
at every turn for specific and
good reasons. With the
experience of hennepin avenue
fresh in their minds. My ward 7
residents oppose it for some of
the same reasons they opposed
hennepin avenue. They didn't
like the design there when it
was first proposed. And don't
like the reality now it's
finished. And they don't want
to see the same mistakes happen
on lyndale. What are the
problems? From this
perspective, here are a few
examples: there's been no
meaningful specific protections
built in for the lyndale
businesses. While rudimentary
physical access will be
maintained, there's no
meaningful financial support for
the customers. That proved
devastating to the businesses
along hennepin. There's every
reason to believe the dynamic
will repeat itself on lyndale.
this isn't just for a week or a
month. It's two to three years.
we can anticipate some of the
businesses that currently exist
on lyndale will not be there
when the project is over.
secondly, as the current council
member representative on the
minneapolis tree advisory
committee, I stand with the
committee in their opposition to
the plan due to tree removal
concerns. I was a park
exhibitioner during the original
hennepin avenue reconstruction
where designs plan to remove
approximately 120 plus trees.
and was able to work with
community, expert staff at the
park board, and city and county
and help save approximately 60
mature trees in the project.
the frequency with which public
infrastructure projects do the
continual removal and replanting
cycle is really part of the
problem that we are facing in
aging our urban canopy and
creating a greater carbon
footprint. Once this project is
over, a different set of
problems will take over. As
with hennepin, travel will be
largely constrained to one lane
in each direction with left-hand
side turns tiflt to impossible.
commercial unloading will be
impractical in some locations.
parking would become more
limited. And parking lanes
would become more narrow
reverting back to the 9 feet we
had in the old four-lane
configuration. Which actually
resulted in the they typicality
they tfatality.
it will face continued head
winds from the end product.
this city, in the budget
environment currently, can't
afford to give up the economic
drivers that we do have.
lastly, the completed hennepin
avenue has not resulted in a
renaissance yet for our area or
street. Much the contrary. We
still have vacant store fronts,
sidewalks aren't busy, traffic
is backed up creating much
idolling in the corridor, and
our office is currently hearing
reports of residential
neighborhoods experiencing
greater traffic concerns as
folks are avoiding hennepin
coming from the west and south
and finding alternative routes
other than hennepin avenue.
unfortunately, the residential
streets around lyndale are even
narrower than around hennepin.
and may experience the same
outcome. This was a set of
problems predicted by many
before the hennepin redo.
peoples' lived experience after
completion has bourn it out.
and I can't support the strategy
of making the same choices and
hoping for a different result.
this is going to be hennepin
part ii. My constituents are
overwhelmingly opposed, the
business community is
overwhelmingly opposed, and I
feel obligated to support them.
with my vote, giving the clear
community preference in ward
seven. Thank you for your
time.
» Vice president osman.
» Mm, thank you. I want to
know if the public works staff
is here to answer some
questions. Don't see them. I,
umm, I think the points council
member shaffer made is very
valid. The businesses do
struggle a lot for
constructions. They already are
difficult surviving what's been
happening. The covid, you know,
the I.c.e. Situation. Oh, I see
the director here. Welcome,
sir. So the challenge is there
for the business community. And
as we got to have a better plan
addressing the businesses that
our small businesses that are
actually might not come back on
where they are having businesses
now. Which is lyndale. So the
project is, umm, has ef
affect on small businesses.
that's a fact. Yes, the road is
over 70 years old. I think for
having a better design, this is
better for the future and for
the future for our city. For
safety wise, for -- it's good
toking a knto
acknowledge we can say no to
that. I want to make it clear
what we're hearing from people,
I want people to understand it's
not a city project. It's a
county project. So my question
to the direc directer is,
if we voted down on the plan.
does it mean the project stops
and no longer going to continue?
or does it just the county will
just continue with their plan?
» Yeah. Through the chair,
council vice president. Tim
sexton. Our current
interpretation based on the city
attorneys. And I'll look to
them, maybe, first, if they
would like to respond. But I
can share my understanding of
the legal interpretation thus
far. If we do not approve thi
the countyannot proceed with
the work. They do need our
permission to do the work within
the city.
» Madam city attorney?
» That is my understanding, as
well.
» Okay.
» I asked the question because
I'm trying to remember the whole
blue line situation. They also
came for the train. The
consent
and what I heard back then was
if we voted down, they still
will continue to have the train
move forward. So it's
different. Different
interpretation the way I see it.
but ... You don't have to
comment. That kind of changed
things for me. You know, and I
really want to make sure that we
are not voting for this until we
have a better plan for
businesses. And I don't think
we have any plan. Can you talk
about if there's any plan. Is
there a recovery way of helping
the businesses? And I don't
think we are talking about that.
so .. I'm going to have to
think about this. I do
appreciate the money that's
coming into our city and have
the safe roads bike lane and all
the great things. We have to
think about the small businesses
and think about how it will
affect them. And my question is
this, if we move forward with
this project, also, I'd like to
see is there a way to get the
cross section done without
closing the street? I know they
can. There's always a creative
way of getting things done.
I'll leave it there. Thank
you.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Thank you, president payne.
I just wanted to take some time
to speak in favor of the
resolution of support for
lyndale avenue reconstruction.
I think a vote for this is a
vote for progress for our city.
one thing that I just want to
really hammer home for my
colleagues and anyone listening
in the community is this is
10year-old street. This is
100 years old and strts have
an end of life. There is a
point in which they are no
longer working a for the
community. And our communities
deserve nice things. And
lyndale is far due for
reconstruction. And
reconstruction of our streets is
a fact of life in a busy city
like the city of minneapolis.
especially lyndale avenue, which
has thousands of people using
it. Housands and thousands of
people using it each and every
day. I also want to hammer home
whether we have bike lanes or no
bike lanes or any of the
amenities we're providing for
pedestrians. If we took all
that off, that same impact would
still happen with construction
for the improvemes that are
needed in the streets. O what
we're voting for is not just for
2028 or 2029. It's for 2128. I
think it gives us a valuable
perspective. I also want to
speak to the fact tt I hear
from residents and constituents
in my own ward that travel to
lyndale avenue from residents
and constituents that are on
lyndale avee, as someone that
ved off of ridgewood off of
lyndale in my time as a resident
in the city of minneapolis.
this is a very hostile, very
hostile street for all of those
that experience walking, biking,
driving, using transit on this
street. Lynn lake is the
highest injury intersection in
the city of minneapolis. We
have a responsibility, as local
government, to our constituents
and our communities to make
updates to ensure that,: one,
we're addressing aging
infrastructure. Two, we're
making sure our streets are
welcoming for all and people can
get around. We have
responsibility to ensure that we
are reducing crashes and saving
lives. And what I'm excited
about is seeing a project before
us that really brings into the
fold the considerations of those
that bike, those that use
transit, and, also, improvents
that will just make it a better
and safer place for people to
drive, as well as if that's what
they choose. I want to
acknowledge this was a comprise,
overall. There was several
things that community members
that don't prefer to drive
wanted and did not receive.
there were several things that
people who are a part of the
business community or are
predominantly drivers wanted and
got or wanted and didn't get.
and I think the really big sort
that hangs over our head is the
fact that 45% of the funding
that we need to make this
project happen comes from the
federal governmt. And I thinkwl
government isn't coming to save
any time soon. We might as
well te the funding we have,
be able to do this
reconstructionroject, and move
forward. Or otherwise we might
not be guaranteed the funding we
need to address a street that's
been aging for a hundred years.
and I also hear the concern
about construction being a death
note to a neighborhood and its
vibrancy. And that's why I'm
bringing forward a motion, an
amendment to the resolution, and
I'd like to read it a loud.
br whereas: the cityencourages h
the county to minimize
disruption by increasing
activation during street
closures by supporting
development of proamming such
as but not limited to daytime
events and activities,
performances, seating areas,
food stalls, interim plazas, and
similar uses. And, whereas, the
approach is recommended by the
national association of city
transportation officials for
temporary street closures
allowing citieto make better
use of the roadways.
particularly during off peak
hours and weekends and creating
opportunities to draw attention
to neiborhood businesses and
destinations while increasing
foot traffic on designated
corridors.
we can make street
reconstruction something that
brings community members into
the corridor. We do it every
time we close down lyndale
avenue for open streets. So
let's do beers and bulldozers,
have interim plazas, create a
place for our kids to play and
let's have the city and the
unty chip in. Commissioner
marionreen highlighted in an
interview recently, this is
someing she's interested in
collaborating on. Heck, let's
bring the dancing pencils from
lake of the aisles into lyndale
avenue to bring some of that
whimsy. I don't think it needs
to be a death note for the
business community. I think it
can be a huge boom. And we can
replace 100-year-old
infrastructure and build for the
future.
» Madam city attorne
» Umm, thank you council
president. I thought I would
formally answer the question
when I said my understanding
was. Director sexton is correct
that the process requires
approval of the governing body
of the city, which, as we've
interpreted it, is this body and
the mayor. There is a dispute
resolution procedure set forth
in the statute that if we fail
to approve, then the county may
request the appointment of a
dispute resolution board.
consisting of one county
commissioner, one county
engineer, one city council
member, or one city mayor, one
engineer and representative of
the department of transcription
to renew the proposal and make
recommendations notwithstanding
any other law, the commissioner
may approve the establishment
... Recommended by the board.
so, essentially, the answer is
you have to approve it but there
is a process and I wouldn't want
anyone to be surprised if you
did not approve it, then there
could be this dispute resolution
process. So hopefully that
answers questions.
» Council member wonsley.
» Thank you, president payne.
umm, first, I do want to just
say thank you to all the
residents who have came forward,
umm, and advocated and
organized, umm, across our city
to ensure that all government
agencies that are involved with
this project are being held
condit accountable
to the commitments we've made to
improve transportation access
and expand multimodal options
for getting around minneapolis
safely. The lyndale project is
county led as established, our
residents have been engaging the
city council on this proposal
for nearly two years. Because
they understand that these
decisions have lasting
consequences for our city.
minneapolis, specifically, also
understand the significance of
this. Because we set the
ambitious goal of ensuring that
three out of every five trips
are made without a car by 2030.
and that deadline is less than
four years away. So if we are
serious about meeting that
commitment, then we must take
every opportunity available to
move closer to that goal. But
unfortunately, projects like
this have reinforced a troubling
reality for many residents
indicating that adopting bold
transcription plans is one
thing. But then when it comes
to actually delivering the
frastructure necessary to
achieve them, becomes a whole
other situation. That's
becoming overpoliticized in many
ways and threatens our ability
to meet the goals. And time and
time again, we've seen that
meaningful improvements for
people who walk, bike, or rely
on transits are not guaranteed
when we do the massive road or
resurfacing projects. And they
often only happen because
residents stay engaged, they
speak up, and refuse to let
important design elements be
quietly stripped away
I don't want to continue
normalizing the practice of
moving goal posts on what a safe
complete streets should look
like. I'm particularly troubled
with the level of opposition to
incorporating green
infrastructure in other
improvement safety improvements
into our roadways. And while I
understand and sympathize with
the disruption that construction
can create for businesses, the
notion that we should abandon or
indefinitely delay a
reconstruction project on a
corridor that is widely
recognized as unsafe is simply
not responsible leadership. And
further necessary improvements
what only prolong unsafe
conditions for everyone using
the corridor. As elected
officials, we should be clear
with the public knowing to
maximize opportunities to
improve walking, biking, and
transit infrastructure is not
only poor governance. It's also
inconsistent with the
transportation policies and
climate commitments that this
body and the city has made, umm,
towards our residents.
and at the same time, I agree
that the agencies undertaking
these projects of scale should
have the responsibility to
support small businesses
affected by, ah, construction.
I think those intentions are
reflected in the amendments
being brought forward by council
member chowdhury and stevenson.
umm, we also should expect from
our partners that, you know, the
things that we're asking of
them, we should be modeling
ourselves. And that's exactly
why two years ago, I supported
council member chughtai's
amendment to create a pilot
program providing financial
assistance to businesses
impacted by major transit
construction. And that proposal
was made using feedback from our
residents, from business owners
in her ward and gave mitc
minneapolis the opportunity to
lead by example on how to
address the challenge that we're
repeatedly running into.
unfortunately, that nearly $1
million used to address that
very real challenge was
redirected because of mpd's
budget overruns and thus the
pilot was never implemented.
had the program been carriedoutu
be in a much stronger position
to ask hennepin county to
provide similar support tobusine
lyndale construction. Or
reconstruction. But my hope is,
the county will continue to work
with business owners to minimize
construction impacts while
preserving the critical design
elements that would provide
lasting benefits for, again, for
our residents who walk, bike,
who use transit, or otherwise
travel without a car. I also,
again, I want to say thank you
to the hundreds of residents who
participated in this process,
who reached out to my office and
council members if for the past
several weeks. Your advocate
sied a have side
communi --
advocacy change the course of
the design. You helped bring
forward a proposal that
hopefully this body can move
forward and support today. And
I just want say thank you for
your leadership and your
persistence for holding us
accountable to the commitments
that we made. Thanks. S
council member chud I are
chowdhury introduce canned the
amendment. I think we should
take it as amended with both
amendments. Is that okay,
mr. Clerk?
» Objection in the body, we
have an amendment in front of
us. We had an amendment offered
by stevenson no second. And
council member chowdhury
mentioned she had an amendment
and read it
» Point of order. I'm in queue
to talk about this. Okay
council member stevenson had a
second.
» I seconded it.
» We didn't catch it.
» Okay.
» Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We'll
get through the rest of this
conversation and then we'll deal
with how we'll package that.
council member chavez.
» Council president payne, hi,
staff. Welcome. One question.
can you please outline the risk
of delays or the risk of not
approving this today.
» Welcome. Introduce yourself,
if you could.
» Council president, council
member chavez, my name is
fontaine burrs. A senior
transportation planner with
public works. The county's
demo deadline, which means
need to have full final plan
sets is june of 2027. Risk of
delay would risk the federal
funding for the project.
» Would you please outline how
much money that is. My
understanding that it cou lose
$9 million in federal funding.
» That's correct.
» And my understanding is that
by delaying or voting against
this, we could then add
increased costs to the project,
is this correct?
» Cou council president,
council member chaz, there
would be a funding gap if the
fedel funding is lost. That
is about 45% of the total cost
that would need additional
funding.
» Great. Thank you so much.
I'm proud to support this today.
if I don'tant to be in a
position to throw over
$9 million in federal funding.
I also want to say that projects
like this also help bring
business to the area, customers
to the area, and as I take this
vote today, I think about the
kids that deserve safe streets.
they don't deserve
infrastructure that is unsafe.
I wanted to flag that. I think
it is important to vote for
this. Because I think that if
we are going to be t t
delaying this or not approving
it, throwing away millions of
dollars, it's not in the best
interest of the city and our
residents.
I understander the concerns that
folks have when it comes to
construction. And since there
was comparisons made to hennepin
avenue. I think it is important
to talk about the lessons
learned from that. I was proud
to support a budget amendment
led by council member chughtai
for $900,000 for small business
construction and hardship fund
for hennepin avenue and other
areas. While the city council
helped fund this, it was never
implemented by the mayor's
administration. So I hope the
county ends up putting some
funding into supporting these
small businesses and I hope it
gets implemented. And I hope
that it does get implemented.
because if what happens when it
came to hennepin avenue it was
not implemented when the city
council funded it, we saw
massive implications for the
small businesses. There are
lessons learned. I hope that's
one of them.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Thanks, president payne. I
wanted to make -- I don't think
it's making a motion. But
asking that we -- if, umm,
cocil member stevenson would
be all right if I had myamendmee
that's before us. I believe we
can take that up as, like, a
friendly addition to his
amendment. No? What's the
process for packaging these
together then?
» That's a vote of the body.
if there's no objection,
certainly, the body can say we
want to take it up. If any
member objects, it has to be
done by an amendment process.
is there any objection to
merging the two amendments on
the dais?
» Any objection from the body?
not seeing any. Let's take it
up as a package. Is that good,
council member?
that works for me. Looks
like it works for council member
stevenson.
» Sounds good. Council member
shaffer.
» Yes. I'm wondering if
council could reiterate for me
one time if we were to deny it,
you mentioned there was another
council that was set up. Can
you repeat that.
» Madam city attorney.
» Council member president,
council member shaffer. So the
statute provides that if the
city's governing body does not
approve, then the county board
may, by resolution, request a
dispute resolution body that
would gather together again with
many different employers from
the different entities that
would gather together and review
the recommendation and make a
recommendation to the department
of transportation.
» Ek 0 tha okay.
thank you. I don't want to
pause on the project. I don't
want to lose federal funding on
the project. We need to move
this project forward. We have
aging infrastructure that needs
to happen. I support a lot of
the elements of the design. To
me, the most primary thing that
we have an opportunity before us
as a board to do at this moment
in time is take a different
approach to how we handle
infrastructure overlapping with
businesses in a very strong
commercial corridor. To take
the time with a mediating body
to sit down and say, hey, it's
not xyz that's the problem.
it's the problem of how we've
handled infrastructure in
protecting our city revenue.
when we go through multi-year
projects. That really we need
and want. So my idea is, this
is an opportunity to build
trust. Currently, we I think as
a public and residents here,
city staff, county staff,
council member staff, yes, we
hear the concerns. We know that
you don't think you're going to
have the band width to be able
to get through the shut down
your business might close, et.
cetera, et. Cetera. All the
things we've been hearing. The
fear. Real fear we've been
hearing from small family
members that run small
businesses on the corridor. But
we say yes we hear it all and
we'll take it into
consideration, in general
additions to our amendment.
like we'll try to save more
trees or we'll try to make up
the timeline go faster. But
unfortunately, there's nothing
specific. To me, I see it as an
opportunity to the vote it down
and say not a bad design. Not,
you know, going to lose the
federal funds. But take one
core piece of the discussion and
hyperfocus it on how we can do
things differently and have
specific languages for our
business that doesn't get the
city or the county doing more
than they should for businesses.
but have something specific for
them to hang their hat on and
say, you know, the city and the
county listened. City really
appreciate hearing about council
member chavez and council member
wonsley bringing up this pilot
program. Of the $900,000. We
don't know what happened to it.
went away. This is what I'm
asking my colleagues to consider
again. Let's go back to the
table. I don't know where we
would find the money, but we can
start with just language around
extended hours that lays out
clearly where we're heading with
construction timelines. Once we
get the phasing. So we have
time. We have time, it sounds
like, until, forgive me if I'm
wrong, june 1, 2027. I'm,
director. Obviously, we want to
be done before then. We don't
want to push the project past
2028 start. That's my plea. I
understand that's a little
outside the box. But I think we
are a body that's willing to
think outside the box. An so
thank you for your
consideration. Of not pausing,
not saying it's a bad design.
not complete I willing we're
voting to lose our federal
funding. But voting to say no
in this moment that we can do
better to the county and let's
put our heads together to make
something really exciting to be
a road map for future
multi-jurisdictional multiyear
infrastructure project. Thank
you.
» Council member whiting.
» Thank you. A point of
clarification, maybe, for the
clerks here. I know we have two
different amendments in front of
us. They don't necessarily
match. With the merger of
these, like, I'm just -- I know
this isn't normal that we can
kind of do amendments from the
da. But trying to figure out
how these, like, are we
accepting the deletions and
acceance of one, merging them
over? Like, just kind of c
confused here how they're going
toerge together.
» Mr. Clerk.
» Mr. President, exactly as
council member stevenson said.
the motion pending now is the
combination of the amendment
offered by council member
stevenson and the amendment
offered by council member chud I
are. You'd have to look at both
the documents in front of you
and accept the strike throughs
and the underlined additions as
one single document. My best
advise, in terms of clarity on a
vote. So the record is correct
and people know what they're
voting on, is that we set this
aside. Let the clerks go
prepare one document that merges
all these things. We're
legislating in real time. It
makes it difficult for all of
this. And I know there's a lot
of energy around this right now.
I think I would recommend the
body give us 10 minutes to go
merge those so there's a clear
single document in front of you.
we can move on to other
business, or if you want to body
the wishes to take a recess to
allow the clerks to produce the
single combined document.
either of those, I think, would
be a better process for us. So
there's clarity for everyone on
the dais what's in front of
you.
» That's helpful for me. But
it's the will of the body.
» We can take -- I would
recommend tabling this. And
revisiting it once the clerks
come back prepared. And we can
move on to the next committee
report. Does that sound --
» Yeah. I'll pass it over to
the city attorney.
» If council president. Sorry.
just for point of
clarification. I'm betting I'm
going to be helping with this,
too. The only thing, you know,
it's easy to add things. What
50i'm confused about is in
one version, the bullet point
that says design modification to
the propose the meetings to
ensure driveway access and
business operational leads one
is struck. In one version. In
the other version it's not
struck. In terms of the clerk
and I trying to come to one
document, should we be striking
that bullet point or not?
» Correct.
» Can I make a point of order
and potentially a suggestion for
us how to handle it?
» Council member chowdhury.
» Thank you. If it makes it
easier for the body, what we
could do is if there is noobjece
object if there is. We can take
up my motion first. Which the
only change is my addition and
it keeps the integrity of what
we did in c & I. And then we
take up the stevenson amendment.
would that work?
» Mr. Clerk?
» I think that was a question
for the body.
» Oh.
» It was largely a question for
the clerks and the cy attorney
in terms o your clarity.
» Oh. I think if you
you're asking the clerks. I
think the attorney can prepare a
document. I think the claty
is on the item that's either in
or stricken what does the body
want do they want the design
modifications to the proposed
medians to ensure driver access
and business operational needs
to be in or out of the combined
version of the resolution.
» Got it. And as the author of
the second amendment, it's my
intention for it to be in
alignment with council member
stevenson's amendment.
» Which is the direction, I
think council president you
said. To strike that out of the
resolution. That clarifies that
one issue. If that's the
direction of the body. Then I
think the people can go draft
that quickly.
» Okay. Let's have that
happen. And then we'll move on
to the committee of the whole.
and that will be give by the
chair, council member chowdhury.
» Thank you, president payne.
of the committee of the whole is
bringing three items forward.
one is a resolution expressing
solidarity with workers at
target field. Two is an
amplified sound permit and block
event permit for the aquatennial
festival. And three is
allocation of funds from the
affordable housing trust fund to
be given to heritage park for
repairs. This was sent forward
without recommendation. With
that, I'll move all items for
approval and three for a
separate vote and discussion.
» Council member chowdhury has
moved approval of the committee
report separating out three.
any discussion? Council member
rainville.
» Thank you. I would like to
speak briefly to item number
one. In support of this as a
past member of local 17. I
served on the executive
committee for a number of years
as a shop steward. I would be
out on the strike line, if I was
still doing that for a living.
instead of being up here. So I
think we all should support
those workers as they engage in
their fight. Especially for the
health care portion.
» Seeing no one else left, I'll
ask the clerk to call the roll
items one and two.
» Council member chaz.
» Aye.
» Warren.
» Aye.
» Shaffer.
» Aye.
» Wonsley.
» Aye.
» Whiting.
» Aye.
» Chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Stevenson.
» Aye.
» Rainville.
» Aye.
» Vetaw.
» Aye.
» Palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» 12 ayes.
» Those items carry. Next
we'll take up item number three
and I'll recognize council
member warren.
» Thank you, council president
payne. It is my pleasure today
to have before you a request for
the $2.5 million from the
affordable housing trust fund to
support the residents at
heritage park. I'm pleased to
work with the city of
minneapolis, director rachel
sayers on the relocation plans
if are the residents of heritage
park. This has been an ongoing
experience they have had there.
I'm glad to be able to be
getting some relief for the
residents. And I want to keep
the focus on the residents at
heritage park. I want to,
first, thank you at this time
for that. There's a motion that
is before you that is just
asking in this process. Because
we know it's such a delicate
dance that is an amendment to
this asking that we move the
following legislative directive
related to affordable housing
trust fund for heritage park
that we are asking for regular
scheduled reporting for the
progress of what is happening.
progress for the relocation of
the residents and information
related to the distributed funds
for rehabilitation. I believe
we -- correct me if I'm wrong.
yes, director hansen, please
forgive me. They're not going
to be funds distributed of this
specifically for rehabilitation.
correct?
» Director?
» President payne, council
member warren. The authority
that we are seeking allows for
us to put funding into both
relocati and emergency-like
safety repairs within the
building. As I mentioned at
committee of the whole on
tuesday, I'll repeat for those
that didn't watch it. We are
focused on relocation efforts,
and that's, you know, we need
the ability for us to do
potential repair work in the
event that while people are
seeking relocation services, we
can address immediate needs.
that's the reason why we want
that authority.
» Okay. Thank you so much for
that, director h hansen.
there's a third piece to this
motion. That is basically
directing that the city
attorney's legal analysis of
pathways for availability for
the city to recoup the funds.
I'm not interested in that right
now. I think that's something
that can be taken up at another
time. And I'm just specifically
focused on the residents, the
relocation plan, and ensuring
the stabilization of the
residents at heritage park.
anything that has to do with any
financial recouping can be taken
up some other time. That's not
my concern at this time. My
concern is the residents and I
thank you for your due diligence
in that.
» Council member wonsley.
» Thank you, president payne.
I want to, first, as I did on
tuesday, give kudos to council
member warren for h leadership
on this issue. We've been clear
across the board that inhumane
conditions are something we
should not be normalizing. It's
devastating your residents had
to endure that. That said, I
want to say, we all have robust
conversations around, one,
wanting to support this
$.5 million allocation. I think
there there will be unanimous
support of moving that item
forward. Where we wanted to
make sure that there's some
continued conversation amongst
the body because we were asked
to approve $2.5 million within
48 hours of consideration is to
make sure that we have regular
reportinfrom the
administration on how the
relocation process is proceeding
forward. How the stabilization
plans that this contract or the
rca we're considering gives
director hansen the ability to
figure out in partnership with
all the relevant entities and
stakeholders essentially come
back to this body and give us
reporting on how that process is
moving forward. Because we
don't want to be in another
situation where we might have to
move additional dollars and have
no information about what took
place with the first allocation.
that segues into the second
motion before you. Where it
does request the city attorney
to present council with a client
privileged memo. So essentially
this is pretty standard process
where the city attorney will
tell us what ways in which they
can recoup the $2.5 million. We
had robust conversations about
that on tuesday, as well. Why
aren't we moving through the
existing tenant relocation
program allowing us to recoup
coasts. Especially when the
whole overarching thing of this
debate has been the partners
property owners, sev
receivers. There's failures of
agency charm charged with
holding responsibility and
failed to meet the standards.
if we're going to give the
partners $2.5 million, we need
to make sure that this is not
just a freebie. We have
mechanisms to hold a property
owner that has received not only
market-rate income, because
there are market-rate units
here. They're receiving income.
they have received mas
massive subsidies from
government agencies, as well.
we don't want to make sure that
we're rewarding a problem
property owner with $2.5 million
and not have any means to try to
recoup those costs. Especially
since we're taking th this
from the affordable housing
trust. We have made significant
cu to it already. I think in
a financial predicament where
we're at as a city, we're
already $30 million in a
deficit. We want to make sure
that we're able to recoup costs
by any means. And if that
entails the city attorney
writing us a four or five or
six-page memo articulating their
plans to do so. That's not a
heavy lift. I think it's worth
our due diligence. I'll make
the motion to move all items as
amended for approval and ask for
a second.
» Second.
» And with that, I'm so excited
to support this comprehensive
packet.
» Okay. Council member wonsley
moved all items for approval.
it's been seconded. So let me
just clarify what we have in
front of us. We have the
underlying motion, which we took
up in c.o.w. It has three sub
bullets under it. The motion
that council member wonsley made
was to add a sub bullet 3.4, the
legislative directive on
reporting. And 3.5, which is a
staff direction to the city
attorney's office around recoup.
a motion to this, city
attorney, to bring forward
privileged memo on how we might
recoup expenses. And I see
council member warren raising a
question.
» Correct. I would like a
separate vote on 3.5. As I
stated before, this is not about
that. If we want to the make it
about that. We'll have to
ask -- to bring his happy body
to the table. He neglected to
do so. The majority of the
residents there at heritage park
are participants of minneapolis
public housing authority. And
until he does his damn job,
there is no questions to be
asked to anybody about
absolutely anything. And what
he needs to do is then start
issuing people not only back
whatever it was that was lost,
but their section 8 vouchers,
handled, what's going on with
me, and my residents and the
city office. We're working with
the emergency management system.
we're working with our systems.
we're taking the lead. Because
we are leaders of this city.
these are our residents. The
end of that. That's how that's
going to be handled. We're not
putting any extra slide and
signal on whatever else that's
happening. I don't want to hear
anything more about it. That's
the end of it. So the second
vote on that 3.5 or whatever
with respect to the 2.5 that is
being utilized to serve my
underserved residents in ward
five, in h heritage park is a
no on that. The end.
» What I'm going to recommend
based on the feedback, council
member. We take up each of
these as separate votes. So
we'll vote on 3.4, we'll vote on
3.5, and then based on the
outcome of that, we'll take the
final vote on the full package.
does that make sense to
everyone?
» I have a question. I see
council member warren is listed
as an author on the motion. If
she's withdrawing her motion --
» I'm not an author.
» Oh. Your name is on ...
» I'm not anymore.
» Oka
» The end.
» All right. Thank you.
» Right now item 3.4, the
legislative directive on
reporting. That will be the
vote that we take. The queue is
for the underlying motion. I
see it. Once we go to roll
call, we'll take up 3.4. I'll
recognize council member
chowdhury.
» Thank you, president payne.
really appreciate it. And I'll
just say with the different
motions we have, I feel like
just giving grace to everybodyhi
don't think anyone is trying to
step on anyone's toes. I think
things are shifting quickly,
like, we had o motion with the
legislative directive. And then
under the direction of the city
attorney, we weren't able to
have a piece of it in the
legislative directive. And so
it then turned generated into
a third motion. And that's kind
of where we are and that's why
the authorship has remained
same. I want to provide the
clarity up front and give
everyone a lot of grace here.
one of the things that I wanted
to ask about in with respect to
the conversations with council
member warren and her office and
the concern for the people at
heritage park. Is regarding
relocation of people and the 2.5
we'll contribute to it. I want
to get an understanding one,
wh's the division of that
money for rehabilitation of the
building. And how much is going
to relocation? And then I also
see that we have emergency
management director sayer here
with us. I want to see, like,
what kind of steps your
department is going to take to
help the people relocate. I'm
concerned about having a
dignified process especially
right now in this very poor air
quality situation and heat wave.
I'm also wondering if we're
going to need to get additional
support from partners like the
red cross and just kind of what
it looks like. Because moving
686 people all at once seems
like a really huge feat. I
would imagine there's going to
be a lot of steps to that.
director has been
hansen, do you want to answer
the first part?
» We can start with director
sayer.
» Director say yo sayer.
all right.
» Good morning. Director
hansen asked me to commune kate
on the split of funding.
something determined through the
pro process that we're
running. I'll speak about the
process. Noting that council
member warren absolutely want to
work through the thing with you.
I know we haven't had time to
connect in person since I came
in yesterday. I look forward to
that. Let me talk about how
this process works.
yesterday we stood up something
called a heritage park
coordination gup. That will
consist of operational staff
across city departments as well
as partnerse've already pulle
in for calls like r red cross.
it includes coordination with
mpha. We are using our national
incident management syste
protocols as the basis for this
structure. What that means, it
brings into place regular
meetings, regular coordination
calls, and regular reporting.
so you will see all of that
start to come through in the
next few days. As we get staff
to be dedicated to the party
effort. Our first objective is
meeting urgent needs of
residents. So this is
absolutely something I want to
sit down with council member
warren and understand immediate
needs that have been
communicated to her and her
team. My team is already
working on options for meeting
urgent needs. What it could
look like. While we work on
potential plans for relocation.
so, the plans for relocation,
council member, as you
mentioned. It's large-scale.
it's beyond the capacity of any
one agency to do. So absolutely
the county is a huge partner in
this, as well. As well as many
other agencies that we're
lling in. So there's a lot
more to come. Just to note, our
immediate focus is on the urgent
needs. Thank you, director, I
.
» Thank you, director. I
appreciate it. We'll see how
the conversation continues on
the item. I do believe 100%
this is about the residents here
and supporting the fourth ward.
I'll share the reason --
apologies, fifth ward.
supporting the fifth ward. And
heritage park. The reason why
I'm interested in furthering the
discussion o the motion for
request for information is, I
just don't -- I just feel like
it's a greatnjustice for a
very wealthy property owner to
lay so much negligence on to
this community. And don't pay
the taxpayer dollars. You owe
back people money in a lot more.
I think it's a part of what the
motion gets at. I'm interested
in continuing the conversation
but wanted to give my thought in
real time as the discussion is
evolving. And with respect to
your comments, council member
warren, as well.
» Council member chavez.
» Thank you. I have a question
for clerks and the city
attorney's office. Who has the
power of the purse?
» Madam city attorney?
» Ah, council president, it
sounds like a good attorney
leading question. The city
council has the pour of the
purse.
» Thank you.
» Does an individual council
member have the power of the
purse.
» Ah, again, no. The cncil
as a body.
» So as a body, we have the
power of the purse. Not an
individual council member.
council member chowdhury,
council member wonsley, can you
please explain your motion. My
understanding is that -- and
I'll read it for the public.
it's requesting the city
attorney's office for a legal
analysis of what pathways may be
or may be available for the city
of minneapolis recoup from the
appropriate entities, the city's
costs related to this.
» It's not a requirement of
saying it's a memo we're asking
for, correct.
» That is correct. It's been
reviewed with the city
attorney.
» Yep.
» We've done it before when
we're asking or expanding
funding and wanting to now how
we can recoup the dollars back.
» Thank you. There's asking
for a memo. Nothing is
happening here. Budget
director, can you let us know
what the current budget deficit
is heading into the exin year.
next year.
» Director.
» Chair payne, council member
chavez. Deputy cfo, jane
jane I did zen disa. The
current -- we gave a rake with
current expenses and reestated
revenues about $28 to $33
million.
» Thank you. Who is getting
this $2.5 million.
» Through the chair, council
member I'm not sure if it's a
question for me.
» Anybody. .
» I believe the way it's
written. I haven't been here
for the changes. It's addressed
to the financial receiver or
other parties that may be needed
to assist with the relocation.
» Director h hansen.
» Discenza nailed it. For the
relocation services and
relocation funders. We'll be
working through the emergency
management process that directer
sayer mentioned. Providing
resources for relocation. So
that could be any organizations
like mpha, red cross, hennepin
county, other agencies that help
with relocation. Far as if
there's any renovations needed
to related to the relocation.
that's acting as the owner for
the property at this point in
time.
» Thank you. Yeah, so the
motion, at least, since I want
to talk about everything. It's
so many votes happening. At
least the motion I'm requesting
a them emp memo it
seems pragmatic and makes sense
to ask for a memo to potentially
recoup the cost, if it's going
to the receiver who has issues.
and has really made a big impact
to the residents in north
minneapolis at heritage park.
so I think we can -- if we're
giving away $2.5 million to the
receiver or those who harmed the
residents on our site. I think
it makes sense to get a memo and
see how we could possibly recoup
the costs. It's not required
to. I think it makes sense
given the budget deficit. If it
was rental assistance or the
money was going to the
residents, and cash is going to
the residents to help them with
their anti-displacement or
funding to move into a different
place. That's a different
conversation. I wouldn't be
interested in recouping the
cost. If it's going to the
receiver, I think it's more
important we get the information
to see how we can recoup the
costs. If it's going to those.
» Vice president osman.
» Thank you. There's no amount
that can help our residents that
are struggling in the
conditions. We've seen the
video council member warren
posted. I feel like this is
a -- I wasn't here on tuesday.
my apologies. My comment is
that the city department wh
who oversees rental licensing
has to do better. We have
3-1-1. We are letting this go
on. And this is what we end up
with. I'm going to tell you,
there's more apartments like
this in our city. There has to
be a better process that the
violations that are being --
that have gone and addressed.
if you need more staff to do --
services to make sure that the
fire inspector is going there
and checking the boxes necessary
for human beings to be in that
condition. Let us know during
the budget. Request those.
we'll happily add those staffs.
it's a failure on the city
department, in my opinion. They
got to do better. We have to be
aggressive on landlords who are
abusing our residents. I think
we talked about the team three
properties that come. Come in
front of the council. The
reason we even did that, for
them to get their act together.
right. You're coming for a
license and want to rent in
minneapolis. You want to do
business with the city of
minneapolis. We expect the
minimum requirement for people
to live in those. In a basic
need. A livable conditions.
but this is what we're paying
for. This is something we got
to do better. So enforcing the
policies on the books and not
just ignore it or not just
document it. 3-1-1 has to be a
meaning. There has to be
consequences. City has to take
action. Whatever it looks like.
and what I know so far, the
mpha does inspections. And, you
know, in that itself too I'm
surprised. And I'm not really
sure if an indianapolis has
taken place. If you are paying
the voucher or the rent of the
unit. You should check it out.
what unit you're paying for.
but at the end of the day, the
residents are the ones that have
the least voice here. We are
the responsible oversight
government for city of
minneapolis. We have to do
better as council members. I'm
gladly happy to give you the
budget items you need to make
sure that landlords that a
putting people's lives at-risk.
I appreciate council member
warren in bringing this forward.
this might not be the only one.
I have some, you know,
collections of apartments that
have health and safety
violations in my ward. But
thanks a lot.
» Seeing no one else in queue.
I'll remind folks what we're
going to do as far as wrapping
out the votes. We'll take up
the legislative directive. I'm
labeling that item 3.4. After
that, we'll take up the motion
to the attorney's office for a
privileged memo. I'll label
that item 3.5. After we
complete the votes, we'll finish
a vote of the full package, so
with that, I'll ask the clerk to
call the roll on item 3.4, the
legislative directive asking for
regular reporting.
» Aye.
[ away from mic ]
» Council member warren.
» Aye.
» Shaffer.
» Aye.
» Wonsley.
» Aye.
» Whiting.
» Aye.
» Chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Stevenson.
» Aye.
» Rainville.
» Aye.
» Vetaw.
» Aye.
» Palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 12 ayes.
» That carries. Next we'll
take up item 3-.5, which is
requesting a legal memo from the
city attorney. I'll ask the
clerk to call the roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» No.
» Council member shaffer.
» No.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville
.
» No.
» Vetaw.
» No.
» Palmisano.
» No.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are seven ayes and five
nays.
» That carries. And then now
'll take up the package as a
whole. Item number 3 for
heritage park. I'll ask the
clerk to call the roll.
» Council member chavez.
» I have a question.
» Go ahead.
» Is staff here to talk about
what the plan is for the money
after?
» We're in the middle of a
vote, mr. President.
» He's in queue. It's a
reasonable question.
» We have the authority to ask
questions. Director hansen, can
you talk about what would be the
plan after the funding is
distributed. Just --
» President payne, council
member chavez, we'll be working
under the direction of director
sayer and the team she's
assembled. And they'll identify
needs and then we'll work
through the administrative
process to designate those funds
for those needs.
» Perfect. Thank you.
» Council member --
» Just auestion.
» Did you say me?
» Uh-huh.
» Oh, thank you. I'm just
wondering about the motion that
we're at now. Was this made by
council member warren?
» Mr. President, what's in
front of the body now is what
came out of committee. So the
motion that was on the committee
of the whole report included
three sub parts. Number one,
the delegation of the authority.
then the approval of the
$2.5 million from the affordable
housing trust fund to fund that
activity as already discuss.
and then, also, an authorization
for the execution of any
necessary documents to implement
that decision.
» Okay. So by council member
warren and seconded by whom?
» It was moved for approval
during the committee report.
» Okay. All right. Thank you.
» Council member whiting.
» Yeah. Just reading our
definition here. Is this -- are
we taking a vote on three as it
fits one, two, three, four, and
five sub parts as a whole? Or
one through three?
» Mr. President, I think
it's -- I think we're voting on
the item that came out of
c.o.w., parts one, two, three.
we dealt with four and five
already.
» Okay. Yep.
» Thank you.
» Okay. Seeing no one else in
queue, do we know what we're
voting on? Clerk will call the
roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 12 ayes.
» That carries. And that
completes the committee of the
whole report. We have the
amended resolution for item
number one from c & I that the
clerks have diligently put
together. And we can revisit
this. Is there any discussion
remaining discussion on item
number one from the c & I
report, lyndale reconstruction?
seeing none.
» Do we need to move it?
» Does this need to be moved,
mr. Clerk?
» The standing motion that we
were working on amending was
already offered by stevenson on
behalf of the committee. So I
assume we have the motion in
place from council member
stevenson.
» Okay. So we will be voting
on item number one as amended by
council member stevenson and
chowdhury.
» Correct. Which is marked
revised in yellow highlighting.
» Seeing -- council member
warren.
» What is the plan that keeps
lyndale avenue the way it is
right now? What is that? Is
that -- is that this? Or what
is happening here? I'm so
confused by all of the different
motions that have come forward
about lyndale avenue. And if
it -- the design -- if it
changes anymore, it's definitely
going to be a detriment. I
don't know if you guys remember
this, but during the time that
we had, the emergency at
annunciation. My kids attend
school right on lyndale avenue.
they go to stonebridge. That
morning when I was driving my
kids to school, we already have
a single lane of fricken
traffic. There are ambulances
flying. Trying to get past.
and there's nowhere for cars or
anyone to go because you are in
one lane. You're -- there's
nowhere for you to pull over to
get away. You can't jump up on
the median in your car, your
suv, your nothing. There's
nowhere for you to go. And I
was trying to figure out what
happened. Because as soon as I
would move and try to make a
quick dip turn off into the next
break of a street to get away
for the -- let the emergency
vehicles pass. I was -- I would
travel barely a half a block
before hear come come --
here comes some more. There was
nowhere for traffic to go.
nowhere! They were on both
directions of the street trying
to hurry up and get there to
service our babies who were in
danger. Leave these streets
alone! My goodn
goodness! We've done enough to
hennepin. The main things in
these neighborhoods, you got to
get emergency vehicles through
there. You got to get to people
quickly. There's all of those.
I get the traffic calming. I
respect the traffic calming. I
respect the oversaturation of
omissioned air and all the
cumulative air qualities. I'm
an environmental justice fellow.
I respect that. The tree c
canopies, everything. Man,
would you please leave the
streets alone. I want to go
with whatever the plan is. This
is leave the street alone! My
god! I just want to drive
down -- these people are
laughing at me. I want to drive
down a normal street. And I
want our emergency responders to
be able to get to people
effectively. I get the bike
lanes. I get all of that stuff.
I get the everything. I've
been to other cities. They got
bike lanes, two-lane traffic on
one side of the street. One
side. So people can move and
your bike bike bikes,
scooters, whatever it is. You
have a two-lane street. It's
cute. They got the traffic
signals and everything. It's
cute. And it's, like, real posh
and everything. Like, it's
nice. It's really nice. Leave
these people in the street
alone! I don't know is that
this plan? I don't know. I'm
confused. I just want the plan
that's no thank you to anymore
changes to lyndale. Hennepin is
already stressful enough. And I
just -- I just want to leave
lyndale. Lyndale north side is
jacked up. I want lyndale to be
left alone. Like, let lyndale
be lyndale! My goodness.
» Council member --
» The end.
» Council member stevenson.
» Tha you, mr. President. It
seems like council member warren
and I totally agree there should
be a bus lane the full length of
lyndale so buses and emergency
vehi vehicles can pass
quickly. Unfortunately, we're
not being presented with the
plan. We're the city and giving
municipal consent. As much as I
would have like to drawn up the
plan myself and deal with it at
this council. It's not how it
works. So, yeah. This is --
this is the plan. This is the
plan that the county came up
with. They listened for years
and years and years to folks
coming out and talking about the
strengths, weaknesses, and hopes
and desires for lyndale. Umm, a
lot has been said about the
business community. And I
like to -- I'd like to say a
little something for the
residents who live around there
in my ward and in ward 10.
people who have been hit by cars
and killed on this road. People
who have been injured, people
who don't -- don't css the
road because it's so dangerous.
so they feel hemmed in, in one
neighborhood as opposed to going
to the other. There are so many
reasons why the update is
happening. I personally don't
feel like it goes nearly far
enough. There are so many other
safety improvements, transit
improvements to deal with
congestion. To deal with the
fact that we're all in here
coughing up a lung because
there's so much smoke outside
because carbon pollution has
heated up this earth to the
point where our forests can no
longer exist in the way the do.
I mean, this is -- this is
climate action right here. And
we are in a climate emergency.
so I am begging, I'm asking for
my colleagues to please give
municipal consent so that we are
lurch making them drive up the
costs even further, and
potentially threatening the
federal funds so we can build
the compromised proposal.
frankly, doesn't go nearly far
enough for me. That's what
listening is. Listening is
hearing from all sides of the
community, all sides of the
stakeholders, and coming up with
something that can work. And
that's what this proposal is.
so I am asking, please, for the
sake of my residents, for the
sake of theesidents in ward
10, please approve this so that
we can move forward with a
safer, more legible lyndale that
gives transit irovements so
that emergency vehicles and
buses can skirt by when they
need to. That gives safety
improvements, that expands green
space, that expands sidewalk
cafes for some of our small
businesses. There is so much to
like in this proposal. And
there's so much that it leaves
to be desired. But I am asking
for e sake of my residents in
ward eight and for the sake of
residents in ward 10, that we
please approve this so we can
move forward in the most
financially sound way. And get
the street that we need rebuilt
and get the street rebuilt after
92 years.
» Just the last comment for me
here. Looking for the business
community, it's very important
we think about them and the
outcome and just imagine, this
construction happening and we're
celebrating, weave the safety
bus lane, all those good things.
I was suggesting not to close
the whole road but there is a
major project and it is not like
you can open one side of the
road. I will support -- I think
it's worth investment. If you
look at it, you know, let's not
forget our business community. I
encourage the county and the
city to find a way to support
the businesses and the project,
the county who is running the
project actually give this in
phases. Do it in a phase way
that you can connect with the
business community, have
meetings with the community,
have better signage of where
people are supposed to go,
supporting the businesses that
way and instead of closing and
leaving there with years, years
to come. I would definitely
encourage the county and the
city to find a way so we can
minimize the effects of
businesses, because we want the
businesses to come back. We're
building the road for that
reason, for people, for
businesses, for the community,
and I would like to see
businesses get as much support
as they can. I appreciate
everyone who tried to, you know,
work with and with this project,
finding amendments and amending
some of the motions we see which
are pretty important. Overall,
it's worth the investment to
approve this. Thank you.
» Council member chavez.
» Council president payne,
thank you. Does this allow for
emergency vehicles to go
through, along with the
resolutions in front of us
today?
» Council president, council
member chavez, senior
transportation planner with
public works. This plan does not
change the lane configuration
that is out there today. It
maintains for a large portion of
the roadway as a center turn
lane, which also allows for
space for vehicles to move out
of the way of emergency
vehicles, or for emergency
vehicles to use that center turn
lane. Where there are center
medians, we worked with
emergency services and fire to
make sure they can be navigated
and driven over, so they are
mountable. Both across the
intersections where the median
spans the intersection and along
lyndale avenue.
» Thank you, I wanted to make
sure that the public was not
given misquotes on what can
happen here. Emergency vehicles
can still go through. Thank you.
» Cncil member whiting.
» Thank you, president payne.
just maybe a quick note for
staff here as well. Quickly, I
just wanted to note particularly
how it goes to the logistics of
this plan as stated. I know we
kind of have the removal of the
design modification to ensure
drive way access and business
operational needs. I think
council member stevenson noted
that is because hennepin county
is open to changing that design
or working through that. Does
the design that is in front of
us, based on lyndale layout, are
we giving municipal consent for
that specific design or is it
subject to change without --
like does it have to come back
to us for municipal consent if
they change the design of the
layout?
» President payne, council
member, this is a resolution of
support. It's a minor, slightly
different than municipal
consent. It doesn't really
matter. The point is, with the
medians, what we asked the
county to look at is to ensure
that they can function with say
large delivery vehicles, and
those operational needs are met.
I want to be clear though that
it's not about reducing or
eliminating the medians. Those
are critical safety features on
the project. Removal of a median
would constitute a substantial
change, which would come back to
the city. In general, this is a
30% plan, more or less. It's
saying where the curbs are going
to be, more or less, what
features are going to be on the
projects, say bike lanes,
parking, those kinds of things.
so the median conversation, we
would be engaging the county to
make sure vehicles can get in
and out as intended, so the curb
where exactly it is may move,
but it's not saying whether or
not if there would be a curb.
» So it snds like any minor
changes would not need to come
baun to council. So anything
over substantial change would.
» That is correct. I will
acknowledgehat is a bit of a
gray area, but in general, these
do not come back to council.
» Thank you. That's all.
» Okay, seeing no one else left
in queue, I will ask the clerk
to call the roll on the
resolution as amended.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» No.
» Council member shaffer.
» No.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Councilember whiting.
» Aye.
» Shout.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» No.
» Council member vetaw.
» No.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 8 ayes and 4 nays.
» That item carries and that
completes the climate and
infrastructure report and we
will return to our agenda. Next
with the report of our
enterprise and labor relations
committee, which will be
presented by its chair council
member palmisano.
» Thank you, mr. President, we
have five items to bring forward
today. The first is our
appointment of the city
assessor. This is the nomination
of rebecca to be our city
assessor for this next term,
ending january of 2030. Item
number 2 is a resolution for the
first quarter of quarterly
donations, item number 3 is an
acceptance for council member
stevenson's attendance at a
summit in duluth. Item number 4
is a collective bargaining
agreement for our firefighters,
local 82. Item number 5 is a
settlement of a workers' comp
claim for genevieve hanson. I
will move approl for this for
report.
» Council member palmisano has
moved approval for the report.
is there any discuson? Seeing
none, I will ask the clerk to
call the roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Couil member warren.
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye. >> council member steve
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 12 ayes.
» That carries and that
completes the elr report.
finally we have the public
health, safety, and equity
committee which will be
presented by the committee's
chair, council member chavez.
» Thank you mr. President,
we're bringing forth three
items. Item 1, consent to the
mayor's nomination of kayla to
the point of position of civil
rights commissioner director.
item 2, considers the contract
with sky deal for a pilot
program. This item was sent
forward without recommendation.
item 3, accepts a donation with
the university of chicago for
police inspector molly fisher to
attend the policing leadership
academy. Move approval of item
number 3 and I will pull out for
discussion item 1 for a motion
and 2 for discussion.
» Council member chavez has
moved item 3 in the report and
we're going to take each one of
these up separately so council
member chavez, do y want to
make a motion for item number 1?
» I would like to move approval
of item number 1 and I want to
thank director kayla for
stepping up for this fresh term
as a permanent civil rights
department director. I'm
thankful for her work and I
wanted to send my kudos.
» Okay. We have items 1 and 2
moved -- sorry, 1 and 3 moved
for approval. Is there any
discussion on these items?
council member chowdhury.
» Thank you, president payne. I
wish I would have caught the
it previous to the appointment
of the city assessor. I hope
that I can just speak highly of
both director kayla and director
rebecca. Really excited to
supporting two phenomenal women
in leadership whose staff really
just love working for the
departments at they'r in and
they're fging ahead on really
wonderful work. I want to thank
the director of civil rights
that we're going to appoint, it
seems like, today for taking the
time with me and sitting down
and really talking through all
of the things you worked on and
the vision for the future ahead.
I think it's an ambitious vision
and I look forward to a future
wher the civil rights
department is a first resort for
all minneapolis residents,
especially in seeking justice
for the number of things that we
aid in. As it comes to rebecca,
I want t thank her for our
meeting. She brought her whole
team and we went through some of
the weeds of assessment in the
12th ward and the city of
minneapolis and it was really
valuable for me and my staff.
it's a really, like technical
and cumbersome level of
information to understand city
assessments, but her team did a
phenomenal job of explaing
what that was and it was really
great to meet the assessors that
do the job on the ground each
and every day. I think it's
wonderful we're getting to
appoint her as she is a leader
nationally on assessment work
across the country and she also
is a professor in this work and
so, we just have some of the
brightest women in leadership in
our city and I'm proud to
support them.
» Seeing no one else in queue,
I will ask the clerk to call the
roll on items 1 and 3.
» Council member chav.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 12 ayes.
» Those items carry. Next we
will take up item number 2, the
sky deal contract. Is there any
discussion? Council member
vetaw.
» Thank you, president payne.
first, I just want to take the
time to thank lots of people who
had been helping on this pilot
project. This has been in the
making for 2.5 yea. So, I want
to thank my team, I want to
thank d.c. Campbell, who has a
couple of promotions since we
started this work, sergeant, the
pilot for drones and the
minneapolis police department,
andy, john in the mayor's
office, minneapolis fire,
regulatory services, public
works, 9-1-1, there has been a
lot of us working on this
project for 2.5 years and so,
thank you all for all the work
you have done. Then I want to
start my comments out by saying
since the day I was collectrd --
elected, I made a commitment, to
work every day to solve the
problems they face, faster
police response times, cleaner
streets, and less violent crime.
year after year, I had to tell
them that we cannot make the
progress they deserve because we
do not have enough officers on
our streets. I am tired of
saying that. I fought for
solutions, but came up short. I
am tired of explaining that we
lost two additional officers to
the non-fatal shooting task
force after council member
wonsley's proposals passed. I'm
tired of telling residents we
lost an alternative to
traditional policing when my
colleagues voted to end the
contract with knew salem. I'm
tired of explaining that we
cannot secure much needed
additional crime prevention
specialists because I could not
get the votes. I am tired of
telling neighbors they must live
with the safety operation center
in front of their homes because
my colleagues eliminated the
other option. Most of all, I am
tired of watching my community
absorb one loss after another
and then facing my constituents,
knowing their concerns remain
unresolved. They deserve bter
than excuses, they deserve
results. If I had the powero
make these changes on my own, I
would, but I am not. I'm one of
13 members on the council,
meeting with residents every
day, and that is my
responsibility. The
responsibility is on all of us
to make sure they are safe. What
I am proposing is not a
permanent solution, it's a free
75-day pilot program, it's a
chance to test the technology,
evaluate the results, a
determine whether it works for
our city or not. I also want to
address concerns about privacy
and accountability. Skydio will
not have the data, it remains
with the minneapolis police
department and every deployment
is documented through a public
dashboard that shows where the
drone was used, why it was used
and how it was used. This is a
pilot built with transparency
and public accountability from
the start. I have also heard
concerns about skydio's business
relationship with federal
agencies but if our standard is
that we cannot work with any
company that has contracts with
a federal agency who has
policies we oppose, we will
quickly find that standard
impossible to apply
consistently. The question
before us is, will this pilot
help the people of minneapolis?
will it operate under minnesota
state law and minnesoapolis's
policies and with full
transparency. I believe the
answer is yes. When I saw this
technology demonstrated, I saw a
practical way to make better use
of the resources we already
have. This is not about
replacing human interaction,
this is about giving our
existing personnel another tool
to respond more quickly and more
efficiently. Today, the average
police response time in the
fourth precinct is more than 7
minutes. With this pilot
response time for eligible cause
could be reduced to under 2
minutes. So far this year, there
have been more than 7,800 calls
whe this technology could have
been deployed. Roughly 40 calls
every day. Those are thousands
of opportunities to get help to
residents, faster while allowing
officers to focus on the calls
that require an in-person
response. Take the story of
mr. Bob stewart, an 82-year-old
marine veteran in ward 4
resident who went missing for
5.5 hours and was eventually
found having fallen into shingle
creek. After a drone was finally
deployed, it found him in just 9
minutes. Under this pilot
program, a drone could have been
in the air in under 2 minutes,
once the 9-1-1 call came in
instead of waiting for
deployment. In emergencies,
minutes matter. We can never
know the outcome of every case
but what we do know is that
getting ayes on a missing person
sooner can make the difference
between life and death. If this
progm saves one life, it's
worth trying. If it doesn't
deliver the results we expect,
that's why it's a 75-day pilot
program. We evaluate it and we
make a decision based on
evidence. St. Paul, duluth,
rochester, minnetonka, brooklyn
park are already using this
technology from the same
company. Members of this body
often look to these cities for
ideas on policies and programs.
members of this body look to
duluth for bathhouses and safe
bays. Members of this body look
for rent control and non-fatal
shooting tasks rce. If we look
to them for those initiatives,
why don't we look to them for a
tool they have found success
with and has the potential to
improve the public safety and
city services. At times, it
feels like members of this body
are searching for reasons to say
no instead of looking for
reasons to give this pilot a
chance, to make the outcome of
this decision hinge on whether a
country halfway around the world
purchases equipment from the
same company does not make sense
to me. I do not believe that
this is a reasonable basis for
deciding whether our residents
should have access to a tool
that can improve public safety.
at some point, we havto decide
whether our responsibility is to
reject any imperfect option or
to test ideas that can make a
meaningful difference for the
people we serve. This is all
about a pilot. That is all I am
asking for, a pilot. Thank you.
» Council member chavez.
» Thanks president payne, I
want to thank the public for
engaging on this topic. It
allowed me to look more deeply
into this tool. I have a few
questions for the minneapolis
police department. First, before
this was brought to council, did
mpd do any due diligence on
skydio's contracts or do they
sell drones to ice or other dhs
components?
» Deputy chief.
» Council president payne,
council meer chavez, I run the
day-to-day operations for the
drone program.
» Good morning, I'm the drone
coordinator for the minneapolis
police department, council
member payne and chavez, prior
to looking into skydio, we did
do our due diligence. If we were
to look at every other company
that we're also associated with
difficult types of technologies
or tools, we wouldn't be able to
get anywhere at all. We did look
into them, but more so we
focused on the good they were
doing and we focused on the fact
that they were contracted
partners with one of our largest
evidence management.
» Thank you, and in california,
they spent over $1 million in
legal fees to withhold drone
footage, and lost at the
california supreme court. Has
mpd reviewed the public records
law and how it would apply to
this footage and would mpd be
withholding drone footage from
the public?
» Council member payne and
council member chavez, we're a
little bit different than true
la vista because we have
safeguards in place. We have
safeguards with our state law,
with our department policy. What
true la vista did, they operated
their drones under a blanket as
in they withheld all the data as
evidentiary data and when the
lawsuit came forward, they were
basically stuck in a tight
place. We're not like true la
vista. We're all about
transparency, we will have a
public dash board, and we will
abide by state law because state
law requires us to delete all
non-evidentiary value within 7
days. If there is a public data
request within the minnesota
state statute, all drone video
is considered private data,
however if there is any video of
non-evidentiary data that is
going to be categorized, and
within seven days, it has to be
deleted. If there are public
data questions within those
seven days, it will be up to the
records unit to determine if
they can release those videos.
on the minneapolis police side,
we're going to abide by state
law and the department policy.
» Flight records show these
drones were launched to surveil
a january 31st ice out protest
in los angeles, which saw
thousands peacefully protest
against the trump
administration. Will mpd follow
suit and use these drones to
respond to 1st amendment
protected activities like
protests, marches, vigils,
demonstrations, regardless of
call volume.
» Council member payne and
council member chavez, we will
not be following suit. We will
follow what state law dictates
we can do. We respect people's
1st amendment rights. As public
servants, that's what we do. We
help preserve people's civil
rights and civil liberties, but
if there is an emergency
situation that fits state law
and our department policy allows
us to, we will utilize this
technology to help out the
community the best we can.
» A wired article states a
drone followed two young men in
their car, at least one of them
who is described in police
records being identified as a
suspicious person in a vehicle
and then two men emerged on to a
basketball court and started
playing, and the drone departed.
how does mpd feel about this?
» Council member payne and
council member chavez, for an
incident like that, we wouldn't
be utilizing drones for a
situation like that. So I don't
know what their polies are,
but I can only speak to our
policies. We wouldn't be
operating drones in that
situation.
» Given that maninneapolis
residents spent months
documenting unmarked
surveillance and ice activity,
how could this not be mistaken
from aerial surveillance in the
ayes of minneapolis residents,
besides the police markings that
are hard to identify in the air.
» Council member payne and
council member chavez, right now
we don't have any detection
systems at all. Whether a drone
is in the sky, no one in the
city is going to know whether
it's a police drone, whether
it's a federal one, or it's a
recreational user. What I would
suggest to the community with
concerns is that they identify a
drone in the air, they have
concerns, they can call us and
we can go out there and document
it. I am in charge of the drone
program so I will oversee all
the reports and I can follow up
with them through the marshals
or the faa. I will follow up on
all the complaints.
» Will drone data be included
in the mpd reports to the
settlement agreement monitor so
racially disparent patterns are
tracked from day one and not
after.
» Council member payne and
council member chavez, all of
the data, all of the metrics we
are going to be documenting,
we're not going to be
documenting race or anything
like that. We will be
documenting drones based off of
behaviors. That's what state
statute dictates for us to do.
» Okay, the contract that mpd
will be signing with this states
that skydio's use and sharing of
personal information is governed
by the company's privacy policy.
the privacy policy states that
it does not govern how they
collect, use, and disclose
personal information to
customers who use the type of
service that we're talking about
here. So if the privacy policy
does not govern skydio use of
sharing personal information, I
know that skydio claimed they
will not have access to data. My
question is, what governs
skydio's collection use and
sharing of personnel information
that they may collect in any
ans?
» There is only seconds left.
all right, we'll have to return
to that question. Council member
wonsley.
» Thank you, president payne.
also, thank you council member
chavez for highlighting and
raising some further concerns
with skydio that really show
that this is a company that does
not align with the city's
overall values and I have been
consistent about my skepticism
and concerns about mpd's drone
use, which is why I brought
forward the ordinance that
allows us to have public
hearings when mpd is seeking to
purchase new technology,
surveillance technology, such as
the one we're proposed to
consider today. That said, I do
think that it's also important
as we go further into the item
to make it known that mpd has
the ability to still purchase
drones and already have drones.
mpd can and will likely purchase
their own drones with their
budget for as long as the mayor
allows them to. We cannot stop
them and I want to make sure I
level set that because if you
still see drones in the air and
think council took up this item
regardless of the vote outcome,
I thought I would see those.
they do have these in their
possession. Council has the
right now to vote this contract
down, knowing that the vendor
has a documented history of
having sowed weapons that killed
innocent people. There are no
reasons to contract with
companies that shown a disregard
to life, including the
occupation that took the lives
of two of our residents, and
created lifelong trauma for a
north minneapolis resident who
was also shot and we have seen
in recent days, several other
residents of the general public
be killed at the hands of ice.
it would be no chance why we
were asked to consider this
today.
[applause].
» This is and business
relationship that we're seeking
out that does not align with the
values of our residents of our
city. I am not in support of
drones overall. One of the main
reason is because I do not
trust mpd's ability to practice
and enforce good policy around
data collection, especially when
it's been note in the emotion
recent elefa report, where they
have found that mpd was not able
to use facebook in an ethical
constitutional way. Why would we
give new tools when it'sot
very clear and I don't believe
the elefa report said that we're
in compliance with being able to
use facebook even at this
current moment. With that said,
earlier this year o, going
back to the federal occupation,
residents have repeatedly raised
concerns around what is the
city's responses to surveillance
practices, especially in a way
which we're protecting our
residents' private data when the
federal government is hostile
and is using a multitude of
initiatives from extorting
information and political
retaliation to try to extract
information of our residents so
they can target them. Because of
that, my office actually brought
forward a legislative directive
asking the administration how
they are employing data
practices to protect our
residents and hold ice agents
accountable when they're
violating the constitutional
rights of our residents, and is
engaging in unlawful behavior.
despite being requested to
provide that information about
their policies, the frey
administration declined to do
so. We're having to navigate a
hostile federal governmt and
we have not seen the frey
administration and the office of
community safety use these
opportunities to showcase that
there are thoughtful and
intentional policies set up to
center the safety of ordinary
residents. I don't feel
confident in the ability to
enter into this contract. There
is no such thing as a no cost
after a 75-day trial period
where we're going to say no,
we're not going to move forward.
that's unrealistic. With that, I
am going so say no. I want to
thank the hundreds of residents
that reached out to council to
share their thoughts, including
to excess -- came to the
committee, we had those testify
around their concerns regarding
the pilot. Residents overall do
deserve quality public safety
services. I do want to highlight
too that there are so many
approaches we can employ.
council member vetaw mentioned
the non-lethal task force. From
my understanding, that is all
based in getting external
partners, specifically
investigators to come and help
us. Many help reduce gun
violence and do significant work
to close cases of unsolved
shootings in our community,
which we know is happening in
our community,
disproportionately in black and
brown communities. We have seen
case closure rates for non-fatal
go up by triple percentages.
that's less than 2 million. I'm
grateful that we're employing
data-backed solutions, one that
does not hinder or compromises
our residents' ability, it gives
targeted resources to our
residents. They ask mpd to use
your resources efficiently in a
way that meets the needs, the
safety needs of our residents. I
don't see how this does that.
there has been a change in
goalpost on the usage of this.
we were told this could be used
to address illegal dumping. Then
I think there were further
conversations with legal experts
to show that maybe that didn't
fit the guidelines of the state
statute --
» Point of order. Could you
remind the audience of our
decorum here.
» You interrupt me when I talk.
» Council member wonsley has
not finished her speech. Let's
give her a minute back, but just
as a general advisory, council
rules do not provide comment
from the public. The purpose of
this meeting to conduct the
business of the city, it's not a
form for public testimony or
comments under the minnesota
open meeting law, the committees
are open to the public for the
purpose of observation only.
thoswho purposely disrupt or
disturb these proceedings and
interfere with the body's
ability to conduct the business
of the city will be asked to
leave. Those who refuse may be
removed from the chamber. Clerk,
can we give council member
wonsley another minute to
complete her speech.
» Thank you, I should not be
interrupted by council member
rainville when I am speaking so
I respect you when you speak, I
extend that to everyone. I ask
for the same consideration. So
with that said, I want to be
very clear about my concerns
around this contract that I have
been consistent about and that
there are tons of documentation
that shows this is not
appropriate for us to enter
into. So again, I want to thank
our residents for being bold and
persistent in raising these
concerns for holding us account.
this represents the opportunity
for us to not set a new
precedence in entering into what
is a non-necessary relationship
with the company that does not
align with our values, that does
not support the well-being of
our residents. Thank you all for
your leadership and I look
forward to voting no on this
contract.
» Council member palmisano.
» I am not part of phs
committee but I watched this
long public comment period with
interest and I wanted to address
the suggestions and feedback we
received, specifically from the
aclu of minnesota. As we deploy
this new program, we heard
concerns from the community and
groups like the aclu about
balancing public safety and
protecting people's privacy.
that is a really important
balance. The sergeant mentioned
some of this earlier and later
we will get back to council
member chavez's questions, which
really reflect some of the
things we heard in the public
comment period. I think that is
important. I want people to
understand that this pilot
proposal exceeds all thresholds
and recommendations from the
aclu. We are already beyond
their standards. Mpd has offered
clarity about their use of
drones and I will share some of
the specific clarifications for
the public. Drones will be used
to respond to priority 0 and 1
calls, such as a person with a
weapon, an accident, an auto
theft, or shots fired. During
the pilot, a physical squad will
still be sent out, will still be
sent out. Drones will not be
utilized for every 9-1-1 call
and will only be authorized if
there are circumstances that
authorize their use under state
law. The federal aviation
administration, the faa and
state law do not allow drones to
be used for routine patrols or
surveillance, to have facial
recognition capabilities, or to
be equip with weapons. State
statute mandates that footage
without evidentiary value be
deleted within 7 days and
different from our body camera
footage, drone footage is
private, nodata. Just like vide
evidence, whether that is
submitted by neighbors or
captured on a security camera,
all data is stored in a way that
is only accessible to mpd. What
is before us today is a free
pilot program. This is an
opportunity for minneapolis to
trial this kind of technology,
technology that is currently
used in st. Paul, minnetonka,
rochester, duluth, and brooklyn
park to determine if it works
for us. The goals of this pilot
are to reduce our response
times, clear low level 9-1-1
calls without officers being
dispatched, increase safety,
safety of the community, safety
of our officers. We will be
tracking and measuring those
outcomes, specific to our city.
let's see what those outcomes
are. We all agree that drones
are not a substitute for
uniformed personnel but this
pilot provides critical support
to a severely understaffed
department and not only that,
community sees some great
improvement in response that was
previously impossible. I have
seen demos with these drones
that do things like bring narcan
directly to someone in need to
be used by a community member.
this can save lives. I have seen
demos where a drone drop a
flotation device with someone
struggling in the water with
amazing speed and accuracy. I
want that. Do you know how long
it takes a fire rescue boat to
get in the water in lake
harriet
harriet? Agonizingly long,
dangerously long. It's important
to me and I think it's important
to every single one of us
sitting up here, public safety
broadly defined. Our residents
deserve police response that is
as safe and as efficient as
possible. If technology can
clear certain calls and provide
better information before
officers arrive, it frees up
officers to respond to other
calls and service the community
better. Our first responders
deserve to know if they are
truly needed. Drones could help
us avoid situations where
personnel arrive and ultimately
no one is there. We heard you
deputy chief campbell in your
presentation that there were
33.5 thousand priority 0 and 1
calls in the fourth precinct
alone in 2025. Drones could
respond to 5,000 of them in
under 2 minutes. That is
significant. We know 5 other
cities in this state utilize
drones and they are making their
communities safer. We have
guardrails around this pilot
program and they meet and exceed
the standards set out by the
aclu. I will be voting in
support of this pilot and I am
really eager to see how it helps
us to reduce response time and
protect safety overall. I'm
grateful for the work you have
done to establish these
guardrails and bring this kind
of technology to our department.
thank you.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Thank you, president payne. I
just have a couple of questions
on this. The first question I
have, how will the drones
themselves be controlled? Is it
controlled by human beings? Just
go through the logisticses for
me.
» Council member payne and
council member chowdhury,
operationally, the drones will
be remotely flown from someone
from dispatch. The drones will
be operated. By someone, like an
actual officer from dispatch. So
dispatch would get a call, we
see it on their screen, and then
they will assign it to the drone
pilot. The drone pilot would
respond to that location. While
in route, again, the camera
would be set at the horizon at
180 degrees. Once it gets to the
scene, it will pan to the
location and do an assessment of
the area. That formation is then
relayed to dispatch and officers
on the ground and from there, we
can taylor a response, according
to what we've seen.
» Got it. So it will be
officers controlling the drone.
» That is correct.
» And then you had said
previously that these drones
would not be identifiable to
other drones, is that correct?
» So, council member payne and
council member chowdhury, our
drones can see other drones that
are broadcasting what is called
rem
remote id. If you think about
it, it's a beacon. Our drones
can see them, however that is
not the case for all
recreational drones out there.
can our drones see other drones?
that question is yes and no,
depending on the types of
drones.
» Thank you for that response.
let me clarify wha my question
is. Will the public be able to
discern between what drones are
used by mpd compared to other
drones by other law enforcement
agencies or recreational drones?
» So, council member payne and
council member chowdhury, our
drones will be marked with blue
and red markings, so that is one
identifier. So if community
members are looking up at the
sky and they see a drone, they
will be marked with mpd markings
and they will have red and blue
lights to indicate they are
police drones. A normal
recreational drone will not have
the red and blue lights.
normally they're red and green.
» Will they be discerned from
other law enforcement drones or
other drones used by skydio,
such as the ones used by ice?
» So council member payne,
council member chowdhury, a
normal person won't be able to
differentiate between the two
but again, they won't be able to
differentiate between what we
had with the 4th of july. I
worked that day. There were
maybe -- we saw 15 to 20 drones
and we were able to identify if
they were pice drones or if
they were recreational users. So
for now, there is no standard
that holds citizens to that
standard of identifying and
marking their own drones. So for
now, we just have to essentially
identify police drones as our
markings or lights with our
drones.
» If I may speak too, for our
identification purpose for our
drones, it goes back to that
public-facing dashboard. So if
someone does see a drone flying
and they want -- they think it's
an mpd drone, they have the able
to go on the public-facing
dashboard, which is on the
city's website. Within 24 hours,
they can see that is an mpd
drone and wre it was flown
from and to, and for what
reason.
» Okay, I feel like there is a
lot of issues with being able to
discern between other law
enforcemt drones and I think
it puts a lotf onus on every
day people to do that due
diligence. That is just a quick
comment that I will make. The
other thing is since mpd
officers will be flying this
drone and let's say they go
outside of the scope of what is
occurring here and do, let's say
one of the worst-case scenarios
is someone is followed and
profiled by a drone. What is the
recourse for complaints from
citizens and other officers.
» So council member payne and
council member chowdhury, we
already have policies in place
that dictate what happens if we
improperly use this technology.
so, going off of that, we would
just follow our own sops, our
policies and procedures, as well
as state law.
» So it would likely go through
either the opcr or internal
investigations if a complaint is
filed about misuse of drones by
officers, correct?
» Correct.
» Okay, thank you. Those are
all my questions for you. I will
make a couple of comments with
the minute and0 seconds I
have. Based off of that
information, I have aot of
concerns in our ability to have
accountability over these
drones, especially since
complaints will be made through
internal investigations and we
gotten a report in our committee
of the whole from the
independent monitor that the lis
or cal backlog for internal
affairs remains. We're not
investigating theomplaints at
the rate we need to satisfy the
goals of the settlement
agreement. I have no reason to
believe we will have a higher
level of accountability on this
matter or the level of
accountability that is necessary
and that is deeply troubling to
me because you can say that it's
going to follow the scope of
what's going on, but if it veers
out of it, the recourse is slow,
limited, and documented to be
off track byyears. The other
thing that I will just share,
during the ice occupation, to my
office, we have 40 documented
instances of drones flying all
throughout the neighborhoods
that residents were not able to
identify, even in conversations
with the faa, the mpd and
hennepin county, no one was able
to identify them. My
constituents are traumatized by
drones flying over their
households. They do not like
them. They feel surveilled. They
have been follod by drones.
they have had drones show u by
their windows as late as
5:00 a.m., and that's to speak
somethingn that my
constituents say is traumatic
for them to experience. We were
still unable to get any
responses on who operated the
drones.
» You're at time. Council
member rainville.
» Thank you. I a going to vote
yes on this just like I voted on
some other pilot projects we
did. We voted to start a pilot
understand how we canet a
handle on that. It's perfect for
our approach to non-armed public
safety. Also, a pilot project
for non-injury traffic
accidents. Another move towards
the goal of more and more
non-armed public safety working
for us. The success of the
v.c.r., that started out as a
pilot project. Toot vote for
this today would be a real loss
for our community, not just in
north minneapolis where we can
hope to start this, but for the
whole city of minneapolis. As I
contemated the information we
received after all these weeks,
the one thing that has come to
my mind time and time again, if
this drone project was in place
when we had the horrible
shooting in south minneapolis
where officer mitcher was
killed, there could have been a
drone to advise him of the
danger. The person he went to
help killed him. A drone would
have prevented that. I hope that
my colleagues see that we need
to gather this data and I look
forward to making law based on
fact, not fear.
» Council member shaffer.
» Yeah, can you just clarify
that the rhythm of the drone
use. Are they going to be
restricted to ward 4 or are they
going to be pilot in other
wards? I know there is a lot of
concern about other areas of the
city. Can you speak and I may
have missed that and reitete
that for me.
» So paycouncil member payne a
council member shaffer, it
contains two drones, and will
only operate within ward 4.
» Great, I really appreciate
that the ward 4 council member
for this area has taken the
responsibility and leadership to
step up and say this is
something that my community
wants. This is something I am
familiar with and I'm
comfortable with. I have done a
lot of research on it for 22.5
years. I think we should respond
and acknowledge the privacy of
her leadership in this test. She
is for it, just like we're
supporting council member warren
in heritage park, I think we owe
it to our colleagues for her
work to allow this to move
forward and see how her
residents respond to this and
look at the data that comes
back. I understand the fear and
the moral arguments around
surveillance and where it was
use in various conflicts and
federal contracts. I get it.
there is a moral argument on the
other side just as strong or
stronger. We are municipal
leaders for the city of
minneapolis. We need to do what
is right for the citizens of our
city, right here. If it's proven
that it can save lives and other
jurisdictions that we are
friendly with, duluth, et
cetera, then I think we deserve
it to council member vetaw to
support her in this trial and
get the data. I believe the
moral argument to use drones to
help save lost children and
adults, drones that could be
used as a force multiplier for
mpd when we're short officers,
doing more with less, drones
that can be used as first
responders in unusual situations
that take time as we mentioned
with the water rescues, and
takes an element of danger away
from those who are first on
scene. That is a moral argument
I will stand behind for the
citizens of minneapolis. I am
the mother of a first responder,
I will be supporting this drone
pilot.
» Vice president osman.
» Thank you so much. I listened
to the meeting a couple weeks
ago about this drone pilot
program. As you can see, my name
is on the co-author. I made the
commitment to support it because
I thought this was something
that could be helpful. I did
change my mind. I will tell you
why I changed my mind. Number
one, I strongly support the
public safety. This is the best
tool they have to protect our
community. This is why I cannot
support this skydio pilot
because it must include trust,
ethics, and accountability.
those are my core beliefs. We
are human beings with ethics. I
talked to the assistant chief,
our police leadership, and I
expressed to them I do support
police having a tool that can
help our residents when there
are calls. They already have bo
cameras on the buildings. Now
this is just another camera in
the sky. I don't have an issue
with that, right? If we have a
policy around it and a strong
leadership that can protect
those concerns and rights, but
skydio supplies drones to the
military, who committed a
genocide against palestinian
people and children. That is not
my opinion, that is u.n. Human
rights office. Look it up. They
also work with ice department,
homeland security on immigration
enforcement surveillance. Nobody
knows more than immigrant
communities, city of
minneapolis, what has taken
place in our cities. Bringing
offenders that ties to
militarized operations into our
city underlines the trust that
we are trying to rebuild with
the city, especially in major
black neighborhoods, black
immigrants, muslim immigrants. I
do not trust the skydio. And I
will not allow for them to
arrive here in our city. I
support exploring technology
that can help, including drones,
in our first response, but only
with a vendor that has no
contract with militaries that
are killing other people. It
might be far away, but it is
seen on your phones and we have
experienced last winter what ice
did to our community. Those
drones were hovering on top of
you when you were protesting and
exercising your rights. These
are the reasons why I am voting
against and it does not mean,
let me just say this, I am vo
voting because nobody support
it, public safety than me. Since
I came in 2020, public safety
had been in the conversation, I
have supported our police
officers, I have supported the
consent decree, all this change
we need to do. So this does not
mean we're against the police.
it does not mean we're against
public safety. Taking a stand
ethically and morally is the
right thing to do. I think,
focusing on the city of
minneapolis, what we have seen,
99% of the people that came here
are close to that, it's because
they care, right? We are
discussing their taxes, their
city, and we should consider
that. So the reason I'm voting
against it is because of the
skydio basically working with
ice that terrorized my community
and also working with a genocide
military government that
continues to kill innocent
children. That is not made up,
that is a fact. You can look it
up. Thank you, council
president.
» I wanted to note that we were
joined by mayor frey and I will
recognize him.
» Thank you for having me here
today. The ethical and moral
stance that I am taking in
support this pilot is on behalf
of our constituents that need
response from a police officer
or a safety system that allows
us to see what is going on in
real-time. This program, which
is modeled after dozens of other
programs in major cities
throughout the country and in
minnesota has shown to save
lives and reduce the numbers of
calls that our police officers
need to go to. They both reduce
the number of unnecessary
interactions between law
enforcement and residents and
also improve the response time
and the time that officers need
to spend on each individual
call. Let me explain what this
looks like practically. A call
comes in from a constituent
saying that there is an
individual on the corner with a
gun. We can send a drone out to
that location sometimes within
60 seconds and that drone,
through the camera footage, can
the our police officers that
it's not a gun at all, in fact
it's a cell phone. That footage
can alert the police officer
that they're not actually
walking into a very dangerous
where they may need to have
their hand on a gun. That
footage can let us know ahead of
time that in fact that police
officer is not needed at all and
they can instead tend to a far
more critical and dangerous
situation that is happening
perhaps in a neighborhood away.
this technology is not novel in
use by cities. It is presently
used in duluth, rochester,
brooklyn park, minnetonka, and
st. Paul. This technology is
being used by new york city,
philadelphia, atlanta, los
angeles, san francisco, chicago,
denver, and I could go on. This
technology is also in so many
respects a part of the future of
where law enforcement is going
because it allows us to get to a
location faster, helps somebody
sooner, and s, also save
lives, which becomes all the
more important when we're down
over 200 officers where we have
fewer officers per capita than
virtually any city in the whole
country and we need to be using
our time and our dollars as
efficiently as possible. So
council members on many
occasions have righteously asked
for grateater service, for quicr
response, for more attention to
victims and their needs. This
gives us the ability to do
exactly that. Council members, I
ask for your support on this
because I know that it will help
our residents. I ask for your
support on this because I know
that it will help you provide
the constituent service that you
demand of our administration.
this is not a small item. It is
in the sense that it's a free
pilot. It's a free pilot. It's
incredibly important in that it
gives us the testing ground for
free where yes, we can expand,
in full transparency, we want
to. Virtually every city in the
country is going to be
ultimately going in this
direction, I believe. I don't
think that minneapolis should
have our own residents as
collateral damage because of gee
pot -- geopolitics. We're not
sending --
[gavel].
» Please don't interrupt.
» Thank you, council president.
refusing this pilot, I don't
believe sends a message to
israel. It does make it more
difficult for us to provide the
necessary safety to our
residents in this city at this
point in time. I respect all of
the arguments here, including
those that I don't agree with.
my ask today though is that we
find a way to work together, to
provide the service and the
safety that I believe residents,
and by extension, council
members are deserving of. This
pilot, this program was not
entered in a half hazard
fashion. As council member vetaw
can attest, I'm sure she would
have liked it to come forward
earlier, years ago. We have done
a lot of work on this. I'm
grateful to our police officers
who have done due diligence to
put together the plan, address
concerns, understand the law. I
am impressed by the work. I ask
that we have the opportunity to
move forward with this important
pilot and the ability to provide
safety in the immediacy to
residents that need it. Thank
you council mbers.
» Ouncil member chavez.
» Thank you, council president
payne. I just wanted to say that
concerns with ice are not
geopolitics. Surveilling ice out
protests using these drones is
not geopolitics. Surveilling
people who are playing
basketball is not geopolitics.
having concerns about the use of
these drones is not geopolitics,
it is just concerns we have
about surveillance in our city.
I just wanted to add that
comment. Going back to my
question as I mentioned earlier,
the contract states that
skydio's collection use and
sharing of personal information
is governed by the company's
privacy policy. The company's
privacy policy says it does not
govern how they disclose
personal information for
customers who use this type of
service, which we're talking
about here. So if the privacy
policy does not govern skydio's
use and sharing of personal
information and the contracts
mention privacy rights,
mentioning the privacy policy,
which doesn't govern here based
on my reading, skydio claimed
they will not have access to
data. My question is what
governs skydio's collection use
and sharing of personal
information they may collect.
» So council member payne and
council member chavez, with
regards to the data collection,
that was something we were
concerned about, as well as our
city attorneys. Initially when
we saw the contract, we reworded
it that way so they would have
no say in how we collect our
data. So we would set the
parameters on how we would
document these incidents, and
then from there they are just
helping us basically set
different parameters to help us
out.
» So it would be set after if
this were to get approved?
» For all of the data?
» Yes.
» So, we would collect all of
the data in-house and then we
would present it to council.
» I'm concerned about the
guardrails here.
» What guard rail? I'm
confused. I am going to the next
one because I have limited time.
if something goes wrong during
the pilot or a data breach, the
contracts seems like it give it
is city no meaningful recourse,
the service level agreement
doesn't apply to any of the
services offered on the trial
pilot or beta basis. Neither the
warranty or the dao warranty
under the trial period and
skydio's total liability to a
city for any claim is capped at
the amount the city paid skydio,
which in this instance, it's a
free trial so it's $0. I am
concerned that we will be flying
this technology that contracted
away our responsibilities for
the consequences of violations.
can you explain under skydio's
terms if a drone crashes or
causes a data breach during this
trial, what is skydio's actual
financial liability to the city
and can they confirm whether
that liability is 0?
» So council member payne and
council member chavez, with
regards to data breaches that
you are talking about, I know
there are concerns. However,
there hasn't been any documented
cases that I am aware of any
data breaches. However, we are
working closelyith our I.t.
unit and we will deal with it as
it comes. For now, there hasn't
been any documented cases,
again, when we're utilizing
these drones, we're going
through axon, and we have
already been usineing axon.
everything gets updated through
their servers.
» Section 12.2, skydio will
notify the city before complying
with a legal demand for
confidential information but
only if legally permissible.
this contract never defines what
counts as confidential
information. It describes how
that information must be handled
but not qualifies. Section 6
prohibits customers from using
skydio drones as weapons, likely
to cause death or injuries. This
has an exception for lawful
government action. That phrase
is not defined. What makes an
action lawful for a government
to use to cause death or injury,
or who makes that determination.
the city's standard contract
don't apply to skydio unless
separately negotiated in writing
that includes any commitments we
might want from skydio around
data sharing guardrails with the
federal government when it comes
to ice actions, consistent with
our ordinance, and section 3.3
confirms skydio collects
metadata, and improves skydio's
current and future products.
that doesn't specify when or how
often this is generated. Lastly
I am concerned about how we are
going to use the flight footage
we have here.
» You are at time. Council
member chowdhury.
» Thank you president payne. I
just wanted to share that I am
entering into the public record
this document supplied by skydio
called previous sales questions
that answers several questions
about skydio's contracting with
the idf. So that is available to
the public. I think everyone
deserves to know that. There are
several contradictions within
this document and it highlights
that skydio is not just a
surveillance company, but it is
a coractor of the ward. They
do plan to do so. I wanted to
highlight off the top there was
a massive security breach just
this last week in san francisco.
this was under the operation of
the san francisco police
departnt. So it could happen he
in another major city. We
shouldn't take that lightly. The
other thing I wanted to
highlight is the fact thate
still didn't answer the
accountability question. There
viually is not a way to have
accountability on breaches of
this scope that our department
ma have and there has been a
pattern and practice of misuse
of technology in the police
department. There just has been
and we have the historical
backlog. How would we get
recourse? So, I want to be very
clear, I am a no. There have
been very few times where I have
felt absolutely appalled and
disgusted by an item that has
come before me. I just -- like
it is my honest truth,
especially as a daughter of
survivors of genocide and the
granddaughter of a law
enforcemen officer who had to
revolt against a genocidal
country, it was pakistan at the
time, backed by u.s. Military
aid, it does just run super deep
and any participation in
surveillance technology that
participates in genocide
ultimately aids and abets and my
parents didn't come here for me
to sit on this body and sanitize
any of my feelings surrounding
this and my deep history. This
action is morally nkrupt. It's
an abysmal mistake. Nothing is
free. This costs the trust of
our residents, this costs us
valuable, valuable information.
this costs us people's sense of
freedom. Constituents are crying
out all of the time, worried
about surveillance and the
impacts of this ice occupation
exacerbating this. This was
funded, this organization was
funded by the big beautiful bill
of $514,000 in 2025 for
immigrations customs
enforcement. I understan why
some members of this body may
not care about the relations to
the I.d.f. A israel related to
the genocid in palestine. We
are talking also about
immigration customs enforcement.
we cannot going through an ice
occupation, and say f-ice, turn
around and the build out our
sueillance state and saying we
are going to have a sweetheart
deal with the company that is
working with ice, the same
organization that killed our
neighbors, brutalized our
community, and surveilled each
and every one of us. Those are
facts. I think there is so much
to consider. I keep hearing this
is going to solve our public
safety problems. There is no
silver bullet to solve our
public safety problems. We
wouldn't be overspending our
budgets if that wasn't clear. I
want to dispel that illusion
that a free pilot is going to
solve our public safety issues.
I think that is unfair to the
community to set up that
premise.
» Council member whiting.
» Thank you, president payne. I
have received a substantial
amount of constituent feedback
on this issue, in favor and
against this pilot. I want to
thank everyone that has come
within the community to speak on
this issu I will be supporting
this issue today and this pilot
today and I want to talk through
it. I want to thank council
member vetaw for her leadership
on this. My colleagues and
community members have made
extremely valid points about the
potential negative impacts of a
ogram like this. The civil
liberty concerns, the
over-policing concerns, the
concerns about where we are
sourcing these drones from
particularly with the issues
with the idf and with dhs and
ice. A general hesitancy to
introduce this kind of
tenology as it relates to data
privacy, data retention, and
accountability measures in the
business of policing and public
safety. I believe it's entirely
valid. I take those concerns
seriously and think that issue
alone is why we as a body should
work to figure those out. With
that, if this body were to
commit themselves to a paid
contract with this or any other
drone first responder contract,
I would n be supporting thi
moon. Before the city commits
itself to significant resources
to a program such as this, I
think many of my colleagues
agree that we need a clearer
understanding of the data that
supports its effectiveness and
whether our current ordinances
and oversights are sufficient to
limit their use in the city of
minneapolis. I think what we
have seen, whether it's
effective or not effective is
through a program such as this.
I do not believe those polics
are strong enough. Right now, we
have data from other minnesota
cities that employ programs such
as this, including st. Paul,
which seem to support a level of
safety and effectiveness, but we
have also seen across this
country an ability for police
departments and jurisdictions to
abuse programs and technologies
such as this. So if we are going
to commit ourselves to a program
like this, I think we would need
a full level of information in
front of us to make an educated
decision. Luckily, we are not
committing ourselves to a
permanent paid contract today.
we are voting to approve a time
limited pilot that cost
essentially $0. There is n such
thing as a free lunch, that's
entirely true. I think skydio
probably clearly believes that
if this city went forward with a
program such as this, that we
would be so impressed by the
results that we wouldn't be able
to approve a paid contract. It's
my understanding that any
permanent contract, any paid
program would need to come back
to this city council for a full
vote, a full separate vote. This
kind of pilot, I believe, can
give us hard data about the
potential uses of effectivene
of drones or the opposite, or
the complete failure of a
program like this for a first
responr's program in
minneapolis and help us again
make a long-term informed
decision on effectiveness. My
reasoning for supporting this
motion is that I think it has
the potential to make our city
safer and save lives, a
fundamental part of the police
reform process, I believe is
removing officers in situations
which their bias or spontaneous
decision making drives their
thinking. More or less, I
believe you can't train your way
out of human fallibility. So,
while we train officers, we also
have to advance alternatives to
traditional law enforcement. An
officer speeding towards a shots
fired call that can be rerouted
because a first responder drone
reveals that actually no shots
were fired and they were just
fireworks, I believe lowers the
temperature. Drone programs when
done with stringent
restrictions, privacy
protections, I believe can
provide on the ground
information that reduces the
likelihood of an officer's
arrival escalating a situation
or provide information that an
officer's response is entirely
unnecessary. Our council members
on the north side where this
program is going to be deployed
clearly believe that it could
save lives. I think at least
some deference should be shown
to our council members that
represent communities this will
have the most impact. With that,
as someone who has seen and
grown up in this thicity. It is
really hard for , the moral
arguments of what is coming up
here. I truly hear it. I believe
the obligation that is in front
of me as a minneapolis city
council member is to reduce the
harm for my residents. If that
is the case, if this saves one
life of an unarmed black man in
the city of minneapolis because
instead of an officer going into
that call, that is something
that we as minneapolis city
council members need to take
serious. As someone who has
live in this city fory entire
life, I have had friends,
teammates who have been lost to
gun violence on the north 150si
on the south side every single
corner of this city. If this can
save one of their lives, it is
worth it. If this -- not even
st save their lives, if this
gives a family the ability to
find some level of justice, some
level of hey, this is the person
that injured my loved one. That
is something that we have to
consider. If we approve this
pilot program, when it expires
in 75 days, I will be looking
extremely, extremely close at
the results and at every single
regulatory framework I believe
has to be around a program like
this because I think while we
have state safeguards and
guardrails in place, I don't
think they go far enough. I want
to thank those who reached out
to this council because I
believe there are valid points
across this dais and I am
encouraged that this city and
that my council colleagues are
putting weight to those
conversations. Thank you.
» Council member warren.
» Thank you, council president
payne. First of all, I want to
say congratulations to my
council colleague council member
vetaw for your research the last
2.5 years and all those
individuals that worked hard
with you on this project. It is
really interesting when my
council colleague had initially
started sharing with me that
this was something she was
working on. I was very, I was
very proud of her because there
are a lot of things that I know
that we take for granted. There
is the fact that we as average
americans are on camera 35 to 45
times a day. You're on camera.
someone is always watching
what's going on, walking down
the street, from the ring
cameras, here there, what have
you. No one is asking where that
information and data is stored.
no one is asking where alexa and
siri, who is tracking you, where
they are storing the data on
where they are tracking you,
what you're doing, what's going
on. No one is asking who apple
and samsung is selling their
phones to. Everyone has the same
things, levi's and nikes too.
it's the same stuff. We're no
different the people in those
places are not asking what's
happeng in north minneapolis
or minnesota. They're not
standing up for what's happening
over here when things are
happening in our immediate
communities. They're not saying
do you sell that cup to a girl
in north minneapolis? If so, I
am not sure I want to buy it. No
one is saying that but us and
that's cky. When we have
serious things at stake here
that we're trying to work on to
build imbetterment for our
community and ourselves. Drones
don't shoot at people unless
they are armed with a weapon.
these ones aren't. They're not
reading your text messages, but
your phone does. They're not
listening to your conversations
unless they're armed with audio.
they're going to report on
incident. That's all they're
doing to say if the coast is
clear so emergency officials
like the fire department can
pull up because they can't do
that until the coast is clear,
until they know it's an all
clear, to save someone's life.
that's it. I'm just asking for
lifesaving opportunities. I
don't understand why that is
such a challenging thing to
think about. Maybe until it's
you and you need a lifesaving
measure, you don't think about
what could have been done in
that immediate moment to save
your life, t prevent something
from happening, to go one step
further. I know you can heckle
and all of those things and it's
fine and cool. At the end of the
day, there are people in my
community who are asking for
these things. There are people
in my community who are opposed
to it. There are people who are
opposed to a lot of things too.
it's a test. It's to figure out,
it's research. The biggest thing
that is interesting to me in my
research with skydio is that
their drones are pretty weak.
actually, the drones that you
have at the minneapolis police
department are alleged to be a
lot better than skydio's drones.
so we're getting a washed out
version right now. I don't know
where you got the versions you
have. Why aren't we using those?
» I'll speak to that.
» Council member payne and
council member warren, the
reason why we're not going with
our current manufacturer of
drones is because a few years
ago, the federal government came
up with basically an act through
the nda. Because of this
authorization act, it basically
questioned our current fleet of
drones right now. We utilize dgi
drones and the federal
government is basically saying
they want to put a stoppage on
fcc licenses. So for those who
are not aware, every drone,
whenever they come through
customs, gets provided an fcc
license. Because the government
has questioned that our current
fleet of drones, which is dgi
has potential security concerns,
they put a stoppage on fcc
licenses for dgi products.
that's why we're opting to go
with more nda compliant drones,
which are acknowledge to be more
safe by the federal government.
» So the drones that you
currently are using are far more
dangerous than these drones?
allegedly.
» Allegedly.
[laughter].
» Okay. Well, we are getting a
knock off. Heck, let's try the
knock off for 75 days. I will
take the knock off for 75 days.
thank you.
» Council member stevenson.
» Knock off for 75 days, that
sounds great. I want to talk
about the context that we're
considering this in. I have a
few different things, so bear
with me. The first is this
morning we heard honorary
resolution about the 250th
anniversary of the declaration
of independence. So, it got me
thinking a little bit about our
founding documents. So I just
want to read the 4th amendment.
the right of the people to be
secure I their persons, houses,
papers, and effects against
unreasonable searches and
seizures shall not be violated
and no warrant shall issue but
upon pbable cause supported by
oath or affirmation and
particularly describing the
place to be searched and the
persons or things to be seized.
while the courts may not have
found skydio and surveillance
drones as explicitly illegal to
me, it strikes me as
un-american. This is not within
our culture. This is not within
our tradition to allow this kind
of surveillance and it rubs me
the wrong way and it rubs a
great, great numberf might
constituents the wrong way. Cou
clearly laid o the level of
surveillance that we're under
now and how disturbing it is. It
is disturbing that amazon is
nstantly listening to you.
it's disturbing that I'll have a
conversation with my partner ab
children and then get baby ads
moments lar. That's
disturbing. It's disturbing that
ice was able to use cameras in
our city to follow us during
this recent, very recent
occupation to report, brutalize,
and murder our anybodies. --
neighbors. I don't think we
should add to that problem. So
what context are we considering
this in? In the context of
minneapolis in 2026. In
minneapolis 2026, the federal
government came in and occupied
our city, they hijacked our
public safety systems, and used
that information to steal our
neighbors and murder other
neighbors. I believe it's naive
to think that ice won't get
access to the data from skydio.
I can't tell you ectly how
they would get it. It just seems
very obvious that they would get
it, particularly in light of the
recent data breach out of san
francisco, I believe. Lastly,
again, we are considering this
in the context of a place and
time. Skydio has helped
prosecute a genocide in gaza.
that alone, we're talking about
innocent lives and I don't think
we suld be party to an
oration, to a company that says
their technology used to
prosecute genocide is fine with
them. So each of these levels of
context alone frankly is enough
for me. I have to be fully
honest with my constituents.
when this first came up, there
was some speculation on whether
it would be used to catch people
doing the smash and grabs that
we experience and all across the
city. At the time, it was a lot
in south minneapolis. So I was
actually really considering
this. I was thinking maybe this
is a good idea. When we listen
to the context that we' in,
the context of an american
tradition of freedom from
government repression that is so
under threat right now. The
context of a federal occupation
and the lack of data security,
and the real threat that there
will be an additional federal
occupation, whether around our
electionsr another surge to
steal more of our neighbors and
the context that the company
that we'reanting to do
buness with parents in
genocide. These things. So I
cannot support this. I won't
support it. Thank you.
» Council member woley.
» Thank you, president payne. I
just wanted to share something
that council member warren
mentioned that one of the things
we need to consider is y know,
when we're sidciting other
countries and other demographics
for our reason of not wanting to
enter into contracts with
questionable governments and
entities when they don't show up
for us. I just had to sha my
own testimony that contrasts
that. In 2020, when george floyd
was killed, thousands of us were
in the streets being tear gassed
by the minneapolis police
department, I recall palestinian
organizers reaching out and
organizing workshops for those
of us, black folks to learn how
we could take care of each other
when we were being tear gassed,
how to treat munition wounds,
and all sorts of things because
those are the things they
experienced day after day even
more while living under
apartheid conditions. So I don't
have that experience. I remember
seeing even under those
apartheid and segregated
conditions, they used the wall
that the state of israel has
used as a barrier to confine
them to substandard conditions,
even in those moments of us
exper
experiencing one of the most
gravest trajdyes that this city
has seen next to the federal
occupation. They painted murals
of george floyd and so many
pictures of minneapolis in
solidarity with us and made the
connection of the over-policing
because many of our law
enforcement agencies are
alongside the idf, made the
connections to say we know the
injustice and abuses we suffer
here and by the hands of a
fascist state of israel, we know
you are experiencing that under
your racist policing system as
well. For me, that is the reason
why I think of those folks when
I brought the ceasefire
resolution, where we explicitly
named as part of that resolution
that we would not enter into
contracts or agreements that
help to fund and support the
genocide in gaza. This is
literally one of the moments
where we get to act in alignment
with that resolution we passed
and when may frey vetoed it. I
nnot resonate with that, that
sentiment in my experience.
also, I wanted to name the
opposition is not rooted in a
vocal minority. We had in our
public health, safety, and
equity committee received over
300 petition signatures, not by
my residents, in ward 2, not by
ward 9, all ward 4 and 5, north
minneapolis residents. These
petitions have, and I will
forward them if they are not
entered into the record, into
our file so they can be recorded
to sw who was speaking out
about this pilot long before we
consered it and while we were
considering it in committee. I
wanted to name in terms of when
I am thinking of my votes, I
cannot say other countries,
other demographics who have been
opposed, who know what it feels
conditions, why they didn't show
up for me. That has not been my
experience. I also am grateful
for those north minneapolis
residents who did come forward
and shared their opposition when
they are being named as rational
for moving this forward. So, I
just wanted to share that before
we move into further discussion
and vote, but yeah. That's all.
» Council member vetaw.
» Thank you, president payne.
so, I am aware that there were
some north minneapolis residents
who came here, along certainly
people from other parts of the
city to speak against this. I
want to be clear here that there
are residents, there are
business owners, there are
business owners of north
minneapolis who are certainly
okay with this pilot project. We
would not be moving forward had
we known that the north side was
completely against this.
actually, this has been a long
time coming and this could have
been launched in several police
precincts. The north side
council member just decided that
we would be the ones brave
enough to bring this forward
because we knew this is what was
going to happen. So, I am doing
this on behalf of my
constituents. Cleagues, I
listened carefully to your
concerns and reasons and many of
you are going to vote no. I keep
coming back to the same
question, how am I going to
explain this decision to the
people I represent? How am I
explain to the residents that
call my office every day, often
multiple times with concerns
that this program could help
address, that we are choosing to
not even give a chance, that my
colleagues are focused on events
halfway around the world and not
the needs of every day people
he in minneapolis who elected
u
us, who elect us to serve. I
cannot in good conscious give
them the answer we once again
said no. The objection to
another country, around the
world, or halfway across the
world, neither changes the
question before us. The question
before us is how minneapolis
will use this technology under
minnesota state law and
minneapolis policies with
minneapolis retaining the data,
public transparency, and council
oversight. That is the decision
we're making today. I want to be
able to tell the grandmother
that wasarjacked taking her
kids to school in the morning
that we care about her. I want
to tell the father whose
autistic child who keeps leaving
the house to go to hisavorite
park in the northeast that our
lleagues care about them. I
want to tell the people that
hear gunshots every day, and
have bulleted holes in tha
homes and cars that my
collgues care about them. I
want to tell the blind couple
who lives in the mckinley
neighborhood, who are
experiencing a medical emergency
that my colleagues care about
them. I want to tell the
business owners who are spending
$5,000 to $25,000 every month to
keep removing illegal dumping
and garbage from their parking
lot while already struggling to
keep their doors open that my
colleagues care about them. I
want to tell the people in
victory that call 9-1-1 because
they see a suspicious person in
the neighborhood, possibly with
a weapon that my colleagues care
about them. I want to tell the
family in shingle creek who are
watching their car get stolen
while they're sitting at the
darren -- dinner table that my
colleagues care about them. I
want to tell the woman that
moved from the cleveland
neighborhood from ecuador who
was robbed at gunpoint while
waiting at the bus stop that my
colleagues care about her. What
I am asking you colleagues is
simple, give this a chance. I'm
asking you to acknowledge the
challenges my community faces to
recognize the voices of
residents I represent and to
give them the opportunity to see
if this solution can make a
difference. At its core, this is
a request to try, to put our
residents first, test whether
it's possible and let the
results guide us. I am not in no
way asking you to make a
decision on this, a final
decision. I'm asking for a
chance to try. I am asking for
you to take all the work that
we've done for 2.5 years, all
the calls that we gotten, that
we know could have been
answered, all the people that
wished someone could have showed
up or something would happen
when they were at their worst.
colleagues, I'm asking for your
support.
» Vice president osman.
» I want to thank you guys for
being patient and listening to
us. I support technology that
will help community safety,
including drones. I would say go
back to your leadership and come
up with better plan other than
skydio. It's as simple as that
for me. It's effected by my
community here, so I really want
to take the time and say I spoke
to the mpd leadership to express
my stand. I do support public
safety. I support council
members who really want to do
something for their
neighborhoods. I just can't do
this -- we can't -- we just
can't do this based on the
safety side of it. I think there
are so many other ways that we
can secure the safety of our
residents and dealing with
companies that have, you know, a
lot of ethical questions is
there. There was an interview, a
quote, you can do a little
research. That's how I studied
it. There is a quote from the
ceo that said something about
the limit of ethics of
surveillance, he refused to
limit ethical surveillance and
companies like that should not
be dealing with the city of
minneapolis. Again, please come
back. I'm happy to support
technology that can support but
not this way. Thank you again.
» Council member stevenson.
» Thank you, mr. President. I
wanted to clarify that as I am
making my decision, I am not
lost halfway around the world.
I'm in the central neighborhood
whe dads were dragged out of
the housend dragged into I
detention facilities. In that
neighborhood where green
central, students were forced to
stay home and they lived under
toxic fear for months. In my
neighborhood, and in the central
neighborhood, where renee good
was murdered by our government,
and where my constituent alex
pretti was executed for loving
his neighbor. So when I make my
decision, I am rooted deeply in
my community, with my ward, and
my constituents.
» Seeing no one else in queue,
I don't believe there is a
motion on the table. Is there a
motion for this item?
» So moved.
» I'll second.
» The clerk -- what are you
moving? Toapprove?
» To approve, yes.
» Seconded. The clerk will call
the roll.
» Council member chavez.
» No.
» Council member warren.
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member wonsley.
» Nay.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» No.
» Council member stevenson.
» No.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» No.
» President payn
» Nay.
» There are 6 ayes and 6 nays.
» That motion fas.
[appl
[applause].
[gav
[gavel].
» Please, we need to continue
our business. Mr. Clerk,
guidance. Is it done? We're
done?
» Mr. President, it would be an
orde for a motion to delete
from the agenda if the council
wishes to remove this from
consideration.
» So moved. We want to delete
it.
» Is it seconded?
» Second.
» The clerk will call the roll.
» Council membechavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» No.
» Council member shaffer.
» No.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Just a quick question clerk,
I'm confused by the process
here. Because it stays because
we don't have a dispositive
action? I see. Okay. Nay.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» No.
» Council member vetaw.
» No.
» Council member palmisano.
» No.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 6 ayes and 6 nays.
» That motion fails. I don't
think we're going to --
» We have an impasse here.
» So council member chavez.
» Council president payne, I
have a question. There was a
legislative directive or motion
that council member wonsley
brought before where the vote
was 6-6 abstain and that was
about asking, related to the
commissioner of public safety.
there was no dispositive motion,
that item was never brought
forward at the following council
meeting, so what makes that
different from this if this
already failed and why not a
previous item brought to our
agenda as a 6-6 vote? What's the
difference here?
» Mr. President, I am not sure
I understand the context. The
contract hasn't been approved,
it wasn't approved, it wldn't
deleted from your agenda. The
staff could bring a different
proposal forward on the same
matter of a contract for use of
drones, clearly. They could do
from the agenda as I tried to
explain it before is closing out
the file and limbs, procedurally
taking it off the anda and
moving that. That simply
closes the file on the issue.
the staff can bring a new
proposal with a different
company for the use of drones
for the same purpose.
» If there is no action by
council today, then it's off the
agenda anyway, correct?
» This particular item will not
come back. The motion to delete
from the agenda is to say with
denitive assuredness that the
item is done.
» The 6-6 vote makes it so this
item is not before us unless
staff resubmits.
» The failure to pass this item
means that the particular item
as it was brought forward with
that particular proposal is
dead.
» Okay, thank you.
» That completes the reports of
our standingcommittees. I did
get a request for a lunch. We
cod power through. I want to
get a sense from the body.
» Let's go. Let's keep going.
» Let's be efficient. The next
order of business, we have four
notices today. First council
member chavez, council member
wonsley, council member warren,
and I give notice of intent to
introduce at the next regular
meeting the subject matter of an
ordinance amending the liquor
and beer code, requiring any
license premises. For the second
idea, shaft gives five ordinance
introductions in five separate
titles of the code related to
noise regulations, to remove
relevant content, clarify
language, regulating the sound
of motion sensor devices on
private property, and correcting
associated reference numbers.
third, council member shaffer
and council member rainville
give notice of intent to
introduce at the next regular
meeting the subject matter of an
ordinance amendmenteding the
license and business regulation
code amending repealing, and
adding provisions related to
rental halls and places of
entertainment, allowing for the
hosting of both public and
private events. Finally council
member wonsley, council member
chavez, council member whiting,
and council member chowdhury
give notice of intent to
introduce at the next regular
meeting the subject matter of an
ordinance amending the animal
care and control code, moving
restrictions on pet ownerships
due to prior convictions on
certain felonies. No further
action is required at this time.
council member stevenson.
» I just wanted to ask if I
could be an author for the noise
ordinance.
» Yes, if the clerks could note
that. The next order of business
is t introduction and referral
calendar. We have one item
today. Council member osman and
council member wonsley move to
introduce the subject matter of
an ordinance amending the
license and business regulations
code for the first reading and
referral for the business
housing and zoning committee,
adding a chapter 270, licensing
requirents, relating to bail,
fugitive recovery, referred to
as bounty hunters. May I have a
motion to approve this
introduction.
» Moved.
» Second.
» The clerk will call the roll
» Council member chowdhury.
» I would like to be added to
the queue, not the queue, as an
author. It's been a long
meeting. We do need lunch.
» The clerks have noted that.
will the please cl the roll.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Is absent. Council member
palmi
palmisano.
» There are 11 ayes.
» That motion carries. The next
order of business is
resolutions. We have two
resolutions on our agenda, one
of which received a presentation
at the beginning of our meeting.
may I have a motion to adopt
these resoluons.
» Moved.
» Second.
» The clerk will call the roll
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Council member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 12 ayes.
» That carries and that
resolution is adopted.ur next
order of businesss unfinished
business.
» Do we want to ask council
member vetaw if she wants to be
recorded on the introduction
calendar?
» Yes.
» As an aye.
» Aye, please.
» Thank you.
» Our next order of business is
unfinished business. We have two
items today. The first is
considering the appeal about the
heritage preservation commission
to demolish the property known
as the tyler street northeast
john cookhouse. An individual
historic landmark. This was
postponed at our may 21st
meeting to allow for a sale of
the property. The sale is going
through its final stages so
after conversations with staff
and the attorney's office, I
will move to postpone this item
two more cycles to our
august 13th meeting. May I have
a second.
» Second.
» The clerk will call the roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» Aye.
» Council member shaffer.
» Aye.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Council member whiting.
» Aye.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member stevenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» Aye.
» Council member vetaw.
» Aye.
» Counc member palmisano.
» Aye.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 12 ayes.
» That carries. That is
adopted. The next item is the
automatic reconsideration of the
mayor's veto of the appointment
of jim to the minnesota ballpark
authority. I will ask the clerk
to explain our next steps.
» Mr. President, the mayor did
veto with his objections in
writing what was council action
number 2026a450, the appointmen
authority found in file
2026-667, as provided in the
city charter, section 4.4c3 and
under council rule 7.8 an act
that is vetoed by the mayor's
rern for automatic
reconsideration at the next
meeting and the act is placed
before this body in the same
form as it was originally
passed. The immediate question
before the council is as
followed, shall the decision of
the city council stand,
notwithstanding the veto of the
mayor. If at least two-thirds of
the council votes in the
affirmative on that motion, then
the mayor's veto I overwritten
and the original act is passed.
that means an override requires
9 affirmative votes, otherwise
the mayor's veto is sustained
and the prior action is
defeated. To be clear, all
council members, a yes vote on
reconsideration is a vote to
override the veto and approve
the original act. A no vote is a
vote to sustain the mayor's
veto. With that mr. President, I
am ready to call the roll on the
motion to reconsider.
» So to summarize, an aye vote
is a vote to override the veto.
I will ask the clerk to call the
roll.
» Council member chavez.
» Aye.
» Council member warren.
» No.
» Council member shaffer.
» No.
» Council member wonsley.
» Aye.
» Cncil member whing.
» No.
» Council member chowdhury.
» Aye.
» Council member evenson.
» Aye.
» Council member rainville.
» No.
» Council member vetaw.
» No.
» Council member palmisano.
» No.
» Vice president osman.
» Aye.
» President payne.
» Aye.
» There are 6 ayes and 6 nays.
» That motion fails and the
mayor's veto is sustained. The
appointment of jim to the
minnesota ballpark authority
appointment is not adopted.
finally we have the order of
announcements. Are there any
announcements? Going once.
counl member chavez.
» Thank you. I just wanted to
let the public know sincee
have folks from -- can you hear
me?
» Uh-huh.
» Yeah, okay. I wanted to let
the folks hear from target
fieldworkers that the resolution
didn't pass authored by council
member wonsley.
» Council member warren.
» I just wanted to say, give a
shout-out to council member
shaffer and her team for
organization -- organizing the
event this morning. It was great
and an honor to have my daughter
a part of that. So, I just
wanted to say that lots of
festivities and funool stuff
happening in enabneighborhoods,
outside, be outside, but take
care of yourself. The air equal
is bad, drink water, mind your
busiss if you have to, which
is a fun and safe thing to do,
and relax. Just eat some ice
cream and just relax. Yeah, stay
cool.
» Council member shaffer.
yeah, I just wanted to
meion to my colleagues, many
of you co-authors that the
original idea outlined for data
center regulations will be
coming forward to the committee
of the whole at the planning
commission this afternoon.
» Council member whiting.
» Thank you, president payne. I
sent all of you an e-mail. You
are all cordially invited to the
second annual cookout. We will
have free food, bounce houses,
all the fun things. Invite your
friends, invite your family,
inviolent your aunty and
neighbors.
» Time and date?
» August 8t from noon to 4:00.
saturday.
» Where?
» Washburn high school.
» Great. With th, we
completed o business today
withothing further to come
before the council and without
objection, this meeting is here
by adjourned.
[gavel].