Elliott Payne

Uh, this, this is a program the council sought just a few years ago, but now they want to eliminate it.

They're being led by Council President Elliott Payne.

He said, "These proposed changes to the government structure ensure the progress on issues such as public safety and racial disparities are not impacted by unnecessary costs and bureaucratic bottlenecks." And he said, "Now more than ever, our city government must be responsive to the needs of residents, and its structure should reflect that." Did this guy get hit over the head or something-

[laughs]

Shh.

Former council member for Ward 2, Rob- Not former.

Fellow council member to Elliott Payne for Ward 2, Robin Wansley, said, "It is good governance to stop investing in things that are not producing meaningful outcomes and are wasting taxpayer dollars," Wansley said.

"The Office of Community Safety has contributed to increased audit costs due to poor management.

And there was a lot of sub Rosa kind of stuff going on, like, like council members.

So Elliot Payne, I would say was probably the most explicit in terms of saying, like, I have, I have concerns about the continuity of service here.

Like if we're firing canopy roots and we're bringing in bridges to eternity or whatever, whatever the thing is called, community bridges, community bridges.

arizona bridges um

I'm sympathetic to bringing it in-house partly, then it would also feel like it could be more permanent.

But this is going to take more time.

I mean, the change in scope and the change in vendor, in the people actually doing the work, like I, I agree with Elliot Payne.

I don't see any way that this can actually function by January.

And, you know, the l- like, the practical, like, uh, living out or like, uh, embodiment of that goal would be I'm not gonna fucking raise property taxes 11 or 12% if we don't know, like, that it's gonna g- g- get our budget in better shape, if we don't know that the dollars at MPD are gonna be accountable.

And, you know, I, I didn't, I decided not to draw a hard line frankly because Elliott and Aisha, Elliott Payne and Aisha Chughtai, were like, the problem with holding the levy inc- max levy down is it won't come out of police, it'll come out of food programs, it'll come out of emergency housing vouchers, it'll come out of et cetera.

And, you know, I felt like in my first year I'm gonna defer to, to their judgment.

Right.

[upbeat music] On Monday, I rode my bike to downtown St. Paul to meet up with St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker.

We did it on bikes, and that's the same thing we did with Minneapolis City Council President Elliott Payne.

And frankly, it turns out to be a lovely way to understand the areas that these officials represent, and also perhaps, like, a way to disarm our guests and get a little more honest insight.

When you're short of breath, I feel like giving talking points is a little harder, [laughs] so you might sometimes just get a little more frank honesty, uh, from both sides of the conversation, uh, to be honest.

And it shows the five counselors that were present at the time.

Tom Olson, Eric Harris Bernstein, Steve Brandt, Elliot Payne, Aisha Chugtai with the mayor showing up slightly after the photo was taken.

Minneapolis residents may want to start saving now for next year's property taxes.

The Board of Estimate and Taxation met Tuesday afternoon and with no compromise reached since its last meeting, the Board voted 4-2 to approve a maximum city levy increase of 11.3% along with the full 5.86% increase sought by the Park Board.

Killed

Elliot Payne.

Didn't give a fuck.

Couldn't they have left a note that said, this is a gift to appease the gods? I feel like that would have worked just as well.