Minneapolis artists represent at rural music fest, city is paying $$$ for lawyers to fight consent decree

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Ok, pause on the drive for a second. Can I brag about our city?

I was at the Bonfire Music Festival in Yuba, Wisconsin this weekend. To be blunt, Minneapolis was the talk of the festival. Minneapolis-based artists Anima, Civil Engineers, and Nur-D performed on Saturday. Nur-D essentially won the festival. People cheered as he rode past the campsites and numerous conversations were about how amazing he was.

I felt really proud of our city for showing up in rural Wisconsin. We have a strong music scene and it was a blessing to see people engaged with it outside of Minneapolis.

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The City of Minneapolis will be using high-priced lawyers to fight the state's consent decree with the police department according to the Minnesota Reformer. The consent decree would bring some measures of accountability after the state's Department of Human Rights revealed a number of issues with the department. The city is even paying to fly in some of those lawyers from out of town.

From the article: "Most of the 76 pages of invoices were redacted by attorneys, but the few details remaining show Jones Day was charging the city $315 to $893 an hour for about 20 attorneys’ legal services. The city was also paying for those attorneys to fly to Minneapolis and stay at the Marquette Hotel for about $200 per night, and hundreds of dollars to chauffeur the lawyers around."

According to MPR, city officials didn't attend the first two meetings with state officials to discuss the terms of a consent decree. City officials say they will attend the June 21 meeting.

Monday Meeting Review

Note: each link will send you to the meeting agenda, if it's already available.

Minneapolis City Council and committees

In today's Policy and Government Oversight committee meeting at 1:30 p.m., numerous legal settlements are up for approval. Cases involve Communities United Against Police Brutality and many Minneapolis Police Department officers worker's compensation payouts.

The full City Council meets at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. Once the agenda is live, we will share it with you.

Most city meetings are on Comcast Channel 14 or 799, City Council TV, or the City's YouTube channel. Here is how you can participate in the meetings.

MPS School Board

The Minneapolis Public School school board is holding its regular business meeting at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow. This is the last board meeting until next school year.

All Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education meetings are held at the John B. Davis Education Service Center at 1250 W. Broadway Ave. You can watch livestreamed meetings in real time or recordings of the meetings after they conclude.

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board

The Park Board is meeting on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

Hennepin County

Numerous committees are meeting on Tuesday.

Hennepin County meetings can be watched live via Microsoft Teams and meetings recordings are also made available. C losed captioning for board meetings can be accessed here.

Met Council

The Transportation Committee meets today at 4 p.m.
The Transportation Advisory Board meets Wednesday at 12:30
The Green Line Extension and Workforce Advisory Committee meets in-person only at 2 p.m. on Thursday.

Agenda links include a YouTube video that goes live for each meeting.

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LINK ROUNDUP 🔗

Susan Du reports that several former City of Minneapolis Race and Equity staff said they felt overwhelmed, not taken seriously by other parts of the city and distrusted by the public. (Star Tribune)

The Navigator's Olivia England has the summer track list to keep you cool. (The Navigator at Southwest High School)

Wedge LIVE! recorded an Open Streets podcast with Ward 10 Councilmember Aisha Chughtai. (Wedge LIVE!)

Carjackings of rideshare drivers are plummeting in Minneapolis. (WCCO)

If you want to relive 2022's Rock the Garden or read about what you missed, The Current has you all set. (The Current)

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COMMUNITY RESOURCES 💪

The Southwest Alliance for Equity is hosting a gathering tonight at 6:30 p.m. where you can hear more from city staff about their experiences working for the city. Some of these experiences were shared at the end of May at a city council committee meeting.

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