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Curtis Gilbert
Minneapolis

Minneapolis restores some budget cuts as protesters press their case

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Mike Griffin
Mike Griffin, a field coordinator with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, rallies protesters before the Minneapolis City Council votes on its 2015 budget on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014. The Neighborhoods Organizing for Change supported Mayor Betsy Hodges' proposed budget and opposed cuts to spending on new racial equity programs.
Curtis Gilbert / MPR News

Protesters flooded a Minneapolis budget hearing Wednesday night and delivered a noisy message to the City Council: We're watching you.

Upset about cuts to Mayor Betsy Hodges' budget that won preliminary approval from the council last week, protesters got loud and then got at least some of what they were seeking.

After a meeting that lasted nearly five hours, the council restored some funding for greenhouse gas reduction, homeowner counseling and leadership development in minority communities, though it cut two new positions designed to reach out to residents who don't speak English.

Council members also whittled down next year's property tax increase to 2.1 percent. Hodges had asked for a 2.4 percent hike. The smaller tax increase will save the average Minneapolis homeowner about $3 next year.

The budget debate highlighted divisions on the city council. Many amendments passed 7 to 6, with council president Barbara Johnson leading the majority voting bloc.

The crowd amplified those divisions.

• NewsCut: Haves vs. Have-nots in Minneapolis tax debate

"It's not acting progressive when you cut leadership development programs in communities of color," protester Mahyar Sorour told the council prior to the voting. "It's not acting progressive when you cut outreach and counseling programs for homeowners in communities of color. It's not acting progressive when you cut funding that drives clean energy job creation providing cleaner and safer air for communities of color."

At one point, the crowd began chanting, "When I say 'black lives,' you say 'matter'" in protest of the proposed cuts. Council Member Abdi Warsame, who is Somali-American and voted for the cuts in preliminary votes last week, bristled at that.

"It's an insulting thing that you tell me you are more black than I am, that you care about black lives more than I do," he told the crowd. "It's insulting, and it's unacceptable. But we will listen to you, and we have listened to you."

After the council reworked the budget, Hodges said it was better thanks to the protesters.

"You all made a difference — a big one," she told the crowd.