Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily 1 p.m.(ish) digest of what local media outlets and Twitter-ers are gabbing about.
Cops Tell Their Side of the Story After Shooting
MPD officers shot and killed a man in downtown Minneapolis this morning at the Bolero Flat Apartment Homes on Marquette Ave., across from Orchestra Hall. The first details of the incident came from activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, who is now an unofficial MPD spokesperson I guess. "An MPD swat team was apparently executing a search warrant for the St. Paul Police in a homicide case,” Armstrong posted on Facebook, saying she had been informed of the shooting by interim police chief Amelia Huffman. (Now that’s, as Minnesotans say, interesting.) Huffman later held a press conference for the rest of us, saying the man had a loaded handgun and that police followed proper procedure before entering, but personally, we'll wait for the bodycam footage before we sign off on that account. Oh, also, we don’t even know if the guy they shot was the person they were looking for.
Wanna Buy a Cop?
A request from residents of the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis to pay $210,000 for additional police patrols—granted by Minneapolis City Council after a 12-1 vote—is drawing attention to the previously little-discussed practice of police “buybacks.” Though police services are often purchased for special events, such as a marathon or a Timberwolves game, the Minnesota Reformer reports, you can also enlist officers for regular patrols. Several council members raised concerns about the process, though only 2nd Ward council member Robin Wonsley Worlobah voted against the proposal. “Do we have a similar program for filling potholes? Do we have a similar program for plowing streets? Could neighborhood associations pool resources to be first … in the city to get plowed?” asked 1st Ward council member Elliott Payne… and yeah, when you put it that way, seems weird that you can chip in for your own private cops, huh? The current rate is $107 per hour per officer.
Renters >>> Developers
Another national publication takes a look at Minneapolis today, and asks some questions a little more pertinent than “Is Jacob sad?” Over at Mother Jones, Morgan Baskin covers the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, a proposed ordinance that would give renters first crack at buying their home if it goes on the market. Baskin talks to renter-turned-activist Arianna Anderson, who was spurred into public life after tussling with troublesome property owners HavenBrook Homes and now works with local nonprofit United Renters for Justice, as well as TOPA sponsor Jeremiah Ellison. Ideally, TOPA would keep big developers from further gobbling up Minneapolis real estate and possibly narrow our horrendous racial gap in homeownership.
Maybe He Should Mickey Less
“I don’t have anything to do with, you know, tweeting,” failed 9th Ward city council candidate Mickey Moore told Racket’s Em Cassel last month. “It’s just not my thing.” Moore had a lot to do with tweeting yesterday, though, recklessly diving into the brambles of local lefty Twitter to argue about… well, it was hard to keep up. He called Ilhan Omar “a fraud” at one point and accused people of cyberbullying his daughter by arguing with him online. He even accused Racket—Racket!—of using what he called a “miss quote” and forced us to share an audio file to prove him wrong. (Doesn’t Em have a nice interview voice btw?) Then he got mad that we recorded him. Remember: This guy got a Strib endorsement. (Revoked, yes. But still.)
