Who Decides When the Mayor Can Delete Work Texts?

Welcome back to The Flyover, your daily digest of important, overlooked, and/or interesting Minnesota news stories.

ISO Jacob Frey’s “Transitory” Texts

Is Jacob Frey deleting work texts that he’s legally required to maintain, while failing to keep proper call logs? That’s what the left-aligned PAC Minneapolis for the Many alleges, and as Deena Winter at the Star Tribune reports, several independent observers agree. 

MFTM recently requested records of Frey’s communications during two recent city crises: the June federal raid at Las Cuatro Milpas and the 2024 shooting of Davis Moturi by his neighbor. The city said the records requested did not exist. 

Frey’s spokesperson, Ally Peters, says the mayor deletes “most” of his text messages, and the City Attorney (who, incidentally, reports to Frey) says he’s following the law when doing so. Under state law, “official transactions” must be preserved, while “transitory” messages may be deleted. But those two categories are fuzzy, and Frey's critics say he’s defining “transitory” as widely as possible. 

“The contortions they appear to be prepared to go through to circumvent the spirit of the [law’s] presumption of openness are astounding,” Jane Kirtley, University of Minnesota professor of law and media ethics, tells the Strib. 

Workers Groups to Mpls: Enforce Our Labor Laws

The city of Minneapolis’s labor laws are “impressive on paper but unlikely to be properly followed,” according to a report from North Star Policy Action. The progressive think tank cites studies that found about a quarter of Minnesota construction workers experience wage theft or are paid off the books, while more than half of female construction workers have faced sexual harassment.

Part of the problem with the city law is that workers are required to report abuse themselves, which opens them up to retaliation. Employers who want to break the law have even more leverage now that ICE is targeting workers on job sites in the Twin Cities and elsewhere. 

“The message is clear: For workers, the risks of reporting are greater than the rewards, while bad actors see the opposite,” says researcher Aaron Rosenthal. “The profits from exploitation outweigh the unlikely chances and minimal consequences of being caught.” 

Worker advocates are calling for proactive enforcement from the city. 

Homelessness Program Widely Celebrated, Barely Funded

There’s not much that Mayor Jacob Frey and the Minneapolis City Council agree on, but nearly everyone in city government has celebrated the success of the Stable Homes Stable Schools program. SHSS currently helps 240 Minneapolis Public Schools families at risk of homelessness. 

“The program stars in Mayor Jacob Frey's first campaign ad,” writes Kyle Stokes of Axios. “It's also racing toward a ‘fiscal cliff,’ city officials warn.”

The popularity of the program has caused it to drain the reserves set aside for SHSS. Frey’s solution to the $3.2 million shortfall is to cut another anti-homelessness program, which has not gone over well with progressive council members or advocates for the homeless.

"There is no world in which we should have to decide between two critically important emergency housing options," Hoang Murphy, CEO of the People Serving People network of homeless shelters, told Axios.

Farmstead Bike Shop Closing in Minneapolis

The news could be worse—Farmstead is keeping its original Northfield shop open, and for the time being they’ll even pick up and drop off in Minneapolis if you have any projects for them to work on. They're even already thinking about "a new chapter in Minneapolis."

Still, "it's a bummer for sure," Farmstead writes on Facebook, that this will be the end of the shop on 4001 Bryant Ave. (right on my way to Lake Harriet).

“We have absolutely loved being your community bike shop for 9 and a half years,” the Facebook post continues. “We have experienced a ton of challenges but have felt your support along the way.”