Minneapolis northside leaders react to Jeremiah Ellison being removed from committee assignments

Minneapolis northside leaders react to Jeremiah Ellison being removed from committee assignmentsMinneapolis northside leaders react to Jeremiah Ellison being removed from committee assignments

Long-time community leaders reacted Friday after the Minneapolis City Council removed Jeremiah Ellison from top committee assignments the day before.

The public safety committee that Ellison used to sit on no longer has any northside representation, unlike in years past.

“The public safety committee must always, and I mean always, have and include a northside voice/rep.,” texted Bishop Richard D. Howell Jr. of Shiloh Temple International Ministries in North Minneapolis to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. “CM Ellison needs to be reinstated immediately as long as he is the Northside representative.”

Ellison has missed about a dozen meetings in the last month, as he’s currently on a paid fellowship at Harvard University in Massachusetts while still being a paid council member, leading to the shakeup.

RELATED: Questions arise over Minneapolis City Council member’s absence for Harvard fellowship

Aurin Chowdhury, who represents southeast Minneapolis, moved onto the public safety committee after the Council voted 7-5 on Thursday afternoon.

RELATED: Jeremiah Ellison removed from City Council committees for remainder of term

Northside council member LaTrisha Vetaw, who represents Ward 4, said she wanted Ellison’s committees.

“I didn’t think I was asking for something extraordinary — I was asking for representation,” she said.

“She, like every member, is welcome to attend committee and offer insights,” responded Minneapolis Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai, who led the way for the new assignments.

Chughtai said all members can attend any committee and offer an ordinance. Only committee members are allowed to vote on issues that come before them.

“Democracy is messy, leading an elected body is sometimes messy,” Chughtai said.

Chughtai disputes that voices on the Northside will be silenced by this move, saying all members get a final vote on what becomes policy after it comes from a committee.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, northside resident and former Minneapolis NAACP president, says the community has felt the pain of crime and needs representation on the public safety committee.

“I think it’s a huge problem that north Minneapolis, in spite of, and in light of everything that we have been through, deserves high-quality representation on the Minneapolis City Council,” said Levy Armstrong. “Disproportionate crime that people deal with in north Minneapolis who are literally just trying to have a decent quality of life.”

The public safety committee decides which crime-fighting initiatives advance to the full council for consideration.

“City Council members are permitted to offer bills or comment on items of interest covered by committees they do not hold membership on,” wrote Marquita Stephens, President and CEO of the Urban League Twin Cities. “The issues with policing and northside residents are known and understood by council members not living in north Minneapolis.”

Stephens stressed there are only a few months left of these committee assignments.

Ellison was just removed from his two standing committee assignments of Public Health & Safety, along with Business, Housing & Zoning, at Thursday’s meeting.

You can watch his reaction in the full interview below:

Vetaw was reassigned to the business committee to fill Ellison’s seat.
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