Welcome to the regular meeting of the public health safety and equity committee for June 17, 2026.

I am Jason Chavez, the chair of this committee.

Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation.

These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community.

Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast.

We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments.

At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll so we can verify a quorum for this meeting.

Councilmember Payne.

Present.

Absent.

Rainville?

Present.

Vita.

Present.

Whiting.

Present.

Vice Chair Stevenson.

Absent.

Chair Chavez.

Present.

That is five members present.

Let the record reflect that we have a quorum.

And I'll let the public know that Councilmember Stevenson has joined us.

I'll remind my colleagues that we'll be using speaker management today.

So please make sure you're signed in.

Our agenda is in front of us, and we will begin with the consent agenda after our consent agenda.

We will then move on to the public hearings.

If you would like to speak during a public hearing and have not signed up yet, please see the clerks in the hall and register.

I'm gonna get my cue up.

Alright, colleagues.

On our consent agenda, item number four authorizes a revenue contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves to provide bomb detection security services at Target Center.

Item number five accepts the National Environmental Health Association and FDA retail flexible funding model grant to authorize an agreement for the grant.

Item number six accepts the Bloomberg Philanthropic grant for youth climate leadership and engagement and authorizes a contract for the grant.

Item seven and eight are gift accesses to attend conferences.

Item number nine through fourteen approval appointments to the advisory committee on people with disabilities, public health advisory committee, advisory committee on aging, homegrown food council, community commission on police oversight, and the safe and thriving communities work group.

Item number 15 authorizes an MOU with the University of Minnesota to work with capstone students.

Item 16 is the second request for an update on the status of a legislative directive regarding the city's data practices related to unlawful actions of federal agents.

Refer to staff the subject matter of an ordinance related to drug peripheral decriminalization and cannabis paraphernalia decriminalization.

Item 24 sets a public hearing for July 8th to consider the mayor's nomination of Caleb McConnell to appoint a position of civil rights department director.

Colleagues, is there any discussion or any items that anybody would like to pull for further discussion?

All right.

With that, I'll move items four through 15 and 17 through 24 approval.

I'll ask the clerk to receive and file number 16, postpone number 21, and refer staffs items 22 and 23 and set up public hearing for 24.

Are there any questions?

All right, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say nay.

Any abstentions, and those motions carry.

Next, we'll take up our public hearings reflected in items one through three on the agenda.

Anybody who signed up for these items will be given two minutes each to testify.

I will ask to please keep it to two minutes.

If you go over two minutes, I usually let you slide with 10 more seconds, but after that, I will have to cut you off because we have a packed agenda and we have to follow our rules here.

If anyone has questions, please see our clerks at the registration table outside the hall.

For anyone in attendance, and especially those who may participate in our hearings or comment period, let me offer this notice.

These hearings are being recorded and broadcast.

Both the recording and the broadcast are classified as public data under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.

By attending and participating in these proceedings, your image and testimony or information that you provide will also be subject to disclosure under that law.

That includes but is not limited to your tenants, your name, and other personal details you provide, as well as any testimony or comments you provide, which includes any written submissions you make, which are included in the record of this meeting.

Our first public hearing is to consider the mayor's nomination of Rachel Sayer to the appointed position of emergency management director.

To introduce this item, we have been joined by Mayor Fry.

Welcome, who will now invite who I'll now invite to speak on this nomination.

Thank you.

Uh Chair Chavez, Vice Chair Stevenson, members of the city council.

Thank you so much for taking the time to hear my nomination of Director of Emergency Management, Rachel Sayer.

We're lucky to have Rachel Sayer in Minneapolis.

We're lucky that she has chosen to do this job.

We're extraordinarily fortunate to have had her leadership, especially during some of the most critical incidents that our city has ever faced.

And I can tell you with direct experience that she's done this job with great poise and clarity, and she has brought our emergency management in Minneapolis to a level where we've never seen it before.

And there's incredible differences.

If you look at the juxtaposition between the way that we were organized and set up as a city back in 2020, and the way that we've conducted emergency management over, let's say the last year and a half.

We didn't sit on our hands uh following the uh murder of George Floyd and the subsequent unrest.

Uh we did work.

We ran practices, we conducted simulations, we ran trainings in national incident management systems, all culminating in a trip out to Emmitsburg, Maryland, and further culminating in the hiring of an incredible director with a great deal of experience, both building out a team and working in very complex situations.

Director Rachel Sayer has worked in some tumultuous conditions, both locally in the United States and abroad.

When I first nominated Director Rachel Sayer in 2024, I noted her credentials as a senior humanitarian advisor with USAID, an incident commander during the 2023 Haiti disaster, and her experience leading the U.S.

humanitarian strategy for those that were displaced in Poland following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

So of course, I was immensely impressed with her credentials.

But I'll also at the time she showed a very deep commitment to this city.

And so today, after a year of navigating what has been a gauntlet of news scenarios, um scenarios that never in a million years did I think we would have to face as a community.

Uh scenarios involving an invasion by our own federal government.

I mean, certainly as an emergency management director, you prepare for a multitude of scenarios.

That has not been on the docket in the United States uh for quite some time.

It is now.

And because we've had such an incredible leader at the helm, someone who's able to organize us in that cabinet room and well beyond, someone that is able to deal with the aftermath and the repercussions of these crises as they often have long tails, uh, and uh someone that has this deep commitment to our city.

I'm I'm really glad that you're here.

I think we're all lucky to have you.

Council members, I appreciate your time and I ask for your support.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor Fry.

I will also recognize the presence of intends of Councilmember Wansley.

At this time, I'm going to proceed to open the public hearing for this appointment.

The first person signed up is Eric.

Welcome.

Okay.

Thank you.

Mr.

Chair, uh, committee members, my name is Eric Waggie.

I'm the emergency management director for Adampin County.

I speak in support of Rachel Sayer's nomination.

Great cities require great emergency management.

Incidents in such cities are more frequent.

They require more complex response.

The needs are greater.

So big city responses are by nature big.

And oftentimes you hear the elephant analogy.

How do you deal with a big problem?

Just like dealing with a big elephant, take it one piece at a time.

And that's how response is really constructed.

So all the different specialties go off and they work on their specialized portions of an incident response.

But there's one department that has to keep its head up and take a look at the entire elephant for the entire time, and that's emergency management.

It's a unique function.

It takes all those different pieces, make sure that they're all aligned.

Make sure that no one gets overlooked.

Everybody who needs services gets the services that they need.

And it's a big job.

It requires big thoughts and uh complex, you know, relationships and negotiations.

And so Rachel Sayer has worked with such elephants before, as the mayor mentioned, in uh overseas contexts and environments, which are very, very challenging.

She brought that experience here to Minneapolis.

We're lucky to have her in the county.

I'm fortunate to be able to work with her in my capacity.

She's jumped right into the frying pan and has had a rapid succession of complex incidents with which to deal with.

She works very well with these specialties.

She works uh very well with uh other emergency managers, and she keeps the residents in the foremost of her thoughts, and that's what drives her mission and her determination.

So she's been a terrific partner, and I just wanted to briefly speak in support of her nomination, and I'd urge uh an extension uh for her in this position.

Thank you.

Next up we have Michelle Sullivan.

All right, thank you.

Uh good afternoon, Chair Chair Chavez, members of the committee.

My name is Michelle Sullivan, and I am the resiliency and recovery director at Annunciation School and Church.

Um I think it goes without saying, but just as a reminder, on August 27th of 2025, we experienced the worst thing that a school and a church can experience in a school shooting in which two children were killed and 27 of our community members were injured, many severely.

I am here to speak in support of Director Rachel Sayer and her reappointment as director of emergency management services for the city of Minneapolis.

I support everything that was said by Mayor Frye earlier, so I'm not going to repeat myself on the what.

What I would like to say is to tell you a little bit about things that are actually very rarely seen in public or are on the record in police records or on the record in our government affairs.

I want to talk about the how.

The way that Rachel shows up, and I call her Rachel because that is what she has become known to.

I mean it as no disrespect, Director Sayers, but I say it because that is how she is known to our enunciation community and our neighborhood, and I would say Southwest Minneapolis, South Minneapolis.

I don't need to remind you that at the time of what we experienced, very soon after, there were competing resources being asked for in light of what was spoken about earlier in terms of what happened to our city as ICE came in.

Not once did Director Sayre say, I'm sorry, we've got another priority.

We're gonna have to put you on hold for a moment.

She showed up every single Monday at 11 a.m.

Even when I was late and even when I couldn't show up because I was so overwhelmed by the amount of needs that our community had.

And she was there to support, and she did it with compassion.

She did it with neutrality.

And the last thing that I will say as I go through is that um she serves as a leader for others.

She has taught me how to do my job.

Thank you.

She is an inspiration.

And I'm sorry, I know I'm I'm gonna say one more thing though.

There was a community member who said to me, I really appreciate when people do their jobs and they do the what, but I wonder if they love us.

Thank you.

I know that Rachel loves us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I just wanted to remind the public we have a variety of public testimony, a lot of public hearings, a lot of discussion items, and we will not be able to get through everything if everybody goes over their time limit.

Next up, we have Michelle.

Marens.

Good afternoon, Chair Chavez, members of the committee.

My name is Michelle Tram Marens.

I'm the president of the Minnesota Council Foundation, also known as MCF.

And I'm here to speak in support of Rachel Sayre continuing in her role as director of the emergency management department here in the city of Minneapolis.

Rachel's been an amazing asset for our community over the past few months because of her extensive knowledge of how to coordinate information and resources to meet needs during an emergency, based on her many years of work at USAID.

At the beginning of Operation Metro Surge, she immediately reached out to key members of the community, including MCF to understand what needs were emerging and resources philanthropy and others might be able to provide to meet those needs in the city.

She shared information that she heard from nonprofits and others on what the needs were and kept us updated on the changing and emerging needs.

First, it was more around food, then as the first of the month came around, it became more around rental assistance and now more focused on mental health needs for families that have been impacted.

She's worked with us to gather information from both us for both the preliminary impact assessment as well as more updated assessment that was published more recently.

And she participates in our regular cross-sector coordination meetings to help all sectors of our community understand what the city is planning on doing and to understand what each sector is planning on doing as well.

She continues to participate these on a monthly basis.

I wholeheartedly recommend that Rachel continue in her role as director of the emergency management department here in the city of Minneapolis.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anybody else that would like to address this committee?

Going once, going twice, going three times.

Seeing no one else wishing to speak, I will now close this hearing and invite uh our nominee to provide a statement.

Welcome, Director Sayer.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, and thank you, Chair Chavez, Vice Chair Stevenson, and committee members.

My name is Rachel Sayre, and I am Mayor Fry's nominee to continue as the emergency management director for the city of Minneapolis.

In preparing for today, I looked back at what I told you in September 2024 when I came before you as the mayor's nominee for this role.

I spoke to you then about my experience leading humanitarian responses for the U.S.

government in Yemen, Ukraine, and Haiti, and the Ebola outbreak in 2014.

I spoke to you about the importance of the national incident management system and my focus on the most affected people throughout my career.

I told you how I lead in crisis with clear objectives for the team, communication to leadership about what's needed, and how I work with colleagues to ensure an alignment of messaging.

I told you I'd done this consistently from conflict zones to hurricanes, and I told you I was excited about the chance to continue making Minneapolis a leader not just in the state, but in the country when it comes to preparedness.

Unfortunately, over the last 21 months since I joined the city in this role, we've experienced several large-scale emergencies.

I've led the team through crises, and I know the systems that we put in place leading up to those responses played a key role in saving lives and responding to the community's needs.

More specifically, my department was activated during several unthinkable large scale and emergencies, including the response to the tragedy on August 27th at Annunciation Church and the response to Operation Metro Surge more recently.

Through both responses, I kept an unwavering focus on the impact to our community, leading our emergency operations center team to stand up and operate family, neighborhood, and virtual assistance centers, all to connect our community members to the services needed most in the hardest of times.

I led coordination with foundations to help encourage the flow of financial assistance, and I led our team to develop impact assessments to articulate the scope of disaster and advocate for financial help.

Over the last few months, emergency managers from jurisdictions around the country have reached out to learn what we did and how we did it.

We've already become a leader in responding and preparing for the impossible.

Despite the high-profile nature of these responses, some of the most important work that my team does is what we do every day.

We engage with the community and colleagues across departments to make sure we're as prepared as possible.

Since I joined the city, I have worked across the city government to clarify roles and responsibilities in disaster response, such as the training we did last year for City Council.

We have continued to hold department-wide trainings and exercises.

We have worked with our amazing communications colleagues to bolster messaging to our communities.

We have revamped ReadyCamp, our family preparedness course to make it more accessible and to reach communities who have been historically marginalized in disaster preparedness.

We have continued to learn and adjust every step of the way.

I've done this all while leading with intention, both during emergencies and normal times.

Grounding my team and the emergency operations center responses in a professional, respectful, and inclusive environment that is focused on why we are here, and that's to serve our community because our community deserves the best, and that includes a nation-leading preparedness model.

Over the next four years, my goal is to make Minneapolis the most disaster ready city in the country.

Being disaster ready means that everyone in our community knows where to go when disaster hits.

It means that all of our collective layers of response organizations are connected, so we know who can respond fastest and where the gaps are.

It means we have a trauma-informed response based on verified needs and focused on the most vulnerable.

It means that we all practice together.

Because when we practice together, we take the teeth of a disaster out.

We know what to expect, and we know we're in it together.

Making Minneapolis the most disaster ready city in the country is ambitious, but I also believe it's achievable, and that's because of who we are, how we care for each other, and the incredible energy around service that already exists in our community.

I wish I could tell you that there will be no next big one.

But one of the things you hopefully know about me by now is that I don't shy away from talking about risks and hazards.

I will always tell you honestly what we're up against.

I can't tell you if it will be a tornado or a cyber attack or something with an impossibly small chance of happening here in our city, but there will be a next big one.

The most important thing we can do now is accept that as a reality and do everything we can in our control to be ready for it.

I have a deep love for our community here in Minneapolis as a resident myself.

I've seen firsthand how our work improves lives and helps prepare our community members for their worst days.

I've been honored to lead the incredible team in emergency management, and I would be honored to continue in this role.

Thank you for your consideration for my nomination, and I'm happy to stand for any questions.

Thank you.

Colleagues, I will make a motion to approve Mayor Fryer's nomination of Director Sayer.

So I'm proud to support this nomination because of your work director, the work that you have done for our city, the passion that you have for the city, and not only the work that you do to lead this department, but the work that you do with our employees research groups like Soji.

So not only have I seen you take on this important role to not only protect our residents of the city, but I've seen you go overboard in protecting our employee resource group, which is something that is really important in terms of today.

So just wanted to thank you for your work.

I look forward to seeing your continued work in the city because I know you'll do great.

So I'm speaking in support.

Next up, we have Councilmember Vita.

Thank you, Chair Chavez.

And like Chair Chavez said, this vote in favor of you is probably the easiest vote I'm taking this year.

It's been a tough year, but it's so fulfilling to have votes like this: a boat of confidence, a vote of partnership, one that you know, you just you can't even make up something.

You know, you like to balance things out.

What are the pros and cons?

And there are no cons here with you.

I mean, I truly mean this is the easiest vote for me to take this year.

I I look forward to continuing to work with you.

I'm sure I told you in our one-on-one that uh emergency management is so serious, but you make it so fun and so important, and you're very serious, and yet you're so lighthearted and caring, and we see that.

We know how important this work is to you.

You make it even more important to us.

And so thank you.

I look forward to the continued work with you.

I do have a couple questions, and um I I do.

I really I really want to learn more, and I really want our city to learn more.

And we've agreed that that is that is upcoming.

And so just you know, the first thing I wanted to talk about is how your department ensures that emergency planning and response efforts adequately reach communities that have been historically disproportionate.

Disproportionately impacted by emergencies, including North Minneapolis.

You know, we talked about the um tornado that was many, many years ago, but we're still impacted by that.

And so I'm just wondering like what yeah, that's the question.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Uh through the chair, council member Vita.

My department is absolutely committing, uh, committed to uh ensuring that we reach historically marginalized communities and recognizing the long tail of disasters that have occurred in our city.

Um, one of my team members who's incredible, who is here today has really led the charge in ensuring that our outreach to communities is grounded in our communities here who have been historically marginalized.

So we're making sure that we go to the summer events where we're going to reach our communities who need us most this summer and talk about emergency preparedness.

Recently, his incredible work, revamping our family preparedness course, led him to do a course with a group called the Father Project in South Minneapolis.

Um it was a class and a gathering of mostly men of color.

Um he reported the the session was really just an incredible uh community coming together and talking about preparedness among group who have not historically been a part of preparedness.

So absolutely we're going to continue doing that.

Another example is a resilience hub project in North Minneapolis, the various ones in South Minneapolis.

We are already uh convening monthly coordination meetings to really work towards that vision of a disaster-prepared city.

Thank you.

Um, community trust and communication is extremely important.

I know you know that, and residents often judge our emergency our emergency response by how quickly and clearly they receive information.

Uh, what steps has your department taken to improve public communication during emergencies and what additional um improvements would you prioritize?

Thank you through the chair, Councilmember Vita.

So we have implemented quite a few um processes processes during the last few years.

One of which we have connected national weather service alerts directly into our city's uh emergency alert system.

So any residents is welcome to sign up, and we encourage you to sign up for our emergency alert system that will push to your phone when there are things like severe weather uh that is incoming, and that's really key to help you prepare in those moments.

The other thing that I have done is work very closely with our communications department colleagues to bolster the expectations around communications during an emergency that has included trainings with colleagues like you, uh with colleagues around the city, and then just passing consistent information so that our our JIC, our joint information center during emergency, is giving you daily messages as council members to pass out to your constituents.

Thank you.

And then my last question is what do you see as the biggest threat to Minneapolis right now?

Yeah, or upcoming in this term.

Thank you.

Through the chair, Councilmember Vita.

I am watching the election, like many emergency managers around the country.

Um, elections are always a special time of special concerns, so we are certainly watching that and uh working with the state on preparedness, typical preparedness actions.

Otherwise, uh our largest hazards for the city are always severe weather.

So this season it's severe wind, hail, tornadoes actually less so, and then cyber attacks.

Um, those are always going to be some of our largest, most likely, but doesn't mean they're next threats.

Thank you.

That's it.

Council President Payne.

Uh thank you, Church Javas, and thank you, Director.

I'm very happy to speak in support of you.

You've been a real partner, I feel like uh for us on the spot, and for the whole city, and um it may sound aspirational to be the most, you know, prepared city for disaster in the nation, but I think we've already have a strong foundation there.

Much of that foundation was built by community, right?

I cannot separate out the community's response to Metro Surge and how government actually failed the community in the response to the murder of George Floyd.

We've built a lot of that infrastructure as a community first infrastructure, and I feel like you've really recognized that and have plugged into it.

And I think it's that whole city response that's gonna make us the best prepared city in the nation, and that means both government and community.

And so I know that you have that lens, and I'm I'm looking forward to partnering with you on developing that.

So thank you.

Council member Rainbow.

Uh thank you.

Uh Mr.

Chair, I just wanted to compliment you on two things that I feel you've done very, very well.

One is uh the report on the financial damage from the ICE invasion.

Uh, the fact that we sustained 700 million dollars in damages, that's a real eye-opener.

So thank you for uh submitting that and working very hard on that.

And I also I have to uh smile a little bit about the cost effectiveness of your department uh when we analyze uh using a certain set of metrics, anyway.

Uh, you are the most cost-effective uh bang for the buck of all the city staff.

So thank you for leading that effort.

All right, seeing no further discussion or questions from our colleagues on the motion to prove this item.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say nay.

Any abstentions?

The ayes have it, and that motion carries.

Thank you, Director.

Uh, our next item is a public hearing on adult bathhouses.

And I will ask Council President Payne to kick us off on this item.

Thank you, Chair Chavez.

Uh, we've got staff coming up to pull up our presentation, but while he does that, um, I'll just kind of give a little bit of uh background.

Um, this is work that predates my time in office.

This is work that's been led by community.

And in my first term in office, I partnered with uh my predecessor, council president Andrea Jenkins, uh, to do some technical amendments around some really stigmatizing language that existed in our ordinance.

Um at that time, we wanted to achieve what we're aiming to achieve today, but uh the institution wasn't ready to move at that speed, and I'm really proud to be a continued part of this process that um is ongoing.

And today is again another technical amendment uh to uh set the foundation so that we can now recognize uh bathhouses as the uh culturally significant part of our community that it is.

Um that previous work that we did was very limited.

It all it did was remove stigmatizing language, uh stigmatizing language associated with AIDS, sexual activity, particularly between men, um, and stigmatizing language uh for sex workers.

It was really unconscionable, frankly, that the government would adopt such language and such hostile language.

Now, today we have a much stronger foundation and knowledge of the best interventions for public health, and we know that um a safer space for some of this activity is good public health, and so today we are doing again more technical foundational work so that we can make this a reality by moving some things around in the code um and get us on that pathway towards uh uh fully realizing the vision of the community.

Uh and with that, uh, we can go to the next slide.

Before we get into the technical amendment, I think it is important to speak about the historical background when it comes to bathhouses.

Pre-banned bathhouses were gathering spaces more mostly for LGBTQI plus folks, and then several raids occurred unprompted.

In June 1979.

The MPD's vice squad and deputy mayor drunkenly entered a bathhouse in downtown Minneapolis and were harassing men, vowing to come back to shut down what they called quote whorehouse for men.

It was also at a time when the Meapos City Council opposed a pride block party as well.

In December 1979, the largest raid on adult bathhouses in US history occurred here in Minneapolis, where two undercover MPD officers and towels began grabbing men, arresting uh many of them, 125 and 125 were ticketed, and nine were charged with felony crime of sodomy.

And until 2001, same-sex sexual activity between consenting men was illegal in Minnesota.

And we know that these raids were carried out with the explicit goal of criminalizing residents simply for being gay.

In 1978, there was a ban on high-risk sexual behavior, despite research indicating that closing bathhouses had no effect in slowing HIV transmission.

The health commissioner at the time researched effectiveness of closing the bathhouses in other cities and told city council that it resulted in no change to HIV transmission.

People would continue engaging in sexual activity elsewhere.

And in 1988, bathhouses were formally banned in Minneapolis.

We know that other cities have revisited their bans and reversed them with strong public health protections, for example, San Francisco.

And we know that peer-reviewed research and several clinical trials, uh clinic trials have found that the bathhouse closures would likely lead to a small increase in HIV transmission, it's Council President.

But you've kind of talked about it already.

Yeah, so uh as I said, we had removed some stigmatizing language, but the community was demanding a full repeal of this ban, and this institution wasn't ready to move at that speed.

We are ready to move at that speed right now.

Um the work that we are doing today is delineating city codes that are needed to be amended to create a regulation around um adult bathhouses and sex venues.

Uh we have um outlined landscape analysis of other U.S.

cities that have a framework to regulate adult bathhouses and sex venues.

So, for instance, Chicago, San Francisco, Duluth, and Dallas all have these types of venues.

Uh, and then the major takeaway here is that uh it's been an iterative process over the last three years, and it's three years in the making.

And we're advancing these amendments in alignment with recommendations provided by the 2024 report when we had our professional staff uh research this.

So uh it's important for us to talk about what this does and what this does not do.

Um, to start off, what this does do is that it removes outdated and stigmatizing language that has been used to target and criminalize uh the LGBTQIA plus community in the Minneapolis Code.

Uh it moves the building standards and definitions developed for adult entertainment venues from the high-risk sexual conduct ordinance into the uh into the place of adult entertainment code.

It maintains protections for employees of adult entertainment venues.

It maintains the full authority of the health department to enforce all existing health codes, and it creates a pathway for regulation and legalization of adult uh bathhouses or sex venues upon development of a business license code, eliminating barriers and removing contradictions.

What this does not do is it will not uh open up bathhouses suddenly tomorrow.

Um, this is really technical in nature.

This is moving things around in our laws, um, and this is setting us up for future work with the health department, with the legal department, with all sorts of folks in the future, as we're on a um a pathway or on a road to creating a regulatory framework for bathhouses.

But what we're doing today is really removing outdated language, stigmatizing language, and shifting things around in our code.

Uh, and so it's very, very technical in nature and is not going to um open up bathhouses right away.

This amendment helps address historic karma and discrimination.

And as my colleague said, while the passage of this does not legalize bathhouses, it does create a future pathway to a public health response to as opposed to the criminalization of bathhouses.

It removes outdated language used to criminalize predominantly two LGBTQI plus community.

It amasses the work of removing fear, stigma, and shame for our communities in our city, including our two LGBTQI community.

It allows for the development in the future of a public health and sexual health education access within historically underserved communities, and it aligns with fast track initiative goals meant to end the local HIV and AIDS epidemic.

And with that, um I will now open the public hearing.

And the first person to speak on this item is Stacy.

Welcome to your friend.

Thank you very much for having this public hearing.

I'm Stacy Gurion Sherman, Ward 9 Corcoran resident.

Grateful to be represented by Councilmember Jason Chavez.

As a gay man, he's one of the people leading this effort, along with our 2S LGBTQI Plus community.

For those who are not familiar, I highly recommend the excellent uh two-page document uh fact sheet, adult bathhouses and sex venues amendments, frequently asked questions.

It can be found on the city's LIMS page website, and more than one city council has linked it in their e-newsletters, including Councilmember Soren Stevenson, where I first saw it.

So thank you.

The fact document provides the historical background of bathhouses, closures that started in the 1980s in Minneapolis and around the country.

As someone who is now 69 years old, I was living in Oakland, California at this time.

I remember it very well.

I still remember with great sadness the loss of so many friends, neighbors, and colleagues to AIDS in that epidemic.

I still have great anger at the way the community, so unbelievably ravaged by the rampant AIDS epidemic, was so maligned.

As the fact sheet points out, uh there was recklessly slandered, the community was recklessly slandered for quote high risk sexual behavior, despite evidence at that time that it did not, the closing of bathhouses did not have an effect on HIV transmission.

The fact sheet also notes the Minneapolis reopening effort is being community-led by the Safer Sex Spaces Coalition, which is debunking, according to the fact sheet, quote, stigma-based barriers with data-driven frameworks that prioritize safety, autonomy, and joy, and amplifying unrepresented voices and working together to write policies that reflect the health and freedom of our neighbors.

Amen.

Just one sentence to finish up.

There's nothing that prohibits passing the bathhouse ordinances so the city can work with the coalition.

Thank you, Stacey.

I also just want to say thank you for the closed captioning.

This is the first time I've been in this chamber where uh the video has it.

With somebody with a disability, you're telling me I'm welcome.

Thank you, Stacey.

Thank you.

Next up is Araceli.

Good afternoon, and thank you for your time today.

I wanted to especially thank Chair Chavez.

You said yesterday that you were the only opening gay person on this council, but I hope this crowd and testimony today shows that you are far from alone in this work.

I speak for many folks when I say your community sees you and thinks you.

My name is Areseli Casasola.

I use sheher pronouns, and I'm a proud resident of Ward 10.

I am a teacher and a volunteer advocate.

Well, I found a safe haven and a home I am proud of in beautiful uptown Minneapolis.

We have so much work to do in ensuring our queer residents, especially those living in poverty, have safe access to support, health care, and harm reduction resources.

Even as we restlessly build our support networks and raise our voices at the ballot box, we have we face misinformation and bigotry despite the science.

I refer, of course, to the abundance of literature that shows uh that bath houses and other queer havens serve as community spaces, education, and harm reduction resources, um, and harm reduction resources.

Still, the 1988 ban eliminated commercial safe spaces, uh, created obstacles to providing contemporary public health strategies and discouraged outreach to affected communities.

Counterproductively, it was it drove sexual related gatherings underground, often to unsafe and inaccessible spaces.

Most damning of this ban, uh, public health organizations and even the Minneapolis public health department acknowledged that the ordinance is no longer a tool needed to promote public health.

This Bath House ordinance is a small step towards addressing injustice and serve and better serving our queer community.

Um, in support of the repeal of this homophobic ban on safe space uh sex spaces, you stand with the science and with our queer community.

Thank you again.

Next up, we have number three Dee.

Hello, my name is Dee, and I live in Ward 9.

Thank you, Chairs Chavez and Council members for opening up this public hearing.

I'm a volunteer advocate, and I organize with a collective of people engaged in sex trades.

I've devoted the last seven years of my life to sex worker and survivor rights and safety.

I want to clear up any confusion to the council and to the public about bathhouses being synonymous with brothels.

Prostitution is illegal in the state of Minnesota, and repealing the bathhouse ban doesn't change that.

This has nothing to do with expanding access or safety to sex work.

In all my years of solidarity with people with lived experience in the sex trades, bathhouses have never been a part of this community's demands.

Both criminalization and legal regulation of sex work are two dangerous approaches for people engaged in sex trades.

We would never advocate for brothels, and it's important that people know bathhouses are not brothels.

This work is important because it involves protecting and resourcing the community and sexual autonomy, safer sex and sexual health, which will always be priorities for the sex working community.

We are extremely proud to be in support of this campaign and feel that the anti-sex and horophobic rhetoric surrounding bathhouses have been misplaced as a focus in the public discourse.

I find it all incredibly insulting.

Banning bathhouses is no longer a successful tool in protecting community health.

People who live in and visit Minneapolis deserve safe spaces like this, and I support the work of creating pathways for both bathhouses that expand access to care and inclusivity to marginalized people.

I want to thank the staff from offices of council members Payne, Chavez, and Chowdhury, for taking time to meet with workers impacted by the changes to the adult entertainment ordinance as this work unfolds.

It means a lot to include impacted community members and to take our voices seriously.

I hope that listening to marginalized workers remains a priority for this council body.

Thank you.

Next up we have Sarah Mitsen, number four.

Then number five will be Grace.

Number six will be Reese Gray.

Hi, my name is Sarah Mitston.

I spend most of my time in South Minneapolis.

Unlike my previous speakers, this is my first rodeo, and I'm not really an advocate.

I am just a community member.

I am a queer community member, and I would like to let you know I appreciate that the city council is trying to remove this negative language, and I appreciate that minority groups, including me, that face injustice or getting a chance to be on an even playing field and have a safe space for the rest of us.

And I really thank you, and I hope you really consider that it's not just the advocates, but regular community members that would appreciate and benefit from this change in language.

Thank you.

Number five, Grace.

Oh, hello, and thank you all.

Uh, my name is Grace.

Uh very trans, very queer, and I'm an organizer of many grassroots, many kinds within the community, particularly intimate safe spaces for trans people, very specifically.

Now, discriminator laws, when left on books, they only serve to harm and stigmatize.

Our community is one consistently pushed to the fringes, even to this day, uh stigmatized even throughout our own communities.

Uh we have a need for safe spaces and education.

Trans people are one of the fastest growing vulnerable demographics in our state.

Whether you know it or not, a lot of us keep coming because everyone else keeps passing laws against us.

It'd be nice to have less laws against us here, that is for certain.

Because what does sanctuary mean when there are discriminary laws still left on the books?

What does sanctuary mean when our community is still forced to meet in secrecy for our own safety?

What does sanctuary even mean when it's still dangerous for us to hold vigils in public because of the death threats we get mourning our own dead?

Gay pride is a party, but trans pride is a resource fair.

It's survival.

Events I've organized, we've had sex education, HIV prevention, and safe for sex resources, HRT needle exchange, live entertainment, and so much more.

We deserve places to connect and love one each other in the ways that we want to.

The ways our love should not be termed on legislation by other people telling us what is right and what is wrong for our communities.

Because our communities historically, we bury our dead in the morning, we protest during the day, and we dance all night.

We dance because that is what keeps us alive.

We fight for that dance, and I just want to say that uh we want to dance in the sunlight too.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh next up, we have number six.

Number six, Reese Gray.

Oh.

Good afternoon, uh, Council members.

My name is Reese Gray.

I'm a queer trans man living and working in beautiful ward eight.

Um, I am very lucky to live my life within communities that more often than not value my personhood and well-being.

This has not always been the case.

Uh, when I was young, um, much more vulnerable and uninformed, I spent time in private underground sexual spaces across Minneapolis and the metro area.

Let me be clear, I do not believe those spaces are inherently bad or wrong.

Sometimes I was met with respect, compassion, and support.

However, at other times I was met with dangerous misinformation, harm, and even outright violation and abuse.

It is my belief that had a public community venue like a bathhouse been available, things would have been different for me as I explored my identity and sexuality.

I spent years taking on unnecessary risk because I believed the misinformation provided to me in these spaces that PrEP, a highly effective HIV preventative, was not for people with bodies like mine having the interactions I was having.

In a public venue equipped with sexual health resources, I could have been educated on and connected to PrEP when I arguably needed it the most.

I grinned and bared it through abusive relationships and egregious consent violations, because in underground spaces, whoever has the house or the connection or the clout has the power.

It should not have been like that.

In a public venue, clear standards of behavior and boundaries can be established and upheld with a higher level of equity and consistency.

Communal sexual spaces have always existed and always will.

Repealing the Minneapolis bathhouse ban is an overdue step towards making them as safe and equitable as possible.

Thank you for your time.

Next up we have Elizabeth Scott, then which will be number seven, number eight will be James Houston, number nine will be Lee, number nine, number ten, Jay.

Good afternoon.

My name is Elizabeth Scott, and I've lived in Minneapolis for 25 years.

I currently live in Ward 11.

I hold master's degrees in social work and public health, and I'm also a member of the queer community.

I care about repealing the bathhouse ban for both both personal and professional reasons.

Bathhouses and adult venues might seem like a fringe issue to some folks, but they have long served as important community spaces, especially within the queer community.

Like bars or breweries, they provide social connections and can operate safely and responsibly when licensed and regulated, and also generate income for our city.

I can say this with authority because I love bathhouses.

I've visited legal adult venues in other major cities, most recently in Toronto.

The space was clean, professionally run, safe and welcoming.

Condoms and safer sex information was available.

Surfaces were regularly sanitized, and staff were clearly trained in safety and consent practices.

As a woman, uh being there solo, I felt totally safe and comfortable.

The reality is these gatherings already happen in Minneapolis, as many have said, they're often in unregulated settings with varying degrees of safety and cleanliness.

Adults are going to meet other adults, often through apps or informal spaces that may place people at greater risk.

In my experience and opinion, legal legal regulated venues provide a safer alternative for many of us.

Cities like Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Miami, and San Francisco already allow these spaces.

And repealing this ban would support harm reduction, public health, personal freedom, and safe community spaces for the queer community and residents of our city and other consenting adults.

Thank you.

Welcome.

I just started.

And I've been a Minneapolis resident for 15 years and a sexuality educator for 20.

During that time, I've been a community organizer, sex educator, and in my role in those in those roles, I've had the opportunity to visit sexuality spaces in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Denver, Atlanta, Boston, DC, Columbus, and St.

Louis.

Not all of them are bathhouses, but they're all sexuality spaces.

And in each of these cities, I saw the same story.

In these spaces, membership comes with a sense of belonging, ownership, and pride, which in turn fosters mutual care, trust, and community standards that protect the people who participate.

Can we have the same opportunities in Minneapolis?

I've helped fundraise for the Aliveness Project and our family.

Proudly supports the mission of Family Tree Clinic.

I remember the Smith and Kittens tiny storefront in South Minneapolis, next to the chatterbox.

From there, in their over 20 years of business, they've done amazing things to um to support sexuality education and made national news for their mutual aid work this winter.

I want to extend that sense of community responsibility beyond establishments where we're just customers and patients.

For me, finding my people in the twin cities led to friendships, family, and roots in a progressive city where community means care, belonging, and survival.

Council members Payne, Chavez, Stevenson, Wandsley, Chadri, and Chugtai.

Author this bill.

I hope that.

I hope that the rest of you will join them.

Attend the meeting on June 26th and vote for your constituents to continue laying the foundation to end the band and the ban.

Uh we showed up this winter for pain.

Show up for joy too.

Thank you.

Thanks.

We have number nine, Lee, number 10, Jay, number uh 11, Noah, and number 12, Dylan.

Yeah, Chair Chavez, members of the committee.

This step to repealing the bathhouse moratorium is about equity and updating city policy to reflect that we now have advances in public health that did not exist back in 1988 like PrEP.

And I've only ever visited uh two different bathhouses one time each, but from what I observed, I have no doubt that they would encourage public health outreach here.

And as a board member of Stonewall DFL, I fully admit to wanting to bring this question uh on this topic up in candidate screenings, but I was concerned about how I might be perceived.

And a vote to overturn the ban would heal that sense of stigma.

A vote to keep the ban in place feels misguided with the reassuring words and the city stated goals.

And I heard uh bringing uh jobs, new businesses, new investment, and building up the downtown tax base is uh uh be used as overriding priorities in the data center hearing that I spoke in yesterday.

So I'm curious like how those same economic development promises would not carry over when it comes to new bathhouses, particularly when it would also boost tourism in Minneapolis.

And as far as the perceived risk, the same activities will still take place under the moratorium in underground bacchanalias that are often unsafe andor inaccessible, and uh my friend and I refuse to uh take part in free-for-alls where there are no written guidelines of conduct that participants have to acknowledge.

And as a queer person on the autism spectrum, it is um often hard for us to navigate spaces that are full of hidden rules that everyone is just expected to grasp, including on the apps and uh many of the gay bars are not autism friendly because it's hard to talk over constant pulsating music everywhere I go, and having a bathhouse would be less sensory overload, and um, and that's that's why this is about uh equity rather than just token equality.

And to conclude, having a bathhouse would help anchor the social ethos of we're all in this together rather than the we're all on your own ethos of thank you, Lee.

Appreciate you.

Uh next up we have Jay, number 10, Noah, number 11, 12, Dylan, 13, Sean.

Hi, good afternoon.

Uh, I'm Dr.

Jay Orne.

I own a home in War 9.

I'm a research scientist with a PhD in sociology, specializing in sexual health uh and sexual spaces, and I lead the liveness project's HIV prevention department.

For 40 years, we have led the way serving people living with and at risk for HIV.

So I'm here today in support of the proposed ordinance.

As an expert in HIV prevention, I can say that this policy change will strengthen our public health system.

Public health has evolved dramatically since the original bathhouse bans, which were issued in raids, fear, and shame around HIV.

Together with new strategies like PrEP and U equals U, we have the tools to reduce HIV transmission, and so our task is not to eliminate spaces where people have sex, but to bring people out of the shadows where we can give them the tools that we that we have in place.

Research has shown that pushing sexual activity into less visible spaces does not eliminate the risk.

It makes outreach and education more difficult.

Licensed venues can become our partners in public health.

Other cities have led the way in this direction.

We are not breaking ground here.

We're trying to catch up with what other places are already doing in this area.

On a personal note, I'll also say I also don't think it's the role of government to sit in judgment and decide what kind of spaces can be important to different cultural groups.

Bathhouses are an important part of queer history and our current community.

And as a body largely composed of non-LGBTQ people, I hope you'll defer to the will of the queer community that these are important spaces to our community.

Um, and so thank you, Councilmember Chavez and the rest of the co-authors.

Please pass this ordinance.

Next up, Noah.

And then we have Dylan, then Sean.

Good afternoon, committee members.

My name is Noah Barth.

I live in Kingfield, and I'm a queer public historian.

Some council members have asked why care about or spend time and money on this now.

As a historian who has written about bathhouses, HIV AIDS, and yes, Brian Coyle, including as the developer of the 2023 exhibit at Mill City Museum about LGBTQ nightlife, I particularly feel equipped to tell you why.

In 1988, people living with AIDS, as Brian Coyle was, were also living without answers.

Council Member Coyle's decision to support this ordinance was one made with fear.

And while I can empathize, today we need to make our decisions with facts.

It is a fact that this ordinance is discriminatory and did not prevent HIV infections.

And using a decades-old opinion of one gay person to dispute a broad coalition of queer people here today is tokenization.

Brian Coyle loved his community and he wanted us to have sexual freedom, but he knew that taking away these spaces would make us less safe, and they did.

Had he been here, had he been able at the time, he would have preserved them.

So you ask why now?

Because a grassroots group of constituents guided by history have come together and said we will be healthier and safer if we have access to these spaces.

Because with the tools against HIV we have now, Brian Coyle would have listened to us.

Because now we have facts, not fear.

Why now you ask?

Because we are 38 years overdue because this ordinance never should have passed, and it's time to undo a historical injustice.

Thank you.

Dylan number 12.

Good afternoon, council members.

My name is Dylan Boyer.

I'm a proud Ward 8 resident.

I'm a person living with HIV.

I'm the director of development at the Aliveness Project, and I'm a leader of the Safer Sex Space Coalition.

I want to start off by saying something that might surprise some people that my first experience at a bathhouse was not for sex.

It was to get tested for HIV.

I went because I knew that it was a place where queer people felt safe.

For many people, these venues are not just social spaces, but they are public health spaces.

They are places where people can access HIV testing, education, condoms, and prevention.

Over the past two weeks, I have had the privilege to bring panels of the AIDS quilt to Minneapolis.

This quilt reminds us of what happens when government officials fail to listen to their community members.

It reminds us that of the cost of fear-based policies that push people into the shadows rather than supporting them.

The research is clear and consistently shows that bathhouses can play an important role in promoting safer sex and supporting HIV prevention.

In a recent NPR article, Councilmember Schaefer stated that these proposals are, quote, disconnected from the reality of everyday residents and people trying to do business in our city.

I respectfully reject that statement.

We are everyday residents.

And my business is making sure that queer people have access to health care.

My business is helping people get tested for HIV.

My business is connecting people to treatment and prevention services.

And my business is helping us end HIV in Minnesota.

And I would hope that it is the business of this council, especially representatives of some of the queerest wards in Minneapolis, to reduce HIV infections and ensure that LGBTQ residents have access to community that they deserve.

I urge you all to support this ordinance.

Thank you for your time today.

Next up, we have Sean number 13.

Number 14 is, I'm struggling to read the way it's written by Chandler, maybe.

And then number uh next person would be Kat.

Yeah.

Hello, Council members.

My name is Sean.

I am a proud resident of Ward 12, and I want to continue the conversation that we're having here today about the removal of the ordinance and working to change that today with our bathhouse changes.

As people have brought up many times today, the reason we had this ordinance was because of fear of an epidemic.

I don't know a single person who lives in our city, our state, or a country that does not understand what fear of an epidemic looks like and the decisions we make during those times when we are most afraid.

We can fight those things when we're afraid when we had more knowledge and understanding, as we all understand, as we all have seen.

We have more knowledge now than we had back then in the 80s.

We have more knowledge now to protect ourselves and to understand how to make better changes for ourselves and the community as large.

I'd also like to point out that our need mostly for these sorts of things is about community and coming together.

And though that might be something that people might feel is strange or different or not understand as part of people outside of the LGBTQ community, these things are important to us, and they're different.

And there is more so need for anything right now in this world in this country than community, and those things come together.

I have had some experience, much like the other people have speaking today of bathhouses, and I'm not exactly a beauty, so I get to see things that most people don't, and that is community and people coming together.

I've seen young people meeting and talking in Dallas in a place where people are not safe.

I've seen people sharing their time and friendship all over this country and all this world in those places, and that's something that we desperately need here, and I think would be very important to our city and our community at large to build that up.

So I ask you to vote to change our ordinance as it is, and I thank you for your time.

Number 14, Chandler.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for having me.

My name is Chandler Daly, and I'm a gay trans man, and I work for a sexual and reproductive health clinic, providing sexual health education.

In my perspectives as a gay trans person, bathhouses and commercial sex spaces are so special.

They're places that are centered on connection.

That's the point of them.

There's spaces of deep care between strangers.

There are spaces that make our people less alone.

They're healing resourcing spaces.

And if you see this issue as fringe or irrelevant, then what that just tells me is that you don't know us very well.

And that maybe you know us on the surface or us on TV, but you haven't engaged deeply with the our history as LGBT people and the important contributions of LGBT sexual culture to our world.

Maybe you aren't close enough to see all of us, in the words of George Michael, this is my culture.

We're here to introduce ourselves.

And having a city that uh would be open to opening a bathhouse is a is a part of just being a basically LGBT welcoming city.

Um, it's again not unique, but what it means to be LGBT friendly.

Um, as a sex educator, what I know you also know, and what all these other people have said.

Banning bathhouses didn't end HIV.

It didn't make our community less vulnerable to other emergent STIs.

It came from a reactionary council that didn't have the thriving public health and HIV prevention infrastructure or knowledge of 2026.

We know how to keep each other healthy and safe, and it's by bringing people together.

It's by providing all the things that are provided in bathhouses.

It's with rapid testing and prep and pep and doxypep and harm reduction and supplies and free condoms and lube and education.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Number 15 is no longer going to testify.

So number 16, Kat.

Number 17 is now testifying.

Then number 18, I think is Amber O'Neill.

Thank you so much.

Glad to be here.

My name is Kat Roan.

I use they and she pronouns.

I'm the executive director of Outfront Minnesota, our state's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.

We were founded in 1987 at really the height of the peak of the HIV crisis here in the United States.

Um, and in large part because our communities needed voices at tables of power.

We needed voices to inform public health decision making to ensure that our communities would be met with support and care and resources and competency when we stepped into spaces of care.

The bathhouse ban has been in existence for almost as long as our organization.

And when we asked the question of why now, the answer is why not now?

Recently, I was at Andrea Jenkins' retirement party, and this is a project that has been carried not just by our organization, but by so many in our communities, so many leaders, so many voices, so many people from different segments of community who are asking for a simple thing to give more space to more of us.

When MPOX popped up in the United States, Minnesota organizations like Outfront Minnesota, the Aliveness Project, and others got together to reach out to the state to say we want to be part of this public health response.

We led that through engaging with our communities, through informing good strategies about how to document and track and trace and support care for folks, and to make sure that folks could get vaccinated as quickly and as effectively as possible.

Public health happens everywhere.

It happens through community.

It happens when people show up to spaces that they feel comfortable in.

This is an opportunity to open those doors to care for one another and to write a historic wrong.

Thank you.

Next up is number 17th that is no longer speaking.

So like I said, number 18 is Amber O'Neill, number 19, Patrick, and then number 20, Ryan.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon, Council.

My name is Patrick Scully.

Laws passed that are anti-gay have a long tradition.

4,000 years ago, Leviticus proclaimed they shall be put to death.

250 years ago, each of the original 13 colonies had a death penalty for sodomy.

Jefferson suggested Virginia soften the penalty to castration.

As a 72-year-old gay man, I have lived most of my life criminalized and excluded by the system.

Discrimination against me was legal until I was almost 40 years old in Minnesota.

Sex was a crime in Minnesota until I was in my 50s.

Marriage was not an option until I was in my 60s.

So don't expect me to live my life like you live your life if you're a heterosexual.

After Brian Coyle marginalized after Brian Coyle's misguarded bathhouse ban, I organized the first safe sex parties that happened in Minnesota.

And I'm proud to say that I did that.

The gay community will survive without your support if you fail to pass this new law.

But working with us is a better choice.

You can vote to do that, or you can vote to keep us in the shadows.

Thank you very much.

Next up, we have Ryan Murphy.

And then we'll have number 21, which will be A.

Oh, actually, Amber.

I don't think Amber spoke.

Amber O'Neal, which was number 18.

Yes.

Hi, my name is uh Amber O'Neill.

I'm uh from uh Ward 3 and Marcy Holmes.

Uh Rainville is my uh council member.

Um I had a lot more to say about this personally, but uh after hearing everything, um, all I really have to say that I feel is this repeal is a bit remiss and uh myopic.

And um I feel that if you raise a child and uh treat them well, raise them, you know, have the to have a healthy lifestyle, to uh eat well, exercise.

You don't then on your on their 28th birthday, encourage them to adopt the uh Morgan Spurlock diet.

So that's my piece.

Thank you.

Next up, we have number 20, Ryan.

And then 21 will be AB, 22, Justin.

Hello, everyone.

My name is Ryan Murphy.

I am a fourth generation Minneapolitan, a resident of Ward 7.

I have a PhD in American Studies from the University of Minnesota, and I'm a professor of history.

Um, when I was a, and other people have been talking about history in this room too, but when I was in graduate school, I was part of a collective called the Twin Cities GLBT Oral History Project, and we made an edited volume about the queer history of the region.

What I think most about the repealing the ban is that this is a way for the city of Minneapolis to atone for past sins.

We know in Minneapolis, we know what it feels like to be attacked from the outside because all of us have been through that this winter.

That's what it felt like, I think to queer people in the 1970s.

I wasn't there, but I read all the testimony and all the documents that were, you know, part of the public dialogue in the 1970s during the bathhouse raids that people have already referenced here today.

Um, you know, it is a deeply compelling topic.

And I think one of the most striking things that I read was the testimony from the bouncers at the gay 90s who would watch the fire department staging area neck in the parking lot next to the 90s.

These group of young men would beat people coming out of the 90s.

The fire department would laugh and just it was sort of the entertainment for the night.

It's a different time now, but it's time that we update.

You know, that's not the way the fire department would behave today, I hope.

But it's time to make the laws consistent with the growth that other people have done in this community.

So I strongly urge us to repeal the ban.

Thank you.

Number 21, AB, 22, Dustin, 23, Kat.

All right.

Uh hi everyone.

I'm A.

B.

I'm a resident of Ward 10, and I'm a congregant of the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis.

Uh, just a few things I wanted to say that this would be an opportunity to improve the local economy versus the pro via the promotion of nightlife, and that the increase of tourism and other ancillary spending associated with those things.

And I know we're all in need of new tax revenue for the city, and I feel like it's important to allow people to do what they want.

And if that gets us more tax revenue, that's great.

Also, in a world where uh personal liberty is just constantly being curtailed, you have a unique opportunity to buck this trend and give autonomy that would otherwise require long trips to other cities.

It's also worth mentioning that in a world growing increasingly hostile to LGBT people, so much so that we have refugees flooding into Minneapolis.

We need resources and joy.

I understand that certain individuals struggle with this topic, and to those people, I would like to remind you that participation in these spaces is entirely optional.

I would also like to ask that to consider the types of organizations and venues that would have these sorts of events and spaces, and that you try and make regulations that are not overly onerous.

Thank you very much.

Number, yes, welcome, Dustin.

Hello, my name is Dustin Barnes, and I live in Ward 4.

I'm here today to support repealing the bathhouse ban in Minneapolis.

For 15 years, I worked in tourism, 10 years on cruise ships from Royal Caribbean to Celebrity Princess and Disney.

I lived in Costa Rica for three years, managing the English department at a culinary arts college, and I spent two years as an event director helping Fortune 500 companies run their corporate trips around the world.

To put it lightly, tourism is in my blood.

In all my travels, guests would ask me, where is the nearest bathhouse?

So I know that firsthand that people seek out these establishments.

It was a shock to me when I moved to Minneapolis five years ago, that these types of entertainment and community facilities were not available here, and the nearest place to enjoy a bathhouse was either in Duluth or Chicago.

Today, many people travel out of our city and spend their money in those places as they visit the bathhouses.

Money we could keep here in our city.

Bathhouses hold a long history in the queer community, but they're open to all.

We all know that straight people love to enjoy the queer community.

They love to copy our art, our culture, our fashion, our music, entertainment, and even our vocabulary.

Our community is always in the forefront of trends and style.

And our community needs safe spaces for us to connect and to be creative.

Did you know that Bette Midler started her career in a bathhouse in New York City?

Barry Manilow was her piano player.

Bathhouses are a place for people to unwind, relax and play.

Consenting adults deserve a safe place to de stress and repealing the bathhouse ban will give them that.

It will drive traffic to the city, boost out of state tourism, increase tax revenue, and offer opportunities for small businesses.

Like they said in the movie Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come.

And trust me, they will come.

In closing, as a gay black man, I heard white people tell me throughout many years of my life they knew what was best for the black community.

Yesterday I witnessed straight council members tell the queer community they knew what was best for them.

You do not live in our shoes and you cannot queer explain to us.

Thank you.

So please remove the bathhouse ban.

Next up we have sorry cat number 23.

Greg number 24 and then 25 is no longer speaking.

Hello my name is Kat Hammond.

I'm a resident of Ward 1 and a sex educator in Minneapolis and community member.

I want to thank the council members who have offered this um uh this repeal and uh who are supporting the repeal or considering supporting it I want to say we have your back should you face any pushback or should you be wondering what were all those beautiful diverse uh vibrant community members talking about in that meeting about all the economic and public health benefits call us up you know where to find us um and we appreciate your support and consideration on this for anybody who uh is not familiar with bathhouses or hasn't spent a lot of time thinking about why this would matter I would say I I hope that you can think of an area in your life that is a space or a group of people where you feel at ease and you feel like you can uh gather together uh with people who share a core experience with you and where you feel free to be yourself and and connect with people and experience the joy um that that brings and if you have a space like that in your life perhaps you can understand what this means uh to those of us who gather in adult spaces ranging from bars to parties to bathhouses and for whom that's such an important site of community and the applause and uh all the love that's happening in the overflow room right now really speak to that community for me.

I wasn't expecting to see uh on my way in a bust a beautiful statue of uh council member coyle um and I I took a moment to say hello to to Brian Coyle on the way in I know that the Councilmember Coyle supported this ban um in the context of the time that he lived and died and uh I wish that he were around today and I wish that I could talk to him he'd be 80 I looked it up and um I wish I could tell him about the effective treatment for HIV that we have now I wish I could talk to him about where he found community and what that community meant to him and I won't get to meet uh Brian Coyle but uh perhaps I can meet somebody like him in uh a gathering space like a bathhouse so thank you so much next up we have Greg.

Hello I'm uh Greg Lynn I'm a resident of Ward 8 and a graduate of the Minnesota University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Today I'm speaking in favor of the ordinance to amend Title XI.

And I'd like to address particularly the council members who might be hesitant or fearful about supporting these changes as somehow being against their values.

And I hope that everyone on this council, and all of us here share some common values around personal freedom, around cultural expression and personal expression, and about building a vibrant and financially successful city.

The amendment to Title XI helps enable all three of those values.

I personally hold the value that restrictions on freedom should only exist when they serve the common good or are necessary.

The current restrictions on bathhouses do not serve the public good and are not effective.

The current restrictions are also broad enough that they prohibit other cultural bathhouses and saunas and other businesses around this and create undue restrictions on those kinds of businesses to start.

The proposed amendments are sufficient to safeguard public health.

They're consistent with infectious disease science and practice, and they reserve sufficient power to the commissioner of health if anything changes around the circumstances, you know, around health and these.

So I hope that the whole council will uh reach a consensus decision to amend Title XI.

Thank you.

Next, uh, we have number 25, which is no longer speaking, so number 26, Hummingbird.

And then we'll have Nicolai.

Um, hello, council.

Many of you know me as Hummingbird.

I'm a proud indigenouser Ward 12 resident.

I've come to speak in support of the ordinance.

Throughout the AIDS crisis, our own government turned its back on much of our community and refused to treat our lives as worth protecting.

It was our community that built the infrastructure to keep each other alive.

Bathhouses were an essential part of that infrastructure.

They were spaces where outreach workers could reach people directly, where safer sex education actually circulated peer-to-peer, and where public health information could move through a community that the broader medical establishment had abandoned.

This was real effective public health work done by and for our community at a moment when almost no one else was doing it.

And the response from city leadership and law enforcement was to shut those spaces down.

Bathhouses were raided and closed.

They were viewed as a threat to public health because they made our existence visible.

They made our community care and sexuality visible.

Homophobia looked to our communal areas as an easy target, and laws, criminalization, police exploited that.

Those closures didn't make anyone safer.

They were used as justification for criminalization and anti-gay violence.

In my lifetime, I've seen the peak of the AIDS crisis and witnessed myriad public health advancements that have all but cured the epidemic entirely and have given us tools for safety where undetectable levels of the virus are untransmittable.

Now, as we live through new public health concerns and crises, with a federal government that has chosen a path of ignoring public health concerns almost altogether and dismantling the infrastructure almost altogether, we as a city have an opportunity to help my community support ourselves again.

I urge the committee to vote in support of this ordinance.

Welcome.

Good afternoon, council.

My name is Nicolai Selmis Whitehead.

I am a queer person.

I'm a person living with HIV and a person in recovery.

My family has called the Minneapolis area home for 50 years, specifically in Ward 7.

I understand why these restrictions were put in place.

Forty years ago, our community was facing a devastating public health crisis.

Countless queer people lost friends, they lost partners, loved ones during the HIV and AIDS epidemic.

The fear and uncertainty of that time were very real.

But this is not 1985.

Thanks to decades of medical advances, public health education, and the work of organizations like the Aliveness Project and like Outfront Minnesota, we are living in a very different reality today.

Many people living with HIV, including myself, are undetectable.

And we know from overwhelming scientific evidence that undetectable equals untransmittable.

As a person in recovery, I've had the opportunity to live in both Washington, DC and New York City, where bathhouses operate legally.

What I have found there was not a dangerous environment that you might imagine.

I found community, I found connection.

I found spaces where queer people could gather safely and without shame.

Many modern bathhouses today operate in partnership with public health organizations.

They provide STI education, offer testing resources like others have shared that they have utilized, and help people connect to healthcare and to community.

Rather than increasing risk, these spaces serve as important points of engagement and of education for the queer community.

Minneapolis has long prided itself on being a city that follows evidence that values public health and supports our LGBTQ brothers and sisters.

I believe this policy reflects fears from a different era rather than the realities of today.

I respectfully urge you to repeal the bathhouse ban and allow our city to move forward with policies grounded in science, in public health, and in dignity.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Next up we have Dex, number 28, number 29 won't speak, and then number 30 Ty.

Alright, hi, I'm Dex Anderson.

I am non-binary.

I'm a resident of Ward 10.

And I am missing uh the kickoff between England and Croatia to be here.

So that tells you how important this is.

Uh I was motivated to be here by some comments your fellow counselor Pearl Warren made yesterday about the concerns about disease within the bathhouses.

We've had a number of medical advancements that are just stunning.

I was born in 1986.

I'm 40 years old, and when I was born, that was the year that HIV was determined to be the cause of AIDS.

And since then we have made it so that somebody who gets diagnosed with HIV can live a long and healthy life, and there are a bunch of pre-exposure prophylaxis that prevent the transmission, as well as when you're positive, making you undetectable, which means you're untransmittable, which means that bathhouses are much less likely to be a vector disease.

And as we've heard in testimony, they weren't that much of a vector back in the 80s.

What I'm most concerned about, though, is the willingness of some members of this body to engage in that kind of discussion in that kind of fear-mongering about these spaces.

That's a portion of queer culture that's been around for centuries.

What I can tell you too is that banning these spaces doesn't stop the activity.

It just shoves it underground.

And it when those spaces go underground, it's less safe, more prone to bad actors, and subject to more scrutiny from police.

There's no other enforcement uh mechanism that exists there.

You can't sue anybody if something happens.

There's no way to check if that everybody is who they say they are, and they lack the protection of the law.

As somebody who's been in those spaces and run into those sorts of incidences, it's really a problem that we don't have a safe uh regulated space for us to go.

Your job is to make sure that LGBT residents here in Minneapolis are safe, and the way to do that is to have these businesses regulated and open.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Ty Grant, and then we'll have number 31, which will be Epiphany, and then number 33 will be Ken.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Council Chair Chavez and Council members.

My name is Tyler Grant.

I am a transplant of 12 years brought here by the U for my MBA.

I am coming before you today as a resident of Ward 1, but also as a business owner in Ward 7.

My fellow queer community members have made the case for the public health and positive financial implications of the repeal, so I will take a different tact for those still considering a vote against.

I run a business which leads a coalition of wellness practitioners, particularly around deep tissue rehabilitative massage.

Historically, massage therapy has been the cover for sex work with legislation and business requirements to match.

Let me make this clear: sex work is work and should be legalized.

Today, sex work is the cover for human trafficking, one of the most abhorrent issues for governments to tackle.

The more that we are able to delineate massage therapy, sex work, and human trafficking, the more that we are able to legitimize and support our community members, and the more that you're able to route human trafficking.

That is something we are all against, correct?

Thank you.

Next up, we have Epiphany31.

32 will now be speaking.

Number 33, Ken.

Hi, it's nice to see you all again.

I'm Miss Epiphany, and I'm a sex worker, which means I'm just like you, but my clothes look better, and I am legally discriminated against, even when I'm doing completely legal adult activities and adult entertainment.

And me being a sex worker isn't why I'm here in support of the repeal of the bathhouse ban.

However, me filling in the gaps in your public health policy is because every single month, I tell grown men that those male enhancement pills at the gas station are not good for you.

Every month I tell people how to get screened for sexually transmitted infections.

Every month I prevent countless trips to the ER by talking about flared bases and lube.

So I'm here.

Filling in your public health gaps by people who are lucky enough to be able to afford my time.

But the reason that they are seeking me out is because we are all pushed to the shadows.

We do not have venues for adult sexual behavior.

We do not have places where adults can go and hang out and be adults and do what adults do in an environment that can provide them this information.

We don't even have any kind of real education or outreach, aliveness excluded, for a lot of these issues.

And so what you can do is you can repeal this ban, and then we can have venues, we can have infrastructure, we can have revenue generating businesses that will also provide public outreach for these sexual health issues that currently I am taking care of.

And I am not getting paid for that part, by the way.

So I would appreciate you all repealing this ban.

Thank you.

Next up, I think it's Ken number 33, then number 34 Jacob, and then Jack, number 35, and then that will be it.

Hi, uh my name is Ken Kalina.

I'm a 40-year resident of Minneapolis, and have been in the 10th ward for the past 30 plus years.

Um first off, thank you, uh Chair Chavez and uh fellow council members for taking up this issue.

Um for those critics who question why Minneapolis would want to emulate San Francisco, um, I'll respond by saying Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Colorado Springs, Phoenix, Vegas, Seattle, Portland, Orlando, Miami, Columbus, Cleveland, Indianapolis, St.

Louis, um, all have gay bathhouses, even the Bible Belt is represented.

So this isn't just a blue state or a liberal issue.

Um for those critics who say why would Minneapolis bring up this issue now?

Don't we have bigger issues to address at this time?

Um, I'll respond by saying, if not now, then when.

Um by way of comparison, uh, when COVID was identified six years ago, um, hospitals were inundated, people died, rules were implemented, and within a year or two, we learned a lot about the coronavirus, those rules were relaxed.

Um, similarly, when HIV was originally discovered, hospitals were inundated, people died, rules were implemented, and bathhouses were closed.

Um, similarly, we've since learned a lot about the transmission of HIV.

There are antivirals, which can bring those infected to undetectable levels.

Um, there's uh highly effective pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylactic measures, um, but yet 38 years later, um, a queer space such as a bathhouse remains closed and illegal in Minneapolis.

Um, finally, um, for those critics who don't know about those advancements I just mentioned in HIV uh prevention, um, then I'll respond by saying what better place to learn than in those places.

Where uh queer people congregate, and more importantly, in a safe regulated.

Next up, we have um was it Ken or Jacob?

It's you, Jacob, yeah.

Yeah.

Well, hey, y'all.

Uh my name is Jacob Thomas.

Uh, you see in pronouns, I'm a resident of Ward 3.

Uh, and I'm also on the board of Governors of the Human Rights campaign, uh representing Minnesota at the national level.

Um, I'm also an eight-year Air Force veteran, and I've seen firsthand how discriminatory policies can harm people in their lives.

Uh, for more than half of my career on active duty, I had to serve under the discriminatory policy known as ONS Dotel.

And once it was finally and rightly repealed, I served this country for another four years as an open and out, proud gay man in the military.

Um, and it's a wonderful thing that I love that I was able to do.

Uh, half of that time though was not so fun, right?

Because we had discriminatory policies there uh in place that did should not have been there in the first place and should have been repealed long before I even made it on to the service.

Uh what we're seeing here is the exact same thing.

As you've heard, uh, today the bathhouse ban in Minneapolis is outdated, it does not serve public health, it does not serve the public good.

Uh, and it is discriminatory.

It is far time, far past time for this to be put into the dustbin of history like don't ask, don't tell was.

And I hope that this body will continue to show this state and this country why Minnesota is a true North Star of equality and acceptance and inclusion by advancing this and repealing this bathhouse ban.

Thank you.

Next up, Jack L.

and then Claire, and then I'll make the final warning as we have to get going on with business today.

Hello.

Uh my name is Jack.

I live in Ward 10.

Um, I moved to Minneapolis uh a little under two years ago for school from Missouri.

Um, and I I have heard people talk about one of the advantages of the bathhouses being that this would be.

You may proceed.

Okay, thank you.

Um being that this would be a this would be a uh a place for people from out of state to go.

Um I want to speak to that a little bit.

Uh growing up in Missouri, um, I was surrounded by a supportive community.

I I love where I grew up.

Um, and in many ways I had a lot of resources.

The thing that I didn't have, and the thing that is a big part of why I'm still here today and plan on living in Minneapolis for uh the foreseeable future, is that what I didn't have was consistency.

Um I wasn't when I was in my early 20s and and in college there.

I didn't have a place where I knew that there would be resources and people who were educated to explain uh explain how to be safe to me.

Um, and I had to figure that out for myself, and you know, sometimes get bad research, sometimes not have a good idea about what was a safe or dangerous situation, and um having having institutions like bathhouses uh is an important piece of that puzzle, especially for people who don't necessarily know where else to go.

Um thank you.

And the last person to stand up is Claire.

I'll keep this brief.

My name is Claire Kingstad.

I'm a resident of Ward 1.

I've been living in Minneapolis for 20 years.

I've been organizing on this issue with the Safer Sex Spaces Coalition for the last three years.

I want to thank everyone here and the body and staff and everyone here who has spoken about this issue.

This is a brave thing to do to speak out about something that has been deeply stigmatized and is a very uncomfortable conversation to be having in public.

Thank you all for treating this issue with the dignity that it deserves, giving it the attention and the space to discuss and listen to the facts from the community.

This is not easy.

I understand there's political capital at risk here.

So thank you.

I also want to thank each and every one of you who didn't speak out today who wrote in with public comment because not everyone has the ability to come here in person.

I took a risk here today.

This is not something that's easy for me to talk about, but it's deeply important to me personally, professionally, and as a community member.

I'm an out lesbian.

This has been an issue centered around gay men, but this applies to everyone, not just the LGBTQIA Plus community.

This is applies to everyone.

Thank you all for your time and I appreciate the work that the staff and everyone has done on this.

I don't have any questions.

Thank you.

Is there anyone else wishing to address the committee?

I'll give three warnings.

Warning one.

Warning two, warning three.

Seeing no one else wishing to speak, I will now close this hearing.

Now I'll move this item for approval and ask if there are any questions or discussions from committee members.

And I'll second that.

Council President Payton.

Uh thank you, Chair Travis.

I just wanted to make sure I gave thanks to you and your leadership and co-authoring this, uh, Councilmember Chowdhury who's joined us, uh, Councilmember Wansley, Councilmember Chuck Tye, and Vice Chair Stevenson.

Uh, but I especially want to thank uh Brandon Garcia for my office.

He's been working hand in hand with the Safer Sex Coalition that I want to give a really special shout out to.

This isn't coming from me, this isn't coming from the city council.

This is coming from your deep love and commitment for your community and advocating for yourselves.

And so um it's an honor to have my name attached to it, but I know that this is this is your work and we do this work together, and so I just wanted to say that.

Council Member Whiting.

Yes, uh, thank you, Chair Chavez.

Uh, and want to note here on the front end, and thank you to to all of our our residents, community members and advocates uh that came today, right?

Uh for me, I think it is this is not a space uh that I normally exist in, and so hearing from so many of you about your experience is absolutely helpful as we kind of think through uh how to navigate uh in these processes in this history, right?

It is really helpful uh to kind of hear the history of our our 2S LGBTQ IA community and the history uh within and those contexts uh related to the city of Minneapolis.

Uh and I kind of want to c walk through a little bit here um kind of how I've been engaging uh with this issue uh in community, right?

That ward 11 uh is is the ward I I get the honor uh to represent.

Uh Ward 11 is one of the least diverse uh uh wards in our city.

Uh is one of the the more affluent wards uh in our city.

And so uh you know, I had the pleasure over the last uh couple of weekends as I'm sure many of you know uh the end of school season, which means a lot of grad parties.

And so uh if not uh a note for for prospective uh uh elected, go to grad parties, you get to speak to a lot of a lot of community members.

And so over the past couple of weeks, uh beyond the the small talk, it it eventually ends up into um politics.

Uh one of those issues was was bathhouses.

And so I've had uh plenty of conversations with uh with my residents and constituents over the past um couple of couple of weekends.

And and the first thing that kind of comes up to to me is uh right confusion around uh I think this ordinances.

It's like, hey, what is this bathhouse thing that is coming up?

Right?

You hear it in the news, you see it in the newspapers.

Uh and and I think right, confusion isn't inherently a bad thing.

I think it allows for for conversation to happen.

Uh, and and the way I have been kind of uh navigating this issue has been particularly around trying to um uh impart my best on that confusion.

And as we've heard today, and I think this is is right, it's helpful to me to understand it kind of in a a logical manner.

These spaces already exist.

These spaces exist um uh underground and under under the radar.

Uh and so the way that I speak to kind of my residents that hey, if these places exist, if these issues um and and communities are uh in a place that that are underground uh that are under the radar, uh we as a body have a have a responsibility to ensure that we are doing uh the best to make these places that we've heard from all of you safe, uh license regulated for all the reasons that I think every single one of you um spoke about today.

Uh and that is where I I think you know where the this confusion then instead of remaining in confusion and starting to turn into to more uh a bigotry and discrimination, we get outside of that confusion and get into education.

Uh and so uh that is where I think, you know, I I have some uh questions, but uh again, just kind of wanted to to walk through where where I am kind of coming from in support of an ordinance like this.

Uh and then right, we had a I think it was is really helpful from an individual uh that today was like, hey, uh right, there's political capital at expense here, and and like we'll have your back when these things come up.

And and right, I think it's our job is to take the political heat.

That's why we're up here, that's why we get elected.

Um, but where I think uh you can have our backs is in those conversations where you can continue to educate, continue to to advocate and and make this uh something that right where you know if if I can have conversations with 50, 60 hundred of my residents that helpful.

Um but as you have those conversations with those that are confused, I think engage uh in those conversations, uh, because that is where we I think we start to to win hearts and minds, isn't necessarily in uh in antagonistic um fashion, but in in versions of education.

Um to that point, I do have a few questions here.

Uh I mean it maybe might make sense to to the authors particularly.

It sounds like I heard council member Stevenson note that this ordinance itself, along with it seems like the other ordinance coming out of uh of our biz committee, um, doesn't kind of open the gates for development.

Um just kind of had a question on that.

Like, where I guess are we in the process if this doesn't open up kind of the development for spaces as such.

I can take a first crack at it.

These are just technical amendments that would allow us to then in the future be able to work on the zoning and safety regulations, so where they are going to be in the city of Minneapolis, what regulations we have in place, what safety measures we're going to require.

So that is a part that we are committed to working with folks in this body and have committed to the mayor that we would work closely with his administration on the development of it.

Great.

Thank you, Chair Chavez.

I think that's really helpful as we think through the regulatory framework and the safeguards that uh as these spaces exist or and and when they are going to exist, ensuring that we have these uh uh protections in place.

Um right, I think, you know, with all of the housing code, business licensing, health code, et cetera.

Um it sounds like we are are looking into that and figuring that out, and this is kind of the first step in that process.

Um, other question kind of here, and this is more of just a curiosity question, uh, right.

I kind of did some as people were kind of noting that other cities had these, um, and right, it's my understanding in this in the state of Minnesota right now, though the cities that exist that have these kind of legal on our books are are St.

Paul, St.

Cloud, and Duluth, and then Duluth is the only one that where one exists at the moment, and then was looking at kind of like Chicago and others, and it looks like um Chicago from from my just quick Google search has one.

I guess my question, like it the hope then is for these spaces to exist outside of kind of the underground and under the radar spaces.

So for uh health reasons, for reasons that we all can kind of hear the arguments for.

Um, when cities in cities that do uh kind of move forward with with kind of the legalization of these adult spaces, do we see uh movement within the community to kind of embrace these spaces, or do they more so still stay kind of underground and under the radar?

Uh thank you, Councilman Whitey for the question.

I won't be able to speak for every municipality across the country that has these in place, but we do know that San Francisco has some robust uh protections in place, and what we do see this is not only like a human rights issue, but it has helped uh address some of the economic burdens that cities face when it comes to taxes, if that's your question.

Yeah, and I think right.

I think my my hope is is if we move forward with with the legalization of these spaces that that actually we do move forward with the legal legalization of these space and that these spaces will then exist where rather than just being like oh kind of a performatory, and not saying this is a performatory action, but actually allowing for these spaces to exist, that um instead of right with if Chicago only has one, and Duluth only has one in St.

Cloud and and uh St.

Paul.

Have these on the books, ensuring that that these are actually coming to fruition.

Uh, that is our goal, and I think Council President Payne will want to answer that too.

Yeah, and I think this even came up in one of the the comments is around we don't want this to be such a heavily regulated uh framework that it's too big of a barrier to open up a venue.

Uh that would kind of go against the goal of creating the safer space that is clean and safe.

Um, and so this was actually one of the topics that was brought up when we met with the mayor around his support for this is he didn't want to see this become something that was such a burden to the businesses that do want to open this type of venue, such a high expense to the businesses that want to open the venue that it ends up being a repeal on paper, but not in practice.

And so I think um to your previous question today's ordinance up is about setting the foundation so that we can do that deeper work around finding that right balance of keeping people safe, making sure that um it's a viable pathway for those businesses so that it um can come from underground and be in the light.

Uh, because if if if the license is too heavy, if the costs are too high, it will stay underground.

So that's exactly what we're trying to set the foundation to create the balance for.

Thank you, uh President Payne.

Yeah, I think that was kind of my concern, right?

It's like, hey, is it is it a repeal on paper, but then in in uh actual uh implementation, it just doesn't happen.

So uh thank you for that.

Uh again, I'm excited to support this here on this front, and it will be a bummer.

I will have to miss the actual final vote uh of this on the 26th.

But uh excited and thankful to the to the authors for bringing it forward.

Thank you.

Next up, Vice Chair Stevenson.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, I mostly just want to say thank you, thank you to the testifiers.

Thank you for coming out and speaking to this.

This was really beautiful.

We don't always get positivity and beauty and love uh in this chamber uh coming from us, coming to us all types of ways.

So thank you so much for this.

This was really incredible for me.

Um I want to thank the other co-authors, particularly um Chair uh Chavez for uh leading on this.

This has been a long work and a lot of work has gone into it again, uh, with Brandon again, a lot of work.

Um, I want to thank um my predecessor, uh former council member Andrea Jenkins uh for starting this work as well.

Um, and I want to thank her for being a pioneer in this field and being a pioneer in herself.

Uh and then I want to thank Ward 8, who when I was running, uh, Ward 8 was very clear with me on the doors.

I would knock on somebody's door and they say, Yeah, I like everything that you're saying.

Um, but are you gonna keep Andrea Jenkins' work of advancing uh trans equity going?

Uh and they said that is that will decide whether I would ever vote for you or not.

And so Ward 8 was extremely clear with me that if I didn't keep this work going and if I didn't be a part of this, that they wouldn't be a part of whatever I had going on.

So I want to thank um my people for for being clear for being beautiful people and for um fighting for the equity of trans people of the LGBTQ community in general.

Um, and thank you for being firm on good values.

Council Merbita.

Thank you, Chair Chavez.

First, I want to thank you, Chair Chavez.

You've been extremely kind with your time with my office and um working together on this, I know it's something that's extremely important to you, and certainly it's a mixed bag in Ward 4.

We've had people reach out on both sides of the issue, and I would say that we have a large LGBTQ community in Ward 4, especially in the victory neighborhood.

And my plan was um essentially to host some sort of a community meeting this summer to talk to Ward 4 residents about uh this issue and you know what's before us today.

Council member um Chavez and I kind of had a little argument this morning about this because these sorts of things that's happening today means more work.

What's happening today is language.

These are technical things that are happening, but the message that's getting out to community is that today is the day we're voting on bath houses, and that's not it.

And I I really am appreciating this being done in steps, but I think as a community, we have to make sure that the public understands the steps we're taking.

Because people get upset quickly about things, especially when they don't feel like they've had a voice.

So I am certainly learning a lot.

I will say, um, you know, I resent anything that uh makes it seems like if people do want to vote against this, that they are some somehow anti-LGBTQ.

It I don't think anyone's made their mind up on this.

But me personally, in the late 90s, early 2000s, I was certified through the Red Cross to be an HIV and AIDS instructor and get people tested and giving out condoms and getting people housing resources.

And I did that work through the black church.

That was hard work in the late 90s and the early 2000s to be in black churches talking about HIV and AIDS and getting people to disclose themselves and want to take the testing, want to go with you to the Red Cross and want to participate in events.

And so like I I don't want um it to feel like if I did, which we're not even at a place of voting or not, that I don't care about this community because I certainly do, always have and always will.

And so, you know, I think it's something that we can work together.

I'm here in my c work together on.

I hear my colleagues say they're having conversations with the mayor in advance.

And the last thing we need in this community as a whole in Minneapolis, we've shown the world our strength.

The last thing we need is something that divides us.

I really believe we can work on this together.

We're doing this in steps.

I love how Councilmember Chavez is leading this work, talking to staff, working with the different departments, getting different points of views.

You all can't see things on that side.

On this side, that's a lot, and that's very different than the way things have happened around here traditionally.

So I I appreciate the work that's going into it, but I do want us to make sure that we're taking community on this ride with us around the steps we're taking to get there.

And this is not a final step.

This is not meaning that a bathhouse is gonna open.

And and the last point I want to make is someone brought up the point about um, you know, there being maybe one bathhouse in Chicago.

Chicago is much bigger than Minneapolis.

I mean, as a straight woman, I've been to bathhouses, not during operation hours because you can't go in during the time it's operating as a straight woman.

But I've went in to visit them and I've went in to visit them all over the world: Australia, Spain, Amsterdam.

I've been to them.

I know what they look like, I've seen them.

And so what I think we have to really focus on too is like there's not gonna be a bathhouse on every block.

I think that is the narrative that is being created here that like you get a bathhouse, you get a bathhouse, you get a bathhouse, right?

Like everywhere.

Because that is the fear that's happening in my community too.

People are like, I want a bathhouse, but not on the corner where the school is, right?

So, like there's all these things we have to work through.

There may very well be one bathhouse and it might be in the North Loop and we don't know that, or it might be in uptown.

We don't know that.

We don't know where it's gonna be.

It might be next to uh the red door for all we know.

We don't know, but I think the fear is really that there's just gonna be this just bathhouses going up everywhere, right?

And we have not done the work of a community to say, hey, there may be, we don't even know if anyone's interested.

I don't know the scene right now, but I don't know if there's a scene for bath houses in Minneapolis, right?

Like that is gonna be um that big of a deal where somebody's gonna come in and invest in this big bath.

I don't know that.

We don't know that.

We what is happening here is someone's trying to create an opportunity for that, and I think we should be having open conversations no matter where we are on the issue, but also like we have to do a better job at uh making sure that fear doesn't keep on brewing because the longer it brews, the harder it becomes for us to do this work.

And and it really is people thinking bathhouses are and when we talk about economic engines and things like that, that really puts fear into people too because one bathhouse is not gonna be an economic engine.

When you say economic engine, people think like it's engine means a lot, a lot, a lot, like that their tax burden is somehow gonna be um relieved from all of these bathhouses coming in.

I'm just reflecting on what people have been saying to me.

And so I really do want us to come together and make sure we're having conversations and that it's not scaring people anymore, and that if that is the goal, that we can work as a community uh to ensure what the end goal is here really does happen with the mayor's support, of course.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Wantsley.

Yeah, thank you, Chair Chavez.

I also want to say thank you to everyone who showed up and testified today.

Um I am more than happy to support this ordinance, and I'm supporting it today, and I'll be supporting it next week when we vote um for it for final consideration.

And the reason why there's no hesitance on my end is because we are currently in a national climate where every single day, as you all reiterated that we have a homophobic, violent racist president in office that is rallying up and emboldening his fellow GOP fill in the blank, and their goals has been to write the existence, legally exclude the existence of LGBTQ plus and our trans residents and neighbors and loved ones and relatives.

Um, and it makes no sense in a climate where, in response to that, where Minnesota and Minneapolis stood ten toes down and say we will be a refuge for our queer relatives and neighbors, that we will continue having policies on the books that do not align with that same vision.

And if we do, then it's just symbolic in nature.

And we are leading folks to come here and experience a different reality than what they imagine and have it be much more in line with what they fled from.

And I don't think in this current time that we should be allowing fear to dictate our policy decisions.

And if it is a divided vote, I think that is a really good reflective period, too, of where are we actually at in our current city?

Um, if we truly are a place that embraced our queer communities, especially as we saw at the leadership of Councilmember Chavez and a number of my colleagues, we had a beautiful celebration last week here in City Hall, um, where we had uh ballroom dancing, we had drag, we had beautiful presentations that acknowledge the historical contributions to our community.

It would make no sense for us to be able to have such a beautiful celebration and then allow a policy to stay in place that does not align with that embrace of our communities, with that acknowledgement of our communities.

So for me, it is a non-brainer to support this policy.

This is should be a nothing burger in the landscape of other things that we need to be tackling, such as making sure that we're devoting more resources to address hate crimes that are still being directed at our queer communities.

The fact that many of our queer relatives and residents here are still facing heightened levels of housing insecurity and homelessness.

What are we doing about that?

Um, what all sorts of things of employment opportunities?

So no one has to be forced into the shadows to earn a livelihood to take care of themselves and their families.

Those are the things that we should be looking at too, as opposed to spending a lot of political energy debating bathhouses.

So for me, this is such a great opportunity to really have an easy layup um during prime month of all things.

Uh, to say that we're gonna stand with our communities and we're gonna put our policy where our mouths and our commitments are.

Um, if we can have a celebration here inside of City Hall, then we can pass policies that make sure our queer folks know that we don't we don't just appreciate you when you're dancing and singing in front of us.

We appreciate you when you leave this place, when you go to your your communities to have joy and experience love with each other, when you go to your places of worship, when you go to your places of employment and your housing, we're doing everything that we can to make sure that those places are stable and safe for you.

So I see this as a holistic approach.

Um, I look forward to hopefully sending this out of this committee with the full support of it, and ideally having full passage of this next Thursday.

Thank you all.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Councilmember Rainbow.

Thank you.

I want to echo the thanks for all the community to come down today.

It's it's not easy.

This is a very difficult time of the day to set yourself free.

And it's so good to see familiar faces here.

Uh, I still have a lot of questions on this, and I look forward to the conversations before I make my mind up.

I have gotten a lot of feedback from Ward 3 and a credible amount of feedback.

So uh none of the authors have approached me yet, and I hope that happens sooner than later.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um, I'll beyond, Councilman Rainville.

I just hope you can correct the record respectfully.

We have reached out to you multiple times.

We've met with your staff and we have talked about this ordinance.

And I just want to clear the record because that would be unfair to me as an author of this ordinance to not admit that we've met about this already.

I look forward to seeing with you directly.

Yes, I'm looking forward to meeting with you, but I just want to clarify we've met about this ordinance.

Our staff has, and I just don't want the public to think that we haven't reached out to every single council member because we have.

When it hopefully passes next week, uh, but it does allow us the time to build out a framework to get this right and to support our community.

Uh so I just hope that we can uh approve this today and full council next week.

And clerk, you may claw the role.

Councilmember Payne.

All right.

Wandsley, aye.

Rainville?

No.

Vita.

Aye.

Whiting.

Aye.

Vice Chair Stevenson.

Aye.

Chair Chavez.

Aye.

That is six ayes and one nay.

And that is move with approval to full council next week.

Uh colleagues, next and we're our next item is 3.1.

Uh item number three, which is the welcoming and affirming Minneapolis ordinance.

And I kind of want to get a pulse check, colleagues.

It feels like it's gonna be a longer day.

Um, and I want to make sure we know when the captions are here until we have them scheduled until 5 30.

Okay.

Our next, thank you.

Our next uh item is 3.1, which is the welcoming and affirming Minneapolis ordinance.

Uh, with our objection, I would like to make Council President Payne reflected as an author as he's been working on this with us as well.

And then we'll pull up the presentation and begin.

Uh colleagues, we're excited to introduce the welcoming and affirming Minneapolis ordinance with Councilmember Chucktai, Councilmember Chowdry, and Council President Payne.

It is important to talk about the importance of this work, because since taking office in January 2025, the Trump administration has pursued an aggressive campaign against 2S LGBTQIA rights, issuing executive orders, threatening federal funding, and implementing policies that target gender affirming and intersex care, restrict gender expression, and roll back decades of civil rights protection.

The ordinance we're speaking about today issues local protections for our neighbors at a time when the Trump administration is hoping to strip those protections.

It is important to talk about why we are doing this today.

Minneapolis has always led on the rights of our neighbors.

In 1974, Minneapolis was the first US city to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In 1975, the Minneapolis was the first city to ban discrimination based on gender identity.

We know that our community members are still under attack with a federal overreach, targeting our 2S LGBTQI plus people.

We know that government resources are being used to attempt to erase trans and non-binary people from public life.

And we also know that gender affirming care, intersex care, and civil protect civil rights protections are under attack by the federal administration.

We also know that Minneapolis is welcoming, and we're hoping to ensure that the city's commitment to being a welcoming city is not just TOC, but that we are doing so by enacting local protections.

Now we will get into the different components of this ordinance.

We added a strong purpose and policy statement into the code that we will read into the public record.

The city of Minneapolis declares that the rights to self-determination, bodily autonomy, and access to gender affirming and reproductive health care are fundamental human rights, that protecting the lives and rights of two spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual and other identities and experiences that fit with these communities collectively, to s LGBTQIA, is necessary for the city's public health, peace, and safety.

The city's civil rights ordinance banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in 1974.

And in 1975, the city amended its civil rights ordinance and became the first city in the U.S.

to ban discrimination based on gender identity.

In 2022, the city and in 2023, the state of Minnesota issued executive orders to protect and support the rights of Minnesota's 2S LGBTQIA plus community to safely seek and receive gender affirming health care services.

Our 2S LGBTQIA plus community members, both locally and nationally, continue to be negatively impacted by the proliferation of executive and legislative attacks that perpetuate a culture of discrimination, harassment, and barriers to equal opportunities for the community.

And studies suggest that 2S LGBTQIA plus people are overrepresented in Minnesota's unhoused population, and that 2S LGBTQIA plus people are overrepresentation increases to almost one quarter for youth experiencing homelessness.

And we really want to mention that in the purpose and policy statement because our neighbors here are disproportionately impacted by being homeless.

We talk about Minneapolis is home to people from diverse racial, ethnic, and gender identities and backgrounds, and a place of refuge for people coming from places that do not have the same policies and protections.

All residents and visitors, regardless of their gender identity, expression or medical history are valued and integral to our work or for social, cultural, and economic community.

The city is unwavering in its ongoing commitment to creating a welcoming and respectful atmosphere for everyone to be accepted, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

To further this commitment, the city values eco protection and equitable treatment for all residents and visitors.

The city rejects and condemns the strongest possible terms in the horrific and discriminatory efforts to use government to erase the identity of two S LGBTQIA plus people and drive them out of public life.

The city prioritizes using its limited resources to improve health and safety for its residents and visitors.

And that gender affirming care takes many forms, is evidence-based, and supported by peer-reviewed science and lived experience of transgender and gender-expansive people.

The city firmly rejects any attempts to weaponize government resources to disenfranchise or criminalize individuals for seeking or providing life-saving care that is legal in Minnesota.

Now we will go into the gender-affirming and intersex care component.

That are legal laws under the state of Minnesota.

The ordinance defines intersex care as all medical, surgical, counseling, or referral services, including telehealth services that an individual may receive related to natural differences or variations in sex characteristics or reproductive anatomy that are legal under the laws of Minnesota.

Now we will get into the gender affirming and intersex care components more deeply for the protections.

This ordinance will put into city code that the city is a safe haven for gender affirming and intersex care.

The city acknowledges that minors living interdependently may consent to their own gender affirming and intersex care or intersex care, that no city personnel may be used a person's age or parental status as a basis to cooperate with anyone seeking to prevent or punish legal health care, and that unless required by law, city employees, representatives, and contractors may not use city facilities, properties, monies, equipment, or city personnel to interfere with the ability of any person's ability to receive gender affirming or intersex care, to interfere with the ability for any person to advocate for another person's access to receive gender affirming care or for enforcing federal laws that prevents or limit gender-affirming or intersex care.

And that unless required by law, city personnel may not disclose any private data, medical information, or surveillance data included but not limited to traffic or security camera footage regarding a person's gender affirming or intersex care.

The city will also not enter into any agreements requiring it to share data or resources to interfere with enforcing bans upon or criminalizing gender affirming or intersex care.

And to the extent permitted by law, the city employees' health insurance plan must offer coverage for all eligible city employees and their dependents that includes gender-affirming care benefits, along with protections for intersex health care.

And the administration must ensure the city's employees' health plan offers coverage that addresses the health care needs of the intersex community, which I just mentioned.

Now we will go into some of the use of city funds, facilities, and data.

The city will not, with this ordinance will not accept or distribute grant funds that have any conditions that require the city to limit the rights of individuals based on gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation.

When constructing or remodeling a city owned building, the building must provide at least one American with disabilities accessible all-gender restroom on every floor with restrooms.

And when leasing a new city building, the building must do to the extent reasonably feasible, provide at least one ADA accessible gender, all gender uh restroom on every floor with restrooms.

For existing city-owned or leased buildings without all gender restrooms, the city must ensure that any gender-specific language on existing single use restroom be promptly replaced with gender neutral language and signage, and that no person may be denied access to a restroom or changing facility that accords with their gender identity in any facility owned or operated by the city.

And lastly, that the administration must create policies or procedures governing the city's collection of data from the public related from the public related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Now we will go into the outreach and engagement components, where the administration must report annually to the appropriate committee of the city council on its outreach and engagement efforts to the 2S LGBTQIA plus community, and that the report should include at a minimum a description of the administration's outreach and engagement efforts and any metrics on the effectiveness and results of those efforts.

And after that report is presented to the city council, the Commission on Civil Rights must review that annual report.

And if the city council creates an advisory board or body that focuses on the two S LGBTQIE plus community, that body must review the annual report after a report is presented to the city council and may provide the administration, the city council, and the public with feedback on the report and the administration's outreach and engagement efforts.

Now we will get into the last part, which is the complaints discipline and reporting that violations of the sections 145.20 and 145.30 of this chapter by employees are subject to disciplinary actions.

There's a requirement of summary data about the number and disposition of complaints that must be reported to the city council by June 30th and December 31st each year.

And if a complaint is filed alleging a violation of section 145.20 and 145.30 D, in the course of investigating the alleged violation, no complaint or witness may be compelled by the city investigating authority to provide their gender identity or sexual orientation.

The city must reserve all data related to complaints under the section for at least 12 months after the complaint is closed, and the administration must ensure there is a mechanism for the public to report alleged violations of this chapter by employees.

With that, colleagues, I will now open the public hearing, and the first person to speak is Stacey.

I hope that this is something that will be worked on.

It's the difference between easily seeing in a room with light on and not being able to see when the lights are off.

So thank you for the efforts to get that going.

I'm Stacy Gurion Sherman, an eight-year Ward 9 Corcoran resident.

I'm speaking in full support for both ordinances that formally enshrine.

Oh, sorry.

That formally enshrine Minneapolis is a welcoming city for two S LGBTQIA people.

I'm doing so as the mother of my wonderful queer and transgender offspring.

They are an educator in a school that is about one-third newcomer immigrants.

And this year alone, several domestic refugees joined them when their families moved from out of state to protect their transgender children.

I'm supporting these ordinances, thinking of the poem First They Came, about the political apathy from the failure to speak up against the Nazis.

You remember it.

They came for the socialists, they came for the trade union and the Jews until there was no one left to speak out.

Tens of thousands of queer people were left out of this poem.

They were violently rounded up, and many perished, and to this day, too often they are forgotten.

Trump sure has not forgotten.

We've seen the impact of the evisceration of diversity, equity, inclusion across the spectrum.

And the federal regime's 2026 U.S.

counterterrorism strategy targets quote those with radical pro-transgender ideologies.

Their reign of terror started with the immigrant community, and with ICE and DJS also ensnaring those in the black, brown, and indigenous communities, as well as protesters.

However, we did not remain silent.

We continue to gather, speak up, organize, and respond under the banner, we have your backs.

The city of Minneapolis is officially and proudly speaking up with these ordinance changes that have real teeth.

We're defying the history of staying silent.

Every city council member should support this and have the backs of our queer community.

Thank you.

Next up, number two will be RSL.

Then we'll have Susan, number three, and then we'll have Nell or Neil, number four.

Hi, good afternoon again, and thank you for your time today.

My name is Ariseli Casasola, I use she her pronouns, and I'm a proud resident of War 10.

I'm a teacher and volunteer advocate, and I moved to Minneapolis last year because I needed the protections that the state provides.

As a trans teacher in Texas, I faced almost daily harassment and threats to my job and life.

It was painful and difficult, and I knew that the rising anti-trans rhetoric in the second Trump administration, what the second Trump administration would mean for me.

So I joined several others in leaving for our safety.

And Minneapolis, I found more than a safe haven.

Famously, one of our community members gave her life this winter doing exactly that, defending others.

Still, queer people face challenges and equal opportunities to employment, housing, health care, and in the case of trans people like myself, their very existence across this country.

According to the Movement Advancement Project, an estimated 400,000 transgender people like me have already fled their states for safer ones like Minnesota in 2025.

Those are our teachers, our software engineers, our nurses, our baristas, our legislative assistants, tattoo artists, and our most politically active citizens fighting for a better Minneapolis.

By taking a small step to boyster our sexuality and gender identity protections, updating non-discrimination policies, you do more than show that you are listening to your most vulnerable residents or how you committed to justice you are.

You show that the city will fight for us too.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And next that we have Susan and one of the notes I would join, but Councilman Chattery.

I'm Commissioner Herder from the Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights.

I want to thank the city council for their work and also thank members Chuktai and Chavez for reaching out to the MCCR last month.

We were very pleased to hear your presentation, which included parts of what you went through today.

Our commission would like to provide you with the thoughtful response your proposal deserves.

My request is modest that you continue the conversation with the MCCR and give us time to respond by postponing your vote.

Some of our members have studied civil rights for many years and would like to collaborate with you so that you can craft the best possible proposal.

The MCCR only meets once a month.

I request that you give us a few more meetings to provide you with our feedback.

Thank you.

Next up, we have is it Nell or Neil?

Oh, sorry.

Hi, my name is Nell, and I am here on behalf of Tigers and all intersex children and adults who have been subject to non-consensual medical treatments from hormones to surgeries to align them more closely with what many people think is normal.

Intersex people often go unnoticed, even though intersex people are incredibly impacted by anti-trans laws and ordinances.

Maybe that's because intersex people are such a small part of the population.

Maybe it's because they don't fit easily into the narrative around gender-affirming care.

Intersex people are born with different um chromosomes, first or second sex characteristics or hormones than is typical.

Some intersex variations require medication and hormone replacement therapy.

Without any rights, access to these vital medications can be hard to get, and that lack of access that enforced medical neglect can even kill.

You wouldn't ask a diabetic to live without insulin.

You shouldn't ask an intersex person to live without HRT.

A halt is needed to non-consensual surgeries.

That is something all intersex people need for our protection.

However, this ordinance is a great fourth step, and I'm asking you to vote in favor of it.

Thank you.

Next up, number five, Ben Powers.

Number six, Cat.

Number seven, Chris, and then number nine, Hummingbird.

Hello.

My name is Ben Powers, and I am a therapist specializing in working with gender and sexual minorities.

I am here to speak on behalf of my many patients living in Minneapolis and to encourage the Minneapolis City Council to vote in favor of the welcoming city for all genders and sexualities ordinance and the rules of construction ordinances.

When Minneapolis and Minnesota pass protections for transgender and intersex people, I see the positive impacts of those changes in the mental health of my patients.

In order for medical and mental health care to be effective, patient information must be kept private, and gender care must be covered by insurance.

Gender care is medically necessary and life-saving for my patients.

This ordinance allows my patients who live in Minneapolis to continue living happy, healthy lives.

Intersex people are prevalent but frequently invisible in conversations of medical medical care and policy protections.

Thank you for seeing and including protections for intersex people in this ordinance.

I hope you continue to consider the health and rights of intersex people in similar policies moving forward.

In my mental health practice, most of my clients are transgender, intersex, or gender nonconforming.

They experience marginalization from multiple angles and frequently struggle to navigate bureaucracies, including interactions with local government.

While it might seem small to some outside communities, adopting inclusive gender-neutral language like those proposed in the rules of construction will make navigating local government interactions easier and less stressful.

Thank you for your time and happy pride.

Thank you.

Welcome to Kat.

Thank you.

Once again, my name is Kat Roan, the executive director of Outfront Minnesota, our state's largest LGBTQ advocacy organization.

I'm pleased to come here in support of this ordinance and the important work that's being done to continue to protect all of our two LGBTQIA plus residents here in Minneapolis and to send a message equally importantly to both Minnesotans and folks across this country that our communities are valued, that our communities are deserving of protection, that people in positions of power have our back.

In 2022, uh the mayor of this city passed an executive order protecting gender-affirming care.

In 2023, our state did the same.

This is an opportunity to codify much of that work into permanence here.

And that matters, not just because administrations change, mayors change, things change, but because it sends a lasting historical signal about where the city and its leadership were at a moment of importance to our communities.

Minneapolis was the first city in this country to protect LGBTQ people, all LGBTQ people from discrimination in 1974 and 1975, as the presentation noted to you.

That is 50 years of support for our communities that has made meaningful differences in people's lives and their ability to access housing, in their ability to work, in their ability to be seen as dignified members of this society.

Right now the threats are real.

We are getting subpoenas from other states, from the federal government, from folks who are attempting to attack and undermine critical and necessary care, and folks across our communities are worried about what is going to happen to me.

What will the federal government do next?

This is an opportunity to send a different message.

I hope you vote to support it.

Thank you.

Next up, we have Chris.

Then we have Hummingbird, and then Becca.

Perfect.

Hello, council members.

My name is Chris Weckert from Ward 1.

I've lived in Minneapolis for four years after seeking sanctuary here as a trans person fleeing the state of Iowa.

I am also here today from Tigers, similar to Nell, a local organization that provides resources and support to transgender, intersex, and gender-expansive Minnesotans.

Intersex people make up about one and a half to two percent of the population.

This is about the same percentage of people 85 or older, more common than trans people, more common than redheads, and more common than people with green eyes.

There are intersex individuals in this building right now.

Intersex people, besides a single ordinance in New York City have zero protections in the United States.

Many laws mention transgender people, but not intersex people.

These proposed changes will explicitly close that gap.

Minneapolis has the chance to meaningfully care for intersex people and put Minnesota on the map for intersex rights.

These ordinances recognize that intersex people deserve privacy, dignity, and access to medically appropriate care.

City resources should not be used to interfere with someone's health care.

It protects sensitive personal information.

It promotes practical accommodations such as all gender restrooms and access to facilities that align with a person's identity.

These protections are not radical, they are important safeguards.

These changes would benefit far more people than just transgender and intersex residents.

All gender restrooms are useful for parents assisting their children, caregivers, helping family members, people with disabilities who need assistance, and anyone who simply values their privacy.

Gender neutral language and policies make government services easier to navigate and access for everyone.

We have an opportunity to send an important message here.

Minneapolis is a city where people of all kinds are welcome.

We can tell residents, visitors, and those seeking refuge from discrimination elsewhere, such as me, that they belong here and that their rights matter.

Every advancement in civil rights creates a foundation for future progress.

Minneapolis has the opportunity to once again be a leader.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up we have Hummingbird and then Becca.

Hello again, um, council members.

Uh again, I am proud Ward 12 resident um here in Minneapolis.

I am Indigueer, and I'm here to speak in support of the ordinance.

I've lived here for over a decade now, but before that, I have always had big auntie energy, and I have brought many people to a much more welcoming space here in Minneapolis from the small town in an adjacent state where I grew up.

Um my queer and questioning friends have long looked to the protections that Minneapolis offers and the and the welcoming spirit of our city.

Um, I have seen the impact of how the queer community of this city keeps each other safe, and I applaud the city for taking on the onus of doing some of that work too.

I want to draw the attention of the council to something that this ordinance does exceptionally well, which is, as we've heard, protecting the rights of intersex people, and specifically enshrines protections for intersex health care.

This is a population that is too often left out of policy conversations, even ones that claim to be inclusive of the 2S LGBTQIA plus community.

Intersex people are sometimes mentioned in passing, but rarely named with this level of specificity and rarely given protections that speak directly to the healthcare needs that they have.

We have hospitals in the city who continue harmful, life-altering surgeries on intersex youth.

This focus on part of our community that often gets overlooked is a reflection of the council's work prioritizing the safety for the queer community, especially during Pride Month.

Thank you for taking up this responsibility, and I urge you all to vote in support of this ordinance.

Thanks, Becca, and then ABC.

Hi, Chair Chavez and members of the committee.

My name is Becca.

I use sheher pronouns, and I am a resident of Ward 11.

I'm with Transforming Families.

We are an organization that supports families with gender diverse and trans youth.

And I'm here to speak in support of the welcoming city ordinance.

We are definitely seeing that trans people and youth especially are being scapegoated nationally.

In our meetings and what we hear from families at Transforming Families is a great amount of fear and concern for their children and for our young people in Minneapolis who are trans or gender nonconforming.

We actually have a new program for families who are moving here from other states for fear of their children's safety.

And part of what is bringing people to Minneapolis is the awareness that we are a welcoming city, that people's children can live fully and be kids and be safe here.

And putting this into policy and the power in language is really important in this moment, especially.

There is a lot of concern from families that are moving here from places where even just seeking out any sort of care for their child or their care being their children being documented in any sort of way as trans or gender nonconforming is a terrifying ordeal because that data is not safe and people are concerned for just their privacy and safety and be having their children taken from them.

And so having that in language, the safety and privacy around data is really important.

This is an opportunity for City Hall to lead the way for other jurisdictions in Minneapolis to show what it looks like to lead.

And we have done that over the past few months with the uh Operation Metro Surge, and that is this is a continuation of that work of welcoming and protecting our neighbors.

Thanks.

Thank you.

And lastly, we have AB.

Hello, y'all.

Um I wasn't planning on speaking on this one, so bear with me.

Um, but uh as um as uh someone who was frankly one of probably maybe generation 1.5 of like trans children who were allowed to receive medical intervention as youth.

Um I I started uh receiving that sort of care at about 13 years of age.

Um and when I did it, uh gosh, it was uh I remember as this little tiny doctor's office.

There was this is not a thing in major hospitals yet.

And I am so sad seeing hospitals like children stopping from covering this stuff.

And you know, again, you shouldn't have to go to the weird little doctor in the weird little room and then go through weird hidden pharmacy so people don't do this, which was my experience.

And uh if we could make it so there's language specifically, like getting as specific as possible about this, because they will try and reframe this as psychological care and whatever.

We need to be specific.

Also, again, the cons intersex consent to uh surgery and care.

The problem is that again, as someone mentioned earlier, a lot of this is done to children who are far too young to uh say anything on their own behalf, and again, it has permanent, sometimes incredibly negative effects on people's lives.

Uh so if that could be worked in in some fashion, uh, that would be great, and I would appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, you uh three.

Not a minute warning, but three tries before I close the public hearing.

Anybody else wishing to speak?

Once, twice, three times.

No one seeing no one wish to speak.

I will now close this public hearing, and I'll see if any of my colleagues have any questions, but I will just move this item for approval and proud of the work uh that we have been able to do along with councilmember Chowdhury, Councilmember Chucktai, uh on this ordinance and really proud of the work that the community has been able to do from the years and decades of advocacy uh to demand that we should continue to become a city that is welcoming to our community, that we continue to acknowledge uh the rights of our trans and uh our community members in in this city, and also just um hoping that we can pass this today and move to full council.

Second, uh Council President Payne.

Uh thank you, Chair Chavez.

I'm very proud to support uh this ordinance today.

And I just I it there's something really joyous about doing real policy work that's responsive to the community, especially during pride.

I it it feels really good, and it's remarkably sad that this is the conditions that we're doing this policy work under.

Um I have had the pleasure of meeting so many new people who've chosen Minnesota as their home, and I'm very proud that we have so many people that I get to welcome as new neighbors.

And you know, one of the biggest leaders in my ward during Metro Surge was a trans refuge woman uh and a combat veteran who did a lot of training for my community and was just out there every single day.

Um and at the same time during Metro Surge, one of my constituents was caught up in one of the hotels as she was fleeing with her family to Canada because her trans child she just she couldn't bear staying, right?

So it's just really urgent.

There's no time to wait on this.

Like uh the attacks that are happening on this community are happening right now.

Um I'm glad that we can codify this in our official record on where we stand as a government, but that still doesn't prevent the federal government from blocking Medicaid dollars and preventing hospitals that want to deliver gender affirming care from withdrawing that out of fear for the like financial solvency of their institution, right?

Though those attacks are happening whether or not we pass these protections in local government, um, but it is so so important that we say so firmly that this is a welcoming city, and we're not having any of that, and we're gonna fight it in every way.

So uh I'm I'm happy to support this today.

Councilmember, Vita.

Thank you, Chair Chavez.

I certainly support the work you're doing, but um someone came today to speak and say they wanted to talk to you about maybe extending the time to work with the committee, and so just wondering um if there's an opportunity to address that at least between now and next week, or like how what can we do?

Yeah, so my office is open to meeting with anybody before Thursday next week to hear some of the concerns that were um mentioned today.

I will say that we initially went to the civil rights commission because this ordinance was gonna have a specific component requiring the Civil Rights Commission to review and give recommendations on the report, and instead, we just the only thing we went to the Civil Rights Commission was to actually talk about the part that is required for the Civil Rights Commission, which is to give a report on the engagement efforts from the administration.

So that is the only part that is relevant to the civil rights commission, which is to give a report on the mayor's administration's engagement efforts to the to us LGBTQIA plus community.

But we're happy to meet with individuals over the civil rights commission.

I know that it doesn't speak for everybody in the civil rights commission.

I know there was folks calling yesterday, nervous that the civil rights commission was going to oppose this ordinance, which I don't think is the case.

I don't feel like it's being opposed.

What I heard was um dialogue is needed, and there were uh some issues that maybe were brought up, and it doesn't sound like a mean tone or anything, it's just like the the idea of working together on something.

So I would love I I certainly support the work that you're doing here.

I I really would just like an opportunity, and I'm happy to reach out too and figure out what um, you know, what language or what ideas folks have, and um we do have time for amendments or whatever.

I'm not even sure what's happening, but just wanna make sure that the doors open to conversations between now and the final vote in the next week or so.

For sure.

Yep, happy to have those conversations as well.

I think one of my concerns in the conversation was it felt like some of the comments were that it was too focused on the LGBTQ plus community on this ordinance, which that's what it's for.

Okay.

So I I just want to make clear that, like, I will I'm happy to meet with anybody happy to meet with the concerns, but I'm not gonna remove the components that protects LGBTQ plus people, and that's for folks in the Civil Rights Commission.

So if they want to do that, I just can't support that.

Thank you.

Um anybody else?

All right, um, that uh the clerk may cut roll.

Councilmember Payne.

Aye.

Wandsley is absent.

Rainville is absent.

Vita.

Aye.

Whiting?

Hi.

Vice Chair Stevenson.

Aye.

Chair Chavez.

Hi.

That is five eyes.

All right.

And then we'll have to try to go through things more.

Sorry.

Uh, with that that it passes the next ordinance is the recognizing all genders ordinance.

I'm gonna try to go through things more quickly because it feels like we're running out of time.

Um, so I'll be fairly quick.

Uh, this one is a recognizing all gender ordinance authored by myself, Councilmember Chadbury and Council Member Chugtai, uh, which basically does a few things.

Um, it makes sure that all genders in our city code are legally recognized.

Uh, for example, uh right now, if you go on to the next page, uh we're striking masculine, feminine, or neuter in our code of ordinances, and basically saying that anytime any gender is reflected in our city code that all genders are reflected.

Our ordinances right now, we have to go through many of them.

It's mostly uh he him oriented, and we want to make sure that legally everybody um is respected in our city code of ordinances.

Um obviously, there's still gonna be a lot more work that we have to do in the future to revise our ordinances, but we just want to make sure that at least legally speaking, all genders are now going to be reflected uh whenever you see gendered language in our city code of ordinances.

And that's what this ordinance is, and it matters because our community matters and our neighbors' diversity matters, then they should be represented in city government.

So with that, I will now open uh the public hearing.

And we have this okay, so hi Kat.

Welcome.

Hello again, Kat Roan, Outfront Minnesota Executive Director.

Thank you for bringing this ordinance forward.

I think, you know, there's a lot of questions that come up when we talk about the language that lives throughout City Code because that has the implications on work across the city.

And I think a really good physical, tangible example of why this is really important work is, you know, if you start searching through municipal code here, there's a lot of references to a chief financial officer in the city of Minneapolis, but it only refers to that person as a him.

Your chief financial officer, I don't believe uses he him pronouns.

Um, and I think it's really important to recognize that a lot of these things were built at a time when there were assumptions about who would be sitting in seats of power.

Cities across the country, including here in Minnesota have language that's in here not out of ill intention, but just because it reflected the conversations in the community at that time.

We're in a different moment, we're in a different time.

We're in a different space where people of all genders are stepping into positions of leadership in community, including here within the city.

And making these changes not only reflects that reality of who is serving in the city, but it reflects who is living in the city.

And it's about making sure that the language is consistent so that we don't have to ask when a piece of ordinance comes up that feels inconsistent.

Does this really include our community?

Does this really include our families?

Does this really cover the people that it's intended to cover?

I don't believe that there is any malicious intent in the language that exists today, but I believe that there is a great opportunity to update language for the realities of today's Minneapolis.

This is a simple, easy fix.

It is a complex one in terms of scope because it touches so many areas of policy, but the actual impact is very simple.

It's just updating language to reflect who we are.

So I hope you can support it.

Thanks for the time.

Thank you.

So I'll give a one warning, two warnings, three warnings to see if anybody else wants to testify, given that nobody else wants to testify.

I will now close this public hearing and see if my colleagues have any questions.

All right.

Council Member Savas, I'll be very quick.

Um, very excited to see this work is uh specifically as it relates to uh I think gender-conforming language uh within uh our codes and across kind of our communication.

Uh it's been a broader uh uh legal effort uh across the legal field right now.

It's actually just an efficiency thing as well, instead of saying he his um uh her, etc.

Just kind of having they them uh broadly speaks, uh kind of where the the legal community has been moving.

So I appreciate um your work on this and then the author's work to move this forward.

Thank you.

Thank you, and I'll pass it to one of the authors.

Council member Chowdry.

Thank you, Chair Chavez.

I just I wanted to wait until all the ordinances were done um before speaking because I know you had a lot of business to do.

I just um wanted to give a statement of great gratitude and thanks to our 2S LGBTQIA community, um, not only for all of the input and collaboration on this pride and policy package, but just for the steadfast advocacy, community, welcomingness that you've given to this city and our communities to just build solidarity across race, class, gender, sexual orientation.

I think that's a big part of what pride is about.

And so deeply appreciate it.

Um, thank you to Outfrat Minnesota.

Thank you to every person who came to the community meeting that we did on the all gender welcoming ordinance at Queer Meaning D.

That was very valuable.

I want to give a special thank you to Tigers and Lee from Tigers as well.

Um I have learned so much about the intersex community over the last three years, and it's just been a wonderful and beautiful experience to especially meet a lot of the intersex youth in our city and see them so happy to have safe spaces.

And one of the things that they've always asked of me is how do how do we actually live up to building out what a trans refuge state looks like?

A welcoming city.

So thank you so much again.

All right, on the motion to approve this item, the clerk may call the roll.

Councilmember.

Aye.

Vita.

Hi.

Whiting.

Hi.

Vice Chair Stevenson.

Aye.

And Chair Chavez.

Aye.

That is five eyes.

And that moves.

Now I'm gonna start going quicker on the rest of the agenda because it's getting a little behind.

We're gonna take up item number 25, 26, and 27 together.

Um and I'll quickly brief my colleagues on it.

Item number 25 is an item directing the city clerk in collaboration with the city attorney's office to formate a plan and recommendation to update the Memphis Code of Ordinances to whenever possible remove gender specific references in the code.

Item 26 is a resolution calling on the state legislature to amend Minnesota statutes to explicitly authorize municipalities to enact building standards to provide equal access to restroom facilities in places of public accommodation or gender, regardless of gender identity.

And item 27 is a legislative directive regarding gender neutral restroom access incentivization efforts and opportunities from asking an update on this from the mayor's administration that myself, Councilmember Chuck Tiny, Councilman Chowdry are authoring.

Happy to have answer any questions that folks might have.

Otherwise, I'll move these for approval.

If I can get a second second, all right.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say nay.

Any abstentions?

Okay, and then we'll move quickly on to the next items that I will just want to move forward with approval.

If folks have questions or discussions, we can have it, but item 28 is regarding a contract amendment with sound thinking the gunshot location system.

Uh we know that this was initially brought as a three-year contract, and some of us on the council requested a one-year contract instead, so we can get the study from the auditor that's coming this August.

Uh Church House, I'd like to move 28 uh without approval if there's a second for that.

Can we have that conversation separately?

Like I just want to be able to move this forward with the recommendation today and have a conversation about that later.

Um, I'd like to actually forward to move it without approval or without recommendation.

Consumer Vita.

Yeah, I I mean I don't know why we would be doing that when we had a conversation about um having a one-year contract as an approval, so to move it forward without recommendation.

I'm I'm not understanding what's the purpose of that when staff um actually did what we asked and now they're back with the contract for one year.

So I already had made a motion to move it with our recommendation.

Second, all right, council member Whiting.

Um, oops.

Thank you, Chair Chavez.

Uh just a quick note here looking at the the rca um wanted to be sure i was reading this correctly i'm seeing the kind of the strike throughs from the previous rca um uh where we were kind of amending it to the one year extension um it looks like based on the um fiscal kind of updates from from the budgetary perspective I am noticing that there's still a uh reference to uh a request for a three year extension I don't know if that is required or if we are doing it for just I'm assuming just for for this one year extension.

I said I want the what uh chair and council member what we have in front of you right now is the one year contract um extension along with the expansion side of things okay perfect and I think if my assumption then is it probably just needs to be updated to to note uh it still says three year extension um on the last page right before enterprise review if you go up look through the kind of strike throughs right there you'll see March 21 2027 but then the preceding language says are requesting a three year extension through March 21 2027 that can be excuse me that can be easily corrected yeah it's for one year cool perfect thank you for clarifying appreciate it um and then just maybe a question for uh uh chair chavez here there is the the I think the right I'm still kind of confused on the process there was an audit kind of going on about this this technology what what where is that in the ethos of of what's happening?

Yeah so there's an audit through the auditor that is gonna have this audit ready regarding many other stuff but on top of believe shot spotter that's coming we'll have information on that in August so yeah that's all I know okay and then uh so then also maybe a question um it sounds like they're I'm trying to remember from back uh when this first came up in front of us that there has been an agreement kind of made or at least they're holding on to this contract until that audit exists they're kind of just like was there an agreement that it sounds like that we are off the books with this at the moment um and then this would just be updating it through March of next year but not necessarily until that the uh more in-depth audit chair council member that is correct right now shot spotter is working with us so that way we don't have a loss of service while we work through the process with you okay and then is that I guess the the working with with mpd on this is that uh there's like an understanding of through when this will kind of I guess is there a date in which the shop spotter is is working with MPD on this before they need like an an absolute kind of uh extension to the contract.

We're at that um chair council member we're at that point already they've extended quite a bit I don't think we can ask any more from them okay that's helpful to know thank you yes councilmember of Utah thank you Chair Chavez council member whiting they this is a contract that ended already they've extended it for us over this period of time so that we did not lose the coverage what they bought before us the last time was a contract not only um for three years for the coverage we have but also to extend the coverage area some council members ask for them to go back and give us a one year to wait on this audit report that we're gonna get in August shot spotter has always been um challenging for some council members and so it it seems that they want an audit of the the actual technology to see the value or not or whatever.

So we'll get the report back and I think folks want to be able to make a decision after the audit report comes back on shot spotSpotter.

And I think the goal would be if it's useful, we'll vote for it for the extension of the proposed contract for three years.

I don't know uh a world without it.

So I hope that if if it is gonna change, people have um other uh things to bring to the table instead of shot spotter but but for now it is to cover for this year, and they they've been more than gracious in giving us a lot of time on this contract right now.

Perfect.

Thank you, Councilmember Vita.

All right, seeing no one else on queue, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Those opposed say nay.

No abstentions.

Okay.

Thank you.

Next up, we have item number 29, a contract with emergency management services internal international for after action services.

And colleagues, I wonder if you all read the RCA and are ready to just move it forward, or if you need this presentation quickly.

I put it on discussion.

Can I just say it quickly?

Huh?

I put it on discussion.

I just say it.

Yeah.

So I put this on discussion in the agenda setting because I thought other council members would want to know that this there was not funding as far as I understand for an after-action review.

I particularly thought Councilmember Rainville would want to know that.

Uh so I'll have to tell him tomorrow about this.

But we can just move this on without discussing it.

But I just thought that council members would want to know that currently there is not an after action review happening, to my understanding, because there's not money for it.

Would anybody like to make any other comments?

All right.

So you know for discussion, I'll make a motion to approve this item.

And on that motion, all those in favor say aye.

Those opposed say nay.

Abstentions?

Alright, thank you.

And then the next item is number 30, which is the youth coordinating board executive director, and to begin their presentation.

And want to talk about item number.

I'm trying to see in the meantime if item number 32, our CPET staff if they can communicate with our clerks in my office if they're willing to delay this cycle just because of the timeline.

But we'll begin with you, Director.

We have a PowerPoint.

I don't know if somebody can help me bring that up.

I have a flash dive if you need that.

Great, thank you.

Well, hi everybody.

I know you've had a long afternoon, and I appreciate you waiting for us.

I'm here with two of my colleagues.

I'll introduce them in a minute.

But as you know, I'm Anna Grid, I'm executive director of the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board.

Um, just to let you know, we've been around for 40 years, and we work together with the county, the parks, the schools, and the city on behalf of our children and young people.

And before I say too much, I want to show you a little snapchot snapshot of our children and young people in Minneapolis.

Twenty percent of the residents of Minneapolis are under the age of 18.

About a third of those are little little kids.

Uh they all have parents.

So when we're talking about kids, they're connected to parents.

So we're talking about young people, children, and their families.

So it's a big group of people, our constituents, because we consider their parents also to be our constituents.

We recently completed a theory of change.

And I'd like to thank Councilmember Chavez, Councilmember Whiting, who are both on our board of directors.

Councilmember Whiting is our current board chair.

And they've seen our whole theory of change, which I could go through with you, but we would be here about an hour just looking at that.

So we're not gonna do that.

Um, but I just want you to know that our headline or our theory of change is that if the YCB aligns powerful institutions, equips influential adults like you, elevates youth power, and drives decisions with shared data, then system-wide practices change, resources flow to what works, and youth outcomes improve equitably.

So that is what we are after at the youth coordinating board.

That is what we are, that is our main thing we are working on, all those things to happen.

We operate with several core assumptions, and I want to highlight three things in this uh to you.

One is that we work collectively, so or collaboratively.

We work with our other jurisdictions, and we work to help them achieve their goals for children and young people.

And we work primarily with adults who work with children and young people to help them to achieve their goals.

We also work on prevention.

A lot of times in government, we work to solve problems that are already happening.

We work on the prevention end of things that we think is very important.

And it is something that we have seen tremendous results with.

But the most important thing I want to highlight today, because I'm going to bring up some of my colleagues to talk about this, is that it is extremely important for us to make sure our children and young people are centered in decision making.

We listen to what they have to tell us.

They have a tremendous amount to say, and we understand that what they have to say, their perspectives, are critical to the decisions that we make.

The Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board created something called the Minneapolis Youth Congress.

And the Minneapolis Youth Congress actually was created by an adult youth partnership.

Our young people were out talking to other young people, talking to other adults, and they came back and worked with our board and decided we needed a place, a formal place for young people to work with adults to make sure youth perspectives were represented in our work.

And the vision, as you can see, is that the Minneapolis Youth Congress is a representative body of youth that has authentic power and influence and decisions and policies relevant to youth and that works in collaboration with the elected officials, focusing on a common understanding of the welfare of the youth in Minneapolis.

Their motto is no decision about us without us, and we take it very, very seriously.

The youth congress is a group of young people, grades eight through 12.

We pay them, we feed them, they're hungry when they come to us, we transport them, we train them, and we make sure that they have adults who work with them who know how to work with young people.

They divide into five committees.

They meet four times a month on Thursday nights over at the library, and they've met there ever since 2007, and they work very hard in a couple of different ways.

One is sometimes adults working on projects in our different jurisdictions come to them and say, We're working on this.

Can you help us think through what you your ideas are about this?

And sometimes they work more on a regular basis on topics, but sometimes they have ideas about things and they work on topics themselves.

For example, they worked on for two years.

That was their project.

They also did a project on sex trafficking a number of years ago.

They worked on tobacco with Councilmember Vita when she was at North Point.

So they've done a lot of projects on their own as well.

But this is this they are invaluable to us.

A number of years ago, we did a youth master plan, and they worked on it with us.

They did 13.

They did 13 ward meetings with council members, and they came back to us and we revised the master plan because they found things we did not see, because from their perspective, there were things that we missed.

So we are grateful to them and happy to have them.

So today I'm really happy to introduce you to two of our youth council coordinators who could be with us.

Mark Woods, who is a long-term youth council coordinator, and Selima Lee, who is an alum of the youth congress and is now one of our coordinators.

So I'd like them to ask them come forward, they're gonna introduce themselves to you and tell you a little bit.

I've asked them to talk a little bit too about what they know young people are saying, what kinds of things that they want you to have on their radar.

Okay.

Love that.

So thank you, Councilmember Chavez and members of the committee for asking us to be here.

Yes.

Welcome.

Thank you, Chair Chavez and the committee.

Um, as Ann stated, uh my name is Mark Woods.

I am our senior youth development specialist as well as our health committee coordinator.

Um I've worked with several different outlets of our organization, uh, such as outreach, um, and over a decade with our youth congress.

Today we will be doing our elevator speeches, which is common practice for our young people, as well as going through youth experiences, um items on the agenda that young people have thought were important that decision makers like yourself should know about.

Following with what recommendations or partnerships engagement that we could uh propose to city council as well.

So at this time, I will pass it off to Salem to start our elevator speeches.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Salim Ali.

I am 19 years old, and I have been a part of Minneapolis Youth Congress for three years, and I'm currently a student at the University of Minnesota.

Three things I'm passionate about are the environment, transportation, and third spaces.

And one thing that I bring to the table that adults don't is being a sponge for other people's perspectives and opinions.

Again, Mark Woods, our youth development specialist, uh, as well as health committee coordinator.

Three things I'm passionate about are setting young people up for success, not failure.

Culture, as well as education.

One thing I bring to the table that our youth may not is over 20 years of experience.

Um at this time, again, uh Salim will be giving some examples of his experiences with youth congress as he is representing our entire student body, as well as some of the lessons or outcomes that he has firsthand been able to experience due to such.

Hello and thank you guys for having us.

Um, I've been a part of Minneapolis Youth Congress since I was 16 years old, and it has helped me grow both personally and professionally.

It has helped me grow within some skills like facilitating public speaking.

And today I'm gonna talk about some moments and experiences that have been highlights for me through these past three years.

The first thing that I'll mention is the Community and Connections Conference in 2024.

Myself and other youth, a part of MYC, were able to facilitate conversations between city stakeholders.

And while this was nerf-wracking for myself, through support and practice, I was able to go up there and lead a conversation.

I led a conversation with many community leaders, including Chairman Chavez, and it was very fulfilling for myself because I was able to feel like I was a part of the table while leading the conversation and hearing all of the important people's opinions and perspectives.

The next issue that the next uh memorable moment for myself was the Minnesota Research Justice Center's event.

Uh reimagining justice conference, which I was able to attend because of Minneapolis Youth Congress.

At this event.

I heard many community leaders speak about their experiences through this power of storytelling, and I felt very emotionally attached.

And like I just had this strong emotional reaction because of their storytelling, and what that did for me was it helped me understand their perspective and bridge the gap of understanding.

The last experience that I'll talk about is during additional meeting for MYC, where I was able to get some additional training for being able to facilitate.

At this meeting, I watched a disagreement between two members about whether societal uh standards are agreed upon or not.

At this meeting, I was able to watch them clash and their opinions clash while they were still able to hold a civil conversation.

And for me, this was very impactful because I learned that while people may disagree, they still are able to come together and be respectful of each other.

Through these moments and many others, I've been able to grow as a person, and I hope that many youth after myself are able to have similar and you experiences in Minneapolis Youth Congress.

Thank you.

So I just want to say thank you again to Chair Chavez as well as the rest of the committee for allowing this opportunity, as this is an example of real time where our young people get to experience things that most will never be able to do or do not even know about.

Safety is bigger than physical safety.

Youth want to feel safe in neighborhoods, schools, parks, and public spaces.

Concerns about violence, bullying, harassment, and unpredictable environments.

Feeling unsafe limits their participation in community life.

Right now we are uh partnering with the park board and holding a third-party space at North Commons, in which some of the feedback is I can't go there.

And so making sure that we again are opening the door for multiple, not just uh at individual parks has been a concern that young people are wanting to participate, but not feeling like us as a society have created the environment where they feel comfortable joining.

This also goes with emotional safety.

Youth need spaces where they can express themselves without fear of judgment, fear of being misunderstood, dismissed, or labeled.

I think being present today has uh been a display of that not being addressed and also trickling to our adult um community as well.

Many young people report feeling isolated despite being constantly connected online or even within their school spaces uh where there are several people around them, but again, still feeling isolated.

My key point is safety is not just the absence of danger, as well as safety is the presence of trust, belonging, and support.

The need for the third safe spaces, the third party spaces.

The definition of first space being home, we have learned that not all young people feel safe at home.

We have students who are HHM, often sharing spaces with siblings, other relatives, not having a space of their own to really decompress or process their day.

Our second space being work or school.

Whereas third party spaces again allow them to just exist as well as belong.

The youth feedback is the desire for spaces that are not heavily structured, places where they can gather without being viewed as a problem.

Again, I think the stigma of young people is that if they are not doing something proactive, they are doing something negative.

I think that that I want to be careful with my words.

That demonization of young people is something that they hold personal.

Opportunities to build friendships and community naturally.

Now, though they have friends at school, we place students in school based on their age, as well as their area of residence, and so to be able to connect with young people throughout the city.

Is an example of being able to have those students come from all demographics as well as eighth through twelfth grade, giving different perspectives and narratives, helping them be a more rounded individual as they develop.

Again, my key point, youth need spaces where they are welcomed, not merely tolerated.

Guidance from trusted adults.

Youth are saying they need adults that they can trust.

They want guidance, not control.

This generation does not respect positional power.

They feel that that is kind of a dictatorship instead of an active engagement and part of leadership, which is why we at Youth Congress make sure that we actively engage our youth.

We do projects with them.

Again, having Salim with at this point, putting the ball in his court, and again being able to practice the skill set, but also having us be able to model.

They want adults who listen before advising.

The challenge being many adults assume young people have a support system or access to trusted mentorship, being consistent.

There are oftentimes young people have these things, but again, consistency based on our societal need for our economy, job work, being busy takes away from young people, whereas young people are left to essentially raise themselves or develop on their own.

My observation of lack of authentic connection.

Youth are surrounded by communication, but often experience limited connection.

Relationships can feel transactional or superficial.

Many young people struggle struggle to find meaningful relationships.

Human connection is not a luxury, it is a developmental necessity.

I believe the underlying issue is implied understanding without depth.

My observation is adults often believe they understand youth because they were once young.

Youth often believe adults cannot understand because times have changed.

The result is assumptions replace conversations.

Decisions are made without direct understanding.

I think you guys have done a great job of modeling that today, questioning and challenging each other and even tabling things to make sure that you are doing your proper research.

The key point is understanding requires ongoing engagement, not past experience.

The issues youth identified all point towards one common need: genuine human connection and meaningful engagement.

Which brings us to the uh final question, which is how can city council engage and work with youth?

The answer is engage.

Not occasionally, not symbolically, consistently and authentically.

I think uh Salim being able to remember a moment with uh Chair Chavez is a direct example of this, as well as I want to give credit to uh Councilman Whiting, who actually participated in this past year's oath of office as our young people are sworn in as official members within the youth congress, create opportunities for conversation, suggestions, our regular youth listening sessions, community forums designed for youth participation, informed opportunities to interact with decision makers.

In the past, we have done things such as the Youth Chief Summit, where we ask our police officers in chief to drop their privilege and show up to answer community questions and build rapport with young people on a human level instead of the positional power level and authority of being officers.

Due to our climate, that has not happened in quite some time, but I I look for things like that to be brought back so again that we can repair as well as have those conversations with our young people and rebuild trust in government as well as process.

Engagement should not begin after decisions are made.

Engagement should help shape the decision.

Investing in mentorship, why does this matter?

Youth do not know what they don't know.

Exposure creates opportunity, relationships create growth.

KRS 1, the legendary hip hop uh artist stated that young people who spend time around older people tend to advance faster amongst their peers or younger people.

Whereas older people who spend time around younger people tend to advance faster amongst their peers of older people.

I believe I am a testament of that as I often am able to translate uh things that our older generation does not know.

Uh young people change their language almost on a daily.

If we think of things like AAVE, you might say one word and it means an entirely different thing to the young people.

If we get into the technicality, even legalese, how something is written versus how it is upheld, these type of things matter, especially when we place the expectation on young people to understand while also contributing.

In application, both generations benefit.

Mentorship is not a one-way exchange, it is mutual learning.

Again, I have learned so much from the young people I service, and I hope and have gotten my flowers that that is also reciprocated.

Being authentic and transparent.

Young people recognize when information is filtered or oversimplified.

They already encounter complex realities through school, social media, and everyday life.

Being at the center of Minneapolis, the ice raids that hit Roosevelt and other things within our community, I think young people almost feel uh, again, for lack of better terms, like we're playing in their face when we try to shelter them from things that they are already exposed to.

And so making sure that we are transparent and actually explaining things and opening dialogue for tough conversations, giving the them the ability to prepare as well as respond with action.

Our requests are again speak honestly, explain decisions openly, and invite questions.

Transparency builds trust, trust creates participation, influence before expecting impact.

Alan Watts once said that the first responsibility of an educator is to gain influence.

And we are competing against so much these days.

As my time as a uh teacher, I asked my students how come sometimes they don't listen to me even when they trust me and have shown that my tutelage, real time, is being honest.

And they said, we don't know.

I asked if Anthony Edwards came in here and said the exact same thing.

Would you listen to him or would you listen to me, even though you see me every day?

Their answer was Anthony Edwards, of course.

Influence comes comes through relationship.

People learn from those they trust.

Youth are more likely to engage when they feel respected and heard.

So spending time with youth directly.

Um community feedback cannot be fully gathered from reports, statistics, or assumptions.

Relationships provide context that data alone cannot.

So just to reframe, not that you guys haven't already done so, but our request is that you attend youth events, visit community spaces spaces, listen more, then speak and build familiarity before seeking solutions.

In closing, I will do uh one reference from John Trudeau.

We are living in a world that is great, gradually losing its understanding of what it means to be human.

And I do not want that for our future, and they have expressed that that is something that they do not want.

Do not override humanity.

The requests we heard are fundamentally human requests.

Safety, belonging, guidance, and connection.

My final message.

Youth are not asking simply for more services, they are asking for more relationships.

They are asking to be seen, heard, and engaged as members of the community.

If we want youth to invest in the future of our city, we must first invest our time, presence, and attention to them today.

Again, I thank you guys for listening, and I appreciate your time.

Thank you.

At this time, do you guys have any questions?

Yep, I'll ask my colleagues if they have any questions.

I want to start by saying thank you all for being here.

Thank you, Director of the Group, for all you do for our youth in our city.

Thank you both for being here today for your work that you do and for the work that you do in the Congress.

Uh, it is really important work that needs to be acknowledged and is acknowledged by our city enterprise.

So just a very appreciative of the work that you all do and very thankful that we were able to hear from you today and this incredible presentation.

I'll next pass it to Councilmember Vita.

Thank you, Chair Chavez.

I also wanted to just say thank you so much for the continued work, not only on the youth coordinating board, but the youth congress.

I will say though, I'd love to see more policy ideas come before this council.

That's something I worked on for years with the youth congress.

Uh very solid policy that youth wanted, and they did a lot of work at that time with elected officials at the local and state level to make sure uh public health policy was passed.

So I would certainly love not only to champion but to have questions with youth about policy ideas.

Thank you.

Councilmember Whiting.

Yep, thank you, uh, Chair Chavez.

I fully agree uh with Councilmember Vito on that as well.

Uh right, tell us what we don't know.

I think you're exactly right.

Uh right, we we are not youth uh anymore as much as I would like to think so.

Uh uh and then again, just a deep uh uh level of gratitude uh for all of your work and Salim, I would take a moment to to kind of as you kind of uh walk around in here, right?

You are the youngest person in this in this chambers at the moment, uh, and that is not a a small feat.

And so I appreciate your your perspectives and your youth in it, and it should be seen as as an accomplishment.

So thank you.

Council President Payton uh thank you Chair Travis yeah I actually get feedback from other uh boards and commissions hoping to get more youth voice involved in their policy areas and I'm I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on how we could better integrate youth voice into kind of the broader policy making sphere.

Uh yes we have actually been a part of policymaking um one in the past that is still continuing was the cake the cannabis awareness uh the struggle being we do not want to expose underage young people to something that is 21 plus but also not lose equity um in the past our young people have also been on youth on boards where they connect with boards and actually again give their voice directly um my push is that I train them to be junior consultants I do not teach them what to think I just challenge their thoughts so that they think of the entire spectrum as a whole um again community conversations as well as making sure that the support comes from um their experience and exposure so that things like writing scholarships or um excuse me uh letters of recommendation are also a part of their experience and so we we have these things again it's not that it's not happening I just believe that we still need more um Salim did you um something to add to that would be um when feedback is received from youth that there is consistent and constant showing of that feedback being received and showing where that feedback is being placed often when youth from my experience have reached out or communicated their opinions the feedback is taken and used performatively and then not actually implemented into the creation or the ideas that are used eventually.

Really good point of feedback so happy to try to make sure that we're empowering that voice more thoroughly and then we'll be happy the youth y'all have variety of different ideas and policies already that you recommend maybe it'd be good to invite y'all as youth to come and just present those to council that'll be I think a good opportunity to hear those um myself included I would love to hear more about them.

Chairperson and members of the committee too I would like to invite you to come to the East Congress at some point we can arrange for that any of you individually or as a group you can just talk to me and I will talk with Latoya and we'll schedule you in we would love for you to come meet there and uh I know that they would love to meet you they uh they have lots of guests and they would love to have you as their guests I'm certain that's true.

Um so just keep that as an open invitation they seat a new cohort in October and they meet through the school year you can imagine we do have some young people who continue through the summer but really their active time is October through about mid-June tomorrow night we're having a little party for the graduates um so that's kind of their year.

Cool well councilman waiting and then we'll go on to the next thing.

Yes and I was gonna say uh I'm gonna need one of these one of these hoodies so if you can make sure I could find a link to find one of one of where these hoodies are at so appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

Uh excuse me, Councilman Whiting these hoodies were actually made at the Teen Tech Center.

These logos were designed by a former NYC member Elise Legler after uh the George Floyd incident and so if you would like one we have the print uh vital please stop by we can even make it an activity the goal is to have us drop our cools embrace our inner child um I appreciate the decorum we have to have balance but to also just have fun and enjoy each other in our space.

So thank you again.

Beautiful.

Thank you.

Colleagues, all right.

Thank you so much for the presentation.

Honestly, really good to have you all here.

Even if we're here at IBM, I think it's really important that we hear from our youth.

I would love to come as well and hear from the youth directly about their policy priorities.

All right, colleagues, with that.

Seeing all further discussion, I'll ask the clerk to receive and bow that report.

Next up, we have item number thirty one it's our environmental services annual report.

This is the last presentation we're gonna have.

As staff comes up here and gets ready to report on the SAS report.

I want to make sure that we uh finish item number 32, which is just the receive and file colleagues.

Before you present, Director Mullman, I want to make sure that item number 32, which is senior resident housing stability, uh gets received and filed.

So, colleagues without objection, I'll ask the clerk to receive and file that report.

Any objections?

Great.

We've been dispensed.

Now you have the floor, Director Mulman.

Good afternoon, Chair Chavez and Council members.

Thanks for staying this long.

I know I am between you and the rest of your evening, so I will try to keep this pretty quick.

Um I just appreciate the opportunity to have a few moments before you today to really brag about the work that our team has been doing in environmental services.

So my name is Kelly Mulman.

I'm the director of environmental programs in the Minneapolis Health Department.

I'm here today to present on the work of Environmental Services Inspections team within the environmental programs unit.

So just context of where we sit within the organizational structure of the health department.

We all report up to the Commissioner Damone Chaplin.

We are within the Division of Sustainability Healthy Homes and Environment, and then within the environmental programs unit.

And one of the things that he often says is this work is the operations arm of our environmental work.

So the environmental services team is located within the environmental programs unit.

In the past couple years, you've heard presentations on the pollution control annual registration.

Later this summer, you'll get presentations on the city trees and biochar programs.

The environmental services permits and inspections team is some of the core work of the unit, but doesn't often get presentations in front of the council.

Our team includes four environmental inspectors.

They each oversee a quadrant of the city.

We will have four inspectors through the end of 2026, when we'll actually go down to three inspectors and redistrict to three districts starting in 2027.

The inspections team is supported also by an environmental engineer, a senior environmental project manager, our PCAR program coordinator.

We have summer environmental technicians, one of whom has joined me today, and the environmental health permits team.

So I'm going to go over each of these very briefly.

Sediment itself and the chemicals it can carry harm the streams, rivers, and lakes that we swim, fish, and recreate in.

So as a result, erosion and sediment control is one of our biggest scopes of work within the inspections team.

CPED actually issues the permits for erosion sediment control for all wrecking and construction projects that disturb more than 500 square feet of land.

And enforcing the erosion and sediment control permits and work is one of the requirements of our municipal separate storm sewer system permit.

Say that ten times fast from the MPCA.

Erosion and sediment control is our third largest permit by volume and requires the greatest amount of inspections and enforcement time from our staff.

Along with sediment pollution, the environmental inspections team also enforces construction sites' hours of operation.

Um the health department issues permits for work outside of the allowed hours, 7 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

Monday through Friday.

Let us know if you have contractors that aren't complying.

Many of you are also familiar with uh noise complaints from local bars, restaurants, or music venues.

These all come to our environmental inspectors who can verify if a business or resident has an amplified sound permit.

They can take sound measurements with the equipment that we have and ensure that facilities are operating within allowed decibel limits.

In recent years, we've also brought more amplified sound permits, requesting to go past 10 p.m.

to you all, and that is to uh ensure that you know that those events are happening and you can approve them because you're going to hear about them from your constituents.

We work very closely with CPED business licensing on noise violations.

This information is shared with them, and it may impact a business's entertainment license.

Inspectors from CPED's business licensing team may also join environmental inspectors for late night sound monitoring and our teams jointly in forts to obtain compliance.

A little known area of work is tanks and wells.

Inspections or tanks permits are required for the removal, abandonment, and installation of underground tanks and above ground storage tanks, 200 gallons or larger, and permanent propane tanks, 200 pounds and larger.

Inspections are performed on all of these tank removals to ensure that work is completed and done in a professional manner manner that complies with state and local code.

There are also well construction, sealing and maintenance permits.

This is delegated work through the Minnesota Department of Health and has been since 1991.

About 25% of well construction and 10% of well ceilings are inspected to ensure compliance.

Temporary water discharge permit is required for all discharges of water to Minneapolis sanitary or storm sewer system.

And these activities are also inspected by our inspections team.

This is typically groundwater, stormwater, or snow melt that has entered into a construction site, excavation area, and needs to be pumped out to continue work.

So we make sure that none of the sediment is carried with that water into our storm sewer system.

There are also abrasive blasting permits.

This is a method of removing paint, rust, grease, and debris to prepare a surface for painting or sealing.

We partner with the lead team on this because all surfaces are tested for lead prior to an abrasive blasting permit being issued.

If there is lead-based paint present, then there is additional containment of the structure, negative air pressure systems required to protect that area.

Additionally, there is intense monitoring by the lead team staff for those to make sure there's climate compliance with hazard mitigation and cleaning practices.

These are the fun numbers that I'm excited to share.

You can see that erosion control, after hours construction, and amplified sound permits are the most common and bring in the most revenue.

In 2027, we'll also be standing up an industrial stormwater program.

This is a new requirement through our MS4 permit with the state.

They're requiring both the city of Minneapolis and St.

Paul to do this.

Public works surface water and sewers is leading the development of this program with support from some consultants.

We will have to create a new permit to generate revenue to support the implementation of this program.

So you'll be hearing more from us on that.

And then the last couple slides I have are just going over some of our common service requests.

So environmental inspectors spend a significant amount of their hours responding to service requests that come in via 311 and council offices.

So here is a list on this slide of the most common ones.

Inspectors are truly committed to approaching their public service role with equity and environmental justice at the forefront.

Inspectors lead with education and mediation.

Our goal is to solve the problem, not issue citations.

I also want to say, as I mentioned in a couple previous slides, that we do a lot of collaboration with other departments.

So we work with Reg Services Housing Inspectors and the homeless response team on rental conditions that might interact with both of our departments on idling or generator complaints.

We work with public works on sediment pollution, on oil spills, on discharge permits as well.

We work with the planning department, business licensing, as I mentioned on noise pollution.

We work with zoning with Minneapolis Development Review and building inspections on different construction site issues, industrial complaints, and others.

We've recently taken over the hazard tree work from regulatory services so that all tree work happens within the health department within the same unit, so that we can have really positive experience with staff with uh training on uh tree identification and also connect those hazard trees to our condemned tree assistance program so that residents who income qualify can actually have that hazard tree removed completely for free and then trees used to replace it.

I mentioned our collaboration with the LED team on embrace of blasting.

Um so again, a lot of collaboration from our team.

Also mentioned that some of these frequently occurring issues may ultimately lead us to uh make ordinance amendments and bring those uh before you all here in council or create new programs.

So I meant want to mention a couple items that will be coming forward to you later this year.

Um one is we're doing a repeal and replace of chapter 389, our noise ordinance.

Um that is really just to clean up and remove some outdated language, some conflicting language, make it flow better, kind of modernize it.

Uh we're also been we've also been working on um a small ordinance around generators, as that has been a growing issue of complaints both around air quality and noise uh within um the city of Minneapolis, and that's both residential and commercial properties.

So these are the numbers of service requests.

This information is just pulled from 311.

This does not include all the additional service requests that we may have received through your offices or individuals reaching out directly to our office.

Um so you can see by numbers, noise pollution is certainly the largest area of complaints that we receive as then followed by land pollution with a lot around illegal dumping.

And finally, I want to wrap up just noting the other source of revenue from the environmental spec inspections team, citations.

As I mentioned, we don't like to issue citations, but it can be an effective way to obtain compliance, especially with problem contractors on construction sites.

Um, and you'll note um the increase in citation revenue we've had in the last couple years when we've been operating with a full team of four inspectors.

So with that, I want to thank you for your time, wrap up, and I'm happy to stand for questions.

Thank you, Director Mulman, for the presentation and for all the work that you do along with our staff.

I'll see if any of my colleagues have any questions.

No, I I will have a question.

I just want to want to know, and it won't be for today, maybe we can talk over to email about the impact of moving down to I think three inspectors and what that would mean for service level, but we don't have to talk about that today.

I'll probably reach out just for a meeting just because I would hate for that to have a detrimental impact.

So thank you.

Yeah.

All right, colleagues.

Uh thank you so much.

And I would recommend that if folks have any questions, just follow up over email.

I know that we felt a little rushed today, so I apologize on that, and I apologize to staff.

So all right, colleagues, seeing no further discussion, I'll ask the clerk to file that report and seeing no further business before us because I already received and filed the other one.

I will uh declare this meeting adjourned.

Um, I have a lot of other