More reaction to the Minneapolis City Council's override after Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed a city budget for the first time in the city's history.
North Minneapolis councilmember LaTrisha Vetaw tells WCCO's Adam Carter she's not happy with how some of her colleagues awarded funding for ward-specific projects.
"They picked groups that they wanted to give money to and there's a ton of people out here that's doing work, they picked nonprofits that they wanted to work with, right? They didn't have people go through the RFP process that the city has in place for fairness for equity," Vetaw says.
With all council seats up for re-election this fall, Vetaw says she's happy it appears there will be more "moderate" challengers running for the council.
Vetaw also says that while disagreements are part of the process, she thinks some members of the council are ignoring important needs for the city as a whole.
"I'm a middle child, so I'm used to a little discourse, I'm used to, you know, not agreeing or you're having a fight and then hugging five minutes later," she explained. "I'm fine with that. But what I'm not OK with is that if Minneapolis is not doing its best, we as a body and the mayor have to do what's best for the people of Minneapolis."
Those thoughts were also echoed by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who told WCCO Radio on Thursday pet projects were too much of a focus and it comes at the expense of criticial city needs.
"And the way it sets this up is that these council members are trying to, it feels like they're trying to create 13 different cities rather than one," Frey explains. "With 13 different budgets with 13 different wards with their own pet projects. We need to be looking out for the overarching service of the city providing a comprehensive approach to public safety."
Frey adds that he's confident in the city's staff to deliver for citizens despite what he calls challenges from the council's budget.