There is a huge community showing at the Duluth City Council meeting where 37 of the 40 recognized public comments urge the City Council to table the vote until a community forum could happen and/or to ultimately vote against the purchase of riot gear (source). In a 5-3 vote, the City Council decided to table the resolution authorizing the purchase of riot gear. There was no immediate plan put in place about how a community forum would happen. According to at least two city councilors, there was no discussion by the council about what the next steps in the process should look like.
According to one community member, there was an informal conversation afterward with at least some of the councilors questioning, “what should we do?” There was also no timely and transparent notification to the public about next steps and community groups were not engaged, and indeed did not even know who to contact to find out how to be involved in the forum.
IMPACT: The community felt heard at the City Council meeting, but immediately felt that they had again been excluded from this process when no followup or next steps were discussed or shared with them
Photo Credit: file/Duluth News Tribune