Wild to me that this story mentions “city council supporters” in the 3rd paragraph without *ever* mentioning “Mayor Jacob Frey” - whose administration is responsible for the program that went off the rails. I appreciate accountability journalism, but the Strib stops short of the head of the fish. - ThreadSky

dbrauer.net • 27 days ago

Wild to me that this story mentions “city council supporters” in the 3rd paragraph without *ever* mentioning “Mayor Jacob Frey” - whose administration is responsible for the program that went off the rails. I appreciate accountability journalism, but the Strib stops short of the head of the fish.

Reposted from Peter Mason

Minneapolis violence prevention contracts are riddled with red flags as the city tries to clamp down
Community groups were hired to help keep the peace after George Floyd’s murder; now dubious and double billings have been uncovered.

Grift through and through

www.startribune.com/minneapolis-...

Comments

devomase.bsky.social•27 days ago

Was hoping the article would do exactly that as where does buck stop for all of this but with Frey.

sadwill.bsky.social•27 days ago

It’s beyond that: Frey just vetoed the budget based on the notion it had unverified spending for pet projects. And now this.

jkruzit.bsky.social•27 days ago

I wonder if Orrick is Deena’s editor.

taylr.bsky.social•27 days ago

he is

jkruzit.bsky.social•27 days ago

Well that really pulls the room together.

mauratwit.bsky.social•27 days ago

Frey’s team wildly mismanaged and now he’ll use this as an excuse to kill the program.

Classic hot dog guy trying to find the guy who did this.
I hate it here.

vincempls.bsky.social•13 days ago

Why are we talking about the Strib as an amorphous concept when this article that never gets to the root of the problem has an author and criticism should also be directed at them.

dbrauer.net•13 days ago

As a former journalist, there’s a chain of command involved & I don’t know everyone in it for this piece.

jumbanho.bsky.social•13 days ago

As you posted elsewhere, it does seem like the reporter did claim responsibility.

jumbanho.bsky.social•13 days ago

But did not know when you posted originally.

kedrickillian.bsky.social•4 days ago

That is absolutely part of the issue here. There’s a heavy hand of an editor here. I have receipts of similar edits.

micwalker1.bsky.social•27 days ago

This article might be a good item to bring up at the Ward 13 Convention if his honor shows up to ask for endorsement tomorrow!

sdbaker.bsky.social•27 days ago

@deenawinter.bsky.social Response?

deenawinter.bsky.social•13 days ago

I guess I figure most people know who the mayor is and that he’s in charge of city programs.

condogrouch612.bsky.social•13 days ago

Deena--I appreciate your choosing to respond. I trust you made your reply in good faith. I hope you see most of the follow-ups you've gotten so far as tough-but-not-unfair, like I do. I have this (irrational?) fear that this discussion will somehow morph into a "So much for the tolerant left" story.

breeminneapolis.bsky.social•13 days ago

I definitely disagree. Most people have no idea that he's in charge of city programs. That change was recent and complex - your average reader is unlikely to know the details.

saralovesyou.bsky.social•13 days ago

I wish that was true, and yet I am always explaining this to people I know who are mad about various things. Then they assume I’m making excuses for the council because they don’t know the minutiae of our ridiculous city politics.

ajm6792.bsky.social•11 days ago

Respectfully, there is a significant political faction built around blaming the council

deenawinter.bsky.social•4 days ago

Uncle! I have heard your concerns and I get your point. However, this is not an MPD program we’re talking about, it’s Neighborhood Safety. And the council does indeed have oversight, to the point where it approves the very contracts at issue here. I will endeavor to be clearer in the future!

ericprindle.bsky.social•4 days ago

Since 2021, there is no longer a separate reporting structure for the MPD vs. other city departments. Neighborhood Safety and MPD both report to Barnette, who reports to Frey. Council approves the contracts but does not administer them.

gettinggophery.bsky.social•4 days ago

I'm concerned she is reporting on city government without very basic knowledge of city government.

blueirisqualm.bsky.social•12 days ago

thats a bad assumption!

micwalker1.bsky.social•13 days ago

"Mayor Frey, who has been in charge of MPD since he took office,..." should be in every public safety article. People do not know this

lynnellmick.bsky.social•13 days ago

Most of my neighbors in Ward 13 honestly DON’T know this. Thanks to All of Minneapolis, NextDoor and the Strib, they really think the city council is both in charge (and to blame) for things that fall 100 percent under the mayor’s control.

kristenolsen.bsky.social•13 days ago

My neighbors in Ward 12, too!

viamarsala18.bsky.social•13 days ago

With respect, there’s really no other administration I can think of where reporters will avoid reporting the failures of the leader—even the NYT prints that the tariffs were Trump’s idea, but the Strib won’t publish that Frey is solely in control of this shitshow

jumbanho.bsky.social•13 days ago

He's a cipher

averagenickenergy.bsky.social•13 days ago

"I guess I figure" is something no journalist should ever say.

turningphrases.bsky.social•13 days ago

My immediate family all live in the Metro and none of them know who he is

taylr.bsky.social•13 days ago

unfortunately it’s very possible he is just gonna coast to reelection based off people not knowing this :/

jessthewanderer.bsky.social•13 days ago

And folks seem resigned to him winning because of this. I am learning this despite my best in person efforts explaining there are at least 2 other great options and 3 that can be ranked to keep this from being an inevitability.

taylr.bsky.social•13 days ago

it’s very hard when you’re up against the money machine. the frey campaign has over half a million dollars and also IEs on their side. no opponent can even come close

jessthewanderer.bsky.social•13 days ago

You speak facts. My hope is that the progressives can maintain the council. (I know that is also a money battle.) I really don’t want to live through the petty of a potentially lame duck Frey w/o some type of counter balance, especially with the current federal administration.

jasoncomix.bsky.social•13 days ago

Respectfully, I think a little research into how much money is spent to obscure that fact might surprise you; and a little time on Nextdoor might show you how effective that’s been.

anodynebinary.bsky.social•13 days ago

The average Minneapolis voter's grievances with city politics is being upset at the council over things that are the mayors responsibilities

queeringtherapist.bsky.social•13 days ago

gettinggophery.bsky.social•13 days ago

When the states largest paper only reports about the city council, why would anyone think the mayor does anything?

gettinggophery.bsky.social•13 days ago

The mayor doesn't even pretend to be in charge.

gettinggophery.bsky.social•13 days ago

Even if you assume that, why wouldn't you state that fact

petermn.bsky.social•13 days ago

Because she knows her bosses won't like that. Really sad to see what's happened to the quality of her reporting.

petevujovich.bsky.social•13 days ago

Respectfully, that’s why people are upset. They expect him to at least be asked. And the strib has a history of not asking that question when he specifically is responsible, then acting callously to people who would be their traditional readers.

hewhocutsdown.bsky.social•12 days ago

That's a wild response. The amount of disinformation around what the mayor is and isn't in charge of has been significant, and continues to be a huge source of confusion and frustration by residents. I strongly recommend adopting a different editorial stance going forward.

bozodeluxe.bsky.social•13 days ago

They absolutely do not, partly because articles in the Strib are consistently written in a way that infers agency onto the city council which it does not have and absolves the mayor of the agency he absolutely has. For example, when you mention the city council in this article and not the mayor.

joeydaniewicz.bsky.social•13 days ago

You’re wrong and it’s partly your fault that you’re wrong

joeydaniewicz.bsky.social•13 days ago

We literally just had a huge ballot initiative that changed how everything in city government worked. People think the council does everything and have no idea how much power was wrested away from them

reedeliot.bsky.social•11 days ago

This is how I feel as well.

joeydaniewicz.bsky.social•11 days ago

Also the Mayor and the Council are constantly squabbling about whose fault is what! Usually, one of them is right and one of them is wrong. Would help if local media was ever clear about what the law actually says.

josmueller.bsky.social•13 days ago

Reading your article it seems like you think the city council is in charge of city programs! Do better

kingkongmpls.bsky.social•13 days ago

If you criticize anyone or anything in the city without explicitly criticizing Frey as well people on here get pretty pissed off.

dbrauer.net•13 days ago

When it’s a failure under his administration it’s extremely unusual for a journalist not to mention the elected in charge.

petermn.bsky.social•13 days ago

It's not unusual at the Strib it's literally their MO to obscure his responsibility. It's completely intentional.

freealonzo.bsky.social•13 days ago

Funny, if there’s a good news the Strib doesn’t automatically assume everyone knows Frey in charge and doesn’t mention him. Quite the opposite in fact.

dzaffrann.bsky.social•13 days ago

Deena, you have done incredible work reporting on public safety in Minneapolis. I have a great deal of respect for you as a reporter...but I am genuinely appalled by this response.

purplefroth.bsky.social•13 days ago

She's a Star Tribune journalist now, though.

hsilsbee.bsky.social•13 days ago

Most don't. The Mayor & his supporters spend a lot of time and money on messaging that clams that anything wrong with the city is the Council's fault. On the most recent episode of the @wedge.live podcast, CM Cashman talked about having to spend a lot of time correcting that misinformation w voters.

taylr.bsky.social•13 days ago

a lot of neighborhood orgs are spreading this misinformation too

beukema.bsky.social•13 days ago

My neighbors on Nextdoor certainly don’t - almost everything bad is the Council’s fault.

kristenolsen.bsky.social•13 days ago

Same!

daphsci.bsky.social•13 days ago

This falls squarely on Strong Mayor™️Jacob Frey and he should be called out every time he is associated with failed leadership and oversight, as is the case here.

fiveburger.bsky.social•13 days ago

how would they know that if the news doesn’t tell them but constantly explicitly tells them about the council? just by magic?

fiveburger.bsky.social•13 days ago

is your job to inform people or just assume they know things?

tahtah.bsky.social•11 days ago

It’s a huge problem when journalists think stuff “goes without saying”

I think you have done excellent work, but that assumption that people already know the egregious parts? That’s how we got here…

sharkey.fun•13 days ago

what the fuck happened to you Deena

javimorillo.bsky.social•12 days ago

Wow. That is a shocking response.

shainaed.bsky.social•13 days ago

Strib 2021: We need a strong mayor so someone will be in charge and accountable for everything happening in the city!

Strib 2025: May... May-orr? I've never heard that word. Do we have one of those?

mattylangmsp.bsky.social•27 days ago

The fish rots from the head.

joeydaniewicz.bsky.social•13 days ago

It’s crazy how consistently they do this. He’s just nowhere to be seen when anything goes wrong

kedrickillian.bsky.social•4 days ago

Literally has made me crazy

dansuitor.bsky.social•4 days ago

He's just a Big Strong Mayor, how much power could he possibly have over the police department? And also wouldn't anyone reading already know the answer to that question?

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