MINNEAPOLIS — Tents that lined the front of Minneapolis City Hall earlier this week are now on the other side of the light rail track after the front steps were swept by city officials.
Eleven unhoused people agreed to take shelter at Avivo Village, which is partially funded by the city. They are now connected with case workers attempting to help find them permanent housing.
This week, activists disrupted a planning commission meeting and a city council meeting, and on Wednesday, there was another charged encounter — this time with City Councilor LaTrisha Vetaw.
Activists say they still haven't gotten the answers they want from city officials, so they wrote up a resolution they hoped would convince council members to sign.
"...Hereby calls for the Minneapolis City Council to immediately enact a complete moratorium of evictions of encampments..." the draft resolution read in part.
Two homeless encampments were evicted last week, including the Near North encampment, where KARE 11 has documented criminals using it to hide stolen property, knowing the police will not go in.
"I was evicted yesterday from the front steps, and I didn't have anywhere to go last night," one woman told Vetaw when the group entered Minneapolis City Council chambers Wednesday.
"Where's the remedy?" another man asked.
When the discussion turned to pressuring Vetaw to sign the resolution, the conversation began to spiral.
"You need to sign this now. Today. Immediately," one woman continued to demand.
"Not happening. You're not going to bully me. It will never happen," Vetaw said.
Vetaw did, however, invite the activists to set up meetings with her and other council members to accomplish their goals.
"Anyone who wants to come in here and talk to me about anything, I'm open to it. You're not going to be disrespectful. If you're coming in here and disrupt the committee, we're shutting it down over here," Vetaw said.
Vetaw attempted to sit down and meet with the activists after that interaction, but there did not seem to be any resolution.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist: