"The department's name is human rights," asserts Lantry. "All human rights, regardless of color or ethnicity, are what they're charged to protect. New Americans, old Americans--it doesn't matter."
"I haven't heard any new Americans say they want it so far," adds Blakey. "It cripples the human rights department."
Fred Petters
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At a city council meeting in late June, roughly 60 people gathered to protest the changes. Although there was no public hearing scheduled to address the issue, citizens voiced their opinions through a rainbow assortment of signs bearing slogans such as "Don't Weaken, Strengthen Human Rights!!!" and "The Fight for Freedom is Not Free."
Among the protesters was Katie McWatt, first vice president of the St. Paul NAACP, which is considering bringing legal action to try to stop the changes to the Human Rights Department from moving forward. "It's very shortsighted, and it shows a real lack of understanding of history, of people, of the problems that a real mayor and a real city face," McWatt explained later. "We're just looking at everything we can that would stop the city from weakening--and therefore eliminating--the department."
St. Paul Human Rights Director Tyrone Terrill is diplomatic about the proposed changes. He says that he has only met with the mayor once so far, but expects that to change soon. "I think anybody who becomes mayor of a major city is overwhelmed initially in terms of having everybody pulling at you," Terrill says. "It's my hope that as we start these meetings the mayor will learn more about what we do and understand the value of what we do, and that there won't be any further reductions of the agency."
For now the three employees appear to have been given a reprieve. According to the city attorney, council approval is required to transfer the positions. Last week, in a letter to the city council, Kelly agreed to hold off on the changes. However, the administration still intends to follow through with the reorganization in the future. "The mayor has not in any way abandoned his thoughts about the new immigrants office," says Deputy Mayor Dennis Flaherty.
Kelly argues that the proposed changes are simply an acknowledgement that the minority population in St. Paul, which is roughly one-third of the entire population, has shifted dramatically in recent years. "If you look across the country, which I do because I'm a student of government, this is how they are trying to meet the needs of a rapidly increasing immigrant population," Kelly says. "You can't address the issue in the 21st Century with 1970s structures or strategies. It is misleading to suggest that we are cutting human rights, or that we are decreasing opportunities for people of color."
Kelly further asserts that the public handwringing over the fate of the Human Rights Department by council members is disingenuous. He claims that when his administration sought input from the council on possible budget cuts, five of the seven members endorsed eliminating the department altogether. "People can criticize on camera, but you're only getting part of the story," he says.
Kelly also points out that the administration has gone out of its way to embrace the city's diversity in other respects. In March, the mayor led a summit on cultural relations, and has made it a priority to diversify the city's workforce. (Kelly says that 32 percent of new hires this year have been minorities, compared to 13 percent when he arrived.) He has also led an effort to rename a city street after Martin Luther King Jr.
McWatt, however, pooh-poohs such symbolic gestures. "We have to have some laws for people who are alive, too," she quips.
Despite all of the squabbling between the mayor's office and the city council, there is one issue on which everyone agrees: Hammering out a 2003 budget will not be pleasant. The city is facing a projected shortfall of $16 million as budget negotiations get underway next month--roughly 10 percent of the entire annual budget. With the state government also facing looming deficits, most political observers expect cutbacks in state aid to municipalities as well.
"I work on the budget every day--I know what's coming," asserts Kelly. "We are going to have a dickens of a time reconciling the budget gap that we have staring us in the face."
The timing could prove particularly uncomfortable for Kelly. If all goes according to plan, budget negotiations will be heating up at the same time that voters are heading to the polls to decide whether to raise taxes for a new Twins stadium. "I think our priorities are all messed up when we're willing to raise taxes for a stadium," Lantry says. "I will be fascinated to see his 2003 proposed budget, because I guarantee you that he's going to talk about closing rec centers or libraries. He's got to. There's no other way to make the numbers work."
The strong-mayor system will be of little help to Kelly in convincing voters that their tax dollars are better spent on a sports stadium than on city services. After six months the mayor is well aware of the political advantages--and financial disadvantages--that he has over his fellow fledgling mayor across the river. "The real advantage that [Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak] has is a city with a phenomenal tax base, a fabulous economic engine," Kelly says. "The biggest liability he has is that it's a weak-mayor form of government, so you essentially have 14 mayors in Minneapolis. You have the mayor and you have 14 very strong ward bosses. That is a difficult environment [in which] to get consensus and to move forward."
In St. Paul, there may not be consensus, but, for better or worse, Kelly is moving forward with his agenda. After six months, everyone knows that he is the mayor.
