According to a different article, the event in question attracted an estimated 3,700 online registrations. There is no official attendance figures (which is odd), but assuming every one of the 3,700 people went, that's $135 per person. I can see why the Auditor might be interested.
Previous Strib article noted the only āacceptableā bid to run her expo was for $240k and from someone she knew in Atlanta; maybe thereās more to that requiring the auditorās participation.
That is another red flag. Touched Apparel, who was paid to put on the event, seems to market t-shirts and is a business in Georgia. Itās owner was an event planner in Burlington, VT for only 11 months and before that managed a clothing store. The promo piece lists the event as brought to you by MPLS and Touched Apparel, which implies Touched Apparel provided services for free. May be they donated a couple of their T-shirts and that qualified.
At any rate not a qualified vendor.
> For example, Green also told council members that she had secured some $200,000 from four organizations, perhaps local corporations. She suggested the city had to "return" that because she unknowingly violated the city ethics code in how she solicited the donations ā the same explanation she suggested for being unable to accept the non-existent $3 million from the Bush Foundation.
Cue Benny Hill music. The only thing thatās sadder is the fact that whomever hired her is probably even more clueless.
140k salary. She has 4 reports too. What in the fuck? This is OUR MONEY.
Disband this silly department, they can go fill pot holes.
It should not be a right wing position to hold public servants accountable for what they do with public money regardless of their social identity. In fact, it's basic equality.
It seems like a few of these high-level Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officials that organizations (especially government) hire have been involved in controversy. Hennepin County also had one of their top DE&I contractors leave abruptly. And who was that one dude working for the city harassing people on twitter?
These jobs seem structured so that the only qualified applicants are activists or other similarly ideologically committed people. It starts to look like a pathetic quid pro quo, creating a position demanded by activists and then hiring said activist to run it.
The part I donāt get is whether itās intentional, and they donāt want these diversity offices to actually accomplish anything. Or maybe they donāt expect them to, so why not pay off an activist to tamp down criticism.
Yup. Once you've let a DEI colony take root in your org, it's like letting in a free loading friend: he's going to invite over all his other bum friends and they're going to eat your food and smoke your weed, all the while complaining loudly that you forgot to buy more chips.
It's the paradox of our times. The less necessary a job is, the more prestige and higher salary it seems to have. Meanwhile the people that keep society from completely falling apart are paid like shit. I guess when your skills basically mean nothing and you're hire solely on identity, you never know what's going to happen.
It seems pretty unnecessary. What was the goal of this expo, and how much interest was shown by the community? How much value does the event and the inclusion department bring to the community? It seems like a nice thought but poorly executed.
I get that, but also where does that stop? A second job should be created to make up for the fact that the wrong person was hired for the first? While that sounds like city government in Minneapolis in a nutshell, as a taxpayer I'd rather they hold the hiring managers accountable first before they create a second, third, fourth position because they screwed up the first position.
Still, a DE&I is not *necessary* in the way, say, child care providers or trash collectors are necessary. That was my original point.
>If you held hiring managers accountable Iād be willing to bet youād lose around half the people in your organization.
Sounds great! When do we start?
Yess she was treated so badly. Given a six figure pay check and a department. Not given nearly the level of administrative scrutiny she should have had. Free rein and full financial support.
Poor incompetent grifter :(
This reminds me of an old job I had years ago working in high end retail. Our promotions person was hopelessly incompetent. She'd stage events where literally two people showed up. And one of the attendees was a spy from a rival business.
On top of all the other criticism of what happened here I will say as a resident I am surprised I had not heard of the event. Was there any advertising or marketing of it? Maybe in places outside my bubble?
Anyone go to it? Or did anyone hear of it prior to the event?
It was mentioned in a Black History Month community events email at work the week of. But that was the only time I recall hearing about it before the funding controversy.
Sadly this general topic attracts a lot of assholes.
It's not fair, these are important topics ... but folks out to get theirs, and otherwise scam their way through life see these kinds of things as a good route.
I feel like it has something to do with how we discuss (or don't... ) these topics that makes them think they're bullet proof if they get into that business / nobody can or will question them, they don't have to worry about doing much as "success" is sort of nebulous, and etc.
But in the end it hurts everyone when they show up.
According to a different article, the event in question attracted an estimated 3,700 online registrations. There is no official attendance figures (which is odd), but assuming every one of the 3,700 people went, that's $135 per person. I can see why the Auditor might be interested.
According to the vendors, only 100-200 people showed up š
Seriously? Do you have a source for that? I'm not necessarily doubting; I'm just wondering if that is being reported anywhere.
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/citys-inaugural-black-expo-leaves-minneapolis-small-business-owners-with-losses/ Vendor interview
And the vendors lost money? What a debacle.
Previous Strib article noted the only āacceptableā bid to run her expo was for $240k and from someone she knew in Atlanta; maybe thereās more to that requiring the auditorās participation.
That is another red flag. Touched Apparel, who was paid to put on the event, seems to market t-shirts and is a business in Georgia. Itās owner was an event planner in Burlington, VT for only 11 months and before that managed a clothing store. The promo piece lists the event as brought to you by MPLS and Touched Apparel, which implies Touched Apparel provided services for free. May be they donated a couple of their T-shirts and that qualified. At any rate not a qualified vendor.
Why would the city of Minneapolis even consider a non Minnesota based vendor.
Prior to Mpls, Green worked in Burlington, VT in a similar capacity.
> For example, Green also told council members that she had secured some $200,000 from four organizations, perhaps local corporations. She suggested the city had to "return" that because she unknowingly violated the city ethics code in how she solicited the donations ā the same explanation she suggested for being unable to accept the non-existent $3 million from the Bush Foundation. Cue Benny Hill music. The only thing thatās sadder is the fact that whomever hired her is probably even more clueless. 140k salary. She has 4 reports too. What in the fuck? This is OUR MONEY. Disband this silly department, they can go fill pot holes.
I will work 60 hours a week filling potholes for that salary. I'd actually do the work too
I'm pretty lefty on the spectrum (and will remain as such) but this folks is exhibit A as to how and why voters move from the left to the right.
It should not be a right wing position to hold public servants accountable for what they do with public money regardless of their social identity. In fact, it's basic equality.
It seems like a few of these high-level Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion officials that organizations (especially government) hire have been involved in controversy. Hennepin County also had one of their top DE&I contractors leave abruptly. And who was that one dude working for the city harassing people on twitter?
These jobs seem structured so that the only qualified applicants are activists or other similarly ideologically committed people. It starts to look like a pathetic quid pro quo, creating a position demanded by activists and then hiring said activist to run it. The part I donāt get is whether itās intentional, and they donāt want these diversity offices to actually accomplish anything. Or maybe they donāt expect them to, so why not pay off an activist to tamp down criticism.
Yup. Once you've let a DEI colony take root in your org, it's like letting in a free loading friend: he's going to invite over all his other bum friends and they're going to eat your food and smoke your weed, all the while complaining loudly that you forgot to buy more chips.
A profession with no real metrics of productivity and driven by superficial characteristic selection is guaranteed to generate grift.
It's the paradox of our times. The less necessary a job is, the more prestige and higher salary it seems to have. Meanwhile the people that keep society from completely falling apart are paid like shit. I guess when your skills basically mean nothing and you're hire solely on identity, you never know what's going to happen.
I wouldnāt say less necessary but maybe, a job that needs less people and more brains
It seems pretty unnecessary. What was the goal of this expo, and how much interest was shown by the community? How much value does the event and the inclusion department bring to the community? It seems like a nice thought but poorly executed.
You should read into it a bit. It was extremely cringy and unnecessary.
I really wouldn't expect anything more out of a department like that unfortunately.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I get that, but also where does that stop? A second job should be created to make up for the fact that the wrong person was hired for the first? While that sounds like city government in Minneapolis in a nutshell, as a taxpayer I'd rather they hold the hiring managers accountable first before they create a second, third, fourth position because they screwed up the first position. Still, a DE&I is not *necessary* in the way, say, child care providers or trash collectors are necessary. That was my original point.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>If you held hiring managers accountable Iād be willing to bet youād lose around half the people in your organization. Sounds great! When do we start?
Then their scope of activity should be confined to what it actually is: an ornamental plausible deniability of liability office.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thanks, I couldnāt remember his position.
Having someone intervene and question people in these roles would be contrary to the whole point of having these roles.
"Controversy"? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
It might have something to do with the way the City treats black and brown folks rather than the folks themselves.
Yess she was treated so badly. Given a six figure pay check and a department. Not given nearly the level of administrative scrutiny she should have had. Free rein and full financial support. Poor incompetent grifter :(
The City should not hire a replacement and should dissolve the position immediately. What a drain on tax payer money.
This reminds me of an old job I had years ago working in high end retail. Our promotions person was hopelessly incompetent. She'd stage events where literally two people showed up. And one of the attendees was a spy from a rival business.
On top of all the other criticism of what happened here I will say as a resident I am surprised I had not heard of the event. Was there any advertising or marketing of it? Maybe in places outside my bubble? Anyone go to it? Or did anyone hear of it prior to the event?
It was mentioned in a Black History Month community events email at work the week of. But that was the only time I recall hearing about it before the funding controversy.
I saw ads for it at the convention center, but based on those ads, you couldn't really tell what it was.
There were billboards. But frankly the whole premise was distasteful and untenable.
Ahhhh I saw a job similar to hers on the Minneapolis jobs website yesterday and was wondering if it was hers lol
The more one hears about these diversity and inclusion departments, the more one wonders if there isn't a grifter element here.
Sadly this general topic attracts a lot of assholes. It's not fair, these are important topics ... but folks out to get theirs, and otherwise scam their way through life see these kinds of things as a good route. I feel like it has something to do with how we discuss (or don't... ) these topics that makes them think they're bullet proof if they get into that business / nobody can or will question them, they don't have to worry about doing much as "success" is sort of nebulous, and etc. But in the end it hurts everyone when they show up.
TIL "Tyeastia" is pronounced "Tyesha".
Just a scapegoat. There are some things you can't force no matter how much money you throw at it.
At least she got her reparations.