Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and 13 city council members are in line to receive raises this year while the city’s small businesses remain under pressure in the wake of last summer’s Black Lives Matter riots and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Flora’s Hair Designs owner Flora Westbrooks, whose salon was torched during the violence, told “Fox & Friends Weekend” on Sunday that Minneapolis’ small businesses still need all the help they can get.
“You’re getting these raises – why can’t you put them into the community?” she said. “Help the small business owners. Help us. We need help.”
Frey said Friday that he returned the pay raise to the city, which was approved by the city council in 2017. Some city council members say they will also donate the pay increase, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Westbrooks stressed it’s “not right” for city officials to be receiving more money just because “they can do it” from a position of a higher power.
Westbrooks said the only assistance she has heard of is “talk” about an on-site cleanup. Her salon was burned down in May 2020.
Since the riots that left her livelihood in tatters, Westbrooks launched a GoFundMe page to raise cash for restoration, but says she still needs more.
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“I need more money to rebuild,” she said. “I still can’t rebuild.”
The salon owner also pleaded against defunding the police in a time when law enforcement is needed for “protection.”