John is joined by guests Ash Narayanan and Elissa Schufman to talk about what's wrong with Minneapolis streets and how to fix them. Ash is educated as a civil and traffic engineer, but decided to use those powers for good, as the executive director of [Our Streets Minneapolis](https://www.ourstreetsmpls.org/). Our Streets …
John is secretly very tired of talking to candidates for Minneapolis Park Board, so he combined two of them into one episode, just to get this over with quicker. Becky Alper ([beckyforparks.org](//beckyforparks.org)) is running in [district 3](https://www.minneapolisparks.org/about_us/maps/) and Tom Olsen ([olsenforparks.org](//olsenforparks.org)) running citywide at-large. We talk about parkways and how …
John is joined by co-host Jason Garcia for a conversation about public safety and election year politics with guest Asma Mohammed Nizami. Topics for co-host banter include the conservative effort to quickly build out an array of new organization to match progressive political infrastructure in Minneapolis; an update to the …
John talks to Eric Moran, who's running to represent North Minneapolis (and a tiny part of the North Loop neighborhood) on the Minneapolis Park Board. Eric says he's running a campaign focused on both physical and digital access to the parks system and its government. With recent news of Minneapolis …
A year after George Floyd's murder by four Minneapolis police officers, rising rates of violent crime (locally and across the country) have created a backlash to the backlash. Demands for a new system of public safety have been met with calls for more police from a reinvigorated law-and-order political coalition. …
John is joined by guest co-host PeggySue Imihy. The guest is Kate Knuth, candidate for mayor of Minneapolis. We start the show by playing PeggySue's theme song. Then we poke fun at a rival podcast host. John expresses disappointment in PeggySue's late decision to become a city delegate and reveals …
John is joined by guest co-host PeggySue Imihy. The guest is Kate Knuth, candidate for mayor of Minneapolis. We start the show by playing PeggySue's theme song. Then we poke fun at a rival podcast host. John expresses disappointment in PeggySue's late decision to become a city delegate and reveals …
John is joined by guest co-host Jason Garcia, and begin by chatting about the state of the race for mayor. Then, a conversation with Sheila Nezhad, candidate for mayor of Minneapolis. Sheila's a policy organizer with Reclaim the Block, who's spent the past few years pushing Minneapolis elected officials to …
John is joined by guest co-host Jason Garcia, and they begin by chatting about the state of the race for mayor. Then, a conversation with Sheila Nezhad, candidate for mayor of Minneapolis. Sheila's a policy organizer with Reclaim the Block, who's spent the past few years pushing Minneapolis elected officials …
Minneapolis DFL caucus registration closed on April 30, so we're checking in with data wizard (and cat tour cinematographer) Conrad Zbikowski for an early look at the results. Over 10,000 people registered -- 3,000 of them in the final two days. 4,500 yet-to-be-confirmed caucus registrants have until midnight on May …
Parking has an impact on everything from the environment to housing affordability to public health to foreign policy. John talks with two people excited that the city of Minneapolis is about to eliminate car parking minimums once and for all. Linnea Goderstad's concerns about climate change led her to join …
John interviews Risa Hustad, who once led him into danger on Lyndale Avenue. [Risa is running for Minneapolis Park Board in District 6](https://www.risaforparks.com/) (southwest Minneapolis). Because the Minneapolis Park Board is the meanest level of municipal government, John challenges Risa to "prove to us you're not a malignant personality." Topics …
Our guest is Steve Fletcher, who represents Ward 3 on the Minneapolis City Council. In the wake of the police killing of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, we talk about how to break the cycle, the need for a new system of public safety, and Steve's work fleshing out what …
John is joined by co-host Pine, who is unreasonably excited about the opportunity to interview Ward 13 candidate Mike Norton. Pine's connection to Ward 13 consists entirely of finding the name Palmisano on a mailbox during a visit to Italy. Norton is an award-winning business leader who was once falsely …
2021 election season is underway in Minneapolis! In a conversation continued from our previous episode, Taylor, Jason, and John give their endorsements for Mayor and City Council (note: only John's endorsements are approved by the Wedge LIVE editorial board). Check out John's written endorsements at [wedgelive.com/caucus](//wedgelive.com/caucus). To have a say …
We're joined by Taylor, Simon the cat, and arena announcer (former Meatjacker) Jason Garcia. As we prepare for our upcoming Big Huge Endorsements episode (next episode), we talk about Taylor's teenage crush, former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman, and her bizarre encounter with him at the State Fair. Taylor reports on …
A conversation with Elliott Payne, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 1. We ask Elliott about his time with the Minneapolis office of Performance and Innovation, public safety, transportation, why change needs a champion at city hall, and what he thinks about a proposal to restructure Minneapolis government …
Co-host PeggySue Imihy joins me, as we prepare to interview Minneapolis City Council candidate Elliott Payne. PeggySue is originally from Columbia Heights but didn't let that stop her from usurping the throne of Miss Northeast Minneapolis. She's put that life behind her and is now interviewing powerbrokers and narrating tweets …
Minneapolis DFL Chair Devin Hogan is here to talk about the 2021 virtual caucus and convention process. I ask Devin what it feels like to get yelled at for fun, and how it felt to have Mayor Frey and a number of other City Council candidates try to cancel the …
[Christa Moseng](https://christa4.bet) is a career public servant and first time candidate running for the Minneapolis Board of Estimate & Taxation. The BET is a line on your ballot that may have confused you in prior years. I ask Christa to explain what the BET does and why she's qualified for …