Better Minneapolis Podcast

First Avenue, downtown Minneapolis and the future of live music What does it take to keep Minneapolis’ live music scene thriving? Terry White sits down at the Depot Tavern with Dana Frank, owner and CEO of First Avenue Productions, and Nate Kranz, its general manager and chief revenue officer. They discuss the role independent venues play in downtown Minneapolis—and the pressures that can make put...

Episode summary Terry White talks with Tony Reichenberger, author of the Purple America newsletter, about what the 2026 election results mean for Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the country. Tony names three issues that shaped the vote: affordability, the federal immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota, and voter views of President Trump. They look at what a DFL trifecta under Gov.-elect Amy Klobucha...

Congratulations to Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota’s first female governor; Peggy Flanagan, our new U.S. senator; Zack Filipovich, our new state auditor; and Cedrick Frazier, our new Hennepin County attorney. Better Minneapolis hopes they all do well in office, and we invite each of them onto the podcast to share their priorities for Minnesota. Here are a few things that stand out to us about Tuesday’s e...

In this interview with Ben Connelly, a member of the coordinating committee of Multifaith Anti-Racism Change and Healing and a guiding teacher at the Minnesota Zen Meditation Center, we discussed the Healing Democracy effort and its goals. The project is a statewide initiative of the Movement Chaplain Network, in partnership with Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light, to provide a calm presence on El...

Most of Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting was spent on a proposal from Council Minority Leader Wonsley, Council President Payne and Vice President Osman to eliminate the Office of Community Safety (OCS). The slide deck Wonsley presented is available in LIMS. The committee voted 9 to 3, with Council Member Shaffer abstaining, to send the proposal to the full council for a vote on Thurs...

The latest in a long string of disputes between the mayor and the city council centers on the behavioral crisis response (BCR) contract, a service currently provided by Canopy Roots, a local Black-owned business. Mayor Frey launched a request for proposals to expand the program’s scope so it would cover more types of non-emergency calls. Canopy Roots, for example, does not accept calls that come f...

In April 2023, the City of Duluth launched Safe Bay, an outdoor parking program for people living in their vehicles. The idea caught the attention of Minneapolis Council Members Chavez, Stevenson, Chughtai, and Chowdhury, who have introduced their own version. Their ordinance would allow nonprofits, religious organizations, and government entities to host managed parking lots where people can slee...

Efforts to increase early voting appear to be working. On Sunday, October 11, we spent the day at the MPLSvotes.org booth at Open Streets on Hennepin, handing out flyers and encouraging people to vote. Quite a few people told us they already had. They have plenty of company. On October 16, the Secretary of State reported: In the first four weeks of voting, local election officials in Minnesota hav...

On Tuesday night, as we walked away from the Uptown Futures Forum 2.0 at the Granada Theater, my companion shared his disappointment with the Doran apartment building going up at the corner of Hennepin and 31st. To him, it was a missed opportunity. He had hoped the developers would choose one of the earlier designs that created a courtyard on the block, and he suspected financial pressure had rush...

In her newsletter post “ Dear Minneapolis Public Schools: It’s Not Me, It’s You ,” Molly Mogren Katt compares the relationship between parents and Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) to dating someone who is “bad with money– always complaining about being broke while making tons of careless financial choices. Their past is full of burned bridges. And they start telling you about the handful of times...

On Tuesday morning, Leticia Cardenas, Assistant Director of Minneapolis 911, presented her department’s financial overview to the City Council Budget Committee. Every department goes through this exercise so the council can see where spending is rising, falling, or needs to be redirected. The Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center (MECC) includes the 911 call center and the Radio Shop. Its bu...

Minneapolis residents may want to start saving now for next year’s property taxes. The Board of Estimate & Taxation (BET) met Tuesday afternoon, and with no compromise reached since its last meeting, the board voted 4 to 2 to approve a maximum city levy increase of 11.3% along with the full 5.86% increase sought by the park board. Combined, the maximum levy could exceed 11.7%. [1] Commissioner Eri...

It’s budget season in Minneapolis, and this year looks even more complicated than the last few. In this interview with Mayor Frey, we talk through many of the challenges, including the unique problems caused by Operation Metro Surge, a close review of each department to find efficiencies, millions of dollars added to the budget for MPD overtime, and shortfalls from downtown commercial buildings wh...

Steve Brandt Interview On Wednesday evening, the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) will decide whether to accept Mayor Frey’s proposed 11.3 percent property tax levy increase or amend it. The decision affects most Minneapolis residents. Whether you own a home or rent an apartment, your monthly payment is likely to go up. A complicated formula determines exactly how much each property’s taxes wi...

In this interview, I talk with Robbie Sequeira, a Stateline reporter based in Chicago, about his piece that ran in the Minnesota Reformer on September 17: “Trump admin aims to shift homelessness grants toward addiction treatment, enforcement.” We also spend some time discussing Chicago’s seven-pillar model they use to provide housing and services for the homeless. Sequeira’s article caught my atte...

A Familiar Face in East Phillips For this interview, I sought out Dean Dovolis, CEO and managing partner of Novarum Development Partners. Most people know him as the owner and CEO of DJR Architecture . It struck me as odd that more stories haven’t been devoted to what Dovolis and his partners are trying to accomplish with the former Wells Fargo Home Mortgage campus. They’re calling it Iconic Plaza...

The impetus for this interview was Eric Roper’s column, “ Minnesota’s next governor should make the Twin Cities work better ” (published August 31). In it, Roper argues that Governor Tim Walz, and those before him, have shied away from exercising their power when what’s needed is a more forceful regional role, particularly when it comes to the Twin Cities. Roper believes, “We have too many cities...

On Labor Day, I rode my motorcycle to the Franconia Sculpture Garden. It’s a beautiful drive along the St. Croix River, and one I find relaxing. The weather was excellent, a few degrees cooler than the week before, which made for a pleasant ride. When I returned and took the exit for our neighborhood at 46th & 35W, the city’s stress was immediately upon me again. This intersection is populated day...

It’s the State Fair’s final weekend, an event that marks the end of summer. This year we find ourselves contemplating the meaning of another mass shooting. As we learn more about what led to the tragedy, we’re hopeful the city can mourn those who were lost, appreciate the bravery of the MPD, and come together with wisdom and compassion to find ways to prevent this deadly violence. Minneapolis does...

Property taxes in Minneapolis have seen double-digit increases year after year, yet city employee salaries are rising as though the local economy is booming. It isn’t. Minneapolis currently has the highest number of distressed commercial loans of any city in the country. According to a recent report by CRED iQ, the distress rate for the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro has reached 55.2 percent. The risk...

For this interview with Minneapolis Council President Elliott Payne, I visited his new office in City Hall. If you haven’t stopped by since they finished the $30+ million remodel, it’s worth a look. They did a nice job. When I passed through the lobby, there was a couple taking wedding photos and a woman using a keyboard to play the bells ringing atop the building. The marble is polished, the carp...

At the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) meeting on Wednesday, August 19, at 5pm, Park Superintendent Al Bangoura will present the recommended 2027-28 budget to the Board of Commissioners. The budget is meant to support the goals and strategies outlined in Parks for All, the MPRB’s comprehensive plan that runs from 2021 through 2036. In my interview with Board President Tom Olsen, he ur...

The easy part of writing this newsletter is that every week there is something new happening. Political personalities are in regular conflict. Proposals that are sometimes impractical and half-baked are routinely put forward for consideration. And once a year, a budget is submitted by the mayor and county administrator that highlights the competing priorities of those who work in government and th...

Like many readers, we’ve been assessing what Peggy Flanagan’s decisive victory over Angie Craig portends for the future of politics in Minnesota. A 20-point margin across the entire state defied conventional wisdom, which held that Flanagan would win young voters in the Twin Cities while Craig’s more practical message and record would carry outstate. Instead, Flanagan outperformed everywhere. One...

In the coming weeks, we plan to talk with Minneapolis officials about Mayor Frey’s budget. It’s set to be released Wednesday, August 12, and it’s already generating buzz. Residents are being told to expect layoffs of more than 100 city employees, along with other departmental cuts. Minneapolis, like many cities, is finding itself stretched to provide services on lower tax revenue. A recurring ques...