Better Minneapolis Podcast

Jim Meyer was a late entrant in the Ward 11 race, but he hopes to make up for lost time by door-knocking and engaging in community outreach. More about Jim Meyer can be found on his website: https://www.jimmeyerminneapolismn.com/ Background and Experience Jim Meyer, a lifelong Minneapolitan and Ward 11 resident, is a former radio student at KBEM who later became an entertainment reporter, corporat...

Few institutions define Minneapolis like its parks. From neighborhood playgrounds to the Chain of Lakes, the system shapes daily life and civic identity — and it’s once again in the spotlight as the Park Board heads into election season. In this interview, Park Board President and District 6 Commissioner Cathy Abene talks about the balance between maintaining a world-class park system and keeping...

Since joining the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2009, Eric has covered the Twin Cities metro area, the city of Minneapolis, the state Legislature and Congress. Prior to becoming a columnist, he oversaw the Star Tribune’s Curious Minnesota project and helped create the narrative podcast “Ghost of a Chance.” He is a graduate of the George Washington University and lives in south Minneapolis. To follow E...

A quick note about our interviews: we aim to feature a range of voices on Minneapolis issues. Appearing on the show does not equal an endorsement, nor does it mean we agree with every position a candidate or leader holds. Our goal is to encourage residents to engage with city government—often the place where your participation can most directly shape daily life. In that spirit, we encourage you to...

R.T. Rybak—three-term Minneapolis mayor and now CEO of the Minneapolis Foundation—reflects on public life that spans journalism, philanthropy, and city leadership. He recalls the surreal 2001 primary night amid national crisis, then pivots to his current focus: using the Foundation as a lasting civic infrastructure. Through revived “Minnesota Meeting” convenings and partnerships like the Westminst...

Eric Bernstein is one of three candidates running for two elected positions on Minneapolis’s Board of Estimate & Taxation (BET). We were both confused about how ranked-choice voting works in this situation. We think the candidate with the fewest first-choice rankings will be dropped, and the remaining two will win, but more research is needed. Bernstein describes himself as a longtime tax and fisc...

At an October 6 Ward 9 forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, Council Member Jason Chavez called it “unfair” that supporters of the Roof Depot urban farm and community center continue to be denied what they want. Two days earlier, the Climate Justice Committee had marched through Mayor Frey’s neighborhood, urging him to give the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute (EPNI) what they consider a...

(If you value our local coverage, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.) With the Minneapolis municipal election just 30 days away, 17% of voters remain undecided about their choice for mayor, according to polls published by Minneapolis for the Many. We can’t vouch for the poll’s accuracy—80 percent of responses came via text—but in the absence of other public data, it provides a useful snap...

In the 1983 film The Big Chill , a group of friends reunites after one of them dies by suicide. They stay at Harold’s (Kevin Kline) home in South Carolina. When Nick (William Hurt) gets picked up for running a red light and mouthing off, police threaten to press charges—until Harold and Sam (Tom Berenger), a TV star, smooth things over. Nick, jaded and cynical, bristles at Harold’s newfound comfor...

Jens Ludwig is a leading scholar on crime and violence. He directs the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab and co-directs its Education Lab, in addition to his role with the National Bureau of Economic Research. Few outside policy circles know his name. We hadn’t either—until Kurt Nelson, co-host of the Behavioral Grooves podcast, pointed us to Ludwig’s recent book, Unforgiving Places: Origins of Am...

Early Voting Sets New Mark Early voting began Friday, September 19, 2025. On the first day of early voting, 351 ballots were cast at the Early Vote Center, and the city mailed 12,640 absentee ballots—a record number for a Minneapolis municipal election. For comparison, the first day in 2021 saw 3,736 ballots mailed. If you’re not registered, you can register and vote early. If you don’t have proof...

Who is the Next Target of the Thought Police? “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” — George Orwell, 1984 Orwell warned that freedom begins with the right to state the obvious. Deny that right, and truth itself collapses. The cancellation of the Jimmy Kimmel show is not just a celebrity headline—it is a signal of how easily commentary ca...

Threat Increases on the Rise The Minnesota Star Tribune reported on several new security measures we can expect if we want to hear high-profile and controversial politicians like Rep. Ilhan Omar speak. Her recent town hall at Elim Lutheran Church in Robbinsdale required bag searches and wanding for weapons before entry. Similar to the heightened security we’ve experienced at airports since 9/11 an...

On Tuesday, September 9, candidates for mayor will gather for a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters. With fifteen candidates in the race, the event provides an opportunity to hear from contenders who have so far received little attention. We are especially interested in how the lesser-known candidates describe their priorities for the city and whether they bring solutions to the discussion...

Taming the Torrent of News The torrent of news has been relentless, and much of it discouraging. In our South Minneapolis neighborhood, trees are wrapped in blue and green ribbons to honor the victims of the Annunciation shooting. Our home is about a mile from the church, and several neighbors sent their children to the school. While the rest of the country will move on, this tragedy will remain c...

Your Voice Matters — Send a 2-Minute Video Early voting for the municipal election begins September 19. You’ll hear plenty from candidates over the next 13 weeks. We’ll be interviewing as many candidates as possible—but we also want candidates to hear from you. Record a short video (up to 2 minutes) telling candidates what they must pay attention to if elected. If you’re comfortable sharing who yo...

Everyone Agrees Encampments Aren’t the Solution When listening to candidates for city office, it’s often hard to tell what—if anything—will change in how Minneapolis addresses homelessness. Nearly everyone agrees that encampments are unsafe for both residents and neighborhoods. The harder question is: what comes next? Most candidates say that more deeply affordable housing is needed. But where sho...

Stoking Controversy One Porch at a Time A new entrant has joined the Ward 10 City Council race. She faces an uphill battle: a late start, little name recognition, and limited funding. Still, incumbent Aisha Chughtai may have given her opponents an opening. At Uptown Porch Fest, Chughtai used a performance by Space Monkey Mafia as a platform to attack Mayor Jacob Frey: “We are going to transform th...

The map is set for this year’s Minneapolis election. As of August 15, fifteen candidates are running for mayor—alongside the DFL contenders are parties or principles with names like Protecting Tomorrow’s Dreams, For the People, Nobody’s Party, Renaissance, Momunist, and Why Not Wagner. Ranked-choice voting (RCV) makes such a crowded field possible. The system allows voters to rank candidates in or...

In this interview with Carol Becker, we cover Minneapolis’s budget process, the political dynamics between the mayor and city council, property tax impacts, and broader housing and transit issues. Carol writes regularly for the Minneapolis Times , and her Star Tribune op-eds often draw significant public reaction. With the mayor’s budget proposal due next week and Metro Transit’s recent performanc...

After-Action Report on June 3 Raid At its August 5 meeting, the City Council reviewed a report from the City Auditor on the June 3 immigration raid at Lake and Bloomington. The report, requested by the council, found that MPD followed the city's separation-of-powers agreement. It also noted a breakdown in communication and recommended the agreement—originally written before the creation of ICE—be...

This podcast is a follow-up to our newsletter, The Appeal of Socialism . Election Updates Since we didn’t have time to produce an audio edition of the newsletter on Sunday, we recorded one this morning instead. We’re finding that more people are listening to the podcast—often more than are reading the written version—so we’ll continue experimenting with the format. In today’s episode, we discuss a...

The Minneapolis DFL continues to show a troubling tolerance for ethical lapses—a tendency perhaps due to its decades-long dominance in city politics. One of the benefits of political competition is that it forces parties, like companies, to reexamine their practices and standards. For example, the party still backs Council Member Jamal Osman—an ally of Omar Fateh—despite both men’s proximity to th...

Summary At approximately 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, State Senator Omar Fateh was endorsed by the Minneapolis DFL for mayor. The vote was conducted by a visual show of badges following a late rules change, introduced by Council Member Aisha Chughtai at approximately 9:10 p.m., to bypass paper ballots. According to the convention's credentials report, total voting strength at the time was 699—c...

Parks Help Cool the City This week’s interview with Paula Chesley was a reminder of how essential our parks have been to our family over the past two decades. On the day we spoke, the temperature was high and remained so for days. Our conversation included how shrinking ice seasons are making skating more difficult, a subtle but telling sign of how climate change is affecting the city. Parks aren’...