Wedge LIVE!

With the City Council candidate filing deadline elapsing while we recorded this episode (5 pm on August 15), John is joined by google docs maven Josh Martin (@JoshMartinMpls) for a rundown of Minneapolis Election Battlegrounds. Please get in your car and drive to the nearest interstate on-ramp, because this episode is performed in the style of Drive Time Radio. We're paying special attention t...

In this episode we go behind the music with the organizers of the Uptown Porchfest, aka Wedgestock Music Festival. John talks to Lisa Martelly and Amy Goldstein about how they managed to book 29 bands for one day of free musical performances happening on porches, yards, and driveways across the Wedge neighborhood -- and the steps they're taking to make sure nobody's yard gets peed in. We t...

John's conversation with Alex Burns of Our Streets Minneapolis about the ongoing debate over what to do with I-94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul, which Our Streets says is a "once in a lifetime opportunity to repair a terrible injustice." With the DOT's inclusion of boulevard conversions among the 10 possible alternatives for reconstruction, advocates for freeway removal have s...

John is joined by Bill Lindeke, author, MinnPost columnist, prolific tweeter, and lecturer in Urban Studies at the University of Minnesota, for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Read Bill's books: Closing Time: Saloons, Taverns, Dives, and Watering Holes of the Twin Cities - https://www.moonpalacebooks.com/item/1SqnOF0xZ8uTTlewBdbU_A St. Paul: An Urban Biogr...

The results are in: the new 3-lane Lyndale Avenue is a big improvement over the 4-lane version. Data collected by Hennepin County regarding their pilot project are impressive. But if you've spent any time walking, biking, driving, just living near Lyndale from Franklin to Lake, you didn't need numbers to convince you. Crashes are down by more than half, pedestrian crossings have nearly dou...

John's conversation with Council Member Andrew Johnson, who is calling it quits after 10 years of representing Ward 12 in Minneapolis. We talk about the wildly successful nationally-heralded Wedge LIVE cat tour, wisdom gleaned from a decade of service, public safety, rent stabilization, and whether it's appropriate to talk through an excel spread. We also commiserate about back pain. Be su...

John's conversation with Council Member Robin Wonsley, who's running for re-election to the Minneapolis City Council in Ward 2. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/wedgelive Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

There's a saying that sometimes one man's trash is still another man's trash. That other man is Henry LaBounta of the East Isles neighborhood. On land or in the lakes, Henry is picking up trash. Whether he's walking his dog on Hennepin Ave, out in his kayak on Lake of the Isles, or donning waders at the shoreline, he's filling up buckets and buckets of garbage. Discarded fast f...

Luna Zeidner was campaign manager for Sheila Nezhad's 2021 run for Minneapolis mayor. But where did she go? What did she learn? And where is she now? John and Luna rehash painful memories from 2021 and its fallout; talk about why she felt the need to take a step back; and explore how she's reengaging in politics, finding hope in the present, and trying to fall in love with Minneapolis all...

Three people who attended last Saturday's Minneapolis DFL Ward 10 convention give their firsthand experience of what it was like when Nasri Warsame's campaign stormed the stage and forced Council Member Aisha Chughtai's delegation of supporters out the back door. John Edwards (delegate in precinct 10-1) is joined by Josh Martin (citizen journalist who was seated in the visitors section...

Forest Eidbo was elected to the city council in Crystal, Minnesota in 2022. He was inspired to run for the part-time, $600/month position after his council member voted against a resolution supporting Pride Month. We talk about all the familiar local issues from a suburban perspective -- streets, stop signs, trash, property taxes, trees, public safety, and the surprising volume of constituent phon...

John and Josh Martin have teamed up for the 2023 city election year to cover Minneapolis DFL conventions in all 13 wards. In this episode we recap what's happened so far (aside from Ward 5, whose convention endorsed incumbent Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw after we recorded). What did we learn in wards 3 and 12? Why was the Ward 5 convention cancelled? Josh takes his pundit hat off in Ward 8 (h...

John's conversation with Marcus Mills, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 3. Marcus is also the winner of a recent contest and the prize was coming on the Wedge LIVE podcast. Congratulations, Marcus. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/wedgelive Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kaspe...

For this very important episode about transit funding, John has a conversation with Peter Wagenius, legislative director at the Sierra Club North Star Chapter. You may have heard about the Minnesota House version of a transportation bill that passed with a .75% metro area sales tax. Peter explains why a sales tax targeted at the metro area is the smart way to fund transit and how legislative inact...

John's conversation with Council Member Elliott Payne, who's running for re-election to the Minneapolis City Council in Ward 1. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/wedgelive Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

John's conversation with Jonathon Stalls, author of "Walk: Slow Down, Wake Up, and Connect at 1-3 Miles Per Hour." It's a book about the power of walking: for physical, mental, and community health; to forge human connection; as a force for creativity; as a way to stay connected to nature; and as a human right that needs to be defended politically. Join Jonathon for a book talk a...

John's conversation with Council Member Aisha Chughtai, who's running for re-election to the Minneapolis City Council in Ward 10. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/wedgelive Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

John is joined by Melody Hoffmann from Southwest Voices for a conversation about the city's last minute changes to the Bryant Ave South reconstruction project. Other topics: a shortage of farmers markets, money in local politics, the latest outrages affecting the people of the lakes area, a dramatic reading of comments from the Bryant Avenue reconstruction meeting, and Melody's vegetable c...

John's conversation with Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, who's running for re-election to the Minneapolis City Council in Ward 5. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/wedgelive Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

In an episode inspired by Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges, John is joined by Andi Snow of SWOP Mpls (Sex Workers Outreach Project) for a conversation about sex work, the distinction between sex work and "trafficking," and the policy agenda her group is advocating for here in Minneapolis and across the state of Minnesota. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation:...

John is joined by Jason Garcia and Taylor Dahlin for a fond look back at more than 100 episodes of the Wedge LIVE podcast - and a look forward at some of the challenges facing Minneapolis in this year's city council election. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/wedgelive Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony...

John's conversation with Katie Cashman, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 7. Watch: https://youtube.com/wedgelive Join the conversation: https://twitter.com/wedgelive Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

John's conversation with Kate Mortenson, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 13. Incumbent Ward 13 Council Member Linea Palmisano has been invited on the podcast and is welcome anytime. You don't have to wait until November to have an impact. Minneapolis DFL precinct caucuses are happening citywide on March 14. Get out there and become the only kind of person these candi...

Today's episode features John's conversation with Soren Stevenson, who's running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 8. In the coming weeks, we hope to schedule a conversation with City Council President Andrea Jenkins, who is running for reelection in Ward 8. You don't have to wait until November to have an impact. Minneapolis DFL precinct caucuses are happening citywide on March 14. Get ou...

John spends significant portions of this episode unsuccessfully goading Conrad Zbikowski, Ward 3 candidate for Minneapolis City Council, into attacking his opponent, incumbent Michael Rainville. We talk about public safety failures, Conrad's unapologetically pro-housing agenda, rent control, homeless encampment response, zoning for complete neighborhoods where everyone has a grocery store, Conrad'...