John has a conversation with Andrea Larson, former deputy city coordinator with the city of Minneapolis. Andrea spent six years in the city coordinator's office, and has overseen teams working to develop alternatives to traditional police response. This is work that began at City Council direction in the years prior to George Floyd's murder. The planning work is well underway, and includes the 911/MPD work group that analyzed which 911 calls the city could respond to without a police response. Andrea describes how well the city's 911 operators correctly code calls as violent vs. non-violent. She talks about how the city's alternative response and violence prevention work is increasingly spread across seven departments. While we often focus on which elected officials a given department is accountable to, we overlook "the implications of having this [public safety] work spread across multiple department heads." She says what troubles her about the current debate is the lack of focus on what Question 2 is really about: the way city government is structured. What needs to be put in place shortly after (and if) Question 2 passes is the appointment of an interim commissioner of public safety and an organizational chart. We go over the common concerns: Can't we do this without a charter change? What's the problem with housing these non-police functions under MPD or in a newly created department in the coordinator's office? Will it fire the chief? Will it abolish police? We talk about how the current charter's minimum staffing requirement denies budget flexibility to shift money to alternatives that are capable of doing work formerly handled by MPD. She explains her conflicted feelings on Question 1 (strong mayor). John asks about the bizarre situation of MPD Chief Arradondo -- in uniform at a press conference put together with city staff and resources -- campaigning against Question 2 and chastising the council for not having a plan. Months earlier, the work of producing an org chart was cut short by the city attorney's office, who warned the city council to back off, because it would amount to engaging in politics in favor of Question 2. Andrea says, "The people we're not hearing from, and the people I worry about leaving" are the talented staff doing the change work around public safety. We don't hear about how difficult their work is or what would make their jobs easier.

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