Mill City Hall: Minneapolis politics, slightly ground down

The City un-banned bathhouses as part of a Pride month policy agenda. We talk about this ordinance in context of query history, and discuss some of the past city dynamics around regulating business and sex. This is a round-up episode, so we also talked about the latest semi-annual report on Minneapolis Police Department reform progress. In short: not looking good! Recorded 6/24/26.

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As anger at the Big Tech data center boom seems to be boiling across layers of society, data center politics landed in Minneapolis last month. The City Council passed a temporary moratorium - with generous exceptions - on new data centers in the city. We look at some of the data center projects that exist today, and those that appear to be in-progress. How do we think about hyperscale? We also examine the downtown vacancy dilemma, and the challenges and tradeoffs between data center conversions and housing conversions. When and how do data centers make sense in Minneapolis? Recorded 6/10/26.

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Just weeks after Mayor Frey challenged the City Council to support the re-nomination of his Police Chief, that same Chief has resigned under threat of discharge by that same Mayor. It is hard to remember a more dramatic climbdown in recent city politics. But for this Mayor, it is one of a series of high profile public safety hires to end in disappointment. We talk through what was said, speculate on what actually happened, review the last four years of MPD leadership, and talk about what could and should happen next. Stick around past hour two if you want some Rocco Forte talk. Recorded 5/27/26.

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Mayor Frey instructed us to basically get serious in his annual State of the City address. Or to seriously get back to the basics? Whatever the case, it was a somewhat jarring call for goverment to do less after Minneapolis communities went above and beyond to push out ICE. Cam and Jesse talk through the speech, and ask what a parallel address by a more visionary mayor might have sounded like, in this historic moment. We also recap the victory at the Charter Commission. Recorded 5/20/26.

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The vision: build pedestrian and bike safety on 10% of all streets - 450 miles - connected in a grid throughout Chicago. Mill City Hall is in the Windy City this week, and we interviewed Charna Albert and Chris Buie-Gentry from the Chicago Bike Grid, Now! steering committee. Turns out they have built some real momentum, with endorsements from mayoral candidates and legislation moving at the state level. What can we learn this efforts to create a truly systemic solution for active transportation? Recorded 5/11/26.

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Once again the Mpls Charter Commission has proposed to diminish the power of the City Council, this time with confusing amendment language that would strip from the the Council the ability to review a number of high-level city staff appointments. This does not come out of the blue: we trace the lineage of people using the Charter Commission as a decisive instrument of City Father-style politics over the last decade. We also discuss what democracy means to us at the local level, and how that intersects with shifts to government structure and unelected bodies putting a finger on the scale. Recorded 4/29/26.

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There is a spectre haunting the Hennepin County Attorney race... and that spectre is Mary Moriarty... who is NOT running. That leaves a full field of candidates in this open race. We welcome special guest Darcy Sherman, 13-year public defender here in Hennepin. Did you know that this office is considered the largest law firm in the state? We learned what the work looks like behind the scenes, and looked past the platitudes and figure out how to evaluate this hugely powerful position. Recorded 4/15/26.

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A couple of explosive meetings saw a Minneapolis Cop City (or Corner Store) proposed, and then pulled back. Would a one-stop $48m training center - with purpose-built realistic scenario areas and virtual reality rooms - reform our police? Where did this come from, and why now? This proposal will be back, so we dig deep into those and many arguments around them. We also cover the extraordinary open conflict between councilmembers that broke out in these meetings. Skip to 1:53 if you only want the drama! Recorded 3/30/26.

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Three key city leaders will soon be up for re-appointment: the Community Safety Commissioner, the City Attorney, and the City Operations Officer. We delve into their records, including a progress report on police reform that raises big questions. Do you feel safer in Minneapolis? This is a rare opportunity for the public and for City Councilmembers to scrutinize the record and make demands of highly-paid city staff. We also start with an update on the Mayoral veto of the attempt by the council majority to extend the period of time that residents have to catch up on rent, in the wake of the ICE invasion. Recorded 3/12/26.

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The broad impact of the ICE invasion is coming into view as the city, state and researchers attempt to measure it. We talk numbers for arrests, wages, businesses, mental health and more. How are we going to get the help to survive and recover this enormous hit to our social fabric? Increasingly it looks like the weight is on regular people, as demands for an eviction moratorium and meaningful economic aid are being resisted by city conservatives and state GOP, respectively. Who is helping? is the mayor helping himself? and who is just plain against us? Recorded 2/25/26.

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