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's campaign strategy (bring in new people or focus on reliable caucus-goers?), and much more.

Most importantly, here are John's preferred lines of attack on Michael Rainville:

Michael Rainville spent the 1990s building his credentials as a  neighborhood leader by tossing the possessions of homeless people into  the Mississippi River (as reported in the Star Tribune). After a  particularly chaotic and violent July 4 in 2022, Council Member  Rainville told a white audience he was going to a Mosque to scold Somali  elders about the behavior of their children, without regard for the  fact he had no idea whether any of their children were actually  involved. He bragged to the same audience about his February vote  against funding the Office of Violence Prevention. While emphasizing the  need to hold OVP accountable, Rainville has repeatedly cast doubt on  the findings of the Minnesota Department of Human rights regarding MPD's  racist and abusive policing practices. While serving as the City  Council representative to the Minneapolis Planning Commission in 2022,  Rainville delayed approval of a Hennepin County affordable housing  project and raised crime as a reason to oppose it. Rainville has been  described by David Brauer as a "sentient Minneapolis Police Federation  door decal." (barely sentient?)

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We're at the next step of 2040 Plan implementation in Minneapolis. This time it's not about the scary things like density and building height. At the risk of oversimplifying, this isn't about how big you can build a given property, but about what that property is used for. Is this neighborhood solely residential? Are commercial uses allowed? If yes, what kind? Dry cleaning? Child care? How many square feet? What about parking lots? 

Planners at the City of Minneapolis have put forward a proposal to match the objectives that were laid out in the city's long range plan five years ago. John is joined by Brit Anbacht and Evan Roberts, two volunteers from the group Neighbors for More Neighbors (of which John is also a co-founder), to talk about the changes we need to make to our zoning code in order to create complete neighborhoods -- places where a grocery store, a coffee shop, or a haircut, is a 5 minute walk instead of a 15 minute drive. They praise the draft proposal for having 50% more commercially zoned land than we had before, but say that going from 3% to 4.5% isn't enough. Brit laments the fact that a gas station is their only source for walkable groceries; and suggests that if we're going to allow a 4-6 story apartment building on a transit route, it should include an option for ground floor retail. As we add population, we should be allowing spaces that meet basic human needs closer to where we live. Evan talks about the American tendency to use zoning to over-segregate uses in a way that reinforces car-dependency; and asks why the zoning code should favor churches over other uses? John makes fun of Evan's accent. Do all New Zealanders speak in a way that makes everything sound like a sexually oriented use ("sixplex" sounds like "sexplex" and "pawn shop" sounds like "porn shop")?

The comment period for this phase ends March 26. The city's survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FMGPJ33

In addition to this survey, please contact your council members before and after the comment deadline. The actual council vote may not happen for several months.

The proposed land use rezoning map: https://minneapolis2040.com/implementation/land-use-rezoning-study/

The proposed land use table: https://minneapolis2040.com/media/1927/lurs-uses-allowed-table-draft-handout.pdf

All of this and future updates can be found on https://minneapolis2040.com

Get updates from Neighbors for More Neighbors: https://moreneighbors.org/blog/

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John is joined by former TV weatherman Aaron Shaffer (@AShafferWX) for a conversation about the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board's long term plan for the area around Cedar Lake and Lake of the Isles (Cedar-Isles). We talk bathroom politics; rain gardens and water quality; scarce pedestrian space; ADA accessibility; the fate of the  trails through the wooded northeast corner of Cedar Lake; two-way bike   routes; commuter traffic vs recreation; and the far-too-wide parkways  devoted to car traffic that make it so much harder to implement fixes to  the aforementioned safety and environmental issues. John suggests that,  instead of fighting over these things during every planning process for  corner of the park system, the MPRB should develop consistent policies (similar to the city's transportation action plan and street design  guide) that set expectations for how parkways, bikeways, and pedstrian  trails are designed. We also talk about the terrible process (the CAC or "community advisory committee") that MPRB uses for public engagement  which tends to limit feedback to a select few who show up to three hour meetings week after week.

Read the guide Aaron created to know which are the key issues to comment on: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yJ5rr2vFrLmoNVGY8KGb0CiNL20IYPpt5SICPhriux0/edit?usp=sharing

With zero degree weather having cancelled our plans for winter sports, John and lifestyle producer Paula Chesley head indoors to spend time with award winning cats at the Saintly City Cat Club's 45th Annual Championship & Household Pet Cat Show. We hear the stories of cat show participants from all over the country, visit with a few vendors, Paula becomes notorious on the convention hall for spilling soup on a grand champion, and we witness the crowning of the king and queen of cats. That's right -- not only does the St. Paul Winter Carnival crown a human king and queen, they also crown a king and queen of the cats. 

https://www.saintlycitycatclub.org/cat-show

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It's an election year in Minneapolis. All 13 wards are voting for who  will represent them on the City Council. With incumbent Andrew Johnson  leaving office, there's an open seat in Ward 12. I had conversations  with three of the candidates vying to replace him: Aurin Chowdhury,  Jerome T. Evans, and Luther Ranheim. We talked about public safety,  police accountability, housing and zoning, rent control, transportation  and much more.

It's an election year in Minneapolis. All 13 wards are voting for who  will represent them on the City Council. With incumbent Andrew Johnson  leaving office, there's an open seat in Ward 12. I had conversations  with three of the candidates vying to replace him: Aurin Chowdhury,  Jerome T. Evans, and Luther Ranheim. We talked about public safety,  police accountability, housing and zoning, rent control, transportation  and much more.

It's an election year in Minneapolis. All 13 wards are voting for who  will represent them on the City Council. With incumbent Andrew Johnson  leaving office, there's an open seat in Ward 12. I had conversations with three of the candidates vying to replace him: Aurin Chowdhury,  Jerome T. Evans, and Luther Ranheim. We talked about public safety,  police accountability, housing and zoning, rent control, transportation  and much more.

John is joined by Wedge LIVE lifestyle producer Paula Chesley for a special miniseries featuring the stories of real people, not just surviving, but thriving through a Minneapolis winter. This time we're featuring the artists and participants in the Art Shanty Projects. Music, meditation, climate awareness, winter fashion, froga (frozen yoga), bathwater ice sculpting -- this episode has something for everyone.

You can see the Art Shanty Projects at the Lake Harriet bandshell Saturdays and Sundays January 21 – February 12, 2023, 10am-4pm. For more information: https://artshantyprojects.org/

With city councils in both Minneapolis and St. Paul on the ballot in  2023, John has a conversation with St. Paul Councilmember Mitra Jalali  about the issues that will define this election year. What is the  conversation we should be having on public safety? What accounts for the  different approach and results in the Twin Cities when it comes to  homeless encampments? Are there lessons for Minneapolis in the St. Paul  rent control experience? We talk about how Mitra's relationship to the  internet has changed since her first election in 2018, how to get beyond  empty campaign rhetoric, and the reality check candidates should give  themselves before running for office. Plus, a discussion of what John is  calling perhaps the most well-crafted issues section on a local  candidate website that he has ever seen:  https://mitrajalali.com/community-issues

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John is joined by Grammy-nominated transportation organizer José Antonio  Zayas Cabán (Our Streets Minneapolis) for a conversation about the push  for municipal sidewalk clearing. In a northern city with significant  annual snowfall every winter, how seriously do we take our commitment  that each of our neighbors should get where they're going with bodies  unbroken? We talk about the cost to do it right, the skepticism, what it  looks like in other places, why the city council voted down funding for  a pilot project in the 2023 budget, and the impact to the city's  transportation and climate goals if we accept the failed and dangerous  status quo. We finish the episode by congratulating José on his Grammy  nomination and talk about some of his musical inspirations, including  his experience as a young pedestrian growing up in Puerto Rico. 

About Montreal's sidewalk clearing program: https://montreal.ca/en/topics/snow-removal-sidewalks-and-streets  

Our Streets Minneapolis' push for municipal snow removal: https://www.ourstreetsmpls.org/muni_sidewalk_plowing  

José's Grammy nominated work: http://joseantonio-zayascaban.com/release/el-pais-invisible/  

Recommendations:

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