We're back in Saint Paul for a ride on the notorious Summit Avenue. Chris Smith is my guide as we try to answer the dumbest question plaguing street reconstruction projects across the Twin Cities: Can bike and tree coexist? It turns out they definitely can. We talk about the potential for a lawsuit to stop a new bike trail; explain that the trees aren't threatened by the bike trail (the real threat is the deep digging to replace infrastructure); why the street and the underground infrastructure (sewer and other utilities) need to be fully reconstructed; why Summit is a vital bike connection for both Saint Paul and Minneapolis; and what inspired Chris to get political about transportation and making streets safer for people on bikes and pedestrians -- just trying to get around the city without a car.

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We're live at Cedar Lake's south beach for a conversation about the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board allowing some of the wealthiest residents in the city to get away with privatizing the public lakefront on the southeast section of Cedar Lake. Why? Because they're rich as hell. I'm joined by Jake Werner, someone who's spent a long time keeping tabs on the issue and being very pissed off about it. We talk about the history going back to the first Cedar Lake "temporary" encroachments in 1938. By the end of the episode we climb over all obstacles, scale a rock wall, and unfurl a banner to reclaim Cedar Lake for the people.

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We're headed to Saint Paul for conversations with all four candidates to fill the vacant Ward 4 seat on the City Council. Our guest for this episode is Carolyn Will. Special election is August 12, 2025.

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Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

It's the inaugural Minneapolis Truck Parade, hosted by Taylor Dahlin and John Edwards. Big trucks, little trucks, honking trucks, police trucks, horse trailers, fire trucks, street sweepers, rental trucks, Plowy McPlowFace, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, Mayor Jacob Frey, Latrisha Vetaw, Michael Rainville, are just a few of today's special guests. You've never heard parade commentary interrupted by so much honking.

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We're headed to Saint Paul for conversations with all four candidates to fill the vacant Ward 4 seat on the City Council. Our guest for this episode is Chauntyll Allen. Special election is August 12, 2025.

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Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

We're headed to Saint Paul for conversations with all four candidates to fill the vacant Ward 4 seat on the City Council. Our guest for this episode is Molly Coleman. Special election is August 12, 2025.

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Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee

We're headed to Saint Paul for conversations with all four candidates to fill the vacant Ward 4 seat on the City Council. Our guest for this episode is Cole Hanson. Special election is August 12, 2025.

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We're talking about the saga of Saint Paul's Summit Ave with Melissa Wenzel. I mean it's one street, Melissa. How much controversy could it inspire? Turns out, an endless amount. Lies about bikes threatening trees; a misunderstanding of why streets are reconstructed (it's about infrastructure deep underground as well as on top); and the bottomless bank accounts of some very wealthy neighbors. It all means they could potentially tie this project up in court for years. We talk about why the Summit Ave controversy will look silly in retrospect to future generations who take all its benefits for granted.

Read more about Melissa and her work as a board member of Sustain Saint Paul: https://www.sustainstpaul.org/melissa-wenzel

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I'm joined by my authoritative bald-headed friend Josh Martin and Taylor Dahlin (aka Rondi Arradondi) for an examination of the wildest, weirdest Minneapolis DFL convention in recent memory. Omar Fateh is your DFL endorsed candidate for mayor. This convention hit so hard that the most normal thing to happen all day was Scott Graham (congressional district 5 DFL chair) getting kicked out of for allegedly calling a Jewish arena worker a "Nazi" after Graham attempted to smuggle food into the arena. Electronic balloting difficulties, delay tactics, and a mind-numbing series of speeches from 20 park board hopefuls took the convention to the 11th hour before everything fell into place for mayoral challenger Omar Fateh and a slate of progressive, union-backed park board candidates. Helping things along was a disastrous strategic decision from Mayor Frey's campaign to pull all their delegates in a last ditch attempt to deny quorum (or simply cast a cloud over the legitimacy of the proceedings). This tactical decision devastated the chances of a bunch of park board candidates who are Frey's ostensible allies -- because his campaign pulled their delegates from the convention, all of the remaining park board endorsement votes went against the Frey faction. One of the DFL endorsed candidates for park board, Jason Garcia, joins us in this episode.

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John is joined by David Brauer for an assessment of this year's campaign for mayor of Minneapolis as we head into this weekend's Minneapolis DFL convention. We also discuss key city council races and who David likes for Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board.

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Wedge LIVE theme song by Anthony Kasper x LaFontsee