John is joined by Yasmin Hirsi and Alex Burns of Our Streets Minnesota for a conversation in reaction to the Minnesota Department of Transportation announcing they will not include interstate removal as one of five options for further study when it comes to the future of I-94. We talk about the "up is down, black is white" analysis MnDOT is using (Urban interstate removal causes more air and noise pollution? Urban interstate removal is more dangerous for people biking, walking, and driving? What?).

A recent former commissioner of MnDOT characterized the construction of I-94 this way: “we would never, we could never, build that kind of atrocity today." The historic harms, the racist effect and intent, the ongoing pollution, health and economic impact to people who had no say over I-94's construction or its imminent reconstruction, the flaws in MnDOT's analysis -- are well documented. So how come removal doesn't make the cut for further study?

Our Streets Minnesota is asking people to get involved and contact state and local officials:

https://www.ourstreetsmn.org/2024/12/20/mndot-plans-on-eliminating-boulevard-options-ignoring-elected-officials-and-community/

Recent coverage:

"Little ‘Rethinking’ Went into Rethinking I-94"

https://streets.mn/2024/12/30/little-rethinking-went-into-rethinking-i-94/

"Rethinking Interstate 94 traffic modeling and the status quo"

https://www.minnpost.com/cityscape/2024/12/rethinking-interstate-94-traffic-modeling-and-the-status-quo/

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John is joined by Melody Hoffmann from southwestvoices.news for a rundown of 2024's top local stories. Part 2 of 2.

John is joined by Melody Hoffmann from southwestvoices.news for a rundown of 2024's top local stories. Part 1 of 2.

Join the conversation: https://bsky.app/profile/wedge.live

Support the show: https://patreon.com/wedgelive

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Because way too much local news is happening all at once, John is joined by Josh Martin for an Emergency Episode. We take up urgent issues like the Minneapolis City Council adopting a budget for 2025 - overriding Mayor Frey's veto in the process; Council Member Vetaw horsing around while accusing others of being "unserious"; Josh discloses a conflict of interest; John admits his embarrassment at how excited he was by Council Member Emily Koski's mayoral campaign announcement speech; and we look ahead to 2025 city council candidates, including the weirdest elected official in Minneapolis, Becka Thompson, announcing she will run for office in a place that is not the part of the city she currently represents on the Park Board.

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Sen. Omar Fateh is running for mayor of Minneapolis. We talk about his record in the state legislature, the state rideshare law he helped pass, public safety, homelessness, the case against Mayor Frey, and what it's like to be a super chill low-key guy.

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We're covering some of 2024's biggest Minneapolis stories in a special crossover episode hosted by Jay Boller and Em Cassel of the Racket Cast podcast. John Edwards is usually your host, but today he's just a guest alongside Taylor Dahlin and Hot Dog Larry Jacobs himself, Jason Garcia -- who spends the whole episode in a hot dog costume.

Thanks to Jay and Em of Racket for hosting, and Jay for editing this episode. Visit racketmn.com for more.

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John is joined by Taylor Dahlin and Ryan Brown for an uncomfortable Thanksgiving conversation about the state of the online world. John and Taylor have been doing double duty on both bluesky and twitter in recent weeks. Ryan wonders if he'll ever post again, as he tries to figure out what he wants from social media. We talk about the ups and downs of both platforms and try to convince Ryan to join us on bluesky as soon as possible. Plus, John wonders why his police chief pec popping video didn't get traction on either platform; and responds to Adam Platt's sorrowful parting shot at migrants to bluesky. And Taylor mercilessly attacks the people and culture of bluesky, while John only sees a vibrant and growing local community of posters.

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Because our broadcast signal does occasionally bleed across the river, John is joined by Garrison McMurtrey, a candidate for a seat on the Ramsey County Board that controls an annual budget in excess of $800 million. We talk about the challenge local governments face under a second Trump administration, streets, health care, housing, homelessness, transit, and more.

The special election for the district 3 seat in Ramsey County is happening on February 11, 2025.

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Council Member Linea Palmisano takes me on a bike tour of the future E Line bus rapid transit route through Ward 13 (about a quarter of the total route). We talk about the exciting prospect of a 17 minute bus ride from Linden Hills to downtown, the pain of street infrastructure upgrades for local business in her ward, her thoughts on the Davis Moturi shooting and MPD Chief Brian O'Hara's initial reaction, the City Council's worsening relationship with Mayor Frey, and a look ahead at next year's city election.

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My conversation with Cody Fischer - whose company Footprint Development builds small-scale, sustainable, multi-family housing - about imminent changes to the City of Minneapolis's 4d tax incentive program for affordable housing. We also talk about unique energy efficiency features he puts into his buildings and how the 4d program makes those possible. Plus an update on "single stair" building legalization in Minnesota.

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