The Wedge Times-Picayune

One reason cities and park boards adopt long range plans: if the unexpected opportunity to rebuild a park comes up, you’re ready to go. A plan is already on the shelf waiting.

When it comes to the Mall in Uptown, the opportunity is now. The Met Council is doing sewer work. They’re digging up the ground and will put it back together however the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board wants. They pay, we get a new park. It’s effectively free money, from MPRB’s perspective.

But that’s not happening. The MPRB voted last night to abandon their long range plan and have the Met Council rebuild the park as is. How could this happen?

It’s a tale as old as time: parking anxiety masquerading as concerns about emergency vehicles.

Continue reading “Pretend Concerns Over Fire Safety Doom Plan for Added Green Space at Uptown’s Mall Park”

Streets and parking. We may frequently divert to conversations about crime, housing, and homelessness – but local politics always come back to streets and parking.

As host of the Wedge neighborhood’s #1 rated podcast, I’ve been forced to listen to some of the worst transportation arguments that have ever been made, especially during my conversations with this year’s candidates for city council.

Over the last decade I’ve been pleased to see Minneapolis make strides towards building streets that are friendlier to bikes, pedestrians, and transit riders. Will that hard-won progress continue? Or will we surrender to the backlash?

Some of the most common complaints:

• people drive
• lots of people drive
• most people drive
• everyone drives
• we need parking
• I like bikes, but not here
• the greenway is great, why can’t you use that?
• no fucking bumpouts!

The following is my response to your transportation concerns.

Continue reading “Caucus Night Reminder: Nothing Is More Political Than Our Streets”

Once upon a time, in a bustling city, there was a heated debate about a proposed bike lane that would require removing a large, beautiful tree. Two women came before the wise King Wedgemon, claiming they were deeply concerned about the fate of the tree.

Continue reading “Settling the Eternal Bikes vs. Trees Debate: The Wisdom of King Wedgemon”

In 2021, the local chamber of commerce types who spent millions on Mayor Jacob Frey’s reelection and to boost a ballot question giving Frey strong mayor powers, argued that Minneapolis needed clear lines of authority and accountability. If everyone was in charge, then nobody was in charge. In order to ensure there could be no doubt who to hold responsible in cases of failure, they said voters deserved a strong mayor. Now we have one.

Four years later, and even the best journalism our city can produce about a dysfunctional, mismanaged, possibly corrupt city department — responsible for millions in public safety spending — frequently does not mention Mayor Jacob Frey’s name.

Continue reading “Mayor Jacob Frey is in charge — right?”

It’s been a rough handful of years, Minneapolis. And if recent events in our nation’s capital have you doubting how much longer we’ll still have a country, I understand. It makes for yet another city election year during troubled times.

It was eight years ago during the chaotic and traumatic first year of a Trump presidency that we elected what was, at that point, the most progressive and diverse City Council in our history. That same year we elected a young and energetic new mayor, Jacob Frey, who’d spent one term as a council member.

That 2017 campaign in was flavored by a reaction to the threat posed by Trump. It was an outlet for pent up political energy. Council incumbent Kevin Reich spoke of “accelerated national concerns” and dismissed the local political mood as activists mindlessly pursuing “change for change’s sake.” Lisa Goodman, facing a serious challenger for the first time after 20 years in office, called it a “twisted purification ritual” to spend “time, energy and money” running a campaign in a safe DFL district like hers.

Continue reading “Minneapolis faces yet another city election during troubled times”

On Wednesday, KSTP called it “a decision that could change the entire business landscape” in Minneapolis — “a government body overseeing wages, benefits, and training” and “enforce requirements concerning wages and benefits.”

Sounds ominous — but none of it is true.

They were talking about a proposed Labor Standards Board in Minneapolis, which would replace the city’s existing Workplace Advisory Committee. The proposal, like dozens of other city advisory boards and committees, wouldn’t oversee or enforce anything. It would not have real power. It would study issues and offer recommendations. The city council has no obligation to accept its recommendations and pass their ideas into legislation.

Continue reading “I’m Freaking Out Over the Minneapolis Labor Standards Board”

Yesterday’s Chief O’Hara press conference had everything. He blamed a victim for getting shot; blamed those critical of police for making MPD’s job too hard; blamed prosecutors for making police scared to do their jobs; and he pissed off Council Member Andrea Jenkins so badly that she’s demanding the police — who we “pay a lot of money” — to “do their job.”

Continue reading “Chief O’Hara Spreads the Blame in Bonkers Press Conference”

A reader tipped me off that Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara and Metro Transit’s former Police Chief Ernest Morales have wikipedia pages created by the same editor. Both pages were created in early 2023 and read like promotional material. Wikipedia does allow for paid editing but “does not allow promotion, advertising, marketing or public relations.”

Continue reading “Local Police Chiefs Enlisted IT Consultant to Create Their Wikipedia Pages”

Lisa Goodman’s seven terms on the Minneapolis City Council ended on Jan 1. Less than nine months later, she’s back at city hall. She started a new job Monday as the director of initiatives and partnerships — a new position created specifically for her.

What new things does a former council member who represented both Uptown and downtown since 1998 have to teach us about Minneapolis revitalization? We’re about to find out.

In Goodman’s 26 years on the city council she was known for wielding great power as chair of committees controlling economic development cash, being an unreserved police booster, and being a foe of safe streets and alternative transportation (she was the lone vote against the Transportation Action Plan).

This City Pages story from 2009 has all the Goodman classics: guiding development towards her friends and getting the city sued; threatening to defund a neighborhood group for not letting her use their email list; and going to great — possibly corrupt — lengths to help her dear friends build a wood-burning energy plant in the Phillips neighborhood.

One of Goodman’s last acts in her old job last December was to vote on the city’s 2024 budget that created her new job. The annual pay of $156,000 is roughly 140 percent of her old salary as a council member.

In an email last Friday, deputy city operations officer Brette Hjelle described Goodman as a “creative thinker with a penchant for bringing people together to get things done.” He said Goodman was hired after a months-long “rigorous and thorough interview process.”

But that can’t be true — I was told on Feb 1 that she’d be given this job. I posted about it four days later. That’s not enough time for a thorough, rigorous, months-long process.

Continue reading “Frey admin brings Lisa Goodman back to city hall; lies about having months-long, “rigorous and thorough” hiring process”