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This year’s Minneapolis DFL caucuses were very well attended which means there are a lot of first-time delegates at 2025 conventions. Tomorrow’s Ward 10 convention (10 am registration, 11 am start) at Ella Baker School in the Wedge is expected to be hotly contested between Council Member Aisha Chughtai and challenger Lydia Millard. These are my tips for a successful convention. They can also be applied for the upcoming two-day city convention in July.

• Bring everything you might need to stay comfortable on a train trip to Chicago. Water, snacks, medication, an external battery for your phone, and a light jacket if the school auditorium is chilly.
• Don’t make plans for after. Prepare for it to take all day. Nobody knows when this train will stop.
• You’re free to walk around through most of the convention, but if you hear someone with a mic say the “floor will be frozen” it means there’s a vote coming up and you must be back by the time indicated. If not, you’ll be stopped from reentering the convention floor.
• There will be long stretches where nothing seems to be happening. This is normal.
• Long stretches where it seems nothing is happening will be punctuated by brief, intense moments where you’re confused about what’s happening. You are not alone. Wait for it to pass.
• Identify a person or group near you wearing shirts for your candidate, who appear to know what’s going on. You don’t have to speak to them, but if they’re voting a certain way on a question of procedure, do what they do. This is much easier than trying to develop an understanding of parliamentary rules and tactics.
• When you’re finally handed a piece of paper to vote for a candidate, write your candidate’s name and sign the back. If you don’t sign your ballot it won’t be counted. Your signature doesn’t have to be legible.
• The threshold for endorsement in 60%. This could take many rounds of balloting.
• The convention could end with no endorsement, but you should still be proud of yourself for potentially stopping a campaign that hates you and your way of life from winning the day.
• A melee is unlikely but if it does happen, do not participate. Get video.

It’s not one of those tragic anniversaries you can put out of mind until the date comes back around on the calendar. In Minneapolis, we have lived with George Floyd’s murder every day for five years.

And I don’t mean that in a “we must atone for what was done in our name” kind of way. Practically speaking, the trauma, disorder, and disintegration of public safety took something from all of us. As someone who loves this city and knows what it offers at its best, I’ve felt that loss deeply.

Continue reading “June 2, 2020: “Our worst fears realized… They can’t threaten this anymore””

Joint statement from John Edwards and Taylor Dahlin.

Becka Thompson, a candidate for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 12, has obtained subpoenas against us for the production of documents and financial records related to a website critical of her candidacy. We have no financial records to produce because we have nothing to do with the website.

In a separate complaint with the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, Thompson has essentially alleged that we created or are participating in a “conspiracy” involving an unregistered campaign committee that has failed to file financial reports, or provide disclosures on materials critical of her candidacy. This is not true, because we have nothing to do with the website or other materials she objects to.

As independent journalists we know ourselves to be protected by the Minnesota Free Flow of Information Act. We have obtained legal representation to fight the OAH subpoena and the CFB complaint. Any information we have that may point to the identity of the person or persons behind the website was obtained during the normal course of our work. This work is protected by the powerful privilege against disclosure contained in the Act.

Thompson’s CFB complaint also says, “John Edwards, the host of the WedgeLIVE! podcast, and the owner of WedgeLIVE!, called Ms. Thompson, ‘a maniac’, ‘a performer’, and the ‘weirdest, worst member of the Park Board.’” John believes these statements are backed up by the wild narrative in Thompson’s own complaint and will swear by the truthfulness of his comments under penalty of perjury if necessary.

We believe Thompson, currently an elected official serving on the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, is abusing this process to harass independent journalists for critical things we have said under our own names and on our own platforms. We look forward to engaging with OAH and CFB’s processes to prove Thompson’s claims are completely baseless.

You can read our motion to quash and other documents in the OAH case below.

Thompson v. Doe, OAH File No. 28-0325-40782

• Becka Thompson’s OAH Complaint
• OAH Order for Subpoenas
• Our Motion to Quash OAH Subpoenas
• Becka Thompson’s CFB Complaint

Late last week, MPD Chief Brian O’Hara was quoted in the conservative NY Post for an article whose purpose seemed to be bashing Minneapolis: “Here it’s very, very ideological and a lot of times it’s like reality and facts can’t get through the filter.”

Why is O’Hara so frustrated? An MPD press release clarified his meaning: “policing in the city has become overly politicized, making it difficult to even discuss the need for effective and adequately resourced police…”

Funding the police has been difficult to even discuss?

How does that square with the reality of O’Hara’s time in Minneapolis? The City Council has approved large annual increases to MPD’s budget, which now stands at $229 million. That’s $50 million higher than when O’Hara became chief in 2022. The historic raises approved by the council in 2024 made officers the highest paid big city cops in the country.

Chief O'Hara's recent public comments are confusing to me, except if we understand the role of police chief as reinforcing the mayor's campaign themes. He's been given all the resources he could need, political support, largely glowing media coverage. I do not get the resentment.

— Wedge LIVE!™ (@wedge.live) 2025-05-22T04:12:15.940Z

MPD is so well-resourced that slashing items like the horse police have had no effect. They found enough money in the couch cushions to keep horses on the street. Another frequent knock against certain council members is that they failed to put more money in MPD’s social media recruitment campaign. What’s not mentioned is the $289,000 in leftover funding from 2024, waiting to be spent.

Continue reading “Minneapolis 2025: An Election More Polluted With Garbage Than Ever”

Tensions are high in the lakes area of Minneapolis, home to many of the city’s wealthiest residents. But it’s not all bad news: I became Officially Minnesotan™ after I saw a man shove Walter Mondale’s son, Bill Mondale, at Saturday’s Ward 7 DFL Convention.

On stage in a Bryn Mawr school auditorium, midway through the convention, Minneapolis Council Member Katie Cashman tried to ease tensions and win over the crowd by touting the fact she voted for the new police union contract in 2024. An indignant man called out that she was lying. And my friend Hot Dog Larry Jacobs (aka Jason Garcia) had to assure him, yes, Cashman really did vote for that contract. But the man wasn’t buying it.

That’s right, a local media figure best known for wearing a hot dog costume on YouTube has a firmer grasp on reality than your average high-income, high-information(?) lakes area convention-goer. It’s gotten so bad that my friend in Ward 7, a former girl scout, clips articles before leaving home in order to combat misinformation.

Continue reading ““I Saw a Man Shove Walter Mondale’s Son”: A Harshening of the Vibes in Minneapolis Ward 7″

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?”