John is joined by co-host Jason Garcia for a conversation with Aisha Chughtai, who's running for Minneapolis City Council. We start with an inappropriate degree of fawning from an uninvited special guest. Aisha wants to know how long this show will go (we have no good answers). Aisha talks about balancing work and running for office as she enters the heart of the campaign. And what it's like to be a running as a woman of color during an intense, sometimes angry, time in our city. What's her vision for public safety? How to campaign in an ideologically and racially diverse place like Ward 10? What's she hearing from voters? What are some campaign metrics, money, volunteers, etc? As with most episodes, we talk about the self-induced disintegration of MPD. John gets heated over the strong mayor charter amendment (or "mayoral power grab") and misinformation in the local news ecosystem. Do voters know the mayor has full control over MPD? Aisha says largely no. We talk about housing, the 2040 plan, rent control. What do we do about terrible streets like Lyndale and Hennepin Avenues? Aisha talks about her labor priorities if elected. John forces Aisha to say one nice thing about each of her Ward 10 competitors (special bonus round featuring Park Board President Jono Cowgill's hair). Jason wants to know about favorite Ward 10 restaurants and bars. John reminisces about bike lane protests of yesteryear. We close out the episode talking about the joys of turtlenecks and Aisha's other recommendations.


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