About Mill City Hall
Mill City Hall is a podcast that covers Minneapolis politics, city government,and the policy ideas that can make life better - or worse - for regular folks. We lean on decades of experience inside and outside of local government in order to bring clarity to the process of making change in our city.
(Mill City is an old nickname for Minneapolis)
Our goal is to offer an independent progerssive perspective that is hopeful and critical. Folks deserve to know what works and what doesn't, without the pieties and shibboleths. We believe deeply in participatory democracy and the power of individual agency and responsibility.
So much of "politics" is wrapped up in reactive partisan identity, and waiting for Team Blue or Team Red to save us in the next election. At the local level you can impact our community life directly. The battle lines can be a little less clear, and there is still plenty of bullshit: but that's where we aim to help.
The Hosts
Cam Gordon
Cam served as a Green Party member of the Minneapolis City Council for 16 years, after years of independent organizing. His office was a beacon of steadfast progressive policy work, pushing forward new ideas whether there was a tailwind or not.
On the council he was Minority Leader, and chaired the Health, Energy, Environment and Housing Committees as well as the Minneapolis Youth Coordinating Board. Among the large body of work done as Council Member, he is most often recognized for leadership on issues of racial equity, housing, civic participation, public health, environmental sustainability, transportation, clean energy, violence prevention and youth development.
Cam was born in Minneapolis and contineus to be a long-term resident of the Seward neighborhood. His background includes experience as a teacher in the Montessori model of education, as well as running a small business. He was a co-founder of the Green Party of Minnesota and organized for years prior to winning office.
Cam publishes a monthly column in Southside Pride.
Jesse Mortenson
Jesse has participated in local politics as an activist in Saint Paul and Minneapolis for over 20 years. He has knocked on doors and collected signatures for any number of campaigns, including the 2021 campaign for a public safety transformation charter amendment and the campaign for a $15 minimum wage.
As a committed participant in the Black Lives Matter movement, he protested, camped outside the Minneapolis Police's 4th Precinct building after officers killed Jamar Clark. He spent a weekend in jail after protesting the police murder of Philando Castile. Jesse also served as a core member of the collective that fought felony charges unjustly brought against Louis Hunter in connection to that protest, which ultimately resulted in those charges being dropped.
Jesse has lived in South Minneapolis for about a decade, including the last seven years in the Corcoran neighborhood, blocks from the 3rd Precinct building that was burnt down during the 2020 uprising.
Contact
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