Public Hearings: In Defense of the Circus

The Mayor recently said he doesn't want a circus. We say: raise the tent! This episode we share stories of the best and worst things to happen during public testimony in Minneapolis. When public comment has made an impact and when it does not. We talk some do's and don't's of testifying. And above all, we defend the messy hearing out of democracy in public; gadflies, lobbyists and all.

Special thanks to the Wedge LIVE! empire, from which I snipped a few clips of 2040 plan audio.

Recorded 9/23/26.

Alert

Though the massive ICE activity dwindled in the Spring, we still face a determined wannabe-fascist regime. Mill City Hall asks you to plug in and take action:

• Donate to rent support and mutual aid funds
• Defend 612 is an entry-point to local neighborhood organizing
• Monarca continues to provide trainings for regular folks who want to help, and offers a hotline to report ICE activity: 612-441-2881

Don't forget to check out:

• Cam contributing to the Hennepin Herald
• Robin teaching at the Marine Mills Folk School on Oct 3
• Our Instagram account for clips that are easy to browse and share
• Ask Robin to do a portrait of your favorite tree

A Few Public Hearings We Mentioned

• Dog Park Off-Leash Closure - city stream
• Rev. McAfee interrupts budget committee - Fox 9
• 2040 Plan and Land Use
  • Wedge Live!: Who Supports the Minneapolis 2040 Plan
  • Wedge Live!: Opponents of the Sons of Norway video
  • Wedge Live!: Single-family housing supercut video
  • Kare 11: news hit on the 2040 hearings
• Roof Depot meeting disrupted - city stream

Robin's Political Science References

• C. Wright Mills The Power Elite made the argument that elites rule national politics in 1956
• Robert Dahl’s Who governs? from 1961. Studied New Haven, CT, and found that political power is “pluralist” in the US setting. Elites don’t rule, but neither do the masses. Political power is distributed, but unevenly.
• Bachrach and Baratz released an article in the American Political Science Review criticizing Dahl “for focusing on ‘the ability to initiate and veto proposals’ while ignoring the ability to prevent proposals from even being considered in the first place."
• Third face of power is from Steven Lukes in Power: A Radical View, which says that elites influence people’s preferences through more subtle and pervasive societal norms. We are controlled without knowing that’s what’s happening