CRABBY: Park Board, Public Schools & Power Plays: Becka Thompson Gets Crabby

Summary

Podcast Summary: Garage Logic – “CRABBY: Park Board, Public Schools & Power Plays: Becca Thompson Gets Crabby”

Episode Date: June 10, 2026
Host: Garage Logic (Gamut Podcast Network)
Guest: Becca Thompson (former Park Board Member, ex-City Council candidate)
Time markers refer to MM:SS from the provided transcript

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Episode Overview

This episode features a lively, unfiltered discussion led by “The Mayor” Joe Soucheray and co-hosts Dave and Jay, with guest Becca Thompson joining to unload her frustrations (“gets crabby”) about recent city politics in Minneapolis—particularly the Park Board, public schools, and the ongoing influence of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Thompson, a former Minneapolis Park Board member and city council candidate, delivers candid insights on the decline of Uptown, local government “power plays,” and public school dysfunction. The tone is witty, direct, and passionate—with both nostalgia and concern for the state of the city.

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Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. Becca’s Bold Outspokenness and Repercussions

• Safety and Backlash (03:09-04:08): Thompson discusses being monitored and even stalked after “saying provocative things” online, especially targeting DSA figures. She’s unapologetic:

  “Keep thinking I’m crazy and maybe you’ll just leave me alone... They want your fear to be greater than your desire to tell the truth.” – Becca Thompson (06:32)

• Defiance against DSA tactics: She insists the DSA uses reputation destruction and career sabotage to silence critics; claims this happened to her both during her campaign and as a teacher.

2. The Decline and Neglect of Uptown

• First Person Account via Social Media (11:04-15:57):
  Thompson gives a detailed “walking tour” of closed stores, empty streets, and dying retail in Uptown. The segment is full of biting humor and sadness about what Uptown once was, blaming city policy for its decay.
  • “Every single storefront is empty… Even McDonald’s can’t even… their door’s locked.” (11:04)
  • “Uptown: D-E-A-D. Dead.” (12:54)
• Leadership Critique: City Council member Aisha Chughtai (DSA) is called out for “doing nothing” for Uptown businesses and being inaccessible.
  • “She doesn’t do anything because she actually doesn’t care, because she doesn’t think she has to.” – Becca (10:28)
• Election Concerns: Raises questions about high day-of voting registration (30% in Uptown), and lack of transparency in voter verification. (09:34)

3. Old-School Minneapolis Nostalgia vs. Current Reality

• Nostalgic Reminiscing (18:27-19:53):
  Host Jay recalls Uptown’s heyday—walkable, full of bars, live music, and thriving business. Contrasts with its current “Detroit-like” emptiness.
• Blame on Policy, Not Ambassadors (23:11-24:31):
  Thompson and hosts scorn city efforts like “community ambassadors” and patrols, arguing nothing will help until the regulatory overkill, taxes, and crime issues are addressed to make Uptown viable for businesses again.

4. City Policy Dysfunction: Parking, Housing, and “Bike Utopia”

• Parking and Traffic Calming Frustrations (27:41-28:28):
  • “They want a bike utopia…They put all these things they call traffic calming…It makes you more angry than you’ve ever been in your life.” – Jay (28:02)
  • Northside Resistance: North Minneapolis residents often destroy “bollards” and ignore traffic-calming measures.
• Housing Stock: New developments in Uptown are described as “empty buildings” built to fake action, not solve problems. (20:24-22:04)
• Businesses Shut Out: “No new business pencils out” due to city, state, and county regulations, insurance, and labor costs. (25:00)
  • “You will never get a profit in the city of Minneapolis.” – Becca (25:00)

5. Minneapolis Park Board Power Plays

• DSA Takeover and Parkways Controversy (36:16-38:23):
  Thompson sharply critiques Park Board President Tom Olsen’s (with an E, “puts the H in hypocrite”) push to close the Grand Rounds parkways to cars, calling it “insane” for both access and emergency vehicle response.
  • “The open parkway saved my father's life…It could add 5 to 10 minutes to your (ER) time.” – Becca (34:38)
• DSA-Affiliated Board: “Majority of the park board now is DSA… a complete inversion of what we had.” (36:43)
• Unqualified New Commissioners: Thompson accuses one DSA-backed colleague of not being able to read council resolutions.
  • “She cannot read... More than once, someone else will come in and say, hey. And then they'll read it for her.” (37:16)

6. Socialist/DSA Politics and Dog Parks Scuffle

• Platform Critique (54:45-58:42):
  • Thompson lampoons the DSA’s “extensive new platform”—from abolishing historic treaties to extreme decolonization.
  • “It’s a bully tactic… you don’t negotiate with terrorists.” – Becca (58:42)
• Dog Parks and Virtue Signaling: Tom Olsen gets called out for his role in an ongoing battle over an off-leash dog park near Coldwater Spring; Feds pressure the city to fence/destroy the off-leash area, pitting “dogs versus Native Americans in a sacred space.” (61:53-64:40)

7. Public School (MPS) Dysfunction and Cover-Ups

• Inside Account of Fentanyl and Violence at South High (65:26-73:28):

  • Thompson describes open drug use (“fentanyl in bathrooms”), staff overdosing, and even an armed gang member seeking a student—unreported to police by school administrators:

  “You put children at risk every single day. Cover it up, doctor the reports, don’t involve police officers…” – Becca (69:00)

  • Censorship: A student journalist’s article about locked bathrooms and fentanyl use was deleted before print (78:24).
  • Surveillance: She describes MPS admin monitoring her comings and goings, leading to her dismissal after whistleblowing.

• Why School Crime Goes Unreported:

  • “...the reason they don’t report these…the more calls the police has to respond to, the worse the rating is. And…the formula is such that you get $9,000 or $10,000 per kid.” (73:11)
  • Stats are Misleading: Crime is down “because there’s nothing left to rob.” (74:58, 75:03)

8. DSA Platform: “Decolonization” and Governance Frustration

• Hostile Platform Points: Call-outs to nullify Minnesota’s founding treaty, dissolve Fort Snelling, and transfer “large private land holdings” to Native tribes—called “insane” and “negotiation with terrorists.”
• Defiant Tone:
  • “I don’t want to cede that territory” (43:19) – about city spaces
  • “I refuse to be afraid…they want your fear to be greater than your desire to tell the truth.” (06:32)

9. Host-Banter & Personal Moments (Scattered)

• Funny Moments:
  • Becca and hosts jibe about “bike utopia,” e-bikes (made with lithium from child labor), and nostalgia for navigating old Minneapolis.
  • Exasperated at city priorities, e.g. not funding key public schools but spending money on “performative” projects (80:24).
  • “Crime is down because there’s nothing left to rob.” – Becca (74:58)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If developers are not jumping in, then you know there’s a problem. Big, big problem.” – Dave (22:26)
• “All you could do was walk—walk drunk or walk. And walking was way, way better!” – Jay (27:19)
• On the Park Board: “We had six and a half normal people…” – Becca (36:27); “She cannot read…more than once, someone else will come in and say, hey…” (37:16)
• “You took everything from me… I’ve got nothing left to lose.” – Becca (06:32)
• “You don’t negotiate with terrorists.” – Becca (58:42)
• “Crime is down because there’s nothing left to rob.” – Becca (74:58)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 03:09–06:32: Becca on speaking out, surveillance, and DSA pushback
• 09:34–12:54; 18:27–25:00: Uptown’s decline, broken policy, and city hall inaction
• 36:16–44:47: Park Board controversies, car bans, and DSA dominance
• 54:45–58:42: DSA platform “insanity,” treaty nullification, and dog park battles
• 65:26–79:42: Inside Minneapolis Public Schools: fentanyl, violence, reporting coverups, and censorship

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Tone & Style

• Blunt, irreverent, “crabby” (true to Garage Logic’s brand)
• Frequent dark humor and sarcasm, especially about city hall, DSA, or “bike utopia”
• Nostalgia and genuine sadness about what’s been lost in Minneapolis
• Unapologetic passion and occasional exasperation, especially from Becca (“I’ve got logic—that’s my Achilles heel in politics.” – 16:15)

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For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

Expect a wide-ranging, no-holds-barred look at how Minneapolis government, schools, and “progressive” politics have created unintended crises—punctuated by biting wit, real-life stories, and a longing for the city’s former common sense. If you want to understand why some locals are “crabby,” this is your episode.

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End of Summary

Transcript

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[Jay]

J. Cole 5 Eyewitness News. Yes, sir, We've got a guest today, Becca Thompson. And I've got a lot of baggage I need to unload. I'm mad. I'm mad at the city council. Now, mind you, I don't live there anymore, but I'm mad at the Minneapolis City Council. I'm really mad at the park board. Just one guy on the park board for one idea. Who am I mad at? I'm mad at the socialists. The mayor. Yeah, I could go either way in the mayor, police department, or the head of. I mean, there's a list. And I have a feeling that Beck is gonna hear all of it today.

[Dave]

That's part of why she ran for city council. She was on the park board and chose to run for city council because I think she was as crabby as you. That's like the name of the show.

[Jay]

That's good. Welcome to the Krabby Coffee Shop.

[Becca Thompson]

Come along here. Thank you so much.

[Jay]

And thank you we intended to have you on a couple of weeks ago, but all hell broke loose with the police department, so we went that way. But I'm really glad you're here.

[Becca Thompson]

Well, thank you for having me. It's super fun.

[Dave]

I told Kenny, I go, becca's on a. She's on a roll. I was watching your social media stuff and it was the uptown one grabbed me because uptown's a mess.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, I was there today.

[Dave]

It went from this jewel when I got here in 92 to what it is now. And I wanted to get into that with you and so did Kenny. And then your rants about the dsa, the Democratic Socialists of America down in the city hall, those have been pretty good. All I want to know is how safe do you feel saying some of the things you're saying?

[Becca Thompson]

I definitely are out there. You're out there. I am out there. You know, it's funny, I actually was talking to a really old friend of mine today and I was just like, yeah, you know, I just, I don't know, I try to come off as harmless and crazy. People are like, you're crazy. And I'm like, keep thinking I'm crazy and maybe you'll just leave me alone. But yeah, no people, I can tell, they have a watchful eye on me and it's a little weird, but they stopped, they simmered down. Cause I didn't win the election. Well, I wasn't given the election certificate and then. Yeah.

[Dave]

So the stuff you're saying is accurate. You know, there's a lot of fact based stuff. You present the facts. But I know from dealing with some of the socialists on the city council, I know how they can be very defensive, thin skinned at times, to put it mildly. And they will come after you.

[Becca Thompson]

Absolutely.

[Dave]

So I'm curious, how has that been for you? Have they come after you at all?

[Becca Thompson]

Well, I mean, I was physically stalked last year in the campaign and then ever since I've been super outspoken, they just lurk. Now they tried to stop me, they've gotten some posts, they try to get posts taken down and claim that the thing specifically because most of my stuff I edit in the social media world, TikTok is the easiest to edit on. And then I'll post things in other locations, but on TikTok I'll just always get flagged and it'll be misinformation. And I'm like, this is literally all fact based. You're just like, I'm showing you the clips. You're just mad that I made fun of you. And I'm making fun of them because in my opinion, and a lot of people in the city don't know this. You know, I was a professional actress, and the friend that I saw today is a friend of mine from la Satire. We've lost the fun of just making fun, you know? And if you want to be the person in the halls of power, great. I got made fun of and I got mercilessly attacked in my campaign. So it's like, all right, turnabout is fair play. Let's just do it. And I get to make fun of you. And they don't like it, but they're gonna crack. I know it. And so, I mean, there are times where I do feel a little weird in the city. Like, people have recognized me. I had. Like, I was in a certain area of town that's very famous. We'll leave it at that. And I honestly thought I was gonna get assaulted because someone saw me and I was trying to video something, and then it was just like, what are you doing? And I was like. And I just played Aw, Shucks, Minnesota Girl. Like, I did do my best. What do you mean?

[Dave]

I mean, some of the stuff you're saying is provocative.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And it puts them on their heels a little bit. I think they don't like that.

[Becca Thompson]

No.

[Dave]

They don't want to have an honest discourse at times. They just wanna shout at you and get mad. And I'm glad you came to talk a little bit about uptown as well, but as you and I were talking in the hallway, and I've mentioned this to Kenny before and others, when I got here in the 90s, that was a DFL run city council, obviously, but there was a Republican and there were some moderate Democrats. Now, fast forward 32 years, 34 years, it's the DSA, the Democratic Socialists and the DFL. That's it. That's all you have. So the far left now is dsa, and believe it or not, the more conservative wing of the city council is the dfl.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. And if more people knew that, that's kind of. You know, I come from the world of education, too. And there's always like, these, like, normalize, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. To me, it's like, normalize the dsa. Like, make more people aware of who they are, what they do, what their tactics are so that it doesn't. You don't get sucked into their mind games. I mean, that's the thing is they want to silence you through trying to destroy your reputation, trying to destroy your career. I mean, I've joked with people. I'm like, what are you supposed to do? It was DSA operatives in schools that got me. That tried to get me fired and got me fired. It's people who went after me so that I wasn't elected. There's people all over the city. So you've literally basically tried to take everything from me. So I've got nothing left to lose. And so there's a lot of people who fear. People reach out to me every single day that they. Oh, I appreciate you saying this. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. Because they are afraid. They told me, I just had somebody write me this morning. Like, oh, I get afraid that if I speak out, I'll lose my job, you know, and then it'll be like, well, I've lost friends and I. And that's all by design. Because it's like, meant to put people on their heels and lean on their sensibilities of being a. In air quotes, a good person. Right. What we say here is Minnesota nice? Well, unlike the dsa, I was born and raised in Minnesota. My family's been here for generations. I know what that looks like. You're not going to win that game with me, and I'm not going to be baited into your nonsense. So that's. That's. And I refuse to be afraid. That's what they want. They want to take. They want your fear to be greater than your desire to tell the truth.

[Dave]

And one of the social media clips we're going to play for everyone is the one that caught my attention a month ago. I think it was about a month ago when you did Uptown, interestingly enough, when you were wandering around Uptown. It's pretty good. And that is represented by. Well, Elizabeth Schaefer has part of Uptown, but the bulk of it is Aisha Chug Tie.

[Becca Thompson]

Yes, absolutely.

[Dave]

Is dsa.

[Becca Thompson]

Yep. Yes. And she threw it. She throws tantrums anytime any. Anybody disagrees with her. She's very cordial. It's abusive. I'm sorry, it's an abuse trope. You're very nice and kind. It's like abuse 101 to when you're agreed with. Right. And you're super charming and that's the. Right. But the moment you are disagreed with it is like punishment. So that's what they do. Anyway, sorry, I could never get her give.

[Dave]

Get an interview with her about Uptown.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Because I've interviewed a lot of people in Uptown. I've done some stories on this prior to what you posted.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And I'm not sure I could tell you what she's done. Nothing to help those businesses in Uptown that are suffering through the regulations, the construction, the ridiculousness of some of Minneapolis's code expectations. She doesn't engage with it. She won't talk about what she has or hasn't done.

[Becca Thompson]

No.

[Dave]

And the business owners will tell you she hasn't done anything.

[Becca Thompson]

Well, I don't know if you saw. I got a data requested the county about elections, and I just said, how many ballots were. How many people registered day of? Right. And in Uptown, it was something like 30% of the votes cast were day of ballots.

[Dave]

That's unusual, isn't it? I don't know what to compare it to.

[Becca Thompson]

I don't really think that that is. So that means, like, how did you verify. So now I have another data request which, like, how did you. What was your litmus to verifying? Did you bring in a gas bill? Did you bring in a rental agreement? How did you. How were you able to verify that somebody lived there? And even having that conversation, I am called all sorts of names that it's like, I don't care. Again, you took. I don't care anymore. I don't care what you say about me anymore. Let's just get to the truth. If. If you've got nothing to hide, then show it. Then just show it.

[Dave]

And those are fair questions, what you're asking?

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. And so I think that she doesn't do anything because she actually doesn't care, because she doesn't think she has to.

[Dave]

Well, the people of Uptown, those are running businesses. They'll tell you they don't believe she cares.

[Becca Thompson]

No, she doesn't. She doesn't. I mean, did you see the whole, like, F. Jacob Fry thing from last summer? Yeah.

[Dave]

Oh, yeah.

[Becca Thompson]

That's. I mean, come on.

[Jay]

Well, I can't believe a council member got away with that.

[Dave]

I know, right?

[Jay]

That's where we're at in these. This day and age.

[Dave]

Back in the 90s when I started on the council, that would have never been said.

[Jay]

Let's. Let's show that video. Jay.

[Becca Thompson]

Have it. This is exciting.

[Dave]

This is Becca, Social media, wandering uptown. Kenny, you'll get a kick out of this one.

[Becca Thompson]

So I've really been thinking about uptown Minneapolis. So I drove over here. We're gonna figure out how vibrant it really is. Would you like to come along? Awesome. So once again, it's really freaking cold. But I just want to prove that, like, literally every storefront is empty. Like, every single one. It's awful. That used to Be the Gap. And there was a Victoria's Secret. This is chino. Latin, actually. This way. Long time ago. Is a caribou coffee. What's up, mpd? Even the cannabis can't make it. Empty. Empty. Empty. That whole stretch of seven points slash Calhoun Square. Empty. Empty. Empty. Empty. McDonald's can't even. McDonald's has its door's locked. I just walked past all of this, and I gotta tell you, like, this was the place to be. Like the place to be. And today, the Minneapolis City Council allowed all drug paraphernalia to be legal, which basically just means drugs. Because I'm not stupid enough to fall for your rhetoric. You need to look up what paraphernalia means. Really. So I said the crack pipe without the crack. But we all know what goes in it. Empty. Williams Pub. Rest in peace. Empty. Oh, we missed this one. Empty. Lord knows uptown struggles. Empty. Empty. The old library is really sad because that's a really cool building and it's just sitting there. Sadly, this bus stop depot is a good idea, right? Should we see more empty storefronts or do you want to go down the mall? Tom Olson would love if we went down the mall. Shocker. Retail space available. Nobody's surprised. Now this is 5:44pm at a time when normally everyone would be getting off work and having happy hour or whatever down here, right? Prime space. Prime time for people to hang out with their friends again. I've gone down here a million times. This ridiculous. I mean, it's just ridiculous and it's unstufferable. Somehow Bobby Bead survived. I'll show it to you. Look at this amazing relic. Like 1995 West High School, which became the YWCA, which is now just a trash dump. So that's empty. Should we go up close? We highly recommend using locks. Yeah. This is once vibrant, very highly used ywca. It was the only gym in the area. Louisiana. Fitness was down the way. And of course, you can see their apartment building. This is like, this is the other, you know, this is uptown. There's, like downtown, there's uptown, Uptown. D, E, A, D. Dead. Should look at more empty storefronts. Look at this. Look at this beautiful mess. Oh, really? Stronger together, right? Empty. Empty. What's sad is young people like my son's age or in between my son and like, me, like, they don't know how great it was. Uncommon ground has survived. I think it's probably because they own the building. Should I stop and get a coffee? Like, if you don't know how Good it could have been. So at the time that this place was awesome, Duluth was a disaster zone because the mines had just closed. And I lived in Duluth for a while in college, and it was depressing there because everything was closed. This is now the opposite. Closed, empty. Look, West High School. Over the years, our city has done some really stupid things, but destroying uptown might top the list because Lake street always had some challenges. It was always kind of some type of way with the corridor. Although destroying Lake street really kind of took work. But this is like epic failure because you have massive amounts of people. You have tons of young people who always want to socialize, and then you have wealth from Lake of the Isles just around the corner, and you F that up, too. And in addition to making homeless encampments legal, a sex forest legal, and drugs legal, the city council is doing nothing to try to help revitalize business corridor. So I'm not sure how they think they're going to pay for it. Maybe Arene will chip in on her honeymoon fund since she's getting married to a man who lives in Robbinsdale. See you out there.

[Dave]

Isn't that beautiful?

[Jay]

Perfect way to end that, right? Oh, my goodness. You know, I. I don't mean this as an insult, but you sound like a moderate Republican. You really do. That's. You are an old school dfl.

[Becca Thompson]

I have logic. I think that's my Achilles heel in politics, is I'm too sensible. My degree in math and my MBA makes me like, this is insane.

[Jay]

So.

[Dave]

And Kenny, you're right. More like an old school DFLer.

[Jay]

Yeah. Yeah. So Chuggy loves where uptown is this state. Did you see a documentary came out about a year ago called A Precarious State?

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, very much, yeah.

[Jay]

And they actually were able to get her and talk to her in front of what used to be Calhoun Square, and she was happy with what was going on. Yeah.

[Dave]

Chug, tie.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, do. I must. I must have forgotten that.

[Jay]

You gotta look this one up. A Precarious State. It's really interesting.

[Dave]

It's a really good piece.

[Becca Thompson]

That's the thing, is it's like. So here's the thing about the dsa, first of all, is getting enough people to recognize who they are. Like that needs to happen. But they're actually. They. It's. Gosh, what's the movie now? I'm gonna think it's like. It's like they want to tell you who they are. They hate having to pretend that they like any of us. They hate having to pretend that they care. Even they want to bring about their grand utopia, and they want to tell you, like. So that's why Chug Tai, like, starts getting sassy from the dais. That's why Chowdhury will start crying. Oh, my gosh, I'm so oppressed. Right. And that's why Wansley will, like, be, like, trying to. I just think of her as a rooster, like. Like a peacock.

[Dave]

Here's the. You know, like.

[Becca Thompson]

But they will just do that to try to, like, because they're on. When they get emotional like that, they're on the edge of revealing who they really are.

[Dave]

The other part that's very interesting, and Kenny and I have talked about this in other shows. Someone like Chowdhury, for example, is a really good example. Still says she's DFL.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Gets the DFL endorsement.

[Dave]

Right?

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Votes DSA every time.

[Dave]

95% of the time.

[Becca Thompson]

This is what I've been trying to say to people. It's like, don't you know? It's not what people say, it's what people do. So the truth is in the vote, of course people are gonna tell you what they want, what they want, what they think you want to hear.

[Jay]

So I was able to experience uptown when it was just on fire as a single guy. Lived up in Kenwood between Hennepin and Lake of the Isles. Got hooked up with a girlfriend. We moved to 33rd and Fremont. So three blocks south of Lake street, you could walk to uptown. All those places you mentioned we used to walk to. We'd start at the Peanut Bar, Williams, 3 o'. Clock. Then we'd go upstairs and eat. Then we'd go down to the uptown bar. We'd see a band there or whatever. I used to buy cigars in Calhoun Square. Every now and then we'd go make fun of the rich people that were in that. What was that upstairs bar in Calhoun Square?

[Dave]

Oh, no.

[Becca Thompson]

Was it Filio? No.

[Jay]

So we'd go up there and mock those people without them realizing we were mocking them. And it was a rousing time. It was a lot of fun. And we walked everywhere. And then we decided to get married. We moved over to the 12th, and I, you know, and I used to drive a little Honda. I moved into a truck, and I would still do business over in uptown. And the great thing about uptown is you would circle the block maybe once or twice and you'd find a parking spot right there. Plus there was a parking. Like a parking garage behind Calhoun Square that you could sneak into. And it was really friendly to retail and doing Business. They have a wonderful bookstore there. It was just. It was a great place to be.

[Dave]

Is the Lens and Firely still there, by the way?

[Becca Thompson]

Kenny?

[Jay]

Yeah. And so a couple of weeks ago I was in the Twin Cities and we stopped into Lakewood to visit some old friends and then drove up Hennepin and went through uptown and oh my God, it was so. It was like being in Detroit.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jay]

It was horrible.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

And they're evidently tearing down the southern part of the Calhoun Square block.

[Becca Thompson]

Yep.

[Jay]

And I started doing research. I couldn't figure out what they're doing they're putting in residence.

[Becca Thompson]

I was on the planning commission when that came. That came in front of the planning commission. And I just. Even the conversation about it was so insane to me. Just. I mean, I could get into that project five stories, something like that.

[Jay]

It's ridiculous.

[Becca Thompson]

And what's crazy is as uptown is dying, so I mean I could get into policy. I mean this is the stuff that I ran on, but it's like we're creating more housing stock that nobody can get into. And then when it was in front of the planning commission, I'll never forget it was Angela Connolly who was DSA adjacent. I'm just gonna say that Angela's very smart, but she is definite.

[Dave]

And you're talking. No, we're talking park board.

[Becca Thompson]

No, she's a Hennepin county commissioner. Hennepin county commissioner who represents most of Minneapolis. But she on the planning commission. She was like, I don't like this. This project doesn't have balconies. And the developer was kind of like, yeah, that's a cost. Not only a cost to us that we can afford, but it adds insurance, things that we can't afford. And basically like they didn't want to say it, you could tell it, but it was like, we're building this on behalf of the city to make it look like something's happening in uptown. It was very much like someone just, you know, everyone's on camera and even though nobody's watching, it's still there in perpetuity. So it was like these. These developers are kind of like. Cuz they didn't want to say it in a recorded environment. And it was just like they were even getting bludgeoned that they weren't going far enough. And I'm sitting there like, we can't afford this at all. Like this is useless at all. But I think it's just all this. I saw this in Los Angeles and my ex husband is from Brazil and he would say this is what third world countries do. They build something that just to make it look like they're trying to do something

[Dave]

and it's not functional, it's not realistic.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. And then it's just as a different empty building.

[Dave]

If, you know, if developers, Kenny, are sitting in a room because they know how to make money. Right. If developers are hedging and pausing and they don't want to be a part of it and something that's in a great location. I mean, if you revive uptown, it's a great location.

[Becca Thompson]

Absolutely. It's right by all the lakes.

[Dave]

It's wonderful.

[Becca Thompson]

It remains that. Like that. Yeah.

[Dave]

If the developers are not jumping in, then, you know, there's a problem. Big, big problem.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And much like Kenny in 92, when I was a young reporter, I was 31 years old when I got hired here. So that's young, right?

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Still relatively young. And I asked people, where do you live? Everybody said, uptown.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, go to uptown. It was the place to be.

[Dave]

And that's where I moved. And it was tremendous. It was a lot of fun. And you know when she cut that video, Kenny, because remember I talked to you about this right after she cut it, if I'm not mistaken, shortly after the lowry closed.

[Becca Thompson]

Yep, yep, yep.

[Dave]

Red cow.

[Becca Thompson]

Red cow pulled the plug. Yep.

[Dave]

So you could add all those to the list of the things that you were pointing out in that video.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, well, sorry, go ahead. I mean, I could talk and talk and talk about the terrible policy that's causing this and there's no way out unless they undo things. Well, nobody wants to say that.

[Dave]

They're not talking about any kind of investment in there. If you notice, Fry had a news conference a month or two ago saying they're going to bring back more ambassadors. Community ambassadors.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, my gosh.

[Dave]

And some. I know some stepped up patrols, which is fine.

[Becca Thompson]

Patrols for what are you patrolling? There's nothing to worry. Like, there's nothing going on there.

[Dave]

Drug use, open air, criminals.

[Jay]

Criminals.

[Dave]

But I said to Kenny at the time, I go, I want to revisit what Mayor Fry said there because. Okay, that's fine. You want more community ambassadors, fine.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

You want a SEPTA patrol, fine. But to your point, in order to have those patrols and ambassadors be effective, you got to have some people there, Correct?

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Okay, so what are we doing?

[Jay]

There's nobody to protect.

[Becca Thompson]

Let's just guard an empty.

[Dave]

No ambassadors to ambassadors.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, yeah. And at this point, you let the people have like a semi automatic weapon just standing there, like in an orange vest that's what I mean. I'm gonna go patrol the empty Lowry and the. And the parking garage next door and

[Dave]

the newly empty Red Cow.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. So my whole point, I want a violence interrupter contract. They're pretty good.

[Dave]

It's not a bad game.

[Becca Thompson]

Nice work if you can get it right.

[Dave]

What did Pearl Warren call their

[Jay]

Skittles? Yeah. All the different colors looking like Skittles.

[Dave]

You gotta listen to our podcast. You gotta listen to our podcast. So my whole thought was, okay, none of that's wrong. What the mayor wants to do, I would never oppose that. But again, you gotta get the people. And that starts with. I would've liked to hear him say we're gonna do tax increment financing. I'm not saying that's the answer. I'm just saying what are you doing as the chief executive officer? What is the city council as the legislative body doing to attract the developers back?

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And nobody's talked about that.

[Becca Thompson]

Well, it's about the businesses too, is that it's literally like, it's literally upside down. So, like no new business pencils out. So, like, if you can't get a new business in there, with all of our labor costs and employment and insurances and the layers and layers that both the state, the city and the county have put it, just doesn't pencil out. Because as anybody who's ever tried to start a business knows, it takes like the average is two years before you turn a profit. Right. Well, so if you look and you will never get a profit in the city of Minneapolis and then put on top of that, you know, no police force. No. All that kind of stuff. Right. You're gonna take your restaurant, you're gonna take your shoe shop, you're gonna take your bookstore to. First you're gonna look at Edina and St. Louis park, and then you're gonna look out state after that, like there's customers will still come. 50th in France seems to be doing just fine.

[Dave]

Just fine.

[Jay]

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

[Dave]

Well, and the owner of the Lowry, I believe he did an interview with Channel 5, because I caught the interview and he even alluded to ridiculous regulations that they're over regulated in Minneapolis to the point where you can't realistically make a decent profit. Your profit margin is so close. And again, I would like to have heard the mayor or chug ty or someone address that part of it.

[Becca Thompson]

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave]

What are we gonna do about easing regulations if we can? What are we gonna do about increasing the number of tenants here, Businesses as well as Residents. None of that was discussed. No, it was just ambassadors and stepped up police patrols. And I thought to myself, then nothing.

[Becca Thompson]

I don't think they know how. I don't think that the political will isn't there to fix it. And that is what has gotten me to just be like, I don't care. Like, again, I don't care what you say about me. I don't care what you think about me. I just am trying to save my hometown. And really, like, uptown, as all three of us are agreeing, it was awesome. I mean, it was like, it was a rite of passage, even as a. As a Minneapolis kid, to live there. I remember when I got my apartment with my roommate, I had to. I'm like, I remember moving in. Like, I. Like, we live in uptown. Like, yeah, like, I have arrived. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally.

[Jay]

And this was all before for us. Before Uber and Lyft.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Jay]

So we had. We had one option. Drive drunk as hell or walk.

[Dave]

Walk.

[Jay]

And walking was way, way better.

[Dave]

I used to walk it a ton. Ride my bike over. Yeah, everything. I loved it. Now it's.

[Jay]

Yeah, it looks like.

[Dave]

It looks like.

[Jay]

Well, you can't even park if you want to drive. You can't even park. It's.

[Dave]

What the hell did they do with all the. Why did they take all the parking away?

[Becca Thompson]

Because they want a bike. Utopia Bikes and buses.

[Jay]

Jay.

[Dave]

But the bus.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, sorry.

[Jay]

They put up all these things they call traffic calming in order to slow you down. You can't take a right turn there. This one's one way. You can't do this. Can't. And this traffic calming, actually, what it does is it makes you more angry than you've ever been in your entire life.

[Dave]

Thank you.

[Jay]

It's rage inducing.

[Becca Thompson]

I. I love. Can I just say, it's so funny because, you know, I'm a. I'm a North side. I grew up what is called Ward 12. Right. People don't. Most people don't even know how the city is carved up in wards. Right? But I grew up in South Minneapolis, where I ran for city council last year. But I've also lived the bulk of my adult life in the north side. And what I love about the north side is, like, you just. It is. It's always been the wild west up there. Nobody is. You're not going to tame us. So they put up those little bollards, and inside of, like, 48 hours, they're all, like, smashed over. Nobody cares. Like, go ahead and try to give us your little plastic. We're Staying in the lane.

[Jay]

Oh, my God. They destroyed 42nd down in 12. I mean, 42nd and 40th, for that matter.

[Becca Thompson]

They destroyed 42nd. Absolutely. And I. You know, I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm an alum of Minnehaha Academy, and I like. They specifically narrowed the street where MA used to have, like, pickup for their parents and their buses. And they just got. They just got. They had to spend. They spent almost. And again on the planning commission. I was. In front of me. It took the. The school spent almost $2 million just to retrofit so that they could have buses because the city took away that.

[Jay]

The city doesn't realize what they have with Minnehaha Academy.

[Becca Thompson]

Thank you. I agree.

[Jay]

Because it's not a public school. They. They shit on it, and they look down their nose at it.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, absolutely.

[Jay]

There's so many successful people walking the earth today because of Minnehaha Academy.

[Becca Thompson]

I appreciate you saying that. You know, my son just graduated from there last year. Last week.

[Jay]

Congratulations.

[Becca Thompson]

Thank you. Smart advice. Yeah. Thank you. And I won't deny running down there specifically was like, I felt like I'm not only trying to help my hometown. I'm gonna. You know, I mean, I live. My house is in Ward 4, and council member Vita is a friend of mine. So I was like, I'm never gonna, you know, run there. So I moved back because it's like, I feel like my. The people I grew up with, the people I have learned or have met for my son's tenure at MA2, like, they deserve to have somebody that listens to them and actually cares. Well.

[Dave]

And Vita is one who listens, and

[Becca Thompson]

I know she's awesome.

[Dave]

Is what I would consider a true. True. In my mind, a true DFLer.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Jay]

Latricia doesn't know it yet, but she's my second wife. That's how much I love Latricia.

[Becca Thompson]

She is. I. Yeah, I love her. And I love Pearl Ward, too. I just love them. So.

[Jay]

So you mentioned a name in your video there that really made the hair in the back of my nick stand up. And I want to talk. Talk about this character who runs the park board, but that's a proper Minnesota reaction.

[Becca Thompson]

But first, I want with an E.

[Jay]

Yeah, with an E, which is wrong, if you ask me, but I'm ol. With an O. Absolutely.

[Dave]

I guessed right that it was going to be Tom Walson he was going to talk about.

[Jay]

I want to. Before we do that, I want to take a little break and Talk about summer stuff. At Schoonover Body Works and Auto Care, summer is here. That means road trip season. That means you're going to throw the kids in that car and drive 800 miles. When it's at 100 degrees, you're going to want your tires at their best. You're going to want new plugs. Ice cube juice. You know what ice cube juice is? It's antifreeze. You want to make sure the brakes are working. Fuel injection is fine. These are all things that are going to shut you down on I90 on your way to the Black Hills when it's 100 degrees. Scoonies. They've got a like, it's like a billion point check list where they will make sure your vehicle is absolutely ready to hit the highway this season. Call, make an appointment and get yourself in there. They're not going to force anything on you. Don't think it's anything like that. They'll just tell you what they saw, what they think your brakes are at, 70%, et cetera, et cetera. That's kind of stuff. You're really going to love how Schoonovers treat you. They really treat you like friends and family. It's amazing. And if you need them in times of crisis, something broke down or you got in a crash, oh my goodness. You're going to love the way Schoonover fights for you when it comes to dealing with your insurance company. That they're going to make sure you have quality replacement parts, not cheap knockoffs. They're going to make sure everything's right and they're going to keep you in the loop for the entire time. They always call you and update you and make sure that car is ready when they promise it to you. They're right there in shore of you on basically generally Lexington and County E. Just half a step east of Lexington in Shoreview there. And they're also on the web, schoonover bodyworks.com okay, Tom Olson. This guy, this guy really gets under my skin. And before I say anything, I loved when I was there, living there, riding my bike. I'm a bicycle guy. You know why? Because of all the bike trails we have, right. I can, I can ride over to, say, Minnehaha park, the parkway, the falls, whatever. I could get on the parkway, Jay on a bike path, ride all the way over to Harriet, to Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake, cross 394, get up into Theo Worth. I can go all the way up to Camden. Then I can cross the freeway get on the river. It's called the grand rounds for a reason.

[Becca Thompson]

Exactly.

[Jay]

Get on the Mississippi Parkway. Still on a bike trail, by the way, and ride all the way back down to Minnehaha Falls. That's how amazing the grand rounds are. And it's for cars. It's for bicycle people. They have separate trails for pedestrians. It's amazing. That's not good enough for Tom Olson. No, Tom Olson wants to get all the cars off of that parkway. That parkway was designed for automobiles. It showcases what an amazing city Minneapolis is. When people go to the Twin Cities, they ask me, what should I do? The first thing I tell them, grand rounds. Enjoy all the parks. It's amazing. You're driving 20 miles an hour. You get your arm out the window. You're looking at fancy houses, you're looking at rundown houses. You're looking at the fancy people in their bike pants. It's awesome. It's great site sightseeing, and you can stop at any of these parks. Should I keep going or can I slow down?

[Becca Thompson]

No.

[Jay]

I'm so angry about this guy and his proposal to remove vehicles from the parkway. It makes no sense, and it goes against the sole reason the parkway was created.

[Becca Thompson]

Okay, well, I will just say that Tom puts the H in hypocrite. So, like, he's really good at that. That's. I mean, if I'm gonna give out accolades, he. He's really top drawer. I don't even know where to begin. So when I was on the park board, we knew that there was a fight to take cars off of the parkways, and we voted it down. And we actually tried to work the language to such a way that it wouldn't be able to come back like that. We made it like, no, these are. And they are. And Tom knows this. Tom knows this because he was part of the same discussions that I was a part of their roadways that are necessary for emergency vehicles. The open parkway saved my father's life. I mean, he's since passed away, but he had a medical emergency. Right? I mean, I have a friend, same thing. He lives just a block off the parkway. He's like, I wouldn't even know how to get to the. Get to the hospital if this were all closed down. I mean, it could add, you know, five to 10 minutes to your time, and if you're in a true emergency situation. My father was an ER doctor, so I know that seconds count. Right? And so we talked this all out. We did the whole thing. And for Tom, with the new his now he has his own little DSA fiefdom over there at the park board, which is just so sad to me because I love the park board. The staff there are really good people, and they don't. I. I get very fired up that they're under this horrible group of people that have no clue what they're doing.

[Dave]

Sorry to interrupt. How many socialists now on the park

[Becca Thompson]

board

[Dave]

avowed DSA, but also those who vote DSA, who might not be definitely

[Becca Thompson]

5 and squishy all the way to 7.

[Dave]

Wow.

[Becca Thompson]

Which is a complete inversion of what we had on the board in terms of. We had. I said we had six and a half normal people on the board when I was on, because I love my friend, but he would kind of go back and forth.

[Dave]

So safe to say the majority of the park board now is DSA?

[Becca Thompson]

100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.

[Dave]

So you got a park board that's majority dsa. You got a city council that's leaning.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Okay, this is. This. This. If people catch me doing this or sharing this, this will get. But this is hot button. There's a new park commissioner that defeated my friend Stephanie Musich, who's extremely gifted and intelligent. Defeated only because of DSA stuff and money and all this, like, whatever. I'm sure I can even see the comments that are going up if anybody ever sees this from the dsa, because they'll lose their minds. She cannot read.

[Jay]

What? Come on. Really?

[Becca Thompson]

God as my witness. You watch. You know, you gotta pass resolutions. I was the chair of the Administration and Finance Committee for four years. A lot of that time was with Elizabeth Schaefer, who's now on the city council. And, you know, you'd be like, okay, I'm gonna move resolution, you know, 2026, 251 or whatever. Right. Resolution Amending ba da da da contract for $1,478,000. $624.71. And then you rattle in it for blah, blah, blah, construction. And you're reading it. It has to be read into the record because it's. It's a file. Right. I mean, that's what you get when you accept the minutes. It's literally just, you know, it's just the words that you said. Right, right. She cannot get through it. She cannot read it. She cannot read it. She has. And then more than once, someone else will come in and say, hey. And then they'll read it for her. Or she'll go, oh, can someone. And she can't read the numbers.

[Jay]

It's one of four Women.

[Becca Thompson]

Horrifying.

[Jay]

It's either Kathy K. Meg or Amber.

[Dave]

It's not Meg.

[Becca Thompson]

It's definitely not Kathy of Benny. And it's not Meg Forney.

[Dave]

No. Okay.

[Jay]

Yeah. They're all called commissioners.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, I know. And it's horrifying to me that you went from someone who understands that organization up, down, left, right. Even though she and I were on opposite sides of the Hiawatha Golf Course kind of stuff, like, just very intelligent, great, great, great elected official to someone who literally cannot read.

[Dave]

So back to Kenny's question about this Tom Olson. I don't know much about him.

[Jay]

Oh, he came in guns blazing.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. That was. His first thing, was the parkways.

[Jay]

Yeah, the Parkway.

[Becca Thompson]

And the mall. And the mall. That's why I mentioned it in my thing. Right.

[Jay]

The mall. I caught that snide little part that

[Becca Thompson]

was on the mall.

[Jay]

Yeah. When we were there a few weeks ago, we drove down the wall down the mall.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay]

I love the mall. I've always loved the mall.

[Becca Thompson]

It's this quirky little spot.

[Jay]

Yeah. Jay, you know the mall, right?

[Dave]

Yes, I do.

[Jay]

I do. Yeah.

[Dave]

The only thing that stuck out with me on Olson, the Olson thing. Because the nice thing about retirement is I don't have to pay close attention anymore.

[Becca Thompson]

I wish I didn't.

[Dave]

Not as close attention anymore. The parkways, Kenny. Because I know Charles Rucker, who's on the board.

[Becca Thompson]

He's great. Yeah.

[Dave]

Yeah. I've known Charles for a long time.

[Becca Thompson]

Good. I love Charles.

[Dave]

Firefighter.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. I love him. Yeah. And he replaced me. You.

[Jay]

He did.

[Dave]

Good replacement. If there had to be a replacement of you. Because you were a good source on

[Becca Thompson]

the park board for me, too.

[Dave]

But right out of the gate, Charles got in touch with me. Kenny. I didn't know what was going on. And he reached out to me and said, first and foremost, from his perspective As a firefighter, EMS guys ride the EMTs, ride the fire trucks. His whole thing was, this is insanity because of public safety. First and foremost, from public safety, this should never happen. He felt everything else was secondary. It's still important. But he said, if you just take that alone, it's gonna. You're talking about, to your point, saving lives. And he. So Charles was all worked up about it, but I couldn't figure out why. Olson, what's the political. Why do you guys think. Olson. Why hang your hat on this? Why did he push so hard for this?

[Becca Thompson]

Because he's trying to. This is. Again, DSA doesn't want you to know what they really want. They wanna Carl future. So in a carless future, you don't. You wouldn't like. We would all just, you know, we. I guess. I guess people can. We can go back to 1810 and people will, you know, die of diphtheria.

[Jay]

Yeah. Can you imagine how they're gonna love horses?

[Becca Thompson]

I can't wait.

[Jay]

Because that's what it's gonna be.

[Becca Thompson]

I'm sorry you're gonna lose your arm due to gangrene from your. From your small accident because it took you eight days to walk to the hospitals. Since HCMC also closed and North Memorial closed, you can walk yourself to Fairview Southdale. Oh, I'm sorry. We. We are unable to save your arm, Jay.

[Jay]

They hate cars so much. You have to remember, Jay, these DSA folks are the ones that want to get rid of 94 between the downtown.

[Dave]

That's true.

[Jay]

I mean, which is just the most ludicrous thing a guy could ever think of.

[Dave]

You guys are right.

[Jay]

They.

[Dave]

They don't. I didn't think about.

[Becca Thompson]

So that's what it is. And so it's like a slippery slope and. Yeah. And so. Tom.

[Jay]

But look at. Look at this dirty note I have. I've had it for a long time. It's full of coffee spills. 114,000 to 16,700 people drive on 94 between the downtowns every single day.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jay]

And they want to put them on University.

[Becca Thompson]

No. But also, here's the other side of it. They've already reduced every single through fare to one lane.

[Jay]

Yeah.

[Dave]

The bike lanes.

[Becca Thompson]

And it's like. It's so mind numbingly dumb. It's like we were talking about before we were on recording. Right? Talking about my motorcycle. Right. And trying to learn by doing and recognizing there's a process to it. Right? Like I have the. The carburetor probably has to be cleaned in the one. That's an actual thing that actually helps the machine work. Right? Like the people have this.

[Jay]

It's the heart of the machine. It's the literal.

[Becca Thompson]

And the city's the same way. So it's like we've got this like, oh, my gosh, you guys. We're gonna glue the Legos to the Shrinky Dinks and then we're gonna dunk it in water and then say a blessing. Make sure to do our blessing of the dsa. You know? And then if we put it in our bike pedal, then. Then it will work and the utopia will come. Even though what did. What did you create? What did you actually create? And everyone else Is like, yeah, no,

[Dave]

they created the Hickey Dinks.

[Becca Thompson]

Yes. So when the rest of us all leave and it's like, oh, no, no. You're supposed to pay for this, you guys. We're gonna. You pay for my bike lane. Like, it's. It's insane. Everyone's going to leave, and I don't want that because I like. Like you said, uptown is a place. The lake, Lake of the Isles, Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, slash Badema Koska. Like, they're not leaving anywhere. So, like, I don't want to cede that territory.

[Jay]

So there's a couple. And I'm sorry, listeners, if I keep banging on south Minneapolis, but there's a couple. Really. There used to be a couple really quick thoroughfares to get across the freeway from one side of south Minneapolis to the other. 38th was one of them. 42nd the other. But 42nd gets a little slower on the freeway. And then they put in what they called help me Midtown bikeway thing on 40th, where they've decided the bicycle riders can ride on 40th. And so they got rid of left turns and made one ways and made 40th impossible for cars. But now they've also destroyed 40 seconds two blocks south.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

For the bike riders.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

So the bike riders. Jay, what would you take. Would you take quiet little 40th, where you're not accosted by vehicles, or would you get on 42nd, where there's buses and there's cars going 40, and there's people not paying attention because they're on their phone? What are you doing? Does every single street have to have bike lanes? I'd be. And remember, I like bicycles.

[Becca Thompson]

Right.

[Dave]

Yeah, same here.

[Becca Thompson]

No, I'm the. Yeah, I'm the same way. Yeah.

[Dave]

I got a mountain bike. I love the trails up where I'm at, and they're off road. They're not. I'm not sharing the road with. Anyway, to answer your question, I'm 42nd. I would have been terrified. Nope. I would not have done it.

[Jay]

Yeah. And so, yeah, they've got the little bollards and all that nonsense on 40 seconds. And I'll admit, when they first went in, I might have accidentally got one stuck in the undercarriage of the big farm truck, you know?

[Becca Thompson]

Well, accidents happen.

[Dave]

Becca's also got a funny video. I should have. You know what, Kenny? I should have grabbed a couple more of her videos just for pure entertainment.

[Jay]

Oh, they're great. Just go to her on Facebook.

[Dave]

Yeah, just go to her on Facebook. So the one God, what bridge are you crossing? And you lose your mind.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, it's Lake Street.

[Dave]

Lake Street.

[Becca Thompson]

Lake Street.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Becca Thompson]

And then there were also people, like, you know, they are doing a project. I'm like, what? Like, fine, but you're telling me, like, if you paint a stripe, you can't move.

[Dave]

But since I don't have the video, I should have had it explain. I know first he took a jab at St. Paul.

[Becca Thompson]

Yes, well, because they call it the Marshall Avenue, and I'm not calling it that ever.

[Jay]

Such is from St. Paul. So that's an argument with me all the time. He calls it the Marshall. I call it the Lake Street.

[Dave]

Right out of the gate. She did the Minneapolis thing and did the whole.

[Becca Thompson]

Because the dsa, actually, they don't know any of this, like, old history. They don't understand our old jokes. So it's like a call out, like, if you're with me, you're with me. You know what I mean?

[Dave]

You'll understand what I'm talking about.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. So.

[Dave]

But tell Kenny and those who haven't seen the video, you approach it with a video.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And it was pretty funny because you had a little meltdown.

[Becca Thompson]

I was so mad. I was. Yeah, I was.

[Dave]

Called you to go. Everything all right? Everything okay?

[Becca Thompson]

No, you know what? So I was.

[Dave]

I was rerouted to explain what.

[Becca Thompson]

That was actually graduation night for my son. I was rerouted from 280 because that was closed, you know, Because God forbid, it's winter in road construction. Right? We can accept that to a degree. But I was like. Like, let's just see. Because. Because we've so, like, we've defunded public works even that you don't have, like, proper, like, here, you know, here's the detour route. We don't even put signage up for that anymore. Do you know what I mean?

[Jay]

It's just like you're on your own

[Becca Thompson]

and it's just like. I can tell the road closed. It doesn't exist anymore. Like, you maybe three blocks back, you could have given me a warning. But so I. I was just. You know, it is. It's like. I'm sorry. I just. I think that you were driving, you

[Dave]

were approaching it, and all of a sudden you lost your shit.

[Becca Thompson]

The bike lanes and the. It's because of the. I know for a fact it red stripe down Lake street, which nobody uses. There aren't any bikes on there. Or. Excuse me, there aren't any buses on there. It's much like the one on Lindale before, and they have These red stripes for such a short amount of time before they go down to one lane entirely. So it's like, there are no buses. There's nobody on there. So it was like, well, since our ridiculous experiment didn't work because people were

[Dave]

driving in the red lane.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, people were driving in the red lane. And people were driving on the other side of the bridge.

[Dave]

And you know what? I gotta confess, I would drive the red lane.

[Becca Thompson]

I happily drive the red lane. Yeah, yeah.

[Jay]

We just. We don't admit it on podcast.

[Becca Thompson]

Here's the thing, you guys. Yeah. There's no, there's, there's. There's no police with which to pull you over. And if they pulled you over, Mary Moriarty already made clear that she's not going to prosecute traffic violations. So, like, yeah, hey, get guess what, Minneapolis. Your gold just go in those red lanes.

[Dave]

But what pissed you off was what they did because. No, because guys like me were driving in the red lane.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. So then it's like, well, oh, well, you can't. You can't do that. Our utopia is not working.

[Dave]

They put up the barrels or whatever.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, the heavy barrels, the ones that'll actually dent your car. Unfortunately, they're like grades. The grades of the traffic calming.

[Jay]

Jay, have you ever encountered a mad biker?

[Dave]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay]

It's like having a rabid bulldog. Badger. You know, a rabid badger.

[Dave]

I figure I'll be on ID Murder mystery at some point with one of those. Seriously.

[Jay]

They get so angry. They're so put upon.

[Dave]

We used to encounter them quite a bit because we were always out in news vehicles. Right?

[Jay]

Yeah.

[Dave]

So the photographers would always drive and they had to deal with them. So I guess I didn't personally. But the photographers have had too. They get psycho. They can become psycho.

[Jay]

The thing such loves bringing up anything to do with his taxes. And he takes this argument and turns it into a tax assessment thing and he says, how many road taxes? What are they? What are the bicycle. Oh, oh, nothing.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, no, exactly. Yeah, nothing, nothing.

[Dave]

Doesn't their bike registration fee go towards.

[Jay]

Well, and here's not anymore. We don't have. We don't have them anymore.

[Becca Thompson]

And. And here's my thing.

[Dave]

I didn't know that.

[Becca Thompson]

No, they're not even. Everything is about like green utopia and green utopia. Right. And it's like, you know, oh, we're going to change the world by getting on our pedals. But now, are you sure you're dfl I'm something?

[Dave]

No, we are.

[Becca Thompson]

I'm Becca. I can go that far.

[Dave]

You Are dfl. The problem is you have no party anymore.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, no, there's no party. Come on over.

[Dave]

Red rover, Red rover, DSA now.

[Becca Thompson]

But these E bikes. So E bikes are all over the place, right?

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Becca Thompson]

So, okay, how. Like, that's a. How heavy can you be? Do you need to start. Have rider requirements like you do in an elevator like this will crash.

[Jay]

Put a track

[Dave]

and then I couldn't get on one. If they do that, Becca, they'll kick me off.

[Becca Thompson]

But, like, in all seriousness, this is why I say that. That Tom puts the h in hypocrisy.

[Jay]

Okay.

[Becca Thompson]

Because. Because the. How do you make those batteries? They're like, literally, they're lithium batteries from lithium mines that are being mined by slave labor. Sub Saharan African children, five year olds. Yes. So, like, can we. Like, how in your golden chariot that you're gonna ride around, though the rest of us plebs just pay for it?

[Dave]

Oh, yes, Sir.

[Becca Thompson]

Yes, sir, Mr. Bike.

[Jay]

And I can take it. I can take it even further back. They wanted to open up a nickel mine in Minnesota, except they don't want to open it up because it's poisonous. So they want the batteries for the cars and the bikes.

[Becca Thompson]

Exactly.

[Jay]

But they don't want the mine in Minnesota.

[Becca Thompson]

No, no.

[Jay]

You've got to be more clear with your choices.

[Becca Thompson]

Right, right, right. We. We want. We're. We're so pro earth and anti slavery that we're gonna make sure that the stench of the mine is on another continent and that the children who are enslaved don't look like us. So. But I am a progressive. A progressive man. How do you really feel, Tom Olsen? I'm sorry, Did I say that out loud? It's Olson with an e. Hold on.

[Jay]

Let's take one more break. You guys take a breath, get something to drink. I want to talk about Warner's doc. They have a extensive selection of both Premier and Bentley pontoons on sale today. There's nothing better than quality family time in the water, living the pontoon life. Nothing better than cruising around the lakes and, oh, pontoon parade season coming up here over the fork, watching fireworks on the pontoon in the middle of the night in the middle of the lake. That's fantastic. You can do that on your brand new pontoon from Warner stock. Remember, for those kids both young and old right now, these are the good old days. And Warner stock has your new pontoon ready to make those memories. If a new fishing boat is on your mind, well, they can serve you too. Warner's dock specializes in alumacraft. Boats powered by Suzuki, Yamaha, and Mercury outboards. Three of them, the finest outboard engines made. They've got you covered, folks, from sales to service to storage. Warner stock in New Richmond. Absolutely. The place for all your boating needs, including outdoor outboard repairs. They can fix whatever's wrong, whatever ails your boat and. Or pontoon. They can do it. They're right there in New Richmond in Wisconsin. Celebrating 79 years in business. Four generations of family committed to an amazing dealership experience. Warner's Doc. Okay,

[Dave]

Sorry.

[Jay]

Everything okay?

[Dave]

Well, we were producing the show off air.

[Becca Thompson]

Yes. Changing the world.

[Dave]

Changing the world.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

This has been so much fun. I didn't realize I was gonna have this much fun today.

[Becca Thompson]

Thank you for having me.

[Dave]

I told you, once. She's locked and loaded.

[Jay]

Kenny, I'm thinking I should come down and help you with that. It's a CL360.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. I would love the carbs cleaned.

[Jay]

I think if I happen to have a couple in my wallet, could that thing maybe go home with me?

[Becca Thompson]

Oh. I mean, I, I. Ooh.

[Jay]

You know what? You've got to get it running, because that is the perfect motorcycle to take on the parkway.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. You know what? Absolutely. I still, you know, I'm. I will just say as I. My mother was always afraid of me getting a motorcycle. I've won one since I was a little kid, and then I got one. But then by then, I was a mother, and I was like, I don't feel. I don't. I'm not. Not comfortable enough ever being on the freeway. Maybe. Maybe that's a different day if I got a big cruiser, But I just love to. When I had it, I just love tooling around on the parkway. Yeah.

[Jay]

And there's nothing to fear with a carburetor. It's a bigger pain in the ass taking the carburetor off the bike than it is actually taking it apart and cleaning it. It's not a big deal.

[Becca Thompson]

I should. Well, then I should just dive in.

[Jay]

Yeah. Yeah. Don't. Make sure you get the gas out of the tank. That stuff is old and crusty.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Okay.

[Dave]

Or just wait till Kenny shows up at your door.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, well, you know, we can do that, too. We got a lot of projects.

[Dave]

That's what I would do.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

Wait till Kenny shows up, you know, and everything's got a price. Kenny. So she'll sell. So you'll sell.

[Becca Thompson]

But I don't put a price on freedom.

[Jay]

In your mental list that you had coming over today, have we covered everything? Is there anything We've left out. What do you need to get off your chest?

[Dave]

We were gonna. She had a funny one Yesterday about the DSA's new platform.

[Jay]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And I thought. I thought that was pretty good. I. I told her, I said, bring that platform list with you because.

[Jay]

Oh, I've got that right in front of you.

[Becca Thompson]

Have it?

[Dave]

Yeah, it's pretty funny. And I didn't realize. Kenny. I'd seen their platforms before in their legislative agendas. I didn't realize that was a new one. Becca said it's new.

[Jay]

Yeah. It's long and extensive, and, I mean, there's a lot of points to. To cover here. Do you want me to read some of them?

[Dave]

Well, the first one was pretty funny.

[Jay]

What was? The United States political system is rigged against working people. That one.

[Dave]

Is that the first one?

[Becca Thompson]

Well, the one I was talking about, how they want to abolish the treaty of that. That created our state. Let's just. Out of the gate, let's just tell the truth.

[Jay]

Decolonization. Nullifying the 1851 Treaty of the Traverse Desu, dissolving Fort Snelling and transferring large public private land holdings back to the First Nations. We've had a lot of fun with this one this week on glj. I didn't know that because we were. How far back should we go?

[Becca Thompson]

Correct.

[Jay]

Because all of these tribes, the second the white folks stepped foot on the shores in the Atlantic Ocean, we started pushing.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

And even before we arrived here, that is white people, they were already at war, fighting over hunting grounds.

[Dave]

Hunting grounds.

[Jay]

Constantly.

[Dave]

Constantly. And don't forget, the Spaniards beat us to the punch on a lot of this, too. Too. Spaniards had a lot to do.

[Jay]

Right. So we had Ojibwe and Wisconsin moving into Minnesota, and they had pushed the. You. We could either call them Lakota or Dakota. And so there were wars between them. And then it went further into north and South Dakota, and it was a constant battle.

[Becca Thompson]

Yep.

[Jay]

So we're wondering how far back. Do we just generally give it all back to just, say, the Native Americans, or do we pick a tribe just

[Dave]

1851, because that's white people?

[Becca Thompson]

Well, I. I just am wondering, do I need to get a corset if that's what we're going back to? Is that what my future.

[Jay]

You'll never have to take care of again?

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, No, I know, I know. I'm not sure how to manually use a covered wagon, but I could try.

[Dave]

You'll figure it out fast.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

So it says in there. Read it again. Large. What does it say large parcels?

[Jay]

What does it say dissolving Fort Snelling and transferring large private public land holdings back to First Nations? What is large? Right.

[Dave]

How big is large?

[Jay]

So would it be all state owned land?

[Dave]

Right. That's. Bingo. Could it be the entire state is that large?

[Becca Thompson]

It again, it's a bully tactic that. It's like we're going to fight for something that is so unreasonable that then when we then will use that to try to air quotes, negotiate, which is not a negotiation, it's just a mobile to try to say get back. Like the Fort Snelling area. Right. Which is like. Is already a problematic area because it has four different jurisdictions all spliced in there. The park board, the county, the state, the Feds. There's even MnDOT. Right. So like, so who has ownership of the totality? I feel like you get the wrong person. And maybe it's the current administration. I don't know. At the state level, just being like, let's just, let's do that. Right.

[Dave]

We'll just give them that rather than.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, because. And then suddenly you've got some, you know, mou, this memorandum of understanding that you're supposed to just give up huge quantities.

[Dave]

Well, and it also says not just public, it says private.

[Becca Thompson]

I know. Oh, no, I know.

[Dave]

Private land.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. So then, so then all the people who live there, the va. Like, who's supposed to. Like. I'm just saying, like as an example, that's the kind of thing that I feel like that would be there. So. Yeah, it's. It's insane. It's. But. But the, the larger insanity is meant to try to pick off certain aspects. Again, like, we're going to negotiate this, but I just think you don't negotiate with terrorists.

[Jay]

So the big. There's been a big argument too, the last couple of weeks about the dog park.

[Becca Thompson]

Ah, yes, that's exactly why. Yeah. Yeah.

[Jay]

It's down below or in the area of Cold Water Spring. And that's one of the areas where I used to ride bicycle all the time.

[Dave]

Is that a mini hockey?

[Becca Thompson]

It's the last corner of the city. Really?

[Jay]

Yeah. It's south of Minnehaha Falls. And there's something down there called what is the spring? Cold Water Spring.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Which is pretty cool. And it used to be a Bureau of Mines building there. Jane. It was actually a top secret gated facility during the war because we needed the minerals for the war, so. And there's a lot of minerals on the, on the north shore. Yeah. And for a Long time was abandoned buildings there. And I used to bicycle down there. Really creepy. Right where Cold Water Spring is. So they got rid of all.

[Dave]

Is that where the dog park is?

[Jay]

Yes, yeah. In that same area, general area. But when they were rebuilding Hiawatha, there was a big argument about putting this new highway slash roadway in through this sacred area. So when was that? Back in 90s.

[Becca Thompson]

I want to say it was like 1988 or 89 because I was going way back. I remember that. Yeah, yeah.

[Jay]

They finally got that resolved. They tore the buildings out for the. What did I call it? The Bureau of Mines and they turned it into what they're calling an oak savannah. And Jay, it's really cool.

[Becca Thompson]

It is really nice down there.

[Jay]

It's really cool. Yeah, no, it's a wonderful kind of hidden little gem.

[Dave]

So what do they want to do with this now?

[Jay]

So now there's also an off, off leash dog park area, but it's more down by the Mississippi River. What we're talking about is up on the bluff AB and I guess the natives are mad at the crackers and the crackers are mad at the natives and dogs are caught in the middle. And we don't know how it's going to resolve itself. But it's all part of that argument giving back.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, I know that area because so the. So yeah, that there's one fence and it's when you walk in to the dog park and people will immediately let their dogs off of the leash. And that's not, that's not the off leash area.

[Jay]

I know that fence.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. And so the off leash area is actually extremely small down by the river. But over time it's become like, go, you know, buddy, go run. Go be free.

[Jay]

Spot.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, Spot.

[Dave]

So people are just letting the dogs run.

[Becca Thompson]

Yes. And so what happens is then nothing else is fenced. So they're all going back up. And when I was on the park board, it's. It wasn't us, it was us being nprb. It was the feds with the federal land and the cold spring were like, here, we're giving you money to put up a fence or else we're gonna sue you over the dogs coming in to destroy this other space that's ours.

[Jay]

Oh, I'm glad I brought this up.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. And so we were like, okay, let's put up a fence. And we caught hell again from the activists. And it looks like you and I have a similar super fan in Tom Olsen. And so Tom is actually on record talking about how, you know, dogs need to, you know, breathe free and, you know, give us your tired, you're hungry, yearning to breathe free. And the dogs. So the thing is, is that we were saying, well, we're putting up this fence not because our constituents, like, I'm not trying to be the jerk. Don't, please, please don't shoot to the messenger. But we're being leaned on or else they're gonna come after the whole dog park.

[Dave]

The feds were the whole.

[Becca Thompson]

All of it. Yeah. And so now it's like when empty virtue signaling collides, you have the dogs versus the Native American tribe in the sacred space. And it's like, okay, guess what? Everybody's gonna side with the Native Americans. And you guys got mad at us for trying to put up a fence, and now it's all gone. And so, you know, I feel badly for people who like that space, but it's like, yeah, you know, I should look for that. My friend sent me something of Tom. It's funny that you bring Tom up because he's been, you know, brought up recently this week to me also, of just the dog park thing, like, about how. Again, putting the h in hypocrite again,

[Dave]

because I'm not familiar with the issue. The. The. Would it be giving back any land or just getting rid of the dog park?

[Jay]

What are we talking about?

[Becca Thompson]

It would be getting rid of the dog. Well, what the park board wants to do is, like, make it all a sacred space. But they. They like, it's in.

[Jay]

Right. So the dog owners. Yeah. And they're negotiating. Well, how about if it's on leash and on and on and on and on? I don't see any and. Or any resolution in sight.

[Dave]

So my guess would be, if you're telling me the board is now a majority dsa, it's gonna happen.

[Jay]

Yeah, probably.

[Becca Thompson]

And they wanna make it happen very quickly. And that's what I tried to say. And a lot of people that I worked with who are more moderate and normal, they're just like, we're trying our best. That's what government does when it's actually working, is that everybody is a little dissatisfied because everybody also has a little thing that works they called compromise. Right, right, exactly. And so when you have this authoritarian my way or the highway, inevitably and especially at that location where there are a lot of competing forces, then, well, you guys get what you voted for. The girl who can't read. And no more dog park resolution 20.

[Dave]

You know, I was trying to remember the first story I worked on with you.

[Becca Thompson]

It's probably Softball fields, was it? Softball fields.

[Dave]

Okay.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, we got it done.

[Jay]

Be honest here, Jay. You're the reason she got gassed from mps.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, everyone says so.

[Jay]

Yeah. You're the reason she got fired. I have no idea what she. What you're doing here, Becca.

[Becca Thompson]

Well, buddy, can you spare a dime?

[Dave]

How that came about was. So I got to know her through the park board.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

And we've done some stories and whatnot. And then she had another issue.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, I remember how it started, too. Yeah, you go. Okay, well, you tell.

[Dave]

Well, the short of it was she was working at South High and math.

[Jay]

Right.

[Dave]

Math. Yeah. And there was. Correct me if I'm wrong, if I don't remember this right, but it was open Fentanyl used in the bathroom. Right.

[Becca Thompson]

Well, that's how. That's how it's. Yeah. I mean, it. Yeah.

[Dave]

And none of it was getting reported to police.

[Jay]

It was, wasn't it? Drugs and kids beating up teachers.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Yeah. It was so many layers of.

[Dave]

And the story was about, why aren't they taking it seriously? Why aren't they reporting it to police? But I tried telling Becca. I said, becca, they're gonna know. At some point. They're gonna know it's you. They're gonna know it's you. And just so you're aware, they may even come to you and say, we know it's you without knowing it's you. Right. Just to get you admitted.

[Becca Thompson]

I know nothing.

[Dave]

I felt bad because I. Man, they're gonna narrow this down at some point.

[Becca Thompson]

I don't know what you're talking about. I got the surveilling. Let me just give you. Since now I'm like, I'm a free agent, so. Minneapolis Public Schools, you can't write things down. And I know this because it ended up in my file as pretext to get rid of me. They had somebody. And by they, I mean administrators. They had somebody in a little room, probably like this, right. Windowless room, looking at security tape every single day to timestamp when I came in. And when I left, even though I had said to them, I have some morning meetings with the park board, and I definitely have certain afternoon meetings with the park board, and I coach softball. So like the so called contract hours. And I had it when I was hired that later, like, just make sure you get your 40 hours. And I'm like, of course. Right. But so they were tinking like it was like a log. And I'm like, wow. Wow, you've. I mean, I guess I should be like, feel Honored that you wasted somebody's day was wasted. Staring at me. Yeah, like tracking me so they could have again, like, well, you came in, you were, you know, contract day started at 7:40 and you came in at 8:10. And I was like, yeah, but I didn't teach until 10am so like, what's the deal? Like any teacher who knows, like, I was liter surveilled for months.

[Dave]

Well, not only that. Kenny vandal the car. Her car was vandalized. I remember you telling me that. I got real nervous when you told me that.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. I came out to my. It was my son who saw because it was the passenger side. And I just went to go pick him up and he was like. He like looked. He walks up to the car door and just does this. And I'm like, what? And so I unlocked it from the inside. He's like, it's broken, Mom. And then I went around and looked and it's just dangling there. Somebody had like tried to gain entry and they said, oh, well, you know, it could have been anyone. We've had break ins. And I'm like, be out as the. You know, it's not. The timing is too like. I'm sorry.

[Jay]

Well, was it. Was it Alexis or like a Mercedes or a BMW Ferrari?

[Becca Thompson]

I was about to make a joke and like a Honda or something. It was just a normal SUV.

[Dave]

Nice, nice. A normal one from 1985.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Not quite that old, but, you know,

[Dave]

but I was worried because a. For your livelihood and baby, when they vandalized your car.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, and someone rifled through my desk when I was over there and some

[Dave]

of the things that were said to you, I was like, yeah, I was nervous for you.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

But you know, it turned out okay in the end.

[Becca Thompson]

Well, I'm still alive, but I don't have a job.

[Jay]

You could laugh instead of crying, I guess.

[Dave]

But I think you guys had her on Garage Logic after she spoke at the school board.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Okay. Yeah, I was right in that era.

[Dave]

Yeah. You went public.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave]

And I remember you saying to me, you should be there. Cause I'm gonna go off. And I showed up and you did.

[Becca Thompson]

You know, I don't. I was actually asked to come back and I just thought, you even know the levels of hell that I've been through. And my students and my colleagues, they were great. It was just certain people in the building and the idea. And I know it and I know it and I'm not like, there are so many great people in that building. Like, I don't want that to be lost on things. But, like, you don't get to put children at risk every single day. Cover it up, Doctor. The reports don't involve police officers. Refuse to engage mps. There's literally, like, a drug ring coming. I mean, I didn't even share half the stuff that I knew that there was a young man burst into the school commons one day with a gun, searching out another student who happened to be the child of a prominent narcotics dealer. We'll put it that way. In an illicit. In illicit activity. And he was stopped by people just in the. They didn't even write that down. They didn't even write that down.

[Dave]

Not only that, I couldn't find Kenny that instance. Cause we talked about that.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

I couldn't find any police record of it.

[Becca Thompson]

No. Cause. Of course not. Cause you didn't call. Yeah.

[Dave]

They never reported it to police, which should have been one of the first things they should have done. Right?

[Becca Thompson]

Someone. Okay.

[Dave]

A gun in the school.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Here's another good one. A janitor OD'd on fentanyl.

[Dave]

I remember this, too.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. And they put the school down on, like, Code Purple. I forget all the languages now. I don't remember. But it's like, you know, teachers, please. We're gonna Code Purple. Code Purple. South High. And you're like, oh, no, it was Ty. It was a tiger paws. That's what it's called. That's how I remember. Tiger pa. Paws. Tiger paws. And you're just like, okay. But that was. It was. It means you're. It's like, you know, like, sadly, this is what teachers and children are used to now. It's like levels of, like, possible intruder, you know, possibly. Like, it's horrible because you run the gamut in your mind of like, oh, my gosh, is there, like, somebody with a gun in the school?

[Dave]

It's like a code blue in the hospital.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

[Dave]

You guys called it tiger.

[Becca Thompson]

So what we do is then. So then you lock the door and you tell the students to be quiet. It's basically like, hey, let's just wait to get ambushed by somebody that might be out there. And then you just, like, say a prayer and you keep trying to teach geometry.

[Jay]

So they didn't report that to the Minneapolis police?

[Becca Thompson]

No, no. So they called an ambulance for this person. They're like, literally. They cleared the hallways. And I know this because a certain staffer that I will not name happened to be on their break. Wandering around. They're like, oh, my gosh, Becca, did you see what happened? Da Da, da, da. Right. So again, people might be like, she's making it up. And the reason why they're allowed to say that is because nobody at the time wrote it down, and nobody at the time would allow the record to go through. So you've got a staffer ODing on fentanyl in the hallway. And then it gets like, you know what's going on with so and so. And then it's like cleared students. You get the ambulance in there, we got to have tiger paws. And then. And then, and then they get him out in the ambulance. And all we're told is an email is like, everything's fine. We had a staffer have an emergency situation.

[Dave]

Yeah.

[Becca Thompson]

And it makes it sound like. It makes it sound like someone had a heart attack. Right. Or like someone. Like maybe the old librarian had a stroke. You know what I'm saying? But like, no, someone OD'd at school while on the job.

[Dave]

And not just someone, but a staffer.

[Becca Thompson]

Yes. And then. Yes. And then you just have to connect the dots to see if. If fentanyl is being traded in the bathrooms. Someone OD'd. There was a gang hit. Oh. Oop, did I say that out loud in the middle of the comments? Like, put A plus B plus C. I mean, I again, I teach logic. So, like.

[Jay]

And you know why they don't report these, right?

[Becca Thompson]

100%. I met with a lot of people at the third precinct about, like, how do I help you guys get this information?

[Dave]

They can't get it because the schools won't give it to them.

[Jay]

And the reason they don't give it to them. Jay, you know why? Yes, we'll say it out loud.

[Dave]

Well, yeah. Too much money tied to it. So in other words, if kids start leaving the school, they lose money.

[Jay]

Yeah. The more calls that the police has to respond to, the worse the rating is.

[Dave]

Yep. And. And, and because the formula is such that you get 9,000 or 10,000 per kid.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Dave]

If you lose 100 kids in the next enrollment year, it's all about, that's the money.

[Jay]

That's why when you hear on the news, somebody from the city, any city, saying, well, crime is down, or statistics prove that is down, no crime is on the rise or leveled off. What's down is the people reporting the crime. They don't even bother to call 911 or their insurance company.

[Dave]

Well, and remember, we hit an all time high during COVID Right. So really, to look at whether crime has come down, you should look at 19 and 18, 20, 18 and 20, 19, in my opinion.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, yeah.

[Dave]

To see where we really are.

[Jay]

Oh, that's a good point.

[Dave]

Yeah. Because Covid went crazy and it spiked the numbers. But the numbers now are still higher than 18 and 19.

[Becca Thompson]

Oh, absolutely. That's another. It's, it's. It's like how to lie with statistics

[Dave]

and, and, and not indicative of where we are.

[Becca Thompson]

No, not in the latest kicked in

[Jay]

and everybody was walking around like they were a stagecoach robber. That's all I could think of when it was. When. When we were in the moment it was happening and people. There weren't enough men, masks. It looked like all these guys are going to do crimes because all we can see. We can't. They're wearing sunglasses and a stagecoach robbery mask. And you can't see them at all.

[Dave]

Can't see them at all. And they also knew the cops were limited in what they could do. So it's not a rep. So whenever they make this reference now

[Becca Thompson]

about crime coming down a few years,

[Dave]

I'm like, well, you should really look prior to Covid to know where we're at. And if you do that, we're still up.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. And also crime is down because there's nothing left to rob.

[Dave]

You can't commit a crime anymore.

[Becca Thompson]

We don't have any business break ins anymore. Well, that's a clever way of saying we don't have any business.

[Dave]

But Becca was brave enough to put me onto some of this stuff at South High in Minneapolis. And it was not just South High,

[Becca Thompson]

it was happening elsewhere.

[Dave]

Just happened to be where you could get to.

[Becca Thompson]

Where I knew that and then I knew it most specifically. But I know it's everywhere. My friends all came in.

[Dave]

But what I found astonishing, and I shouldn't have, was Minneapolis public Schools. Kennedy would not cooperate with me. They never helped me understand. I think I even asked them, if I remember this correctly, they told me there was only one. I think I eventually asked for all of the fentanyl cases that had been

[Becca Thompson]

reported

[Dave]

city wide or district wide, not just south. And they gave me and they said one. And I think the reason they said one was because I had the written evidence of the one at South High School.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave]

And otherwise they tried telling me there were no reports of fentanyl anyone in the Minneapolis Public school district, which we all know is BS and you know,

[Becca Thompson]

so this is another thing that, like, I'm kicking myself that I didn't take a screenshot to prove it. Right. So one of my students was, you know, worked at the. For the Southerner The South High School newspaper, Right. You know, like an edition once a month or whatever it is. Right. And she wrote like a comprehensive article about fentanyl in the bathrooms and how the admins. Admins. Desire. Would like lock the bathrooms.

[Dave]

So when you say admins, you're talking about principals.

[Becca Thompson]

Yep, yep. Principals would instruct the deans. Which deans are just, they're just basically like the low grade police in the state. You know, once they got. I mean it's not. It's a fancy word for someone who like makes sure to discipline head. So this girl's like, she wrote a whole article about how there's fentanyl and how they're locking the bathrooms. In response to this and that, she one day, as a young woman had her monthly time and needed to use the bathroom and couldn't find the one that was open. Had to go to the office, has to do this run around, which any woman would know. That's a really awkward thing. And especially a young woman at school and you're running around trying to find a place where you can just go to the bathroom discreetly in the middle of class. Right. Everything's locked. She finally has to have someone open it up for her. And this young woman confided in me that like she went home after school that day and just started crying. Like, why did I have to endure this? And there are a bunch of other things that again, teenagers don't want to have to endure. And to me that was, I mean, like getting back into the heart of that situation at nps. But because it's like, my gosh, you put the children on the hook for your like, social agenda. Cause you refuse to write it down. You refuse to do anything about it. So you're gonna lock the doors rather than like actually call the cops versus actually write it down. And then these like, who does it hurt? It always hurts the children. And I'm just like, to me, losing my job honestly was a small price to pay for hopefully making it better for the kids because it's just ridiculous. And I could. That's one of the things.

[Dave]

Did she get to publish that article? Did they let her?

[Becca Thompson]

No, it was. Okay. So that's. So it was. It was published.

[Dave]

I can't imagine they'd let her.

[Becca Thompson]

Nope, exactly. It was published. It was never made it to print. To the print print. So they, they published it on the online version. And she had told me it was coming and I don't like. I was kind of groggy. I happened. My alarm goes off. I Happened to. For whatever reason, I'm like, I'm a little look up to see if her article posted. And it did. And I read the whole thing and I was gonna be like, you know, good for you. When I got to school that day, I read the whole. I can. I remember it vividly. I'm reading it in my bed, which I know, like, you shouldn't do that stuff, but I'm like reading in my bed and I'm like, this is crazy. And I. And I saved the web address, but I didn't think to screenshot it right later that day. It was already taken down. And I went to go talk to her and she said, said principal Blah made us take it down. He didn't want it. I said, do you think it's gonna make it in the paper edition? Like, have you guys printed it yet? She goes, I don't know. I think he already got to them. And it's. And it's gone. And it was like. It was actually a really well written article. It wasn't like, I mean, it wasn't as fired up as I get. Like, it was trying to be. Like, to me, from the student's perspective, it should absolutely have been told and yet.

[Dave]

Correct.

[Becca Thompson]

Talk about censorship. Like, immediately. Immediately. And that was a student who wrote that from their own experience and interviewed a bunch of kids talking about the fentanyl in the bathrooms and then gone. Gone.

[Jay]

I know what we're going to call this episode. Becca Thompson comes in hot. Have you been on. Have you been on with Chad or anybody else on. Have you been on CCO radio?

[Dave]

No.

[Jay]

Oh, you should. They. You should be the biggest guest in town. Town. You should be on. There's. I can think of at least two shows on CCO you should be on. Well, they should have you on npr. They're probably afraid of you. You should be on all the radio shows in town. This has been fascinating.

[Becca Thompson]

I would. I appreciate the time. I've got. I want to knowledge.

[Dave]

I want to do something on Minneapolis Public Schools. I'm gonna need to pick your brain. I want to do a podcast about what I've experienced with them.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Yeah. They're so upside down and backwards and it's so sad to me because they're now looking to destroy where I went to kindergarten in first grade, which is Cooper elementary over there in South Minneapolis, because they want to. Again, it's like I said about the seven point Calhoun Square thing. You're going to build something to make it look like you're doing something about it. And I don't think I.

[Dave]

Last night, was it Native. The Native American.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. Anishinaabe Academy.

[Dave]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And how much for that?

[Becca Thompson]

It's 40 million. Yeah.

[Dave]

For how many?

[Jay]

Say that again. I've been practicing that word, and I never get it right.

[Becca Thompson]

Anishinaabe.

[Jay]

Anishinaabe.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah. It's like. It's like when people say things like, there's going to be. No offense, we're in the newsroom, but it's like. Like we're. We're live at Lake Bidet Miskaska. And I'm like, okay, yeah, first of all, bidet means lake, so it's actually just B. And I will say, it took me being on the park board to make sure that I, like, nailed it, but I feel like I've said this. I said this when I was on the board. I go, if we're going to change, I have no problem changing some names to some native terms. But can you just, like, give a phonetic, like, let people don't. Like. I think. I honestly think that's another thing. It's like setting people up to be mocked because it's a brand new word. Why is it, like, why do we have to be mean?

[Jay]

My friends that say, I refuse to say I. I'm going to call it Lake Calhoun. I say, you can't pronounce it, can you?

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah, I know. No, it's. It's. It is. Yes, but. So it's Anishinaabe.

[Dave]

Anishinaabe. But what I read in the paper was it was hundreds of millions or tens of millions.

[Becca Thompson]

Whatever it was, it was 100 million. Yeah, but.

[Dave]

But it was hardly any students.

[Becca Thompson]

No, no students.

[Dave]

Just a handful of students.

[Becca Thompson]

I could talk about mps.

[Jay]

This is a whole day.

[Becca Thompson]

Seriously, I could. We'll.

[Dave]

We'll do MPS because that's a good one. That's a good one. All right. Yeah, I'm. I'm down for that. We'll bring you back for.

[Becca Thompson]

All right. Yes.

[Jay]

That was so much fun. Back.

[Becca Thompson]

It's like being at a Twins game and then winning tickets to a new one.

[Dave]

Only you would like that, the way the Twins are playing. Only you.

[Becca Thompson]

I don't care. There's. To me, there's never a bad time.

[Dave]

I know, I know. I got you. That's funny. Well, thanks for joining us. Sorry for delay.

[Becca Thompson]

Thank you.

[Dave]

Finally got you on, so.

[Becca Thompson]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Yeah. All right. Good to see you. Thanks to Gabe. Thanks to Jay and Becca. Thank you so much. And thanks to everybody for listening to news from the Crabby coffee Shop.

[Dave]

A support group for barely functioning adults. It's the Dave and Mahoney Show. You know, I do. Dated a phone sex operator. Did she know that you were dating? They would have to go into, like, a call center cubicles and stuff like that. Imagine having phone sex with some lonely guy while you're sitting in a cubicle.

[Becca Thompson]

Do you think that it would make you more competitive? Yeah. Got one. He's done.

[Dave]

Oh, my gosh.

[Becca Thompson]

Grab the Dave and Mahoney podcast now

[Dave]

on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify and @dave and mahoney.com.