Three new episodes of the podcast "Beers with Blois" have been released and they are all with candidates for Minneapolis City Council's Ward 10.
The cities' council has been discussed much of the year since the murder of George Floyd. Some council members have called for Minneapolis Police to be "abolished" or "defunded." Where do the candidates stand on that?
Beers with Blois – Minneapolis Ward 10 candidate Aisha Chughtai
Community organizer and union activist Aisha Chughtai says she moved to Whittier because it “was the only place I could afford to live,” but found her passion for serving the community. On this episode, hear the Ward 10 candidate discuss community-rooted initiatives relating to public safety from Little Earth to the Community Safety Specialist program, the fight for rent stabilization, and her family’s path from Pakistan to Minneapolis.
Beers with Blois – Minneapolis Ward 10 candidate Chris Parsons
As a firefighter for 20 years, Chris Parsons says, “I know a disaster when I see it” – it’s why he decided to run for Ward 10’s open seat to help the city he’s loved since childhood. Hear the candidate talk about the need to hire more officers to confront a “pandemic-fueled rise in crime,” impacts of changes in housing policy, and an issue that could set him apart from the competitive field: his strong stance on Minneapolis acting in the fight to decriminalize marijuana by rethinking how it addresses low-level drug offenses.
Beers with Blois – Minneapolis Ward 10 candidate Katie Jones
Engineer Katie Jones has sustainability on her mind – she asserts that cities can play a huge role in the fight against climate change, from transit to building codes, and she intends to act on these issues should she win the competitive Ward 10 race. In this episode, though, Jones discusses much more than a city’s climate resilience – hear the community builder talk about the city charter and role of staff, the intersection of housing and public safety, and more.