Podcasts about rochester city council

The results are in from Tuesday night's Democratic primary. Incumbent Rochester Mayor Malik Evans advances to the November general election, as will five candidates for Rochester City Council: LaShunda Leslie-Smith; Chiara “Kee Kee” Smith; and incumbents Stanley Martin; current council president Miguel Melendez; and Mitch Gruber. This hour, we focus on the city council race. Guest host Gino Fanelli talks with the winners about their vision for the future of the city and the work they aim to do if they win in November. Our guests:  Mitch Gruber, current member of Rochester City Council and winner of the Democratic primary LaShunda Leslie-Smith, winner of the Democratic primary for Rochester City Council Miguel Meléndez, Jr., current president of Rochester City Council and winner of the Democratic primary Stanley Martin, current member of Rochester City Council and winner of the Democratic primary Chiara "Kee Kee" Smith, winner of the Democratic primary for Rochester City Council

An interview between Senator Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson got nasty when Carlson accused Cruz of wanting to enter wars against countries he knows nothing about. Cruz countered that the United States has an obligation to work alongside Israel against Iran. Jose Peo served from 2000 to 2004 in the U.S. Army, and he says that experience has pushed him into the “no more wars” camp. He explains how this growing group sees American intervention. In studio:Jose Peo, U.S. Army veteran, former member of Rochester City Council, and community advocate

It's the final discussion in our five-part series with candidates running in the Democratic primary for Rochester City Council. Early voting begins Saturday, June 14, and our goal on "Connections" is to help voters feel informed as they head to the polls. We talk to the candidates about their platforms, priorities, and their perspectives on a range of issues affecting the city. In studio: Stanley Martin, candidate for Rochester City Council  Miguel Meléndez, Jr., candidate for Rochester City Council  Niner Davis, candidate for Rochester City Council

Rochester City Council candidates in the Democratic primary, part 4In our second hour, we welcome candidates in the Democratic primary for Rochester City Council. It's part four of five in our series, where we give candidates the opportunity to discuss their backgrounds, platforms, and priorities for office, and answer questions from community members. Our guests: Ann Lewis, candidate for Rochester City Council  Mitch Gruber, candidate for Rochester City Council  *Note: Tonya Noel Stevens was scheduled to join this discussion, but her team has since notified WXXI that she has decided to step away from the campaign.

We continue our series of conversations with candidates running in the Democratic primary for Rochester City Council. Each discussion is an opportunity for the candidates to share their platforms and priorities for office, and to answer questions from community members. This is part three of five in our series. Our guests: Victor Sanchez, candidate for Rochester City Council Kelly Cheatle, candidate for Rochester City Council Luis Aponte, candidate for Rochester City Council

We continue our series of conversations with candidates running in the Democratic primary for Rochester City Council. We've invited all of the candidates in that race to join us on the talk show to discuss their platforms and priorities and to answer questions from community members. This is part two in our series. In studio: Clifford Florence Jr., candidate for Rochester City Council LaShunda Leslie-Smith, D.S.W., candidate for Rochester City Council Josie McClary, candidate for Rochester City Council

Some members of Rochester City Council contend that last year's budget allocated funds that could have been used to study a potential public utility. For those who don't love the service from RG&E, this has been a big issue for years. Rochester Mayor Malik Evans said last week on "Connections" that he is not trying to block a public utility, but he wants the county to share the cost of a study. Our guests explain why they think the timeline should speed up. In studio: Mary Lupien, member of Rochester City Council  Michi Cole Wenderlich, campaign and policy coordinator for Metro Justice

Local Democrats will see a number of candidates for Rochester City Council on their primary ballot next month. We've invited all of the candidates in that race to join us on the talk show to discuss their platforms and priorities and to answer questions from community members. This is part one in our series. In studio:  Miquel Powell, candidate for Rochester City Council  Chiara "Kee Kee" Smith, candidate for Rochester City Council Kevin Stewart, candidate for Rochester City Council 

We continue our series of conversations with candidates running in the June Democratic primary. This hour, we sit down with Mary Lupien, candidate for Rochester Mayor. Lupien is a current member of Rochester City Council whose priorities for office include guaranteed basic income, access to safe and affordable housing, community responder programs, and funding for youth programs. She joins us in the studio to discuss her background and her platform, and she answers our questions and yours. In studio:Mary Lupien, candidate for Rochester mayor

"The houses, offices and businesses that might one day populate what is today the Inner Loop highway could tap into a massive geothermal field rivaling the largest systems of its type in New York." That's according to reporting by WXXI's Gino Fanelli. Geothermal energy uses heat from the earth's crust as a source of heating and cooling; it's more climate-friendly than fossil fuels. Rochester City Council has approved funding to study the potential project. This hour, we talk through what the work would entail, the costs and benefits, and — if approved — what the project would mean for developing the area. Our guests: Gino Fanelli, investigations and City Hall reporter for WXXI News Mitch Gruber, member of Rochester City Council John M. Duchesneau, general manager of Rochester District Heating Cooperative Ryan Macauley, chief financial officer for Rochester District Heating Cooperative Bill Coe, vice president of EMCOR Services Betlem

Bob reads a message from Rochester City Council, Bob talks about a traumatic injury that was incurred in a fight at Greece Arcadia, and Bob takes calls.

Rochester Mayor Kim Norton talks about the new makeup of the City Council after the November election and a leadership post on the National League of Cities.

Tom and Andy discuss a rather scathing news article concerning Minnesota's Governor that was published by CNN and the listener chimes in about a Twin Cities-based group's decision to campaign on behalf of some candidates for Rochester City Council.

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Monday, August 26, 2024, we explore the Good Cause Eviction Law and learn why the minority bloc on Rochester City Council thinks it will help ease the housing crisis.

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Monday, May 6, 2024, three members of the Rochester City Council majority group join us to discuss why they signed the "Pact with the People" report.

So, here's the tea: Congress has passed a bill that essentially says, "Hey ByteDance, either sell TikTok or get ready for a nationwide ban." Why, you ask? Well, apparently, some folks in Washington are worried that the Chinese government might use TikTok to collect sensitive data on Americans or spread propaganda. I mean, sure, valid concerns, but have they seen the state of American social media lately? Now, ByteDance has a tough choice to make: sell their golden goose or risk losing access to the U.S. market entirely. But here's where it gets juicy - TikTok is planning to fight back in court, arguing that a forced sale could violate users' free speech rights. I can just imagine the legal battle now: "Your honor, how will Americans express themselves without the ability to lip-sync to 'Savage' while doing the Renegade dance?" Even if ByteDance decides to sell, finding a buyer won't be a cakewalk. We're talking about a price tag that could make Jeff Bezos's eyes water. Plus, any potential buyer would have to pass the government's sniff test. It's like trying to find a date on Tinder, but instead of swiping right, you've got to get Uncle Sam's approval. But wait, there's more! China might just swoop in and block the whole thing. They've already hinted that they're not too keen on the idea of selling TikTok. It's like watching a high-stakes game of chess, but instead of pawns and rooks, we've got algorithms and national security concerns. And let's not forget about the poor TikTok employees caught in the middle of this mess. They're scattered across the globe, using ByteDance software to communicate, and now they might have to learn how to use Slack or something. The horror! Meanwhile, over in the land of upstate New York, we've got a district attorney who apparently thinks traffic laws are just suggestions. Sandra Doorley was caught on bodycam footage calling a police officer "an a--hole" for having the audacity to pull her over for speeding. Classy move, Sandra. But here's where it gets even better: the Rochester City Council is now asking Attorney General Letitia James to investigate Doorley's behavior. They're questioning her fitness to serve as District Attorney, and honestly, I can't blame them. I mean, if you can't handle getting a speeding ticket without throwing a tantrum, how are you supposed to handle, you know, actual crime? The council members are arguing that public officials should be held to the highest standards of ethics and accountability and that Doorley's behavior undermines the credibility of the justice system. In other words, they're saying, "Hey Sandra, maybe don't be a jerk to the cops when you're supposed to be upholding the law." So, there you have it, folks. A tale of two stories - one involving billions of dollars, national security, and the fate of a beloved social media app, and the other involving a district attorney who apparently missed the memo on basic decency. It's like watching a soap opera, but instead of love triangles and evil twins, we've got geopolitical tensions and traffic violations. As always, thanks for tuning in to the "What are We Doing" podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share it with your friends. And if you're feeling extra spicy, leave us a comment with your thoughts on the TikTok debacle or Sandra Doorley's bad behavior. Until next time, stay weird and stay informed! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/what-are-we-doing-pod/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/what-are-we-doing-pod/support

Rochester Mayor Kim Norton talks about a recent joint meeting of the Rochester City Council and Olmsted County Board to formulate a community-wide response to homelessness. Mayor Norton also discusses improvements and other changes planned for Silver Lake Park.

In the second hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Thursday, February 1, 2024, we talk with the new president of the Monroe County Legislature, Yversha Roman; new majority leader, Legislator Michael Yudelson; and the newly re-elected president of Rochester City Council, Miguel Meléndez.

Tom and Andy talk about the City Council decision, The Penn State Resignations, Hunter Biden's Refusal to Answer to a House Subpoena, and a bunch of other issues

Rochester City Council member Shaun Palmer discusses Mayo Clinic's new five-year plan for projects in downtown Rochester, shares additional information concerning the sales tax extension proposal, and talks about his visit to a unique redevelopment project in Hastings.

The Greece Central School District is joining a national legal fight to hold social media companies responsible for student struggles with mental health, city funding for downtown and other neighborhood ambassadors is on hold as Rochester City Council seeks more clarity from the Evans administration, and Governor Kathy Hochul signed a slate of bills that expand voting access across the state.

In the second hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, June 30, 2023, we discuss the recently passed city budget with members of Rochester City Council.

Tom and Andy talk about the Rochester City Council's recent discussions about the park, along with the situation in Russia, and bean bag shotguns.

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, we talk with Mayor Malik Evans, Rochester City Council President Miguel Meléndez, Jr. and Councilmember Mitch Gruber about the city's budget.

Despite some hotly contested primary races in Monroe County voter turnout is still expected to be low, the Rochester City Council has flexed a long-unused power in this year's budget cycle, and New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli says New York's financial condition is okay for now but looks very problematic going forward.

Members of the Rochester City Council unanimously approved funding to study forming a municipal utility and cutting ties with Rochester Gas and Electric, the Breast Cancer Coalition awarded $100,000 to help fund breast cancer research, and an official with the Office of Cannabis Management says they are making significant process in paving the way for dispensaries to open around the state.

In the first half of the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, June 16, 2023, we talk with Chiara "Kee-Kee" Smith, a candidate running in the primary for Rochester City Council's Northeast District.

In the second half of the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, June 16, 2023, we talk with Barbara Rivera, a candidate running in the primary for Rochester City Council's South District.

In the first half of the second hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, June 9, 2023, we talk with Bridget Monroe, candidate in the 2023 primary for Rochester City Council's Northwest District.

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Monday, June 5, 2023, we talk to the primary candidates for Rochester City Council's East District.

Pistol permit applications in Monroe and other nearby counties have fallen dramatically this year, Rochester City Council will vote this month on a package of bills to hold slumlords accountable, state and local agencies are keeping a close eye on Lake Ontario's water levels in recent weeks following prolonged rainfall throughout the Great Lakes.

Rochester City Council approves legislation granting $4,000 payments to all police officers on staff between 2020 and 2022; county health officials confirm that a fox that bit six people in Brighton last Friday tested positive for rabies; and a local addiction treatment agency has received just over half a million dollars in state funding to expand its programming.

Rochester City Council is expected to put aside a million dollars for a community-based anti-violence initiative, Turkish students at Binghamton University come together to mourn and raise funds for earthquake relief, Rochester's R-Centers are shifting to a daytime schedule to accommodate February break.

Staff at Seneca Park Zoo are mourning the loss of one of their giraffes, Gov. Kathy Hochul announces a slew of state spending commitments to Finger Lakes projects. Rochester City Council is set to vote on a plan to build new shelters at the city's only sanctioned homeless encampment.

Stories in this episode: Day in History: 1973: Minnesota Vikings draft Chuck Foreman Breaking a barrier: Bryttany Wener is the Lake City Police Department's first full-time female officer Sylwia Bujak Oliver, 125 Live executive director, becomes a U.S. citizen 7 takeaways from Rochester City Council's library review Kasson-Mantorville grad Brendan Knoll will get another shot to pitch in pro ball

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Thursday, January 12, 2023, two City Council members join the program to discuss violence and public safety, the Police Accountability Board, housing and more.

Stories in this episode: Day in History: 1922: Growing need for music teachers Multiple agencies come together to fight child sexual abuse material 7 updates provided during Rochester City Council's first-ever bus tour Harmony Telephone Company bringing fiber internet to Harmony amid federal, state push for broadband expansion Mayo grad Goetz gets shot to pitch in Northwoods League The Post Bulletin is proud to be a part of the Trust Project. Learn more at thetrustproject.org.

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, Mayor Malik Evans and members of Rochester City Council discuss the city's recently passed budget.

Stories mentioned in this episode: Day in History: 1947: 10,000 visitors visit Spring Grove Rochester's K9 Ninja advances on to American Ninja Warrior semifinals Rochester cutting fees at city pools Rochester City Council candidate attended Jan. 6 rally that led to Capitol riot PB Golfers of the Year Windhorst Knudsen, Larson made their marks on state level The Post Bulletin is proud to be a part of the Trust Project. Learn more at thetrustproject.org.

Pastor Don Barlow sits in the front pew of his Baptist church on Rochester's southeast side, holding a piece of paper, faded by decades in Olmsted County's archives but still clear in its intent. “This property shall never be occupied by a Negro,” Barlow reads from the deed for the plat of land where his predominantly Black church now stands. It's a moment of poetic justice for Barlow, who recently learned that about a century ago he and his congregants would have been legally blocked from worshiping there. “The shock, the alarm comes from the clearness of the statement found within the legal documents,” he said. “It's not so much the usage of the word Negro, because it was the language of the day, but more so the fact that in a legal document, it was being stated and accepted as the norm.” For years, such covenants were a tool used across the nation and in Minnesota to keep nonwhite people out of white neighborhoods. They're illegal now, but their impact remains, cascading into thousands of individual decisions about schools, homes and jobs that have collectively kept cities shackled to the past. Reckoning with that past is hard for any city, but Rochester's comes with an unusual twist: New research into housing covenants makes it clear how the founders of Mayo Clinic — a giant in Minnesota and Rochester, viewed globally as a force for good — played a role perpetuating practices that favored all-white neighborhoods. Racial covenants in Rochester Roughly 850 racial covenants have been found so far. Hear from Rochester residents who own homes with racial covenants.  Map https://features.mprnews.org/2022/rochester_covenants/index.html Note: Numbers represent racial covenants found so far. This is an ongoing project and not all properties have been checked. The percentage indicates for each census tract the share of properties with racial covenants out of the properties that were both platted before 1953 and have been checked.  This map focuses on central Rochester and does not include all racial covenants found so far in Olmsted County. Source: NAACP Racial Covenant Mapping Project / Phil Wheeler. Map: Elisabeth Gawthrop/APM Research Lab. With the city expanding rapidly now around Mayo Clinic, city leaders hope Rochester can be a magnet for a diverse workforce. Part of that journey, though, means coming to terms with a troubling part of the city's history — decades of intentional housing segregation. A recent push to map the city's racial housing covenants shows how deep those roots lie and the challenges moving forward. ‘Racists buying real estate' Ken Klotzbach for MPR News Phil Wheeler refers to a map of homes in Rochester's historic "Pill Hill" neighborhood on April 13, where restrictive neighborhood covenants were once enforced. Armed with a stack of historical maps and documents, Phil Wheeler walks the streets of Pill Hill, a historic neighborhood just southwest of Mayo Clinic's downtown campus that was home to some of the hospital's first professionals. Today, homes in this neighborhood can cost millions. In the early 1900s when Pill Hill was being developed, prices were high for the time, too, said Wheeler, an urban planner who once worked in planning departments for the city and county. Now, as a member of the local chapter of the NAACP, he's leading a volunteer effort to map intentional segregation in Rochester. The project was born from a 2021 decision by the Rochester City Council to be the first greater Minnesota city to join Just Deeds, a project that helps homeowners and cities find racial covenants and then legally disavow them. Ken Klotzbach for MPR News Phil Wheeler points out homes in the historic "Pill Hill" neighborhood where restrictive neighborhood covenants were once enforced. Price minimums were required by the deeds for the land houses were built on — one way of making sure only wealthier people were able to access the neighborhood, Wheeler said. So were racial covenants. Some were applied when the land was first being developed, some applied retroactively after homes were built to preserve the demographics of the neighborhood. Courtesy of History Center of Olmsted County An ad printed in the Post Bulletin sometime in the late 1920s. The restrictions were used as a marketing tactic, too. A newspaper ad from the late 1920s for lots near Mayo Clinic warned buyers not to build on cheap land.  A Westlawn lot will add to the sale and rental value of your home and building restrictions assure of a desirable neighborhood to live in. The ad promoted a watch raffle — but the ad said that only white people 18 and older would be eligible to enter.  Some racial covenants were hyper-specific, Wheeler said. He read from one associated with a neighborhood in Pill Hill: “None of said respective tracts or any parts thereof shall be sold to or occupied by any person of Negro, Indian, Mongolian, Chinese or Japanese descent, provided however, this restriction shall not apply to a bonafide servant employed by a resident thereon and housed in his residence.” Wheeler said this language can be found repeatedly in land sold and developed by Mayo Properties Association, an entity founded in 1919 by Mayo Clinic founders and brothers Drs. William and Charles Mayo, according to the Olmsted County History Center.  At the time, the duo transferred their property and capital to Mayo Properties Association, marking the shift from Mayo Clinic being a family-run organization to a nonprofit, according to the history center.  Deeds unearthed by Wheeler and his volunteers show Mayo Properties Association started subdividing land for sale in the early 20th century.  Read Mayo Properties Association deed including a racial covenant Of the roughly 850 racial covenants Wheeler and other volunteers have discovered and mapped so far, about 25 percent of them bear the Mayo name, along with that of other Mayo and city leaders of the time, including Harry Harwick, the hospital's first administrator. Ken Klotzbach for MPR News Mike Resman holds a deed from a Rochester home dated in 1941 bearing the name of the Mayo Properties Association corporation. Wheeler said that while racial covenants were employed in many cities at the time, it's hard to decipher Mayo and Harwick's motivations. Most of the more than 5,000 plats Wheeler and his volunteers have examined so far never had a racial covenant. “I don't know how much slack we should cut somebody like Harry Harwick, who did this everywhere that he was involved in property,” he said. “The argument that he's a product of his time is countered by the fact that about 80 percent of the plats that were made during that time had no [racial] covenant, as far as we can tell.” Wheeler's best guess is that the covenants were meant to create prestigious enclaves in an effort to attract physicians to Mayo Clinic. “That depends on racists buying real estate,” he said. “And selling it too, of course.” Disparities in black and white Ken Klotzbach for MPR News Barbara Jordan, Mayo Clinic Administrator for the Office for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. Documents dating back to this time period were disposed of consistent with record retention policies, a Mayo Clinic spokesperson said. “It's hard to know the nature of the thinking in the minds of those property holders drafting the covenants at the time,” said Barbara Jordan, the administrator for Mayo's equity, inclusion and diversity office. “But I just look at it as a sign of the times and probably along with the segregation that was occurring across the country.” Jordan, who is Black, said that it's important for Mayo not to ignore this aspect of its history.  Mayo has grappled before with racist episodes in its past. In 2018, the institution apologized for William Worrall Mayo's desecration of Marpiya Okinajin, a warrior hanged in the 1862 mass execution of Native people in Mankato, Minn. William Worrall Mayo — father of William and Charles — took Marpiya Okinajin's remains following the execution, dissected them and kept the skeleton for years for research and display. “We don't want to let [the racial covenants] go on unnoticed or, or let it sit and say, ‘That was wrong,' but to take affirmative, actionable steps,” said Jordan, noting that Mayo is lending some of its legal team to the covenant mapping project on a pro bono basis. And that's just one aspect of Mayo's work to improve diversity and equity within its walls and in its communities. After George Floyd was murdered at the hands of a police officer in 2020, the institution pledged $100 million to diversity efforts — money that's been used to pay for equity and inclusion training among staff, and a leadership camp for BIPOC teens, among other things. Meanwhile, Mayo's population of nonwhite employees across all its campuses has increased from 8 percent of its workforce in 1999 to 18 percent last year.  Jordan said she's had her own experiences with racism in Rochester. Decades ago, she said, white students at her daughter's middle school were allowed to display the Confederate flag until students and families pushed administrators to ban the practice.  When Jordan talks to new recruits of color at Mayo, she often hears that they don't feel like they fit in. Despite its international visitors and increasingly diverse demographics, Mayo Clinic remains predominantly white; the city of Rochester is 78 percent white. “They are the ones who are surprised when they see that our staff may not reflect the diversity of our community,” she said. “Our learners have told us, our employees have told us that their sense of belonging is not at levels that we would like to see.” Exclusion can take many forms, Jordan said, like not being invited to work-related social events or being told they speak too loudly. These microaggressions can accumulate over time, Jordan said.  “It's constantly helping people to understand that the white-centered viewpoint is not the only viewpoint or perspective,” she said. Addressing racism inside its walls and community is essential to Mayo's success as a health care provider. Even a decade ago, Jordan said the Mayo community was less receptive to this.  “But today, they demand it,” she said. “They expect it because we know in order to provide the best care to every patient, we have to prepare learners and our staff to care for a diverse group of patients, as our doors are open to all.” Segregation that's ‘hard to dislodge' Ken Klotzbach for MPR News Rochester's director of diversity, equity and inclusion, Chao Mwatela. It's not yet clear how these racial covenants have powered racial and economic disparities in Rochester, but city leaders are eager to use the data to better understand the city's inequities and work to fix them.  Still, Chao Mwatela, Rochester's diversity, equity and inclusion director, sees hints of the practice's legacy everywhere. Some of the neighborhoods that were born with racial covenants remain largely white, affluent, and with access to higher-performing schools. They tend to have more green space and sit farther away from industrial areas.  Meanwhile, city data shows that clusters of households that earn less than the area median income also have high counts of people of color, and seniors.  The starkest example, Mwatela said, is in homeownership among the city's nonwhite population, an indication that Rochester's residents of color today continue to be blocked from accessing generational wealth just as they were 100 years ago. In St. Cloud Somali families see homebuying as path to grow wealth, sink roots Roughly 60 percent of the city's renters are people of color — a notably high proportion, Mwatela said. Members of these communities are less likely to have had parents or grandparents who owned homes that accumulated wealth to pass on to their children, she said.  “The process of buying a home is not a simple one,” she said. “We don't realize how much of that is passed down from generation to generation and what impact it has on someone's ability to navigate that system, or to even purchase a home.”  Mayo Properties Association perpetuated racial covenants, but so did other developers in Rochester. In some cases, neighbors adopted racial covenants after homes were built in an effort to keep out nonwhites.  Racial covenants became illegal in Minnesota in 1962 and illegal nationally in 1968. But they were common in Minnesota in the first half of the 20th century, said Kirsten Delegard, co-founder and the project director for the Mapping Prejudice Project at the University of Minnesota Libraries. They were popular in part because they were promoted by the National Association of Real Estate Boards as a tool to protect property values and promote neighborhood stability, she said. The federal government's underwriting manual mandated that racial covenants be in place to get the most favorable terms.  “That mandate from those big national institutions meant that anyone who is considered to be a respectable or credible or ethical dealer in this realm was going to certainly come under a lot of pressure about racial covenants,” Delegard said. Racial covenants are still relevant today, she said. Her organization's mapping efforts of communities in and around the Twin Cities show that neighborhoods established with racial covenants are still overwhelmingly white.  And houses in Minneapolis that had racial covenants at any point are worth about 15 percent more today than an identical house that never had a racial covenant, Delegard said.  “What that does is it sets up this cascading effect for intergenerational wealth transfer, which increases inequality,” she said.  Delegard uses her own family as an example: Her grandparents bought a home with a racial covenant on it in 1942 in south Minneapolis near Lake Nokomis, and it appreciated significantly over the years. When they died, Delegard's family sold the home and gave all the grandchildren a share of the proceeds. “I took my piece and was able to put a down payment on a house in south Minneapolis that would be out of reach for people who did not have that same kind of family help,” Delegard said. “These patterns, once they're entrenched, they're very hard to dislodge.” ‘People here are so friendly' Ken Klotzbach for MPR News Mike Resman of Rochester. Racial covenants are being discovered all over Rochester by a small group of volunteers who comb through and map property records one block at a time. Mike Resman is one of those volunteers. In Pill Hill, he's sitting in the living room of the home he and his wife have lived in for 45 years. In his lap is a cache of property documents his bank sent him in the 1980s, including a racial covenant that would have prevented his two adopted daughters from Korea from living there a century ago. “I knew that it was not enforced. So I wasn't worried about it as a parent of nonwhite children,” he said. “But the thing that surprised me the most is that it had been sold by the Mayo Properties. I always associated Mayo Clinic with all good things, but here they were in the business of real estate and had put a covenant on the land.” Resman said he wants this information to be used as a tool to educate his neighbors and the community about their city's history, how some people have enjoyed privilege in Rochester at the expense of others.  Ken Klotzbach for MPR News A deed from a Rochester home dated in 1941 bearing the name of the Mayo Properties Association corporation. “I'm not one of those people who thinks that we should literally whitewash history and pretend that none of these things happened,” he said. Across town on the porch of her home in the Slatterly Park neighborhood, Wilhelmina Jacob said she wasn't shocked that her home has a racial covenant. As a Black woman, she said it's validating.  “What is phenomenal is that things that have been in the dark for years are now being exposed,” she said. “I think the validation of being rejected is not taboo, or ‘it's not real.' It is real, it has been real.” Ken Klotzbach for MPR News Wilhelmina Jacob, a homeowner in Rochester. She said that, unlike her upbringing in New Orleans, racism is harder to decipher in Minnesota; people here, she said, are hard to read and really get to know. “There are wonderful people here, but it is very Minnesota Nice. And the difference for me is that in the south, [racism] is just there. So we don't have to wonder — it just is what it is,” Jacob said, pointing out that as a child in New Orleans, there were informal rules about where Black people could go at night. “Here, you don't know. Everybody just smiles, and you don't know … I think it's a little bit more difficult to navigate.” Pastor Barlow sits on the Rochester School Board and hears echoes of racial segregation in schools today. Schools in whiter, wealthier neighborhoods reflect those demographics, a challenge the district is constantly working to address through redistricting, resources and by hiring more staff of color. But even still, Barlow can understand how it feels to be excluded in Rochester — a city purported to be welcoming when he moved here with his wife years ago so she could access long-term care at the clinic. “I was staying at a hotel downtown. It was a Friday, early evening, and a car of white youth passed by and yelled out the N-word,” he said. “It wasn't like it was the first time I heard it. But it shocked me because I've heard a number of [Mayo doctors] at the clinic say, ‘You're not going to find a nicer place to live' and ‘people here are so friendly.'  “And I'm sure from their point of view, and their lived experience, those are all true statements. But then I began to realize it doesn't necessarily apply to everyone,” he said. At Rochester's City Hall, Mwatela is thinking along the same lines. Once racial covenants are fully mapped, the city will create a process for homeowners to discharge those covenants for free. But she said interweaving this information into all aspects of city policy — in zoning decisions or in targeting homeownership classes at disadvantaged populations — is the bigger goal.  “I think sometimes when we say we want to do those things without having the data and the history to inform it, it is perceived as ‘Why is this community getting it and I don't,'” she said. “Laying the groundwork for people to understand that a lot of times [some people] are not starting from an equal playing field, whether it is monetarily, education and access.”  Back at his church in southeast Rochester, holding the deed that declares the “property shall never be occupied by a Negro,” Don Barlow said uncomfortable conversations about the city's past are necessary for it to be the welcoming community it perceives itself to be.  “We benefit when we're willing to acknowledge the truths associated with our past, however uncomfortable they may be,” he said. “Because these are the types of things that have affected generations.”  Editor's note (May 23, 2022): An earlier version of this story suggested the University of Minnesota used racial covenants. To clarify, researchers say the university in the 1950s refused to denounce the use of covenants. Table The data for the map and table in this story come from the Rochester NAACP Racial Covenant Mapping Project led by Phil Wheeler and including the following additional volunteers: Natasha Adams, Ashton Boon, Melissa Bush, Ellen Goode, Kathy Meyerle, Kelli Morin, Michael Resman, Sue Wheeler, Julie Gilkinson, Yoko Kan, Emma Miller-Shindelar, Christopher Carter, Dan Yeates Kelsey Skodje, Katie Chapman, Justin Cook, Christine Kirt and Matt Tse. Data originally comes courtesy of Olmsted County Property Records and Licensing Office. Map: Elisabeth Gawthrop/APM Research Lab. Live discussion: Racial covenants in Minnesota Click to watch. Full series North Star Journey What should we cover next? Pass the Mic Ask MPR News What questions do you have about covenants?

In the first hour of "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Friday, April 8, 2022, Rochester City Council recently voted against Good Cause Eviction legislation. Our guests discuss the "good cause" landscape and where it might go next.

A live panel discussion titled "Fighting Food Insecurity With Local Foods" from the 40th annual Agweek Farm Show in Rochester on March 8-9. Agweek reporter Noah Fish moderates a conversation with Kelly Rae Kirkpatrick of the Rochester City Council, Amanda Nigon-Crowley of the Village Agriculture Cooperative and Anna Oldenburg with Olmsted County Public Health Services.

Stories mentioned in this episode: Day in History: 1947: College should not be “four years of subsidized irresponsibility” It's about to get spicy in Rochester 7 things to know about proposed map of new Rochester City Council wards Another point for the pint Lourdes grateful for another state tournament shot

Rochester City Council joins the show today to go deep on the housing situation in Rochester

We have a conversation with Rochester City Council candidate Ann Lewis. We talk with her about her platform and priorities.

Election Day is a little more than a week away, and voters across the City of Rochester are considering the candidates for Rochester City Council. There are 12 candidates running for five at-large seats. This is our final discussion with the candidates.

We begin the hour with a conversation about priorities for Rochester with City Council candidate Stanley Martin. Our goal is to talk with all of the Council candidates on the ballot prior to Election Day.

We continue our conversations with candidates for Rochester City Council. We've invited every candidate on the ballot to talk about their priorities for the city.

We continue our series of conversations with candidates for Rochester City Council. Our goal is to talk with all interested candidates on the ballot prior to Election Day. This hour, we hear from Jasmin Reggler and Kim Smith about their backgrounds, platforms, and priorities for Rochester.

We begin our series of interviews with candidates for Rochester City Council. There are ten candidates vying for five at-large seats. Our goal is to talk to all of them prior to Election Day about their background, platforms, and priorities for office.