Episode 57: Joe Vital and Dean Dovolis

Host Marvin Stockwell talks to Joe Vital and Dean Dovolis of the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute at Dean's office in Minneapolis. With the help of many, Joe and Dean have championed the cause of the East Phillips Depot, a building that people in the surrounding neighborhood want repurposed as an urban farm and commercial center, but that the City of Minneapolis wants to demolish, despite the environmental dangers to people living nearby. Decades-old disinvestment, redlining, environmental racism, a hostile and indifferent mayoral administration, marches in the streets, lawsuits, occupations, and forced removal by police have all been part of this eight-year fight. Marvin, Joe and Dean talk about all that, but also about how the tide has recently turned in favor of the activists.

Champions of the Lost Causes (the podcast) is available via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Dean Dovolis, Joe Vital and Marvin Stockwell