Minneapolis School Board Update #1

I just received an email last night from the Richard Mammen Campaign (email below). I read this email on my phone, and my first impression was very good. He seems to have a pretty good resume that spans quite a time frame. Looking at an email on my phone usually means I only look at it quickly and don't give much thought to content, so when I looked at it on my computer I started having some reservations about the organization of the campaign.

First of all, they put every email in the 'to' line which means that all those emails are open for anybody to see. Obviously by having a blog I'm not worried too much about my email getting out but I know others don't enjoy this. Note to the Mammen Campaign: please start putting email addresses in the BCC line or invest in something like Constant Contact.

Second, is the timing of the meet and greet. I learned early on in my campaign days that you should avoid weekends and holidays for meet and greets. A lot of time and effort goes in to these things, and the worst possible outcome is that nobody shows up. Well, the Mammen Campaign managed to break both of those rules on their first try. This event is scheduled for April 3rd at 6pm. While my goal is to give everybody a shot by listening to what they have to say, I will be unable to attend this event because of the timing. Next time I would suggest a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday after the Easter and Passover Holidays.

I understand that sometimes weekends are the only time to squeeze in things like this, and that when running for the first time mistakes are often made. I just hope they learn from this, and that they plan a little better with their next email/event.

Don't worry, I won't be basing my support off of this one incident but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Copy of Email (personal Email's and phone number redacted):

Dear Friend,

I am proud to announce the the campaign kick off for Richard Mammen candidate for School Board and Team Mammen. The kick off will be held at Intermedia Art on Saturday April 3rd at 6pm.
This will be an opportunity to meet Richard and the members of our campaign team, and a way to meet other supporters and help our campaign by getting involved.


Richard Mammen is a candidate for one of the 2 at-large seats on the Minneapolis School Board this coming fall. He is a life long resident of Minneapolis and a democrat. A graduate of Washburn High and the University of MN. He is also the parent of 2 South High graduates and a current 8th grader at Seward Montessori. For the past 40 years he has been professionally involved in youth development work as an outreach worker with the YMCA, as the creator and director of a contract alternative school serving juvenile offenders, as the director of the MPLS Youth Coordinating Board under Mayor Don Fraser for 7 years, and as the developer and director of numerous programs and organizations that serve children and youth in our city.

If you cannot attend but are interested in donating checks can be made out to "Richard Mammen For Schools" and sent to PO Box 17132, Minneapolis MN 55417

Thank you!!

--
Peace-Love-Respect

David Gilbert-Pederson
2137 Minneapolis Ave
Minneapolis MN 55406

Another One Bites the Dust

Gameworks is shutting its doors, and the already empty Block E, just became more of a ghost town. I realize this isn't in Ward 1 but I'm trying to broaden my horizon just a little.

Gameworks occupied 34,012 square feet of the stone Goliath that has been on life support for several years now. Block E still has 24,000 square feet that Borders has been trying to unload for just over two years without any luck. All this, and Hooters is on the verge of eviction unless it can somehow come up with almost $450,000 that it owes in back rent.

Kieren's did take the leap of faith, and moved in to Block E two weeks ago today. I'm not sure how they're doing but something tells me that is one place that can't fail (famous last words). With the addition of Kieren's they did double the number of worthwhile businesses there, The Shout House being the other one.

Here's my opinion...If you're going to build a monstrosity in the middle of a downtown area, don't fill it with large chains that people can find in the suburbs where they don't have to pay for parking. I don't know many families that are getting home after work and saying, 'ok kids, hop in the minivan, we're goin' downtown to Applebee's!' No, I'm thinking that when working class people get home from work after a long rush hour commute, they're saying, 'ok kids, hop in the minivan, we're goin' 3 blocks to Applebee's (or a movie theatre, or Dave and Busters).

Block E is a good idea in principal but the company that owns it might need a little lesson in property management. If you're going to build something in an area where families don't live, then you need to fill it with things that those people can't get anywhere else. Or, you need to at least appeal to the people that do actually live in the area. I don't claim to have the answers, and believe me, I know the economy has a lot to do with this but Block E was failing before the recession so I don't know if I buy that excuse. No, I think it was just poor management, and poor solicitation to get tenants that would really bring in the people.

What thrives downtown? Live theatre, niche restaurants, bars, these are the things that needed to be looked at when filling the space. I said when the palce opened it wasn't going to make it, and it's too bad. I hope they can get it together and find some worthwhile tenants but it might be too little, too late with this economy. Although, maybe the Kieren's move is the start of something great for Block E.

School Board Forums

Just got some good dates on upcoming School Board Forums that will be held.

All Candidates:

April 22nd
May 13th

District 1 Cadidates:

TBD (I'm hearing early May)

I hope to attend all of the forums, and will try to live blog the events but will probably end up updating after the forums. Check back for more updates as I get them.

City Convention

I am a delegate to this year's city convention, and it should actually be a pretty hot endorsing process. With two school board members announcing they won't seek re-election, and the new setup for school board seats, I'm excited to see how this plays out.

I've only just begun my research on the candidates, and have found a few things out there that I will be going through. TC Daily Planet has a good article covering the candidate forum, and I also found a broadcast from KFAI that has an interview with all of the candidates (dead link). I plan on reading/listening to both (it) in the coming days to help me get a handle on all of the candidates.

I've worked with David DeGrio on several projects, and for this reason he will be receiving my endorsement for one of the candidates. David is a very devoted, and caring individual that I feel will have a lot to add to the next Board. I also got a great response from him when I asked about his thoughts on the recent Super appointment.

I don't have children, let alone children in the Minneapolis School system but I am very passionate about education, and I feel that what happens in the schools effects everything in the city. I really struggled with the decision to not do a search for a Superintendent, not because I feel that Super Johnson isn't qualified for the position, but because I feel that this Board owes it to the students to conduct a thorough search. I wrote to all of the Board members who voted in favor of the appointment to voice my concern over the process. I only received one response, and let's just say it was less than what I was hoping for.

In the coming days I'll report on what I've learned from my digging in to the school board candidate research. I'll try to get them up in short order since I know most people are on the edge of their seats to hear what I have to say about the candidates.

I'm back...sort of

I've managed to neglect this blog for the past 8 months. Turns out blogging about NE politics can get pretty dicey. I've decided to start writing again though because, well frankly, I miss it. I'm not however going to advertise the blog anywhere, and if people stop to read, great, if not, it's ok by me.

When I started this blog I stated that it would be just my opinions and observations, and that's exactly what I plan on doing. I know some of the things I blog about won't be popular with some of the party elites but that's what makes it so fun. For others that read it, it might be exactly what they've been hoping to see.

I'll state it again, I consider myself a progressive liberal but that doesn't mean that I agree with everything that is said by current members of the DFL. I'm not going to back down anymore from writing what I think about some of our elected officials, or candidate hopefuls.

Game on!