An Assortment of Dissociated and Disjointed Thoughts
I provide my usual and all-too-often needed apologies for being a less-than-stellar blogger.
This post is a mixed-bag of stuff that’s been floating around my head these few weeks.
The race for Jacksonville’s City Council
There hasn’t been much public campaigning. Mr. Hunter Hadley, Jr (At-Large) has yard signs posted. Councilwoman Reva Sullivan (Ward 2) is hosting a campaign kick-off event tonight (September 3rd) from 6pm to 9pm at Tony’s Seafood and Oyster Bar. Mr. James Bryan (At-Large) has a blog, but it’s fizzled (almost as badly as Bloviations!).
I was quite disappointed at the lack of campaigning at the National Night Out. Not one candidate for Jacksonville’s City Council visited the Recreation and Parks/Trails and Greenways commissions tents…Well, that’s not necessarily true…Council-members Alva Williams (At-Large) and Reva Sullivan walked by, but didn’t say anything to the Commission volunteers manning the tables. Ms. Sullivan even refused to accept information regarding Trails and Greenways and an upcoming Downeast Cyclists’ ride in October.
Freedom Communications, Inc Files for Bankruptcy
The company which owns the Jacksonville Daily News, and other eastern NC newspapers, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. JDNews publisher Elliott Potter says it’s “business as usual” at Jacksonville’s only newspaper.
Speaking of the Jacksonville Daily News…
The paper’s opinion page reads more like a Republican-funded political rag than a libertarian-based newspaper. It’s no wonder that younger folks aren’t interested in paper news when all you see are screeds that accuse President Obama of being a “socialist” at best and the anti-christ at worst.
Some Cool Bicycle Poetry
Thoughts on My Bike and There’s a Flower in My Pedal by Andrya Dorfman. Tip o’ the bicycle helmet to Cycleicio.us
While We’re on Bicycles…
Did you know that less than 10% of accidents that include a bicycle are the bicyclists’ fault?
Blowing my Own Horn or Ringing my Own Bell
As of August 15th, it’s been 12 full months of bicycle-commuting. As of earlier this week, I’ve bicycled over 4,000 miles. Whoever says you can’t live in Jacksonville without a car is wrong.
September 4th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Thanks for calling out my blog for having ‘fizzled’! There’s no sarcasm in that either. Candidates (and elected officials) need that type of constructive feedback. It’s honest, direct and (I believe) well intentioned.
I’ll try to redouble my efforts in regards to posting to the blog. In the mean time, let me give you some context to it.
I started the blog because that’s what I want in my candidates. I feel that it is simple and cheap enough (free!) that every candidate should have one. Blogs provide some level of connection between the community and the candidate.
I expect my blog to be less than perfect, but expect it to improve in an organic manner (i.e. learn-as-you-go). I would consider it a success if my blog prompted other candidates to blog.
There are two techniques I use in my posting. The first is to blog on events, ideas and my campaign as they occur. My experience so far is that things have been happening slowly. So far there have been a few JDNews stories and a lot of junk mail urging me to do direct mailings, robo-calls, etc. There has been one candidate informational session held by the City this week—I ought to have blogged about that. Overall this method is fine, but has created a lull so far. The second technique is to write an entry, then hold it (unpublished) to think on it and revise it. This technique is quite difficult for me. I have over a dozen entries just sitting there at different points of completion. I’m not sure whether or not I would advise other candidates to assume a similar technique. One hand I’m worried that if I write without the ‘hold’ time, I may post something that I later regret. On the other hand, placing things on ‘hold’ means that I will get to them ‘later…’
One last note: Congratulations on one year of commuting by bicycle!
September 11th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Bryan.
The feedback is certainly well-intentioned (You’ll notice that your blog “fizzled” less than my own!).
I fully support your beginning a blog. It’s a first for a Jacksonville City Council candidate for certain, and probably a first for any candidate in Onslow County. There is a worse thing than not having a blog/web-presence, though, and that’s starting one and abandoning it.
Your post on the City’s information session for candidates (video is available) is a nice summary, but it’s lacking any sort of take-away. What did you think? What policies were you made aware of that you disagree? What changes would you press? Did you have questions? Were you satisfied with the answers? What is your point of view?
But…Most importantly…
Why should I, or anyone, vote for you? Because I’ve only seen two positions from you: 1) You believe in more open and transparent government and 2) You see the Council’s role limited to making decisions based on staff recommendations.
And, to be brutally honest, those aren’t good enough to earn my vote.
Take my criticism the way they’re intended: I want to support you and I want you to win (I think…), but the main factor in that is that I think a fresh view is required within City Hall. I don’t know where you stand on any important issues. There’s less than two months to election day…I’d start getting my opinions out there…
And I agree with you about the street signs…But, unfortunately, it’s something you’ll have to do if you want more than a handful of “Anyone but Alva/Randy” votes.
Thank you for your comment. And for the thoughts about bicycle-commuting for a year. It’s easy when you’ve got no choice and such a great supporter as I have. Ann Marie really deserves the credit for my bicycling “success.”
September 12th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
I had written a longer entry regarding the information session that had more ‘take-away,’ but ultimately decided I preferred the shorter version. The longer version was mostly opinions of the other candidates and I thought that to be either inconsequential or unnecessary. I didn’t care for other candidates’ questions that were either commentary or politicized; but frankly that’s more personal preference than a valid political viewpoint.
There weren’t many policies discussed, it was more focused on functions. Most of these functions I was already aware of to some extent. Working in local government, especially in the planning department, allowed me to be exposed to most of this already. The session was meant to be a brief overview. While the devil’s in the details, the session wasn’t intended to go into that level of detail.
For instance, at some point storm water management was discussed… flooding along Western Blvd and such. The point of the meeting was to make us aware that the city manages water quantity through their public works and recently became responsible for managing water quality. That a particular area came up was fine, but it’s not like we were an actual council making a decision. If an action item were being discussed then I imagine I would have more of an opinion.
In essence, we were being told what the city does, not how it did it. There’s really no reason to have such an opinion on that—it’s not going to change. If it were to change, it would be done through Raleigh (General Assembly), not here in Jacksonville.
You do a good job in highlighting two of my positions. I might elaborate on the first, saying that it’s a means toward an end–towards a collaborative government (between staff, elected officials and the public). I would also argue that the second is a bit misleading, but very close. I would distinguish the mayor from the rest of the council for purposes of leadership and political agenda setting. I would also say that the role is not ‘limited to,’ but certainly agree that there should be some level of deference and reliance. Finally, I would point out that I feel the appropriate relationship is between council and the manager, not between council and staff.
This discussion reminds me that I have a blog entry that needs to be posted regarding the relationship between council and manager/staff. I’ll refine and post that entry, hopefully it will help you understand my perspective on the matter.