Capitol City Musings

KSTP November sweeps taxicab expose

2009-11-24T23:06:00.000-06:00

KSTP has just done its November hyped expsose: "Who's At the Wheel of Metro Taxis?": They should have labeled it "Minneapolis" instead of "Metro" since all the incidents they found were there, but there is certainly some truth in what they report. They found a lot of unlicensed drivers in unlicensed cabs [unlicensed as least as far as the city was concerned] and a lot of undesirable criminal

Two quick observations on our November 3rd exercises

2009-11-05T01:38:00.002-06:00

1. Mayor Coleman the Second was reelected. It is certainly newsworthy and important. And I am sure that there are mandates in there some place and maybe somebody will correctly discern what they are and act accordingly.In 2005 he unseated an incumbent mayor with thirty years of service in elective office and whatever personal machinery had been developed. In 2009, as an incumbent, he beat a

Well, let's see if they pick this one up

2009-10-24T08:41:00.002-05:00

I am not trying to be obsessed with death or the dead, but the paid and news obituaries we read do tell us a lot about ourselves, where we have been and where we are going, AND what a medium does or does not do with the news tells us a lot about the medium.That was the motive behind yesterday’s post [“Who watches the news at the newspapers?”] was not so much to build up Dr. Sommerdorf as to

New business on Dayton's Bluff

2009-10-24T01:02:00.002-05:00

It appears that Baldinger Bakery will be leaving the West Side and that Health East’s ambulance depot will be leaving the North End. Both will be moving to Dayton’s Bluff, the latter to part of the Minnesota Mining site and the former just east of it. I assume that the affected Dayton’s Bluff neighbors will be receiving more information and given a chance to address whatever concerns they may

Who watches the news at the newspapers?

2009-10-23T09:26:00.003-05:00

Dr. Vernon Sommerdorf died on October 19. The paid obit in the newspaper mentions his age [88] and tells about much of his life and accomplishments – his navy service, medical career [including his Payne Avenue practice and work at Mounds Park Hospital], his community service including both his extensive work with foster children and his church work.The paid obit notice did not note Dr.

A song about our Supermayor

2009-10-23T04:55:00.000-05:00

I discovered this link while looking for something else, but I suspect that may Capitol City Musings readers might appreciate this. It is from the days when Charles Patrick McCarty was our mayor, a song sung by Andy Roberts [and I have to admit that I do not know who he is/was] and the Galivanteers, the house band at Gallivan’s.If you are old enough you can flash back to those wonderful days

County Commissioner pay increases?

2009-10-21T10:42:00.001-05:00

The Ramsey County Charter Commission will hold a hearing on November 2 [aka Election Eve] in City Council/ County Commission chambers in the City Hall/ Court House [6:30 p.m.] regarding public participation via referendum on the amount County Commissioners are to be paid.There are two proposals. Both assume pay increases for commissioners. Apparently, nobody thinks that a pay decrease is in

Following the muser's lead on a dog park

2009-10-19T09:54:00.004-05:00

It is nice knowing that once in a while an idea suggested here actually gets some consideration.In a post dated 1/6/08 I suggested that the city might wish to “think outside the box” to alleviate some of its dog park shortage. [While I cannot agree with what some of the most rabid dog park enthusiasts say, that dogs deserve equal consideration with children in determining park policy, it is clear

More thoughts on IRV

2009-10-19T05:49:00.000-05:00

I have written before about Instant Runoff Voting [IRV] before. I am still uncertain what my final position will be, but I have been leaning against it for our local elections. Last year showed that many of us are confused about how to vote on our simple first-choice-only ballots.I tend to support allowing open ballot access which allows a candidate to list all the parties endorsing him/her. If a

RIP: Capitol City Cacophony?

2009-10-17T11:56:00.003-05:00

When I left my job with District 2 Community Council in 1991 I decided to reclaim those first amendment rights which I had surrendered for my employment. So I started an irregularly published newsletter which I labeled Capitol City Cacophony. It was a one-man project using [at first] publishing software fit for a Commodore 64 which I personally financed, printed, and distributed to people who

Two years of Capitol City Musings

2009-10-01T19:11:00.002-05:00

Today is the second anniversary of my first posting here at Capitol City Musings. I have posted at an average very close to one every other day and received a non-SPAM, usable comment on the average of one every three days, although the number seems to have dropped off quite a bit lately. [I have not had a comment in almost three months.] The first frequent commenter was somebody using the

Former pol emerges as pine recycler

2009-09-24T14:56:00.000-05:00

It was the DFL city convention of 1974. Delegates from around the city were meeting to re-endorse Larry Cohen for Mayor and select candidates for City Council and School Board.Members of the City Council were elected city wide back then and this was to be the first election for which they all ran for specific seats [the “alley system”] and with party designation on the ballot. The party’s

1977 murder suspect charged

2009-09-23T09:43:00.001-05:00

Mark Shemukenas was murdered in 1977. It was a particularly brutal crime which received sensationalistic coverage and I am old enough to remember. There were those in the gay community at the time that law enforcement was not as concerned about the crime as they should have been.While I doubt that, they may well have been right. But regardless, the crime seems to have been solved and Richard

Is there a racial bias being used against President Obama?

2009-09-20T15:15:00.000-05:00

Is there a racial bias being used against President Obama by these “birthers”?Does anybody think that if our President were named Herman Hermann, to a German-born father and a white American mother and had a Certificate of Live Birth from the state of Hawaii that we would have all these “birthers” running around?

Some IRV considerations on a slow election day

2009-09-15T18:01:00.001-05:00

The debate on Instant Runoff Voting should be heating up locally shortly. I am still trying to keep an open mind. Some critics [think Joe Soucheray, for one] seem so sense partisan [or at least ideological] agenda behind the effort. Based on who seems to be supporting the move in this region, it is easy to see how he has reached that conclusion. But it seems to me that there are plenty of places

D. J. Tice writes and the President will speak -- health care some more

2009-09-09T15:30:00.002-05:00