WHITTIER, STEVENS SQUARE, LORING HEIGHTS, VENTURA VILLAGE, and PHILLIPS WEST
Sustainability, conservation, and economy in Minneapolis government

January 10, 2009 seems to be about the day I decided to run for City Council.  That was the date I wrote a document describing “What I want from my government”.  It is still on the back of my brochures and on this website as the home page.  I am proud to say that it has hardly changed at all.

Had I been changing it would suggest that I was tailoring my message.  That has not been the case.

At someone’s doorstep last summer I was told, “I always appreciated Paul Wellstone not so much because I agreed with him, but because I always new exactly where he stood on an issue”

I hope I am living up to that standard.  This website is an in-depth review of my philosophies, Everyone who looks at it will be able to find something they disagree with.  However, now you know what I am about.

I don’t know what I will do, politically speaking, if I lose the election.  I may just concentrate on being a very good Refrigeration and Maintenance Mechanic, or I may take up a specific cause.  I think it might be good someday Minneapolis were to have a Part-time City Council.

But, win or lose, it has been interesting!

I want to win because we in Minneapolis simply have not been well served by our City Government.
HOME      THE ARTS

                As a City Councilperson I will support the arts.  As defined by Wikipedia, ‘fine art describes any art form developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than utility’.

                Nothing prepares one for life like the cynicism of Bernard Shaw’s plays, the irony and wit of Shakespeare, visual of impressions of the artistic masters (see the masterpieces from the Lourve, the famous French museum right now at the MIA), orchestral productions, or closer to my heart, the whimsy, self-expressions of life and fantasy in dance, theatre, and sometimes motion pictures.

                While the arts should not supersede or preclude training for the manufacturing or construction trades, the social, life, or physical sciences, the government must provide different forms of support for artistic expression.  Historically other countries with different political structures around the globe have supported the arts, and we should continue this tradition as well.  
SOME DISAGREEMENTS IN POLITICS ARE PERSONAL, SOME ARE PARTISAN, AND SOME GO TO THE HEART OF THE MEANING OF A CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY.
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