On Aug 2, 2004, at 9:57 AM, Dan Dobson wrote:
Hey that might sell on the east side of St. Paul, but the people of Eden Prairie and Maple Grove will just think he's greasy.
Hey, now. I resemble that remark. Being an East Side resident does not equal "hick." Not all East Side residents voted for Mr. Kelly. Not all East Side residents laughed (or appreciated) Mr. Kelly's seemingly oft-repeated joke about Billy Martin (or was it Yogi Berra?) shooting livestock as the opening of his remarks at our District Council's annual meeting. And, certainly, not all East Side residents share Mr. Kelly's grooming habits or his political beliefs. You'd be surprised, I bet, about how well many of Mr. Kelly's actions will "sell" over here.
I may have missed this in the torrent of bits related to Mr. Kelly's announcement, but has anyone addressed the issue of his campaigning for Bush? Mr. Kelly can vote for whom he pleases, but what really gets in my craw is the fact that he's boarded a plane to fly around the state to campaign for Mr. Bush. In what world is this the duty of a sitting mayor? Are we paying him to do so? If not, is he taking personal time off to do this? Is he doing the people of St. Paul's business during flight time? Is the RNC or the Bush Campaign reimbursing the City of St. Paul for Mr. Kelly's time? He is certainly doing it in the name of the City of St. Paul, not Randy Kelly. But he evoked John Kennedy's quote about "the best interest of the country." Who elected him to look out for the best interest of the country? I don't get it. If he's making an argument about how this decision is going to make St. Paul a demonstrably better city, I'm not hearing it, even though I'm an East Sider whose hair, it has been surmised, is probably slicked back far enough not to cover my ears.
In terms of the List Manager's call for a discussion about the effect of either candidate's positions on St. Paul, I say yea. But as a first volley, why isn't Mr. Kelly making this connection? It's all in terms of generalities. I'm sorry but we're not all one big town as much as anyone may want to make this argument. I live in St. Paul. I live in a neighborhood which suffers a high rate of joblessness, poverty, and lack of adequate services and affordable housing. We also enjoy the richest diversity of cultures. If anyone in my neighborhood is going to vote (perhaps we're being counted on not to) we need to hear how the policies of either candidate are going to improve our lives directly. So far I've learned that John Kerry apparently served in Vietnam (apologies to wherever I heard a similar quip), Randy Kelly is a Democrat (evidenced during MPR interview's thrice stated), and that George Bush thinks John Kerry hasn't done anything as a senator.
Call me disaffected. Call me cynical. But I'm much more interested in how effective we can be in organizing our neighborhood to affect the direction and impact of local development projects like the Phalen Corridor. And how we can effectively conduct anti-racism projects as our neighborhood's diversity and number of immigrants expands. And how we can ensure that the lack of adequate resources and services does not continue to marginalize our poor and under-homed. I'm listening for more than buzz phrases and wrap-me-in-the-flag general platitudes about how either administration will help us deal effectively with these issues here on the local level. Don't get me wrong, I have opinions and I do have an inkling that the Bush Administration set of policies (particularly of the tax variety) as trickled from Fed to State to St. Paul have negatively affected my neighbors. I hope I can more specifically and cogently address these opinions and concerns as the discussion continues toward the general election.
barry madore Payne Phalen East Side USA
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