Tomorrow, August 28th, is this year's annual Johnny Appleseed Day at the Bruentrup Farm, hosted by the Maplewood Area Historical Society. It's great fun for families, so be sure and stop by!

Last year we enjoyed attending, and I posted a couple of photos.

Labels: events, parks

Posted by John Nephew at 8/27/2010 07:56:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Don't forget to get out and vote!

If you're not sure where to vote, visit the Ramsey County Precinct Finder.

Labels: campaign 2010, events

Posted by John Nephew at 8/10/2010 08:16:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The Taste of Maplewood will take place in Goodrich Park tomorrow from 4-10 PM and Saturday from 10 AM to 10 PM. Admission is free, and it promises to be fun for all ages, especially if you like to eat! More information is available on the city website.

Labels: events, parks

Posted by John Nephew at 8/05/2010 03:38:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Tonight is National Night Out! This is a great chance to get out and meet your neighbors. Police and fire will be trying to make it to every party in the city, and other city folks will be making the rounds as well. (In the past, members of the Environmental and Natural Resources Commission have spent the evening distributing recycling bins, for example.)

You can now find a map of all this year's National Night Out neighborhood parties in Maplewood on the city's web page. Find the one nearest you, and stop by this evening!

Labels: events, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 8/03/2010 09:37:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Thinking you might eat out for lunch or dinner today? Champps would be an especially good choice. Today several Champps restaurants, including the one in Maplewood (1734 Adolphus Street, right by Larpenteur and 35E), are hosting a fundraising event. 10% of all sales today, including adult beverages, will be donated to LEMA, the Law Enforcement Memorial Association.

If you were amazed as I was by the coordination that went into the funeral for Sgt. Bergeron earlier this year, be aware that most of the credit goes to LEMA, who stood ready to help while our community was still reeling in shock and grief from his murder.

Labels: events, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 7/18/2010 07:28:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Tuesday evening, July 13th, my family and I enjoyed attending the dedication ceremony at Wakefield Park for the new fishing pier and picnic shelter. A plaque was presented to the Minnesota Darkhouse & Angling Association, in appreciation for the funding they helped provide for the pier. MinnAqua did a “Let’s Fish” program with the Community Center day camp kids that evening as well, putting the new pier to immediate good use!

My wife took this picture of Mayor Rossbach and the ceremonial first cast from the new pier:

Labels: events, parks, photos

Posted by John Nephew at 7/15/2010 07:25:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

As you may have heard, Maplewood will not be hosting fireworks this year at Hazelwood Park, as has been covered by media such as the Pioneer Press, the Maplewood Review (in this week's paper, not online yet as I write this), and the Star Tribune. As all the articles explain, when we were working on the budget last year and figuring out how to absorb the impact of Pawlenty's slashing of all of our Market Value Homestead Credit without even higher tax increases, we decided that this was an area we could cut for 2010.

Personally, I'm hoping fireworks will return next year (if only because the constituent who has given me the most grief over this particular budget cut is my wife) -- but I don't think it can be something done on the city's dime alone. I'd like to see cooperation with business, perhaps even other municipalities, and even a fundraising drive to raise money from individuals.

Update: The Review article is online now.

Labels: events, media, parks

Posted by John Nephew at 6/30/2010 05:13:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

I just returned from a meeting of the Senate District 55 DFL, which was held to consider endorsing in the special election for the Maplewood City Council seat vacated by Mayor Rossbach. Candidates Elizabeth Sletten and Marv Koppen were there and put into nomination; the delegates voted overwhelmingly (39 to 4) to endorse Koppen.

Labels: campaign 2010, events

Posted by John Nephew at 6/15/2010 08:53:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

An e-mail from City Manager Jim Antonen sent earlier this week to local leaders and organizations invited one and a meeting on June 21 to organize the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program for Maplewood. It reads:

Greetings! Please excuse the mass email, but I wanted to be sure to invite you or a representative(s) to attend and participate in the organizational meeting of the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program. The intent of the meeting is for Maplewood to become a Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Community which provides support for military personnel and their families. The kick-off meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 21, 2010 at 7:00 pm in the City Council Chambers of the Maplewood City Hall. It is important that we have a large cross section of the community in attendance if we are going to achieve this initiative. LTC O’Reilly of the Minnesota National Guard will provide a training program and what is necessary for the community to become a mentor city. I have attached a short memo on the criteria to become a Yellow Ribbon City. Additional information may be obtained at www.btyr.org/Yellow+Ribbon+Communities. I am hopeful that you or your representative(s) can join with us in supporting our troops and their families. If I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. Regards~ Jim

We hope that many civic grounds and local organizations will join us and bring their ideas on how Maplewood can become a more supportive community for our members of the Armed Services and their families.

If you or your organization would like to get involved, please contact Mr. Antonen or just show up at the meeting!

Labels: events

Posted by John Nephew at 6/13/2010 08:46:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Here's an event I'm hoping to make it to (if the twin babies are cooperative): Suds, Sauce & Soul at the Maplewood Community Center, 6-10 PM this evening!

Labels: events

Posted by John Nephew at 6/11/2010 09:21:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Today is the last day for candidates to file to run for many different offices, including the Maplewood City Council special election. As of this morning, there are two candidates — former councilmember and local businessman Marv Koppen, and Elizabeth Sletten. If anyone else files before today's 5 PM deadline, you can expect to see their Affadavit of Candidacy appear on the Candidate Information page of the city's website.

Update, 12:24 PM: A third candidate has now filed, former councilmember Rebecca Cave.

Labels: campaign 2010, events

Posted by John Nephew at 6/01/2010 08:15:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The filing period for the city council special election began yesterday and runs through June 1st. The special election will be held at the same time as the state primary, August 10th.

Labels: campaign 2010, events

Posted by John Nephew at 5/19/2010 07:25:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

This week we honor the men and women of law enforcement. And now, at the end of the week, we especially remember those who gave their lives in the line of duty. Starting at 8 PM yesterday, officers from many different departments have joined the Law Enforcement Memorial Association to stand guard at the Law Enforcement Memorial by the state Capitol at 6 E. 12th St. Wreath-laying ceremonies honor the fallen — ceremonies that this year included both Maplewood Sgt. Bergeron and North St. Paul Officer Crittenden, who were taken from us in the past year.

Here are photos I took of last night's ceremonies:



The wreath to honor Sgt. Bergeron will be laid again at 11:00 AM this morning. The memorial guard continues until 8 PM this evening.

Labels: events, photos, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 5/15/2010 09:09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The funeral for Sgt. Bergeron will be replayed on On Location TV, on local cable channel 19, at the following times:

May 15 at 3:00 PM
May 16 at 3:00 PM
May 20 at 3:00 PM
May 22 at 11:30 PM

Labels: events, media, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 5/12/2010 08:59:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

At a press conference held in council chambers just before noon today, the following information was distributed to the news media. I was stopping by city hall at the time and got a copy of the press release.

The services for Sergeant Joseph Bergeron are as follows:

Visitation: May 5,2010 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Maplewood Community Center, 2100 White Bear Avenue, Maplewood, MN 55109

Funeral: May 6, 2010, 10:00 am at the Cathedral of Saint Paul, 239 Selby Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55102

Christian Burial: Following the funeral service, St. John's Cemetery, 380 Little Canada Road East, Little Canada, MN 55117

A memorial fund for Sergeant Bergeron's family has been established at the City & County Credit Union. Donations can be sent to:

Sgt. Joe Bergeron Memorial Fund
City & County Credit Union
1661 Cope Avenue East
Maplewood, MN 55109-2614

Media questions regarding logistics and other matters specific to the funeral should be directed to St. Paul Police Sergeant Paul Schnell at 651-755-1520.

General questions may be directed to Maplewood Police Department Deputy Chief Dave Kvam at 651-249-2603 or dave.kvam@ci.maplewood.mn.us.

I am told that the Community Center's regular operations will be closing starting at 3 PM on Wednesday for the visitation [Update, 5/4: Looking at the city website, it looks like the decision was made to close the Community Center earlier, at noon]. It sounds like City Hall will be closed during the time of the funeral on Thursday as well.

Also, the City Council/Manager Workshop scheduled for this evening has been cancelled. Those agenda items will come back for a workshop at a future date (probably next Monday before our regular council meeting).

Labels: events, media, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 5/03/2010 01:14:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

At this past weekend's DFL convention, a little ritual unfolded with each candidate nominated for endorsement. First someone would endorse, which supposed to be just the name of a proposed candidate. Then it was necessary to have 50 delegates second the endorsement, by raising hands. Then the supporters of the candidate were given time to demonstrate -- this usually involved a lot of marching around the convention, cheering, sign waving, etc. -- and the candidate was given a chance to address the convention.

State Auditor Rebecca Otto, who is seeking reelection and faced no challenge for her endorsement, offered the most entertaining demonstration by far. She turned the stage over to her teenage son's band. She explained that she had suggested the name themselves "The Auditors of Rock," but they decided to go with "Radium" instead.

I didn't grab the camera fast enough to get the very start of their song, but here is most of the performance:



Unfortunately, I missed a funny parliamentary moment that happened immediately after: Party chair Brian Melendez rose to a point of personal privilege, to ask if the band new any ABBA songs. And if not, he offered a motion to close nominations.

Here is Rebecca Otto speaking, followed by the convention endorsing her:

Labels: events, video

Posted by John Nephew at 4/26/2010 12:09:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

This past weekend we went to Duluth and I attended the Minnesota DFL State Convention. I had a video camera with me, and recorded a little bit, though lacking a tripod and holding a camera up above my head to see over a crowd made for shaky images.

Rep. Tom Rukavina impressed me as a political speaker, exhorting the convention with obvious passion and leavening his speech with self-deprecating humor. (One of his memorable lines, which I'd heard before, was his recounting one voter on the campaign trail who told him he was like "the love child of Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura." I also liked a pin for him that I saw a delegate wearing, with the tag line "Reducing the Size of Government"...in reference to his height, not his political philosophy!)

When it was announced that he was going to address the convention again — which is usually a sign that someone is going to graciously bow out in light of how the balloting is going — I remembered to pull out my camera and record it. Here it is:

Labels: events, video

Posted by John Nephew at 4/25/2010 07:54:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Tomorrow, April 24th, is the 2010 Spring Clean-Up Day in Maplewood. If you are a Maplewood resident, you can bring items for disposal to Aldrich Arena from 8 AM to 1 PM. More information is available on the city's website.

Labels: environment, events, public works

Posted by John Nephew at 4/23/2010 07:18:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The 2010 Census website offers a handy widget, with live updates of the number of census surveys that have been returned, which you can slice in many different ways (state, county, city, etc.). Here's the widget for Maplewood:

Labels: events

Posted by John Nephew at 3/31/2010 07:24:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Like gazillions of other Metro area elected officials, I received this e-mail from Peter Bell, chair of the Met Council, a couple of weeks ago.

Dear Local Elected Officials:

The 2010 Census is right around the corner, and the U.S. Census Bureau has issued a challenge for local officials to help encourage community participation in the census.

Census forms will be delivered in the mail to every household in the U.S. on March 15-17. The 2010 Census only has 10 questions, which officials estimate will take only 10 minutes to complete. Those households that complete and mail back their census forms by April 15 will not require any follow-up visits from the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau has launched the “Take 10” challenge for local officials to encourage their communities to take 10 minutes as soon as the forms come in the mail, complete them, and mail them back. The bureau has launched a website that will track mail-back participation for communities, as compared to the rates of return in the 2000 Census. Nationwide, 72 percent of households mailed back their forms.

The website also has an electronic toolkit with information about the census, sample speeches and letters to the editor, and other materials to help you rally your communities to send in their census forms. In addition, there are some ideas for you to have a little fun with the effort, to challenge your neighboring communities to have a higher rate of mailing back forms.

Visit the “Take 10” site at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/.

Census officials emphasize the importance of achieving an accurate count – there is still the possibility that Minnesota may lose a seat in Congress, and that’s more likely to affect the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Millions of dollars in federal funds are also at stake in the census. And it’s critical to get as accurate a picture of the region as we plan for future development.

Taking 10 minutes to fill out the census as soon as it comes will enhance the accuracy of the count.

Peter Bell
Chair
Metropolitan Council

Starting tomorrow, census forms will arrive in the mail. Besides reminding us all of the importance of filling out those forms — one of Minnesota's congressional seats hangs in the balance — Mr. Bell's message includes a link to a neat interactive map, where the Census Bureau will be reporting the participation rates. Right now the map shows participation rates from the 2000 census — I can see for example that my immediate neighborhood then had a rate of 84%, compared to 78% for Minnesota as a whole and 72% nation-wide. It's nice to be above average, but I hope we can do even better this time!

Labels: events

Posted by John Nephew at 3/14/2010 11:04:00 AM | Permalink | Comments