New this year is Spotlight on Maplewood, a cable TV program being produced by the City of Maplewood. And I'm happy to see that, in case you don't have cable, or don't have the chance to watch or record it at the times when it's played, episodes are being put online so that you can watch them on your computer.

Here is the August episode. In it, City Manager Jim Antonen interviews Ann Hutchinson from the Maplewood Nature Center about the Extreme Green Makeover; and then talks with environmental planner Shann Finwall about the idea of organized trash collection.

Labels: environment, media, video

Posted by John Nephew at 8/28/2010 11:27:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Last week's Maplewood Review included stories on the local results of the primary and Maplewood's special election, with one article covering Mark Koppen's victory, and another on the Republican primary between Nathan Hansen and Bob Zick to determine who will face incumbent Democrat Leon Lillie in the November election for Minnesota House District 55A (which covers northern Maplewood and the entire city of North Saint Paul).

While Hansen's 57%-to-43% margin of victory seems quite strong, some folks have asked me how perennial fringe candidate and local cable access TV goofball Zick could come even that close to upsetting Hansen, who had after all been endorsed by the local Republican party unit. (Last election cycle, Zick ran as an Independence Party candidate for the same office. Since no one else filed under that party for that office, this allowed him to automatically get public campaign financing from the taxpayers, which he apparently spent promoting Diana Longrie's DFL primary campaign against Lillie.)

Consider the raw vote totals: 558 to 416. In comparison, Lillie — who appeared on the Democratic column of the ballot without any opponent — received 3,138 votes. This district leans DFL, but not by that much. Even the last-place finisher in the Maplewood special election received more than twice as many votes as Zick — but that includes all of Maplewood, not just the portion in 55A. Republican voters (especially those in North Saint Paul, without a special city council election) didn't have a lot of motivation to show up at the polls, and I don't know how much their party bothered investing in GOTV efforts. Republican-leaning and independent voters had little reason to vote in the Republican column when there were real contests on the top of the ticket in the IP and DFL columns.

End result: a low turnout, where a fringe candidate can look better on a percentage basis with a tiny number of raw votes.

Labels: campaign 2010, media

Posted by John Nephew at 8/25/2010 10:59:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Last night's workshop took an unusual direction. After a discussion of the impact of a recent state Supreme Court decision on the standards to apply to variance decisions, the entire City Council drove over to the home of Michele and Michael Tibideau, to inform them that they had won the Extreme Green Makeover contest. Their front yard will be receiving a $15,000 landscaping makeover, installing environmentally friendly features such as stormwater management, native plantings, etc.

Local TV station Kare11 was on hand to record the event; there was a short piece about it in their 10 PM news program, and a blurb is on their website.

Congratulations to the Tibideaus, and thanks to the sponsors who funded the prize and the judges evaluated all the applicants!

Labels: environment, media

Posted by John Nephew at 8/03/2010 08:54:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The front page of this week's Maplewood Review profiles the three candidates running in the city council special election on August 10th, and you can find the article online as well.

Given that I ran to replace Ms. Cave, and given Ms. Sletten's tight association with former Mayor Longrie (as well as knowing her from her frequent appearances in front of the council), it should come as no surprise that I'm supporting Marv Koppen in this race.

Labels: campaign 2010, media

Posted by John Nephew at 7/30/2010 05:36:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Our neighbors in North Saint Paul have passed a new ordinance charging "a $350 fee for non-residents who require emergency services in the city following a car accident," reports the Maplewood Review. On some of our border streets, will this mean whether or not you are billed the fee depends on if you were in the eastbound or westbound lane? (And if you have a choice of which side of the road to pull over to, should this influence your decision?)

In any case, expect to see more things like this in cities all over the state, as they try to hold down property taxes while recovering from the hit-and-run of past LGA/MVHC unallotments and trying to scramble out of the way of the semi-trailer of future state budget woes that is still barreling down the fiscal highway.

Labels: finance, media, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 7/29/2010 12:14:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

One side issue of the home foreclosure crisis in Minnesota has been a huge increase in loan modification scams. Reports of these scams to the Federal Trade Commission rocketed from just one in 2008 to nearly 8,000 the following year. Many people are aware that there are legitimate programs to help people who get behind on their mortgages or are "under water," and scam artists often prey on people by appearing to be legitimate.

A coalition of businesses, nonprofits, and government have developed a campaign called "Look Before You Leap" to educate consumers, help them identify fraudulent offers, and connect them with legitimate loan modification and credit counseling resources.

The Star Tribune recently ran a story about the campaign and loan modification scams.

Labels: finance, media, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 7/17/2010 07:22:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

It's that time of year, when laws from the legislative session of the spring start going into effect. One of the new laws this year is state regulation of individuals and establishments performing body art such as tattoos, piercings, and more unusual modifications.

Last week's Maplewood Review includes an article on the topic. And as it happens, inspired by Rachel Carlson's blog (which I learned about at the recent LMC conference), I had already written an e-mail to city staff on July 1st, asking what we should do to bring Maplewood's city code in line with the new state rules.

Carlson explains:

Cities that previously regulated body art establishments may continue to do so – if their local ordinances are as strict as the state requirements. It should be noted that establishments in cities with local ordinances will not need to obtain the new state license.

Cities may not continue to license persons practicing body art. These practitioners must now be licensed exclusively by the state.

Unless it has been amended since the last codification, Article XVII of our city code regulates tattoo establishments (pages 281-291 of the code PDF on the website). It appears to license individuals, which would seem to be prohibited under the new state law, as well as locations. I haven't read enough to know if our current ordinances are at least as strict as the state requirements, but at a minimum it appears we need to amend the code to be in compliance with the updated state statutes. Searching the PDF, I don't find any references to other types of body art covered by the state law.

Since the state is stepping into handling licensing and regulation in this area, there's also the question, as Carlson notes, of whether or not the city wants to be in the tattoo, piercings, brandings, scarification, and tongue-bifurcation regulation business. Is there any compelling reason that we should be, now that the state is taking it on?

Labels: media, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 7/12/2010 07:53:00 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

The June/July 2010 episode of Your Police Report pays tribute to fallen Maplewood Police Sargeant Joe Bergeron. In case you unable to catch a broadcast on government access cable, it's also available to watch online any time:

Labels: media, public safety, video

Posted by John Nephew at 6/12/2010 07:10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Minnesota cities face tremendous strains in today's economic and political environment. The Executive Director of the League of Minnesota Cities, Jim Miller, recently wrote in an e-mail to city officials:

We have recently contracted with the University of Minnesota for an analysis of the trends that will shape city budgets in the decade to come and the dire financial constraints and painful policy choices that lie ahead for all cities. We are preparing to publicly release the results of this analysis at the League’s Annual Conference in St. Cloud, June 23-25. The results are stunning – both in the severity of the pain ahead and in how widespread that pain will be felt if nothing changes.

The League of Minnesota Cities has launched a new campaign to build awareness and solicit input from the public on the topic of city services and funding. Part of the campaign is the following web video:



People are invited to visit outsidetheox.org, to share reactions, comments, and ideas.

Labels: finance, media, video

Posted by John Nephew at 6/04/2010 08:00:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

The articles online from this week's Maplewood Review include a couple related to city council actions: "Maplewood looking to stymie motor vehicle tomfoolery," and "Maplewood looking to ban coal tar sealants."

Labels: environment, media, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 6/03/2010 07:35:00 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

As our community faces the tragic loss of Sgt. Bergeron this morning, here are links to some of the local news media coverage of the story:

• Minnesota Public Radio
• KARE11's video of today's 3 PM press conference with Chiefs Harrington and Thomalla and Mayors Rossbach and Coleman
• KARE11's news story
• KSTP-TV story, and a comment area for people to offer their condolences
• WCCO-TV
• Fox9 story, and another place for condolences
• Pioneer Press
• Star Tribune

The police will have another press conference at 8:00 tonight with the latest updates. Some of the TV stations interrupted their regular programming to broadcast the two earlier press conferences live, so that may happen again.

Labels: media, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 5/01/2010 05:49:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

This week's Maplewood Review includes a story with more information about our reduced insurance deductible, a topic I wrote about a couple weeks ago.

Labels: finance, media

Posted by John Nephew at 4/29/2010 10:28:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

For this year's bond sale, Maplewood is considering the possibility of selling Build America Bonds rather than the traditional tax-exempt municipal bonds. Build America Bonds pay interest that is taxable income to the bondholder, but the federal government pays a rebate to the bond issuer. For some tax brackets the result may be a wash, but this makes BABs potentially attractive to some investors who would not otherwise buy munis -- for example, retirees who may be in lower income tax brackets, or IRA holders whose investments are tax exempt or tax-deferred. Greater demand for BABs versus traditional munis generally translates into lower net interest costs to the cities that issue them.

Yesterday the Minnesota Independent had an interesting article on the topic of Build America Bonds, discussing concerns expressed about them by some people.

Labels: finance, media

Posted by John Nephew at 3/30/2010 09:07:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Politics in Minnesota has a story up about Pawlenty's line-item vetoes (which included axing the EMFTF). It observes, "Pawlenty restricted many of his vetoes to districts represented by Democrats." I guess this is Pawlenty's idea of bipartisanship, his way of thanking the DFL-controlled legislature for revising its original bonding bill to include Pawlenty's own pet projects, such as the upgrades to the sex offender facility in Moose Lake (remember those news stories about 50" plasma TVs?).

Labels: media

Posted by John Nephew at 3/15/2010 12:33:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

Part of last night's city council meeting made the evening news: the story of a 5th grade class from Maplewood's Weaver Elementary trying to help World War II veteran Russell Anderson get his Purple Heart was the topic of a segment on KARE11's newscast. You can read the story and view video on their website (the video is in the right hand column, somewhat hidden among the ads).

Edit: Here's a better link for the video.

Labels: media

Posted by John Nephew at 3/09/2010 10:15:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

As expected, the bill to change the Minnesota state primary date from September to August was passed by both houses, and yesterday Gov. Pawlenty signed it into law, as reported by media such as the Star Tribune and Pioneer Press.

The new primary date is August 10th this year. For Maplewood, this means August 10th is also the date for the special election for Mayor Rossbach's former council seat. The Citizen Services department has informed the City Council that, based on the new date, the filing period for special election candidates begins on May 18th.

Labels: campaign 2010, media

Posted by John Nephew at 3/04/2010 10:01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

This is a somewhat belated update on the progress of the bonding bill, but Minnesota's House of Representatives passed the bonding bill on Monday, after the Senate did last week. In both chambers it had bipartisan support (though Republicans who supported it are apparently coming under attack from their own party). The bill now goes to conference committee to iron out differences between the two versions. Last I heard, the East Metro Regional Fire Training Facility was included in both versions, so it should make it out of conference. Whether it will survive the threatened vetoes from the governor, line item or otherwise, remains to be seen ...

Labels: finance, media, public safety

Posted by John Nephew at 2/18/2010 07:59:00 AM | Permalink | Comments