Thursday morning, Mayor Rossbach and I were guests at the ribbon cutting for the new, larger location of Maplewood's Half Price Books, now at 2982 White Bear Ave. N.  With the larger space, a lot of inventory that was back in storage at their previous location in Birch Run Station is now out on the shelves for browsing. Their grand opening celebration continues through Sunday, 9/26, with prizes and giveaways (free tote bags and gift cards for the first 100 people in the door each morning, for example).  Even if you miss the morning line, there's a coupon for each day -- I think Sunday's gives you 50% off the price of any one item, for example.

(Thanks to Kristen B. for sharing the pic.)

Labels: events, photos

Posted by John Nephew on 9/25/2010 08:21:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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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 on 7/15/2010 07:25:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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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 on 5/15/2010 09:09:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Labels: photos, public safety

Posted by John Nephew on 5/05/2010 09:44:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Councilmember Kathy Juenemann takes the oath of office for her third term:


Councimember James Llanas takes his oath of office:


Mayor Will Rossbach takes his oath of office:


The 2010 Maplewood City Council (at least until we fill the empty seat):

Labels: campaign 2009, events, photos

Posted by John Nephew on 1/06/2010 09:29:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Yesterday the Minnesota Senate bonding committee visited the planned site of the East Metro Fire Training Facility. Last Tuesday, Nov. 10th, there was a similar visit from the House bonding committee. Fire departments from as close as Oakdale and North Saint Paul and as far away as Marine on St. Croix, as well as representatives of Century College (which has a firefighter training program), were on hand to show their support. The bonding request is for $3 million, which would be matched by $3 million in local contributions. Besides providing much-needed public safety training facilities, the plan also helps the environment as it involves remediation of contamination on the site (funded through an expected grant from Ramsey County's clean-up fund), improved and expanded wetland buffers, and more. A joint powers agreement is being developed for the operation and maintenance of the facility.

Here was the scene as I drove in at around 9:30 AM. Even more fire trucks from more departments continued to arrive, up until the scheduled 10:00 arrival of the state senators.


Councilmember and Maplewood pay-per-call firefighter Erik Hjelle took several buckets of state elected officials up for a bird's-eye view of the site.


Before the senators moved on to the next stop on their itinerary, everyone gathered for a group photo.

Labels: photos, public safety

Posted by John Nephew on 11/17/2009 03:15:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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This afternoon Maplewood was honored to host a well-attended meeting of Senator Al Franken with city, county and state representatives of Maplewood, Oakdale, North St. Paul and South St. Paul. It was an opportunity for the local elected officials to tell Sen. Franken about the issues our communities are facing and propose ways the federal government might help. An elected official from each city gave a brief presentation about their cities' issues and priorities, as did state Reps. Slawik, Hansen, and Lillie, and Ramsey County Commissioner Reinhardt. There were some responses from Sen. Franken, leavened with the usual wry sense of humor, but he was clearly there above all to listen.

This is the latest in a series of these gatherings, where Senator Franken has brought together the leaders of several neighboring communities to listen to their concerns and ideas. The event also introduced us to the senator's local staff.

Thanks to our city staff, who not only helped coordinate the event but came in to work on a Sunday to make it happen.

Labels: events, photos

Posted by John Nephew on 11/15/2009 11:05:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Yesterday was Johnny Appleseed Day, an annual event hosted by the Maplewood Area Historical Society at the Bruentrup Farm. MAHS events often bring some of the oldest and youngest residents of Maplewood together for fun in celebrating the community's heritage.

One tradition at Johnny Appleseed is the hayride across the Prairie Farm Preserve.


Speaking of youngest and oldest, at one point the city's brand new electric GEM car was parked next to a collector's Model T Ford from nearly a century ago.

Labels: events, parks, photos

Posted by John Nephew on 8/16/2009 10:11:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Last night, supporters of County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt and State Representative Leon Lillie gathered at a local restaurant to watch their primary returns come in.

Michelle snapped a picture of me with Victoria Reinhardt and Franni Franken.


If we look happy, it's because the results from the polls were good -- Victoria got 68.22%, and Leon got 73.37%, so both advance to November's election in very strong positions. I did some volunteering for both campaigns, and was very happy to see the hard work and planning of the candidates and their campaigns pay off.

Labels: events, photos

Posted by John Nephew on 9/10/2008 02:21:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Being at the DFL state convention last weekend reminded me of something I wanted to express: How incredibly important volunteers are to political campaigns and the political process. I sure came to appreciate them on the campaign trail last year. Being in a setting filled with with passionate, hard-working, and very unpaid supporters of multiple candidates (the Nelson-Pallmeyer and Franken volunteers were of course the most visible, given their contest for the Senate endorsement, but there were many more), reinforced that appreciation.

If you have ever volunteered for any candidate, for any party, I'd like to offer my thanks. Your participation is a key part of what makes our democracy work. As the election season moves forward, I encourage every citizen to get out there and participate in at least one campaign, for any candidate you support in any race. It's easy to become cynical about the political process if you only experience it through TV ads and the news media's jaded commentary. But when you join with other volunteers working towards your shared ideals and aspirations, it's hard not to be inspired and energized.

Here's another photo from last weekend, from the Franken war room. After accepting the convention's nomination, he gave a short and funny speech to thank his volunteers and rev them up for all the campaigning work yet to come.

Labels: photos

Posted by John Nephew on 6/10/2008 12:04:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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This weekend, Michelle and I have been at the DFL State Convention, where she is a delegate and I have had a lot of free time (which is good, since I am still working my way through an enormous packet for Monday's council meeting).

Yesterday I volunteered in the Franken war room, where I helped with balloting. Runners reported the totals from each delegation, and our group collated the results to see how the votes compared with projections from the voter ID's (in other words, how did people actually vote versus how they said they'd vote?). Based on that information, the candidate and his wife and daughter were dispatched to various specific areas where support needed to be shored up, or where there seemed to be an opportunity to pick up more votes on the next ballot (e.g., a delegation that had strongly shifted in favor of Franken might be ripe to have its remaining votes persuaded). Though, as it turns out, it was finished with one ballot. I wasn't doing anything especially important in this process (basically passing along sheets of paper with scribbled results from one person to the right person at a computer for data entry), but it was exciting and educational to be part of the operation of a campaign on a much larger scale than my own for city council.

Labels: photos

Posted by John Nephew on 6/08/2008 09:23:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Yesterday was the Senate District 55 DFL picnic just over in Oakdale. Besides the local party activists, the gathering included volunteers from the Hilary Clinton and Mike Ciresi campaigns, and a visit from senate candidate Al Franken. (Franken was also at the Maplewood endorsing convention, and even mentioned it in his campaign blog.) Also present, as you might expect, were State Senator Chuck Wiger (district 55) and State Representative Nora Slawik (district 55B, representing south Maplewood and Oakdale). Rep. Leon Lillie (55A, representing northern Maplewood and North St. Paul) stopped by the picnic early on, before Michelle and I had arrived.

Labels: campaign 2007, events, photos

Posted by John Nephew on 8/12/2007 01:22:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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These photos are provided as a courtesy to the media and others interested in including candidate portraits in print media. They are 300 dpi images.

Formal Portrait of John
Headshot of John with Forest Background

Labels: photos

Posted by Michelle N. on 8/07/2007 01:19:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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