It was impressive to see all the City Council candidates in one long line. Appeared to be more candidates that "real" public. (I was surprised at the poor turnout at the N4N event--neighborhood activists should know how important it is to be involved in the political process.)
I was there from 6:15 to about 7:15 but had to attend another event. (And while community parks and community libraries are very important for strong neighborhoods, there was no time for those candidates). In general, the lack of "real" public (not people there to support one candidate or another) has been consistent through the campaign. Just about all the Library Candidate forums had more candidates than audience (even counting campaign people in the audience). Both the Chamber of Commerce and the GetBOB events before the primary were poorly attended by the public. I'm not faulting the organizations that are putting on the events--many have gone out of their way to publicize the events. It is just very difficult for people to find the time in their busy lives to attend these things. I have talked to many more voters at community events like Seward's King's Fair or the Pratt Ice Cream Social. To fit into people's lives, candidates have to go to where the voters are. An additional problem is the lack of coverage of the election by any of our major media. (There is a great story about the local primary elections in the Onion this week-- http://www.theonion.com/content/node/40979 ) ............................... Sheldon Mains DFL and Labor Endorsed Candidate for Minneapolis Library Board of Trustees http://www.MainsForLibrary.org [EMAIL PROTECTED], 612/618-7149 Mains for Library Committee, 2718 24th St. E., Mpls 55406 "It is incredibly important to this country that we have people who run libraries that actually believe in reading books instead of burning them." Howard Dean REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@mnforum.org Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
