I heard through the local political grapevine that a local unit of the Republican Party decided to endorse in this year's city council race.  That's not surprising or inappropriate; after all, the DFL has endorsed me and Marv Koppen.  A race being "non-partisan" doesn't mean political parties can't be involved, only that party affiliation or endorsement doesn't appear on the ballot.

But I was a little surprised to hear that Elizabeth Sletten received GOP endorsement, given her history of seeking of support from the DFL.  As a city council candidate in 2009, she asked for a DFL resolution of support; and in last year's special election she sought Democratic endorsement.  When the candidates were asked about their past support of DFL candidates and the party, Ms. Sletten described her pride in voting for President Obama.  In her own words recorded June 15, 2010:



Perhaps she had a major change of political heart over the past year.  But a person has to wonder if she was just saying what she thought the audience wanted to hear when she was asking for their votes -- either then or now.

Labels: campaign 2011, video

Posted by John Nephew on 8/04/2011 10:26:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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This snapping turtle was wandering around by County Road D (east of Highway 61 and northwest of Costco) on Wednesday, June 8th.

Labels: video

Posted by John Nephew on 6/12/2011 08:23:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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At this past Monday's council meeting, my colleague, Councilmember Jim Llanas, shared a presentation on the topic of bullying.  He began by reading an e-mail he had received from one of our young constituents, a high school junior, discussing his experience in a local school.  While Jim's starting point was the experience of kids in our schools, he reflected too on the example set by adults in our community, and particularly in the context of city government.  The video, which I've uploaded to YouTube, is well worth watching:

Labels: video

Posted by John Nephew on 5/28/2011 07:15:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Mayor Rossbach and I hosted the quarterly Citizens Forum at the start of May. City Manager Antonen used the occasion to record this month's episode of Spotlight on Maplewood, interviewing us on the topic of city council goals set at our annual retreat back in February. Spotlight plays on the government access cable TV channel, but it's also available now as streaming video from Vimeo:

Labels: media, video

Posted by John Nephew on 5/27/2011 07:36:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Last year I wrote about a workshop presentation we received from the Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District, which included mention of their carp study in the Phalen chain of lakes. GTN TV (the government programming channel of the local cable commission) has produced a neat short documentary about the winter harvest in this ongoing study. And these days GTN has been uploading their original programs to Vimeo, so even if you don't have cable or know broadcast times, you can watch it on the internet:

Labels: environment, media, video

Posted by John Nephew on 5/26/2011 07:51:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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The Maplewood Police Department issued this press release today:

On May 15, 2011 Maplewood Police responded to a theft at Super America, 1750 White Bear Avenue. Taken in the theft was an approximately 12” tall plastic donation jar containing donations for the Children’s Miracle Network. The purpose of the donation jar was clearly displayed on it.

The theft, which was captured on store surveillance video, showed the suspect to be a 5’10” to 6’ white male with short hair and a mustache. At the time of the theft the suspect was wearing a black baseball cap, dark jacket and pants (probably blue jeans). Two clips from the surveillance video are attached.

The exact amount of money in the jar is unknown, but the jar appeared to be nearly full. It is presumed the value of loss does not exceed an amount which would move the crime beyond the misdemeanor level, and considering simple theft is not exactly rare, normally such a crime would not be distributed to media representatives. However, the video is pretty good and may lead to a citizen to identifying the suspect. An added factor is that while theft reports aren’t uncommon, it seems to take a pretty pathetic individual to steal a Children’s Miracle Network donation jar, and that just did not set well at all with the officer who responded to the business.

Citizens with information about the theft are asked to, during office hours, contact Maplewood Police at 651-249-2600 and outside office hours through the Ramsey County Emergency Communications Center at 651-767-0640.

Media inquires may be directed to me at 651-249-2603 or via e-mail at dave.kvam@ci.maplewood.mn.us.

Dave Kvam, Deputy Chief
Maplewood Police Department

Here are the surveillance videos:




If you can identify this charity-robbing loser, please do let the police know.

Labels: public safety, video

Posted by John Nephew on 5/25/2011 11:54:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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One of Maplewood's most politically active residents is Christeen Stone. She is featured in two recent online videos produced by the group Minnesota 2020, discussing senior citizen health issues and the current legislative session.  You can view both videos on YouTube:

Labels: video

Posted by John Nephew on 5/06/2011 09:04:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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As a result of our ongoing discussion of trash collection in Maplewood, some residents have been taking a closer look at their current hauling bills and finding some unexpected things.

At our April 25th city council meeting, I gave a Council Presentation on the topic. Here it is on YouTube:



Since it's hard to read the documents on video (especially the bills), I have uploaded a single PDF containing the items I was showing on the overhead.

As I state at the end of the presentation, I'm looking for more copies of actual Maplewood trash bills to analyze.  If you're willing and able to get a digital image of one a scanner or camera (I've found that my smartphone's camera can take a legible digital photo of a bill if there's decent sunlight), please e-mail it to me at my city address.

Labels: organized collection, video

Posted by John Nephew on 4/27/2011 12:04:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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With the police memorial fundraiser coming up this Saturday, it seems like a good time to link to the April episode of Your Police Report, which is produced by the Maplewood Police Department and GTN.  As the GTN website synopsizes this episode: "Your Police Report travels to Litchfield, Minnesota, to Brodin Studios. Brodin Studios is where the memorial to Sgt. Bergeron will be created. Retired officer Steve Heinz also talks about the upcoming benefit for Sgt. Bergeron and the upcoming National Law Enforcement Memorial."



Be sure to come out on Saturday to the memorial fundraiser at the Maplewood Community Center.  You can buy raffle tickets for valuable prizes, and there will also be a silent auction, among other things!

Labels: events, media, public safety, video

Posted by John Nephew on 4/20/2011 09:16:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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A week ago, I attended a meeting of Maplewood's Environmental and Natural Resources Commission.  The ENRC has been studying solid waste management for several years, and it was their focusing on improving Maplewood's trash system that really advanced this onto the City Council's agenda.  The meeting included an update from staff on the process and upcoming hearing, and comments from commissioners on the topic.

During their Visitor Presentations, I had an opportunity to offer some of my own observations about this topic.  Here's an excerpt from the meeting:



The entire meeting is available for online viewing on the city website.

Labels: environment, organized collection, video

Posted by John Nephew on 3/28/2011 07:39:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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This year the Maplewood Fire Department is making some big changes to how it operates, transitioning the paid-on-call firefighters to part time positions with specific shifts.  The December episode of Spotlight on Maplewood features our fire chief explaining the changes.  If you missed the open houses last week at the Parkside and Londin Lane stations, this is a good way to get the information straight from the source.

The episode has been playing on the city's cable TV channel (channel 16), but it's also available streaming through Vimeo, which allows me to embed it in my blog here:

Labels: media, public safety, video

Posted by John Nephew on 1/25/2011 12:48:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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If you find the calculation of property taxes confusing, you're not alone.  Whether your local government increases or cuts its tax levy, your property taxes may increase or decrease because of completely different factors, such as how much your home's value changed in comparison to other properties in the city.

I came across this video primer on how it works.

Labels: finance, media, video

Posted by John Nephew on 12/05/2010 04:01:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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While leaving City Hall one afternoon this past week, I spotted these wild turkeys and stopped to record some video.  (I removed the audio track, which was just very annoying noise caused by the wind.)  These may be the same ones who we heard about earlier this year; apparently they can be quite aggressive during the mating season.

Labels: video

Posted by John Nephew on 9/26/2010 08:54:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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I noticed that the new episode of Spotlight on Maplewood, the city's monthly cable TV show, is available online for viewing.  This month's focus is the Public Works department, and includes footage from the city's own sewer-cam!

Labels: media, public works, video

Posted by John Nephew on 9/24/2010 07:43:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Maplewood staff has set up a handy web page with links to the streaming video archives of all the workshops and meetings we've had this year concerning the 2011 budget.

Labels: finance, video

Posted by John Nephew on 9/23/2010 07:37:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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This past Saturday, I hosted the monthly Citizens Forum. The featured guest was Maplewood's attorney for Human Resources and employment matters, Chuck Bethel. As usual, there was also a lively back and forth on a variety of city issues, and a chance to debunk some of the rumors in circulation.

A couple of years ago a resident used to audio record the Forums (and give copies to the city, in case anyone else wanted to request them). More recently, Diana Longrie and friends have been showing up with video cameras (checked out from the cable access station, I presume), but I don't know what they do with whatever footage they shoot.

I thought it might be a good idea to both record the event and make it easily accessible to any and all. So I brought a home video camera and a tripod, set it up in the corner of the room, and recorded the event, a little over two hours long. Great cinematography it's not (though I did change the view a couple of times, just to focus in on Chuck Bethel's powerpoint and then back on the group), especially with the compression to reduce the file size for uploading, but if you couldn't make it or have never come to a Citizens Forum, you can see what you missed.

Labels: events, video

Posted by John Nephew on 9/13/2010 09:00:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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I had the honor this afternoon of standing in for Mayor Rossbach (who was out of town) at the "Ready or Not Emergency Preparedness Fair" hosted by Boy Scouts Troop 902 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Little Canada. Besides a beautiful ceremony to remember the heroic first responders of nine years ago, and recognition for the first responders who serve today in our police and fire departments and similar roles, the church parking lot was filled with assorted demonstrations related to public safety.

One such demonstration was from the Little Canada Fire Department, and I recorded some video to share.

Labels: events, public safety, video

Posted by John Nephew on 9/11/2010 09:16:00 PM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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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 on 8/28/2010 11:27:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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The League of Minnesota Cities has a new video in their "Outside the Ox" online series, calling attention to the fiscal crisis facing cities in our state. Here it is:

Labels: finance, video

Posted by John Nephew on 8/26/2010 07:35:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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Here's the second brief interview I recorded this past weekend, this one with Maplewood's congresswoman, Betty McCollum.

Labels: campaign 2010, public works, video

Posted by John Nephew on 7/16/2010 07:22:00 AM Email to a Friend | Permalink | Comments
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