AFSCME Council 5 Convention - September 30 - October 2

I'm headed to the AFSCME Council 5 Convention this afternoon.  We'll be meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington.  I'm serving on the Credentials Committee, and will be working at the Registration table, both this evening from 6-9pm and in the morning, from 7-9:30am.

I am a candidate for a Council 5 Executive Board seat representing the County Sector.  Nominations are being held Thursday afternoon, with voting in the evening.

Here's the Convention notice from the Council 5 website:

http://afscmemn.org/it%E2%80%99s-convention-time%21


And here's the Convention schedule, including speeches by Gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton on Saturday morning, and from retired International Secretary-Treasurer, Bill Lucy, a great favorite of the Minnesota delegation to this summer's convention in Boston.


Convention Opens Sept. 30Council 5’s annual convention runs Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at the Sheraton Bloomington hotel. Here is an outline of major events (subject to change):

• Registration: Sept. 29, 6-9 p.m., and Sept. 30, 7-9:30 a.m. (Note: Delegates not registered by this time cannot vote in Council 5 elections)
• Convention opens: Sept. 30, 9 a.m.
• Sector and District nomination meetings: Sept. 30, 1:15-3 p.m.
• Policy committee meetings: Sept. 30, 3:15-5:15 p.m.
• Elections of Officers and Executive Board: Sept. 30, 5:15-7:15 p.m.
• Training and workshops: Oct. 1, 8:30-11:45 a.m.
• District meetings, Oct. 1, 1:30-2:15 p.m.
• Convention reconvenes: Oct. 1, 2:30 p.m., including address by Bill Lucy, AFSCME International’s secretary-treasurer emeritus 
• Convention reconvenes: Oct. 2, 9 a.m., including address by Mark Dayton, AFSCME-endorsed candidate for governor

Second Weekend of Door-to-Door & Literature Drop Completed

This was an interesting weekend.

• I did door-to-door campaigning in the neighborhood just off of Bunker Lake Blvd., and ran into Mayor Mike Gamache at one of the homes. 
• I actually fell on Sunday - I caught some loose sand, and felt my feet flipping out from under me.  Fortunately, nothing damaged, but my pride.
• I've had some interesting conversations, including with one landlord who is upset that the absentee owners of other properties off 138th & Xavis aren't being held to take better care of their yards and property - some of those places did look shabby.  Another wanted to know more about the city's water & sewer replacement work on Xavis - and the newly-tarred road and new curbing was clearly visible.  I also spoke with an engaging Andover resident, who is a native of Liberia, and shared some of my concerns about how we can provide a more complete presence in Andover, with choices in town for trestaurants and other amenities, instead of driving to Anoka, Riverdale and Blaine to find these places. 
• I have a great wife and partner.  We got out for about 5 hours this weekend, and did campaign literature drops in Precincts 7, 8 and 10, east of Hanson Blvd.  We probably placed literature at close to 900 homes this weekend.  I drive and Cheryl puts the campaign cards in the newspaper or direct marketing boxes - when they have them, or we use blue painter's tape to attach them to the posts at homes that only have mailboxes.  We try to respect folks by using the painter's tape, to prevent any tearing off of paint.  Cheryl has a process figured out, and it helped that these neighborhoods were very concentrated with homes.
• This hadn't been our original weekend plan - but Digital Printing in New Hope still has not completed my lawn signs.  So instead of trying to put up signs this weekend, we campaigned.  I purchased the signs August 26th.  It took three tries to get an acceptable proof OK'd on September 7.  The signs were supposed to be done in two weeks - by the 21st.  Then they were supposed to be done Friday night or Saturday morning.  But there was no 3rd shift on Friday and no cutters on Saturday, so now I'm looking at Tuesday.  And, I'll be tied up Wednesday afternoon through Saturday morning at the AFSCME Council 5 Convention, so except for a little time on Tuesday ( I hope) and Wednesday morning, I won't get some signs out until next weekend.  Darn.
• One opponent - Tony Howard - put lawn signs out this weekend.  They look nice.  Tony, who's active in the Andover Youth Hockey Associatiion is using a variation of the Andover school colors - black & gold.  Tony's campaign is also on Facebook now, and he has a new web site up and running.
• I went in for a haircut trim Saturday noon, and through some miscommunication and bad info in the computer, I came out with a much shorter haircut than I've worn throughout my adult life.  Cheryl thinks it looks nice - but, I've felt out-of-sorts because it just doesn't look like me, and with the Convention and the campaign, the last thing I wanted to deal with was self-image.  It'll be OK, but it's unfortunate, and unfortunate it had to happen just now.

First Day of Door-Knocking

I received my campaign literature cards earlier this week (which you can view elsewhere at this Blog), and decided this weekend looked perfect to get out and meet some of the voters.  Retail campaigning, as it's referred to by many, is the heart & soul of a campaign of this nature. 

And, while for many homes, I'll simply be delivering a card for them to hopefully pick up, look over, and learn more about me and my candidacy, for about 1000 homes this fall, I'll be stopping at their door, and either chatting briefly, or leaving a card with a handwritten note, "Sorry I missed you!  Wes."

I'm going to primarily focus on one precinct in Andover that I hope is favorable to me (about 45 hours of door-knocking is required), but I also needed to get started, and get some "practice" at going up to homes and saying "Hi, I'm Wes Volkenant and I'm running for Andover City Council.  I was walking through your neighborhood today with my campaign brochure.  I'd like you to take one, read it over, and consider voting for me this fall.  Thank you."

I spent about 3 1/2 hours this beautiful Saturday afternoon, stopping by 91 homes.  I was in a neighborhood where S. Coon Creek Dr. meets Round Lake Blvd., and talked with folks on the 144th and 145th blocks of Round Lake, on the 3300 and 3400 blocks of Round Lake Blvd., on on Kerry and Jonquil Streets north of S. Coon Creek Dr.  Most of these residents live in Precinct 8, though one group was in Precinct 4, and another in Precinct 2.

One resident on Round Lake Boulevard complained that when the County added lanes and a median, it gave drivers carte blanche to drive at high speed, even in their residential stretch of the road.  I can attest that drivers were easily exceeding 55 and 60 MPH - and the noise was a problem.  Crossing Round Lake is no easy feat.  Another Round Lake resident complained about the littering - especially the cigarette butts that can even be dangerous in drier summers and autumns - and yet he's admonished if his grass clippings get in the street.

Earlier this summer, the City removed a stop sign on S. Coon Creek Dr.  Some of you will remember it there by Jonquil - kind of an oddly-placed sign.  But residents are noticing its absence.  One driver noted that he has difficulty picking out cars coming from the east on S. Coon Creek Dr., as he tries to turn left off Jonquil.  Without the stop sign, he's nearly been clipped twice by cars he lost in the sun, and the small rise a few hundred feet east of Jonquil.  One mother of three commented on the loss of safety for her children and the family dog - without the stop sign, cars are passing through that area at a much higher speed.

However, the City has put up "Watch for Children" signs, and 30 MPH is posted in that residential stretch, with a 35 MPH posted closer to the Golf Course entrance.  Drivers are going too fast, despite all this.  Perhaps that stretch needs one of those "How Fast are You Going?" devices stationed on S. Coon Creek Dr. to prompt the speedy types to slow it down.

I was surprised that a few folks have already given the Council some thought.  One gentleman was glad Don Jacobson is running again - they attend the same church.  But a few other residents were dissatisfied with both Julie Trude and Mr. Jacobson.  One is bothered by the continued director role Don Jacobson has with Connexus Energy, and in seeing a conflict of interests, questioned which hat Don wears, when.  And another suggested that Julie Trude had an agenda when she was elected ten years ago; her opportunity in 2010 was in trying for the County Board - perhaps she should have just moved on this year.

What a pleasure meeting many of you today!  Sunday, I head to the Hummingbird St. & Ct. area where Hanson Blvd. intersects with Andover Blvd.  I'm still waiting on my lawn signs, and hope to get them this week - the finalized order went in two weeks ago - and hopefully start putting them out later this week.


MPR put out an important article this week on the budget woes cities face around Minnesota.  Here's a link:  http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2010/09/14/ground-level-cities-in-crisis-budget-cuts/.  Take some time to read this one over.