North by Northside

Jeff Skrenes, aka the Hawthorne Hawkman, lives and blogs in North Minneapolis.

http://north-by-northside.blogspot.com

How I almost got elected chair (and what I would do to keep that from happening again)

By Jeff Skrenes, North by Northside

A funny thing happened to me at the Ward 5 DFL convention: I was almost elected chair. Ok, so "almost" is too strong a word, as the vote wasn't all that close. But I was nominated, and in spite of not having run a campaign for the position, or even having thought about doing so until Saturday, I did get a surprising number of people who voted for me.

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North by Northside

The downside of Ranked Choice Voting

By Jeff Skrenes, North by Northside

I am not a fan of ranked choice voting, and Saturday's Ward Five convention did nothing to endear me to this new process.

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North by Northside

How does the local DFL select committees?

By Jeff Skrenes, North by Northside

Although I've been an active caucus-goer for about as long as I can remember, it was only last year that I decided to take the plunge and get involved in a sub-committee. I picked the resolutions committee, because I was working on a resolution against Northern Metals at the time. I gained a deeper respect for the grinding work it takes to slog through such political minutiae, and decided that I'd put in my time for the next decade or so.

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North by Northside

Preservation is affordable housing

By Jeff Skrenes, North by Northside

There are times when I'm asked how it is that I seem to have a different reason for keeping a house from demolition each time the prospect comes up. Well, it's because there are so many more reasons to save a house than there are reasons to tear it down. A case in point is 3019 Knox Avenue North, pictured above.

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North by Northside

No resolutions at precinct caucuses shuts out North Minneapolis voice

By Jeff Skrenes, North by Northside

The DFL held its precinct caucuses this last week, and for the first time in recent memory Minneapolis did not entertain resolutions as part of the process. Although in a previous post I poked fun at resolutions as a confusing part of an evening that has its share of eccentricities, resolutions are an important piece of how political values are set. The reason we were given for the lack of resolutions was that since this is an odd-numbered year with no senate district or statewide conventions, resolutions have "nowhere to go." But I keep on subtracting four years from 2013, and as far back as I can go, the years always seem to come as odd numbers. And we've done these in previous city elections, so what gives?

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