Funky Flea a shopping spree

Great use of vacant lot. Temp but hip.

40 below “Funky Flea” market was a success.

Ironically, the 40+ meet-up had it as an event…

I bought an alabaster turtle carving by Tom Huff.

Educate yourself about School District voting

May is the time we, in New York anyway, get to vote on our local school district budgets and elect its leaders.  In researching why my district limits its polling places to 1 location, I learned that NO ONE monitors their polling practices.  The local Board of Elections doesn’t, as school district voting is governed by the NYS Dept of Education.  No one reviews the process unless someone complains.

Now, if you had a child in school, would you be brash enough to confront the local School Board about their procedures?  Would it be worth jeopardizing your child’s treatment by the Administration to voice your concern?

What ever happened to checks & balances?  Who pays the checks that balance the budget?—-me, the voter.

Meetup as Political forum

Meetup.com is a great website for finding people of similar interests.  Especially if you are new to town, recently divorced (i.e. now single & need to meet people), or realized that you really need to get out and meet new people and get out of this rut you are in (i.e. that routine of yours).

Anyhoo, in browsing it for new ones, I see there’s a Coffee Party meetup, a politician’s meet-up (similar to Friending a campaigner on Facebook, I suppose), and a Tea-partyish, ultra-patriotic group.

So not only can you join these groups, that actually meet IN PERSON (not just virtually), to spout your political views, you could also monitor them for local activity.

In other words, just because you join their meet-up group, doesn’t mean you meet eye-to-eye with their thoughts, but want to keep up on them.

Whoopee! I’m a PLI Alumni!

On Tuesday, May 18^th, voters get to decide whether to accept local school budgets and some of their district’s Board of Education leaders.   Many of the candidates will run unopposed, minimizing dialogue on important issues.  Because many political races in Central New York are uncontested, Leadership Greater Syracuse created the “CNY Political Leadership Institute.”  I recently had the privilege of completing their curriculum entitled “Navigating the Political Process.”

Along with 29 other students accepted into the program, I learned about getting on the ballot, financing a local campaign, organizing a campaign team, and more.  The Institute enlisted politicians, party leaders, campaign managers, political science professors, media professionals, and others to discuss how the political process works on a local level.  We did not talk about running for President, but rather community leadership positions on the Village, Town, and County level.  If not interested in being a candidate, constructive participation in campaigns was encouraged.

Area sponsors that see the importance of developing political leadership in our community include:  the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, WCNY, the Gifford Foundation, Haylor, Freyer, & Coon, Strategic Communications, and many Leadership Greater Syracuse volunteers.  To learn more about the Institute and its next session, visit www.cnypolitics.org or call LGS at 422-5471.  I personally encourage you to stop griping about your government and get involved in it.

GOTV – Billy Fucillo help me out here…

Our most recent class taught us how to get people out to vote.   So I started fantasies of changing the face of politics by pulling up to a voter’s curb to drag them to the polling place.  Would they want to get into my Toyota?  Would it behoove me to rent a jacquar or a station wagon?  Certainly not a Harley?  I guess it depends on the candidate.

Now, if i was helping Sarah Palin, it’s be a pick-up for sure, with a rifle rack in the back window and a load of cow manure in the back.  Oh, yea, don’t forget the baby seat in the extended cab.

Now that I know the Obama’s made millions, perhaps a Lexus would impress his voters more—he’s certainly lost the Prius image I had of him before.

Governor Paterson?  certainly something with tinted glass, a hand-me-down from Elliott Spitzer.

However, the candiate I’d support would likely want me to pull up in a 3-wheeling bicycle with a side car.  Demonstrate they really mean it to control spending, diminish our dependency on foreign oil, foster preventive medicince, combat obesity, and protect our environment.

Get out of the way, cowboys!  I got a voter to get to the polls!

Albany time warp

What about all these delays in our state budget?!

Watch our Senator’s passionate debate for reform and open government.  The other guy’s body language tells alot too…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQT5N2QoWeM

Running for Election Despite Low Vote Prospects

I loved this comment from President Carter, in relation to Sudan’s current election:

“Pres. CARTER: In every election in which I’ve ever been involved, the people that withdraw from the election, in my opinion, make a mistake. They should stay in the election, do the best they can. And if they only win 10 or 15 percent of the seats in the national assembly, they’ll have a voice there.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125845789

So it’s not always about winning.  Sometimes it’s just bringing an issue to the table, or giving the voters a voice, or letting the TWO parties know there are other opinions out there, etc.

This panoramic photo with audio is a v. cool interactive way to present “the story”:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8609304.stm

Reporting slump.

Heard from various points and persons in media about political coverage.  Of course, the slump in the news industry coverage of politics was discussed, given the impact of Internet on newspaper subscriptions, etc.

What lacked in the discussion was the loss of County, Town & Village Board meeting coverage.  Used to be we got monthly report in paper of Town & Village Board meetings.  Not so anymore.  So the public is much less informed of their municipalities’ actions, discussions, decisions.  And the public is less energized to make change and become involved in local politics.

So we have this disjointedness in public participation in the political system.  Moving more to an real “party” system, more like a “club”.  If you aren’t involved in the local “club” political scene (i.e. attend the meetings), you are clueless as to how your tax dollars are spent, who’s building what, what laws are passed, what the plans are, etc.

Oh how important our “freedom of the press” is in our democracy.

To Party or Not To Party?

Well, I checked out the NYS Board of Elections, and sho-nuf, I am an “active voter”, but “not enrolled in a party.”   Like I thought.  I know when I registered (how many years ago?), I likely liked candidates from varying parties for different positions.  In other words, I vote for the person I like, ignoring the party.

I recall in class last week that one speaker thought parties don’t matter much on a local level, but being in a party is crucial for a candidate on a national level.  I disagree, as many, many people vote by party and only a few votes usually sway local elections, i.e. your local vote really, visually counts.

But these days, I don’t register as I want that anonymity, on of the few facts about us that is not public information.  And, sho-nuf, if you register, anybody can look you up on this NYS website or get the party list from the local election board.

But what am I missing?  Do I get special mailings if I’m a registered partyer? Am I “targeted”?  I get to vote in the primary—though in local elections, that’s a rarity.

Do I get invited to any parties?  Would I choose my party on where these parties take place?  mmmm—shall it be the VFW or the Country Club?

Is it byob? (bring your own ballot?)

http://www.elections.state.ny.us/

Pressed for Words about Me

so last night’s class had an activity to think of 5 words that described ourselves.

i chose:  frank, analytical, listener, negotiator, decider

but then I thought, how about 5 words that I’m NOT?   I could think of my oponent, think of 5 words about him (as in most likelihood, i’d be running against a man, as I hate to see 2 women scrapping it out—could you imagine Hillary and that Sarah Palin running against each other?  SNL, Leno, et al would have a field day; newspapers would get thick again with editorials).

Anyhoo…

it would be so easy to think of 5 words about my opponent that aren’t so flattering and say I’m NOT that.  Like, let’s say I AM running against….David Patterson (I might as well shoot for Governor, after all hypothetical might as well be top line)…I’ve heard him being described as:

wishywashy, scandalous, downstater, park-closer, sugar-hater

I’m definitey NOT wishywashy, scandalous (my highschool nickname was goody2shoes—a name I tried very hard to shed in college and succeeded, and that’s why I ended up in Syracuse…but that’s another blog), I live upstate, I have camping reservations for a DEC campground in August, and I LOVE sugar, in the chocolate or Southern Comfort form (brain surge here:  I wonder if they make Southern Comfort liquour chocolates at Mason du Chocolat?)

So, I think we should have a class on an Un-Election (Hey, I am copyrighting that neologism–you read it first here!), rather like Alice In Wonderland’s UnBirthday.  We could have a new party (pardon the pun on the unbirthday party, and tea party).  An un-election could happen on any day of the year, and everyone could get un-elected on ….365 days of the year!

Now, I bet that system would definitely get us a balanced budget on time.