Polling the polls
I managed to visit a few polling sites in the middle of the day today. The turnout so far was unsurprisingly light, but picking up.
Visiting the 18th Ward polling station at Washington Montessori, one block north of Fountain Park on Euclid, I met publisher and community activist John Curtis.
Curtis was talking with voters; answering their questions and providing his opinion on the candidates and other issues on the ballot. In the 18th ward, Curtis' word is trusted. At the top of the handout the Downs-Jones supporters were handing out was a picture of Curtis with the two candidates, his name was also the first in the long list of endorsements.
Curtis said that he supported integration not separation, which he believes the Downs-Jones ticket represented. For Curtis, it made no sense to for Democrats to support Buford, a Republican.
People vote in their own interest, said Curtis, and what is of greater interest than money? Curtis believed the South Side might be voting against their own interests if they vote in favor of the incumbency, which many predict will happen.
Fanning Middle in the 15th Ward.
Roosevelt High School in the 6th Ward.
Representatives of the Downs-Jones slate seemed predominant. One poll worker at Mann School in the 15th Ward was from the Buford-Clinkscale slate. He said they had a number of workers around the city. I just missed a few at in the 18th ward. According to other poll workers, they had just left to head to another polling site.
An unofficial poll of the workers was indeterminate.
Hey, I was at Fanning with that guy Marty, in the green above, for a few hours. Pretty cool guy! They really got good coverage at Fanning.
Posted by Doug Duckworth on Wed., Apr 5, 2006 at 9:25 AMMr. Curtis gets respect for a good reason...Slay's money went to "administrative expenses" and fancy mailings. When it came time to put money toward getting out the Northside vote--which Slay's slate needed--his people shortchanged Black politicos, who lacked the necessary funds to get their workers out on the streets on election day. So Clinkscales/Buford didn't have many workers at the polls to hand out literature, provide transportation, etc. because Slay's campaign machine didn't bother to spread the money around Northside. Pretty sad, but all too predictable stuff from Nancy Rice and friends....
Posted by Brownie D. Light on Wed., Apr 5, 2006 at 10:39 AMAs one of the parents recuited for pole work I can attest to my personal experience. Brownie is right, there was mass confussion when it came time to assign us to poles to work. They also did not give us a direction on how to answer questions appropriately. Clearly there was some good that came out of their tenure, but during an election people just want to point out the negative. In my world the winners should have been Jones/Buford(i.e. parent/money) because it will take involvement and resources to move the district forward.
Where are Peter and Donna going to get the resouces to impliment the wonderful ideas they have? Will their alliance with 420 mean that teachers can no longer be dismissed for incompetence or negligent professionalism. I have heard far too many stories from parents who say that before the "old" majority was elected teachers would be moved from school to school with impunity for poor teaching skills and other problems. I am personally aware of custodians who kept their jobs despite a principals efforts to get rid of them. Is this what we're are going back to?????
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