July 2005
July 31, 2005
New OBS web site
Jamala Roger's Organization for Black Struggle has a new web site.
Ian on Camp Russ Carnahan
Ian Mackey wrote up this report of his time at Camp Russ Carnahan:
This past weekend over 120 Missouri democrats traveled from every corner of the state to Washington University’s School of Law in order to participate in Camp Russ Carnahan, sponsored by Grassroots Solutions. These devout dems arrived eager to sharpen their skills, refuel their minds, and engage in an interactive learning process. Although the camp allowed brief times to reflect on the losses of the last cycle, the majority of workshops focused on moving forward with concrete strategies and a better understanding of campaign fundamentals.
Camp participants were asked to choose from one of three specific tracks. The first track focused on issue advocacy. Whether a representative from an independent organization, or simply a concerned citizen, participants on this track learned how to better communicate their message, spread awareness of the issue, and utilize resources available to them, as well as persuasion techniques.
Camp Russ Carnahan also attracted many potential democratic candidates. Some were considering a run for city council, others the school board, and a few were considering a run for state representative. In the track to becoming a better candidate participants learned the basics of running for office, including a detailed list of specific responsibilities of a candidate. Along with learning the fundamentals, these potential candidates also ended the week with a newfound confidence that will hopefully seal their decision.
Many of the participants chose to attend the workshops focusing on campaign management. From a sophomore in high school, to current law students, to already paid professionals hoping to perfect their skills, everyone was willing to learn. The majority of these participants were seeking a professional job in the next cycle, but some were simply attending to learn more about politics, in general, and potentially volunteer. Many connections were made, and several potential candidates had a list offers.
All three of the campaign tracks were conducted by well-known professionals, and insiders, with expertise in specific areas. Many lectures were conducted by long-time Missouri political strategist, and co-founder of firedupmissouri.com, Roy Temple. Other workshops were taught by former coordinator for the Clinton Campaign in Pennsylvania, Mary Esther Van Shura, former media consultant for Bill Bradley, Sara Howard, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee organizer, Guy Cecil, and camp organizer from Grassroots Solutions, Sean Gagen. In addition to these remarkable individuals guest speeches were also given by former Senator Jean Carnahan, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, and of course Congressman Russ Carnahan. There is no doubt that each person left Camp Russ Carnahan more knowledgeable, more confident, and more eager than when they arrived. The intense 2 ½ day training also created numerous networks, job opportunities, and friendships. This process brought different people closer with real-life simulations, encouraged more organization through the structured meetings, and provided a wealth of knowledge to everyone in attendance. Although the camp is somewhat different each year, this is the ninth successful year for Camp Carnahan, and certainly not the last.
July 30, 2005
Not one.
Today's Post-Dispatch business section didn't have a single PD byline. Not one. It was a collection of AP and Bloomberg reports.
July 29, 2005
Radtke leaves International Institute
Beth A. Radtke, VP Development & Communications at International Institute, has accepted a position in Charitable Contributions with Commerce Bank. Her last day is August 5.
July 28, 2005
Blunt sets Special Election
New Symphony Hires
Marketing VP comes from Walt Disney.
Zimmerman's web site is up
July 27, 2005
Down in Front
Via Diatriber, a petition to keep Beatle Bob seated.
July 26, 2005
Storch announces two Town Hall meetings
EMINENT DOMAIN: Protecting Personal Property Rights
Tuesday, August 16th, 7:00 p.m.
Location: St. James the Greater School Cafeteria, 1360 Tamm Avenue in Dogtown
Speakers: John J. Ammann, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law; Christian Saller, St. Louis Development Corporation; Rachel Storch, State Representative, 64th District
Topics will include: the implications of the recent Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. City of New London; how the process actually works – are our homes at risk?; what citizens need to know and how to get involved; what state legislatures around the country are doing to protect citizens against the improper use of eminent domain.
MEDICAID: Is the Healthcare of Our Community at Risk?
Wednesday, September 7th, 7:00 p.m.
Location: COCA, Center of Creative Arts, 524 Trinity Avenue in University City
Speakers: Joel Ferber, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, Managing Attorney, Health and Welfare Unit; Reverend Dr. James T. Morris, Lane Tabernacle C.M.E. Church; Representative from Missouri Department of Social Services; Rachel Storch, State Representative, 64th District.
Topics will include: the changes to Medicaid law made by the Missouri legislature; how Missourians will be affected by Medicaid reforms; how to advocate for low-income Missourians; update on the Medicaid Reform Commission.
For more information, contact Representative Storch at 573-751-1400 or 1-866-630-2097.
Congratulations to Hodes
Congratulations to Joe Hodes and his wife Mary Catherine on the birth of their daughter Virginia Ann, 10 lbs. 10 oz. Hodes helped the fight to keep historic preservation tax credits this year.
Aaron joins Shrewsbury Staff
Ms. Vera Aaron has joined the staff of Aldermanic President, Jim Shrewsbury, as Secretary to the President.
MO House Dems Attended DLC Meeting
PRESS RELEASE
JEFFERSON CITY - Minority Leader Jeff Harris (D-Columbia) and Assistant Minority Leader Paul LeVota (D-Independence) represented Missouri at the Democratic Leadership Council's (DLC) National Conversation this past weekend in Columbus, OH. The House's two top Democrat leaders joined hundreds of national, state and local elected officials to explore the theme of "Heartland Values, Bold Solutions: An American Reform Agenda."
The Conversation seeks to sketch out relevant policies to the four big challenges facing our country today: security and winning the war on terror, restoring economic growth, defending American values and reforming the nation's broken political system.
Harris has been involved with the DLC since he was elected to the Missouri House in 2002. This is LeVota's first year of involvement.
Voted in my first Mayor Poll today.
Bauer Recall Petitions Certified
July 25, 2005
Blunt names Dierdorf chairman of CVC
This Week
THURSDAY, JULY 28TH; FROM 11:00 AM TO 2:00 PM
St. Louis ArtWorks FINAL SALE!
ADAMS PARK COMMUNITY CENTER, IN THE FOREST PARK SOUTHEAST NEIGHBORHOOD
July 29th
Join Habitat for Humanity for a Patio Party at the 9th Street Abbey. The Abbey will graciously donate 10% of the evening's sales to Habitat Friends, so the more the merrier.
AUGUST 1ST AT 7:00 PM
Bradley Bower's "THE BUNGLERS" will be shown at the Tivoli.
Purchase your tickets in advance from Cinema St. Louis 314.454.0042.
Oracle makes the case for IRV
St. Louis Oracle makes the case for Instant Runoff Voting in the 4th.
July 22, 2005
Party Cove makes the NY Times
Angel leaves St. Louis Magazine
Managing Editor Traci Angel is leaving St. Louis Magazine and heading to Columbia, Mo. She accepted a fellowship at the Mizzou journalism school and her husband will be working with mice stem cells for neuro-degenerative disease research.
Carnahan votes for Patriot Act
July 20, 2005
Eminent Domain Task Force
Governor Matt Blunt announced the appointment of the members of his Eminent Domain Task Force. The list includes three from the St. Louis area.
- Attorney Gerard T. Carmody of Carmody, MacDonald P.C.
- Chris Goodson, president and owner of The Goodson Company and Goodco. Goodson is also a principal at Gilded Age Rennovation, LLC.
- State Senator Chuck Gross of St. Charles is vice president of Business Development
for UMB Bank.
The rest of the members include a State Representative who is also the president of his own farm company, the director of government affairs for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state's consumer advocate for utility regulation, an attorney specializing in TIF financing and finally an attorney who practiced eminent domain law for the Missouri Highway Commission.
You can read the entire list here.
Whose the Recruiter?
ArchPundit over at Blog St. Louis runs down the details on the Draft McNary website.
Ehresman to leave CMC
Ruth Ehresman, Policy Director and 2nd in command at Citizens for Missouri's Children for many years, has decided to leave CMC. Ehresman, who will leave CMC in mid-August, has accepted a position with another agency in St. Louis and will announce the specifics of that at a later date.
Again?
From Combest, DraftMcNary.com
Comptroller Green Releases FY 2005 Figures
Press Release from the Comptroller:
ST. LOUIS, July 19, 2005—In spite of finishing $1.45 million in the red, the fiscal year that ended June 30 showed signs of positive economic growth, particularly in sales and earnings tax receipts. Both revenue streams beat projections, especially for the year’s final quarter. The payroll tax ended about where projected. Lambert Airport and natural gas gross receipts also outpaced projections for the year.
The city’s amusement tax, however, was $1 million lower than expected. Likewise, the hotel tax was down $500,000 and the parking tax was down $400,000. The amusement tax is likely down due to the cancellation of the St. Louis Blues hockey season. Hotel and parking revenue probably suffered from the same cause. On the positive side, the restaurant tax ended up about where originally projected in light of downtown losing more than 40 home hockey games.
“The economic vital signs of the city seem to have turned the corner. Mid-year and third quarter results projected continued budget problems but the last quarter of the fiscal year showed an amazing recovery in the economically sensitive taxes such as sales tax and earnings tax,” explained Deputy Comptroller Thom Bozzo.
Below are highlights from the fiscal year 2005 operating budget:
• Sales Tax – $2.1 million over projections
• Earnings Tax – $1.1 million over projections
• Airport Gross Receipt Tax – $1.4 million over projections
• Natural Gas Gross Receipts Tax – $1.3 million over projections
Over the past few years, the city’s major revenue sources have generally fallen short of expectations or remained flat. This year bucked that trend and was a pleasant surprise for the city’s chief fiscal officer.
“We ended this year with some positive financial momentum. Its up to us as city leaders to build on this and grow it into even larger gains for next year and the years to come,” said Comptroller Darlene Green. “It will take a true team effort and a renewed commitment to fiscal responsibility to get St. Louis where we want it to be financially.”
The year end results cited above are unaudited and represent preliminary calculations. The official audited results will be published later this year in the city’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
July 19, 2005
Rock Hill Turmoil?
Overheard at a local waterhole, so don't take it to the bank, but it sounded legit.
Here's the rumor:
Rock Hill officials found a $30,000 discrepancy in a recent audit, which they linked to former mayor Bob Salamone. They are said to be asking the attorney general to press charges and have retained Lents & Associates to handle the PR. Expect a press conference in the next week or two.
J Joyce makes front page of NY Times
Investigating if Larry Griffin was executed for a crime he didn't commit.
July 18, 2005
Dr. Smith
Jeff Smith has received his PhD in Political Science with Washington University.
Sladky busy jamming TV
David Sladky, vice chair and outreach coordinator for Two Rivers Greens, has been very active in getting progressive television programs (nine of them at this time) scheduled on area public access and community access cable channels. A list of those programs appears here.
July 17, 2005
Them's the breaks
The St. Louis Board of Alderman went to the mat for boxing promoters this past week.
Despite Aldermanic President Jim Shrewsbury's opposition, a bill that would exempt boxing matches held in the city from paying the 5% entertainment tax sailed through the board.
Shrewsbury argued that the exemption opens the flood gates for other groups to demand the same treatment. He placed the source of the Board's move on noted boxing and personal promoter Don King. Shrewsbury said King lamented paying $88,000 in taxes after raking in $1.8 million in one night.
An industry that is unlikely to generate the continued draw of the Corey Spinks fight is not a good candidate for the tax break. Occasional large matches will make money, but the majority of the fights will reflect the national reality of boxing, declining numbers of fans and falling revenue.
A reduction in the tax might make sense once there is track record of successful matches that bring in enough people. The Cardinals have such an agreement and the Blues are likely to seek a similar deal.
Events that draw tens of thousands of people on a weekly basis and inject millions into the city's economy are valid candidates for tax reductions.
Promoters and anti-tax proponents may try and argue that the tax is a drag on the growth of the sport in St. Louis, but as Steven Smith's successful Hoosierweight Boxing enterprise and other local boxing events show, the tax has not driven boxing out of the city.
The Spinks fight was not successful despite the tax. Don King and Corey Spinks made it a successful event and it was a great feather for St. Louis' cap. It brought attention to St. Louis and got people talking about boxing again.
Until the industry shows a track record of success it should pay the same tax that other groups holding events in the city must pay.
It would be fantastic to see St. Louis become a center for boxing but the Aldermen who are responsible for guiding the city through its financial woes should not pin their dreams on a single success.
Correction: Corrected the fight night figures above. - Matthew
July 15, 2005
Zimmerman's Quarter up
nice job for the newcomer.
Raised $89,979. Only spent $1,000. $88,979 on hand.
Dooley continues
to build a nice war-chest.
Raised $162,311; $256,312 cash on hand.
Carnahan Quarter
Not great, but with the competition melting away, maybe it doesn't really matter.
Raised $164,844. $194,532 cash on hand.
Nice job getting PAC money - $96,851, but still over $100k in debt and expenses ran over 100k.
If you can stand Jeff City
this might be a job for you:
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS
The House of Representatives has an immediate opening for a Director of Communications for the Democratic Caucus, in the office of the Assistant Minority Leader in Jefferson City. This position will handle message formation and media relations for the Minority Caucus, and must be willing to work extremely long hours. Applicants should have a thorough knowledge of and experience with the legislative and political process. Applicants should have strong written and verbal communication skills, an ability to prioritize and meet deadlines under pressure. Applicants should be able to exercise discretion and confidentiality.
Resumes and letters may also be submitted electronically to: househr@house.mo.gov.
Jeff Smith's quarter
Said to be coming in around $40,000 raised, $38,000 on hand.
1st and 2nd districts
Clay raised $30,145, has $174,237 cash on hand.
Akin raised $199,359, has $429,312 cash on hand.
Can't find a committee for Sherman Parker yet. I've spoken to people who were at a fundraiser a couple of weeks ago for him. I wonder who those checks were payable to?
Meanwhile, in StL CC 5th, Zimmerman's quarter has been received, but not scanned yet. I hear he came in around $89,000.
July 14, 2005
Better BOA site
Urban Review calls attention to the new and improved Board of Aldermen site.
Creg Williams' Outrage by Mark Ribbing
Creg Williams' Outrage
by Mark Ribbing
The primary purpose of Tuesday night's school-board meeting at Carr Lane was to pass a new budget for the state's largest district. And this did occur, albeit by a 4-3 vote. But something else happened that might signal something of even greater importance to the district and the city it claims to serve: the arrival of Creg Williams.
Williams has actually been the district's superintendent for three months now, and he's hardly been a secret -- whirlwind visits to long-neglected schools, favorable notices in local media, mandatory getting-to-know-you sessions with regional power-wielders.
He's even managed to create a somewhat more positive, constructive environment at school-board meetings -- no mean feat. But Tuesday's meeting was a particularly high-stakes, high-visibility affair. After all, to budget is to govern, and the budget-vote meeting was therefore bound to unleash more than a few furies.
And the furies came, riding the wings of Rumor. This school about to close, that program about to be scrapped, these jobs about to be lost. Yes, some hard cuts were going to have to be made, for real -- it's a school district with rapidly shrinking enrollment in a city only beginning to recover from a half-century of what can justly be called civic hemorrhage, a vast bleeding of people, jobs, and tax dollars. It's a school district that only two years ago was on the verge of bankruptcy, and still has a general deficit of $26.5 million.
So, cuts will have to be made, yes. But to listen to the seething crowd Tuesday night, you'd think the district was planning to franchise all of its school buildings to Wal-Mart and sell teachers into indentured servitude on eBay. Stoked by its suppositions, the crowd was in high dudgeon -- if the dudgeon had gotten any higher, it might have gone right into geosynchronous orbit. In the public-comment session, speaker after speaker railed at the board about jobs and programs perceived (sometimes correctly, sometimes not) to be endangered. In this environment, hardly a sentence went uttered by any board member without a boo or a catcall from the audience. It was, in short, like the Bad Old Days all over again.
Or so it seemed until it was Williams's turn to speak. Remaining seated at the center of the stage under a massive screen showing the budget slide presentation, Williams spoke extemporaneously but with hardly any break in his flow. He spoke loudly enough into his microphone to still the gallery. Far more importantly, he spoke knowledgeably enough and passionately enough to make them listen.
He addressed the spead of rumors, and stanched them one by one: No, we're not ending in-school suspension. No, we're not purging teachers -- in fact, we have lots of teaching positions to fill.
Then he showed one slide after another that depicted bar graphs of how many SLPS students had reached proficiency on the Terra Nova tests or the MAP tests. For each grade, there were two tower-like bars, the one on the left showing how many district kids had taken the test, the one on the right representing how many of these test-takers had scored at anything like a proficient level.
Time after time, slide after slide, the left-hand bar towered over the right-hand bar. For example, 2,795 6th graders had taken the 2004 Terra Nova reading test. Only 458 -- a tiny stub of the test-taking group -- had placed at or above the national averages.
Another slide showed that 2,227 10th graders had taken the 2004 MAP science test. This time, the right-hand bar barely registered. Out of all these 2,000-plus high-schoolers, two years away from entering higher education or the workforce, only 23 had scored proficient or better.
That's not 23 percent, but 23, as in 23 kids. Out of 2,227. In a city that seeks to pin its economic future on becoming the next hub of the biotech industry.
As Williams then properly noted, if you take the district's star school, Metro, out of the equation, the numbers become even more abysmal. The audience did make some noise during these slides, but they were gasps and sighs of sadness and disbelief. The man had made his point.
Then Williams said something that has so urgently needed to be said by a superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools. He mentioned the fact that so many people had used the school-board meetings to share their personal outrage about the jobs of adults, the programs of adults.
He nodded toward the graphs showing how few students are truly learning how to read properly, perform a math problem, or understand a scientific concept. He talked about how these numbers weren't mere percentages on a chart; they were kids, children, human beings whose futures swayed precariously in the balance.
And then he said, "This is my outrage."
Tomorrow is deadline
We'll try to stay on top of interesting filings:
Democratic primary St. Louis County Council 5th District
Barbara Fraser raised $18,348, has $24,055 cash on hand
Jake Zimmerman hasn't filed yet. His whisper number is $80,000 raised of which $30,000 is coming from himself.
State Senate 4th District
Fred Kratky still hasn't started a committee for 4th State Senate District, but he can convert his state rep committee which had $34,652 cash on hand.
And finally, if you care to click: What I wrote in the last BJ about the filings.
July 13, 2005
Mohn Moving
Former 3rd CD candidate Corey Mohn is moving back to Kansas City.
Florida Fundraiser
The 15th Ward Democrats will celebrate summer at their fifth annual Beach Blanket Bingo Party!
This Saturday, July 16th, 3-8PM - Rain or Shine
3700 Utah
$15 per person.
Featuring (in no particular order):
A Swimming Pool
Alderwoman Jennifer Florida
Food, Beer, Soda, and the famous Flaming Pink Flamingo
Limbo, Raffle, Hula Hoop, Door Prizes
Fun (Lots of) for Adults and Children
(314) 771-6292
Continuing Claire Watch
Claire McCaskill met with Post editorial board today, discussed her tangles with the Blunt administration about audits.
UPDATE: McCaskill tell Post, she will decide by Labor Day.
Barry for 1st Sen District
Thanks to Archpundit, who pointed me to the MO Ethics filings showing Joan Barry with a committee for Harry Kennedy's seat when he's termed up in 08.
July 12, 2005
Bauer petitions to be turned in Thursday
The Friends of the 24th Ward will hold a press conference in front of The Board of Election, Thursday, July 14 at 10:00 AM.
The petitions for the recall of Alderman Tom Bauer will be turned in at that time.
Timeline seems to be moving from "couple of weeks" to "several weeks"
From Combest, Claire quoted in KC Star today saying that her decision won't be made for several weeks.
DSCC in good shape
It is said that if McCaskill enters she will have strong support from the national party. This Rollcall article shows that the Democrats are on strong financial footing to help her out.
DSCC Fundraising Stellar
By Lauren W. Whittington
July 12, 2005
Six months into the 2006 election cycle, Senate Democrats have set a torrid fundraising pace and have roughly twice the available campaign cash their GOP counterparts do, soon-to-be filed fundraising reports will show.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee finished the second quarter with a record-setting $15.2 million in the bank after raising $6.9 million in June alone.
Meanwhile, the National Republican Senatorial Committee raised $4 million in June and had $8 million left in the bank at the end of last month. The NRSC raised a total of $11 million in the second quarter of the year, compared to a $13 million three-month total for the DSCC.
In fact, in six months' time the DSCC has already eclipsed the committee's fundraising total for all of 2003. So far this cycle Senate Democrats have raised $22.6 million, compared to the $22.4 million they took in two years ago.
But the NRSC is also ahead of where it stood at this juncture last cycle, having taken in almost $21 million for the year so far. At the end of the second quarter in 2003, the committee had raised $14.5 million and had $5.3 million in the bank.
At the end of May, the NRSC had nearly $6.1 million on hand while the DSCC had $8.9 million in the bank.
July 11, 2005
Continuing Claire Watch
From DC's tip-sheet, Hotline:
MISSOURI: To Claire Things Up
Multiple Hotline sources confirm that among those Dems in attendance at the DSCC's weekend retreat in Nantucket was Auditor Claire McCaskill. This was a retreat that included a mix of current Dem Sens (see Hotline, 7/8) and candidates running in '06. Among the other non-incumbent Dem SEN candidates who were scheduled to attend: Matt Brown (RI), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Ben Cardin (MD), Jim Pederson (AZ), Bob Casey Jr. (PA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Harold Ford Jr. (TN). While McCaskill was not on the scheduled list of attendees, she, along with a bunch of other non-incumbent candidates not listed apparently flew in at the last minute (Hotline reporting, 7/11).
Carnahan home buying workshop
Saturday, July 16, 2005, 9:00AM-1:00PM @ Long Middle School (Cafeteria) 5028 Morganford Road at Gravois St. Louis, MO 63116.
Join Congressman Russ Carnahan and NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America) for a FREE workshop:
Learn how you can have
• No Down Payment
• No Closing Costs
• No Fees
For more information contact Kacie Starr Triplett in Congressman Russ Carnahan's office @ (314) 962-1523
NY Times reviews new Son Volt CD
Jetton's "How I Spent my July 4th"
Enjoyed patriotism displayed at sporting events, cooked brats, watched Private Ryan.
July 10, 2005
KTRS today
550 am. Combest and I will be on sometime in the 3 o'Clock hour.
July 08, 2005
Camp Russ Carnahan
Camp Russ Carnahan is a political training program that teaches the fundamentals of campaign management, being a better candidate for office, or enhancing your issue advocacy skills. This training follows in the tradition of the original Camp Carnahan, which began in 1997 and trained hundreds of campaign organizers and candidates who went on to volunteer or work on campaigns, or successfully run for office.
It will be held over the weekend of July 22-24 in St. Louis, Missouri.
Camp participants are encouraged to sign up for one of the following training tracks:
Intro to Management for Future Paid Professionals - If you are interested in becoming paid staff on a campaign within two years, then join this track. You will learn the fundamentals of political campaign management such as fundraising, field organizing, media relations, advance, volunteer coordination, get-out-the-vote, targeting, candidate relations, and campaign technology.
Issue Advocacy and Organizing - This track introduces the strategies and tactics necessary for building a successful issue advocacy campaign or program. It helps individuals develop the skills to create and carry out successful issue campaigns including message development, community outreach, working with volunteers, grassroots lobbying, leadership development and building effective coalitions. Attendees will sharpen their grassroots organizing abilities and learn about building and sustaining effective issue advocacy efforts.
How to be a Better Candidate - The candidate track prepares participants for a run at elected office. Participants will have the opportunity to be mentored by elected officials and some of the top political consultants in the country.
The registration fee is $35 and covers dinner on Friday, lunch on Saturday, and lunch on Sunday. The training schedule is Friday from 2:30 until 9:00 PM, Saturday from 9:00 AM until 6:00 PM, and Sunday from 9:30 AM until 3:00 PM. Camp participants are responsible for their own accommodations.
You can apply online.
July 07, 2005
Candidate might emerge in the next couple weeks
Roger Wilson on the Democrats' Senate nominee.
July 06, 2005
Stuff at the Fed
Research on Light Rail Development.
July 05, 2005
Building 26
Former St. Louisan Eddie Roth innovates at the Dayton Daily News with a video editorial posted on their website.
A brief explanation from Roth:
I offer for your consideration a link to an effort here at the Dayton Daily News to converge the traditional editorial with new media.
I reported and wrote the editorial, and photographed, produced, edited and narrated the video companion piece, in one 12-hour day. I used an ordinary digital camera and the iMovie software that comes with the Mac that's on my desk. I dug the archival photos that appear in the video out of our photo library, and photographed them -- a picture of a picture.
I had been thinking about this process (conceptually, not with any particular editorial in mind) for about six months before taking the plunge last week.
Two main premises of my efforts so far:
* I am trying to develop practical strategies and methods for ordinary editorial writers to self-produce micro-documentaries as part their daily journalism routine - more-or-less on deadline, rather than as some big project. The technology now is such that it's possible without special training.
* Editorial copy that appears on the opinion pages should be identical with what's used in the on-line video documentary version. The narration of this video conforms with the editorial that appeared on today's editorial page (except for one phrase, due to my misspeaking).
In other words, I believe in the primacy of the freestanding written narrative, the 500-word editorial form. Under my approach, the on-line video elements don't substitute for, or "drive," the opinion piece. They are offered for added depth and texture.
That's not to say that the video elements don't influence the written product during the process. Approaching the writing from this visual perspective, I believe, helped enliven what appeared in the paper, better connecting with readers by, as they say, showing rather than telling.
July 04, 2005
Thanks to Mannies
Though Combest gets top billing.
July 03, 2005
Kindleberger's Party
Last night, legions of current and former city workers and city activists gathered in Chuch Kindleberger's back yard for a celebration of his 35 year career in public service.
Plenty of interesting folks, but I was pleased to finally meet Andy Love, a 26 year old former PDA intern we featured in our January 25 issue. During his internship last year, Love discovered the opportunity for and initiated the city's much-publicized appeal to the US Census. Ultimately, this led to a substantial reduction in the Census' estimated population decline for the City of St. Louis.
Imagine my shock when Love told me he was looking for a job here in St. Louis, having recently been turned down by the City for a research assistant position. I was stunned that the City couldn't find a position for a young man who has already proven his value.
So if anyone knows of a urban-planner/number-cruncher type position out there, I'd be happy to pass his contact information along.
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