RNeighbors - Government

Neighborhood Associations Sponsor Community Forum on Shootings

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:20:44 -0500

The Eastside Pioneers, Meadow Park and Slatterly Park Neighborhood Associations invite you to a community wide forum on the epidemic of neighborhood shootings in Rochester. The forum will be at 7 PM Sept 11 at the Boys and Girls Club, 1026 East Center Street, in the gym. These are some of the local officials that will be present: Steve Thompson, director Rochester Police Department Narcotics and Gang Unit, Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem, a representative from Victim Services, City Housing Inspector Susan Legare-Gulden, and Olmsted County Sheriff Chief Deputy Mark Darnell.

Elected officials and candidates for public office are strongly encouraged to attend. Given the time limitations, we will only have time for introductions of elected officials and candidates, there will not be time for speeches.

The Canadian Pacific-Dakota Minnesota and Eastern Railroad Merger

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:55:15 -0500

The Eastside Pioneers Neighborhood Association
(ESPNA) is relieved to hear that no one was hurt
when a Burlington, Northern, Santa Fe (BNSF) train derailed and several tanker cars exploded down in a remote location in central Oklahoma.

The BNSF train was carrying crude oil and ethanol and derailed just northeast of Luther, Oklahoma and north of state Highway 66 at about 2:30 p.m. on Friday August 22, sending a giant fireball into the sky and forcing evacuations within a half-mile of the area.
There were multiple explosions after the derailment and the smoke could be seen across much of central Oklahoma. It even showed up for a time on Advantage Doppler HD, KOCO TV 5, Oklahoma City’s weather radar. Fortunately, the fire and explosions occurred in an area that is primarily rural.

Candidates Forum

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:11:01 -0500

A couple of weeks ago a few members from the Slatterly Neighborhood Association and the Eastside Pioneers Neighborhood Association (ESPNA) were discussing ways we could better serve our neighborhoods.

We thought one of the immediate ways we could help would be to try to provide our neighbors with enough information to make an informed decision regarding a city election. Since we live in the Fourth Ward we thought we would focus on that city council race.

As a convenience to Fourth Ward voters, we decided to host a pre-primary candidates forum, centrally located, on-site, here in the Fourth Ward, Tuesday, September 2, 7:00 PM at the City of Life Outreach Center, 804 East Center Street.

Neighborhood Meeting to Focus on Crime

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 08:05:34 -0500

The peace and security of a quiet residential neighborhood, within our association, was shattered recently when several gun totting thugs went on a shooting spree leaving in their wake a frightened, bullet riddled neighborhood.

The Eastside Pioneers Neighborhood Association (ESPNA) does not want to see anything like this occur again in our neighborhood or for that matter anywhere else in the city. We would like to invite you to a neighborhood discussion on the shootings at the Boys and Girls Club, Thursday, September 11 at 7:00 PM. We have invited several guests including but not limited to law enforcement, the county attorney’s office, victim services as well as elected officials.

Update on a Few Items of Interest

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:50:46 -0500

POLICE CHIEF UPDATE ON TWO RECENT SHOOTINGS: Chief Roger Peterson gave the city council a brief update on the two recent shootings in town. Summary is that significant progress has been made on both and, though we are not able to discuss details for fear of compromising the investigations, you should expect to see results shortly. Keep tuned. For those who expressed concern about the shooting in Watson Field due to the close proximity to the condos and apartments well, for what it's worth this area was not a "turf" war nor is it a known gang hangout but was selected as a neutral area to have a scheduled fight. Go figure. Lots of room? Nice grass? Somewhat isolated? ???? Anyway, one of the gangs brought guns and apparently the other didn't so it was a one-sided affair to start with. No one said any of these guys are smart. The second shooting was not related to the first but does appear to have some gang tie in and the cops are on the trail. We have been assured that arrests are imminent and we will prosecute to the full extent of the law ... and we have done so in the past. The mayor is working with several community leaders to see what we might do to address the problem as well.

Davis Questions Walz's Support of Senator Obama

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:38:00 -0500

Davis: "Obama's statements about Midwest values are demeaning"

For Immediate Release
Contact: Brad Biers
April 13, 2008
651.261.2182

April 13, 2008 (Rochester, MN) - Today, Brian Davis, Republican candidate in Minnesota's First Congressional District, called upon Congressman Walz to withdraw his pledge to support Senator Obama in the Democratic Presidential Primary. Congressman Walz, a superdelegate to this year's Democratic Convention, announced his support of Obama on February 6, one day following the Minnesota caucuses.

Davis, who was recently endorsed by the Republican Party to challenge Walz this Fall, stated, "We have learned a great deal more about Senator Obama in the past two months that is cause for concern. I find it deeply troubling that Senator Obama's stated views on many topics are so out-of-step with mainstream American values. It is shocking, if not implausible, that a Congressman representing this District could support him."

"Snob-ama" and the Many Faces of Hillary

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:39:41 -0500

I must credit über conservative blogger Michelle for the "Snob-ama" word play.

Obama is spinning his elitist statement of blue collar Pennsylvanians as people who cling to religion, guns and discrimination out of a sense of helplessness and desperation in the face of economic uncertainty.

"If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that."

That's the standard non-apology apology.

Hillary's multiple personalities have come out in force following Obama's elitist rant.

Saint Hillary the Pious pounced on Obama the Self-righteous almost immediately after the Illinois senator's condescending remarks were aired. More recently, she's said:

Walz: "F" Student

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:35:41 -0500

The non-partisan National Taxpayers Union (NTU) recently released its ratings for the 2007 session of Congress. The NTU rates all votes that affect taxes, spending, debt, and regulatory burdens on consumers and taxpayers.

Congressman Tim Walz (MN - 01) scored 3%, earning an F rating, the lowest score amongst the Minnesota Congressional delegation and well below the average of Democrats in Congress.

The Democratic average in the House is 6%, Keith Ellison's score.

Walz is tied with Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton!

Whose values is Walz representing in Washington?

Obama: Elitist and Condescending

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:34:05 -0500

``You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years. ... And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.''

-- Barack Obama on Pennsylvania voters while at a San Francisco fundraiser

That's a liberal for you.

Obama's view is that religious people, second ammendment advocates, traditional family values folk, those who support enforcing our immigration laws or don't support unfair trade with other countries are "frustrated." You see, Obama and his party believe that if you are not a liberal, there must be something wrong with you.

Camille Paglia on Hillary Clinton

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:24:40 -0500

Hillary's slick willies

"How anyone could confuse Hillary's sourly cynical, male-bashing megalomania with authentic feminism is beyond me."

"Hillary may spout a populist line, but with her arrogant sense of dynastic entitlement, she's a royalist who, like Napoleon, wants to crown herself."

"I'd love to have a woman president -- but slippery Hillary, stolidly pumping and pumping her narcissistic bellows like a steam engine, just isn't it. "

That from a feminist liberal Democrat.

Sounds right.

Way to Go, "Governor Veto!": Pawlenty Slashes DFL Pork Bill by $208 million

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 01:23:13 -0500

"I'm disappointed that Democrats in the legislature were unable to say no to projects and do not share my commitment to fiscal responsibility. In this case, someone had to exercise fiscal restraint and that job fell to me."

-- Governor Tim "Pork Buster" Pawlenty on the terminal fiscal irresponsibility of DFL legislators.

Here's Tim Pawlenty's letter to Minnesotans following his trimming of the bloated DFL bonding bill. I am extremely proud of our governor's strong stand on fiscal responsibility. The priorities of liberal DFL legislators are wrong and harmful to the state.

Dear Friends:

Anger Mismanagement: Bill Clinton, The Angry Bamboozler

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:34:18 -0600

“I think the president’s trying hoodwink us, bamboozle us, put us back in the okie doke. He had eight years to do what he was supposed to do. All the things he said that she’s gonna do, he had the same authority that he wants her to have. Now if one Clinton, the male Clinton can’t get it done, how is Ms. Clinton [going to].
--Barack Obama supporter Robert Holeman, after a confrontation with former president Bill Clinton at a campaign rally for his wife at Timken High School in Canton, Ohio, yesterday.

Bill Clinton did his angry white man impersonation again this past weekend. Clinton's infamous temper has become news one more time as he has been losing his cool in public over the last year while campaigning for his equally infamous wife.

Payola

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:30:26 -0600

Superdelegates get campaign cash
Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor
February 14, 2008 03:54 PM

Many of the superdelegates who could well decide the Democratic presidential nominee have already been plied with campaign contributions by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, a new study shows.

"While it would be unseemly for the candidates to hand out thousands of dollars to primary voters, or to the delegates pledged to represent the will of those voters, elected officials serving as superdelegates have received about $890,000 from Obama and Clinton in the form of campaign contributions over the last three years," the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics reported today. About half the 800 superdelegates -- elected officials, party leaders, and others -- have committed to either Clinton or Obama, though they can change their minds until the convention.

Economic Death Sentence

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:23:57 -0600

Legislators seek to jump-start Minnesota's economy
2/12/2008 8:42:21 PM
By Matthew Stolle
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

ST. PAUL -- The 2008 Minnesota legislative session began today with Democratic legislative leaders promising to focus on legislation that would give the state's ailing economy a jolt. With the state's economist having declared Minnesota in a recession, state lawmakers said they would rush two major pieces of legislation to the governor's desk as fast as possible -- a comprehensive transportation funding bill and a $1 billion public works bill.

"Sometimes, we just need a jump-start," said DFL House Speaker Margaret Anderson-Kelliher. "We are ready to put Minnesotans back to work."

"No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the Legislature is in session” - Gideon J. Tucker

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:19:32 -0600

The 2008 legislative session started last Tuesday. It is supposed to be short and deal with bonding only. But you know DFLers, why do the people's business when they can pose, posture and prevaricate? The latest Coffee and Conversation forum took place on Saturday, February 9, at John Marshall High School. Here's a quick summary.

Senator Dave Senjem was the adult legislator in the meeting. He spoke eloquently about the main purpose of the 2008 legislative session: bonding for transportation. Dave does not believe the DFL will try to force Carol Molnau out of her position as Transportation Commissioner, but that remains to be seen.