This was a surprisingly complicated one. Here’s who’s running:
Mitra Jalali Nelson (incumbent)
Chris Holbrook
Tarrence Robertson-Bayless
Election 2019: Saint Paul City Council, Ward 4
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Author Archives: naomikritzer
Election 2019: St. Paul City Council, Ward 3
This is my ward and it’s possibly the easiest race this year. On the ballot:
Chris Tolbert (incumbent)
Patricia J. Hartmann
Election 2019: St. Paul City Council, Ward 2
This is a relatively easy one because there’s an incumbent and then four candidates who range from “meh” to “under no circumstances ever.”
Running for this seat:
Rebecca Noecker (incumbent)
Sharon Anderson
Lindsey Ferris Martin
Bill Hosko
Helen Meyers (link just goes to The Militant, not an actual site for Helen Meyers.)
Election 2019: St. Paul City Council, Ward 1
Ward 1 is currently represented by Dai Thao. He was endorsed by the DFL at the convention. On the ballot:
Dai Thao
Abu Nayeem “Frogtown Crusader”
Liz De La Torre
Anika Bowie
Election 2019: St. Paul trash referendum
I have been having a really hard time motivating myself to do these writeups this year — no idea why. I mean, I’ve done the basic necessary research for the races on my actual ballot, but sitting down and actually researching the rest feels overwhelming, which is sort of odd given that there aren’t all that many races to do. I think it’s probably a sense of perfectionism, like I can’t possibly weigh in unless I’ve watched all the forums (video is hard, it’s just a lot more time-consuming and you can’t skim).
Anyway, I’m going to note before I do my trash referendum write-up that if you value my work and would like to help me feel more motivated, I’ve got two options for you this year. I have a novel coming out in November, CATFISHING ON CATNET, which you can pre-order. Also, you may remember that last year I linked people to a couple of fundraisers on DonorsChoose for Minneapolis teachers — there was one, in particular, who was raising money to take fifth-grade students at Green Central Park School to Wolf Ridge Environmental Center. My readers really came through for her, and her students were able to make the trip, which is amazing. She has another class of fifth graders, and is fundraising again for another trip. It would make me very happy if my readers supported this project. Even if you disagree with me on everything and you drop by to find out who not to vote for, I’m clearly useful to you, so donate to let a bunch of kids go to Wolf Ridge, people.
SO HEY, ON TO TRASH. Here’s the question on the ballet:
CITY QUESTION 1 (St. Paul)
Referendum on whether Ordinance ORD 18-39 should remain in effect.
Should Ordinance ROD 18-39, entitled “Residential Coordinated Collection”, remain in effect for residential trash collection in St. Paul? Ordinance 18-39 creates new rules for the collection and disposal of trash and payment for trash service; and requires that certain residential dwellings have trash collected by a designated trash hauler. A “yes” vote is a vote in favor of keeping Ordinance ORD 18-39. A “No” vote is a vote to get rid of Ordinance ORD 18-39.
If you’d like to read the actual ordinance as written, it’s here (or, hey, the anti’s have it on their site in PDF form.)
Short answer: I’m voting yes.
Election 2019: St. Paul School Board
It’s election season! But only in St. Paul — Minneapolis is not voting on anything. Here in St. Paul, we’ve got the following:
- Saint Paul School Board (vote for 4)
- Saint Paul City Council
- Garbage pickup referendum
This means {heavy sigh} that I’m going to have to actually write about the trash pickup issue. Spoiler: I come from Minneapolis, always thought it was ridiculous that St. Paul didn’t have municipal pickup, and have minimal amounts of sympathy for people who don’t think they should have to pay for a municipal service just because they use less of it; that way lies “why should I pay for libraries when I don’t read.”
Anyway, I do feel like I need some information that I still need to research before I can do a truly comprehensive write-up on that one, so in the meantime, I’ll take a whack at the school board race. Here’s who’s running:
Charlie Castro
Omar Syed
Jennifer McPherson
Elijah Norris-Holliday
Jessica Kopp
Tiffany Fearing
Steve Marchese
Zuki Ellis
Ryan Williams
Chauntyll Allen
You get to vote for four. This vote is not ranked. It’s a non-partisan race, but the DFL City Convention endorsed three candidates (Zuki, Steve, and Chauntyll) and then couldn’t settle on a fourth.
CATFISHING ON CATNET coming November 19th
My technothriller YA (young adult) novel about friendship, online community, AIs (artificial intelligences), robots, hacking, sex ed, and road trips, is coming out on November 19th.
If you would like to pre-order it, you can do that on the usual big behemoth sites OR you can preorder from Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore — which will allow you to get a signed copy even if you’re not local. You should also be able to pre-order it from anywhere that you’d normally buy books. It will also be available as an audiobook.
I will be doing several book-related events the week it comes out! On November 21st, I’ll be at local bookstore Magers & Quinn along with Marissa Lingen and Sue Burke. On November 22nd, I’ll be at the Loft Literary Center with Kelly Barnhill. On November 23rd, I’ll be signing at Uncle Hugo’s. (If I add other stuff, I will edit this post.)
You can also read an excerpt from it right now over at the Tor Teen blog! You can also read the (starred!) reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publisher’s Weekly. Finally, you could go read the short story that started it all, Cat Pictures Please. (The AI narrator of the short story is also one of the viewpoint characters in the novel.)
