Canvassing for the Democrats While Trying to Maintain Objectivity

Going into some extended time off from work last April I was interested in possibly spending some of that time contributing to local politics in some way.   I'm always a little scared to do this because I really want to stay objective.  I want good policy, good laws, good people.  The party is secondary.  In fact even though I am currently a registered Democrat, I really understand what drives the conservative movement - its suspicion of top-down, big government solutions to problems, and its preference to allow local institutions and individuals to find their own solutions.  I get the importance of family values and respect for the individual and the effectiveness of free markets.  I'm a Democrat because despite these sympathies, I think we are facing problems today that are simply too big to leave government out of it, and I think the Republican party has veered too far to the right, but I certainly understand and share many of their core values.

Joining a specific political party, I worry that that I may end up just voting for clothes.  That's no way to hold our government accountable.  I wanted to be a much smarter voter.  Rather than just vote for party, I want to really push my elected officials to defend their positions and their record.  But yet, I still wanted to get involved.

So, talking to some volunteers at the Mark Mitchell campaign, I was convinced to devote considerable time to that campaign.  Here's why.  What campaigning and canvassing is typically about is to increase voter turnout among those already registered to vote in your party.  Increased voter participation is a good thing and I wanted to be a part of informing voters of important local elections.  So, that's basically what I'm doing.  I want to let people know that we have important mayor races, city council races, state legislative races going on right now.  What they do affect our lives.

This is why, I reserve the right to go out there and knock on doors letting people know what Mark Mitchell stands for and why someone should vote for him, while at the same time reserving my right to vote against him if I decide.   In this case, I didn't end up doing that, and I understand there is a significant risk in doing what I'm trying to do.  I'm not putting myself on a level and objective playing field.  It's just hard to vote against your team once you've chosen  to belong to one.

Of course, I'll only take this so far.  I'll refuse to canvass for someone I really don't like.  But this year, at least in my voting districts and regions, the Democratic candidates look to be pretty strong.  They are worth my time and energy.  Yet, my vote is far from being decided on most of these races (my vote for Maricopa country sheriff has long ago been decided).

To that end, I purposely wait until election day to vote.  I want as much information as possible and I want as much time to gather that information as possible.  As a blogger, I'll try to pass on what I learn to you as best as I can as an objective observer.  My hope is that in most races, both candidates are qualified and smart and good.  I'll try to point this out as much as I am able.

My goal for 2012 is to really get to know these candidates running in these local elections.  We'll get more information than we can hope to absorb about Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.  Four years ago, I spent a lot of energy on this blog on the Obama/McCain race.  This time I'm going local.  Instead, I'll focus my energy on Juan Mendez, Ed Ablser, and Andrew Sherwood and all of the rest.

It should be a lot of fun, can't wait.

Koby Granville for Tempe City Council

No final decision made here yet, but Koby Granville found my blog.  Check him out in the comments section.  This led me to re-look at his white papers posted on his website, and prompted a pretty detailed e-mail with some questions.  I definitely expected a reply but I did not expect to get a response as quickly as I did.  I appreciated the time e took to read my e-mail and give a really quick, thoughtful response.

I have not read all of his white papers, but I intend to.  His first talks about the reason why feels the need to get his thoughts down in this way.

As a 20 year resident of Tempe, and a person who has generally followed Tempe elections, I have always been amazed at the amount of information NOT provided by the candidates.

I say no to truncated politics. I believe the people of Tempe want to really learn about policy issues for each candidate. I believe the people of Tempe will understand that, although they may not agree with all of my opinions, I am actually willing to give you my opinion. Beware the candidate who only agrees with you, it means they are telling you what you want to hear.

 So, he made some attempts to get down to details in a series of white papers.  I read his position on taxes first and he makes what should be an obvious point here, but in today's world where we believe we can both cut taxes and raise revenues, this point must be made:

Taxes should support the services the majority of the residents believe add sufficient value for the required cost. When residents want additional services and believe the value of the new service warrants the new cost, taxes should be raised to cover that cost. If the residents want to tax themselves for increased police, increased public transportation, increased library hours, or for that matter increased anything, and they must be willing to pay the price for the service. That said, if the people are willing to pay the tax, they should be allowed to raise the taxes to cover the cost.

He also takes about how city government funds these services - through a combination of sales tax and bonds paid down through property tax.  In my email I asked him to get specific with the general direction he wanted Tempe to take and offered my general suggestions.  My thoughts:

First, I love Tempe and I think the city is doing a lot of things well:

We obviously need to at least maintain the infrastructure and services already in place - our parks, our schools, our other services.   So, we have a baseline of revenue that's required to maintain the status quo.  I'm pretty happy with the status quo and would be disappointed if anything was rolled back.

 But we can get better:

I do believe though we can be more visionary than this.  I obviously would love to see a better downtown.  I would like to do something about the blighted strip malls that have popped up around us.  I want better schools.  I would love to see a greater injection of the arts here.  And more interconnectedness and cooperation with our cities.  And I'm willing to pay more in taxes to support this broad vision.

Our funding mechanism, though is flawed:

The problem, though, is that sales tax is regressive and is highly volatile based on status of the economy.  Property taxes have obviously been volatile as our home values have increased rapidly and have dropped just as rapidly.  Another problem is at the same time we need government services (during downturns) our revenues drop.

He agreed with my general vision and then provided these thoughts on how to deal with tax revenue volatility:

 The real issue is this, when the city gets more money (for example) from rising home prices and the ability to bond, how do you keep it from resisting the temptation to simply spend the money that comes in the door?  Then, when the market falls, you are stuck where we are now, having to cut services.  So, the real answer is, to solve this problem, you need to solve the human issue of government spending whatever money it has in its pocket.  Clearly, you can't rely on the people to have this foresight, you have to create a structure that requires it.

So, you need to set up a structure that prevents a city from spending into new found money during rising times.  The easiest way to do it, but nobody would be willing to discuss it, is viewing the budget as a lagging average revenue stream over a 5 year period.  So, for example, if the revenue were $5 (year 1), $7 (year 2), $7 (year $3), $8 (year #4) and $10 (year #5), that the city average those years to determine the budget for year #6 ($7.40), even though the actual revenue for year #6 might be $10.  The difference then goes into a rainy day fund.  So, the city isn't tempted to spend into the temporary revenue, because their is a structure in place the prevents it from happening.  The other thing to do is to cost items based on the lifecycle cost rather than the purchase cost.  So, if you want to build a park, you don't simply look at the cost of building it, but the cost of building it and maintaining it over a 50 year period.  That raises the price of the park, and better reflects the true cost.  The city has actually started to do this of late, but it required the downturn to learn this lesson.

You might also review my paper on property tax rates, it outlines why I think what the city is doing now as it relates to property tax rates is the entirely right choice.

I'm obviously not an expert on this, but this seems like a reasonable answer to this problem.  The last recession was obviously devastating and any amount of reasonable rainy day fun is likely to get more than obliterated by such which is why it's on the federal government (which in times of deep recession has access to cheap credit when no one else does) has the obligation to try to fill in the gaps.
But the more local government can do to budget thoughtfully and prepare for times of distress the better.

One final thought, we as a voting public need to be smart about issues such as these.  I was pleasantly surprised that I could ask detailed questions and get a long thoughtful rapid response.  I hope to do this more in the future.

Why Homeschoolers Need a Well Functioning Government

I think there's a misnomer that homeschooling families refuse to accept government assistance because they feel they can do it better on their own. This is not true in our experience. Not true at all. We simply have chosen to take advantage of a different set of government funded services, without them, my wife (who is doing almost all of the work) would be much less effective. The most obvious examples:

1) The Tempe Library

My wife takes our kids to the library once every few weeks, and literally turns in about 50 pounds of books and checks out 50 pounds more. My kids don't get through all of those books, but a lot of them. We use them to supplement history lessons (our kids are studying the Vikings right now and are reading book after book about the Vikings, not to mention building Viking ships, etc.), to learn and create science experiments, and to just enjoy the act of reading. Without this valuable resource, we would be left to the books we could afford to buy or borrow from friends, or google on the internet. But the internet offers shallow knowledge. Books allow you to explore a single topic at a much, more desirable pace, allowing yourself to immerse in a new world. And the library really expands this world beyond comprehension. Our homeschooling experience would be much, much poorer without our local library.

Not to mention what else the library provides beyond just books - story time, access to knowledgeable librarians... Not to mention what library's could provide as they learn to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world. See this inspired article by Seth Godin. Although I take issue with this quote:

"They can't survive as community-funded repositories for books that individuals don't want to own (or for reference books we can't afford to own.)",

but I love this quote:

"What we need to spend the money on are leaders, sherpas and teachers who will push everyone from kids to seniors to get very aggressive in finding and using information and in connecting with and leading others."

So, city of Tempe library, we love you. And we hope you continue to thrive, grow, and become an even better resource for us and for others in our city.

2) City Parks:

Once a week, our kids join other kids to congregate at a city park for homeschooling PE. We demand a park with plenty of open fields, green (or near green) grass, basketball courts, so our kids can grow and develop physical skills and good health.

Not to mention all of the times we enjoy Tempe Town Lake, Kiwanis Park, Daley Park, and other parks throughout and around Tempe.

Our son's birthday party will be held at a local park. Our last trip to Portland, OR to visit my sister, we spend a lot of times visiting parks.

I love city parks, I want them well maintained, and as a homeschooling family and just as a family with kids in a place with nice weather (well in February), we want to be outside as much as possible. We demand parks.

Those are the two big things, but of course I can talk about a well functioning police and fire department - we want, need and demand basic security. A well functioning and affordable health care system, well functioning sewage, access to affordable and clean water, access to affordable and clean energy.

And of course, access to a well functioning school, affordable school system. We may or may not homeschool for our kids through high school, but either way, I could see us taking advantage of our local schools. Enrolling part time in courses we can't teach ourself, taking advantage of our affordable junior college network of schools. And our lives our much better because my community is well educated. I know everyone can't home school and I demand a high quality and improving school system - public and private.

None of this is possible without a well functioning government. Lets demand our politicians to provide it and make sure they have enough resources to get these necessary jobs done with a high quality.

A well functioning government is only possible if we have a well functioning and educating and engaged electorate.

Tempe City Council and What I Want Out of My City

This post is all about the upcoming run-off election for the Tempe city council happening on May 20th. I did about one hour's worth of research when I voted for the city council in the first election, but surprisingly came up with some pretty strong and even emotional attachments with the folks I voted for. Two of those three are running again in the run-off election. Mark Mitchell was the only candidate to win enough votes to win on the first attempt. One of the persons I voted for, Rhett Wilson, did not win enough to qualify.

Mark Mitchell, for those of you who don't know, is the son of our beloved Congressman Harry Mitchell, a fixture in Tempe, who was gracious enough to knock off the blustering incumbent and Bush apologist, J.D. Hayworth in the 2006 election. Harry Mitchell was a high school teacher at Tempe High for decades, and later won as mayor of Tempe, after that, ousted a former Bishopric member of mine for the state legislature, and is now our Congressman. There is also a statue in downtown Tempe in his honor. I suspect being his son helped Mark Mitchell win the race. His signs were even identical to Harry's.

On Thursday night, I tried to watch the two hour debate streaming on-line from Tempe Channel 11. I say tried because I was also trying to watch my kids while my wife was out for the evening. So, I really wish I could have paid more attention because it was pretty riveting, all four candidates seemed pretty well qualified, accomplished, and aware of the issues. Also, I was surprised by how much the decisions of the council (and the mayor of course) can affect my life. Perhaps they were inflating their own importance in the debate, but if they were, I was fooled.

First of all, I want to give you my run-down of the candidates. Each of them has a website, all linked from here, and most of them containing an almost formulaic list of issues they support: how much they love Tempe and its schools and how much they hate crime and blight. But if you read what they say carefully, do some googling on each candidate, read as much about them as you can possibly find (the Arizona Republic in its Tempe section is providing space on the candidates at an almost daily basis), you get a fairly interesting overview of each candidate. In that vain, here is my take on each. Also, I want to finish this post with a quick rundown of what I want from the city I live in.

Hut Hutson
He's the old guy of the group, the incumbent. He's lived in Tempe forever, been a member of a number of fraternal and community organizations, an apparent leader in the community. In the debate he seemed to have the best grasp of the issues. He seemed to give the most technical, detailed explanations. For example, when asked about the tall buildings coming into the Tempe's downtown, and what the city should do to limit size and height so as to blend in with the surrounding neighborhoods. He described Tempe's current approach by using the tent analogy. The tallest building will act as the center pole of the tent, and everything comes down on each side of this "pole" from there. With the effect that building's size blends gradually down toward the size of the single level homes in the surrounding neighborhoods. He was most excited about the prospect of Michael Crow, ASU's president, building a bunch of new student housing which should decrease the rental demand in Tempe's neighborhoods, injecting our city with an influx of affordable homes that hopefully people will buy and not rent. The high percentage of rentals in Tempe is a major issue for this city council. Let's call Hutt Hutson the John McCain of the group (I'm simple, he's the old just like McCain is old).

Joel Navarro
Joel Navarro is a fireman but has a degree in education. I think I remember his parents were also educators. He grew up in Tempe and his parents still live here, and as a result shows a sincere passion for the city. He uses his experience as a fireman, validly I believe, as evidence for his deep knowledge and appreciation for public safety. Both he and Corey Woods were the two candidates who opposed dropping the property tax rates (a huge issue as property valuations appear to be on the verge of a major increase). Instead he is in favor of getting bond elections passed so that the city government can make the many improvements the city needs. Of the four, I came away the least impressed with him in regard to his knowledge about city issues, but this is just a general impression not fully backed up by a lot of supporting evidence.

Corey Woods
Corey Woods is the youngest of the four candidates. Young, single, and full of energy at age 28. This is also his second attempt running for city council. He is not only a current ASU student pursuing a masters degree in education, but also an active member and leader in a number of organizations. He stated, humorously, that sleep isn't something he really needs. He was also the first to declare formally his intentions to run, well before anyone else. He reminds me the most of Barack Obama (I guess his race has something to do with this), but he just has so much youthful energy and passion. He was the strongest proponent of the environment, of public transportation, of supporting eclectic small businesses and promoting destinations places in the city in the vein of Changing Hands/Trader Joes/WildFlower strip mall on the Guadalupe/McClintock corner.

Julie Jakubek
Finally, Julie Jakubek is a successful businesswoman and neighborhood activist, the only one living in the heart of Tempe (in my view), in the Maple-Ash district near the city center. She was the president of the Maple/Ash neighborhood association, owns her own business winning businesswoman of the year recently. She also won beautification awards for the re-modeling work she has done on her house. In the debate, she was quick to tout her business experience, and that because of it she would be ready to balance the books on day one. Maybe she will also have a 3am phone call commercial, so on that note we'll have to call her the Hillary Clinton of the group.

So, for this election, we get to vote for two candidates. I actually think all four seem really qualified to win, but in my eyes, two stand out: Corey Woods and Julie Jakubek.

Corey Woods: He just has the most energy of the group, that much was clear in the debates. He is also the most vocal of all candidates to express views on issues I care most about, transportation, support for small, locally owned businesses, destination places in Tempe. I think his youth and his connection to ASU is an asset. ASU is a major fixture in Tempe, and our city government needs to have a strong relationship with it.

Julie Jakubek: Personally, I think the Maple/Ash neighborhood is part of the heart and soul of Tempe. It is one of its oldest neighborhoods with an obvious geographic connection to the downtown area. Someone who not only lives there, but has been a neighborhood activist there would inevitably be a strong and important resource in the city council. She expresses a strong desire for city and neighborhood beautification which is also an issue very important to me.

I struggled over Hut Hutson. I think his age, experience and knowledge are extremely important, and would hate to lose that. But, I just think the two other candidates bring more relevant perspectives.

Joel Navarro also seems like another good candidate. I didn't get the sense that his grasp of the issues were as deep as the others, but again, I just felt like the Jakubek and Woods have more to offer. Finally, both Jakubek and Woods were endorsed by the Arizona Republic, which definitely has had an influence on me.

I want to conclude this post with a quick summary of what I want out of my city. This view is heavily influenced by Richard Florida's book, The Rise of the Creative Class . In this book, Florida describes the cities that are thriving as those that can attract the knowledge workers that make up the creative class: the artists, poets, and writers are obvious members. But the group includes software developers, businesspeople, finance. Anyone whose job requires high levels of creativity and self-autonomy. His point is that creative people tend to congregate in cities that accommodate the things creative people seek.

Primary examples of creative class cities are San Fransisco (which can include San Jose), New York City, Boston, and Austin. These cities tend to have really good universities, are ultra-tolerant, have a vibrant downtown and an active and deep arts and music scene. In regards to the tolerance issue, Florida has created what he calls the gay index. Mapping the gay population correlates closely to the creative hubs in our country. This fact has a lot to do with tolerance factor. The homosexual population will simply congregate toward tolerant locations. This attitude of tolerance is important for everyone because it provides all types of people low barriers of entry, where they can jump in and instantly contribute.

Creative class cities also are cities with vibrant downtowns, downtowns that have vibrant high brow (world class symphonies, ballets, and art museums) and low brow (the local gallery, local theater productions). In our valley, Phoenix is the city with the most happening and the most potential. It has the largest downtown with a lot of history, the best art museums, the most art. The first Friday's art walk are the closest we have to New York City style energy. I love how we are close to opening a light rail that will connect Tempe's downtown with Phoenix's. I also love that Tempe's downtown is growing up, promoting more density and hopefully more pedestrian traffic, which will also hopefully encourage a vibrant array of businesses and activities. I'm saddened though that so many of the coolest stores have either moved out of downtown or have closed up altogether, and that so much of downtown has become so trendy and generic.

All in all, though, I love Tempe, I love its botanical gardens, its parks, its library. We just opened up the Tempe Marketplace, which is as generica America as a place can get complete with a wide assortment of uninteresting chain stores. But even still, the southwest Shakespeare company are right now in the midst of doing a five day straight dramatic reading of every single one of Shakespeare's plays right in the midle of the "District" section of Tempe Marketplace. This is the kind of thing that happens all the time in NYC. I cannot tell you how happy I get when something like this happens here. I dragged my kids there yesterday evening to hear a small portion of Hamlet. It was tremendously cool. Especially seeing these 12 or 13 year old kids with copies of Hamlet in hand reading along. Very cool.

So, I love Tempe, I'm excited by some of the things Michael Crow is trying to do with ASU, trying to make it a world class university. Back to the "Creative Class", I think I read that the GDP of companies spawned from MIT would rival most of the countries in the world. World class universities do a lot to spawn a cool, vibrant, an economically strong city.

I also think this city has a ton of diversity and tolerance, some of which inevitably comes from the university of course. When we were first looking for a house, we tried hard to find something near downtown Phoenix. Tempe was our fall back option, but it has been quite a nice place to fall back into. I am also heartened by the quality of candidates running for our city council.

Finally, in the debate Julie Jakubek talked about how approximately 160,000 people live in Tempe, but in the first city council election only about 16,000 people voted, and that election included the mayor. The run-off will probably only attract around 10,000 voters. Here's hoping this post encourages a few more people to cast their votes. One thing is for sure, what our city government does has a direct influence on our quality of life, our local economy, our tax rates, and our families. We owe it to ourselves to get involved.