Kevin D. Hendricks's Blog, page 29

West St. Paul Robert Street Easement Deal Gone Awry

On Sept. 15, West St. Paul Mayor David Meisinger boasted about saving the taxpayers $30,000 by vetoing a Robert Street easement settlement. He positioned it as spending $30,000 for two trees.

That sounds pretty bad. But it’s not that simple.

Let’s dive into the weeds and sort this out.

Background on the Easement Deal

As part of the massive Robert Street project, the city has to negotiate easements with property owners. They’ve already approved a number of these deals, which are negotiated in...

Women Shattering Political Glass Ceilings in 2016

This year’s election has felt more divisive and caustic than previous elections. That’s no secret. So in such an environment, it’s helpful to focus on the positive: Women achieving public office.

On my ballot there are at least three women running for positions that a woman has never held before. I think that’s exciting.

Jenny Halverson for mayor of West St. Paul. Angie Craig for U.S. House MN 2nd District (Minnesota has female representatives, but never in the 2nd District). Hillary Clinton...

Turning on the Heat 2016

Every year I note when I turn the heat on (yes, I’m a nerd).

This year was pretty average. We’ve got some highs in the low 70s coming up, so maybe we could have lasted longer, but today barely breaks 60 and I’m tired of being cold.

Plus, my daughter was complaining. I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a frugal furnace monster.

2016: October 14 (inside temp: 62) 2015: October 28 (inside temp: 62) 2014: October 5 (inside temp: 60) 2013: October 16 (inside temp: 63) 2012: October 8 (inside te...

West St. Paul City Council Ward 3 Race: Dave Napier vs. John Ramsay

The heated elections in West St. Paul continue. I already posted about the West St. Paul mayor election, and now I’m going to look at the West St. Paul City Council Ward 3 race. We have the incumbent city council member Dave Napier running against challenger John Ramsay (who also ran in 2014 and lost a close race).

Much like the West St. Paul mayor’s race, in city council we’re facing the same issues. I think it comes down to vision and investment vs. penny pinching.

You can read the Dakota C...

West St. Paul Mayoral Election 2016: David Meisinger vs. Jenny Halverson

The West St. Paul mayoral and city council races are heating up in 2016 like never before. In my opinion, the campaign comes down to a choice between the penny-pinching approach of the incumbent Mayor David Meisinger and the investment approach of challenger and current City Council Member Jenny Halverson.

I blogged about the West St. Paul mayor race back in 2014 because I was frustrated about the lack of coverage, clear details and accountability. Not much has changed.

Last time around I spo...

Back to School

Today is the first day of school. My kids are off to second grade and fifth grade (middle school!).

Pardon me while I celebrate the end of summer.

(I’m a work-at-home dad. Summer is not so easy.)

School can always be kind of crazy making. I’m 37, I’ve been out of school for… a long time, and I still have recurring nightmares about getting lost in school, unable to find my classes or remember my schedule.

This prayer seems apt:

May all the kids find someone to sit with at lunch. #annualprayer

...

Summer Book Club 2016

Last year I did a summer book club with Lexi. We’d read the same book, then go to the coffee shop for snacks and talk about it. This year we did it again.

And Milo joined in.

I didn’t think Milo was ready for chapter books. He’s been reading those numbered early readers (1, 2, 3) that I find brain-numbing, and I thought he was still struggling with those. But when I started the book club with Lexi, he wanted in. He’s definitely not ready for the harder middle grade books Lexi is reading, so w...

Patwin Lawrence: Calling Out a Candidate for Inconsistencies

Patwin Lawrence is a candidate for the Minnesota Senate in District 59, and I think he may have inconsistent personal and political views that he’s not disclosing to voters.

This has been a weird national election season. I’ve learned (the hard way) that being too outspoken about politics is obnoxious. But I also think it’s important to talk about. Politics is messy, but it won’t get any better if we completely ignore it.

And as I’ve said before, local election coverage is weak at best.

So I’...

Favorite Books So Far in 2016

So we’re halfway through 2016. How’s your book reading going?

I’m on a ridiculous pace: 104 books so far this year. Of course I read a lot. If this pace continues, I’ll beat my record of 203 books in 2014. But I don’t really care about that. While I like to talk about the numbers because they’re shocking, I’m not in it to set records. I’m in it to read good books.

I also track the racial and gender diversity in my books. So far this year I’m at 52% racial diversity (books written by or featur...

How Do We Overcome Our Bi-Partisan Ignorance?

Ignorance stalks us wherever we go. Stupidity too—it’s easy to lash out in anger or dismissiveness. And maybe arrogance as well, to think that none of these apply to us. To me. We—I—live a great contradiction.

It’s so prominent in the political debate in this country right now—filibusters and sit-ins over gun rights, refusing to consider Supreme Court nominees, etc.. One side decries the other side’s actions, even though the first side has used the exact same tactic in the past. Both sides do...