And The Winner Is…

Early last month I announced I was giving away my two tickets to St. Louis’ 2009 Inaugural Ball at City Hall to be held Tuesday January 20, 2009.  The entry deadline was 5pm Friday 1/2/09.

I ended up with 30 entries.  As the entries came in I entered them into a spreadsheet in the order received.  In the next column I entered a number from a website that generates random numbers.  I then sorted by the random number (descending).  I then entered in a new column numbers from 1 to 30 .    With the entries randomized and each assigned a number between 1-30 I emailed Alderwoman Kacie Starr Triplett, one of the organizers, and asked her to select the winning number in that range.  She picked “6” for the 6th Ward.

The lucky winner is Kim Hughes. Congratulations!  I’ve contacted Kim to let her know.   Ald Triplett has the winner’s information and will ensure she receives the tickets.

As I said before, I have class that evening, I can’t tie a tie and my typical bedtime is now before 9pm.  So I figured someone else should enjoy the ball.  One request — send pictures.

UrbanReviewSTL Now iPhone/iPod touch Friendly

On the 1st I finally got motivated to install a special iPhone plug-in for this blog.  I had uploaded it to my server a couple of months ago but I never activated it.   But after Antonio French activated the same plug-in on PubDef.net I suddenly became more motivated, activating mine within an hour of him doing so.  It was easy and I encountered no problems so I wish I had done it months ago.

The main view above shows the most recent post on top with the number of comments shown in the red circle.  Clicking the arrow next to each post will show you an excerpt.  Clicking on the post will show you the full post (including pictures).

Selecting menu will give you many choices:

As you can see, numerous pages can be viewed on the iPhone.  Links and the full archives can easily be found.  Recent photos from my Flickr account can also be viewed.  A quick email link to me is at the bottom.

Within a post you can read comments or even add a comment.  This new layout detects those who are using an iPhone or iPod touch and displays automatically.  Those wishing to view the regular site have that option by scrolling down to the bottom and selecting ‘regular view’.

The iPhone has certainly transformed my life.  I’m better connected than before but I now spend less time in front of my desktop computer.  The iPod Touch gives you the same layout when accessing the site via a wi-fi network.

Filing Closes With Lots of Candidates And a Few Surprises

I spent the last 45 minutes of the filing period at the St. Louis Board of Elections offices on Tucker at Olive.  It was interesting.  The big news as indicated by my prior post is that Maida Coleman didn’t file as a Democrat as was expected.  Instead she announced she would be collecting signatures to be placed on the April general ballot.

Coleman felt the surprise entry of another Coleman in the Democratic primary was an effort to keep her from mounting a serious challenge to Francis Slay.  The room was packed with reporters. As Maida Coleman entered the room she came straight to me and gave me a hug and peck on the cheek.  She was my State Senator for many years.

Maida Coleman, in April as an independent, will face three candidates for Mayor — the winner of the 3-way Democratic primary, the winner of the 2-way Green primary and a Libertarian.  A 4-way general election in the City of St. Louis!

Twelve of the 14 Aldermanic seats up this year are contested either in the March primary or April general.  Only Roddy (17th Ward) and Carter (27th Ward) escaped any opponent.  The Green party, besides having two candidates running for Mayor, have candidates in 5 of the 14 Aldermanic seats.  A Republican is challenging Matt Villa in the 11th Ward.

As announced, Antonio French, a friend & fellow blogger, filed for Alderman in the 21st Ward.  Jay Swoboda, however, didn’t file in the 9th.  The 23rd ward, where the incumbent is not running, has 7 Democrats who are. My old ward, the 25th, where I ran four years ago, has a 4-way race.  Angie Singler announced back in October when it was thought the incumbent Dorothy Kirner would seek another term.  Singler filed on the day filing opened.  Today three additional candidates filed.

The March primary and April general will both be interesting!  The Board of Elections has an updated list here and I’ve updated my page here.

Breaking News, Maida Coleman Not Filing!

Another Coleman has filed. Maida Coleman will file as Independent in February.

French, Swoboda, McCowen & Others to File for Office Today

As expected, Elston McCowen has announced his intentions to run for Mayor from the Green Party. This will ensure that we all have a reason to return to the polls in April 2009 for the general election.  For more information see mccowan4mayor.com.   Term limited State Senator Maida Coleman is also expected to file today for the city’s top job.

Jay Swoboda announced his intentions to run for 9th Ward Alderman in a comment on this site.  Incumbent Ken Ortmann is known for being the only Alderman out of 28 that refuses to even accept communications via email.  The link from the 9th Ward page to email Ortmann simply says, “This alderman prefers not to be contacted via email.”  Nice.  Sorry but my courier pigeon has gotten tired.  My quill pen has run dry.  When Ortmann was first elected in 1999 did he say things like “I refuse to accept faxes.”  Do we need any stronger symbol of being completely out of touch?  Swoboda’s campaign website is here.

Blogger & political consultant Antonio French has announced on PubDef, Facebook & Twitter he is running for Alderman in the 21st Ward against incumbent Bennice Jones-King.  French was elected to the position of Democratic Committeeman in the ward in the Missouri primary last August.

I’m keeping a list of all candidates in the Spring 2009 election here.  Others may have filed but the most recent list from the Board of Elections is from November 25th.  They have failed us by not updating the list to reflect newer filings.  I assume others have filed in the last five weeks?  I have emailed them requesting a newer list but received no response.  I stopped by their offices on Monday but they couldn’t find an updated list.  I left my card asking for a list to be emailed or faxed.  Nothing.  They were busy getting new carpet installed during the last week to file for office.  Brilliant timing!

Congrats to those who have filed or who will file today!