Janz, Janz, he's our man.

door-knocking, I should do some campaign door-knocking.

I convinced Ward F trustee candidate Michael Janz (a product of fine, public schools no matter what his opponent says) that I would be a worthwhile addition to his street team this past weekend.

Campaigning on Thanksgiving weekend? I guess there’s always time for turkey once the votes are counted.

If you’ve never been door-knocking with a candidate, let me tell you how it went down.

We began with coffee. Most any venture that begins in the morning requires this as the first step.

There were maps of the neighbourhood we’d be going to passed around. It’s always important to have a plan.

Then it was into a borrowed car (Janz and his fiancee are, like me, mostly getting around this city by bus, bike, train, and feet) and into south Edmonton. (Ramsay Heights, if you’re looking at the map.)

After a quick check of the neighbourhood map, and a rough idea of which direction we’d set out in, we were off. We were loaded up with brochures, all wearing campaign buttons, and had clipboards to jot down info about anyone that wanted a lawn sign, or wanted a reminder on the location of their voting station.

It was a little daunting at first, perhaps it was just shyness, to saunter up to a door and tell them the election was on the 18th and, if they were interested, we had a few things to tell them about Michael Janz.

At one of my first doors, Michael and I met a nice woman, who was originally from Denmark. Perfect time to talk about bicycling. And Lego. We barely touched upon education, but instead talked about cycling in Edmonton throughout the year, teaching school kids to cycle, and a Janz family trip to LEGOLAND. I’m sure many candidates find a few of their doorstep talks aren’t about their campaigns at all.

That’s what’s neat. People are willing to chat about the issues, and in general.

They’ll at least hear your quick pitch.

I’ve seen candidates tweet about door-knocking, but still figured most of it was leaving pamphlets when nobody was home and a few, courtesy, listens of the platform spiel. I guess I’m just cynical. But a number of people really got into conversation with us. And a number more had longer talks with Janz if we volunteers weren’t enough for them.

Most people even had questions about education (Janz being an Edmonton Public School Board trustee candidate and all).

It’s nice to see people do want to engage, they are informed, they want to know where their voting station is.

Sure, some people weren’t home, some didn’t really want to talk, some voted in the Edmonton Catholic School District or had already cast their ballot, but overall I was impressed with the interaction and conversations.

If you know someone running for office, or there’s someone you really want to support, I recommend trying the door-knocking sometime. I would definitely do it again.

That is not an invitation to get me out again before Monday, Michael. ;)

Also worth noting:

Wear sensible shoes. Door-knocking isn’t done at a leisurely pace. I learned that when I stopped to check my phone and looked up to see Michael Janz already half-a-block away from me.

All Janz team members I met Saturday seemed in amazingly good spirits, and energy levels, for a group that’s been campaigning half the year. I needed a nap after a few hours on the street.

More than a few people will answer the door when they’ve got something on the stove. I think that’s just because it’s a handy excuse to quickly run. Or maybe they didn’t have anything on the stove at all…wait a minute…

Living in an apartment, I forget how long it can take people in houses to answer a door. That’s not a bad thing, I just forget that apartments are small and the intercom is a few steps away. Houses are big.

Nobody answered the door naked. Whew.

From garbage collection to policing, recreation to power generation, the City of Edmonton provides a lot to its residents. Our city’s former mayors sure have some thoughts on what could be done better. And what they’d rather just take care of without you sticking your nose into it.

In this forum:

Mayor Matthew (Mat) “Warden” McCauley – Edmonton’s first mayor

Mayor William J. McNamara – First mayor to defeat a sitting incumbent, in the city’s closest race (still the closest race to date)

Mayor William “Wild Bill” Hawrelak – 3 time mayor, twice had to leave office because of land deals, eventually died in office

Brought to life by Brittney Le Blanc, Scott C. Bourgeois, Diego Ibarra, J. Nelson Niwa, and an actual ghost. With some help from Jeff Samsonow.

You can’t keep a good mayor down. And if you’ve got a handful of former Edmonton mayors they are going to have opinions on just what we should be doing with our taxes, city spending, and schools. Even if they have no idea how things work in 2010.

The debate could get heated. It might even spark a new run for the mayor’s office.

In this forum:

Mayor Joseph Clarke – Fightin’ Joe. Mayor, councillor, constant candidate, brawler.

Mayor David Duggan – Pro-business and pro-radio. Also Alberta Conservative leader.

Mayor Matthew (Mat) “Warden” McCauley – Edmonton’s first mayor

Find out who’s going to run for mayor, again, after the jump.

Now in your iTunes!

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Further reading (and proof we didn’t make everything up):

More McCauley (and schools).

Neighbourhoods of Duggan (not the same Duggan) and McCauley, and Joe Clarke Athletic Field

Panama

Mayor William J. McNamara and fighting with Joe Clarke

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Brought to life by Brittney Le Blanc, Scott C. Bourgeois, Peter Daly, Diego Ibarra, and J Nelson Niwa. With some help from Jeff Samsonow.

So what if they’re dead? Doesn’t mean they don’t have opinions. Edmonton’s mayors are back from beyond and they have something to say about this city’s future.

In this forum:

Mayor Matthew (Mat) “Warden” McCauley – Edmonton’s first mayor

Mayor William Thomas Henry – The dean of Edmonton’s furniture trade

Mayor William “Wild Bill” Hawrelak – 3 time mayor, twice had to leave office because of land deals, eventually died in office

Playable, downloadable forum after the jump.

Consider this a historical satire by actors who did very little research (as a special project for EdmontonPolitics.com).
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Now in your iTunes!

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Further reading (and proof we didn’t make everything up):

Mayor Fred Mitchell

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Brought to life by Brittney Le Blanc, Scott C. Bourgeois, Jeff Samsonow, and an actual ghost.

City Market Affordable Housing, 2007 Urban Design Award Winner for Urban Architecture

Guess what, Edmonton – we’ve managed to fool a couple of different organizations into believing that we’re a real news outlet. Yes, that’s right, we’re starting to get added to people’s press release lists.  This is great news, as it helps a bit with news gathering; but because most press conferences occur during the day, it means we can’t attend, what with our REAL JOBS.  Enjoy your free coffee, jerks.

Anyway, I am going somewhere with this; today at 10:30 a.m., the City is going to hold a press conference launching their 3rd biennial Urban Design Awards.  I know this because I got a press release for it.  Thanks, City of Edmonton!

Today’s “launch” is actually fancy-talk for the first day of the City’s call for submissions.  There are awards in six categories;

• Unimplemented urban design plans
• Implemented urban design plans
• Urban architecture
• Civic design projects
• Urban fragments
• Community improvement projects

Since I have no idea what any of those things actually mean, I went back to the 2007 site.  The submission form from 2007 explains the categories in a bit more detail; though maybe don’t spend your morning poring over it (I know how you kids love architecture) because I assume that there will be a 2009 version of the form put up after the press conference.

Welcome to Edmonton! Home of your sci-fi wasteland nightmares since 2008.

Maybe instead, we can just check out some award winners from 2007.  It kind of makes me laugh that the controversial-and-wicked-expensive-and-also-deeply-terrifying-welcoming pyramid won an award  for unimplemented urban design plan (though in the interest of full-disclosure, it must be said that back in 2008, I lobbied hard to make this Edmonton’s new entrance sign).

Other award winners in 2007 included Enterprise Square, Bergstrom Block and the Terwilligar Drive Pederstrian Overpass.

The call for submissions will remain open until October 8.   Tell your architect friends.

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