I got my Sample Ballot in the mail today so "game on". Let's face it: the City Council race is a snooze. Steve Duncan hasn't built the network of supporters needed to knock off an incumbent. I should know since my wife knocked off three of them in succession, but it took several tries to get it right. On the other hand, the B'game School District (BSD for short) is shaping up to be a real race. There has not been an actual election in 12 years for BSD Trustee but this year we have four candidates for three seats. Even if you don't have kids or they are out of the elementary system, you should still care. I won't bother to go into why here.
I don't endorse new candidates that I don't already know without sitting down for a talk. Elizabeth Kendall came highly recommended and agreed to a sit down chat last week after several mutual friends assured her I don't bite–at least on first meeting. We had a far ranging conversation with some mutual ground around our engineering backgrounds (hers is more in depth than mine) and how things work on the ground at Washington School where she has three kids enrolled. That fact alone is a differentiator.
You can read her short statement in the Sample Ballot or you can go here. I think she understates her level of commitment and ideas for improvement in the statement–sort of a rookie error. She left out the use of Measure M funds that should mostly benefit the south end of town at this point. The south end has seen under-investment even with the McKinley addition and with the City Council's move to add way too much "affordable housing" on public parking lots downtown, things could get urgent sooner than later.
I particularly liked her commitment (made public here since it is not in her statement) to meet with each school's PTA and site council every year. That's just 12 meetings a year, but have the incumbents been doing it? I don't know, but I like the initiative. Kendall is also technically capable. Getting the Member Hub going at Washington was good. Spreading it to the rest of the schools is not complicated but someone has to push it.
Lastly, speaking of incumbents. I had a short chat with Davina Drabkin yesterday in my front yard. (School board candidates walking precincts–how great is that?) She told me she encouraged Elizabeth Kendall to run. And she is running on a slate with Kay Coskey, so where does that leave Doug Luftman? He may be the odd-man out in more ways than one. Note to Luftman who I don't know and have not met–you cannot run for "reelection" when you were not elected in the first place. As an appointed incumbent, you have to run for election not reelection. All of the candidates are rookies at running and he isn't the first one to make that mistake and probably won't be the last.
Bottom Line: I think Elizabeth Kendall deserves a shot at B'game School Board trustee.
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