As Krewson gears up, Reed moves southeast in effort to wake "Sleeping Dragon"

5 months ago, I wrote this in my previous post three days after the March Mayoral primary:

Okay ... now to PotBoA '15: Reed should be fine on North Side, but he took some real damage in Central Corridor that the challenger will exploit. Reed will have to look to WARD 20 and WARD 25 to make up for losses in Central Corridor. WARD 20 is still, I think, a majority-black ward (I think that it's something like 60/40 black). WARD 25 is majority-white, but it's close.  Both wards are South Side, so there isn't the black electoral political organization and municipal election voting habits that there are on North Side. The persistently anemic voter turnout in these two wards are indicative of such. Team Reed really should start spending more time on CHEROKEE, CHIPPEWA and MERAMEC. The Anglers should start doing the same.

I think that two things of note have happened since: one thing somewhat under the radar and one thing somewhat over the radar.

The thing of note that happened somewhat under the radar is that, per her committee's campaign finance filings, CWE alderman Lyda Krewson this past quarter has retained the services of KC-based Swing State Media for "web development." Swing State Media, incidentally (or not), is the firm behind MAYORSLAY.COM.

LydaKrewson.com reads very much like a Citywide candidate's website. Check out especially the "Why Lyda?" section. Of course, the front page still reads "Lyda Krewson for Alderman," but the committee's stated "refund policy" is interesting [bolding by me]:

All financial contributions to our campaign are considered final. We reserve the right to modify, suspend or terminate our campaign at any time without notice or refund.

Meanwhile, the thing of note that happened somewhat over the radar is Lewis Reed's opening of a "campaign office and community space" on CHEROKEE. The press release talks a lot about Reed's wanting to link up with young entrepreneurs and the creative class and whatnot. I don't doubt that's sincere. But I believe that the overriding reason for Reed's situating himself on CHEROKEE has to do with what one of Reed's campaign managers, Glenn Burleigh, laid-out to the St. Louis American last November:

On the eastern half of South City, there are many areas where African-American residents make up large percentages or (in a smaller number of neighborhoods) outright majorities. In both August and November, these oft-neglected voters showed up in numbers stronger than seen in recent elections in middle income neighborhoods (Shaw, Gate District) and lower-income, renter-heavy neighborhoods (Gravois Park, Benton Park West).
For years, African-American turnout rates in many of these neighborhoods have been dwarfed by their counterparts to the north. Big Democratic GOTV operations have traditionally skipped much of this part of town, because they’ve believed that organizing in these neighborhoods is a waste of time and money.
On the other hand, among St. Louis’ political circles, this vote is often seen as a “sleeping dragon,” one that when awoken could shake the balance of power in city politics. In the chronically low-turnout municipal primary elections that decide on our city’s leaders, every vote has an outsized influence, and disorganization among African-American voters in South St. Louis has limited black political power. This is often exacerbated by white-dominated Democratic ward organizations that don’t really try to get African-American voters involved or actively work against this organizing, which they see as a potential future challenge to their power.

So, Krewson looks to be gearing up for a challenge to Reed, in which she most likely will dominate Central Corridor, and so Reed moves southeast in an effort to wake the "Sleeping Dragon."

Taking WARD 20 in '15

WARD 20's shape looks kind of a bit like Cyprus' shape to me.

Anyway, yeah ... so, when you're a Citywide office holder and you run for MAYOR and lose by 10 points, then your position Citywide will appear vulnerable.  When Reed beat Shrewsbury in '07 to take PotBoA, Reed carried Central Corridor.  Versus Slay for MAYOR in '13, Reed lost Central Corridor, including narrowly losing his "home" WARD 6 (and, yes, I know that there's been redistricting of WARD 6 and whatnot, but it looks really bad when you lose your home turf).  Now Reed appears vulnerable at PotBoA.  He's up for re-elect two years from now.  I have to think that somebody with a shot at winning will take the opportunity to challenge Reed for PotBoA in '15.  He or she most very likely will be white.  Look around a bit and you can probably spot the Anglers, but only one will get the shot at PotBoA vs. Reed.

Okay ... back to '07 and back to WARD 20: Gondolfi (with some assistance from none other than Glenn Burleigh) looked like he was going to grab WARD 20, but an 11th-hour mailer accusing Gondolfi of secretly being a Communist (sound familiar?) and profaning Christ with performance art seemed to have had its intended effect (depressing the Gondolfi vote and rallying the Schmid vote).  Schmid pulled it out to keep a hold on the chronically low-voting WARD 20 by a score of 376 - 301.  Shrewsbury more narrowly defeated Reed for PotBoA votes in WARD 20 by a score of 365 - 324.

McGinn took a shot at WARD 20 in '11 versus Schmid, but it seemed that her campaign never quite took hold like Gondolfi's did in '07.  Perhaps McGinn didn't have the constituent services credibility that Gondolfi did through Gondolfi's affordable-home-finding work.  For whatever reason, Schmid won an even lower-turnout affair to hold on to WARD 20 by a score of 281 - 196.  In the '11 General, WARD 20 votes in opposition to Schmid were 249.  Gaither received 197 of those 249 votes as an independent.  The only thing I know about Gaither is that his campaign signs had a photo-portrait of him on them.  If I am remembering the photo-portrait correctly, Gaither is African-American.    

In June '11, the City's wards were redrawn per the census.  During '01's very controversial redraw, which took WARD 20 from North Side, Schmid had been a good South Side soldier.  (Schmid had WARD 10 at the time, and now WARD 10 stayed South Side but now on the Hill.)  So ... for '11's redraw, Schmid was provided a better WARD 20 for holding-onto.  WARD 20's new northern boundary ended at the south curb of CHEROKEE.  On the other side of CHEROKEE were the instigators of opposition to Schmid, and roughly half of the vote that in '07 and '11 was against Schmid.  The '11 redraw cut out the instigators and severed half of the opposition vote.

Okay ... now to PotBoA '15: Reed should be fine on North Side, but he took some real damage in Central Corridor that the challenger will exploit.  Reed will have to look to WARD 20 and WARD 25 to make up for losses in Central Corridor.  WARD 20 is still, I think, a majority-black ward (I think that it's something like 60/40 black).  WARD 25 is majority-white, but it's close.  Both wards are South Side, so there isn't the black electoral political organization and municipal election voting habits that there are on North Side.  The persistently anemic voter turnout in these two wards are indicative of such.  Team Reed really should start spending more time on CHEROKEE, CHIPPEWA and MERAMEC.  The Anglers should start doing the same.  Some Anglers already are spending their time there.

The Candidate to take WARD 20 from Schmid in '15 will need to take it in March when Reed defends PotBoA and the votes are there.  The Candidate to take WARD 20 from Schmid in '15 will need to convince WARD 20's African-Americans that the Candidate will do a better job for African-Americans than will Schmid.  The Candidate to take WARD 20 from Schmid will need to run a change campaign that includes WARD 20's African-Americans in its vision of change.  The crime problem and the problem of lack of economic and social opportunity likely will remain salient.  WARD 20 has an African-American youth gang problem, and it's been a persistent problem for at least the last eight years.  These problems are holding back WARD 20's residents, and these problems are holding back WARD 20's businesses.  These problems should be addressed.  If WARD 20 is organized, then these problems will be addressed.

Not "Our" Mayor Anymore

Growing up on the south side of the City of St. Louis in the '80s and '90s, most of my friends' dads didn't work in offices.  Most of my friends' dads were firefighters, police officers, electricians, carpenters, pipefitters, or laborers.  Many of my friends' dads worked for the City, or for Laclede Gas, or for (at the time) Union Electric, or for the Water or Sewer District.  The office workers most often were my friends' moms: administrative assistants, bank tellers, clerks, and the like.  A not insignificant portion of the moms (those with more formal education) were nurses or teachers.  Culturally, I grew up in a working-class, "blue collar" neighborhood, but economically, my neighborhood was for the most part middle class.  Hard work and post-secondary-school training meant a good wage and a secure retirement.  That was the deal: the people who built, maintained and protected the City - the people who worked hard to make the City "work" - were compensated with a well-earned middle-class wage.

At the time, my neighborhood was nearly 100% "white ethnic" and probably something like 80% Roman Catholic.  The parish church and its K-8 grade school was the social hub of the neighborhood.  Nobody I knew identified with the "official" names of their neighborhoods: Southampton, Princeton Heights, Tower Grove South, and the like.  Instead, we identified our neighborhoods in terms of the parish boundaries: Mary Magdalen, Holy Family, St. John the Baptist, Our Lady of Sorrows, St. Stephen's and the like.  When people asked where you lived, that's what you'd tell them.

That's not to say that this was some kind of long-lost ideal of close-knit community.  There were plenty of negative aspects to it.  Literally and figuratively, it was parochial.  Moreover, it was understood quite explicitly to be racial.  "They" had moved into neighborhoods on the near-South Side and on Cherokee and had trashed them.  Riding in the backseat of the car up Gravois to Busch Stadium (ironically enough, to cheer on African-American heroes such as Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee), "we" would pass by the bombed-out Darst-Webbe housing projects.  The message often was explicit: "they" will trash wherever "they" live.  "We" can't let "them" move in and trash our neighborhood.  We are the people who make this City work.  "We," as Bill Clinton would later put it during his '92 Presidential campaign, are the people "who work hard and play by the rules."  That was the message, and the message very much was part of the deal, too.

When in 1993 Freeman Bosley Jr. was elected mayor of St. Louis due to a split in the white vote, there was genuine fear south of Manchester.  Bosley was a black guy from a big North St. Louis political family who talked "like a black guy."  On Democratic Primary night (the election night that really matters), the first words out of Mayor-elect Bosley's mouth during his victory speech were "Wassup, St. Louis!"  Oh my.  There goes the neighborhood.  "We" who "worked hard and played by the rules" didn't have a mayor anymore.  "They" now had a mayor.

For the 1997 March Democratic primary, the South Side politicians got their act together and backed Clarence Harmon.  No split white vote this time.  Harmon was black, but was the recently-departed St. Louis Chief of Police who had publicly dueled with Bosley.  It didn't even matter what the duel was over (I can't remember what it was over, and I doubt that most people remember either - the substance of the dispute didn't really matter).  Harmon won handily.  "They" didn't have a mayor anymore.  But "we" didn't really have a mayor either.

Francis Slay was from Epiphany.  In 2001, he handily defeated Bosley's comeback bid.  The putative incumbent Harmon received some tiny percentage of the vote.  "We" had a mayor again, and "they" did not.

A lot has changed in 12 years.  In my neighborhood now, there are a lot more people living here who work in offices somewhere.  That old "white ethnic" Roman Catholic population isn't what it used to be.  Our Lady of Sorrows and Mary Magdalen each now are better known as "SOHA."

"We" are still around, but not in the numbers that "we" used to be.  Francis Slay is still counting on what's left of "us" to vote for him for mayor on the first Tuesday in March.  Slay still makes the Fish Fry circuit during Lent.

The problem for Francis Slay and for "us," though, is that Francis Slay is not "our" mayor anymore.

Troll

In a backwater of my mind there is a rickety bridge.  Underneath the bridge there lives a miserable troll.  The troll despises most everything, including himself.  Sometimes the troll has some valid points to make about the world, but even a miserable troll, like a broken clock, is right twice a day.  The troll probably would be less miserable if he lived somewhere other than underneath a rickety backwater bridge.  He's a troll, though.  That's where trolls live.

Figuring

I think that whether a record gets made hinges on the dealing with the truth that neither you nor your colleagues will ever achieve a perfected state of preparedness to make a record.  More time and more resources expended (usually of the financial kind) correlate with a higher-quality result.  Nevertheless, such inputs yield diminishing returns, and time and money become more comparably valuable if expended elsewhere.  The determination to be made must therefore be, first, how much resources expended will be sufficient to yield a good result and, then, whether the resources expended sufficient for a good result are most valuable by virtue of their being expended particularly toward this good result.

Very poor people on our planet engage in this kind of figuring at least once a day, and most likely never with regard to the question of whether to make a "10 record of music.

Recording commences Thursday.

Beyond Boosterism: Why You Should Subscribe to the Tower Groove Records Singles Club

Pretty soon, as in any day now, Tower Groove Records will start taking payments online for year-long subscriptions to its 2013 Singles Club.  There's a myriad of reasons why you should subscribe.  I'm just going to give you two reasons.

The first reason is the simplest and best reason: value.  A year-long subscription costs $60, and that $60 gets you a lot.  Over the coming year, you get 12 seven-inch records totaling 24 singles, plus digital download cards so that you can take your singles wherever you go.  This is a 17% discount off of the "cover price" if you bought each record individually.

And there's an even bigger value.  When you subscribe to the 2013 Singles Club, you tell Tower Groove Records which of three partnering STL record stores you'd like to make your monthly pickup: Apop Records, Euclid Records or Vintage Vinyl.  When you pick up your monthly 7", you also get 10% off the purchases you make in the store that day.  Think of that Tower Groove record that you're picking up as a record store coupon.  I'm going to be conservative, and consider a typical record store purchase to total $20.  Over 2013, you'll save, conservatively, $24 off of 12 record store purchases as a Singles Club subscriber.

Becoming a Singles Club subscriber saves you at least $36 a year.  Depending on how much of a record store shopper you are, you could save a whole heck of a lot more than $36.  (The more you shop, the more you save!)

So, that's the economical reason why you should subscribe: value.  There's another reason why you should subscribe that I want to lay out.  It might be kind of conceptual - perhaps emotional - but I think that it's an important reason.

Last September's Tower Groove Records Carnival, which was a success beyond TGR's expectations, raised the money necessary to put forth TGR's critically-acclaimed double-LP compilation.  The Carnival, in a monetary sense, served as TGR's "Kickstarter."  The double-LP, in a logistical sense, served as TGR's "Kickstarter."  TGR learned what it took to shepherd a large project through recording, production and distribution.  Without the money raised at the Carnival, Tower Groove Records wouldn't have been able to make the album.  But just as important, without the money Tower Groove Records wouldn't have learned how to put out an album.

The Singles Club is the next step.  Tower Groove Records' releasing twelve records over one year means that Tower Groove Records learns how to be a label.  This is important not only for Tower Groove Records, but also for St. Louis-based music in general.  Since Tower Groove Records is a collective, the cultural capital it accrues is dispersed to everyone.  I can't even begin to list all that I've learned by virtue of being part of TGR and how much what I've learned has benefited projects of my own band outside of the collective.  As far as the larger "scene" of St. Louis-based music, the activity generated over a year by 12 releases featuring 24 bands will foster an artistic dynamism that should spill-over outside of defined lines.  Think of the Singles Club as an artistic stimulus with a multiplier effect.

And think of the next step after the Singles Club.  That next step surely would be bigger.  But first, you need to subscribe to this step, or else there won't be a next bigger step.

I'll be sure to let you know when the subscription form goes online.  There's also a big free street party kickoff on October 20th.  I'll be sure to let you know about that again, too.     

I have fixed baseball. (You're welcome.)

If I was commissioner of baseball, this is how I'd iron-fistedly rule: expand MLB by one team in each league, move the Colorado Rockies to the American League instead of the Houston Astros, have four divisions in each league, and get rid of inter-league play.  Teams would play 90 games against division opponents, and 72 games against non-divisional league opponents.  Every September, there would be the potential for up to eight pennant races.  There would be no wild card.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

East
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays

North
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Toronto Blue Jays

Central
Colorado Rockies
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins
Texas Rangers

West
Los Angeles Angels
Oakland Athletics
Portland/Sacramento/Vancouver
Seattle Mariners

NATIONAL LEAGUE

East
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals

South
Atlanta Braves
Charlotte/Norfolk/San Antonio
Houston Astros
Miami Marlins

Central
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
St. Louis Cardinals

West
Arizona Diamondbacks
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants