Brookings Banter

"Brookings Mayor Scott Muensterman is stepping up efforts to explore a bid for governor in 2010."

David Kranz must have phoned in his column for Thursday's Argus Leader.  It is embarrassing for a local political columnist to misspell the Mayor of Brookings name (Munsterman).  Or is more of the same disrespect the Argus Leader has shown in the past with it comes to Brookings and SDSU.  I'll never forget the column several years ago that started with "I hate Brookings".

Brookings and SDSU's partnership has grown and improved over the past several years.  One of the major accomplishments is the Innovation Campus.  Good communication and relationships exsist between the City and the University.  The city understands the importance of SDSU to our economy.  SDSU could use more help from the the city to accomplish its strategic plan.  It is time to take the relationship to the next level and create a common vision.

A good example is the "Collegetown Vision Statement" created in City of Ithaca New York home of Cornell University.

“The primary goal of the Collegetown Vision Statement is to set the course for the creation of an outstanding urban environment that builds on its proximity to the adjacent campus of Cornell University, an institution of importance to the city for its educational and cultural contributions and for its positive impact on the local economy. As such, there is a unique opportunity to create a diverse, commercially viable, dense, mixed-use community characterized by notable urban design, a predominantly student population, high quality architecture, vibrant public spaces and pedestrian amenities. The vision for residential neighborhoods east of Collegetown includes a population mix of students, long-term residents, families and owner-occupants that enables all to enjoy a high quality of life. The neighborhood between Collegetown and downtown is a primarily residential historic district that enjoys a unique status as a result of its location between two active commercial areas. This area merits attention in the form of programs or incentives to strengthen both its visual appearance and the resident mix of owner-occupants and student renters. A convenient public transportation system connecting Collegetown and the surrounding neighborhoods to the larger Ithaca community is one of several strategies aimed at reducing car traffic in Collegetown and enhancing the environment for pedestrians.”

This vision is not only about economic development, it includes creating a great community with a University. 

Brookings is not just an university town because we are a university town.  In other words the city has always capitalized on having a major University within its borders to grow economically.   How great of a community could we have if we take the relationship to next level and focus on creating a great community with a great university.

Pam Merchant's District 7 State Senator win was surprising, at first.  The Republican trio of Smidt, Pitts, and Tidemann have dominated in past elections.  Since Pam is active in the community and was campaigning hard I thought it would be a competitive race, but I didn't see her wining.  What I and several others didn't consider was the turnout due to the presidential election.  Pam's knock on doors hard work gained her the 224 vote margin to beat popular incumbant Orv Smidt.  When the turn out increased 20% from the last election Smidt only increased his votes by 2%.  In past elections Smidt popular well known name carried him.  This election Pam and her crew picked up more of the new votes.  Lesson for all who run for office.  Sometimes door to door politics aren't needed, but can you risk it.

Last Tuesday's Council Meeting surprised me.  I thought we were going to able to have two new establishment serve alcohol in Brookings with temporary licenses.  Now that Shamrock has requested that they permanently be award the un-restricted license I have to make the decision who should get the license.  I was split between which business deserved the license and was excited when we found a way for both to get temporary licenses until SB 126 licenses are available.  Both the Shamrock and Bravo's bring needed entertainment options to Brookings.  It can be argued forever without a clear winner who will have the most impact on Brookings .  Future sales revenues are estimated and impact to Brookings is more than sales tax revenue.  Only one point puts Bravo's ahead of Shamrock in my mind and that is people have been asking for an up-scale restaurant for years and Bravo's has fulfilled that need.  Shamrock is not a full time up-scale restaurant .  Bravo's has also agreed to relinquish the un-restricted license for a new SB 126 restaurant only license.  Although the Council still needs to find out what the cost of that license will be so Bravo's knows the total cost before entering into the temporary agreement.

If the question comes down to which one, I will vote for Bravo's.

In a three way race for two seats on Brookings City Council, Ginger Thomson lost her re-election bid Tuesday night because the other two candidates had supporters that were willing to give up one of their votes to make sure their man won.  Shooting the bullet, as it is sometimes called, is when a voter can select more than one candidate for an office but chooses to vote only for one.  The un-official results show that out of 2,162 voters 755 under voted.  35% of the voters only chose one candidate. Ginger only lost by 86 votes to Mike Bartley and would have topped Mike McClemens with 130 votes.  Just a few less under voted ballots and the race results would gave been very different.  Bartley and McClemens have and will have different opinions regarding city issues.  Their strong supporters shot themselves in the foot by electing two members who will often cancel out each others votes.

Ryan Brunner won with margin of 458 votes over Joyce Hodges in a three way race for a single 1 year seat on the City Council.  Larry Mix received 493 votes in that race.  Mix and Hodges total votes would have beat Ryan by a slim margin.  Joyce and Larry probably spilt the mature voting base. What would have been interesting if only Joyce opposed Ryan.  Would she have picked up enough of Larry's votes to win?  Ryan had a great campaign plan and executed it with a great volunteer group.  This will not be the last election Ryan Brunner wins. 

I think Matt Vukovich will be a great member of the School Board.  I was concerned with his lack of retail politics (yard signs, media adds) compared to opponent Anne Werpy.   Matt had a big ground swell support group and was well enough known in the community to win the race.  Although Anne was active with PTA and School Board, several in those same circles did not agree with her on issues.  I always look for a well rounded school board candidate.  School Board issues break out of the classroom into society all the time.