Weinzierl

Jewelers

Victoria’s Corner Bar.  Nightly Specials and Menus.  952-443-9944

Specialized assisted living for those

with memory challenges. 

Victoria.  952-908-2215

8 First Street in Waconia.  952-442-2885

942-443-2078

Funeral Home & Cremation Services

952-474-9595

Pediatric Rehabilitation Clinic.

Occupational Therapy.  Speech Therapy.

952-443-9888

Huber

City of Lakes & Parks  952-443-2363

“Trees Are Our Roots”

8099 Bavaria Rd * Victoria * 952-443-2990

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Notes and

Quotes

The Scoop

at City Hall

         It is good for our elected representatives to see us face to face, to hear that we are interested in what they are doing on our behalf, and to answer our questions up close and personal. 

         As the person in Victoria who has attended more Victoria City Council meetings than anyone else on the planet (including those below ground as well as above), I've taken upon myself the challenge to muster up pertinent questions of our mayor each month for a new column in the Gazette which I've entitled "Picking the Mayor's Mind."  If you prefer to call it a conversation with the mayor, go ahead.

         To put a number on things, I have attended approximately 800 Victoria City Council meetings in the last 33 years.  That's two per month.   In the early days, city council meetings often lasted four hours.  That's because they didn't schedule council workshops outside the council meetings.  Everything was discussed to the nth degree directly under Robert's Rules of Law and Order, although Robert did step out for a breath of fresh air once in a while.

         In the past 15 years or so, the City holds numerous workshops in addition to the regularly scheduled council meetings.  Workshops are more casual and do not operate under Robert's Rules but most of the time law and order remain at the  table.

         What I'm trying to get at here is an average length of time that I spend sitting at city council meetings and workshops.  I think seven hours per month is a fair number over 33 years, a conservative number actually.  That means I've already sat for about 3,000 hours taking notes at city meetings.  Is it any wonder that I fill all those pages of City Scoop each month?  Is it any wonder that part of me is getting flatter?

         To put further points on my plate to Pick the Mayor's Mind, I might point out  that I attend 99% of the meetings live, in my own skin, on behalf of my own paper.    And when I'm in Alaska, Norway, Cabo San Lucas, or some other faraway place, I attend the council meetings via the internet. 

         I hope you become even more informed through my new column in the Gazette where I get to pick the mayor's mind.

***

         It's natural that an editor gets calls from people asking me to stop by their homes or their functions to take pictures and do stories for the paper.  Thank you, always, for thinking of the Gazette.  It does my heart good. 

         But it's also natural that I can't get to your places.  There are numerous family and friend events that I attend as a matter of course in my personal life, and they fill up my days completely.  You might have noticed they often come to also fill up pages in this newspaper.

         In any case, I learned long ago that you the people are the best journalists and the best staff I could possibly have, and so I will continue to rely on you to get your stuff to me.  I appreciate it.  I love your pictures and your stories.  Victoria is the most amazing community of readers and writers.

         From the very beginning, I've seen the Gazette as sort of a community diary that keeps us connected -- sort of like Victoria's own Facebook.  The Gazette records our lives, our work, and our words for posterity, not to mention information and edification, and a few smiles squished in between the lines. 

***

         When my daughter Jenny and her kids Addie and Gunnar were here for several days in August, we ran the whole gambit and filled up our days completely.  We went to the Carver County Fair, school shopped for a day at Eden Prairie Center, school shopped another day at the Mall of America and enjoyed sushi for lunch.  We did dinner and music at Floyd's and rode bikes to the Dairy Queen.  We went boating and swimming on Lake Minnetonka, and I let them go swimming without me to the Lake Minnetonka Regional Park.  We went to Mass at St. Victoria on Sunday morning, bought dinner at Fresh Seasons, and spent time with son Nick and his kids Sophie and Mia.  We ate popcorn and watched two movies downstairs, "The Blind Side" and "To Kill a Mocking Bird."

***

         Sadly enough, I also attended two family funerals in August.  My lovely Aunt Sharlene Drown from Minneota died the day after her 77th birthday.  She had a good husband, seven kids and their families, a larger community of family and friends, and cancer.  Also, Nick's father in law died shortly after turning 70.  We came to know him as Grandpa Dave Ellingson because of Sophie and Mia.   He had a good wife, three kids and their families, other family and friends, students who remembered him as their beloved Industrial Arts teacher, and Alzheimer's.

         Hope it cools off.

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The Victoria GAZETTE

From the Editor

September 2013

Dedicated to the sunshine of truth,

the moonshine of meeting deadlines,

and the starshine of Victoria.