Cooking Ramp Slurry

From mid-April to mid-May, the most glorious of the onion family grows on the wet hillsides of West Virginia (and several other, lesser states): ramps. Ramps are a delicacy that aren’t for everyone. Those steering clear include weaklings, children, cowards, the gutless, and other assorted weenies who can’t deal with this wild onion’s particular potency. And they are potent. Stored in a fridge, they’ll leave everything reeking of their stench. And the smell hangs around the consumer long after the onions themselves have been consumed. Still, they’re magical things and wonderful in all sorts of recipes including cornbreads, meatloaves, chilis, salsas. That said though, I honor the following recipe above all others, as it was my first genuine exposure to the local Spring treat. For those without access, this recipe could presumably be recreated with any strong onion that you’re willing to eat. My apologies in advance for the photographs. They’re not exactly great. Prepare fat in your biggest skillet. The photo above is of bacon fat melting; anything used to saute/fry works though. I went with a generous portion because, yknow, health or whatever. Those are yukon golds, not finely chopped. I generally home fry one potato per consumer, plus one or two extras in case somebody’s hungry. All of us ended up being hungry. Although the photo doesn’t really show it, that’s a 14” skillet I’m using to fry things. It’s the largest of my collection. Unfortunately, I’ve never found a similar skillet in cast iron, my true cooking passion. Anyway, fry, fry, fry. Get them nice and crispy. At the same time, start bacon going in another pan. This is an entire pack of the thick cut variety. Nothing fancy is required; you don’t need to visit an a specialty butcher’s shop. Whatever cheap pack is on sale this week at the grocery store is going get the job done. This isn’t about subtlety. Cook this bacon on relatively high heat until it too is crispy. If you’re very talented, the bacon and potatoes will reach this point simultaneously, sort of like how couples in movies always orgasm at the same time, just like in real life. These are ramps that have been washed. These are washed ramped that have been chopped. These are washed, chopped ramps that have been pushed into a tighter pile. I unfortunately had to lose many of the leaves. They’d started to rot since being dug several days ago (likely last Friday). There’s no reason not to eat the leaves if they’re still looking good though. They all would have gone into the pan if they’d been in better condition. Remember the bacon? Use a slotted spoon to take it out of its frying pan. Sprinkle it over the potatoes and leave the heat where it is. You can mix it into the potatoes if that makes you happier. You’ll be mixing them later regardless. Meanwhile, the ramps have gone straight into the bacon’s left behind fat. It should only take a few minutes to cook them down until vague translucence. As soon as they’re getting to that condition, it’s time to combine everything you’ve made so far. Which looks like this. But we’re not done, because god forbid the caloric content stop where we are. Although I should probably acknowledge that the next part is entirely optional. Remember when you counted out the number of potatoes to fry per person? Double it for the eggs; in other words, use two eggs for every person that’s eating. Put them in a bowl and scramble them, but don’t thicken with milk. Pour the eggs over the potatoes/bacon/ramps or make a biohazard symbol as a friend that was eating with me did. Worth noting: I’ve seen the eggs cracked directly into the pan and not whipped beforehand. That’s cool too. Give the eggs thirty seconds maybe, then start slowly stirring, folding them into the rest of the mixture. They’ll start to scramble, although obviously more thinly than they would if there was milk in the mix. Let the entire mixture sit long enough for the eggs to thoroughly cook, and then allow it to sit longer than that to get a crust on the bottom. That crust is entirely up to you. I probably gave it five additional minutes tonight; things got brown, but not dark brown. On more impatient days, I’ve simply served the entire thing as soon as the eggs appeared to have reach a suitable level of cooked. In the end, you’ve got that, a pile of food served unceremoniously on a cheap Ikea plate. If you’re one of those people who has to think that you’re looking at the most beautiful food in the world before testing it, this ain’t for you. I freely admit that the final product looks like it was ridden hard and put up wet (to slightly abuse a beautiful phrase). If you’ve made it this far though, you’re not in this for the look; you’re in this for the flavor. And fried potatoes are good. Crispy bacon is good. Scrambled eggs, even thin ones, are good. And ramps? They’re almost heaven.

May. 16 2013
#Ramps #West Virginia #Morgantown #Slurry #Delicious #Nom
darkbrownwaffles
It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.) It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone.  I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged.  My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart.  You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly.  (Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.)

It took me a few minutes to figure out where those top two photos were taken. That’s the intersection of University Avenue (then called Beverly Avenue, a street that still exists in Sunnyside), Stewart Street, and Campus Drive. Those buildings on the left are where the Rusted Musket now stands. Many of those buildings on the right are gone. 

I’ll often try to recreate the pictures that I enjoy, but there’s simply no way to recreate the first two (they were both taken before 1924). They were taken on a bridge that’s no longer there, a bridge that connected the aforementioned intersection to where University Avenue passes by the Business and Economics Building. In other words, what we now know as the loop/horseshoe/place-where-traffic-horribly-backs-up used to be bridged. 

My father, who just retired from WVU, remembers the bridge from when he first moved to Morgantown in 1976. He reported that it was shaky, and that when traffic backed up, it was incredibly shaky, and that one day, it was gone and everybody felt safer. Meanwhile, the stately home on the right side of the top photograph stood until I was a teenager; by that time, it was overrun by students and may have partially burned down before eventually being torn down and replaced with the hideous apartment building that sits on the corner of University and Stewart. 

You can see the bridge in each of those aerial photographs, all taken before 1975. You can also see the bridge captured in other directions in the in the bottom photographs. The snowy one was likely taken before 1910 and clearly shows a largely undeveloped Wiles Hill, a neighborhood that has since grown incredibly. 

(Thanks, as always, To West Virginia History On View.)

May. 14 2013
#Falling Run #Morgantown #West Virginia #West Virginia History #West Virginia University
6 notes
I’ve noticed new piping in the parking lot at the Dominion Post, presumably as part of a project to keep Hartman Run flowing better during torrential downpours. Which would be good given what happens when Hartman Run is overflowing.

I’ve noticed new piping in the parking lot at the Dominion Post, presumably as part of a project to keep Hartman Run flowing better during torrential downpours. Which would be good given what happens when Hartman Run is overflowing.

May. 13 2013
#Hartman Run #Sabraton #Morgantown
2 notes
This is the Metropolitan Billiard Parlor. It is beneath the Metropolitan Theater. Although I no longer go, I believe it is still there and still being frequented by all sorts of strange people. 

This is the Metropolitan Billiard Parlor. It is beneath the Metropolitan Theater. Although I no longer go, I believe it is still there and still being frequented by all sorts of strange people. 

May. 8 2013
#Morgantown #Metropolitan Billiard Parlor #West Virginia
4 notes
These taste like sex feels. Not that you’ll be having any sex, what with how badly you’ll smell. But still, the comparison is apt.

These taste like sex feels. Not that you’ll be having any sex, what with how badly you’ll smell. But still, the comparison is apt.

May. 6 2013
#Ramps #West Virginia #Ramp Dinner On My Back Porch
9 notes
I love Greenmont’s alleys. Sidenote: that looks like a good place to drink a morning cup of coffee. Or an afternoon cup of coffee. Just a cup of coffee really, not matter the time.

I love Greenmont’s alleys.

Sidenote: that looks like a good place to drink a morning cup of coffee. Or an afternoon cup of coffee. Just a cup of coffee really, not matter the time.

May. 2 2013
#greenmont #morgantown
2 notes

Why I Like Morgantown (Percy)

Last night, I got a frantic call from friends: their dog Percy had a run-in with another dog, slipped his collar, and bolted into the night. They were obviously worried. So I hopped in my car and headed down the hill into Greenmont to help them look. Other friends joined us as we searched.

We went up and down the alleys and the streets of the neighborhood. Greenmont is one of the more interesting neighborhoods left in Morgantown because of its age and because of the way that age shows a different side of town, one where homes were built to accommodate backyard gardens, one where alleys cut between houses, one where those houses were built in odd and interesting ways (wraparound porches, second floor balconies, old stone walls, etc). It’s a neighborhood that feels largely untouched by time. 

As I drove around, I asked the people I saw if they’d seen Percy, and almost every single person said that they hadn’t seen him, but that they’d keep an eye out. This included people relaxing on porches, people coming home from the bars, people at Genes, people out for a stroll, people getting home from work. One woman took my phone number in case she found him. Another wanted to know what to do if he found the dog. Others wished us luck and promised that Percy would be found. 

Eventually, he was. He was on Demain and ran happily into his owner’s arms. He was bleeding a bit but otherwise unharmed. As you can imagine, Percy’s owners were overjoyed at him getting home safely and all of the panic that had hung over the night turned into the nice realization that no matter how frustrating this town can be at times, it’s an awfully nice place to live. 

May. 2 2013
#Percy #Greenmont #South Park #Lost Dog
darkbrownwaffles
4 notes

We know who won, but what will be the outcome?

(Photo Illustration credit: Walt Sarkees)

I have to say, last night’s City Council results are pretty exciting. That said, there is a big difference between running a campaign and actually governing so there’s no need to get ahead of ourselves. If the Morgantown Together PAC’s big victory last night leads to the following two outcomes, I think the city will be well-served and I’ll be a very happy camper:

1. Open and transparent city government. That the old council chose to do much of their business in closed door Executive Sessions was easily the most outrageous thing about the last council. Secrecy has no place in a free and open government, especially at the local level.

This offends my sensibilities to such a point that I get pretty outraged.  There may be reasons to do government business behind closed doors (the oft-repeated answer is “personnel”, though there were more Executive Sessions than City Council employees) but there really aren’t many on the local level.  We are CLEARLY not talking about national security issues behind closed doors and any politician who tells their constituents that “they don’t need to know” should be thrown out post haste, since they clearly do not understand who their bosses are.

2. A new level of organization and professionalism in City Council campaigns. Their sweeping victory last night is the clear end-result of a well run campaign, one their opponents chose simply to impugn than to learn from. I imagine the defeated Councillors will not make the same mistake next time around.

This was, clearly, the defining issue of the election.  Both sides offered the same unfocused platitudes which are commonplace in political campaigns.  Politicians, by definition, are unwilling to commit to specifics (because those can come back to bite them!) and all run on a platform of “doing what’s best for the people who elect them”.  What is interesting is that the defining issue of this election was that Mayor Manilla threw an absolute hissy-fit at the idea of running against an organized campaign.  He could’ve countered with his own ideas, he could’ve countered with his own organization, he could’ve countered by simply stating repeatedly and forcefully why he was a better and more qualified candidate than Bill Kawecki.  He chose to do none of those things.  He simply stomped his feet, pointed at the opposition and screamed “That’s not good!”.  It proved to be a losing strategy and one that probably won’t be repeated, nor should it be.

The reality is that Morgantown is a large enough city to deserve competent, quality, professional leadership.  Now it’s impossible to predict how the Morgantown Together group will govern but they’ve certainly raised the bar for how a successful local campaign is run.  If the City Council campaigns in 2015 follow the precedent set this year, the whole town will benefit greatly.

May. 1 2013
thecityofmorgantown
1 note

Morgantown City Council’s Voter Turnout Is Pathetic

Voter turnout is almost certain to be lost in the celebratory mood following last night’s electoral outcome. It shouldn’t be. Voter participation dropped by more than 40 percent last night, returning Morgantown to its recently pathetic historical averages.

In 2011, more than 3600 citizens voted in City Council elections. In 2013, roughly 2000 did. If you’re wondering if that decrease is bad, the answer is yes, it is bad. Here are the numbers as reported last night: Nancy Ganz-Linda Herbst produced 1924 total votes, Mike Fike-Jay Redmond produced 1942 votes, Marti Shamberger-Mark Furfari produced 1938 votes, Jenny Selin-Bill Graham produced 1917 votes, Bill Kawecki-Jim Manilla produced 1978 votes. I don’t have numbers for the two uncontested elections involving Wesley Nugent and Ron Bane. Clearly, those numbers seem to show roughly 2000 people voted.  

In fact, turnout was so bad that Jim Manilla (our now defeated mayor) bemoaned it to WAJR.

“The very, very low number of voter turn out.” contributed to his defeat says Jim Manilla.  ”We expected a lot more, we were hoping that people really followed the issues.” 

Let’s ignore the fact that Manilla decided to imply that Morgantown’s voters were a bunch of deadbeats. That puts the sour into sour grapes and nothing more about it needs to be said. Let’s focus instead upon Manilla’s apparent amazement that voter turnout was low. Because the question ought to be: isn’t that precisely what Manilla wanted?

Manilla spearheaded the opposition to the city’s wildly successful Vote By Mail pilot project. Despite it delivering him a victory in 2011, Manilla joined Wesley Nugent, Linda Herbst, and Ron Bane in abandoning Vote By Mail in 2013. Those four were repeatedly warned that voter participation would drop as a result of their decision, and those four went ahead with Vote By Mail’s cancelation anyway. They even promised the city that those of us advocating for Vote By Mail didn’t know what we were talking about; they insisted that competitive elections would turn out the voters in record numbers.

They were entirely wrong. In fact, exactly the opposite occurred. Not only did record numbers not materialize, but voter participation collapsed. This was what some of Manilla’s backers wanted. Various speakers at City Council meetings repeatedly argued that voter participation didn’t matter at all. “If citizens don’t want to vote, that’s their problem, and it makes no sense for us to encourage more participation…” is how the line generally went. Needless to say, all of Vote By Mail’s opponents got precisely what they wanted, and then, when it came time for an election, they ended up getting the opposite of what they wanted. 

It’s funny how that worked out. 

Of course, getting voters to the polls remains a problem. A city getting barely more than ten percent of its voters to the polls is a city struggling to get political buy-in from its citizenry. 2011’s voter turnout was only fantastic because it was so much better than what had happened in previous (and now subsequent) years. 

It should be acknowledged that we’re almost certainly not going back to Vote By Mail. And Morgantown Together, despite working its ass off, turned out enough voters to win in an election in which voter participation caved. What’s sad here is that we had the solution in our hands and four reactionary councilors punted it away, not because of any sort of good reason, but just because it wasn’t something that they were familiar with. Our city’s politics suffer as a result. 

May. 1 2013
#Morgantown City Council Elections 2013 #Vote By Mail
darkbrownwaffles
1 note

Morgantown Together Goes 5-5, Retakes Council (Morgantown City Council Elections Results)

I thought I was being brave when I predicted Morgantown Together going 4-5 in this year’s City Council Elections. I was apparently being conservative. They ended up going 5-5 (something predicted on this website, but not by me; congratulations Aaron!) and thumped their opponents, Victory For Morgantown. 

The next council will consist of Jenny Selin, Marti Shamberger, Bill Kawecki, Mike Fike, Nancy Ganz, Wesley Nugent, and Ron Bane. Those first five will comprise one block and will likely select Selin to be the city’s next mayor; those last two will comprise the opposition and will, ideally, do a better job of being outsiders than they did of being insiders. 

Morgantown turfed Jim Manilla (the current mayor) and Linda Herbst out of office. Morgantown also rejected the candidates that Manilla, Herbst, Nugent, and Bane personally backed: Mark Furfari, Bill Graham, and Jay Redmond each lost badly.

What’s incredible is that Victory For Morgantown had candidates going in each of the city’s seven wards; they only had to four-for-seven to maintain their hold on political power. Morgantown Together’s margin was much narrower, in that they only had candidates for five of the city’s wards. But in winning every seat they contested, Morgantown Together showed that their unified strategy - one decried by this city’s cranks and complainers - was in fact the better of two. Running as one publicly produced a stunning victory; running as one privately produced a night in which the only two candidates who won (Nugent and Bane) did so because they were unopposed. It doesn’t seem that unreasonable to believe that those two might have also lost had they only been opposed. That’s pure speculation though.

But that’s not the only takeaway from this evening. The city’s abandonment of Vote By Mail proved as disastrous as some of us had warned about. It appears as though upwards of half of the voters that participated in 2011 showed up in 2013. Plenty of us predicted precisely this outcome, but those opposed to Vote By Mail (Manilla, Herbst, Nugent, and Bane) swore up neighborhood and down the next that the truest way to maintain voter participation was with contested elections. They were entirely wrong. We had five contested elections this time around - voter participation plummeted. 

It’s not just that those four candidates were so wrong though; it’s also that they didn’t realize that Vote By Mail may have been the very thing that helped them to get (re)elected in the first place. The thing about Vote By Mail is that it gives all of the city’s 16,000+ potential voters the opportunity to participate in our local election. By foolishly abandoning it, these four candidates apparently believed that the same voters who chose them by mail in 2011 were just as likely to show up in 2013. They should have known better. It was the system that got them all those votes two years ago, not the glimmering shine of their own campaigns. 

Instead, they went with their reactionary gut instincts - “VOTE BY MAIL BAD! VOTE IN PERSON GOOD!” - and the city’s residents rewarded their opponents, people who rightly recognized that this year’s election would be won by getting voters to the polling places. I take some pleasure in the immediacy of that feedback, and ideally, Nugent and Bane will acknowledge how wrong they were in the next city council meeting. (Not that they will of course. Politicians don’t do that.)

More analysis in the coming days when the vote totals are finalized. 

 

May. 1 2013
#Morgantown City Council Elections 2013 #Morgantown City Council #Morgantown #Election Results #Victory For Morgantown #Morgantown Together #Jim Manilla #Nancy Ganz #Wesley Nugent #Ron Bane #Bill Graham #Mark Furfari #Bill Kawecki #Mike Fike #Marti Shamberger #Jenny Selin #Linda Herbst
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