What could be better, after all, than walking around some lovely neighborhoods in Detroit, talking with people, seeing some sights, and having some excellent conversations about how voting SHOULD go and why voter participation is VITAL to our democracy?
I can’t think of too much, actually, so that’s why I cleared my calendar on Saturday to canvass for Garlin Gilchrist, the capable and experienced challenger seeking to defeat the incumbent Detroit City Clerk on Tuesday, November 7th. Join me after the jump for some of my adventures.
Before that, though, let’s have another reminder about how YOU can participate in this key local campaign!
This is TODAY’s information.
24 hours to go until Detroit’s general election. We’re within striking distance. Join the campaign. Volunteer for Garlin Gilchrist II for Detroit City Clerk.
Come to the Eastside Office at 8325 E Jefferson Ave.
Or come to the Westside Office at 19512 Livernois.
Both offices will be open from 11 am to 5 pm.
At 6 pm tonight, head over to Bert's Warehouse (2727 Russell St) for our Get Out The Vote Rally. We'll have food, refreshments, and call lists to contact voters.
Thank you for supporting, Garlin Gilchrist II. Let’s go win an election.
#StandTALLforDetroit
Plus, it’s still helpful if you DONATE (via our very own ActBlue page for Gilchrist logging contributions from Daily Kos readers!) at the last minute. Thanks in advance for all you can do!
Hello! My name is Catherine, and I am volunteering for the Garlin Gilchrist for City Clerk campaign.
I stopped by the campaign office, picked up some walk sheets (some of which are shown on the table in the story image, to Tony’s left), campaign literature and a campaign sweatshirt — swag!! — and headed out.
On my way to my assigned neighborhood, I stopped at a nearby coffeeshop for fortification and to chat up one of my oldest friends in Detroit, knowing that he would be a good person to touch base with regarding this election. Sure enough, he wasn’t familiar with Garlin Gilchrist, so I was very happy to have stopped.
My selfie skills are slight, but I hope you can see the roses behind me.
I had some choices of “turf,” the territory I’d cover, so I picked one that was relatively familiar to me and convenient to boot. It included areas I’ve often driven past but never actually encountered up close. It’s an entirely different experience to walk in a neighborhood than to drive through it, and I was very grateful for the chance to make closer acquaintance with these particular streets near the New Center/Wayne State area of Detroit. (I will admit that it is helpful to have a smart phone to be able to decipher the cryptic maps provided with the walk sheets.)
I could go on at length about the redevelopment history of these areas, including the impact of “urban renewal” and the interstate freeway construction nearby — but those are longer, sadder stories for another day. Most of the housing in this area has been occupied and well-maintained for the past 20-30 years. These are neighborhoods of people who really want to make a go of their city, which is exactly why this election matters.
I had a list of 70 people to try to talk with, or about 60 different households. They were almost all single-family houses, or townhouses/condos with an accessible front door. That made it easy to leave literature — never in the mailbox, however! — when no one answered the doorbell. Almost always, I’m confident that’s because no one was home, though every now and again I suspect someone has decided not to respond to my ring. It’s their prerogative, after all.
If I had attempted to cover all the households in that turf in one solid canvass, it probably would have taken me about 3 hours. They were in a pretty concentrated area, but I’m not a fast walker. However, I did take other detours, including a stop in the Fisher Building, a fabulous landmark in the middle of this section of the city. It was right next to my turf, and I was hoping to take advantage of the amenities there. Besides, I got to greet some young men walking along the street and asked them if they were planning to vote. I gave them my handout in hopes that they’ll be able to make it to the polls.
Magnificent interior of the Fisher Building
I could be mistaken in assuming that this is Pewabic Pottery tile.
I’m not sure who occupies the office space in this building now, but there are a few storefonts on the ground level. Fittingly enough, a gallery has the space with this glorious tile floor, tile that I surmise came from the famous (and still flourishing) Pewabic Pottery. But I digress….
Gilchrist is a terrific candidate with the professional experience and the vision to bring the Detroit City Clerk’s office into the 21st century.
During my time canvassing, I encountered only one person who said they’d voted for Gilchrist’s opponent already. But even he said he’d take the literature for his wife to read. With luck, they’ll wind up canceling each other’s vote. Most of the time, as I expected on a Saturday afternoon, no one was home. So it was wonderful to find someone at home and willing to talk. I even crashed a party, after a fashion — one of those huge bouncers was set up for kids on a front lawn, and child and adult guests were just gathering as I approached the house. I never did meet or talk to the homeowner, but I did chat a few minutes with the guests. I hope they didn’t think it was too rude, only a little rude. I thought it kinda went with the spirit of things since they were having the party in their front yard.
Little Free Library
One of their neighbors had a little lending library; unfortunately, they weren’t on my walk sheet so I didn’t get to talk with them. I was tempted by at least one of their books. Having an Elmore Leonard book in the mix was brilliant, I thought.
You can see some of the features on the house with the library; this is a neighborhood with some of the oldest housing stock in the city, a testament to historical ambition (and resources). I felt a little shy about my documentation but also took pains not to include identifying information. The house in the next image is noteworthy for its garden as well, but it was the house itself that caught my eye. They weren’t on my list either, so I didn’t have an excuse to try to get any closer.
Beautiful, no? The interior undoubtedly has magnificent plasterwork, woodwork, and tile.
I had a few excellent conversations with enthusiastic residents, and then I had to relocate to cover the rest of my “turf,” some distance away. For discretion’s sake I won’t be supplying any more information about that neighborhood than I am about this one. (Anyone familiar with the city can probably identify both, but I won’t confirm the guesses.) But it was truly interesting to see such a contrast.
This other neighborhood, I realized as I drove up to it, was much more familiar to me than I had remembered based on the street name alone. Indeed, I recognized one of the adjacent buildings, now long abandoned, as having been the site of a now-long-gone independent school. And this neighborhood, scrappy and unconventional as it is, probably fits the stereotypical image of Detroit better than the meticulously-maintained mini-mansions in the New Center area. Yet both states are present simultaneously, and creating policy to lift up both types of neighborhoods is one of the central challenges facing the city.
The old utility pole depicted here captures the creativity and unconventionality of this second neighborhood. Is it meant to be celebratory or cautionary? Here, people were polite but more wary, and I suspect I didn’t really endear myself to the human residents through my open-mouthed surprise over some of their non-human neighbors. Still, I engaged with people as I could and continued to leave campaign literature on behalf of my candidate.
Some of the neighborhood chickens. Check out the extravagant leg feathers on the rooster.
After checking out the chicken neighborhood I went back to the campaign office and picked up a sign and some instructions for a voter who was so enthusiastic, I asked if she would send texts for the campaign. Fingers crossed that she follows through!
Election Day is this Tuesday, November 7th. We hope that we can count on your vote for Garlin Gilchrist for Detroit City Clerk.
I returned to the campaign office to make some phone calls — it was after dark and raining by that time — and who should answer the door but the candidate himself! He was remarkably relaxed considering the pressures of the campaign. He should be, really. It’s a well-organized group, and he’s done a great job. He and I had a delightful conversation about mutual friends (one of the other pleasures of getting involved, for me, is discovering all of these connections) but I am now KICKING myself for not thinking to get a photo of the two of us, or of Garlin with some of the campaign staff/volunteers. Sigh. I need moar photo awareness!
So, Sunday night I returned to the office purely for the sake of a photo op or two. Garlin himself wasn’t there; he and his wife had planned to cover seven churches that day, which definitely earned them a little bit of rest later on. But a couple of the men were there and willing to be in my pictures. We all laughed that the women declined, because it is true that women tend to dominate as campaign volunteers!
Great smile from Kyle! If this weren’t so fuzzy, it would be the story image.
Tomorrow I am going to work as a poll greeter all day. I’d love to have some company even for a little while. Come join me at the Adams-Butzel Recreation Complex, 10500 Lyndon (Detroit MI 48238). I’ll be there as steadily as I can from about 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM, when the polls close. Then it’s to Jam Handy for a victory party!
And next year, because you know we need to be out in FORCE for the 2018 elections, let me know if you need some support in learning to canvass, and I will JOIN YOU so that you get comfortable with it. One door, one call, one voter at a time. We must do whatever it takes to flip MI blue again.