A Day with Rep. Hansen. A PD at work

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Just doing my job.

I’ve had a busy week for this old man. This blog and yesterdays will recap some events I’ve had.

State Rep.Goeff Hansen came to Muskegon Sat. to attend the Muskegon Heights Mayor’s breakfast, Karen Buie had let Goeff know about it. I decided to tag along. I’m glad I did. Karen couldn’t make it. Goeff Hansen is running for the 34th Michigan Senate Seat.

The breakfast was good. The Mayor and the city Council members each said some words. Goeff was the only politician outside of them that was present and he was acknowledged by the Mayor. Below is a pic of the Mayor and Goeff talking and on-lookers enjoying.



After the meeting Representative Hansen mingled and seemed to fit in. The Fire chief was there and Goeff was a volunteer firefighter for a number of years so they had plenty to talk about. Before that he talked with the policemen that were there and they talked of the State police post in Hart that Representative Hansen was instrumental in reopening. In fact Hansen’s Grocery rented for a dollar their parking lot to temporarily house the State Police in trailers. The Heights Police were well aware of the whole thing and took note he was there.

After it was all done and we were leaving Mary Valentine came in, I could tell Goeff got a kick out of one upping Mary in her own back yard.

It was still early and Goeff had some free time. I asked if he wanted to see my side of Muskegon and some projects I was working on. Off we went. I went first to Marion’s Nelson Community Association Plant sale that I blogged about in my last post. No one was there yet, and it was still early well before the lunch crowd so I decided to take him to Mia & Grace Bakery and Bistro to introduce him to Jamie and Jeremy the Chef owners. Below is a link to an article I wrote about them well before they opened their door for business.

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http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com/2008/05/mia-and-grace-bakery-and-bistro.html
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Picture of Jeremy and Goeff talking.



I was greatly intrigued by them both and their vision. I had my doubts whether they could survive, I’m ever happy that those doubts were ill founded. Muskegon is blessed that these two stubborn gifted people chose to open up here in spite of the regulatory mess that is Muskegon and I’m happy to see the people of Muskegon supporting the quality they bring.

Glad we went when we did; the staff was just starting to get ready for the Lunch crowd. Jeremy was there and had time. His wife Jamie had gone to the farmers market to pick up some fresh veggies for today’s lunch. Mia & Grace is a “farm to table” operation as much as possible. Not only do they buy their vegetables fresh locally from farmers, also all the meat and eggs etc that they can. BTW their braised pork bellies I’ve been told are to die for.

Another unique aspect of their store is that the menu is seasonal which gives those two young creative chef’s ample opportunity to experiment. Goeff was talking to Jeremy about asparagus and when he mentioned guacamole asparagus, you could see Jeremy’s ears perk up. He and I had never heard of that before. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that on Mia & Graces ever changing menu before too long.

Jeremy and Goeff spent a long time talking about the surprising amount of things they had in common. They knew the same farmers that they both deal with; Jeremy in the restaurant and Goeff in the grocery store. Both were staunch “buy local” advocates. Goeff talked about all the legislation along those lines and they both hit it off.

As we left Mia & Grace and right up the street I pointed out the 1st Congregational Church and jokingly said that we just missed a free gourmet breakfast they serve every Sat. Morning. Goeff knew the Church and had just done something with them. He is a Congregationalist back in his home.

I told him how I had tried to get the County Republicans to volunteer to serve breakfast but couldn’t get support. He said he’d be happy to as long as he could actually do the serving and not just stand around. Monday I talked with the people who organize the event and we tentatively set it up. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Below link to previous post.

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http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com/2009/01/open-doors.html
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Perhaps I shouldn’t rub it in or mention it but I heard a rumor from two places that the Governor may be coming to serve breakfast in the future. This is just a rumor but I’m glad that Goeff at least will be doing this before the Governor comes and takes advantage of what is in our own back yard.

Maybe it takes an outsider to appreciate what opportunities we have in Muskegon.

We then went to the Farmers Market where again Representative Hansen knew a lot of the farmers. Below are some pics of that experience.





Next I took Goeff to Love Community Garden that Morning Bear and Pastor Phillips thru his Love Fellowship Baptist Church have set up and is flourishing. Sadly no one was there at the time. He seemed to like the idea and mentioned something he was working on about seeds being given to local people. As I find out about it more I’ll let you know. This garden is really starting to become a blessing to the neighborhood.

Monday I was there with Morning Bear early in the day and she asked if I could stay as she was alone Alberta couldn’t make it and a group of kids were coming from Nelson School right next door to start to work on the two raised beds we had saved for them.

About 20 kids and their teachers came. The teachers broke them up into groups of 5. One group would be with Morning at their beds and the rest I took on a tour of the other garden beds. I enjoyed it, and all the kids were participating. I hammed it up showing how safe the cow mauure compost was by crumbling it in my hands and smelling it while showing how the plants got their food from the soil and why we pull the weeds. The kids got off on that kind of stuff.

This was set up on the fly and I wasn't expecting it and my camera was home. I ran back after I did my thing picked up my camera as the kids were leaving; but got these pics.





This will turn into part of their class for the season. They will come every week, every Monday.

Along the same lines I showed Goeff our Benson’s Drugs, he of course first noticed the Country Dairy Milk sign right in front. A two door freezer now sells frozen quality meat from the Butcher Block and up front they sell bags of onions and potatoes and some apples and bananas by the piece. It’s a start and I hope I was a small part in their decision to keep doing this.

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http://bottomuppolitics.blogspot.com/2008/05/benson-drug-food-produce.html
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As you can figure out, I’m becoming a believer in Goeff Hansen. Aside from that however, as a precinct delegate I am just doing my job. I am supposed to show candidates around my precinct and introduce them to people I know. That is the job of a Precinct Delegate, That is what I’m doing. It’s a good thing when what I do fits so well with what I’m supposed to do.

As we headed down Sanford a block from my house I saw something that caused me to tell Geoff to put on the brakes. We circled the block, I got out and took these pics. Yea old swimming hole city style. This was left from the big rain the night before. The kids were really likeing it.




Monday I also met Jay Riermsma at the Holiday Inn for lunch. His campaign manager Jane and Karen Buie were there along with me.



We all had a nice political talk, and I got to learn something about Mr Riemersma along with his charming campaign manager. I also have a commitment from him for an interview on this blog. The interview should be happening fairly soon.

One last thing; after Marion’s plant sale we leave the one’s people don’t want out for people just to take. The next day (Monday) I took them all, probably 20 to 30 flats to my fellow Precinct Delegate in the Heights, Larry and his neighbor Adrian planted them by the time I stopped by later. Larry has a huge garden he started this year in his new house he is rehabbing. Pics are below. He and Adrian gave the rest to neighbors.



Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative.