No, that’s not M for Mayor. By the looks of the About page, it’s straight up M for Mark. As in this is Mark’s word, now what’s yours?

The M Word is a new corner of the CBC’s vast website, where Idler’s front man Mark Wilson serves up question-of-the-day type videos with the intention of stirring up debate in the community. After you watch a video – there’s only one up so far, and it’s so bad it’s good – you can share your thoughts in the comments section below.

The M word might as well be Municipal, too, since the harmonious co-habitation of the residents of St. John’s, culturally, politically, and environmentally, seems to be the ultimate goal of Wilson’s quest.

More power to him, and to us all.

Below is a screen grab from the new site.

Mark Wilson made his campaign for mayor a lot more official today with the opening of his campaign headquarters on Duckworth Street.

The space, which is in the Living Planet’s former digs, has been donated by Dave Hopley, along with some t-shirts and printing for the campaign. If people would like to sport their own Mayor Mark Wilson t-shirt, they’re invited to bring an article of clothing down to the office and have it printed on free of charge.

The campaign headquarters is decked out with lots of interactive features, like the the computer area above, where folks can log on to Wilson’s campaign site and leave feedback, or take a seat in their vision booth to let Wilson and his campaign know what matters to them about St. John’s.

There’s even a craft corner set up with all the supplies you’d want to make your own campaign poster, be it for Wilson or any other candidate of your choice. I was informed during my tour that while the Wilson campaign will be using t-shirts, buttons and posters, they are refraining from campaign signs.

It’s the feeling of the Wilson campaign that campaign signs claim space that belongs to everyone, while a poster someone puts in their own window on their own property is that person’s choice and not an imposition on the people of St. John’s. For this reason, they’re abstaining from the use of campaign signs.

It’s a brave move. I’m impressed with this campaign’s willingness to put their convictions ahead of their desire for personal gain.

The general feeling I got from my tour of the Wilson campaign headquarters this morning is that this is very much a living, breathing, evolving thing. Wilson has his vision in place, but it’s not carved out in any permanent way.

The idea here is to create change that is in the interest of everyone by considering everyone’s interests. No easy task, but I’m encouraged by the notion that someone is willing to try.

At exactly 11:11 AM tomorrow, mayorial candidate Mark Wilson will be going public with his campaign.

According to the event’s Facebook page, there will be an opportunity for the public and the media to chat with Wilson. Those interested will get a chance to record their hope for St. John’s’ future in a special “vision booth.”

In what certainly seems like the most festive and vibrant campaign launch of the current mayorial race, there will be music, food and drink, and an opportunity for the artistically inclined to express their vision through arts and crafts.

The launch kicks off at 10:45 AM at Wilson’s campaign office at 116 Duckworth Street (the old Living Planet location) and will continue ’til 1:00 PM.

Wilson’s website, incidentally, is up and running. It includes a biography and a detailed overview of his platform.

So while he may have showed up late in the game, it appears Mark Wilson is making up for missed time with a flurry of campaign activity as the race heats up in its final weeks.

[Image via]

Mark Wilson has made his first update in over two weeks to his mayoral campaign blog, explaining that his campaign has moved back from national to local.

I’m not really sure what he means by that, other than to say he’s back home. How a municipal election campaign could ever be anything other than local eludes me (particularly when there hasn’t been any campaign to speak of).

Regardless, the point of this most recent post seems to be that Wilson is now ready to get down to work and truly start running his race for mayor.

Considering we’re at more-or-less the halfway point between when Wilson announced his intention to run and when the election will take place, I’d say it’s about time.

Here is the official list of candidates for Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Ward Councillors and Councillors at Large for St. John’s. The election will be held September 29, 2009.

MAYOR

(Vote for not more than ONE Candidate)

ELLSWORTH, Ron — 5 Falkland Street

O’KEEFE, Dennis — 4 Currie Place

WILSON, Mark — 8 Prospect Street

DEPUTY MAYOR

(Vote for not more than ONE Candidate)

COOMBS, Keith — 38 Birmingham Street

DUFF, Shannie — 9 Howley Avenue

COUNCILLOR – WARD 1

(Vote for not more than ONE Candidate)

BREEN, Danny — 24 Halley Drive

LEE, Dave — 228 Torbay Road

PUDDISTER, Art — 11 Winthrop Place

COUNCILLOR – WARD 2

(Vote for not more than ONE Candidate)

FITZGERALD, Scott — 35 Cornwall Crescent

GALGAY, Frank — 13 Parsons Place

HARVEY, Andrew — 6 Gill Place

MADDIGAN, Bill — 27 Warbury Street

PERRIN, Todd — 29 Gower Street

COUNCILLOR – WARD 3

(Vote for not more than ONE Candidate)

BENNETT, Terry — 30 Eastaff Street

TILLEY, Bruce — 97 Ferryland Street West

WARREN, Ted — 486 Southside Road

WEST, Lionel — 133 Gower Street

COUNCILLOR – WARD 4

(Vote for not more than ONE Candidate)

GUY-MURPHY, Sheilagh — 36 Smithville Crescent

HANLON, Debbie — 27 Cochrane Street

COUNCILLOR – WARD 5

(Vote for not more than ONE Candidate)

COLLINS, Wally — 259-261 Main Road

HOWLETT, Perry — 20 Lakeview Drive

MANUEL, Steve — 7 Briarwood Place

RYAN, David — 54 Sunset Street

COUNCILLORS AT LARGE

(Vote for not more than FOUR Candidates)

BADCOCK, Tom — 401 Bay Bulls Road

BUCKLE, Barry — 156A Water Street

COLBERT, Gerry — 208-59 Roosevelt Avenue

DAVIS, Bernard — 14 MacKenzie Street

HANN, Tom — 40 Serpentine Street

HICKMAN, Sandy — 8 Falkland Street

LONO, Simon — 27 Barnes Road

NOLAN, Stephen — 7 Murray Street

O’LEARY, Sheilagh — 47 Newtown Road

A as in agenda, as in something we haven’t really seen from either of the other two mayoral candidates yet.

It’s been all quiet on the Mark Wilson front more-or-less since he launched his website, blog and Twitter feed. His blog has just two posts on it with lots of positive attitude but little in the way of plans or ideas, while his Twitter feed has a small handful of tweets, most of which are links to the press he’s been getting since announcing his candidacy.

Incumbent Dennis O’Keefe has yet to make so much as a peep on the campaign trail. His web presence, as far as I can tell, is non-existent. Meanwhile, by the looks of his recent announcement that there will be no tax breaks for downtown businesses purportedly disrupted by the harbour cleanup construction, at least it can be said he’s not stooping to pre-election pandering.

As for Ron Ellsworth, he recently released a booklet on his website titled The Ellsworth Essentials outlining the 17 key points of his plan for St. John’s if elected as mayor.

The effort alone is appreciated, and it appears to be more than just a fluff piece. Many of his points demonstrate a clear understanding of what needs to be done in order to affect positive change in our city. Take these three points for example:

Clear plans to use technology, restructuring and engagement to tackle an embedded year-round problem with the roads in St. John’s. It’s this sort of well-considered, multi-tiered approach that’s needed to address our city’s major issues, and I’m impressed to see that there’s a candidate on the trail who understands that.

At the end of the day, it’s easy to make promises on the campaign trail, especially if that trail only goes one way. Ellsworth assures us that he not only wants to listen to our thoughts and ideas, but will personally respond to any e-mail you send him on the matter within 24 hours.

Wilson’s made a similar plea for our thoughts and concerns, but so far the questions and comments left by readers of his blog haven’t amounted to any responses from him (unless he’s responded in private, which isn’t a great idea for a blog).

I’m putting Elssworth’s promise to the test. I’ve written him with my thoughts on the “Ellsworth Essentials” listed above. I’ll let you know in the comments of this post whether he gets back to me by this time tomorrow and, if so, what he had to say.

Update: See the comments section for details on Ellsworth’s reply.

There’s not a lot to go on so far, but www.mayormarkwilson.com is live, with links to his campaign blog, Facebook page and Twitter feed.

The blog has just one post so far, where Wilson gives a basic introduction of who he is and what his plans are to develop his platform. Part of that plan hinges on him knowing what you want from your city and your mayor, so he encourages you to share that with him.

Wilson also encourages you to get involved in the election and lists three ways in which you can do so:

1. Check if you’re on the voters list here – if not (or maybe you’re registered under an old address) call City Services at 311 to get yourself added to the list.

2. Get to know your candidates – ask them the questions that you want answered, and be critical of the responses you receive.

3. Vote on September 29th!

I appreciate the fact that he is asking people to be critical of their candidates. That’s certainly our intention here at Signal, and we look forward to pursuing the campaigns of Mark Wilson, Ron Ellsworth (who’s website contains mostly rhetoric at the moment) and Dennis O’Keefe (who doesn’t seem to have a website — correct me if I’m wrong) as their platforms develop.

At some point during this decade (probably right around the time Mr. Obama defeated John “Time is on Your Side” McCain), my mental paradigm for ideal political leader shifted.

I don’t know what had me convinced that more time in office = better politics = results; maybe it was the common-sense assumption that age and experience equate to wisdom.

I certainly know better now. I’ll take an idealistic, inexperienced, but nevertheless bright-eyed future leader over some old politico mired tits-deep in political cronyism any day.

Enter Mark Wilson’s bid for mayor. While the reflex action to this news might be shock and doubt since (as far as I know) he’s never dabbled in politics before now, the more I think about it, the more sold I am.

Given that any politician’s power is limited both by accountability to voters and by other branches of government, I’d rather one in office who isn’t bound by hundreds of favours owed and quid pro quos accrued during a long life in government.

While it remains to be seen exactly what Wilson’s vision is for the future face of municipal politics in St. John’s, I’m looking at his bid with interest.

(I already know he’s nice to kids and dogs.)

I would write a treatise on what I’d like to see happen in St. John’s’ future, but the Super Furry Animals put it so much more succinctly:

To wit: better public transportation, lower emissions, happier people, progress.

[Photo by Lilly Christine.]

Mark Wilson wants your vote. More importantly, he wants to know what you think.

Be it by prose or pixel, Wilson is urging you, the citizens of St. John’s, to share with him your thoughts, concerns and ideas about our city and its future.

From a recent comment Wilson left here at Signal:

The campaign is forming and I need your help… I want to challenge you to make a video, or write about your vision for the city. What do you want? What are your main issues? Let me know by sending me your video link or a story/letter to mark@mayormarkwilson.com.

I want to be a conduit for change in this city but you have to want to see it and believe that it can happen.

It’s a pretty easy thing these days to set up a pocket-sized camera or webcam, have your say and huck it up on YouTube. For a situation like this, I think a video is better suited than a letter because it puts a face to what you’re saying, and if it’s online for others to see it stands a better chance of holding the recipient to task.

If you do shoot a video, record a song, draw a picture, write a letter or anything else addressed to Wilson’s call, we’d love to know about it and even share it here on Signal.

“I wanna help young and old people realize they have the power to make change in St. John’s.”

That was Mark Wilson on CBC Radio One this morning discussing some of the details regarding his recent announcement at the Folk Festival that he is running for Mayor of St. John’s in the upcoming election.

When I first heard the news, it was hard not to think “publicity stunt.” Wilson is the front man for the Idlers, a band with a considerable following in St. John’s and an eye towards mainland success (by all means, check out fellow Signaleer Elsa Morena’s music video for their song One Future).

An up and coming band with their front man running for mayor of any city will surely catch the eyes of the media.

But hearing Wilson speak this morning, I heard the voice of someone who sounded very serious about the role they’re running for. If you know the Idlers’ music, you know their message is a positive one that preaches the power of personal and social change. So the idea that Wilson would want to put himself in a position to affect such change for his city isn’t altogether impossible to imagine or accept.

To say the least, this upcoming mayoral election just got a lot more interesting.

Keep an eye out for Wilson’s campaign website, mayormarkwilson.com, which should be going live sometime this week.

[photo by Chad Young]