Sturtz, Ragtag director, seeks seat
Paul Sturtz moved to Columbia in 1995.
April 4, 2008
First Ward City Council candidate Paul Sturtz stands outside of a house in the First Ward on March 15 while on a door-to-door campaign. Sturtz co-founded the Ragtag Cinemacafé as well as the True/False Film Fest.
First Ward City Council candidate Paul Sturtz works in his office in downtown Columbia on Monday. Sturtz is campaigning against candidates Karen Baxter, John Clark and incumbent Almeta Crayton.
(Click graphic to enlarge)
Paul Sturtz, 43, once experienced a failure so miserable, he said it was life-altering.
He recalled that on a cold, rainy day in the summer of ‘92, he realized that his Cook Street Open Market was a disaster.
He created the market off of a busy street in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Portland, Ore. He said he wanted to blend a farmer’s market with a low-cost fruit stand, but that the open-air market completely fell on its face.
“It was really crushing,” he said.
Since then though, Sturtz said he never wanted to fail a project for lack of trying or thinking a project through.
“It’s a remarkable motivator for me,” he said. “Because I know what it’s like to totally fail. I don’t want to fail in that way ever again. I want to give it my all, and I want to work on projects I’m really passionate about and one of those is city planning and city government.”
That’s why Sturtz is running for First Ward city councilman.
Sturtz grew up in New York, later moving to Oregon to attend the University of Oregon in Eugene to earn bachelor’s degrees in journalism and American studies.
He moved to Columbia in 1995 because he thought Midwestern towns would be good places to raise his then 2-year-old son.
“It was more just a mystery,” Sturtz said of the Midwest. “In any place that has mystery there’s a certain degree of romance to it. Moving to Columbia was a tremendous opportunity to invest myself in a new community.”
And invest he has.
Sturtz is perhaps mostly known in Columbia for his contribution to Columbia’s independent film scene, as co-founder of the Ragtag Cinemacafé (in 1998) and the True/False Film Fest (in 2004), but he has always had an active role in communities he’s lived in across the United States.
Before Sturtz speaks, he fiddles with wrappers and papers and pens absent-mindedly. He takes a few moments to choose each of his words carefully. Idealistic in nature, he seems to appreciate beauty and romance in most of the world, including in Columbia’s First Ward.
Compared to the other three candidates running for the position he’s lived in Columbia the least number of years, but there’s no doubt that he’s made Columbia his home.
Within two years of moving to the city he began work on projects, including a group effort in 1997 to make sure Stephens Lake stayed open to the public.
“That was sort of my awakening as a citizen,” Sturtz said.
Since then, he also helped create Columbia Locally Owned Retail and Services, an organization comprised of Boone County business owners, and Big Canoe, a group dedicated to creating an urban farm on Sanford Avenue.
He said his experiences in other regions of the nation have exposed him to examples of “model cities.”
“I’m sort of a student of urban planning and design,” Sturtz said. “So I’ve been exposed to a lot of really good models that are applicable to Columbia.”
He cited Lawrence, Kan. — for its cultural attractions — and Portland, Ore. — for its sustainability — as examples of model cities.
But his first order of business, if he’s elected, will be to empower the residents of the First Ward.
“I think there’s a sense of hopelessness in many neighbors of the First Ward,” he said. “And we need to address that head-on.”
Sturtz plans to create neighborhood information centers all over the ward, where residents can get information on city programs and how to get involved in the city’s government.
“I honestly believe that for this country to survive and thrive, we need to invest ourselves on a local level. We need to give as much of our energy and creative energy into creating great places to live,” Sturtz said.
He said one of his fears about the position is not having enough hours in the day to dedicate to all the projects he’d like to do as a city councilman.
“If it’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that each project takes thousands of hours.”
He also fears that the position might take away from spending time with his now 14-year-old son, but also gives him the opportunity to lead by example.
“I want him to understand that as a person, he has the ability to influence his surroundings and influence the future of where he lives,” Sturtz said.
Ultimately, Sturtz said, he is looking to enable the First Ward residents.
“I want to be a means for the hopes and dreams of the people in Columbia to feel like this place that they live in will be a better place to live in, rather than an increasingly diminishing place to live,” he said.
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