Minutes
June 19, 2005, 4:00 PM
- Facilitator
- Susan [until 6:30], Amy 6:30-7:00
- Minutes
- Elena
- Venue
- Home of Hart Matthews, Durham (TAGP extends sincere thanks to Hart)
Attending:
- Ed King
- Amy Lewis
- Hart Matthews
- Kelly Beck
- Elena Everett
- Aimee Schmidt
- Jan Martell
- Jerry Surh
- Susan O'Neill
Meeting called to order at 4:47, with arrival of Jerry, Elena, Kelly. Susan facilitating, Elena taking minutes. Agenda cribbed off network, with some modifications.
Updates
- Dix: Report from Jerry and Aimee
- May 18th public session on Dix seemed favorable to the park, but Aimee fears that the state will screw it up. Tony Rand wants to sell the land to development. Weiss and Ross are also on the committee and support a park.
- Hope Turlington (used to work at Dix, is an inside advocate) is pessimistic.
- Land design is going through the motions to make people feel good. [ed note: believe the assertion was that it was to meet the letter of the law].
- John Brooks (former labor guy) is looking into the orignal deed to see if it sets land use restrictions, which would put the law on our side.
- First Wednesday of the month is the Friends of Dix meeting; they should be informed if it's not looking well.
- Third land design hearing scheduled for July.
- NAMI and Friends of DIX are in coalition now.
- Triangle Greens should officially join Friends of Dix.
- Jan will help place an article The Triangle Free Press.
- Jerry and Elena will write the article, which will be completed by Monday night.
- Aimee: we should lobby members of the dix land preservation committee who don't see it in the state's best interest to hold on to the land (specifically tony rand) to help them understand the repercussions of closing the hospital and/or turning the land over to developers, and what it might mean to their re-election prospects
- Hart: is there a way to find out what sweetheart deal is being negotiated behind the scenes with some developer?
- We should run a candidate against Rand, simply to expose these issues to his constituents.
- International Worker Justice Campaign: Report from Elena
- Recent hearing in Raleigh was very positive.
- What other groups with which we are involved can endorse this?
- Progressive Democrats
- Internationalist
- Legislative Update
- HB88 is alive, but the five Finance Committee co-chairs must agree to schedule it.
- Need to put pressure on them; expose the fact that they're acting entirely partisan.
- Elena to schedule a meeting to organize HB88 strategy (with Hart, Aimee, Ed).
- Health Freedom Bill: Report from Susan
- Did not pass. On hiatus. Will be reintroduced next year.
New Business:
- Nominations and elections for officers (per bylaws)
- Co-Chairs
- Ed King, Elena Everett
- Treasurer
- Hart Matthews
- Assistant Treasurer
- Jerry Surh
- Communicator
- Amy Lewis
- Secretary and minute-taker issues
- Consensus of the meeting seems to be that we haven't an eager candidate for secretary, and it is possible to rotate responsibility for taking minutes. There is a suggestion as well that we might either leave the secretary position open, or have it rotate, but we should square this with the bylaws at next meeting.
- Supporting Elaine Brown's Campaign
- Possible actions:
- Sponsor a Triangle delegation to travel to Georgia
- Sponsor a fundraiser for Elaine's campaign
- Write a solidarity letter from Triangle Greens, include checks from members willing to make donations
- Treasury Report
- We have $25
- We just gave $40 to Dix
- Amy (as Communicator) to supply contacts list to new officers
- Hart to contact party members requesting donations
- Local Strategy
- Be hub of support; people do Green things, get support from this local.
- Keep it intimate; if we get larger than a solid core of thirty, break into smaller groups.
- Keep coordination between locals; maybe reach out to other locals in other parts of the state now?
Agenda Items for Next Meeting
- Why are we here? Continue to question and define our purpose and tactics.
- Outreach to minority communities.
- Being visible: Hats, shirts, buttons.
Actions
- Elena and Jerry
- Prepare article on Dix and supply to Jan Martell for Triangle Free Press. Due evening Monday 20 June.
- Elena
- Schedule meeting with Hart, Aimee, and Ed to discuss strategy for passage of HB88.
- Co-Chairs
- Coordinate action supporting the Elaine Brown campaign.
- Elena
- Contact Georgia Greens: what sort of help does the EB campaign want?
- Hart and Elena
- Draft a solidarity statement and press release for the Elaine Brown campaign.
- Amy
- Supply available contact information to new officers.
- Hart
- Contact members for donations.