An afternoon with Kimberly Ellis

         2:00-4:00 Saturday, August 12

          215 Gharkey Street, Santa Cruz 

  Who is Kimberly Ellis?

 

   The Sacramento Bee calls her: "the most powerful unelected person in California Democratic politics"*

 

Former Executive Director of Emerge California, Ellis challenged the front-runner Eric Bauman for chair of the California Democratic Party and lost by a very narrow margin of 62 votes. We haven't heard the last of her, yet.

In her own words, "My philosophy is that politics should be used to help others and do good. That it is a privilege and an honor to be an elected official. That if you are a Democratic elected official in…

Housing negotiations move ahead in the Assembly
Ben Adler; Creative Commons
Wednesday, August 2, 2017 | Sacramento, CA

After years of inaction, the political will may finally exist to address California's sky-high housing costs.

California lawmakers are on summer recess right now, but while they're away, Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders are putting the finishing touches on a package of bills to address the state's housing crisis.

The governor, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) and Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) have vowed to act on housing legislation right after summer recess, with a three-pronged deal:

·         a housing bond on the November 2018 ballot

·    &…

 

A State Bank can...

• provide funding for public infrastructure, and housing for low-income and the homeless at low interest rates.
• divest our state and local treasuries from fossil fuel & pipeline investing private banks.
• respond to state & local financial woes by providing low-interest loans.
• provide a safe place for banking cannabis cash that is currently prohibited by the federal government from depositing earnings into private banks.

How it Works

• the already existing CA Infrastructure Bank can be expanded into a depository bank.
• all state funds & assets are deposited in the State bank.
• CA municipalities can deposit their funds in the State bank instead of private banks.
• low interest rates are charged with all profits returned to the State.
• acts as a "mini-Fed" …

 A Proposal by the Warming Center Program

Goal of Project: To directly address many of the unmet needs of street homelessness and raise the baseline experience of everyone who sleeps outside and in automobiles

Rationale and Description:  One of the most immediately pressing needs of people who sleep outside is the need for safe storage of personal belongings. Bedding must be carried throughout the day, and daypacks are vulnerable as people sleep.

The Warming Center is stepping forward to meet recommendations 6 & 7 of the City Council's Homelessness Coordinating Committee's 20 Recommendations by proposing a de facto, pop-up homeless services center to be anchored around a steel shipping container. This container will open for two hours in the morning and two h…

 

PDC Meeting Wednesday 9/20

6:30 at Democratic Headquarters

740 Front Street - groundfloor of the Galleria

Agenda

What's next with our priorities:

• LGBTQ event
• community calendar
• progressive directory
• rent control
• state bank

Update on Affordable Housing Now!

Announcements of upcoming events

Did you know that PDC has a Facebook page? It has articles on topics of interest to PDC members, such as healthcare; climate-change; affordable housing; and politics at the local, state, and federal levels. If you're a Facebook member, click People's Democratic Club on Facebook. If you're not yet on Facebook, go to facebook.com and register with minimal information requested, then search for the club name in the Facebook search box, or return here and click on the link.

 

At prior retreats we have focused on PDC initiated campaigns; i.e., initiating affordable housing action, organizing PDC sponsored candidate forums and electing progressive candidates to municipal and county offices in 2014 and 2016, developing a local finance reform campaign, developing a community activist calendar, establishing and growing a progressive activist network, and others.

This year, at our July retreat, we chose instead to learn about campaigns already in progress that we can support and collaborate with.  The four groups reporting were:

• WILPF:  campaign for a public bank (state or local).
• SC4B:  campaign for affordable housing as a prime issue for the local races in 2018.
• Santa Cruz Tenants Association: an education and advocacy c…

Winner of the Richmond Battle with Big-Oil

Featured speaker will be Gayle McLaughlin, current Councilmember and former Mayor of Richmond, CA who led the successful campaign to get the town's Chevron refinery to contribute to civic benefits and has championed many other progressive initiatives. The Nation called her fearless.

Her goals for lieutenant governor are "putting people first, organizing corporate-free local groups throughout the state, and giving the voters the choice of a corporate-free candidate" according to an article in the East Bay Times.

Tue Sep 12, 6pm
Live Oak Grange
1900 17th Ave, Santa Cruz.

Ro Khanna (D-CA 17th Congressional District) and Nina Turner (D-OH former state senator of Ohio) spoke on a panel on CNN's State of the Union program (Aug 6 2017) regarding the possible candidacy of Kamala Harris (D-CA current junior US senator from California) versus the possible candidacy of Bernie Sanders (I-VT current junior US senator from Vermont) to be the Democratic Party's candidate for US President in 2020.

From Physicians for a National Health Program - California Chapter (Aug 28, 2017):

Single payer's opponents, both in and outside the legislature, are playing politics. The reality is that, at the time SB 562's progress was obstructed, amendments were already waiting for consideration, including financing provisions based on a landmark economic analysis released at the end of May (see https://theintercept.com/?/pollin-why-single-payer-now-is-?/).