UNOFFICIAL MINUTES
SUBJECT TO REVISION
Monroe County Green Party General Meeting
7:00pm, Tuesday, November 20, 2001
Bloomington Environmental Center
116 ½ S. College Ave.
Facilitator: Peter Drake
Scribe: Chris Stafford
Attendance (13 people):
Chris Stafford, Eric White, Isabel Piedmont, Larry Meehan, Julie Roberts, Craig Harvey, Lincoln Merchant, David Ploskonka, Peter Drake, Heather Drake, Rebecca Riall, Jeff Melton, Amanda Stevens
The meeting was called to order at 7:04.
Introductions were made.
The Minutes from 11/6 were approved.
The agenda was approved.
NOTE: In the interest of saving time, Peter had most of the coordinator and working group reports submitted ahead of time, compiled them into a single document, and distributed this with the agenda. Because it's still part of the meeting, that document is included here:
ANNOUNCEMENTS & REPORTS
Announcements:
Dec. 17 is MCGP nominating convention, 7 pm, Drakes' house (342 S. Madison)
Jan. 15 is the nonviolence forum, speakers and exact location TBA.
Sign-up sheets:
Peace Camp
Secretary (Chris Stafford):
Database contains 505 people (I guess I estimated a little high last meeting). 45 of these are full members, the rest are supporting.
Technology (Larry Meehan):
No report
Green Party Liaison (Steps to Freedom)
Campus Greens (Chris Sapp):
No report
Media (Jeff Melton):
A preliminary version of my campaign Web site (Melton for Congress 2002, http://melton.MonroeGreens.org) is now on-line. Several antiwar letters to the editor and radio commentaries by Green Party members have recently appeared locally. Members with reports about media coverage we have received that I might not have heard about are encouraged to e-mail me so I can include them in the written reports.
Newsletter (Heather Drake):
The November 2001 issue was mailed on Monday, November 19 to about 300 people. It should arrive in your mailboxes soon. Thanks to everyone who contributed content and helped out with the editing and folding.
Shadow Government:
City Council (Isabel Piedmont):
The City Council annexed two areas, the Arlington Place/Cascades Heights Area on the northwest site and the Grandview Backyards Area on the southeast side of town. (The latter is totally surrounded by the city.) The Council also approved an appropriation of $200,000 to fund the pursuit of federal grants to convert the CSX switchyard in the McDoel neighborhood into a greenway/alternative transportation path. The $200,000 will fund lobbyists and lawyers to appeal to federal officials for funding to undertake the project.
Ecological Wisdom (Isabel Piedmont): No report
Nonviolence (Jeff Melton): No report
Grassroots Democracy (Peter Drake): No report
Living Wage Coalition (Heather Drake):
At the first meeting, about 20 people heard from an Indianapolis representative who spoke about the campaign up there. After about 18 months of work, their ordinance is almost ready for passing.
No particular actions were taken at the meeting. The best targets for any living wage campaigns were identified as City of Bloomington and Indiana University. The importance of building a broad coalition, including in particular the faith community, was emphasized.
Everyone present was tasked with thinking about other groups that they might bring in to the a nascent coalition for Monroe County.
In addition to this submitted document, several announcements and reports were made:
Isabel announced that there will be an "Indiana State Forest Protection Campaign" on December 9th, at 2pm, at the Bloomington Environmental Center. Folks who are interested should contact Kara Reagan at 332-4878.
Amanda announced that the Mexican Student Association was holding an educational event on Sunday December 2nd.
Eric announced that on Saturday, December 1, the Bloomington Peace Action Coalition will dedicate a peace shrine memorial for all victims, but especially those in New York, Washington D.C., and Afghanistan.
Jeff announced that the Indianapolis Star ran a "horrible" article regarding the Peace Camp on Dunn Meadow
Treasury Report: Craig reported that there was $220 more than was announced at the previous meeting, and $15.36 in petty cash.
Election Committee: Craig reported that the Election Committee focused on issues of Ecological Wisdom at the previous meeting.
Old Business:
Canvassing Coordinator: Julie described the position and duties, but nobody volunteered to fill the slot.
Nominating Convention:
Peter said that even though there would probably be very little controversy at this year's Nominating
Convention, MCGP should still set a precedent to figure out all the formalities as soon as possible. Many felt that since such a large quorum would be required to finish the vote, it would definitely have to be continued via email and telephone. Eric asked whether one was allowed to vote to nominate a candidate who's in other districts or precincts. The group agreed that while this might be a problem in the future, right now it was impractical because there'd be so few people voting. Isabel said that the main role of the Elections Committee was to provide a potential platform for the candidates. Someone asked whether it was possible to show up to the Nominating Convention, pay the full membership dues (which are only five dollars for the rest of the calendar year), and still be able to vote. Many agreed this could be a problem, if people only signed up to be full members for the last month of the year. After several different ideas were discussed about how to solve this problem, a proposal was made that anybody who signs up to be a full member in the last quarter of
the calendar year pays a full membership fee of $25, covering the last quarter of the current year, and the full following year.
Adopt-A-Road:
Isabel set the date for Sunday, December 2, 10am. Meet at Isabel's House. Craig agreed to get the supplies from the city.
New Business:
New Bumper Stickers: Peter said that our supply of bumper stickers was getting low, and he proposed purchasing 100 Green Party bumper stickers and 100 Bike stickers. The estimated cost is $77 plus any shipping and handling. The group approved this purchase with no objections or calls for a formal vote.
IGP T-shirt: Isabel showed everybody the new Indiana Green Party T-shirt, and asked if anybody was interested in purchasing one. She passed around a sign-up sheet.
New Year's Eve Party: Peter and Heather will be hosting a party on New Year's Eve, not only to celebrate the new year, but also to get a jump start on the petition-signing for any MCGP candidates (Jan. 1 is when the petitions can be started.)
Pakistani Refugee Camp donations: Amanda said she and several others are trying to raise money for a Pakistani Refugee Camp. She discussed the details and passed around a sign-up sheet for people who were interested in donating.
Coordinating Council Meeting: Set for 7pm on Tuesday, November 27 at Chris Stafford's house, at 708 S. Washington St.
Craig agreed to facilitate the next meeting.
Everybody reviewed their commitments, and the following two announcements were made:
The meeting was adjourned at 7:58pm, a new world record.