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March 2011

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SFGP Greenzine: Sunday: GPCA GOALS & STRATEGIES for LONG-TERM PLANNING / Wed: Monthly Meeting
by Announcement list for SF Green Party, updated weekly 19 Mar '11

19 Mar '11

Greentings, We have a very special forum on Sunday to discuss the future of the GP in CA, and on Wednesday we have our Monthly Meeting... *GREEN PARTY OF CALIFORNIA GOALS AND STRATEGIES FOR LONG-TERM PLANNING* A Participatory Exercise *WHEN: Sunday, March 20th - 1 to 5 pm* WHO: Bay Area Greens San Mateo and Santa Clara Greens recently met to discuss Goals and Strategies. The information sent out to them in advance of their meeting appears below. This meeting is being hosted by San Francisco and Alameda Greens. Greens in all other parts of the Bay Area or the state are welcome to attend. Please forward to your Green lists. The results from this meeting will be brought before the GPCA spring plenary. *WHERE: The Women's Building, 3543 18th Street, San Francisco - Audre Lorde room* Between Valencia and Guerrero. Public transit within 4 Blocks - 16th Street BART station, #14, 22, 33 and 49 busses and the J-Church street car. WHY: GPCA needs to hear from you. What are your concerns? What would you like to see the Green Party accomplish in the coming years? What are you willing to do to make that happen? This room will seat up to 80 people. NEEDS: Some drinks and snacks would be nice. Please respond to barry(a)hermansons.com if you can bring something. The following text was written by Jim Stauffer. When you have a moment, it is worth reading. For me, it is an exciting time to be a Green. Corporate America is spending tens of millions of dollars trying to convince everyone that they are green. Everyone wants to be green. How can we take advantage of that? Dear Greens: The state party would like to engage county Locals in an exercise to help establish long-term goals for the party. By agreeing on a set of goals, we give the party definition and purpose. From those goals we develop strategies for their implementation. This creates projects for our Working Groups and Standing Committees, and it helps attract volunteers and donations. It?s important to be realistic when setting goals. Brainstorming exercises encourage free-thinking with no critique or analysis of suggested issues. Goal setting is different; it?s intended to derive projects that are achievable, not just desirable. We all have a list of favorite issues and a wish-list of what we?d like the party to be. But we must focus on what we can actually accomplish ? realistic goals. Locals are encourage to get together with neighboring counties for this exercise. Gathering into a group from a few counties helps the thought process. It gets us outside of our normal monthly meeting crowd and provides the synergy of a larger group. PROCESS Take notes of the goals discussed and rank or categorize them by the level of agreement or support. There is wiki that is (ostensibly) for posting comments. It?s not designed too well, but it can be used for submitting our comments. http://wiki.cagreens.org/index.php/GPCA_Strategic_Action_Plan DISCUSSION The state party wants to hear what Locals think our long-term goals should be. This requires some degree of open discussion, but the exercise must remain moderated by the theme of realistic goals. For every suggested goal, the presenter should have some idea of a strategy to implement that goal. Basically, the question to answer is, ?What should the GPCA accomplish in five years and in ten years?? Some organizing may help the discussion: Political Goals Partisan and non-partisan candidates Campaigns and ballot proposition Election reforms Internal / Party Goals Voter registration Developing county Locals Fundraising Internal structure and process REFERENCES State committee and working group people have been discussing this subject and have come up with their list of issues. These are being provided here just as a reference, they should not be used as guidance for your discussions. Its purpose is to provide input as to what volunteers at the state level see as our long-term issues. 1. Given the current recession and its detrimental effect on fundraising, should GPCA and its locals adopt a ?survival plan? until recovery is tangible (e.g. unemployment below 8%)? How would this affect all goals and strategies? 2. What are realistic voter registration goals? What attracts people to a small party? What caused the California Green registration decline of the past six years, can it be reversed? 3. Given that we have less than 1% of registered voters, what are realistic electoral strategies for a party of our size? Do we continue attempts in partisan races or focus on non-partisan races? Is there a realistic strategy for winning partisan races? 4. How do we recruit/develop electable candidates for non-partisan offices? 5. Does Prop 14 provide any potential to us? 6. Should we make a real, concerted effort to promote ranked-choice voting (i.e. Instant Runoff Voting and proportional representation)? 7. The GPCA?s decentralized structure and consensus-seeking decision process is an experiment that we?ve carried on for 20 years. Is it working well enough? Is there a good balance of responsibilities between the state party and the county parties? Should we examine giving more authority over internal business to the state party? 8. Is continuing to rely solely on volunteer labor a viable plan for growth? 9. What factors have created viable, stable Locals? What factors have caused Locals to deteriorate? 10. What resources do Locals need from the state party? What resources does the state party need from Locals? Contact Barry (barry(a)hermansons.com or 415-664-7754) with any questions or comments. ================== *Monthly Meeting- March 23rd, 7-8:45* *Western Addition library (1550 Scott St @ Geary), in the community meeting room.* *Agenda* Beginning at 7:00 sharp, because we must clear the building at 8:45 7:00 pm: Introductions 7:05 - 7:20: SF Garbage contract - Barbara Commins 7:20 - 7:50: Twitter tax break - Ramses Teon Nichols 7:50 - 8:30: Anti-privatization discussion. Meet other groups involved in efforts to stop privatization of City parks and public spaces - Eric Brooks 8:30- 8:45: Future directions. Plan public forum? All our meetings are open to the public and new members are most welcome! ================== *Resist the War Machine, March 19 in San Francisco* Come rain or shine, the rally will start & go at the UN Plaza from 12-1:30, then march to the Westin St. Francis Hotel in Union Square. The Rally will be in commemoration of the 8th Anniversary of the Iraqi invasion and the march will be in conjunction with Local 2 and other labor groups and unions. This is a great opportunity to show solidarity with the anti-war movement, especially in light of the North Africa/Middle East uprisings; and with Labor in support of the Hotel workers and the struggle of public workers in Wisconsin, California and all over the US. http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/mar-19-san-francisco-resist-the-war-mac… ================ *While we work out the final touches on our new website please join us over at our Facebook Group*: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62534706497&v=wall Contact: email cc(a)sfgreens.org, or phone 415-480-GPSF (480-4773). Mail (and donations by check) can be sent to: * San Francisco Green Party 288 Onondaga Ave, #4 San Francisco, CA 94112*

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