March 19 GREENZINE SF Green Party Weekly News and Events www.sfgreenparty.org twitter.com/sfgreenparty mastodon.sfgreens.org/@sfgreenparty www.facebook.com/groups/SFGreenParty/ Dear Greens, Due to the Plague of Trump (aka the coronavirus pandemic), we will not be holding our regular monthly meeting this March. The County Council met last night using Zoom, and decided that because so many of our active members have unreliable internet access (especially with our public libraries closed), it wouldn't be possible to hold a coherent discussion online using a videoconferencing method like Zoom at our regular meeting time next Wednesday. However, we have an email list for discussions between active members, and we encourage members who would have joined us at our monthly meeting next week to join discussions there instead. Some of the things we need to discuss are: * Many Greens temporarily registered as Democrats in order to support Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren in the primary. How can we convince them to rejoin the Green Party using https://registertovote.ca.gov/ ? * With Joe Biden as the Democrats' apparent nominee, what outreach can we do with Sanders and Warren supporters to convince them to #DemExit, join the Greens, and continue to work towards their goals? * Because of the virus, we are unable to do our usual voter outreach at places like farmers markets and Sunday Streets. This means that asking for signatures to get parts of our Green New Deal (such as the Community Housing Act; see others here: http://sfgreenparty.org/issues/92-a-green-new-deal-for-san-francisco) on the ballot will be impossible for the forseeable future. What are our alternatives? * While we are on lockdown, we can work on outreach materials. We have a draft of a new "Universal Health Care" postcard, and are working on postcards about the Green New Deal and Uber/Lyft. We are also finalizing a legislative scorecard for how the Board of Supervisors did in 2019. * For the duration of this lockdown (possibly months), how can our active membership communicate effectively with each other? Is there anything significantly better than email that doesn't have the technological barriers to using tools like Zoom? If you'd like to join our conversation online, please email cc@sfgreens.org with your name and contact info, and also please remind us if you've been to a meeting before. If you are unable to join us but still want to follow what's going on, you can call Barry Hermanson at 415-255-9494. *===========================* If you're looking for ways to help your fellow San Franciscans during this crisis, the SF Food Bank needs volunteers! Load up your car and bring groceries on a weekly basis to homebound recipients. Right now they have an urgent need for help, because many people who are most at risk during this pandemic (people over 60 years old, and those suffering from other health problems) are unable to leave their homes without great risk. See details here: https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/volunteer/ *===========================* Several Greens have written articles about the pandemic and other topics: Former vice-presidential candidate Cheri Honkala (still an outstanding Green Party activist) writes about how the pandemic is affecting her community: https://www.blackagendareport.com/virus-or-no-virus-we-cant-lose-our-voice-c... East Bay Green Ann Garrison wrote an open letter to KPFA about the right-wing bias on their morning shows. It appears that KPFA has quarantined a large number of Democratic Party hacks in their studios, where they continue to dominate the airwaves: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/03/15/18831549.php *===========================* If you're a KPFA member, TODAY (3/19) is the last day to vote in the Pacifica bylaws election. If you're a KPFA subscriber, you should have already received a ballot asking you to approve or reject a replacement set of bylaws for the Pacifica Foundation, KPFA’s parent organization. Please vote, and vote NO on this poorly-thought-out plan! (Voting in this election will only take a minute: there are no candidates to select, only one yes-or-no ballot proposition). Bay Area Greens have unanimously endorsed a NO vote. The deadline for e-voting is tonight at 9 pm. *===========================* To submit events for our newsletter, please email a short blurb to news@sfgreens.org. Messages to a mailing list will be rejected.