Hello Fellow Greens, It has been a few weeks, but we want to thank everyone who came to the fundraiser for NYC Green Mayoral Candidate Rev. Billy! It was quite a fun and successful event! You can learn more about Reverend Billy here: http://www.revbilly.com/. *Financial SOS! Help us through the slump and help us improve our effectiveness, become a green party sustainer or send a crucial one-time donation today!* We are currently suffering a severe decline in donations since the onset of the recession and probably also due to the unrealistic widespread impression among much of the public that Obama will magically solve all of our problems. *As a result we can no longer afford to pay rent and will have to abandon our office.* We have exhausted our reserves and had to scrape together enough to cover the gap between donations and rent for the past few months, so when our lease is up in October we will be moving out, but we still need to raise the next couple months' rent. *We want to look at this as a positive step towards better things though.* The office has not been ideal for us for a long time due to its location which results in a lack of use most of the time. At this point we think we'll be better off without an office for a limited period while we look for a better fit and save the money we'd spend on rent more efficiently. We plan to use the limited level of continuing donations on efforts we hope will be more productive in building the party and increasing our political strength. *There has never been a better time to build a strong Green Party* because we have the opportunity to push a less hostile moderate administration (Obama) in a progressive direction while always being ready to provide concrete progressive solutions when neither major party has any to offer. Without this pressure he will be much more willing and able to do the bidding of special interests and corporate lobbyists. *Please show your support and give us the financial encouragement we need to improve on our past successes and become the true force for change the San Francisco Green Party will be in the years to come. The time is now!* *http://www.sfgreenparty.org/makeadonation/makeadonation.html* As you may already know, the SFGP is supported by our wonderful sustaining donors. We need to greatly increase the number of sustainers, and you can help us achieve our goal by signing up to make a regular contribution to the Green Party. As a sustainer, we will add you to our list of donors who make recurring credit/debit card contributions averaging $10 per person per month. Our sustainer program pays most of our basic monthly operating expenses including rent and utilities on the office, and drastically reduces the amount of work needed to raise money thereby *freeing us up to do what we're really here for - to pursue Green values through the democratic system.*Because of sustainers we were able to have our office, which hosted numerous campaigns' headquarters including the successful Prop A, Instant Runoff Voting initiative. You can become a sustaining member or call (415)-701-7090 for more info or to become a sustainer. *If you already are a sustainer, thank you very much*, you must realize how important your contributions are to us. Please consider increasing the amount of your donation so we can continue to achieve our goals and elect more thoughtful, independent and progressive leaders. If you would prefer, you can also make a one-time donation - every bit helps! *http://www.sfgreenparty.org/makeadonation/makeadonation.html* -------------------------------------- Happy be-lated Birthday to Green Party Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who got a surprise party at City Hall on Tuesday! Ross was instrumental in organizing a huge rally on Saturday July 25 to support democracy and human rights in Iran. Special thanks to Rich Stone and Razzu Engen for their hard work doing outreach for the Green Party at the event. See coverage of the event, as well as Ross' article on the situation in Iran, in the news section. Our fellow Greens from across the bay are asking for urgent help with a campaign. See more information in Action Alerts below. Many Greens are also organizing through social networking. A good place for this is GreenChange.org, which is run with the help of Marin Green Marnie Glickman. You can find Green Change and Marnie Glickman on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/GreenChangeorg/108560305514?ref=nf. Our SFGP Facebook Group is here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=62534706497 If you Twitter, you can follow the Green Party of the United States on Twitter at twitter.com/gpus. Feel free to submit any feedback or ideas to us at news@sfgreens.org. -------------------------------------- NEWS --------- Rally and Resolution Support Iran's Reformers http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2009/06/rally_and_resolution_support_i.ht... Thousands Protest Iran Vote in San Francisco http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/26/BAES18V69H.DTL Reverend Billy Fundraiser http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/07/22/reverend-billy-talen-fund... Happy Birthday, Supervisor Mirkarimi http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/08/05/ruse-lures-mirkarimi-to-s... Nader Was Right: Liberals are Going Nowhere With Obama http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/08/10-2 -------------------------------------- ACTION ALERT: We urgently need your help on a very short 3-week referendum campaign which affects all of us in the Berkeley-Oakland area, and beyond. The Berkeley City Council, on a 7-2 vote, recently approved a very inadequate Downtown Area Plan, which allows a number of very tall, dense buildings (some up to 225 feet, about 20 stories) to be built in the core downtown area. Appropriate mitigations and benefits, such as affordable housing, Green building standards, open space, and more, have incredibly been left undefined. And an intensive, comprehensive public process, over an almost two year period (with Council blessing and appointments), was entirely ignored by the City Council in their final vote and approval. For more info, please see: www.greendowntownberkeley.org We cannot allow for this corporate giveaway to the developers to go forward. Therefore, we need to hold a referendum to stop this flawed plan. By law, referendum campaigns are only 30 days long -- so we must now gather over 8,400 signatures in the remaining 3 weeks! (Per a recent court ruling, all California registered voters are now allowed to help gather signatures on local California referendum campaigns). The referendum has been endorsed by the Green Party of Alameda County and by local elected officials and community activists, including John Selawsky, Lisa Stephens, Jesse Arreguin, Kriss Worthington, Pam Webster, and Jesse Townley. We are currently coordinating the campaign out of the Green Party office at 2022 Blake St. (just west of Shattuck), and 8 blocks north of the Ashby BART station. Please volunteer as soon as possible, to help us gather signatures! In particular, we are hoping to have large mobilizations on Saturdays at 9:30 and 11:30 am (Aug. 8, 15 & 22), and on Sundays at 10:30 am (Aug. 9, 16, & 23) -- (although we'll be at the office from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm on those 3 Saturdays and from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm on those 3 Sundays). Please contact Mary Gomez at (707) 718-4297 (cell) as soon as you possibly can, to volunteer! Finally, if you can make a donation, please send it (ASAP) to: Alliance for a Green and Liveable Downtown ("AFGALD"), 1912 Blake St., Berkeley, CA 94704 (or you can use PayPal at: http://greendowntownberkeley.org/?page_id=5 ).