[SFGP] SF Green Party Newsletter: Financial SOS!

Tue Aug 11 01:20:27 PDT 2009

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 at sfgreens.org.

--------------------------------------

NEWS
---------

Rally and Resolution Support Iran's Reformers
http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2009/06/rally_and_resolution_support_i.html

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-fundraiser-draws-congregation-of-san-francisco-supporters/

Happy Birthday, Supervisor Mirkarimi
http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2009/08/05/ruse-lures-mirkarimi-to-surprise-birthday-celebration/

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 ).
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