ORGANIZING NOTES
October 1, 2024
|
Mass. Legislators Can’t Pass Legislation They Agree On!
Fails to Take Action on Private Jet Expansion – What’s Next?
|
Lost in all the attention paid to the recent failure of the Massachusetts legislature to agree on climate legislation was its failure to pass legislation that they DID agree on! While both the House and Senate agreed on versions of legislation that would have required MassPort to consider climate impacts when deciding on any project (including the proposed expansion of Hanscom Field,) they failed to put a bill on the Governor’s desk.
Private jet traffic emits more carbon per traveler than any form of transportation, and MassPort is currently considering a massive expansion of private jet capacity at Hanscom field. So massive that if approved it will negate a decade’s worth of progress in reducing climate change causing carbon emissions.
What’s next for the campaign to prevent expansion of Hanscom? To find out, join our allies at Stop Private Jet Expansion for a webinar this Thursday, September 19th @ 7pm, for a report on of what has been accomplished and what the next steps are. You might hear some surprises! Register here.
|
Billboards Galore in Franklin County!
|
FCCPR purchased billboard space for September/October in Greenfield, MA, to educate about Project 2025. It says “Republican’s Project 2025 will take away your rights. Vote for freedom on November 5” and has a graphic of a gagged and blindfolded Statue of Liberty (see attached). We also wanted to support billboards in a swing state.
In mid-August, a member of FCCPR visiting Northern Michigan connected with a group of progressives through conversations with John D. and Carleton K., co-leaders of Traverse Indivisible. She offered support from Massachusetts to contribute to the cost of them putting up billboards in that quite conservative region. Inspired by FCCPR, they have purchased billboard space starting Oct. 3 in two locations. Theirs say “A FEDERAL BAN ON ABORTION? IT’S POSSIBLE. VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS.” (see attached.). Traverse City, a tourist mecca, has service workers (many are women) driving in from outlying towns. The billboards will be up in great locations, seen by many thousands of these commuters.
FCCPR raised the funding for the Massachusetts and Michigan billboards through a two-week online auction of artwork donated by Franklin County artists.
STATE AUDITOR VISIT TO GREENFIELD
State Auditor Diana DiZoglio is attending FCCPR’s General Assembly on October 16, 7pm, at the Guiding Star Grange in Greenfield. The event is open to everyone and we are publicizing the event through leafletting at grocery stores, farmers markets, and fairs.
FCCPR supports a “yes” vote on Question 1 on the Nov. 5 ballot to authorize the state auditor to audit the MA Legislature. The Speaker of the MA House and the President of the MA Senate have both refused to allow an audit. Some legislators have said an audit of the Legislature would violate legislative and executive separation of powers principles. However, as stated by Auditor DiZoglio, the State Auditor is not an appointee or a creature of statute; but rather a constitutional officer directly elected by, and responsible for representing the will of the people of the Commonwealth. She points to at least 113 past audits of the Legislature, beginning with the Office of the State Auditor’s inception in 1849 through the enabling statute, M.G.L. c. 11, § 12.
So now the question will be decided by the voters.
YARD SIGNS
FCCPR designed and printed yard signs (see attached) we have been distributing around the county at our tables set up at fairs, other events, and through outreach in our newsletter. The cost is $10 each, but we also give them away or accept what contribution people can afford.
|
Community Land Trusts Discussion, Part 2
|
Garret: How are the lives of the residents organized? For instance, in most public housing, government bodies control people’s lives, even when there are tenant councils.
Martin: There’s a spectrum of how they operate. Some are very community-oriented, ensuring their residents that they not only can be elected to the governing board but are involved in the day-to-day operations of a democratic structure. Recently, in Massachusetts, residents of several CLTs adopted a sociocratic structure that rests on consensual, democratic decision-making. It is based on Quaker learnings and self-learning horizontal rather than hierarchical systems of organization. It is based on aiming to reach a consensus when making decisions.
Garrett: What are some active projects in the Community Land Trust movement?
Martin:: There are so manythings happening, it’s really an amazing time. The residents of Valley CLT, in concert with a resident Valley Housing Cooperative and a local builder in Greenfield just agreed to purchase 32 acres for more housing and then raised the money through the community and in-network funders. There are 4 units there already, under democratic community control, with funding and plans to build 20+ tiny homes
Garret: That sounds wonderful. Who wouldn’t want this? Well, you can imagine a few character types that might not. But most people would want something like this, right? But we don’t have it. What are the obstacles? The obvious one that comes to my mind is, how people get the money to buy the land.
Martin: Groups find advisors, CLT-promoting organizations, and the State; all can provide guidance and in some cases actual aid. CLTs work with governmental agencies, community groups, nonprofits, as well as builders and banks. We try to get help from each of these four sectors because people and businesses are recognizing that infinitely expanding commoditized home prices are a detriment to commercial productivity and community resiliency. A good number of people want to donate their homes and lands to a project like this too, so having an organization that can say “Yes” to those donations is crucial. This is an expanding movement with about 350 CLTs nationwide and more every month. CLTs can help make a thriving America, a thriving Massachusetts!
(You can find part one on the ORMA Webpage in ON # 41)
Massachusetts CLTs , Massachusetts Land Trust Alliance
Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative
An Introduction to CLTS; Somerville CLT
|
On September 18 Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he will introduce Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block the latest notified arms transfers worth greater than $20 billion to Israel. Tell our Senators and Representatives to support Senator Sanders to block the transfer of weapons that are being used in the mass slaughter of civilians in Gaza. Send Your Email!
|
Last week Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chair of the Senate Housing, Transportation and Community Development Subcommittee, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) introduced a bill, The Homes Act of 2024; S. 5078, that would make a historic and long overdue investment in our housing supply. The bill would help build and preserve as many as 1.3 million homes nationwide. It would:
-
Acquire and develop real estate to create and maintain a stock of permanent, sustainable, affordable housing, including single- and multi-family housing, with robust tenant protections.
-
Finance real estate acquisition or conveying property to public housing authorities, mission-driven nonprofits, tenant- or resident-owned cooperatives, state or local governments, and community land trusts.
-
Provide workers who construct the new housing with strong labor protections
-
Provide tenants with a first option to purchase their buildings before large, for-profit developers buy them.
Authorize $30 billion in annual appropriations, combined with a revolving loan fund to recoup and reinvest funds into housing.
|
If you would like to work with ORMA Members on
- Climate Change
- Community-Based Alternative Emergency Response Teams
- Ranked-Choice Voting
- Housing For All
|
ORMA depends on your support to continue Bernie’s Political Revolution to create a society, a politics, and an economy that works for everyone, not just billionaires, corporations and the political elite.
If you value Organizing Notes and its twice a month distribution schedule, please make a donation to ensure its continued existence.
Invest in Change Now!
|
Please send requests for action items, articles or upcoming events
for the next Organizing Notes to
beccobrien.orma@gmail.com by Thursday, October 11th.
We’d love to have you send us your favorite pictures of Bernie here in MA!
|
Campaigns End, Movements Endure
|
|
