Green Sunday (6/11): Public Banking – Here, There, and Everywhere!

Green Sunday, June 11th, 5:00 – 6:45 pm

In the last few months, articles, conversations, and proposed legislation about public banking have been cropping up all over. It seems sudden — if you aren’t one of the people who have been working for well over five years to plant the seeds.

Because the topic is so new to most people, reactions range from blank looks to confusion and misapprehension about what a public bank is, what it isn’t, and what it could be.

The three of us will cover many aspects of public banking, both potential and existing. To whet your interest, let’s just say that the Bank of North Dakota (the only currently-operating public bank in the country) has had fourteen consecutive years of profit, and that money is being reinvested in North Dakota, not funneled off to profiteers. For comparison, one reasonable estimate based on the relative sizes of North Dakota and Oakland is that an Oakland public bank could save the city $200,000 A DAY.

Come and learn more!

Craig Brandt is an attorney in the Bay Area who is deeply committed to the public bank movement. Recently featured in a public banking article in The Nation, Craig became a banking activist following the LIBOR scandal of 2015, which crystallized his opposition to Wall Street banking.

Christine McClintock has long been involved in the Green movement, from her time as an Environmental Extension Agent in the Peace Corps, stationed in Togo, West Africa, to her years as the Treasurer for the San Francisco Green Party, to her current role as a Financial and Compliance Analyst with the Sierra Club. She has been a part of the effort for the Public Bank of Oakland as well as Strike Debt Bay Area.

Debbie Notkin is a lifelong activist who veered away from public policy to feminist and body image issues in the 1980s and was pulled back by the energy of Occupy Wall Street in 2011. Since then, she has worked with Occupy Oakland Foreclosure Defense and Strike Debt Bay Area, as well as Friends of the Public Bank of Oakland, and is also working on bystander intervention projects.

WHEN: Sunday, June 11th, 5:00 pm
LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland
DIRECTIONS: One block north of Alcatraz on the West side of Telegraph, wheelchair accessible. Buses pass by regularly. Ashby BART is approximately 7 blocks away.

SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County and are held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County follows at 7 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested. Please visit our website: https://acgreens.wordpress.com/

Green Sunday: The Fight to Save Public Education in Oakland, with Mike Hutchinson

Green Sunday, May 14th, 5:00 – 6:45 pm

Public education is under attack both nationally and here in Oakland. Most of these attacks have been orchestrated by a small group of billionaires who have used their vast fortunes to leverage policy decisions that have decimated our schools. These policies are collectively referred to as “education reform”. The best known “education reform” is charter schools. Oakland had the highest rate of charter schools in California and is home to many of the leading advocates of education reform and school privatization.

We will talk briefly about the history of public education in Oakland, especially since the state takeover in 2003. The rest of our conversation will be focused on the current situation OUSD faces with the threat of a state takeover again looming, and ways we can resist and fight back. We must guarantee that we have quality public schools in every neighborhood.

Mike Hutchinson was born and raised in Oakland and is a proud graduate of the Oakland Public Schools. After working in our schools for 20 years, in 2012 he became a public education advocate. Since then he’s been working to save and fix public education in Oakland by any means necessary. He is currently working to build the organization he co-founded, OPEN: the Oakland Public Education Network, which is a founding member of the Journey For Justice national alliance, and the west coast anchor organization for the #WeChoose national campaign.

WHEN: Sunday, May 14th, 5:00 pm

LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland

DIRECTIONS: One block north of Alcatraz on the West side of Telegraph, wheelchair accessible. Buses pass by regularly. Ashby BART is approximately 7 blocks away.

SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. They are normally held on the 2nd Sunday of each month, but for March it will be on the 4th Sunday. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County normally follows at 7 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested. Please visit our website: https://acgreens.wordpress.com/

WEEK OF RESISTANCE FROM EARTH DAY TO MAY DAY

From Earth Day to May Day …and Beyond!

Friday April 21, 12 – 4 pm
Greenaction’s action at EPA Office
75 Hawthorne St. in San Francisco
http://greenaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/April-21-2017-Earth-Day-Action-for-Climate-Environmental-Justice2.pdf

Friday April 21, 6:30 – 9:30 pm
East Bay Climate Expo & Before the Flood Screening at Brower Center in Berkeley
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/east-bay-climate-action-expo-tickets-32421098378

Saturday April 22, 11 am rally with speakers
March for Science at 12:30 pm from Justin Herman Plaza to Civic Center, San Francisco
https://marchforsciencesf.com/

Sunday April 23 10 am – 5 pm
Earth Day Celebration at Gill Tract Community Farm at Marin and San Pablo Avenues, Albany
https://www.facebook.com/events/586274524898822/

Saturday April 29 – 11 am – 5 pm
Peoples Climate Movement-Bay Area — fair and rally at Lake Merritt amphitheater
http://bit.ly/peoplesmovementbayareaRSVP

Monday May 1 – 3 pm
Environmental Justice Contingent in the May Day March at Fruitvale Plaza to San Antonio Park, Oakland
https://www.facebook.com/events/1885901481694528/

Show up for the planet!
Show up for the future!

http://PeoplesClimateBayArea.org
http://Facebook.com/PeoplesClimateBayArea

Green Sunday (4/9): Plan of Operations and Budget

Green Sunday, April 9, 2017, 5:00 – 6:45 pm

Many good ideas were discussed at the November 13th, Green Sunday, “Welcoming the Next Generation of Greens – Rebrandiing the Green Party?”, and the subsequent follow up meetings. With the hope of implementing some of them, we are devoting the Green Sunday of April 9th for interested Greens to start the process of writing a “Plan of Operations” and, time permitting, a “Budget” for the coming one, two, and/or four years. While not binding, the plan is intended to be used as priorities, guidelines, and goals for the Green Party of Alameda County’s (GPAC’s) actions.

During the four year political cycle there are a number of things that come up and historically they include producing and distributing four Voter Guides, making endorsements (candidates and issues), fundraising, organizing Green Sundays etc. While none of them have to go into a plan, there should be a rationale if they aren’t included. Beyond that, this is how we can start implementing the ideas for getting GPAC moving. Please come and participate so your thoughts and ideas can be included in the GPAC plan.

Background (including old Plan proposals), subjects for consideration, a list of items for consideration, and ways to participate even if you can’t attend are at: “groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/green-plan”

WHEN: Sunday, April 9, 2017, 5:00 pm

LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland

DIRECTIONS: One block north of Alcatraz on the West side of Telegraph, wheelchair accessible. Buses pass by regularly. Ashby BART is approximately 7 blocks away.

SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. They are normally held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County normally follows at 7 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested. Please visit our website: https ://acgreens.wordpress.com/

Green Sunday 3/26: Emeryville Mayor Scott Donahue Registers Green!

Green Sunday, March 26, 2017, 5:00 – 6:45 pm

Special Green Sunday: Emeryville Mayor Scott Donahue Registers Green, and Report-Back on Mar. 11-12 state Green Party meeting

Emeryville Mayor Scott Donahue has decided to register Green at our next Green Sunday, on March 26 – please join us to celebrate! (Note: due to the March 11-12 state Green Party meeting, we didn’t hold Green Sunday this month on the second Sunday – instead, it will be held on the 4th Sunday of March).

Four years after graduating art school in Philadelphia, Scott discovered that Emeryville had an abundance of empty warehouse space, and he’s been in Emeryville ever since. He is a co-founder of the Emeryville Artist Cooperative, and is also an avid biker and longtime proponent of bikeability in Emeryville.

Scott was elected to the City Council in 2014, and became Mayor a few months ago. Scott will talk about why he’s decided to register Green, and about local Emeryville issues. In addition, we will also have a report-back about the March 11-12 state Green Party Meeting in Bakersfield, which was the best-attended state meeting in many years, with Jill Stein being the featured Saturday evening speaker.

WHEN: Sunday, March 26th, 5:00 pm

LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland

DIRECTIONS: One block north of Alcatraz on the West side of Telegraph, wheelchair accessible. Buses pass by regularly. Ashby BART is approximately 7 blocks away.

SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. They are normally held on the 2nd Sunday of each month, but for March it will be on the 4th Sunday. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County normally follows at 7 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested. Please visit our website: https://acgreens.wordpress.com/

Jill Stein Returns to the Bay Area Friday (March 10th)!

2016 Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein returns to the Bay Area this coming Friday

.

From 12 Noon until 2 pm, she’ll be speaking at UC Berkeley’s Anthony Hall (Pelican Building).  The title of her talk is: “Building Rebel Cities: Local Politics, Resistance, and Revolution in the Age of Trump”, which will address the, “progressive, people-powered uprising that is breaking out on the American political landscape, and the potential for local-scale coalitions and insurgent electoral campaigns to turn grassroots energy into political power of, by, and for the people”.  (More info is here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1072266356212149/ ).

.

At 4:30 pm, she and other Greens will be meeting at San Francisco’s Civic Center BART station, after which we’ll go as a group to join the allies contingent in the Native Nations March, which begins at the Federal Building ( 90 7th Street ) at 5:00 pm.  “Idle No More SF Bay and Tribal Nations in the west are in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous grassroots leaders who are calling on our allies across the United States and around the world to peacefully March for Native American rights on March 10th.  We ask that you rise in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples of the world whose rights protect Mother Earth for the future generations of all”.

(More info is here:  https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/02/25/18796819.php ).

.

Jill will also be in Davis on Thursday evening, and elsewhere in California over the next week.  For details on those events, please see:  http://www.jill2016.com/events

Green Sunday (2/12): David Cobb, on the “State of the Party and State of the World”

Green Sunday, February 12, 2017, 5:00 – 6:45 pm

David Cobb is a “people’s lawyer” who has sued corporate polluters, lobbied elected officials, and been arrested for non-violent civil disobedience. He was the Green Party nominee for Attorney General of Texas in 2002 and the Green Party nominee for President of the United States in 2004, and managed the Stein/Baraka campaign in 2016.

David will make a short presentation on the activities of the national Green Party and various Green chapters around the country, and the growing “Democracy Movement” developing in the United States, and facilitate a collective discussion about how Greens can help nurture and grow that movement, as well as the Green Party.

WHEN: Sunday, February 12th, 5:00 pm

LOCATION: Niebyl-Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. at 65th in North Oakland

DIRECTIONS: One block north of Alcatraz on the West side of Telegraph, wheelchair accessible. Buses pass by regularly. Ashby BART is approximately 7 blocks away.

SPONSOR: Green Sundays are a series of free programs & discussions sponsored by the Green Party of Alameda County. They are normally held on the 2nd Sunday of each month. The monthly business meeting of the County Council of the Green Party of Alameda County normally follows at 7 pm; council meetings are always open to anyone who is interested. Please visit our website: https://acgreens.wordpress.com/