CNY Solidarity Coalition members and supporters:
Great to see so many of you again yesterday. Thanks as always to All Saints/Bishop Harrison Center for hosting. For those who weren’t there, we spent a good bit of time discussing principles of consensus-based decision-making. Peter read a quote from Douglas Steere about this; many of us were struck by it, so I’ve pasted it at the bottom of this message.
Below please find the weekly action alert message from our legislative action team. We’ve got a heavy focus on state legislative issues this week, but rest assured, we’re still watching Katko, Schumer, and Gillibrand as well. We do our best to keep the information here as current as possible, but as events unfold, we’ll post any necessary updates to the CNY Solidarity Coalition website, along with the various social media channels linked at the bottom of this message.
Monday (Mar. 13)
Following up on the great People’s March for Education Justice on March 4, please call your state senator and demand that he/she fight for the Foundation Aid that is owed to school districts across New York State, including over $46 million for the Syracuse City School District. Most CNY Solidarity members are represented by State Senator Dave Valesky (315-478-8745) or John DeFrancisco (315-428-7632), but if you’re not sure whose district you’re in, click here and enter your address to find out. If you want a script, try this: “Hi, my name is__________ and I live in____________ . I’m calling to demand Senator _______ fight for full and fair funding for our public schools. The Syracuse City School District is OWED $46.3 million in Foundation Aid. We need you to make sure the Senate Majority’s one-house budget includes a three year phase-in of the Foundation Aid owed to our schools. If you truly support our public schools you should only vote for a budget that commits to fully funding our schools. Now more than ever we need you to help make equitable funding a reality.” In addition to weighing in with your own views, ask about your senator’s views on this issue; if you don’t get an adequate response, leave your name and number and ask for a call back. Finally, please contactmaureen.curtin@oswego.edu after your call and provide a brief report (whom did you speak with, what did he/she say, etc.).
Tuesday (Mar. 14)
In preparation for Saturday’s Town Hall (the first in a series, with more details below), please distribute this flyer to any group email list you have access to and print a few and post them in your neighborhood.
Also, turning our attention to the federal level, please call Rep. Katko’s office and urge him to oppose HR 637 (the “Stopping EPA Overreach Act of 2017”), which would prevent EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. The bill was introduced in the House on Jan. 24 and referred to four committees for consideration, including the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, on which Katko sits. Katko’s numbers are 315-423-5657 (Syracuse), 315-253-4068 (Auburn), or 202-225-3701 (DC). Click here for more details on the bill, and to monitor its progress.
Wednesday (Mar. 15)
By today, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) should have released its “score” on the Republican ACA repeal bill (i.e., its estimate of the bill’s impact on insurance rates and on the federal budget), so we’d like everyone to make an additional push to persuade Rep. Katko that the replacement bill is unacceptable. We’ll post updates on the CBO score to the CNY Solidarity website and the @IndivisibleNY24 Twitter account. In the meantime, if you click on this document and page down to p. 301, you’ll see some detailed info on TrumpCare’s impact on residents of the NY 24th district. Despite the numbers you’ll see there, this recent update lists Katko’s position on the bill as “equivocal.” Please call today and urge him to get off the fence and come out definitively against TrumpCare. Katko’s numbers are 315-423-5657 (Syracuse), 315-253-4068 (Auburn), or 202-225-3701 (DC).
Thursday (Mar. 16)
Returning to this week’s state legislative focus, several recommended actions today:
- New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has joined the lawsuit of other state attorneys general against the Trump regime’s new Muslim travel ban, which is scheduled to take effect today. Please call your State Senator and Assembly Member to urge them to publicly express their support for AG Schneiderman’s actions. Please call AG Schneiderman’s office to express your support for his defense of our Muslim sisters and brothers. Please write to the Post Standard to express your support for overturning the Trump-Pence-Ryan regime’s unlawful and unconstitutional executive orders targeting Muslims worldwide and immigrants in our nation. Most CNY Solidarity members are represented in the State Senate by David Valesky (315-478-8745) or John DeFrancisco (315-428-7632) and in the State Assembly by William Magnarelli (315-428-9651), Pamela Hunter (315-449-9536), or Al Stirpe (315-452-1115). If you’re not sure who your state legislators are, click here and enter your address to find out. To contact AG Schneiderman, please call 800-771-7755. To send a comment to the Syracuse Post Standard Readers’ Page, emailletters@syracuse.com and put “Letters” in the subject heading, plus provide your name, address, and phone number.
- We have a meeting scheduled with Al Stirpe for 1pm at his district office, 7293 Buckley Rd, Suite 201 (across from Hafner’s). We will meet in advance at 12:30 at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Taft Rd., unless there’s a better place to meet (at Hafner’s?). We have 6 RSVPs so far, but there’s room for 16 people, and we’re particularly looking for folks from Stirpe’s district. If you can make it, please RSVP to Jonah Minkoff-Zern jzern@citizen.org and Paul Weichselbaum canela8800@gmail.com.
- Bill Magnarelli has “community information nights” on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8 PM. On 3/16, the event will take place at Geddes Town Hall, 1000 Woods Rd.
Friday (Mar. 17)
Sticking with our state legislative focus, if you have not done so already, please call and write your state senator to sponsor the NY Health Act. Again, most of us are represented by State Senator David Valesky (315-478-8745, valesky@nysenate.gov) or John DeFrancisco (315-428-7632, jdefranc@nysenate.gov), but if you’re not sure, click here and enter your address to find out. While you’re at it, please sign up for Health care Lobby Day in Albany on Apr 4th: http://www.nyhcampaign.org/lobbyday2017 and/or to join the healthcare forum scheduled for First UU Church in Syracuse on March 25th, 1 pm: http://www.nyhcampaign.org/community_health_care_forum_syr_32517
Saturday (Mar. 18)
From 3-5pm, we’re holding a Town Hall Meeting on Preserving Democracy at Nottingham High School, 3100 E. Genesee St. in Syracuse. Representative Katko was invited, but has declined to attend. In his absence, we want to hear from you. Everyone who attends will have the opportunity to speak for two minutes. The event will be moderated by WAER’s Chris Bolt and will be audio recorded for later broadcast. We’ll also be live streaming the event on Facebook and will send a video to Katko’s office. More details here and check out this great flyer (with thanks to Elaine from the Communications team).
Sunday (Mar. 19)
From 3-5pm, CNY Solidarity Coalition will meet at All Saints/Bishop Harrison Center, 1342 Lancaster Ave. in Syracuse. We’re devoting our meeting today to training and education. We’ll have a series of sessions to choose from, including anti-privilege and bias intervention workshops; skills sessions on public speaking, talking to the press, and facilitating a meeting; and educational sessions on the Pentagon budget, LGBT rights, and more.
Today and every day, be sure to follow us online and on social media!
Check out our website: www.cnysolidarity.org
Follow us on Twitter: @CNYSolidarity and @IndivisibleNY24
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/cnysolidarity/ and www.facebook.com/groups/IndivisibleNY24/
As promised, here’s the quote on consensus that Peter read at yesterday’s meeting:
“In this process, whose decision I have been willing to accept, l am brought to realize that the matter has been carefully and patiently considered. I have been involved throughout the process and have had a chance at different stages in it of making my point of view known to the group and of having it seriously considered and weighed. Even if the decision that the group feels drawn to accept goes against what I initially proposed, I know that my contribution has helped to sift the issue, perhaps to temper it, and in the course of the process, I may have come to see it somewhat differently. I emerge from the meeting not as a member of a minority who has been outflanked and rejected, but rather as one who has been through the process of the decision and is willing to abide by it even though my assent would not have put it in this form.”
– Douglas Steere, Quaker Spirituality (1984)