Like summer itself, the Coalition sends us off to market (for protests against drones and ICE), the park (for parades of liberation and solidarity soccer), and the area’s waterways (for environmental restoration).
We can’t get enough of summer–can you?
Join us this weekend for a soccer fundraiser for the Workers’ Center of Central New York that will help to support dairy workers and immigrants in the region. Or hit the streets with Upstate Drone Action during the next several days as they spread out around town to jam the war machine. Later in the month, you can head over to Nottingham High School to let the Public Service Commission know what you think of a National Grid rate hike that will, on average, add $264 annually to customers’ bills, a figure that will hit some much harder than it will others.
Meanwhile, the final deadline for public comments on Onondaga Creek revitalization is upon us (July 17)! In the attached sample comment letter, you will see specific details for proposed Creek projects, details that only recently became available. Please review the letter, adapt, and submit your comments to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services a.s.a.p.–even if you’ve already shared a comment.
In a separate process, you can also let the DEC know what you think of the hypocrisy of accepting fracking waste in a state that bans fracking itself.
With the words of our neighbors in the Onondaga Nation echoing in our ears — “[the Lake] is the living sum of everything in its watershed. . . . The waters of the lake will be restored. The waters of the Lake will be reconnected with the surrounding wetlands, and the wetlands themselves will be restored” (source: onondaganation.org) — we remind ourselves that the entrenched inequality and racism that gave birth to our current president predates him by centuries.
We are called now to act in solidarity with our neighbors.
Scroll down for more details…
ACTION ITEMS
Monday, 7/17, 5pm Deadline – NOW! Submit Public Comments on funding for Onondaga Creek
This is your last chance to post public comments advocating for funding to revitalize lower Onondaga Creek. Thanks to the 45-day extension that CNY Solidarity helped secure at the end of May, the Onondaga Environmental Institute (OEI) was able to finalize and submit detailed proposals to the Trustees for Onondaga Lake in order to have them included in the Natural Resources Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan.
OEI has previewed details of its Onondaga Creek projects with us, and we’ve itemized them in a letter that we urge you to review and submit as soon as you possibly can (see attached)—even if you’ve already submitted comments. You are welcome to adapt the letter to reflect which of the several related projects you’d especially like to endorse. Help us make Honeywell pay for the extraordinary damage done to Onondaga Lake and Onondaga Creek and the people in our community.
Send comments/letters to anne_secord@fws.gov and remember, please, to blind carbon copy (BCC:) lindsayspeer@gmail.com.
Fri., 7/21, 5pm Deadline: Tell the DEC “No Fracking Way”*
A state that banned fracking because the frack chemicals and drill-cutting radiation are hazardous to our health must ban frack waste: the radiation and chemicals in frack waste are hazardous to our health. But the DEC continues to expand landfills accepting frack waste, effectively aiding and abetting an industry illegal in this state.
The DEC is trying to rush through inadequate revisions to the Part 360 waste regulations. Tell the DEC: Not so fast. We need an extension. The health of New York citizens is more important than arbitrary agency deadlines. It is more important to get it done right than to get it done fast.
A link to the text of the proposed revisions and associated rule making documents is available on DEC’s website. Click here for sample comment letters.
Comments may be emailed to SolidWasteRegulations@dec.ny.gov until 5:00 pm on July 21, 2017
Mon., 7/31: Public Service Commission Hearing on National Grid Hike, Nottingham High School, 3100 E. Genesee
National Grid has proposed a hike on the delivery of electricity and gas, raising the typical customer’s rate by approximately $22/month or $264 annually. The Public Service Commission has scheduled information sessions for Monday, 7/31 (2pm and 6pm) and public comment hearings the same day (3pm and 7pm), at Nottingham High School.
EVENTS
Sat, 7/15, 9-9:45am: Anti-war Street Heat, Regional Market, 2100 Park St
Please join Upstate Drone Action and CNY Veterans for Peace in protesting U.S. bombings–by drones and by other means–of mostly Muslim countries, including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Iraq, etc.
The destruction wrought by US imperialism, both military and economic, has prompted the migration of many people who would otherwise not want to leave their homes and communities. But standing up against the Muslim travel ban is not enough, as Jawziya F. Zaman puts it in her recent Dissent article, “Why I Left Immigration Law”: “What explains this unwillingness to acknowledge the Muslims the United States murders in Yemen (or Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) while crying for the Muslims we turn away at U.S. airports? Is it only by virtue of seeking entry into this country that foreigners become human beings worthy of our regard?”
Zaman closes her article by urging us to “debate the many flaws in our immigration laws and remain vigilant, not just against President Trump’s immigration policies, but against reducing immigrants’ home countries to crude stereotypes, and their lives to the sum of their past hardships and the future promise of America.” Anti-war Street Heat is essential to the work to which Zaman calls us.
For more information, contact Peter Sinatra, Ann Tiffany, or Ed Kinane: 315-478-4571.
Sun., 7/16, 9am-4pm: The Workers’ Center’s 3rd Annual Soccer Tournament Fundraiser, Christian Brothers’ Academy, 6245 Randall Rd, Syracuse
Volunteers are still needed to help out with cooking on Saturday afternoon, 7/15, at the Bishop Harrison Center. Contributions can be dropped off at Bishop Harrison between 9am and 5pm in the form of bottles of water or cans of soda. Cash contributions toward gift raffle prizes would also be appreciated. Volunteers who can help on Sunday afternoon, 7/16, at the tournament itself are also needed. Please contact Nikeeta Slade at nslade@workerscentercny.org
Tues., 7/18, 4-4:45pm: Anti-war Street Heat, Hancock Air Force Base, 600 E. Molloy Rd
Please join us in protesting U.S. bombings–by drones and by other means–of mostly Muslim countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Syria, Iraq, etc. The destruction wrought by US imperialism, both military and economic, has prompted the migration of many people who would otherwise not want to leave their homes and communities. Standing up against the Muslim travel ban is not enough. Join Street Heat!
MEETINGS
Tues., 7/18, 7pm – Community Outreach & Defense, Center for Peace and Social Justice (basement), 2013 E. Genesee St
Please join us as we:
- work on a campaign to address the financial burden of FEMA-mandated flood insurance;
- circulate petitions urging the Attorney General to file a nuisance suit against Honeywell for the Tully mudboils that are damaging Onondaga Creek;
- deepen our support for the Rapid Response team in its work confronting ICE, especially at the Regional Transportation Center. A representative from Rapid Response will join us for a discussion about how to do this work.
Wed., 7/19, 4pm – Rapid Response Team meeting, Center for Peace and Social Justice 2013 E. Genesee Street.
Follow up on the 7/8 protest at the Regional Transportation Center.
SAVE THE DATE for these upcoming meetings and events:
Sat., 7/22, 12-4pm: CNY Solidarity Coalition Picnic, Thornden Park Amphitheater
Wed 7/26, 6pm: Steve Early on “Police Reform, Crime Reduction, and Economic Justice: What Richmond, CA Can Teach Syracuse,” The Event Center, 2809 S. Salina Street
Early is author of Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City. Sponsored by Southside Community Coalition. Co-Sponsors: Black Lives Matter–Syracuse, Syracuse Cure Violence, Syracuse Green Party
Wed., 7/26, 7pm: CNY Solidarity Coalition meeting: “Guidelines for Action for Coalition,” Bishop Harrison Center
Sun., 8/6, 3-5pm: CNY Solidarity Coalition meeting, location TBD (followed by Hiroshima Day commemoration at Thornden Park lily pond, 5pm)
Tue., 8/8, 6:30-8pm: Roving teach-in on Trump, the Environment, and Climate Change, University United Methodist Church, 1085 E. Genesee St.
Wed., 8/23, 7pm: CNY Solidarity Coalition meeting, location TBD