Posts tagged homeless
Mark Gelband Platform for Boulder City Council
Aug 29th
I am proud to announce my candidacy for November’s Boulder City Council election. Thanks to all of you who quickly stepped up and signed my petition to get on the ballot. The real work begins now. We have eight short weeks to get the message out and your emotional, organizational, and financial support is critical to my success. Boulder needs a new voice on council. There is a growing chasm between the city’s aging leadership and the young families, young professionals, creative class and students who represent the future of Boulder.
Perhaps, some of you are thinking: Why did I receive this e-mail when I don’t live in Boulder, don’t know your platform, or don’t even know you all that well?
The easy answer is that I am reaching out to folks with whom I have felt a connection in my life. Whether you live in Boulder or not, I can still benefit greatly from your financial support, if you can afford the contribution and believe in me personally or in my vision for the city. Detailed contribution information is included at the end of this e-mail.
For those of you who need more information before committing your support, here are the critical issues that constitute my platform.
Open Space Access
The aging hippies currently running the show look nothing like the younger, progressive versions of themselves that supported citizen initiatives to create the Blue Line in 1959 and the Open Space program in 1967. We owe them for their past foresight, but their vision today is nothing like it once was. They’ve recently begun a campaign to “reclaim” shared recreational land with the mindset that we are loving nature “to death .” Current Council is prejudiced against dog owners and mountain bikers, with an anti-recreation mentality. Much of the open space we have all paid for is off-limits, with little or no access. Open Space is house poor with 47% of its budget spent on debt service. Why are we buying land in neighboring Jefferson County when we cannot even maintain the most precious resources outside our door? We need to refocus our priorities and better manage our open space, but the solution is not to deny access to the many people who have chosen Boulder as their home for its recreational opportunities.
Core City Services
Current council is challenged to manage a single council meeting, let alone the breadth of our core city services. We currently have a $700,000,000 dollar backlog in deferred maintenance projects and, yet, these folks seem to prioritize efforts such as prairie dog relocation, the minute alteration of snow shoveling ordinances to which they themselves are unable to adhere, and endless pontification about Arizona’s Immigration laws. We need leaders who will fix our potholed streets, who will plow side streets in the winter so that children can safely get to school, and who will address the traffic problems around town, libraries, public safety, decaying infrastructure and the growing homeless problem.
Homelessness
Boulder bears a disproportionate share of the county’s homeless problem. The county homeless shelter is in the city, and the city has become a “convention center” for chronic vagrancy and associated crime. We need to distinguish the working poor and the transitionally homeless in our community, and to ensure that they are first in line to receive the resources to help feed and clothe them, get them jobs and into affordable housing. But let’s confront chronic vagrancy head-on by actually enforcing the existing loitering, panhandling and public intoxication laws that are already on the books.
Overregulation
People in glass houses should not overregulate. Current Council “manages” meetings by restricting public input; this limiting approach to community involvement is just the tip of the iceberg. The council has now spent several decades implementing solutions in search of problems. As the city regulates and regulates and regulates, it continues to squeeze the working class. Their growing list of regulations is hurting those of us least able to afford it. For example, the city has 100 of 10,000 homes that are larger than 5,000 square feet (50% of them built prior to 1940) and, yet, our council has spent countless hours in the last few years developing an onerous, inflexible McMansion ordinance that has only served to ‘handcuff’ young families interested in expansion without relocation. The council’s “obsession” with controlling individual choices in the absence of a viable long-term city plan has led to a scary sort of Big Brother government.
I am interested in hearing your thoughts on the key issues that are facing Boulder and about proactive paths toward solutions. If you are unable to support me financially, maybe you would consider hosting a meet-and-greet, spreading the word about my candidacy, putting a yard sign up, or simply sending the campaign some good energy.
If you are in a position to help financially, Boulder campaign finance reform limits individual contributions to $100 per person. If you have a husband, wife or partner, and can contribute more than $25, it helps to receive two checks, one from each of you. This allows me to better access city matching funds, should I choose to go that route. I am currently working on a campaign website and should have it finished in the coming week or so. Until that time, I can only accept checks – payable to:
Gelband for Council – A Good Sign
Please mail checks to 505 College Ave, Boulder, CO 80302.
If you live locally and want to donate to my campaign, call me at 303-522-1192 and we can meet. Same limits and rules apply to locals.
Boulder Homeless protest; Wall Street rip off; Afghanistan; actions by RMPJC
May 3rd
2) Action Alert on Wall Street rip off of home equity
3) Action Alert on withdrawal from Afghanistan
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HOMELESS PROTEST TUESDAY:
Tuesday, May 3 BOULDER Come show your support for places for homeless people to sleep in Boulder. Starting May 1, homeless people in Boulder will have no legal place to sleep every night as the Homeless Shelter will be closed, and BOHO will be open dependent on the weather. But the City will continue to give homeless so- called “camping tickets”. Join us at the corner of Broadway and Canyon in Boulder from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. to protest the city’s policy and then speak at the Boulder City Council during public comment which starts at 6 p.m.. Sign up on line between 4-4:45 p.m. atwww.bouldercolorado.gov or after 5 p.m. at the Municipal Building.
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CALL STATE LEGISLATORS RE WALL STREET THEFT OF HOME EQUITY
Call/Email CO House Members about S.B. 234: Stop Wall Street from Stealing Your Home Equity
Ask the chair and vice-chair of the Colorado House of Representatives Local Government Committee and your Colorado State House rep. to support SB 234, which prohibits the dangerous financial scheme of private transfer fee covenants on homes. Often unnoticed by homeowners, Wall Street Home Resale Fees (otherwise known as Private Transfer Fees) are inserted into home sale contracts by private third parties, and require that every time a home is sold for the next 99 years, a percentage of the sale of the home (usually 1%) be paid to the third party. In return, homeowners receive nothing but reduced home equity and a harder time selling their home.
SB 234 passed in the passed in the Senate on 4/29/11 by a vote of 31-2 with two excused. The bill was introduced today in the Colorado House of Representatives Local Government Committee. Please call and email Rep Laura Bradford, Chair at 303-866-2583 and laurabradford55@gmail.co and LIBBY SZABO, Vice Chair at 303-866-2962 and libby.szabo.house@state.co.us and your representative (see www.congress.org if you’re not sure who that is) and ask them to support SB 234.
The Coalition to Stop Wall Street Home Resale Fees (http://www.stophomeresalefees.org/about) is organizing to fight the dangerous financial scheme of private transfer fee covenants and to protect homeowners across the country. Together, they are fighting to ensure that homeowners keep full equity in their home, and have the freedom to buy or sell their home without paying off an unaffiliated third party.
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U.S. SENATE BILL FOR WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN: CALL YOUR SENATORS TO CO=SPONSOR
Ask Senator Mark Udall and Senator Michael Bennet to co-sponsor S.186, the Safe and Responsible Redeployment of United States Combat Forces from Afghanistan. The bill states that it is U.S. policy to begin the phased redeployment of U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan by July 1, 2011. It also requires the President to submit a plan to Congress, by July 31, 2011, for the phased redeployment of U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan, including a completion date for such redeployment. The bill was introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer on January 25, 2011 and has four sponsors. The bill has been referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. A copy of the bill is below
Senator Michael Bennet
Phone: 303-455-7600 Toll-free: 866-455-9866 Fax: 303-455-8851
(202) 224-5852 Fax: 202-228-5036
Email Senator Bennet at http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/
Senator Mark Udall
Washington, D.C. Office Phone: (202) 224-5941 Fax: (202) 224-6471
Phone: (303) 650-7820 Fax: (303) 650-7827
Email Mark Udall at http://markudall.senate.gov/?p=contact_us
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S.186 Safe and Responsible Redeployment of United States Combat Forces
from Afghanistan Act of 2011 (Introduced in Senate IS)
S 186 IS
112th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 186
To provide for the safe and responsible redeployment of United States combat
forces from Afghanistan.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 25 (legislative day, January 5), 2011
Mrs. BOXER (for herself, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. BROWN of Ohio)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee
on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To provide for the safe and responsible redeployment of United States combat
forces from Afghanistan.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of
America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Safe and Responsible Redeployment of United
States Combat Forces from Afghanistan Act of 2011′.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) October 7, 2011, will mark the 10?year anniversary of the start of
Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
(2) Members of the United States Armed Forces and coalition forces
have served valiantly and at great personal sacrifice in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom.
(3) As of January 25, 2011, 1,457 American military personnel have
lost their lives in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and 10,226
have been wounded.
(4) As of January 20, 2011, United States taxpayers have spent an
estimated $336,000,000,000 for operations in Afghanistan.
(5) During a speech at the United States Military Academy at West
Point on December 1, 2009, President Barack Obama outlined a
detailed plan to allow the United States `to begin the transfer of our
forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011′.
(6) President Obama also stated, `It must be clear that Afghans will
have to take responsibility for their security, and that America has no
interest in fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.’
(7) It is essential to begin turning responsibility for security in
Afghanistan over to the Government and people of Afghanistan.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY ON PHASED REDEPLOYMENT OF UNITED
STATES COMBAT FORCES FROM AFGHANISTAN.
It is the policy of the United States to begin the phased redeployment of
United States combat forces from Afghanistan not later than July 1, 2011.
SEC. 4. PLAN FOR COMPLETION OF PHASED REDEPLOYMENT OF COMBAT
FORCES.
Not later than July 31, 2011, the President shall submit to Congress a plan for
the phased redeployment of United States combat forces from Afghanistan, to
include an end date for the completion of that redeployment.
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For more information on RMPJC, call us at 303-444-6981 or visit our website at www.rmpjc.org or link with our facebook page at our website.
RMPJC is located at 3970 Broadway, Suite 105, Boulder. From Quince and Broadway go east and take a right into the second driveway into the shopping center.
Carolyn Bninski
RMPJC
303-444-6981x2
Life’s most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?-Martin Luther King
DOZENS OF CU STUDENTS TO DISPLAY SERVICE LEARNING PROJECTS ON APRIL 25
Apr 22nd
Stone, a senior molecular, cellular and developmental biology major, is one of dozens of CU-Boulder students who will have booths at an event highlighting local service learning projects they completed this spring as part of the Program for Writing and Rhetoric’s “Writing Initiative for Service and Engagement” project.
The free, public event will be held Monday, April 25, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the University Memorial Center, room 235. Anne K. Heinz, associate vice-chancellor for outreach and engagement, will give the keynote address.
“During the semester, I helped students with biology papers who were explaining complicated processes, while also helping students who could barely speak English write simple essays,” Stone said. “Throughout this experience I gained a deeper appreciation of the education I have received. It also has motivated me to keep furthering myself and to keep giving back as well.”
Each semester about 350 CU-Boulder students participate in community-based writing courses through the Program for Writing and Rhetoric, contributing well over 5,000 hours of their time to local community and nonprofit organizations, according to CU-Boulder Senior Instructor Sally Green, who teaches a course that partners her students with Arapahoe Ridge High School and Boulder High School students.
“This experience gives students the opportunity to develop and apply their communication skills in authentic contexts,” Green said. “They complete valuable projects for their community partners and gain an understanding of social, environmental and economic issues which informs their entire college education.”
In Green’s service learning class, “Writing on Science and Society,” her students tutor Boulder at-risk high school students in math and science for a total of 15 hours throughout the semester.
“They bring their own recent experience as high school students and their expertise and enthusiasm about their subjects to the tutoring experience,” Green said.
Students who take Program for Writing and Rhetoric service-learning courses learn about a number of issues including sustainability, food, education, the elderly, poverty and hunger while gaining practical experience in grant writing and document design. They also work with an array of organizations: schools and afterschool programs, community gardens, homeless shelters, organic farms, food banks and Boulder Parks and Recreation.
“Through the coursework, we want students to gain an understanding of a social issue, community dynamics, problem solving and written advocacy,” Green said.
After graduation on May 6, Stone will work as a research technician in a campus laboratory. She then plans to apply for medical school, with the long-term goal of being a surgeon.
More than 13,000 CU-Boulder students participate in some form of community service each year, and more than 3,500 are engaged in academic service learning, a teaching strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction. For more information about CU-Boulder’s civic engagement efforts visit http://www.colorado.edu/news/reports/civicengagement/.
-CU-