Saturday, April 17, 2010

Aggressive Solicitation Ordinance (Council Bill Number: 116807)

Dear Councilman Burgess, members of the Seattle Council, Mayor McGinn and City Attorney Holmes,

At the meeting of the 46th District Democrats on Thursday, April 15th, 2010, a resolution was submitted by one of our members expressing concerns about Council Bill 116807, the Aggressive Solicitation Ordinance. The resolution passed with a very strong margin, which you can read about on the blog of The Stranger.

The resolution is linked from our website on this page:

http://46dems.com/resolutions.php

I will also attach a copy to this email.

My impression of the discussion was reflected well in the interview that I had with Dominic from The Stranger on Friday morning. And I very much appreciated Council Member Harrell's discussion points on the resolution during the main program of our meeting where both he and Council President Conlin had a chance to speak. The question I believe we need to focus on is the outcome that we desire to see that this ordinance was drafted to address.

Please take the views of the membership of the 46th District Democrats into account while you are debating and voting on Monday.

Chad Lupkes
Chair, 46th District Democrats

Friday, April 16, 2010

Save Town Hall's Windows & Walls

I'm writing to ask you to Help Save Town Hall's Windows and Walls.

It won't cost you a cent and takes just seconds a day.

Town Hall Seattle is one of 25 worthy sites in Western Washington designated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation (and funder American Express) to compete for a $125,000 Partners in Preservation grant.

To receive our full request, Town Hall must earn the greatest number of votes in a poll conducted by Partners in Preservation. That's where you come in.

Every day, between April 15 and May 12, please go to www.partnersinpreservation.com to cast your vote for Town Hall Seattle. That's right: you can vote for Town Hall once a day, every day, for 27 days. On your first visit, you'll be asked to register with a valid e-mail address. After that, all you'll need to do is log in and vote.

We'd be happy to send you a daily e-mail reminding you to vote-just sign up here: email reminder

Town Hall dearly needs the $125,000 grant to restore our historic building's cracked, white terra cotta tile. (Water infiltration is causing damage underneath.) We'd also repair Town Hall's beautiful and massive, but crumbling, stained glass window. It casts a rosy glow on the over 300 performances, lectures, rehearsals, and community events held under our soaring dome each year—events ranging from Al Gore and Madeleine Albright to Isabel Allende and Garrison Keillor, from Malcolm Gladwell and Jared Diamond to Says You and The Magnetic Fields, from children’s choirs and community activists to the King/Snohomish County Spelling Bee. With your help, Town Hall will delight and enlighten audiences, and deepen our bonds of community, for decades to come.

Thank you so much for taking a few minutes to vote now, and daily, for the next 27 days. Together, we can Help Save Town Hall's Windows and Walls!

Register and vote at:
www.partnersinpreservation.com

Two final and important steps:

1. Please forward this message to as many friends as possible.

2. If you have Facebook or Twitter accounts, please use them to encourage others to Vote for Town Hall. Use this as your status: Help Save Town Hall's Windows and Walls: Vote Every Day through 5/12. visit: Town Hall Seattle Partners in Preservation

With sincere appreciation for your cultural activism,

Susie Tennant
PR & Marketing Director
Town Hall Seattle
susie@townhallseattle.org
@THSEA

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Control Your Demogram Subscription

Dear Valued Member,

Thank you for everything that you are doing to support our efforts in the 2010 election cycle. We can't do this without you.

Did you know that the 46th District spends almost 30% of our expense budget every year to print and mail our newsletter? We are also trying to find ways to balance our values on the environment with our need to spread our message. We're constantly trying to find ways to reduce that, and I would like to offer a way for you to help us control our costs and our environmental impact.

We now have over 800 Demogram subscribers who have shared your email addresses with us. We send out a friendly reminder each month when the Demogram is published on-line on our website. That email includes an easy-to-access link so you can read that month's issue and any of the back-issues at your leisure. However, the Demogram is one of our major outreach efforts, giving our paid members a monthly reminder of just how important we consider your membership to be, and also giving you something to pass on to friends and neighbors in order to spread our message.

Over the last few months, I have tried a few things to provide the member services that you expect while also trying to minimize our expenses. In March, we sent a printed Demogram to all of our members in order to boost participation in the Legislative District Caucus on March 14th. In April, I pulled back and only sent printed Demograms to people who had requested it or for whom we don't have an email address. (If you expected one in your mailbox and didn't receive one, please go to our website and view the copy online. We will have the extra copies at our meeting tomorrow night.)

I would like your help to find the point in the middle of these extremes. I have set up a form on our website that will give you direct control over your subscription. You can choose to receive the Demogram via email only, via both email and printed copy, or only printed copy. The Executive Board feels that this is a way to push the decision making process out to you, our members.

http://46dems.com/demogram/subscription.php

The 46th District Democrats are committed to use our contributions wisely. The less we spend on printing and postage, the more trees we save and the more resources we have available to help support candidates and elected officials who support our platform.

Thank you for your help in streamlining our systems. Please let me know if you have any questions. It would be great to hear from you.

Quick Links...

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

A letter from Schoolsfirst!

March 2, 2010

Chad Lupkes
46th District Democrats
PO Box 15435
Seattle, WA 98115-0435

Dear Chad:

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Schools First, I’d like to thank you again for your generous contribution to Schools First and for supporting the recent Seattle schools levy campaign.

We ran a successful campaign despite tough economic times. With your help we raised the $181,000 needed to reach the voters in Seattle who aren’t supporters like you. Your contribution helped us purchase 1,000 yard signs that raised awareness about the Special Election and send over 205,000 pieces of mail explaining why the levies must be passed. It helped feed hundreds of hard-working volunteers who made nearly 13,000 phone calls, and it helped us communicate with a wider audience through blogs, Facebook. twitter, and YouTube.

The impact of your support speaks for itself:

Proposition 1, the Capitol Capital Levy, was approved by 73.5%
Proposition 2, the Operations Levy, was approved by 74.1%

Seattle voters continue to willingly tax themselves to support the children of Seattle who attend our pubic schools and invest in their future. Your support guarantees that our kids will get the learning materials they need for a basic education, and have safe & healthy schools in which to get that education. The passage of these levies will:

  • Continue investments in health and safety improvements

  • Continue seismic upgrades to keep up with changing State and City building codes

  • Getting to work on the acknowledged backlog of building maintenance projects

  • Continues the critical 6th period day in our high schools so those students can compete with other students in this state

  • Replace inefficient fossil fuel heating systems with environmentally friendly ground source heat pumps

  • Pay for teachers, librarians, bi-lingual and special education specialists and textbooks

  • Upgrading technology systems and equipment that improves student learning

  • ...AND MORE!


In three short years Seattle voters will again be asked to support their public schools, and Schools First will again be there leading the effort to renew the levies. I hope we can count on your continued support in 2013!

I thank you and the 46,000 students in Seattle schools thank you!

Betty Hoagland,

President, Schools First

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Olympic View fund-raiser to offer huge selection of native plants

Olympic View Elementary School will be offering a huge selection of native plants and edibles for sale at its annual PTA Plant Sale April 23-25. The fund-raiser will include sales of: organic vegetable starts, hanging baskets, designer pottery, compost bins, Northwest natives plants, and stunning annuals. Kids activities will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m, Saturday, April 24. All proceeds from the event will directly benefit Olympic View students. Call (206) 252-5500 or visit the school Web site for more information.


Olympic View PTA Plant Sale
9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday, April 23
9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, April 24
10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday, April 25
Olympic View Elementary School
504 N.E. 95th St.

The 46th District Democrats has held our monthly meeting at Olympic View Elementary School since 2004. Please support their fundraiser!