Talk by Bob Hasegawa, Washington State Representative (D) 11th Legislative District, on creating a public bank in Washington State given October 26, 2011, Kane Hall, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
Jan 10
U.S. House of Representatives Community Liaison Opening
Congressman Adam Smith seeks Community Liaison (full-time) to develop and implement a strong constituency outreach program. Duties include acting as a liaison to develop and maintain relationships, participating in meetings, speaking on the Member’s behalf, corresponding with constituency groups, monitoring important community issues for the Congressman, and working with other district staff on local projects.
Jan 10
Jim Flynn For State Representative
Jim Flynn, a retired union electrician announced today that he will be running for the open seat of State Representative to the 11th Legislative District in 2012. The district includes parts of Renton, Tukwila, Seattle, Kent and Unincorporated King County.
“Your perspective will be presented to the Washington State Legislature with sincerity and confidence, once I am elected as an 11th LD Representative. Together, we can correct the existential crisis faced by many departments within the State that provide social order, services and enforcement,” said Mr. Flynn.
Jan 10
Newsletter – January 2012
The newsletter for January 2012 has been posted. You can view it here: 2012-01 January
Jan 02
Final Redistricting Plans
The Washington State Redistricting Commission has posted their final plan. You can find both the Legislative District & Congressional versions here: http://www.redistricting.wa.gov/maps_final_2011.asp
Dec 31
Washington State’s Volatile Tax System
While other states have a balanced tax system designed to protect pubic revenue, Washington, depending to a great extent on sales tax has an unstable, volatile system subject to large shifts in the economy. Continue reading
Dec 30
Democrats Happy Hour/Mixer
From Elizabeth Walker:
Democratic Legislative District
Happy Hour Mixer at
Amore Infused in Belltown. Let’s
have fun and get to know each other.
All LD’s invited.
Monday January 30th, 4:30pm – 7:00 pm
Amore Infused, 522 Wall St.
Dec 30
Kate Kruller’s Swearing-In Ceremony for Tukwila City Council
From Kate Kruller:
YOU ARE INVITED!
Witness Kate Kruller’s Swearing-In Ceremony for Tukwila City Council 7 p.m. next Tuesday January 3, 2012 – at Tukwila City Hall.
(for driving directions, see below)
Dear Faithful Friends:
This is the moment that all candidates for election look forward to in a political race! This past November, I was fortunate enough to win the favor of Tukwila City citizens as they cast their ballots to elect their next Tukwila City Councilmember in Position 6. On January 3, 2012, the Tukwila City Council meeting will be called to order at 7:00 p.m. – and the only business of the night is to swear-in two incumbent councilmembers, myself as a newly elected Councilmember – and then the 2012 Tukwila City Council will elect their Council President.
Dec 30
Congressional Redistricting
Sorry about the delay, on December 28th, the Washington State Redistricting Commission posted their draft congressional redistricting plan. The map is here: http://www.redistricting.wa.gov/assets/maps/122811_drafts/C-GC_2.0_Big_Map_Statewide.pdf
More details are posted on their website: http://www.redistricting.wa.gov/maps_draft.asp
Dec 17
Newsletter – December 2011
The newsletter for December 2011 has been posted. You can find it here: 2011_12-December
Dec 14
PNHPWW December Monthly Meeting Agenda
Hello PNHPWW Members and Supporters
Please find attached the agenda for our PNHPWW December Monthly Meeting, to be held on Wednesday, Dec 21st, 7PM, at the Swedish/Cherry Hill Campus Conference Center Auditorium (directions).
Dec 14
Updated redistricting plans to be revealed
During yesterday’s regularly scheduled monthly Redistricting Commission Meeting, the Commissioners announced that they would present updated proposed legislative maps at a special meeting set for this Friday, December 16. The Commissioners have been working in bipartisan teams to determine the details of Western Washington legislative districts since the November 8 Commission meeting. Commissioners Gorton and Ceis stated yesterday that they had completed a proposal on the northern region of the west side of the state from the boarder down to the King/Peirce county line, east of the Puget Sound. Commissioners Foster and Huff said that they were very close with their assigned region of southwest Washington to the coast and expected to complete their proposal by the end of the day. Both of these updated proposals are expected to be presented at Friday’s meeting. Additionally, the commissioners took on new assignments with Commissioners Foster and Huff moving on to the remainder of the legislative districts in eastern Washington and Commissioners Gorton and Ceis beginning to work on statewide Congressional districts.
Friday’s meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m. at the John A. Cherberg Building in Hearing Room 2 (304 15th Ave, Olympia, WA 98501). A draft agenda will be posted on the Commission website later today. The public is welcome to attend in person or watch and give comment during the interactive webcast on our “Get Involved” page.
Dec 08
OFA Night School Organizing Boot Camp
One of the things we’ve heard from volunteers is that you’d like additional training opportunities. We’ve heard you, and we’re now proud to be able to unveil an 8-week long program beginning this Wednesday, December 7 at 6PM, with a Webinar/Conference Call which will kick start our 8 week long OFA Night School Organizing Boot Camp!
We begin this Wednesday with a training on “Introduction to OFA”, continuing next week with a training on Messaging for 2012, and in subsequent weeks on everything from Digital Strategies (using Facebook and Twitter to organize), Volunteer Recruitment and Making the Hard Ask, Planning Events, Data 101 and Data 201, as well as How to Use your Personal Story.
Dec 08
State Bank – December Update
From Bob Hasegawa:
I know many of you have been calling and emailing to try to find out what is happening with the state bank proposal. Firstly, thank you for your enthusiasm and willingness to help make this a reality. Many of you have been working hard in your communities to help spread the word about our efforts.
The taskforce members and staff have been hard at work over the past few months in order to get a bill ready for the upcoming legislative session. While we are still working on the details and the specifics of how to best establish this legacy institution, the need for it is clear. While working on developing potential lending programs for the public bank the taskforce heard about unmet needs in a variety of areas. For example, there is an enormous amount of infrastructure funding needs in the state. Over the next ten years our K-12 school facilities alone will need approximately $5.7 billion for renovations, repairs, construction, etc. A drinking water infrastructure needs survey and assessment revealed that we will need to provide $9.756 billion over the next twenty years for water systems to provide safe drinking water to the public. Our vision is to build a bank that will leverage our taxpayer’s money to work for us so that we can provide adequate funding to projects like these, while at the same time creating jobs that will put people to work on making these projects a reality.
Dec 08
How to Start Participatory Budgeting in Your City
From CommonDreams.org:
Have you noticed all the cuts being made to your city budget? To schools and libraries, fire fighters and social services, and other public spending? Think you could do a better job managing the budget? Soon, you may have that chance.
Through a process called “participatory budgeting”, residents of over 1,000 cities around the world are deciding how to spend taxpayer dollars. In October, four districts in New York City launched the second such process in the US. This article offers some initial tips for how you could start participatory budgeting in your city.
What is Participatory Budgeting?
In 1989, the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre developed a new model of democratic participation, which has become known internationally as “participatory budgeting” (PB). Through this process, community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. In other words, the people who pay taxes (all of us) decide how they get spent.
This sounds simple, but it is not. Budgets are complex creatures, and it takes a lot of time and support for ordinary people to make wise spending decisions. For this reason, PB generally involves a year-long cycle of public meetings. Community members discuss local needs and develop project proposals to meet these needs, then invite the public to vote on which projects get funded.
