As Hogan interstate plan approaches vote, biggest local pushback yet
A proposal to privatize the building of new lanes on I-495 and I-270 in Maryland – to be paid for with tolls collected by the private companies – is facing big-time local opposition in advance of a vote tomorrow (Wednesday, June 5). Three officials, including swing vote Comptroller Peter Franchot, will rule on whether a mixed-mode transit plan or a cars-only congestion infusion is in our Beltway future. Read more here.
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Read moreProgressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, June 3, 2019
Public planning's importance, our next training (nearer the beach!) and activism in summer, when progressives get some fresh air. All in the Weekly Memo... check it out.
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Read moreWeekender: Co-Governing Puts Us ‘In the Room Where It Happens’
Veteran Chicago and People's Action organizer David Hatch examines what the emerging strategy of "co-governance is coming to mean in practice: co-governance means that once elected, officials will continue to listen to and actively work with our communities – rather than corporate lobbyists – to draft policies and move them forward, together. We don't vote and then turn our backs, and neither should the folks we vote into office. Thoughts for the first weekend of June, 2019 from Progressive Breakfast at People's Action.
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Read moreFinancial Setup of Hogan Toll Lane Plan Raises New Questions
Gov. Hogan's gauzy plans for a free Interstate upgrade courtesy of the slippery public-private partnership dodge has significant big risks for Maryland taxpayers written right into the contract documents, as transit activist Benjamin Ross outlines here in a Maryland Matters opinion article. All this free stuff may have a high price after all, and the Board of Public Works should definitely turn this scam down when it comes up next week.
Read moreWhat we don’t think about when we think of incarceration as a solution
If we think of incarceration as a solution to problems of criminal justice, we need to think about the whole picture, which amounts to a series of traps experienced by those who have "paid their debt to society." As we know, employers can still screen out criminal records with one check-box on the application -- and Gov. Hogan just last week vetoed a bill that would ban that practice. PM activist Dave Bazell gives a close-up picture of all the ways that a "debt to society" is very, very hard to completely satisfy, and how it affects poor and working families.
See also the Job Opportunities Task Force's detailed study of how Maryland carries out the "Criminalization of Poverty."
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Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Summer begins but our issues are no less urgent. Read about Gov. Larry's trickle of vetoes, a petition to stop private police forces, and news of our activities and those of our progressive allies.
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Read morePeople's Wave next steps -- a plan for building power and winning
Whether you attended the People’s Wave (April 28-30), watched some or all on livestream or learned about it after the fact, it set a substantive agenda for progressive political action in the 2020 election cycle and beyond. And it's all at your fingertips right here.
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Read moreProgressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, May 20, 2019
Summer begins this coming weekend (time for outside activism and agitation!) and the recent legislative Session fades into memory – but our issues are still on the front burner. Get the picture here in the Memo.
Read moreOne more day to stop the Payday Lending Debt Trap
We’ve come too far to let payday loan sharks win now. We need YOU to beat back Trump’s attack on rules to #StopTheDebtTrap.
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Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, May 13, 2019
Action items for the week: Push back against Trump-style attacks on working families; oppose predatory payday lending <> Act now to join our MOVEMENT POLITICS Training on Saturday, May 18 in Baltimore; learn how to build power in electoral politics from the ground up.
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