We told you. All those local governments, city and county councils, that were taking a leisurely summer off have started their new sessions. Big money doesn’t sleep during the summer, though, and there are early alarms out about what local governments may be doing with big money on the sidelines urging them on. As you see below, it’s never too early to push back – and sometimes it’s getting late
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Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday September 9 2019
We told you. All those local governments, city and county councils, that were taking a leisurely summer off have started their new sessions. Big money doesn’t sleep during the summer, though, and there are early alarms out about what local governments may be doing with big money on the sidelines urging them on. As you see below, it’s never too early to push back – and sometimes it’s getting late. As Sarah Nelson, dynamic leader of the Flight Attendants Union, says, “People think power is a limited resource. But using power builds power.”
What to put on your watch list:
Tuesday, September 10, State of Justice in Prince George’s County, 6 PM The Hotel at the University of Maryland, 7777 Baltimore Avenue College Park, MD 20740 -- Address by State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy. A panel discussion is included. More here. Be an audience advocate for decarceration, elimination of cash bail and an end to police misconduct. RSVP at this link.
PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY COUNCIL -- ACTION ALERT, TUESDAY, SEPT. 10: Tell the County Council "NO" to a “text amendment” promoting sprawl in rural areas. Tuesday, September 10, 10 AM: County Council Hearing on CB-17-2019, at the County Administration Building in Upper Marlboro. The bill would amend the Prince George's Zoning Ordinance to allow townhouses on property zoned for low-density residential & agricultural uses. The Sierra Club and other groups oppose the move because it will allow high-density townhouse development far from mass transit or access to a major road, exacerbating congestion, air pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. The Planning Board recommended disapproval because it is inconsistent with the purposes of the residential-agricultural zone and is contrary to the County's General Plan that emphasizes transit-oriented development. Attend the hearing, call your Council member or send written testimony to the Clerk of the Council.
Tuesday, Sept. 10 The Charles County Commissioners have scheduled a Preliminary 2020 State Legislative Package public hearing for at 6 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room at the Charles County Government Building. See the news release. See the 24 proposals for local bills here.
Challenger paratransit workers reach first-time tentative agreement
After a strike threat and a campaign to mobilize members, elected officials and allies, WMATA MetroAccess paratransit workers in Gaithersburg, MD have reached a first-time tentative agreement with their employer Challenger Transportation. Representing more than 190 workers, ATU Local 1777 reached the deal late last week. The agreement addressed major worker concerns on stagnant wages, the company’s reliance on overtime and part-time workers, poor healthcare benefits, and overall lack of respect. Local 1777 members are expected to hold a ratification vote in the next few weeks.
-- From Union City, Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO.
PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND DAY IN, DAY OUT
Our ideals are broadly and concretely represented by the campaigns we wage. At Progressive Maryland (and with our progressive allies) we work for environmental justice, reform of the criminal justice/policing system and cutting the school-to-prison pipeline, fair elections that loosen the grip of big money on our politics, and reform of the systems that keep our families trapped in poverty in the midst of wealth. We are formulating our part in campaigns for Medicare for All (see below) and for education reform in the path being laid out by the Kirwan Commission; Progressive Montgomery recently kicked off its participation in the Alliance to Reclaim our Schools (AROS), a statewide initiative with county-level focus. Progressive Prince George’s has been working in parallel with PGC Educators Association on the AROS agenda and the important Kirwan focus on community schools – there are forty-plus schools in Prince George’s that will become Community Schools in the next two school years. Watch for the next public meeting of the AROS coalition and learn more about the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools at https://reclaimourschoolspg.org
Progressive activism around the Free State, both Progressive Maryland’s action and those of our allied organizations and individuals, are in the Weekly Memo early every week (usually Monday unless a holiday intervenes). It’s a clearinghouse for folks who are building power together; and you can be in that environment of collective action. You can get the Weekly Memo by email; just sign up here.
Medicare for All -- Join other progressive activists and call to request a hearing on HR 1384 Call the House Committee on Oversight and Reform (Committee chairman is Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland 7th Dist.): 202-225-5051 and House Committee on Energy and Commerce: (chairman is Frank Pallone of New Jersey – tell him you are from Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s home state). In late July Rep. Cummings’s oversight committee held a hearing on the impact of exploitative drug prices on patients -- Read the excellent testimony of MoCo resident David Mitchell HERE. Meanwhile Gov. Larry Hogan is refusing to release appropriated funds for a project to lower drug prices in Maryland. Read about that here.
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OUR CHAPTERS AROUND THE STATE
Tuesday, September 10, State of Justice in Prince George’s County, 6 PM The Hotel at the University of Maryland, 7777 Baltimore Avenue College Park, MD 20740 -- Address by State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy. A panel discussion is included. More here. Be an audience advocate for decarceration, elimination of cash bail and an end to police misconduct. RSVP at this link.
 Tuesday Sept. 10 at 10 AM County Council hearing on text amendment to allow multifamily housing in a rural zone. See more above.
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PMD Montgomery -- Progressive Montgomery Upcoming Events
A list of power-building events with Progressive Maryland in Montgomery County. Find one that works for you and join us!
Take Action Anne Arundel County
Lower Shore Progressive Caucus
EVENTS FROM OUR PROGRESSIVE ALLIES
Tuesday, Sept. 10 Hoyer Faces Democrats Rep. Steny Hoyer will appear at the Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt Democratic Club in Greenbelt, 7:30 PM, Greenbriar Community Building, 7600 Hanover Pkwy # 101, Greenbelt, MD 20770
Wednesday, SEP 11 Greenbelt Climate Action Network A Just Transition from Coal in Maryland 7:00 - 9:00 pm conversation with Matt Dernoga, Maryland Sierra Club Beyond Coal rep, about Maryland's six remaining coal fired power plants. We will discuss their impacts on public health and the climate, and how we can lead the way in Maryland with a just transition to clean energy. Greenbelt Community Center, Room 114 15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD https://www.facebook.com/events/878344449197887/
Thur Sept. 12 Poor People’s Campaign MoCo 6:30-8:30 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville - 100 Welsh Park Dr., Rockville, MD.
Saturday SEP 14 – 350MoCo town hall on climate action, 11 AM t 1:30 PM, Silver Spring Civic Center https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-emergency-montgomery-countys-response-tickets-66570745893
Saturday SEP 14 Reversing Global Warming: Introduction to Drawdown, 4-6 PM, University Park Church of the Brethren, 4413 Tuckerman Street, University Park MD 20782 (2 hour workshop begins promptly at 4). Info: Dave Brosch at [email protected] .
Mon, SEP 16 Reversing Global Warming - 6:15 -8:30 PM Severna Park Branch Library, 45 W McKinsey Rd, Severna Park, Maryland 21146 Presented by WISE (Women Indivisible) Interactive climate drawdown workshop. More info here   RSVP here
WED Sept 21 Deep Canvass with SURJ 11 AM – 5 PM Sponsored by SURJ NoVa and SURJ – DC: at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville, in Maryland. The registration form is coming soon. Follow link for more information.
Sat Sept. 28 Poor People’s Campaign Prince George’s Co 12-2 PM Oxon Hill Library 6200 Oxon Hill Rd, Oxon Hill, MD 20745
Sunday, SEP 29 – The path to single payer health care in Maryland, 1:30 - 4:30 PM at Elkridge Library - 6450 Washington Boulevard, Elkridge, MD 21075 -- Join Senator Paul Pinsky, Chair of the Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee in the Senate, and Delegate Terri Hill, of the Health and Government Operations Committee in the House, for a discussion of the road map to Single Payer in Maryland. https://www.facebook.com/events/361641874764169/
Sunday, OCT 6-- Eastern Shore Environmental Legislative Summit, 1- 4 PM (Doors open at noon) hosted at Washington College - 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620
The Eastern Shore is ground zero for climate change in Maryland. It is here where we need to make a stand for ourselves and our children. Explore the issues that face the Shore (and the state), what steps have been taken, and what obstacles we must overcome to defeat the existential crisis of Climate Change and other pressing environmental issues. https://www.facebook.com/events/361641874764169/
Baltimore progressives, Check in on Max Obuszewski’s highly useful activist calendar and tip sheet at http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our blogs for the previous week are shown below, but if you want a handy way to keep track – and never miss a blog post – you can sign up to get this Weekly Memo by email. Remember this is your blogspace and your participation is heartily invited. See something going on that you don’t like – or that you do like and hope to see more of? Send us your thoughts; submit to the moderator at [email protected]
We recently published these blog posts:
September 04, 2019 Beyond Labor Day, workers should celebrate gains, unite for the fights ahead
"Make no mistake, those profiting from the status quo have been pitting workers against each other for centuries, and it is a strategy designed to stop us from realizing our collective power," union leader Lisa Brown writes. "There is a good reason that those on top want to stop workers from building this collective power – because when we organize together, we win."
September 03, 2019 Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Our role in the progressive movement in Maryland is to build power for working families and workers in the workplace – hence the observances of Labor Day. Now that Labor Day has passed, most schools are back in session and … local governments are back in business and need to be checked by grassroots progressives. Read about a bill hearing in Anne Arundel County Council TONIGHT, below.
August 28, 2019 Medicare for All -- Everybody Active, Everybody In
After a successful Town Hall in Prince George’s challenging Rep. Steny Hoyer to get on board with Medicare for All (HR 1384) or get out of the way, the Maryland Progressive Healthcare Coalition is revving up plans for Montgomery County and Baltimore action. In this account from Progressive Breakfast, Sameena Mustafa describes the kind of grassroots, engaged activism it takes to move the needle when the people’s needs are set aside for the profit of big corporations and the political system they have captured.
>>REMEMBER – these blog posts are frequently expressions of political opinion from our wide-ranging membership and circle of allies. They are not expressions of opinion by Progressive Maryland. Don’t be surprised if they sometimes vary in their political content. You might even disagree with them – a good reason to contribute a blog of your own. Send it to the moderator, Woody Woodruff, at [email protected].
>>Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace from June 2015 through December 2016 are all available with descriptions and links here. You can follow blogs for 2017-18 starting from here
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