Public Roundtable on Legislation to Reduce Poverty In DC

D.C. City Councilmember Marion Barry has proposed a resolution to move the Council toward budget legislation that would address poverty “in a holistic manner.” The resolution includes recommendations for funding in a wide range of areas.

On Thursday, December 11, at 10:00 AM, Barry will hold a public roundtable to build support for his approach. The event will be in Room 500 of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.

To testify in person, contact Michael Rious at 202-724-7807 or mrious@dccouncil.us, by December 9 at 5:00 PM. Written statements for the record will be accepted through December 19.

– Kathryn

Public Roundtable on Restoring Essential DC Services

On December 8, at 10:00 AM, Councilmember Jim Graham will hold a public roundtable, or hearing, on a bill to increase District parking meter rates. Funds raised by the rate increase would be used to “restore essential services for District residents.”

The Council recently reduced funding for a range of programs that serve the needs of homeless and other poor residents, including support for affordable housing. Enactment of the bill would a way for the Council to modify these cutbacks.

Under the bill, meters that currently cost $1.00 per hour would cost $1.50 per hour. Meters that currently cost 50 cents per hour would cost 75 cents per hour. And parking at meters in the central business district would no longer be free on Saturdays.

The Council will be interested in learning whether the public is willing to accept these increases in exchange for less far-reaching cutbacks in essential services. For example, it needs to know if the increases will not discourage you from shopping downtown.

The public is invited to testify or to submit written testimony that will be made part of the official record. The official notice of the hearing provides details on the process and the location of the hearing. The hearing is open, and attendance is another way to demonstrate interest.

– Kathryn

Pennywise Budget Cuts

No one who’s ever looked for an apartment in D.C. needs to told that there’s an affordable housing problem here.

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, housing is affordable if it costs no more than one-third of income. By this standard, rental costs are unaffordable for nearly two-thirds of D.C. households that rent.

In fact, a person earning the current minimum wage would have to work nearly 158 hours per week to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment here. No wonder so many people are homeless or going without basic necessities like nutritious food and medicine just to keep a roof over their heads.

The District can do something about this problem. It can put more money into its affordable housing programs. Instead, the City Council recently cut funding for two of the major programs.

But, as Marc Fischer pointed out in his Washington Post column, providing housing for homeless people costs far less than the alternatives–emergency room visits, incarceration in jails or mental hospitals, overnight shelters, rescues of people who are freezing to death.

Some members of the City Council think the affordable housing budget cuts are worth a second look. Let’s hope the whole Council sees that it is being pennywise and pound foolish.

– Kathryn

Advise the Obama Administration

Do you have any idea for how the Obama administration and Congress should change America? Here’s a project that can get your idea heard.

Change.org has partnered with more than a dozen other organizations to launch a nationwide competition for ideas that will translate voters’ broad call for change into specific policies.

On the project site, you can post an idea, comment on other ideas and vote for your favorites. You can also build support for your idea by e-mailing it to friends and posting it on social networking sites.

The 10 ideas receiving the most votes will be presented to the Obama administration on Inauguration Day. Then Change.org will select a nonprofit sponsor for each idea to help build a nationwide movement to advocate for it.

Ideas can be about anything and from any political perspective. So if you want to shape the agenda for change, here’s a chance to weigh in.

– Kathryn

tickets for inauguration — jan 20, 2009

Tickets to the 56th Inaugural Ceremonies will be provided free of charge and distributed through Members of the 111th Congress. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies does not provide tickets to the public. Members of the public interested in attending the Inaugural Ceremonies should contact their Member of Congress or U.S. Senators to request tickets.

The public should also be aware that no website or other ticket outlet actually has inaugural swearing-in tickets to sell, regardless of what they may claim. Tickets will not be distributed to Congressional offices until the week before the inauguration and will require in-person pick-up.

“Any website or ticket broker claiming that they have inaugural tickets is simply not telling the truth,” said Howard Gantman, Staff Director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. “Tickets for the swearing-in of President-elect are all provided through members of Congress, and the President-elect and Vice President-elect through the Presidential Inaugural Committee. We urge the public to view any offers of tickets for sale with great skepticism.”

Source: http://inaugural.senate.gov/2009/tickets.cfm

absentee voting? call and confirm

yesterday, i had the most interesting/disturbing conversation on the phone with someone from my local “Supervisor of Elections” office.

long story short….they told me that they had ALREADY RECEIVED MY BALLOT!!!

i don’t remember voting yet!

after calling again today, they told me they will be sending me another ballot!

lesson of my story: if you’re an absentee voter, or just voting by mail, please call your local Elections Office and check your status! who knows, maybe they already “received” your ballot too!

Mr. President, stop your raids on our communities

By Luis Gutierrez and Joe Baca

August 6, 2008

As members of Congress, we have traveled to remote corners of the world and had our eyes opened to some of the worst human suffering imaginable-abject poverty, meager wages, poor working conditions, paltry access to legal counsel and a jarring lack of fairness in the courts.

We never imagined that we would witness the same injustices in a small American town just a five-hour drive from Chicago.

During a visit to Postville, Iowa, last weekend, site of the May 12 Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant, we saw firsthand how a broken Immigration system devastates a small town.

Mothers bound to electronic bracelets were allowed neither to work nor to return to their home countries, leaving them without recourse to pay rent or feed their children. Wives and children-many of them U.S. citizens-were left to wonder where their husbands and fathers had been taken, or where they would go next. To this day, more than half of the wives do not know where their husbands are.

Meanwhile, a 16-year-old boy spoke of working 17-hour shifts, six days a week, without overtime on the kill floor of a meatpacking plant. Women from the slaughterhouse spoke of male supervisors demanding sex in return for decent hours, decent pay and decent treatment on the job. These workers were victimized, only to be herded like animals when ICE swept the plant and left their employers without punishment.

There is no mistaking that these men and women are suffering at the hands of the U.S. government and our president. Our broken Immigration system has paved a way to the objectification of human beings at the expense of our labor laws, U.S. workers’ safety and basic family values.

Al Gore’s National Challenge on Energy and Climate

Vice President Gore will be issuing an unprecedented challenge to policymakers and entrepreneurs. He’ll push the “reset” button on how we think about energy and climate. And how we create American prosperity.

This event will be held at DAR Constitution Hall (1776 D Street, NW) at noon on Thursday, July 17th.

Tickets are free, but space is limited. Please complete the form to get your ticket (you won’t be admitted without photo identification and a valid ticket).

Source: http://www.wecansolveit.org/page/s/tickets

International Violence Against Women Act

Biden and Lugar Introduce International Violence Against Women Act

Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced yesterday the International Violence Against Women Act. The bill was written with the input and expert advice of over 100 NGOs focusing on gender-based violence, human rights, health care, international development and aid, including the Women’s Edge Coalition, the Feminist Majority, Amnesty International, the Center for Women’s Global Leadership, and Human Rights Watch.

Foreign Policy role of the House of Representatives

The Water’s Edge: Inferiority complex

Source: FPA Features
Author: Daniel Widome

In recent weeks, the House of Representatives has dipped its toe into an international pool of historical animosity. The partial success of a resolution condemning the 1915 mass killings and deportations of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire-it passed a House committee but has not yet been considered by the full House-took many by surprise. In reality, the furor surrounding this resolution was simply the latest episode in the long story of Congressional involvement with overseas historical controversies, particularly by the House. But in its repeated attempts to prove relevant, the House of Representatives inadvertently risks becoming a detrimental force in U.S. foreign policy.