Youth Voters League Action Alert

YOUNG VOTERS LEAGUE TAKES ISSUE WITH PARTISAN FORUM OF

SEATTLE TIMES AND SEATTLE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,

CALLS FOR PUBLIC PROTEST

The Seattle Times is promoting and hosting a Mayoral candidate forum tonight at City Club in Rainier Square, 1333 Fifth Avenue, which being advertised as a non-partisan forum. The City Club maintains that they are a fiercely non-partisan organization.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines "non-partisan" as "not partisan ; especially : free from party affiliation, bias, or designation". The problem with this forum is that it is partisan, as opposed to non-partisan. Eight candidates are running for mayor of Seattle. This forum designates only six as worthy of inclusion. Specifically, it excludes Elizabeth Campbell and K. Wyking Garrett. A non-partisan forum (i.e. one free from bias or designation) would include all eight Mayoral candidates.

The Young Voters League has invited ALL the Mayoral candidates to our non-partisan Mayoral candidates forum at the Umojafest Peace Center (2314 E. Spring Street) from 3 to 5 pm on Sunday, July 26th. The City Club has responded to Young Voters League's criticism by stating that their exclusion of Elizabeth and Wyking was entirely based on these two candidates having not raised enough money to be considered "viable" by City Club. They claim that since money, and not party affiliation, was the basis of this exclusion, that we are wrong to identify their forum as partisan.

In fact, this proves our point. Partisanship in favor of wealthy candidates and against poor ones is often veiled behind charades of party affiliation, but not in this case. We appreciate the clarity and upfrontness of this blatantness. However, we will continue to point out that this forum is partisan, and to take issue with that fact.We are therefore calling upon the young voters of Seattle, (young adults, youth, and supporters) as well as the two excluded Mayoral candidates and their supporters, to join us in excercising our first amendment rights in a peaceful and public protest outside of the City Club forum tonight.

Young Voters League Protest:

Outside City Club

1333 Fifth Avenue

Rainier Square, Seattle, WA 98101

Hip-Hop in Seattle Goes Green this Saturday

For Immediate Release:

Green Organizers Mixer & Spring Hip-Hop Fest Saturday, April 18th at the UmojaFest P.E.A.C.E. Center

The Umojafest P.E.A.C.E Center's Green Light Initiative and the Race, Justice and Sustainability Project of Sustainable Central District and Sustainable South Seattle invite you and your organization to:

Justice Brunch! Green Organizers Mixer & Spring Hip-Hop Fest Saturday April 18th at the UmojaFest P.E.A.C.E. Center at 24th & Spring in Seattle.

The brunch will take place from 10am – Noon followed by a community celebration of Earth Week featuring live performances, speakers and community organization tables and vendors from Noon – 6PM.

Scheduled performers include Yirim Seck, KHMET, Razpy & The Vigilantes, Ayron Jones the Bluesman, Geneiva Arunga, Suntonio Bandanas, Korvus Blackbird, Jamil Suleman, M. Famous, Garlandn Green, and other guest performers with music provided by DJ Kuhnex and Zecheriah the Barber and hosted by Wyking & G. Prez.

In celebration of Earth Week, this event is a networking opportunity for groups involved in environmental, sustainability, and justice work to meet, build relationships, and thereby expand the reach of our projects. All brunch participants will be provided tables to stay and share information about their programs.

Confirmed participants include: Seattle Pea Patch, Got Green, Clean Greens Project, Pursuit Of A Green Planet, African American Longshoremans Coalition, Life Enrichment Group, Hip-Hop Congress, Mothers Outreach Movement, Block Teamsters Union, Presidential Media Group, Mint Factory Clothing, The Nia Center, United For Youth Coalition, Association for Africentric Development, Feed The Body Teach The Soul and more.

Saturday, April 18th
10AM – 6pm
Umojafest P.E.A.C.E Center
2314 E. Spring St. (24th Ave & Spring St.)
Seattle, WA 98122

Potluck BBQ (No pork or soda please!).

PLEASE RSVP if you are able to bring something, volunteer or just coming to green@umojafestpeacecenter.com. The brunch has limited space. We look forward to seeing you!

The Green Light Initiative at the Umojafest PEACE Center focuses on the sustainability concerns that offer opportunities for our community to thrive. The group strives to make the resources of the green movement accessible and applicable while reclaiming our historical legacy of healthy and environmentally conscious living. Chair: Amber Croyle, green@umojafestpeacecenter.com.

The Race, Justice and Sustainability Project is an effort by Sustainable Central District and Sustainable South Seattle to build an action agenda at the intersection of justice and sustainability. Please click this link to fill out our brief questionnaire to share your experience and knowledge. Sustainable South Seattle and Sustainable Central District are volunteer-run community groups working to promote sustainability in our neighborhoods through project-based community engagement. For more information contact: Deric Gruen, Deric.Gruen@gmail.com.

--
wyking411.wordpress.com

Remix Marketing & Communications, LLC
206-941-2527 (Seattle)
646-241-9122 (New York)
866-846-0106 (Toll Free)


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Message from YPN

Check this out!
There are some great articles here, and information about work going on nationally.
http://www.movementstrategy.org/resources
AK


-- Alissa Kronovet, MCPProgram Director
California Center for Civic Participation
2140 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 603
Berkeley, CA 94704
p (510) 665-1558
f (510) 665-1648
akronovet@californiacenter.org

As you know, the 3/14, five-hour-long, City-run workshop was the first of the first round of neighborhood update planning workshops in Seattle.Of course there was the usual litany of red flags present to indicate lack of thoroughness, planning and resources available.

There was no agenda available until the day of the meeting, the din of the room from 100 people whispering and talking all at once and within a confined large meeting room made it impossible to hear anyone, the outreach results were very poor (the ratio of residents:city:non-residents were 1:1:1) and worse, they ran out of 1/2 and 1/2 halfway through the meeting. I'm not kidding folks.

Another "note-to-self" was that the grassroots organizations were barely mentioned and certainly did not play any role in the meeting; either as a introductory asset or asked to follow through with anything with their membership/attendees in their subsequent meetings. We all came, then left. *POOF*, and onto our lives until we hear about the next workshop (the day before).

I know the City really believes that inclusiveness is the key to "keeping the peace" and making all their efforts go smoothly and with as little underbelly exposed as possible, however what it ends up achieving is a marginalized neighborhood with "stakeholders" (non-residents who show up out of interest) having an equal say in our neighborhood.

But why is it politically-incorrect to use the existing neighborhood groups to be another tier of coordination and leadership, rather than placing them as yet another face showing up at the workshop?There was a 2:1 ratio of non-residents to residents on Saturday, and a quick show of hands at tonight's Othello Neighborhood Association (ONA) meeting showed that 4 people attended (out of 25) and that besides them, only 3 others knew about it. And these are the English-speaking ones next to the light rail. I know, I know, you're wondering why I didn't get the ONA membership out there more myself?

Well, I did promote it on my own, but the City needs to promote the purpose better throughout the neighborhood. Think like an advertiser or something. Instead, they present themselves to the community as another meeting to go to on a Saturday. People's eyes glaze over. I'm not surprised they didn't differentiate much between regular ONA meetings and this.

But a big irony here is something we recognized in the Futurewise/Transportation Choices HB 1490 legislation: we recognized that on behalf of us (the community), Futurewise et. al did not deem to have our input or say in the bill. This attitude is partly what got them initially in the hot seat and it wasn't until they realized it was dying on the vine that they sought our feedback. By then, it was too late to salvage.

It is an ironic, self-appointed perspective.The City of Seattle, in the name of Neighborhood Planning, an inclusive community-driven process, is taking the same approach; they do not deem to have resident's input or say in any of these workshops. The agenda was not only not available to us until the day before, but the agenda was set internally; sans transparency and collaboration with the community. They want to "listen" and collaborate with us. They are spending all this money so that we have our say, but they're not going to listen to how we have our say. This is interesting to me.

I have some agenda ideas that would be valuable to the entire process but am not sure if they will be taken seriously, or even considered. As chair of the MLK@Holly plan steward group, that's not a good sign. At tonight's ONA meeting, attendees got the word and got excited for the next workshop.

Now that the process has commenced, it will surely be highlighted more and people will step up. I realize that this is the first workshop since the 90's, and the City is a bit rusty. However, I'm not sure we're being taken seriously, or that community assets will be utilized properly.

All for now...
Jenna Egusa Walden
Othello Neighborhood Association - Chair

The First Lady Goes Urban Gardening

WASHINGTON – The White House is getting a new garden.

First lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to break ground Friday on a new garden near the fountain on the South Lawn that will supply the White House kitchen.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/white_house_garden