General Announcements and Updates
- Dec. 7 Indivisible Mass Coalition meeting: There were ~48 participants. The discussions focused on what the group’s goals should be for next year; suggestions ran the gamut. The Board felt they received positive feedback and would like to schedule similar meetings going forward. Annemarie said she was impressed by the energy and organization of participants.
- Dec. 3 Mass Progressives Conference: No one present attended.
- Our GCM website needs review: Please review the site in depth. Some older events perhaps should be removed, and we should keep “Organizations We Support” and “Resources” up-to-date. We should schedule a website committee meeting soon.
Political Initiatives
- Postcards to Virginia for special election (for state legislature): This is another campaign organized by Ellen in Western Mass. If you are interested in participating, let Jeana know.
- A controversial proposed horse racing track in Hardwick will be voted on at a Jan. 7th meeting. The group opposed to it (Villages for Responsible Growth) is on Instagram @hardwick_vrg and the website is: hardwickisourhome.wixsite.com/savegoodfieldfarm. Dylan is meeting with the group and will let us know how we can help stop this. GCM members can certainly help write postcards to voters.
- Promoting civic engagement: Looking ahead to 2023, we will be discussing ways to engage young people, promote progressive candidates, and sponsor specific events.
- Planning/Supporting Jan. 6 events: Last year’s vigil/rally ended up being a mixed bag; there was good turnout and participation; the police were respectful. Unfortunately, a Trump supporter arrived and started screaming, which was very unpleasant. Events are planned for Jan. 6, 2023, nationwide, so members have opportunities to participate (e.g., in Northampton, Worcester). We are planning to again organize locally this year. GCM members may want to participate as a group or individuals.
- Town elections are happening in a few months. Please keep that in mind; it would be helpful to have lists of seats up for election and who might run. It would be helpful to get DTCs involved. The Rural Issues Subcommittee of the State Democratic Party is one forum which can help us in rural Central Mass keep some party focus on our specific concerns.
Climate Concerns
- Janet reported on the November Climate Committee Meeting. The publicity about the book project only ended up in 2 publications (that we know about). Nancy has the photos of the donations (librarians receiving checks). Danielle can post these to the website. We can also approach newspapers again. Jeff said there is still about $400 available for book purchases, so they will figure out what to do with this.
- The next Climate Committee meeting will be Dec 15th at 9:00 am; this will go on our CGM calendar with instructions to join.
- Letter to governor-elect Maura Healey re: climate concerns: some GCM members signed individually; Jeana will ask the GCM group if we want to sign as a group. The letter congratulates Healey on her election and asks her to carry out her campaign promises, especially with respect to restricting logging on public lands and preserving urban trees.
- We need to publicize all the positive things we are doing, such as the books project, or the upcoming Trees are Treasures. Jeana urged us to commit to writing Letters to the Editor, on a regular basis, so negativity doesn’t dominate and local residents can learn about activities that make things better for all of us.
- Other environmental issues we’ve been concerned about are solar siting and single-use plastic; the Climate Committee might want to work on these.
- Janet reminded us that the UN COP15 on Biodiversity is ongoing in Montreal as we speak. (Note that the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count reinforces the critical issue of declining species.) Unfortunately, the only world leader attending is Justin Trudeau (it’s being held in his country). Janet noted that the recently concluded COP27 did include an agreement on creating a Loss and Damage Fund but expressed concern that nations would not live up to their promises on this.
Racial and Social Justice
- The Subcommittee has been working hard on understanding internal biases. It is uncomfortable to recognize how systemic this is – for example, housing segregation began with Roosevelt’s New Deal. These meetings have been educational, with presentations by Jasmin, Karen, Eric, and Jeff. Jeana will present on immigration issues at the next meeting.
- Next Racial and Social Justice meeting Jan 8th, 10:30 am (link available from Jeana or Karen).
- Concern about implementation of Drivers Licenses for All: Jeana reported that people are now being heavily questioned at the RMV, for example Puerto Ricans; MIRA is also concerned about this.
- Moms Demand Action and Center for Non-violent Solutions are teaming up to try passing additional gun legislation (an important bill was shelved during this past year’s session).
- Care4EduEquity (care4eduequity.org) is very active; if you are interested in these issues, please join with them, and we also work on local initiatives for augmenting diversity in school curricula.
- The prison building moratorium was not implemented, perhaps due to a veto by Gov. Baker; it will be re-filed next year; if you want to work on this issue, contact Dylan and he will connect you with the MA team.
- There is still activity on the racist state flag and seal; David Detmold wants to speak to us again. It’s possible that the re-design work is going to be delayed, by the advocates’ request.
There is lots of action that is ongoing! You can help by recruiting people to join Grassroots Central Mass. It’s also very useful if members can keep tabs on pending legislation which we can contact our representatives about.
Next Meeting: Sat, January 14 2023, 9:30 a.m.
