Thursday, February 28, 2019

Citizen Action Required!

[UPDATE: The J&A committee voted against the resolution 4 to 3 but the issue will come before the full council on Thursday, March 14 at 6 pm at City Hall. Please email all council members and call you own council member and come to the March 14 meeting if you can (no public hearing is scheduled). And, while you're at it, please advocate for *real* protected and separated with physical barriers from moving traffic bike lanes not just magic paint.]

You may know that the city wishes to improve bicycle infrastructure on the north side and that the Gillette Street plan includes removing a few blocks of parking on one side of the street to allow for a bike lane (and I think we're just talking paint and not a real protected bike lane). 

If you attended or heard about the meeting on the Clinton Street bridge bike improvements a while back you will know that there is a contingent of residents for whom a bike lane is the very worst thing that could ever exist in the universe and no energy will be spared to cry and wail and carry on to stop it.


So now there's a new plan to ensure no safe biking on Gillette Street 


And that's where we come in. Please check out this silly resolution and if you can, attend the J&A meeting and also email the whole council about what is most important here (Banning bike lanes is not it.) Council@cityoflacrosse.org

Judiciary & Administration Committee
Tuesday, March 5, 2019 - 6:00 p.m., Council Chambers City Hall


Resolution prohibiting bike lane construction on Gillette Street from Rose Street to Onalaska Avenue. (Council Rep Scott Neumeister who represents District 2 and is running unopposed for re-election is the sponsor of the resolution).

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

Thursday - Budget watch

Governor Evers' Budget Address Watch Party
La Crosse for People Powered Democracy
On Thursday evening (2/28/2019), Governor Evers will make his 2019 Budget Address. 

Citizen Action of Wisconsin has invited watch parties all around our state. So far, there are eleven set up. We have one happening at our very own 

La Crosse Main Public Library, 800 Main Street
starting at 6:00 pm on Thursday
Please come and join with us  

Citizen Action is particularly concerned about achieving Badgercare Expansion for Wisconsin. This is an opportunity to learn more about this political action and to think about how we can help Governor Evers achieve the benefit of Medicaid Expansion for our state. 

If for no other reason, come and join with us to hear our governor speak, knowing that we are working together to make democracy happen.  None of us is alone in this effort because it only works when we work together. 

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Ready for the future

Yes.

And


PROJECT ID is a 501(c)(3) that, "helps individuals obtain government-issued photo identification for the purposes of voting, obtaining employment, securing housing, and so much more.”

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Wednesday Kind meeting is cancelled

We just received word that Ron Kind is cancelling his Feb. 20 morning meeting with Green New Deal supporters due to weather concerns. As soon as this meeting is rescheduled we will let you know.

Monday, February 18, 2019

Wednesday Ron Kind location & Enduring Families

Student Union 2310 at 10:45 to 11:15 am. Meet with Rep. Ron Kind about Green New Deal on Wednesday, Feb. 20.

And after, please attend the noon Interfaith Community Conversations with guest Denise Christy talking about the Enduring Families project. Use link for more info and to register in advance for lunch.


Sunday, February 17, 2019

Kathleen Vinehout home destroyed by fire

A fundraising page has been set up for former state senator and gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Vinehout whose home was totally destroyed by fire on Saturday. The family is safe but they have lost everything.

Unfortunately, if you are not on FB you can't get to the donation page. Here is the link.

You can mail checks made out to Kathleen Vinehout for hand-delivery directly to:




Friday, February 15, 2019

FEBRUARY 20 - Ron Kind

We've just learned that 

Rep. Ron Kind will meet with local advocates of the Green New Deal on Wednesday morning, February 20, between 10:45 and 11:15 a.m. on the UWL campus 

(exact location will be posted here as soon as it's available).


We are asking ALL local GND supporters to show up to this meeting. 
then email couleeprogressive@hotmail.com to get them for delivery

If you need to educate yourself about the scope, purpose, and priorities of the GND, read about it at Sunrise Movement, Sierra Club, 350.org, Union of Concerned Scientists, and many others. New co-sponsors are signing on every day. As of now, there are 84 co-sponsors in the House (not Ron Kind yet) and 11 in the Senate.

Here are a few good articles about it:From Wired: The Green New Deal Shows How Grand Climate Politics Can Be
From The Intercept: The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn on the Green New Deal (by Naomi Klein)
From the Atlantic: The Democratic Party Wants to Make Climate Policy Exciting

A poll conducted late last year by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that 81% of voters favor the GND including 59% of Republicans (see The Green New Deal has Strong Bipartisan Support)

To see what the opposition looks like, read just about any day's La Crosse Tribune Opinion page. There's a bottomless pit of patronizing, climate-denying pundits (and cartoonists) working to defeat this pledge to finally take the threat of catastrophic global warming seriously and work to do something about it by calling supporters naive, crazy, radical, out of touch, and worse.

We say, the ones who really are crazy, radical, and out of touch are those who compare saving the planet for future generations to a "magic pony ride."

From Data for Progress 







Thursday, February 14, 2019

Friday - Hate Has No Business Here

Show your support for our neighbors at Bullet Cab on Friday. Their property was defaced with racist graffiti earlier this week. This is a peaceful show of support for our cooperative, diverse, caring community. The gathering at 2001 State Road will happen between 9 and 11 am and is co-sponsored by many groups.


Monday, February 11, 2019

In a nutshell. ..

Tom Tomorrow is a genius.

Remember to PRINT and CIRCULATE the Green New Deal petition. Bring the signed documents to the Ron Kind listening session next week (event postponed. Will update when new event details confirmed).

And attend the Medicare for All barnstorm if you can at 6 pm at All Star Lanes in La Crosse on Feb 12.

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Healthy People, Healthy Planet - part 2

Last week's Progresstival highlighted the need for citizen action on two fundamental issues - fighting castastrophic global warming and working to change our biased and broken healthcare system.

On Friday, a group of citizens met with Rep. Ron Kind's La Crosse aide, urging Kind's co-sponsorship of the Green New Deal, a strong first step to systematically address carbon emissions, crumbling and outdated infrastructure, environmental justice, energy deficits, quality meaningful employment, and past and current injustice and inequity in our most fundamental systems.

We learned that Ron Kind will be at a La Crosse listening session around Feb 20 EVENT POSTPONED (new details coming) and this will give us a second chance to make our concerns known. Please get, print, and circulate the petition (print on BOTH sides of the page!) asking Rep. Kind and Senator Tammy Baldwin to join the (so far) 64 US Representatives and nine US Senators who are already signed on as cosponsors. Make a copy of filled pages and save them for an upcoming (details tba) event at Senator Baldwin's office. Bring the originals to the Kind listening session (or email and we'll pick them up to deliver with others). And you can always call or email Kind's office.

We also need to keep up the pressure to pass Medicare for All legislation. It's supported by a majority of Americans (even Republicans). The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) may have been a necessary (compromised) first step, but clearly Republican attacks, rollback of support, and lack of enforcement show it's not good enough.

Medical bankruptcy is still common, most Americans are one medical emergency away from financial ruin, the divide is growing between those who can and those who can't afford the increasing co-pays, deductibles, out of pockets, and other personal expenses, and rural systems are crumbling. And our broken system is twice as expensive as those of our peers.

Attend a barnstorm (2/12 in La Crosse) to learn hiw you can help and/or contact Ron Kind.

Tuesday, February 05, 2019

We NEED a Green New Deal


Join local students, parents, seniors, workers, and business owners FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 8  at 9:45 a.m. at the office of US Representative Ron Kind (205 Fifth Avenue S, La Crosse) to deliver a letter urging him to CO-SPONSOR and SUPPORT GREEN NEW DEAL LEGISLATION

"For too long, fossil fuel executives and the politicians they bankroll have actively sowed doubt among the public about climate change to protect their power and profits. All the while, Indigenous peoples, communities of color, and low-income families around the world suffer the worst impacts of pollution and the climate crisis.

"Scientific experts have sounded a clear alarm: our window for action to prevent catastrophic climate change is quickly closing. That’s why we’re calling on elected leaders like you to fight for the bold, just climate solutions we need — before our communities and the planet run out of time.


"We need bold solutions to protect communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis — not big polluters’ profits. We need real climate leadership. We need a Green New Deal."

Endorsed by more than 640 non profit groups, the letters for GND action stresses the need to
  • Halt all new fossil fuel extraction, infrastructure, and subsidies, and transition power generation to 100% renewable energy by 2035 or sooner
  • Rapidly decarbonize the agriculture and transportation sectors, and expand access to public transportation.
  • Ensure a fair and just transition led by impacted workers and communities, including low income and communities of color, without relying on corporate schemes or market-based mechanisms
  • Uphold Indigenous rights
  • Pass a national jobs guarantee, creating good jobs with collective bargaining and family-sustaining wages.
ALL ARE INVITED to join this event to show support for moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy as quickly as possible!

If you come, TAKE THE BUS! Most MTU buses will arrive at the downtown Grand River Transit Center at 9:40 am. It's just a block or so from there to the office building at 205 Fifth Avenue South.