Two actions sought today: support for adoption of sensible ID laws in NM and a call for the City to engage in meaningful outreach and planning with youth, low-income workers and working families. You are needed today.

Two Important Calls for Action If You Care About Equity

The most important value to Retake Our Democracy is getting information that is not in the mainstream media into the hands of those who care about our future and then providing timely information about how you can impact national, state and local policy, how you can advance equity and justice. Today is one of those days where Retake provides information, context and details for important action. Please take this seriously and act today. Read on.

Road Trip Updates–Jackson Rising!  Later today we are meeting with leadership from Cooperation Jackson, another initiative we have profiled in our blog. I don’t think there is any other community in the US with as comprehensive, democratic and flat out socialist designs for organizing a community and its resources. Their vision includes in one city, much of what we have seen in our Road Trip: worker cooperatives, community land trusts, participatory democratic assemblies, urban farm system and so much more. Click here to read our prior blog on this. And we will be reporting on our findings in Jackson and Austin in future blogs. Today at 10am MT, there will be a webinar on Cooperation Jackson, click here to participate in the webinar. Trust us, this is some very inspiring stuff.

Road Trip Update 2: Austin:  Community First! Austin is the kind of development a community can create when it uses equity and justice as their lens and decides to do something substantive about the problem of chronic homelessness. Roxanne and I will be staying in one of the tiny homes in this development on Friday-Sunday. Community First Austin includes affordable housing (including tiny homes like the one in which we will stay), a community food garden, three businesses where formerly homeless individuals work and build their work history, mental health supports and an array of other services and supports. This development represents what happens when equity meets innovation in designing the use of public space, precisely the reason why the Santa Fe University of Art & Design process needs to be extended, as proposed by the Public Works Committee See below for an important action today and tomorrow. Click here to read about Community First Austin. It is an extraordinary program and an inspiring story of how just five people could take action, persist and create an enduring program.

A Call to Action From Our Friends at Earth Care

Did you hear about the amendments to the Resolution  authorizing the next phase of efforts to redevelop for the Midtown Campus Project/SF University of Art & Design?

Please take some time today to thank Councilors Villarreal, Ives, and Abeyta by calling or emailing them, but also reach out to the Mayor and your councilors to ask them to support Councilors Villarreal, Ives and Abeyta. Details below–-This is an important action and you can make a big difference. They need to hear from you today and tomorrow.

Committee Chairman Peter Ives advanced the resolution with Villarreal’s amendments. Councilor Roman “Tiger” Abeyta also voted in favor to advance it. Please also make a call to your councilor to share your concern that important communities have not been consulted on the use of this valuable city resource. Of course, we appreciate you taking a moment to also call the Mayor. Contact info below.

Why is it important to contact your elected officials?

Two weeks ago, the City announced that they are ready to move from the “conceptual” stage to the planning stages for the SFUAD campus.  Moving forward in the planning process was up for approval on the Public Works, CIP & Land Use Committee agenda for Monday, July 23. Yet, while the outreach process might have been conducted with good intentions it was clear that many in our community were not engaged. The conceptual stage did not include the voices of our communities of color, families, youth, and working class communities. They must be engaged and represented in this HUGE investment of public lands & resources.

Councilor Villarreal pushed proposals that would make room for more community input and participation!

She introduced amendments seeking an explicit equity analysis and engagement study seeking participation from the community, especially those most directly impacted by policy decisions and development processes and who:

“are underrepresented in the current results, particularly, low-income people, people of color, families with children, residents of neighborhoods surrounding the Midtown Property, youth and young adults, transit- dependent bus riders, and other historically marginalized populations.”

The Resolution also mentions the Resident’s Bill of Rights Resolution (2015-65), which was passed unanimously by the Governing Body in 2015. This “provides a framework for housing and urban planning policies, and directs appropriate staff to “collaborate with community organizations that represent and/or serve workers, renters, low-income homeowners and/or people experiencing homelessness and/or displacement as specifically related to upcoming and ongoing planning processes.”

The city adopted the Bill of Rights in 2015. It is time to insist that they adhere to this commitment. With true community input, a concept could unfold with a lens focused on equity and justice, a concept designed to address the needs of those whose input has not been heard, a concept consistent with the remarkable work being done in Austin and Jackson.  Please contact your councilor and the mayor today and plan on attending the City Council meeting on Wednesday at 5pm.

Read the amendments HERE

Read the Santa Fe New Mexican article HERE

In 2016, the N.M. Legislature voted to give New Mexicans a choice on the REAL ID and created a non-REAL ID driver’s license and identification card, both of which would have met all the strict federal REAL ID requirements.

Please, the actions sought above can have an important impact and will take each of you 5 minutes to complete. And if you can possibly attend the hearing on Wednesday morning and/or the city council meeting on Wednesday afternoon, your presence will have an impact.

In solidarity,

Roxanne and Paul

Categories: Economic Justice, Community & Economic Development, Local-State Government & Legislation, Personal & Collective Action, Social & Racial Justice & Immigration Reform

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