P.O. Box 1222, Madison, WI 53701 | www.prodane.org | office@prodane.org | (608) 257-4985
What's the value of doing lit drops for candidates endorsed by Progressive Dane? Consider this: in the course of three weeks:
Join us in the last two weeks to Get Out the Vote for Arlene Silveira for School Board and in support of a YES vote on the Troops Home Referendum.
Please contact Progressive Dane to get signed up or if you need more info.
Sat, April 1, lit dropping for Arlene Silveira, Barbara Vedder and the Bring the Troops Home campaign, 10am, out of EVP Coffee House at East Wash and Baldwin St, in the Oscar Mayer/Carpenter Ridgeway/North St/Tenney/Lapham/East High School areas, plus around La Follette High School area. Need 43 vols.
Sun, April 2, lit dropping for Arlene Silveira and the Bring the Troops Home campaign, 10am, 2 North Rock Road on the west side in the Midvale/Mineral Point/Old Middleton Rd/Rosa Road/Odana areas. Need 41 vols.
In our first three weeks we covered 145 walking routes. In the next two weeks we'll cover 179. But not without you! Please sign up for multiple drops TODAY. These are targeted drops, so routes that usually take 60-90 minutes will only require about an hour. The weather keeps getting better and all of our lit drop hosts have promised delicious coffee and morning food to help get you going. It's good exercise, it's kid friendly, and, oh yeah, will have a huge impact on the direction or schools take and send a message of Bring our Troops Home now!
Posted by prodane at 05:22 AM
Plan to attend this exciting forum on Thursday, April 6th, 6:30-8:30 PM, in the 250-seat Anderson Auditorium, Predolin Humanities Center, on the Edgewood College Campus. See the following web site for directions and parking: http://www.edgewood.edu/visiting/. This forum, hosted by Progressive Dane and the Edgewood College Human Issues Program, is free and open to the public.
Four great plans will be presented with lots of time for questions. They differ in important ways but all offer the prospect of affordable coverage for a large majority of our population. The moderator is Darcy Haber, Statewide Program Manager for Wisconsin Citizen Action. The speakers are: Linda Farley, M.D. of the Coalition for Wisconsin Health, Ann Fleischli of Wisconsin Heath Care for All, David Newby of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, and David Riemer, Project Director of the Wisconsin Health Project.
HOW YOU CAN HELP: Spread the word. Be in the audience. If you want to do more, contact Rick Richards, (608) 255-5023, syzygy1(at)charter(dot)net for a list of tasks remaining. We need help putting up posters, greeting forum attendees, handing out Progressive Dane materials at the forum, etc.
OUR SPONSORS: The following organizations have signed on as co-sponsors. They are lending their names to advertising for the forum and are spreading the word to their own members. They are: League of Women Voters, the Democratic Party of Dane County, the Four Lakes Green Party of Dane County, the South Central Federation of Labor and the Center for Patient Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Edgewood College, Progressive Dane and the Democratic Party of Dane County also have contributed money to help cover expenses.
Posted by prodane at 02:45 AM
The proposed sick leave ordinance will likely be up for a vote at the April 18th Common Council meeting. It's going to be a close vote and we need everyone who supports this ordinance to contact their alders and plan to show up on the 18th to register and speak in support.
Progressive Dane unanimiously and enthusiastically joined the Healthy Families, Healthy City coalition that is working hard to pass this ordinance and we need members to help bring this campaign to victory for the approximately 30,000 Madison workers who should not have to choose between their health and their paychecks.
Check out www.healthyfamiliesmadison.org for more information about the ordinance or email the campaign at healthyfamilies(at)gmail(dot)com to find out how you can get involved.
Posted by prodane at 01:34 AM
The repeal of inclusionary zoning is up for a vote at the City Council meeting this Tuesday. Please come and speak against repeal. If you can't stay to speak, stop by and register in opposition to repealing the Inclusionary Zoning ordinance. And contact city council members asking them to reject the repeal and not delay.
Come to the meeting...
Tuesday, March 7th at 6:30 pm
Room 201 in the City County Building
Contact the Common Council...
Council(at)cityofmadison(dot)com
or find your alderperson's contact info at
www.cityofmadison.com/council
More information...
Why should repeal of Inclusionary Zoning be rejected?
Why is it important to reject repeal NOW?
Posted by prodane at 06:02 PM
Scott Milfred has apparently joined the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and others on the political right in their quest to convince Madisonians that the sky is falling on Madison's economy. Perhaps if the Chamber's lobbyists, conservative politicos, and the WSJ repeat the mantra, "Madison is a bad place for business," frequently enough, people will believe it's true.
In his column, Milfred cites as problematic a number city policy decisions, all of which increase the quality of life for Madison's residents and most of which were supported by Progressive Dane. What he fails to recognize is that these progressive policies have made Madison the great place it is to live and work.
Milfred complains that Progressive Dane has worked to: make affordable housing available for Madison's workforce, improve public health through smoke-free workplace legislation, ensure that workers earn family-supporting living wages and benefits, protect small locally-owned businesses from their big box counterparts, and protect the public's right to know when special interests try to influence the decisions of our elected officials. There's no hint of the positive impact these policies have on our local economy.
Milfred fails to mention that Progressive Dane has introduced and is working to pass a package of small business initiatives formulated with the assistance of local business owners and groups. He does not mention Progressive Dane's efforts to keep public transportation affordable so that all employees can afford to get to and from work. Nor does he include the efforts made by Progressive Dane to increase city funding for childcare assistance and to improve the quality of childcare so that our workforce can do their jobs productively without worrying that their children don't have safe or appropriate care.
In the minds of conservatives, these policies may pale in comparison to the extensive tax breaks given to businesses by our Republican president and legislature, but they all contribute to economic development right here in our community and do a lot more for the people of our city.
The work of Progressive Dane and others on the political left has helped to place Madison among the top cities in which to do business according to numerous business publications. Just this week, the Milken Institute ranked the Madison metro area as the best-performing area in the Midwest in terms of job creation. Milfred claims these rankings come solely because of our University and related technology firms, but he is wrong. One look at the variety of businesses opening every day throughout the city makes that apparent. Business is flocking to, not fleeing from, Madison.
The continual crying wolf done by those claiming that the sky is falling on Madison's economy does the greatest disservice to our local businesses. Fortunately, Madison's residents are smart enough not to be fooled by false claims and conservative rhetoric and will continue to support good progressive policy in Madison.
Posted by prodane at 12:44 AM