[Sosfbay-discuss] County Council Membership

Sat Jan 27 14:58:59 PST 2007

Hi, Green colleagues,
This sounds like good advice from Wes.

I was on the Council for two terms and I believe that I attended  
every meeting, with a few exceptions when I was ill, etc.
The cc is a very important group of people who can help streamline  
discussions if they choose to do so, and can come up with innovative  
ideas if they choose to do so, especially when they are clear on  
their duties to the general membership and do not try to control but  
merely guide.
The strength of the cc is in the fewer numbers; the weakness is in  
the fewer numbers.  (Bear with the tiny bit of philosophy here.)

I dropped out because I felt it was time for fresh blood.  This is no  
criticism of those who remained on the cc, because a couple of people  
with a sense of the cc's history can be of tremendous help to the new  
people, especially if the former are willing to listen to new  
approaches and give way to new talents.
I hope the cc will pick up some new talent and sustain a solid gender  
balance, the latter being key to Green values.
Best wishes to all Greens,
Andrea

On Jan 6, 2007, at 10:24 AM, Wes Rolley wrote:

> Drew,
>
> I am sorry that you did not get the point.  I should have made it  
> more clear.  It was simply that one has to be willing to go to  
> meetings and then to do the work or you are out.
>
> I think that it would be an informative exercise to ask those who  
> are no longer on the County Council to tell you why they dropped  
> out.  They are still activist in their tendencies, just not doing  
> it through GPSCC.  e.g. Charlotte Casey - South Bay  
> Mobilization.http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/ 
> 2007/01/01/18342888.php  Maybe they can help figure out what GPSCC  
> needs to don to make things more vital and retain good people.
>
> Within GPCA, there is a general interpretation of the "meeting"  
> requirement that says the membership of any group or committee has  
> to physically "meet" in order to maintain membership status and  
> voting priviledges.  For Working Groups, that has been interpreted  
> that you must attend a GA to be able to vote within the group... a  
> restriction that makes it impossible to take action at times. For  
> example, I am a member, but would not be allowed to vote on  
> anything until I have attended at least 2 meetings.
>> 1.2 Only active members will vote in official county Green Party  
>> functions, should a vote be required according to the Consensus  
>> Process described in Article 6. Official functions shall be those  
>> at which decisions are made in the name of the Party.
>>
>> 1.3 An active member shall be a person who has attended 2 out of  
>> the last 5 meetings of the official functions at which (s)he  
>> wishes to vote. For example, a vote at a General meeting, a  
>> committee meeting, a local meeting, etc.
>>
> In practice, that provision is ignored.  However, if 15 new people  
> showed up at a meeting some time and voted a number of non 10 KV  
> positions, I am sure that someone would try to invoke that  
> provision. We have never had the problem, but the GP San Francisco  
> has.
>
> The only group that does not have such a provision at the GPCA  
> level is the CC.  They have a sepcial provision written into the  
> bylaws that their meetings can be by telecon.  No other committee  
> or working group has such a provision.
> __
> My comment about looking to the core group (which I agree is not a  
> good thing) is that these are the people who have demonstrated a   
> willingness to spend their time going to meetings, for whom the 45  
> min - 1 hr each way is worth it.  For myself, evan as much as I try  
> to find the time to do, the Green Party is not the most important  
> thing that I work at.  (maybe 2nd or 3rd) and that travel time is  
> an obstacle.  I find it more productive to work through electronic  
> media to reach those whom I can.  I would rather spend the time  
> posting something relevant to cagreening or in trying to expand the  
> effectiveness of the Eco-Action Committee, of which I am a member.
>
> I had previously made a suggestion to make a representative of the  
> SJS Campus Greens into a member of the CC, even ex-officio.  Maybe  
> one of the reasons that we do not get more young people is that we  
> don't go where the leaders may come from.  Actually now, Campus  
> Greens no longer exists at SJSU and I have no idea why this  
> happened.  Per the SJSU web site:
>> Environmental Club at SJSU (formerly Campus Greens at SJSU)
>> Contact Person: Amie Frisch
>> Phone: (408) 887-2562
>> Email: info at sjsuenvclub.org
>> Box: 179
>>
>> To promote environmental activities to raise awareness on campus.
>>
> Another suggestion that I have made in the past is to make a direct  
> contact with the San Jose Branch of MAPA.  Since Nativo Lopez  
> (National President) is a registered Green and member of the LA  
> County Council, perhaps there is a fertile ground here for  
> collaboration and possible recruitment of members.
>> MAPA- San Jose
>> Daniel Garza - President
>> Tel: (408) 259-8733
>> Email: danielgarza at mapa-ca.org
> Here is an idea to increase diversity.  Scan the list of Registered  
> Greens in SCC.  Take all of those with Hispanic family names and  
> contact (telephone, mail) each one directly, inviting them to a  
> Community  meeeting, asking if they have the time to become more  
> involved as we continue the focus on expanding health care to all  
> who require it and other key issues.  If that works, repeat for  
> Vietnamese, Muslims, etc.
>
> If you look at the GPSCC web site, there are links to other  
> organizations (I suggest removing the link Latino Business,  
> Community, Culture & Education because it is not longer pointing to  
> anything Latino.  It is just infobayarea.com, a source for  
> networking mixers, etc. )
>
> One of those links is to Silicon Valley De-Bug voice of young  
> workers, writers, and artists.  I would suggest that this is  
> another un-developed opportunity to make a Green Message heard.   
> Are there any writers / video developers / poets / photographers  
> who are willing to work within this collective environment?  If we  
> want the effort to stay vital, we have to be working on vital  
> things within the community.  Here is a media outlet (print and  
> online) that we are not using and probably should be.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Wes Rolley		
> 17211 Quail Court	
> Morgan Hill, CA 95037
> (408)778-3024
>
> "Happiness is to be fully engaged in the activity that you believe  
> in and, if you are very good at it, well that's a bonus." -- Henry  
> Moore
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