|
VOTER newsletter
|
May 2019-Volume 71, Issue No.4
|
|
| League of Women Voters San Jose / Santa Clara P. O. Box 5374
San Jose, California 95150 |
|
|
President's Message
Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy.
 |
|
|
Mary Collins President,
LWV SJ/SC
|
While this year is winding down, plans for the 2020 election are already starting. The regular activities of registering voters, getting out the vote, working at the Registrar of Voters (possibly the new voter centers), presenting pros and cons positions on ballot measures, holding candidates' forums are some of the opportunities for your involvement. We also help produce Voter's Edge, the information source for fact seeking voters. If you can volunteer in any of these areas, contact us, Cheryl Fuelleman and Sara Nicolson. Volunteers are valued!!
The League of Women Voters California and its coalition successfully garnered sufficient signatures to place the first commercial property tax reform measure since Prop 13 passed in 1978 on the November 2020 ballot. Now we need to work to get voters' support for passing the issue:
Schools and Communities First.
Another important endeavor facing us is the successful complete count for the 2020 census. For a variety of reasons our county has been severely undercounted. With the controversy of the citizenship question being included in the census questionnaire, this may be exacerbated. Kathleen Mullen has represented us at the coalition in this area.
At County Council (the five local Leagues in Santa Clara County), it is our League's turn to provide the secretary and the treasurer for next year. The Council meets every other month starting in July 2019. If you can provide the secretarial service, please contact me. Martha Beattie has already agreed to be the treasurer.
Join us May 16th for Lunch with League with speaker Camille Llanes-Fontanilla, Executive Director, SOMOS Mayfair. We have been meeting with members of this organization serving the Mayfair neighborhood to explore ways of working together.
Our Annual Meeting will be June 8th. Here we review last year's achievements, approve the budget, the priorities, and the officers and directors for next year. You also have the opportunity to give suggestions to the board for further action.
Our guest speaker will be Vilcia Rodriguez, the City of San José Census 2020 Project Manager. She is responsible for designing and implementing the City's multilingual outreach campaign to motivate all San José residents to complete the census. She will discuss strategies for ensuring that everyone is counted regardless of race, citizenship status and gender, thereby strengthening our democracy. The Annual Meeting Kit will be posted to the Website by May 19th. More information will follow about the schedule, location and registration.
I look forward to seeing you at the Annual Meeting and thank you for participation in our League.
|
|
|
Thank you
to the following members
for
for our League:
Trudy La France, Rita Norton
Welcome to
New Members
Robert Ruff, Joyce Summers, Jennifer & Eric Tonnis
|
|
|
|
Lunch with League - May 16, 11:00am
SOMOS Mayfair: Supporting and Organizing the East San Jose Community
Speaker: Camille Llanes-Fontanilla, Executive Director
|
|
|
|
| Camille Llanes-Fontanilla |
|
Our May speaker is Camille Llanes-Fontanilla, Executive Director of SOMOS Mayfair. SOMOS Mayfair is a non-profit in the Mayfair neighborhood in East San José. They support children, organize families, connect neighbors, and address systemic inequalities to uplift the dreams, power, and leadership of the community.
Camille is a skillful bridge-builder, maintaining and expanding relationships with key stakeholders, and securing over 12 million dollars for SOMOS and the Mayfair community.
Camille Llanes-Fontanilla
Executive Director
SOMOS Mayfair
Thursday, May 16, 11:00am to 1pm
PALERMO's
Free Parking is across the street from the restaurant.
Please RSVP by Tuesday, May 14th by going to
https://lwvsjsc.org/lwl-registration and filling out the form, including your choice of entree. You may also RSVP by sending an email with your choice of entree to
lwl@lwvsjsc.org or call Marie Arnold,
629-5340.
We meet at 11:00am and are served lunch at 11:15am. The guest speaker begins her talk at 11:45am for 15-20 minutes and then invites attendees to ask questions and give comments. LwL ends at 1pm.
The price of lunch is $20 payable in cash at the door or, if you don't want to worry about having cash, you can prepay just after you register by using PayPal which will take a credit card or a personal PayPal account.
|
|
LEAGUE MEETINGS AND OUTREACH
|
|
|
Save the Date - LWVSJSC Annual Meeting
Saturday, June 8, 2019 - Rose Garden Library, San Jose
|
Guest Speaker:
Vilcia Rodriguez
the City of San José
Census 2020 Project Manager.
More information, the Annual Meeting Packet, and Registration coming soon.
|
|
Registering New Citizens, Voting Centers, Student Resource Fair
Cheryl Fuelleman, Chair, Voter Service Committee
|
On April 18th your League volunteers helped to register over 160 New Citizens at their swearing in ceremonies at the Heritage Theater in Campbell. This is a once a month event where one of the several Leagues in Santa Clara County is asked to send members to assist the Registrar of Voters. Each League is scheduled for two of the year's ceremonies. Our League participated in January and this past week. However, each of the Leagues has agreed to help out the others if requested. We thank the members of the Southwest League for joining us. It is always an exciting event.
This time, we were able to tell these new citizens that they did not need to make a decision about receiving their ballot by mail. Since the Santa Clara County Supervisors opted to implement the Voter's Choice Act, all registered voters in Santa Clara County will receive their ballots by mail - automatically, even if they had chosen not to receive the ballot by mail for past elections. Voters will have the choice of mailing back their ballot at the expense of the County, dropping their ballot in one of the drop boxes that will be set up within the County or going to a Voting Center within the County. See http://www.sanjoseinside.com/2019/04/20/all-santa-clara-county-voters-to-receive-mail-in-ballots-in-2020
At a time when we are hoping to 'get out the vote' more effectively, we are happy to see this come along. We hope to see an uptick in the numbers of voters actually voting as a result of this new approach in our County. We shall see the impact of the earlier than usual California primary election in March 2020 as well:
Then we as a League can fine tune our focus to Make Democracy Work!
OAK GROVE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT RESOURCE FAIR: On April 19th, League members participated in the Oak Grove High School Student Resource Fair by registering voters and presenting information about our democracy. Our members enjoyed meeting students as they came to the gym, encouraged them to vote in the 2020 election and to start paying attention since candidates and ballot information is coming out. Younger students were informed that they could preregister to vote and that they would need their Social Security number, driver's license or California ID. Voter's Edge bookmarks were handed out to many students for them and their families and our members explained why the site was important. Events like this happen because our members have established a long term relationship with the organizers of these events, so we are invited each year to attend. This is an excellent example of how we can get involved....become a contact to develop that special relationship with a school or community organization. Once they see what we bring to the table, we usually can count on them to invite us year after year! Thank you to our members who participate year after year.
|
|
Get Moving with Action. Join in the Conversations at City Hall
Gloria Chun Hoo, Action Committee Chair
|
The Action Committee is in the process of scheduling meetings with members of San Jos
é City Council. These meetings will initially be with newer members of the Council and eventually with all members. The goal: to hear their perspectives on three priorities of our League: Climate Change, Coyote Valley, and Housing. We also want to learn what their concerns/challenges and issues are and what they feel is ahead for our City and their respective districts.
If any league member would like to participate in these meetings, to be scheduled during May, June and August, please contact Action Committee chair, Gloria Chun Hoo at
action@lwvsjsc.org.
Earlier in February, members of the Action Committee, along with other league members, met with members of the State Legislature who represent our local cities and towns. This is an annual activity coordinated with the State League. To see results of those interviews go to our website at Interviews With Our Representatives |
https://www.lwvsjsc.org/iterviews-with-our-representatives
The Action Committee is also looking for additional league volunteers to help provide voter information and education, as well as advocacy, about a 2020 Ballot Measure called Schools and Communities First which the League is sponsoring. There will be a training for the Speakers' Bureau on Saturday, May 18th. Please let Gloria know if you are available and interested.
|
|
SV at Home - Affordable Housing Week
|
|
|
|
LOCAL CITY/COUNTY/STATE/UNITED STATES ISSUES
|
|
|
Legislation
Bill Status Report - LWV California
|
Based on
our positions, League of Women Voters California (LWVC) periodically reviews bills before the California State Legislature and makes recommendations.
2019-2020
Need help with legislative terms? Try this useful
glossary.
California is better when we all work together...
|
|
League and Community Activities
|
|
|
LWV Presents: Insights and Perspectives
Comcast Channel 30, Mon, 7:30pm and Sun, 4:30pm; Ch 27, Wed, 5:30pm
|
|
The best way to describe Channel 30 and Bay Voice Channel 27 is TV "by the community for the community." Channels 30 and 27 air non-commercial, member-produced videos that educate, express views, and expose talents to the San Jose community and beyond.
|
|
Kim Walesh
,
Deputy City Manager
of the City of San José
discusses
current City challenges
with Rosaleen Zisch. (November 2018)
Airs weeks of May 13 and May 27
|
|
|
League Outreach and Advocacy
|
Census 2020 Launch Event
|
San Jose Clean Energy
Launch Event |
|
|
Calendar
|
Information on many of these events is available in this newsletter. See our
website calendar
for current listings and more information. If you'd like more information but don't have web access, contact the League at (408) 271-7163.
| May 16 |
Lunch with League
|
| May 18 |
Speakers' Bureau Training: Schools and Communities First |
| May 30-June 2 |
LWVC Statewide Convention |
| June 8 |
LWVSJSC Annual Meeting |
|
|
Address / Email Change
|
To keep our records current please send any changes to your address, email address, or phone number, to our Dues Secretary,
Sandy Remmers. The only updates she receives are on the renewal form which is only sent once a year.
|
|
The Voter
Submissions due the 20th of the month
|
The LWV SJ/SC Voter is distributed monthly. Article deadline is the 20th of the month. If you have questions or comments, contact
Liz Bogatin-Starr
,
the Voter Editor.
|
|
Democracy is not a spectator sport! Educate! Advocate!
|
|
Join Our League
|
Visit our
website to join and/or donate to our League
|
|
|
|
|
