Johnson County Green Party Business Meeting - Minutes

May 20th, 2007
3:00 p.m.
Iowa City Public Library, Room C

We welcome newcomer Matt Weiss; and Florence Boos, briefly back from Europe before traveling to London teach this summer.

UPDATE ON MEMBERS' ACTIVITIES
Some of us have been participating in the peace vigils held downtown each Friday afternoon. Ron Kinum and Holly Hart also attended the Mother's Day Code Pink peace vigil on HWY 6 in front of K-Mart. The Johnson County Green Party also had a table at the recent anti-war event on the Iowa City pedestrian mall a couple weeks ago.

Ron's signs have gained notice, contributing a conbination of art and politics. Gail Ardery has been active in Johnson County FAIR!, focusing on affordable housing concerns; she edited and put together a booklet outlining their study of inclusive zoning ordinances around the country, subsequently utilized by he Iowa City City Council as they began their study of this issue. Holly is on the Iowa City Housing and Community Development Commission, who are also looking into affordable housing and other community service needs.

Last month, Johnson County Greens and the School for Moral Courage hosted a book reading and discussion with anti-war author and civil disobedience
activist Michael Palecek, as part of his cross country book tour. The event was enjoyed by both attenders and the author.

PLANS FOR FUTURE EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
A few months ago, we sent out a questionnaire to gauge members' interest and help set priorities for upcoming activities. Returns were not overwhelming. We had talked about mailing out hard copies, but sensed we would not get much int the way of returns and decided instead to focus on activities active members are interested in.

1 - Screening of the film "An Unreasonable a Man," documentary film about Ralph Nader, at the Iowa City Public Library.

2 - We are investigating the possibility of a screening of "The Global Brain," followed by a discussion hosted by Iowa Green Party co-chair and 2004 gubernatorial candidate Wendy Barth, and an evening of readings by one or two green/green-friendly authors and poets.

Gail will look into ordering the films and contact Wendy Barth. Holly will look into the availability of authors. Matt offered to do outreach to students and student organizations on campus.

3 - Matt Weiss is interested in looking into starting a Campus Greens group at the University of Iowa. He and Ron will work on this.

4 - Local Issues:
a. With interest in fluroescent light bulbs growing, the question was rasied about their mercury content. A member will follow up with members of the the Iowa City City Council to see if the city has a plan to dispoaing of flourescent bulbs.
b. Wondering whatever became of the alleged Superfund Clean Up Site on Burlington Street, a member will follow up on that issue with the city council, as well.
c. The city has hired a consultant to do a study on affordable housing. Johnson County FAIR! will be doing research over the summer and plans to come out wiht a response to the study. The Johnson County Green Party is interested in adding our own organizational response, as well.
d. There may be an opportunity to work with the local chapter of the Sierra Club on their "Cool Cities" initiative and efforts to get the county to adopt a renewable energy/global warming policy.
e. We would like to hear from Kelley Putman, on the Soil and Water Commission, about the recent news that the Iowa River is one of the most polluted in the coutnry. We will try to arrange for her to speak at an upcoming meeting.

Gail will contact two city council members and a member of the Sierra Club for more information.

5 - A possible performance by a touring singer/songwriter was deemed unfeasible at this time. He had a date open over the 4th of July weekend, but Jazz Fest will be taking place at that time.

Holly will contact the performer and let him know we can't arrange for a performance at this time.

NEXT MEETING: To be announced; also

WATCH FOR AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF TIME AND PLACE FOR "AN UNREASONABLE MAN" !

5/20/07
Holly Hart
Secretary, Johnson County Green Party