Minutes of Meeting
November 5, 2007
Present: D. Sirotkin Butler, M. Butler, A. Coolidge, M. Crewe, B. Cutler, K. Haase, G. Hooper, A. Kraus, S. Marzilli Shaer, I. Rhodes, M. Rosenthal, T. Shannon, R. Smith, J. Thielman, D. Rickter, P. Rickter, E. Schwartz, T. Ward, C. Shannon, M. Harrington, Lynette Fast Horse, Susan Elberger, Ralph Elwell, Mary Cummings, Erna Greene, Robin L. Bergman, Bob Peters. (26)
All present introduced themselves.
The minutes from the meeting of September 18 were unanimously accepted.
Kim Haase, secretary, reported that the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Observance Committee had written to request a contribution towards the annual commemoration, to be held in Town Hall January 21. Motion made and approved unanimously to contribute $50 to this event.
Tim Shannon, treasurer, reported a current balance in the Committee account of $5,131.40, thanks to our extraordinarily successful joint fundraiser with Lexington on October 14. The two committees have probably raised enough to rent and run an office next fall.
The motions to elect Mary Cummings and Lynn Fast Horse as Associate Members of the Committee, which were made and seconded at the last meeting, were approved unanimously.
The motion to elect Susan Elberger as an Associate Member of the Committee, which was made and seconded at the March 12 meeting, was approved unanimously.
A motion was made and seconded to nominate Mary Cummings as a Full Member of the Committee, filling the vacancy left by the resignation of Betty Coyne. The vote will be taken at the next meeting she attends.
Kim reported with regret that Steve Frigand resigned from the Committee on June 13 (she apologized for failing to announce this at the previous meeting). Nominations for this vacancy will be taken from among Associate Members at the next meeting, and the vote will be taken at the meeting after that.
Adele Kraus reported that the Lexington Depot event was a great success, including John Walsh’s speech, the improv group’s entertainment, and the great refreshments. The attendance totaled about 85, which was good for the size of the room; many people contributed who did not attend. She thanked the committee who worked so hard on the event, and all the other volunteers. She said the total amount raised by the Arlington and Lexington Town Committees was about $11,000.
Aimee Coolidge, chair, reported that the Committee is hoping to do another fundraiser in the spring, a lower dollar event whose main purpose would be to start reaching out for volunteers for the 2008 election.
There was some discussion of the merits of doing an email flyer versus mailing paper invitations. Tim said that not mailing invitations to the October event probably saved about $1,000, but that a folded flyer could probably be mailed for the lower-dollar event at less cost.
Gwen Hooper reported on the current state of the Marzilli campaign: they are still looking for volunteers for visibility, phonebanking, and a lit drop on the final weekend. Gwen also reported that the primary election night party would be at the Sons of Italy starting at 8 pm on November 13.
Aimee noted that the DTC Candidates’ Forum on October 22 went extremely well; getting the questions on index cards and sorting through them for frequently asked topics made for a more substantive discussion than random questions from the audience, and the one-minute answers allowed many questions to be covered.
Susan Shaer mentioned that there would be an environmental forum on November 6 at the Lexington Depot starting at 7:30. Kim reported that the Lexington League of Women Voters is having a Candidates’ Night after the primary, on November 27. She will put the information on the web site and send a notice to the email list.
Kim reported that she had received a request from Clean Water Action, via a League of Women Voters member, for the Town Committee to write to the Governor in support of the bill for safer alternatives to toxic chemicals. After some discussion, no action was taken on the request. Aimee noted that the Town Committee does not normally support particular pieces of legislation – there are too many, and we would need to study and understand each issue.
Robin Bergman, an Arlington resident, is one of the founders of a group that is trying to arrange the purchase of a commercial AM radio station that would represent a progressive voice among the 9 conservative talk-radio stations in the Boston metropolitan area. There was a station that was taken off the air by ClearChannel last December, and progressive radio is now available only via streaming media and XM radio. The group is working with people like Michael Dukakis, Jim Roosevelt, Sen. Kerry’s office, and Scott Harshbarger. They are looking for both smaller donations ($100 to $5000) and large investors, and are reaching out to people who might support them at any level. The total cost of the station will be about $8 to $10 million. They would like to be on the air in January 2008. The citizens’ group’s website is bostonprogressivetalk.net (it is not up to date, however).
Kim volunteered to make information available on our web site and also send it to the email list.
Deborah Sirotkin Butler announced that she was collecting signatures in order to run for the State Committee seat left vacant because Pat Deal is now a 20-year member of the State Committee.
Bob Peters of Lexington announced that he, too, was collecting signatures in order to run for a vacant seat on the State Committee.
The next regular meeting will be Wednesday, January 23, at the Community Safety Building, 112 Mystic St.
A motion to adjourn was made and approved unanimously.
Respectfully submitted,
Kim Haase,
Secretary