- Council Asks that Libraries Remain Open
- Good news! City Council stands up to the mayor, says "the public have questions!"
- Be There For Health Care Today at City Hall at noon
- City Paper on the effects of the YPP poll and other online organizing on budget cuts
- Another local library group organizes
- Kids organizing in Mantua to keep their library to open
- Talk solutions with Maria Quinones-Sanchez @ PFC Meetup tonight
- Talking Out of Both Sides on Libraries
- Vince Fumo, the Charmer
- SCI Camp Hill Update—Call for Action, Increased Monitoring, Constant Vigilance
Endorsements from Progressive Organizations: Taking it Back!
Submitted by Gaetano P. on Tue, 03/27/2007 - 1:50pm.
Take Back Our City is a coalition of progressive organizations committed to making Philadelphia a better place for all its citizens. Founded in the Winter of 2006 for the purposes of promoting the endorsements of member organizations in the 2007 City elections and increasing public awareness of progressive organizations and candidates in Philadelphia, Take Back Our City is proud to be a voice in the future of Philadelphia. We also hope to maintain and increase dialogue among progressive organizations in order to better serve our members and our city.
Participating organizations do not expect to agree on every issue or candidate. But the educational goals of Take Back Our City are served just as well by promoting discussion of the merits of candidates about whom we disagree as by announcing endorsements we all share. Also, this is not an anti-incumbent organization. Rather, the endorsements of the member organizations speak for themselves.
To be a part of Take Back Our City, two requirements are necessary. First, the organization must self-identify as "progressive" or "liberal" in their politics. Second, the organization must have a process for making endorsements that includes membership input. All such organizations are welcome to become a part of Take Back Our City.
At this time, you can view our webpage for member organizations. We hope to add more in the coming weeks. Current members include Americans for Democratic Action, the African American Heritage Coalition, Philadelphia NOW, Philly for Change and Neighborhood Networks.
Recently, two member organizations, Philly for Change and Neighborhood Networks have made some of their endorsements. You can view those endorsements at our website and compare them with other organizations.
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Scary Dan and Scary Ray
YPP is not included in this, in case anyone is wondering. Ray and I's dictatorial power was just too much for a coalition of liberals to be able to take.
Can we get some photos?
Can we get some more photos when you were 7 like that one dan photo?
and they hate gays!
Liberty City is not a part of the group either even though it's been around since 1994 and it explicitly states that it is progressive (whatever that means) in its bylaws and has a very lengthy member endorsement process.
Fascism-ism and homophobia all in one day!
Well, considering we asked
Well, considering we asked Liberty City and are awaiting an answer, I doubt that is the case.
sure you did
homophobe!
Hetro-phobe!
Hetro-phobe!
He just hates us because of
He just hates us because of our Het Privilege.
By E-mail Dated 3/06/07...
I asked Renee if Liberty City was interested in joining and provided a brief summary of the web site's goals. Later that day, she forwarded a copy of my e-mail to Rue and Micah. I do not know if she ever heard back from them but with all the candidate night activities going on, I figured things are just very busy right now for everyone involved in the decision making process. No big deal but as a member of Liberty City and Take Back Our City, I did send out the request directly to Liberty City to join.
Larry
You hate Liberty City too Larry
don't front.
And Ray Loves Rick Santorum
fess up !!
Nice project
But your link is broken: you need to include the http:// at the beginning, eg, <a href="http://www.takebackourcity.org">
Also - I like the transparency of including a summary of the process for each organization. In those cases where they're available, might it be worthwhile to link to candidate questionnaire responses, so that folks can find out what drove the decision in a little more detail? I know NN has theirs online, and I think I overheard Jen Murphy of PFC say that they were going to post theirs as well. I know you have links to the sites, but even mentioning that these resources are available might be helpful.
Thanks. I think the link
Thanks. I think the link should be operating now. I'll look into those recommendations too.
more probs with the webpage
I cannot scroll down on the page from Neighborhood Networks, and the text continues beyond the bottom of my page. It may be my PC or browser, but I wanted to make sure you knew.
Political Doc
It might be a tone thing..
But I'm curious -- Ray, are your accusations of homophobia serious or are you guys just breaking balls?
joking
...but i would keep my eye on Gaetano.
We (Ray) joke like this
We (Ray) joke like this sometimes.
Proof that the "Take Our City Back" coalition is not homophobic
OK...
I was perplexed when I read the exchange above, because I did not recall having received an email about this coaliton. After Larry posted how he contacted Liberty City, I did a little digging and found the email that he references in my gmail account which I have pasted below. I rarely check this account, which is why I did not see it until now. I will discuss this coalition building opportunity with the board and get back to you all soon.
Micah
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Fine, I was wrong
...but i did spur Micah into action!
and I still have my doubts about Gaetano.
African American Heritage Coalition?
Does anyone have any more info on the African American Heritage Coalition? I did a google search and it didn't turn up much other than a few events that they had sponsored, and the link on the Take Back Our City page leads to a page that says "coming soon". Can anyone give me the background of the group? Do they have a website? More importantly: do they endorse as well?
I work for Damon K. Roberts in his run for City Council. Unless otherwise stated this and every comment by myself is the opinion of myself, and not of Damon or any other candidate, organization, committee, etc.
Email me, Alex.
Email me, Alex.
Alex
Call me.
Seth
why does everyone alex have to call everyone?
It seems like a fair question to me worthy of a public answer. It's not a secret society is it?
It's very skull and bones.
It's very skull and bones.
Seriously, if I have a contact person, I do not want to broadcast their name to the world without their permission. Though, telling Alex could be tantamout to the same thing.
I've already created a website...
I'm just waiting for the domain name purchase to go through.
I work for Damon K. Roberts in his run for City Council. Unless otherwise stated this and every comment by myself is the opinion of myself, and not of Damon or any other candidate, organization, committee, etc.
The Mystery! The Excitement!
Come on Ray, don't spoil the fun for me. I'm waiting to be told what the Da Vinci Code is!
I work for Damon K. Roberts in his run for City Council. Unless otherwise stated this and every comment by myself is the opinion of myself, and not of Damon or any other candidate, organization, committee, etc.
The question was not a contact person
The question was, what is this group, how many members, and what is the endorsement process?
I know the contact person--I went to a meeting with her and Bob Brady last summer that was reported on this blog. However, if the group is to be a part of a larger coalition that you are promoting it seems fair that everyone would know about the AAHC and not just those who you ask to email you.
I just submitted answers to
I just submitted answers to some of these questions to our webmaster. Hopefully, they will be on the TBOC site today.
I didn't realize that my politeness would cause you to be upset, Ray.
Where did you get the impression I was upset?
A coalition is only as good as the sum of its parts. That's all.
I'll agree with you there.
I'll agree with you there. I'm just moving a bit slower today than usual, my day job gets in the way sometimes.
Too Funny
Asking Alex to call me wasn't meant to imply the need for a secret decoder ring or the Da Vinci code before learning about the African-American Heritage Coalition. And I will neither confirm nor deny membership in Skull & Bones. Sometimes, I just can't type everything before I have to do "real work" and when I start typing again I have been logged off. That is my story and I am sticking with it.
I don't know when the organization was founded or what issue motivated the founders but I know several of the members are very involved in a partnership with neighborhood networks.
The African-American Heritage Coalition was very active during the primary season of 2005 and hosted many forums thoughout the city for voters to meet candidates. They were well organized and had the observers complete questionaires regarding the candidates. Prior to the primary they published the results of the questionaires and held a press conference to endorse a slate of candidates.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
— Margaret Mead
Seth