Report on 3/14 Public Power Strategy Discussion/Organizing Meeting (ILWU Local 6 Hall - San Francisco) Dear Supporters of Public Power: On Thursday, March 14, supporters of public power got together for the first time since last November's photo-finish campaign in the first of a series of discussion/organizing meetings aimed at placing a public power ballot initiative on the ballot in San Francisco this coming November. More than 40 people were in attendance, most of them central players in last year's powerful campaign in which we lost by only 514 votes despite the fact we were outspent 23-to-1. The meeting was kicked off by Ross Mirkarimi, who helped coordinate last year's MUD NOW! Campaign. After reviewing briefly last year's exciting effort, Ross set out the challenge before us: (1) to assess the new developments with PG&E, as well as all the related issues of water & sewage, (2) to determine how best to frame a winning ballot initiative for November, and (3) to build the kind of broad and inclusive coalition from the get-go that can raise the money and build the alliances capable of winning a ballot iniative decisively. Denis Mosgofian gave the first report of the evening on the current status of PG&E 's Reorganization Plan, which is currently before a bankruptcy judge in San Francisco. His report was supplemented by staff analysts with the California PUC who expressed the point of view that no decision is likely in this bankruptcy proceeding until early 2003 -- at the earliest. It is still unclear exactly how an eventual decision in this legal case will affect our ongoing public power campaign, though a number of the analysts present felt strongly that whatever the outcome of the proceeding, this would not have any effect on our bid to create a municipal public power authority such as envisioned in Prop F. Denis and a group of concerned elected officials and activists are meeting regularly on this issue with the San Francisco Labor Council and will monitor developments closely. They will keep us up to date on these developments. Ed Smellof was the next scheduled presenter, but he was not able to attend the meeting. In his place, Brad Benson, Supervisor Tom Ammiano's chief assistant on public power issues, filled us in on all the current plans under consideration by the Board of Supervisors. (Ed Smellof contacted Ross the next day to apologize for his absence -- he was tied up in meetings till late at night -- but promised he would make it to the next meeting on March 27.) Brad Benson reported that just a few days after the November 6 election, Supervisor Ammiano resubmitted a "son/daughter of Prop F" initiative for the November 2002 ballot. It is essentially Prop F, with only minor changes. He pointed out that his new initiative is subject to revisions/modifications based on the outcome of the discussions such as the ones projected by our emerging coalition. Brad also reported that the Board of Supervisors will be financing a feasibility study for a municipal power authority in San Francisco -- something we lacked in last year's campaign. This study, Brad said, should be ready by the end of June, in time to give us the political ammunition we need for our November ballot initiative. Considerable discussion was devoted to the City's energy plan put forward by Ed Smellof and reported in a March 14 front-page article in the San Francisco Chronicle. Many expressed the concern that this energy plan, to the extent it was presented by Smellof and the Chronicle as a more reasonable, incremental approach to the problems facing the City, could be used as a means to subvert our efforts to take over PG&E's grid and production/distribution facilities, insofar as it leaves PG&E comfortably in the driver's seat. Others with experience in City Hall countered that the scope and character of the City's energy plan was, in fact, more limited, but that it was not necessarily incompatible with our effort to municipalize public power. Given that Ed Smellof was not present at the meeting, these questions could not be fully clarified. It was noted, however, that the City's Energy Plan, which was formulated based on sparsely attended community meetings last December, was still in draft stage and that it could be substantially modified through the proposed process of public hearings. In the course of this discussion, the question of whether or not to combine the issue of electricity with that of water & sewage came up. Clearly the City faces a dramatic situation with the major disrepair of the Hetch Hetchy plant and distribution facilities. Something has to be done by the City and residents of San Francisco so that the State does not take over and thereby raise our water and sewage bills astronomically. A lively exchange ensued on the pros and cons of combining these issues into one ballot initiative -- much as Prop F did last November -- or separating them into two (or more) initiatives. Given the lack of time, and the need for further technical expertise on these questions, it was decided to pursue this discussion in future meetings. At this point in the discussion, Ross geared the meeting toward more of an organizing mode, proposing that we establish working committees to prepare the discussions in smaller groups prior to the next full meeting of the public power coalition. He also proposed that we call our ourselves Public Power Now! -- a proposal that was tabled to the next meeting, as some felt this was too close to our last year's campaign. Perhaps, it was stated, we might want a new name to draw in people who hadn't supported us the last time around. The first working group (of three) that was established was an "Ad-Hoc Committee to discuss how best to frame a winning ballot initiative in November.” It was mandated to assemble and review all the discussion materials necessary to help take the next strategy discussion to a higher level. Denis Mosgofian (denislori@workingfamilies.com) is the point person of this committee. Eight people signed up for this group. If you were not able to make the meeting and would like to participate in this work, the "Ad Hoc Committee" will be meeting on Monday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at ILWU Local 6 (255 Ninth St.) IF this hall is available. Otherwise, the meeting will be held at the UESF office on 14th (@Market), or IF that fails at Denis'home. Please contact Denis for the final meeting place. The second working group was the Steering Committee Search group. It was mandated to draw up a list of all the individuals and organizations that we can and must involve from the get-go in the Steering Committee of this emerging coalition. Last year, we did not have the time -- given the last-minute character of the campaign -- to build a solid base for this effort among the communities of color in the City, in particular. Alan Benjamin (alan@energy-net.org) is the point person of this eight-person committee, which will meet on Wednesday, March 20 at 5 p.m. at Temple Bar (600 Polk St., near City Hall). More are invited to join this committee and attend the meeting. The third working group formed was the Fundraising Committee. It was assigned to discuss all financial matters, including funding from foundations, and to come to the next meeting with more ideas and proposals on this matter. The point person is Charles Kalish (chkalish@ix.netcom.com). More are involved to attend. Their next meeting is Wednesday, March 20th at 6 p.m. at the Green Party's office on Mission St. (@15th St.). The next full meeting of this coalition will be held Wednesday, March 27 at 7 p.m. at ILWU Local 6 (255 Ninth St., between Howard and Folsom) in San Francisco. See you there! (report compiled by Alan Benjamin, Golden Gate Labor Party & Labor Task Force for Public Power) _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com