This Saturday and Sunday, October 24th & 25th, join thousands around the world to call for strong climate action!
There are two events in New Orleans:
Saturday, October 24, noon, on the horseshoe in front of Tulane University on St. Charles Avenue
Details here: http://www.350.org/node/10290
Sunday, October 25, noon, at Congo Square in Armstrong Park on Rampart Street near Dumaine
Details here: http://www.350.org/node/7622
Today the House and Government Affairs Committee stopped passage of HB776 which would have stripped the rights of Green Party voters from conducting a Congressional Primary. The bill would have only allowed Republicans and Democrats to conduct a congressional primary.
Secretary of the Green Party of Louisiana, Sean Clark, spoke before the committee.
Click here for Real Media Video (Skip 34 min. Into Video)
Open Letter to House & Govt. Affairs Committee
HB776 was presented as a pro-active and theoretical cost saving measure on behalf of the Secretary of State’s office, however it not only disenfranchises voters of the Green, Libertarian, and Reform parties but it also disenfranchises the “unaffiliated” voters as well.
Statewide Voter Registration Count for Reference:
Democratic: 1,517,563
Republicans: 741,926
Other Parties Total: 645,771
HB776 effects more than a theoretical “Mickey Mouse Party” (as it was referred to) banding together to topple the budget of the Secretary of State. This bill will disenfranchise 645,771 registered voters. Please regard this issue for its face value.
The following glaring issues of HB776:
1. The Green Party, Reform Party and Libertarian parties will be DENIED congressional primaries with no alternative by law to choosing a nominee.
2. “Unaffiliated” voters will be DENIED the option to vote for another party other than the Democratic party when they go to vote in a Congressional Primary.
3. MORE confusion will be created for smaller “recognized party” voters. For example, a Green Party voter goes to vote in a primary and there are 2 candidates running. What will the poll worker be required to say when those voters are turned away?
Comparison was made on May 19th 2009 that the registered voter threshold would be consistent with the Presidential Preference Primaries. Please note that this is not a fair comparison because those primaries are non-binding elections which inevitably are decided via state party conventions.
Most importantly, please oppose HB776 because it seeks to limit voters rights rather than protect them.
Sincerely,
Sean Clark
Green Party of Louisiana, Secretary
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May 19th meeting. Watch this video (skip to 20min in):
http://house.louisiana.gov/rmarchive/Ram/RamMay09/0519_09_HG.ram
Next meeting Wed. May 27th.
You may read HB776 here:
http://www.legis.state.la.us/billdata/byinst.asp?sessionid=09RS&billtype=HB&billno=776 (Select “Text Current” for PDF)
Green Party candidate Malik Rahim’s campaign website is live at http://www.votemalik.com, and we’ll be continuously updating it as the campaign continues.
If you are interested in volunteering in any way, please fill out the contact form on votemalik.com.
Set your sights on December 6th!
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42477609816
Twitter: https://twitter.com/votemalik
A feasibility study released today indicates that it would be 20% cheaper to renovate New Orleans’ Charity Hospital into a state-of-the-art facility than it would be to build a new hospital on another site. The report, commissioned by the Foundation for Historical Louisiana and created by a team of architectural, structural engineering and financial consulting firms led by RMJM Hillier have estimated that completely overhauling the existing hospital building would cost $484 million, compared to a $620 million price tag for the creation of a similar facility in another location.
“Can Charity Hospital be turned into a modern hospital? We say unequivocally that it can,” stated Steve McDaniel of RMJM Hillier, the Principal Architect of the renovation plans. These plans included tearing out the entire inside of the building and replacing all existing services such as heating and cooling systems with new, modern systems.
At its presentation the study was praised by healthcare activists including Green Party of Greater New Orleans (GPGNO) member Brad Ott. Ott and other GPGNO members have been struggling for the past two and half years to force the re-opening of the hospital, mostly through the Committee to Re-Open Charity Hospital, and last September the Louisiana Green Party endorsed a resolution to call for the restoration of health services at the current location of Charity Hospital.
The report was presented as an “apples to apples” comparison of equal services and numbers of hospital beds for both the scenario of renovation and building a similar hospital elsewhere. Members of the Committee to Reopen Charity contend that this study confirms what they had long suspected — that it would be far cheaper to re-open Charity, even with major renovations, than to construct a new hospital. The study also contradicts earlier estimates paid for LSU Health Sciences Division, which claimed that it would be cheaper to build another hospital elsewhere and that Charity was too damaged to re-open.
The study noted that renovation plans were estimated at three years, whereas it would take roughly five years to construct a new hospital. “Cost to operate the temporary facility for two years would be significant,” stated McDaniel. These costs were not included in the official estimates, making it even more expensive to choose to keep Chairity closed.
Structural Engineer Robert Silman, of Robert Silman Associates, noted in his portion of the presentation that cracks in the facade of the hospital had “happened almost from day one” and did not represent a significant structural concern. He gave the building a near clean bill of health structurally. “It looks like a very good building in very good condition.”
Ott and other health care and civil rights activists are currently organizing towards the re-opening of the hospital, and will be holding a public meeting at Evening Star Baptist Church, 8926 Hickory Street in Carrolton Saturday, September 20 from 1 to 4 PM.
To see the Executive Summary of the Report, go to www.fhl.org.
To learn more about the struggle to re-open Charity Hospital or to get involved, see the website of the Committee to Re-Open Charity Hospital www.Charityhospital.net.
