This petition was created to pressure Mayor Landrieu to reopen Charity Hospital in honor of the 100th anniversary of Reverend Avery C. Alexander’s birth and the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans needs healthcare now!

Sign the Petition »

For Further information please visit:
http://savecharityhospital.com/

Sunday, May 30, 2010
1-7:30 PM
Jackson Square, French Quarter, New Orleans

1700+ attendees and growing!

Join the grassroots effort to demand that the Federal Government and BP devote all possible available resources to stopping the continued outpouring of crude oil into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico NOW!

For information on the group and the event organizers, visit:
Facebook Event

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)

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

= = = = = =
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)

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

“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.

Mississippi River at New Orleans Shut After Fuel Spill. Associated Press Video Below:

The Green Party made history last week when it nominated the first all-women-of-color presidential ticket in US history. Former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was the first African American woman elected to Congress in Georgia, won the Green Party’s nomination last Monday. Listen to the Democracy Now! Report…

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) has since closed the landfill, but residents and environmental groups are now opposing the approved closure plan. This closure plan retains waste in the cell, which does not resolve the long-term impact of the waste to the environment and water. Experts have cited the presence of the chemical contaminants, Hydrogen Sulfide and Arsenic, in the waste.

Wilma Subra, nationally respected chemist and consultant for the Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) states, “We are opposed to the closure plan because of possible leaching of the chemical contaminants Hydrogen Sulfide and Arsenic into the soil, into the Maxtent Canal and possible migration of these contaminants into the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. We are also concerned that this type of closure will degrade the wetlands that border the Chef Menteur Landfill.”

Leslie March, Chair of the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club exclaims, “Look on the map, this landfill is within 1 mile of Village DÕLest and Viet Village Versailles, a community comprised of predominantly African-American and Vietnamese-American residents. It is also an area that flooded during Katrina. The only equity in this situation is clean closure.”

Senator Ann Duplessis arranged a hearing with the Senate Environmental Committee in anticipation that they will pass a resolution that restricts closure to “Clean Closure”. If passed, it will amend the current federal procedure at the state level. Such a restriction will help the State of Louisiana move forward towards building a greener state and establishing stronger environmental policies regarding waste disposal for the future.

What: Senate Committee Hearing

When: Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Time: 10:00 am

Where: New Orleans City Council Chamber, City Hall
Contacts: