Los Angeles Greens

LA Greens Stand With LA Hotel Workers

2006-09-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

Several members of the Los Angeles Greens were arrested this week as part of a massive protest in support of hotel workers. According to the LA Times, "police, noting the number of arrests, called the event the largest civil disobedience in Los Angeles in a generation and one of the largest in the city's history."

Election Results

2006-11-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

Track Green Party election returns from around the country at greens.org/elections. To follow the returns as they come in, click on the entry for the candidate(s) of your interest...then click on the link there of the official governmental elections results URL. When the numbers firm up, they'll be entered into the data base, which then show up on greens.org/elections.

All California results are available at http://vote.ss.ca.gov/

Local results:

Byron DeLear (Congressional District 28)

Bill Paparian (Congressional District 29)

Ricardo Costa (Assembly District 44)

Peter Thottam (Assembly District 53)

2006 Election Highlights

2006-11-10T22:58:00.000-08:00

Fifty-nine Greens were on the ballot in California in November 2006, and 18 of them were victorious. Perhaps the largest victory was in Richmond, CA, where Gayle McLaughlin was elected Mayor. According to the GPCA press release, "McLaughlin, who first ran for public office in 2004 when she won a Richmond City Council position, defeated the incumbent mayor of Richmond, although McLaughlin was outspent by about 10-1...Richmond, a working class suburb of San Francisco with a population of about 104,000, becomes the biggest city in the U.S. where a Green is at the helm, and the first in California where a Green was directly elected as mayor."

As former presidential candidate David Cobb pointed out, Tuesday was also a good day for election reform. Instant Run-off Voting was passed in Oakland, CA. Davis, CA voted to adopt choice voting, the proportional voting version of IRV. California Democrat Debra Bowen, an advocate of IRV, was elected Secretary of State.

In California, four propositions endorsed by the Los Angeles Greens passed (1C, 1D, 1E, and 84), while two opposed by the Greens (1B and 83) also passed. Two ballot initiatives strongly supported by Greens failed, however. Prop 87, which would have taxed oil production in the state to fund alternative energy, and Prop 89, the campaign finance initiative, both failed by wide margins.

Nationally, Greens won at least 35 races. In Illinois, gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney received an impressive 11 percent of the vote. Joyce Robinson-Paul of the DC Statehood Green Party won 14% of the vote for "shadow" Senate. Colorado Green Tom Kelly received 21% of the vote in his race for Congress.

From the GPUS press release: "8.7 million voters across the U.S. voted for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and for impeachment resolutions on local and state ballots that were promoted or supported by Greens. Troop withdrawal initiatives won in all ten localities in Wisconsin, including Milwaukee, and all 11 communities in Illinois, including Chicago. Of 139 cities and towns in Massachusetts voting on the troop withdrawal measures, only a handful voted nay on initiatives demanding that Congress and the White House end the war immediately. In California, San Francisco voters supported a local impeachment measure by 59.41%. In Berkeley, a similar resolution won the support of 68.56% of the electorate. Greens supported and led the initiative campaigns; in April, 24 of 32 communities voted in support of the 'Troops Home Now' resolutions that were promoted by Greens."

On the whole, Tuesday was a very good day for progressives, as Republicans lost their majority in both houses of Congress. But Greens and other progressives must continue to monitor the Congress and advocate for our values, including peace, universal healthcare, and environmental protection.

Green leads as San Francisco bans plastic bags

2007-03-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to leadership from San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi (above), one of 50 elected Greens in California, San Francisco has become the first U.S. city to ban all non-compostable plastic bags.

From the Green Party of California press release:

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 10-1 Tuesday to require the city's grocery stores and chain pharmacies to use only recyclable paper or compostable bags, despite stiff resistance from the California Grocers Association and the plastic industry...

The measure had been delayed after the grocery industry went to the Legislature to intervene. Now, the law goes into effect for 54 grocery stores within six months, and a year for large pharmacies with at least five locations. It benefits consumers in many ways, says Mirkarimi.

The compostable "plastic" bags are stronger, they can be dumped directly into a compost pile because they are made from starches like corn and potatoes and they won't pollute the environment, kill marine life or gum up recycling machines. The cost for compostable bags is about the same as paper bags.

Green Party publications

2007-01-22T21:45:00.000-08:00

The Winter '07 issue of Green Pages, the national Green Party magazine features an article about the LA Greens scholarship. There are also articles about Greens around the country and around the world, and an interview with the filmmakers behind An Unreasonable Man, the documentary about Ralph Nader. Green Pages can be read online at gp.org/greenpages.

The January issue of Green Focus, the California Green Party newspaper, is available as a pdf download. It includes articles on the Los Angeles Hotel Workers' attempt to unionize and the LA Greens' college scholarship. Also: Green Party office holders, impeachment, Instant Runoff Voting, and much more.

Los Angeles students: LA Greens Scholarship applications available

2007-03-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

The second annual Los Angeles Greens Petra Kelly Memorial Scholarship will be offered to one male and one female graduating from a high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District in 2007. Find all of the details and download the application here. Applications are due May 31.

Happy Earth Day!

2007-04-22T16:03:00.000-07:00

Today is Earth Day.

Last week, on April 14, 2007, the Los Angeles Greens participated in a march in Westchester to raise awareness about global climate change. The march was organized by Environmental Change Makers and co-sponsored by the LA Greens. The march was part of a national day of action on climate change, Step It Up 2007.

The march was covered by ABC News (2) and LA Indy Media.