Minutes of Baltimore Green Party Meeting — Thursday, July 24, 2003
1. Start 7 p.m. with Introductions
2. Eileen from the State Green Party spoke about the state platform committee and solicited volunteers.
3. Victor reported on the recent State Green Party meeting in Southern Maryland.
a. The annual state convention is June was a success and netted approximately $450 profit
b. The next State Green Party meeting will be held on August 17 in Greenbelt
c. The following meeting will be held on September 14 in Howard County
d. The PR Committee is in need of a publicity person
e. The Baltimore Green Party was the first to submit an official local platform
f. The Bylaws Committee needs someone from the Baltimore Green Party to attend the August meeting in Greenbelt. Peter Grimes will find a representative to send.
g. A Spanish language website has been set up. The State Green Party wants to know if the Baltimore Greens would like to post minutes on the website. The group will consider this.
h. The State Green Party is soliciting proposals from local parties that want to host the next annual state convention, slated for June 2004. Victor, noting that the Baltimore Greens will be exceptionally busy next year with large number of candidates running in city elections, suggested that the local party place a bid to host the state convention in 2005. Those in attendance unanimously voted in favor of submitting a bid to host the 2005 convention in Baltimore.
4. Peter Grimes announced that lists of registered Greens, sorted by district, are now available for the candidates.
5. Meet the Candidate: Myles Hoenig, candidate for City Council representative for the 14th District, spoke about his candidacy.
a. Myles provided printed answers to the BGP Candidate Questionnaire and outlined the main issues on which he will focus in his campaign. These include:
1) Developers (ie Woodberry/Loyola and Charles Village/Streaver Brothers)
2) Accessibility and accountability of the City Council
3) A Charter amendment to reorganize the Board of Estimates to reduce the Mayor’s disproportionate number of votes
4) Education reform, including admitting the Teachers’ Union to the Board of Education
b. Myles’ introduction was followed by a question and answer period
6. Meet the Candidate: Brandon Welch, candidate for President of the City Council, spoke about his candidacy.
a. Brandon provided printed answers to the BGP Candidate Questionnaire and outlined the main issues on which he will focus in his campaign. These include:
1) Lead paint removal or encapsulation
2) Job training and placement for city teens
3) Drug addiction treatment
4) Education reform, including a unified teaching strategy and competency evaluations of administrators
b. Brandon’s introduction was followed by a question and answer period
7. Vincent Tola made a motion that the BGP “formally revisit the decision on when and where to hold a vote for candidate nominations.” After a brief discussion, the motion was tabled until next week’s meeting. The Motion to Table was made by Leo Horrigan, seconded by Terrence Fitzgerald and passed by a majority vote.