El Cerrito Democratic Club

El Cerrito Democratic Club

Newsletter – February 2019

Contents:

1. Preview of February 26, 2019 General Club Meeting
   1. Agenda
   2. Program
2. Minutes from January 22, 2019 General Club Meeting
3. Annual Membership Renewal Period is NOW!
4. Approved 2019 Budget

Next General Club Meeting is February 26, 2019

Upcoming regular General Club Membership Meeting will be held on the fourth Tuesday of February, February 26, 2019 at the Presbyterian Church at 545 Ashbury Ave, El Cerrito 94530. Meeting starts at 6:30 pm

a) Agenda

6:00 Doors Open: Pizza available ($5)

6:30 Call to Order

6:35 Approve January 22, 2019 Minutes

6:40 Treasurer’s Report

6:45 Appreciation of Outgoing Board Members

Paul Fadelli and Mister Phillips

6:50 Report from Club Representative to Central Committee

7:00 Announcements

7:15 Program

Interview of Author and Club Member Hari Lamba

The Climate Change and National Political Crisis (Problems & Solutions)

8:20 Good of the Order

8:30 Adjourn

b) Program Preview

Hari Lamba Interviewed on Climate Change

Hari Lamba, the El Cerrito Democratic Club VP for Publications, will be interviewed by El Cerrito City Councilmember Paul Fadelli on “The Climate Change and National Political Crisis (Problems & Solutions)” in a dialogue that will include questions from the membership audience.  Lamba is an author and activist who has focused on the impacts of climate change on the Earth.  The interview will include a discussion on his life and books (bio and books below) and his suggestions on how we all should deal with the environmental challenges that confront us.

Harinder (Hari) Lambais an engineer and an author who recently moved to the Bay Area from Chicago.  And as you will hear in the interview on February 26, he has been dedicated to public service and solving the global ecological and economic crises we face in this country and the world.

Hari was born to a Sikh army family in India and his grandfather and father fought mostly in Europe in both world wars as part of the British India Army.  Hari’s early years as an army brat exposed him to the multi-cultural and multi-religious society and peoples of India, and he says taught him that respect for and celebration of diversity needs to be the backbone of the well-being of any democratic nation.

He migrated to the United States in 1970 after receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering, and then a Ph.D. degree in Engineering Mechanics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1977.  He worked as both an engineer and as a corporate manager for 40 years in a company that designed and sold diesel locomotives worldwide and retired in 2016.

Since retirement Hari has been an active volunteer in the Democratic Party and the Clean Power Team of the Sierra Club.  He organized and coordinated an informal group in Chicago called the Earth Summit Network, that educated the public about the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) which was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 and put pressure on the George H.W. Bush Administration to sign the initial Global Warming Treaty.

Hari and his wife moved to the Bay Area to be near their kids and grandson, who now live in nearby Albany.  He has become active in ECDC, in the Sierra Club West Contra Costa County group, and is the Disaster Preparedness coordinator for his local neighborhood in East Richmond Heights. He is the author of five books on global and US National Issues.

 

PUBLICATIONS:

2005: Rethinking Progress – Towards a Creative Transformation of Global Society

2016: Our Only Home – Poems for our Planet Earth

2016: Personal Climate Change Handbook

2018: The History of our Earth & Our Role in its Future

2018: Rejuvenating America

 

Minutes from January 22, 2019 Meeting

Annual Membership Renewal Period is NOW – Please renew for member benefits

ECDC membership runs from January 1^stto December 31^stof each calendar year.  2018 members can renew anytime before June 1^st, and must be renewedto participate in any club votes.  After June 1^st, members from 2018 are treated like new members, and must wait the minimum waiting time to participate in Club endorsement votes (for example: the 2020 Presidential Candidate Endorsement).  New members who join after September 1^st, 2019 are members for the balance of 2019 and all of 2020 before they need to renew in January 2021. Membership is $20 for one person at an address, $30 for two at the same address, and $5 for students. Please add an additional $12 if you request a hardcopy newsletter delivered to your mailing address.  If you do not remember if you have renewed for 2019, please email membership.ecdc@gmail.com.  Renew 1)online at www.ecdclub.org, 2)mailing a check (made out to ECDC) to ECDC, P.O. Box 192, El Cerrito, CA 94530, or 3)bringing your payment to the next meeting. If you mail in your dues payment, please provide us with your name(s), address and email.

Approved 2019 Budget

Download club budget from link below:

budget

January 22, 2019

Agenda submitted by Janet Abelson

• 6:00 Doors Open: Pizza available ($5)
• 6:30 Call to Order
• 6:35 Minutes
• 6:40 Treasurer’s Report
• 6:45 Elections of Officers – See Slate Recommended by Executive Board below
• 6:50 Budget for 2019
• 7:00 Club Endorsements for ADEM, if any. Current Assembly District 15 delegate endorsements by club include
  • Women: Champagne Brown, Joey Smith
  • Men: Hari Lamba, Harpreet Sandhu
    There are seven positions for women and seven positions for men.
• 7:10 Announcements
• 1. 1. 1. Next meeting on February 26, 2019
           1. Program item – Hari Lamba interviewed by Paul Fadelli
           2. Climate change, jobs and economy for it, visions, etc.7:10 Announcements
        2. Climate Change Series to be organized – separate from Membership meetings
        3. Other
• 7:45 Program – Selection of Programs for 2019
  • See list of suggested programs below
  • Additional Suggestions, if any
• 8:30 Adjourn

Executive Board Recommended Candidates for ECDC

Executive Board for 2019

• President – Janet Abelson*
• Executive Vice President: Champagne Brown (currently VP Membership)
• Immediate Past President: Peter Chau (on leave)*
• Vice President Membership: Greg Lyman (currently VP Treasurer)
• Vice President Treasurer: Kathy Fleming**
• Vice President Publications (Newsletters): Hari Lamba*
• Vice President Records (Secretary): Glen Nethercut**
• Vice President Programs: Margaret Kavanaugh-Lynch**
• Vice President Media (Website): Rosa Esquivel (currently VP Records)
  • *indicates current office holder **new to board

January 22, 2019 Agenda Attachment

Possible 2019 Programs
The following is a list of the potential program ideas discussed at the November 27, 2018 General meeting. Grouped ideas have been expanded to be individual items so Members can participate in ranking their top five (5) choices. This list is in alphabetical order:

1. Campaign Experiences and stories from Young Democrat Demnleus Johnson III
2. Campaign Experiences and stories from Young Democrat Igor Tregub,
3. Campaign Experiences and stories from Young Democrat Rochelle Pardue-
   Okimoto,
4. Co-sponsor event(s) with Young Democratic Clubs – need to focus on the young person’s perspective and define the end goal and that they get something from democratic clubs
5. Conduct an Endorsement Forum of 2020 Presidential Candidates
6. Discussion on where the El Cerrito Life Long Learning Center could be location (building formerly known as the Library)
7. Form an ECDC Subcommittee on Animal Rights,
8. Form an ECDC Subcommittee on CADEM resolutions,
9. Form an ECDC Subcommittee on Environment,
10. Form an ECDC Subcommittee on Health,
11. Form an ECDC Subcommittee on Housing
12. Form an ECDC Subcommittee on Transportation,
13. Form an ECDC Subcommittee on Voter registration,
14. Form an ECDC Subcommittee on Voter Role verification,
15. Host a Town Hall style meetings on Local Issues
16. Presentation and Discussion about Climate Change and the Environment with
    respect to food source, industrial food production, agribusiness, transportation, organic food, labeling
17. Presentation and Discussion about Drug Epidemic Responses and Treatment
    (not just the visible opioid epidemic)
18. Presentation and Discussion about how Single Payer Health Care and/or
    Medicare for All would be implemented, the cost, the challenges
19. Presentation and Discussion of WCCUSD School Board District Elections –
    cause, maps, timeline
20. Presentation by Assembly District 15 Assembly member Buffy Wicks,
21. Presentation by Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia,
22. Presentation by State Senator Nancy Skinner,
23. Presentation by State Superintendent of Instruction Tony Thurmond,
24. Presentations by Contra Costa County DA Diana Beckton.