Voters in Edison NJ have overwhelmingly rejected their mayor's plan to turn over the township's wastewater system, and part of its water system, to a joint venture between two corporations.

SUEZ North America, a private water utility company, and KKR, an equity firm, would have operated the facilities under the name Edison Environmental Partners, and leased the equipment from the town. Instead, following a landslide "no" on the proposal in a special election, the township will create a water department and beef up its existing sewer department to do maintenance and repair.

The election was the result of a grassroots petition drive and local organizing over most of the past year. While SUEZ and KKR modified their proposals in response to opposition by the community, cutting the length of the contract from 40 to 25 years and offering money to install air conditioning in township schools, Edison residents held their ground. In June, nearly 5,000 petitions were received by the township council asking that an ordinance be introduced to require Edison to permanently own and operate the sewer and water systems that were to be turned over to SUEZ and KKR. In response, SUEZ and KKR sent out investigators who posed as representatives of the "Edison Utility Improvement Program," showing up at the homes of petition signers, reportedly inquiring about whether they signed the petition and why. 

Water privatization, whether of resources or infrastructure, is not the answer. Edison needed only to look to Hoboken to see a pattern of indifference from water profiteers to real concerns about service and safety of the public water supply.

The Alliance for Democracy worked with residents in Lawrence MA, many years ago to prevent the private takeover of their municipally-managed sanitation system, and from our support of local rights-of-nature ordinances to local control of producer to consumer food sales, we are big fans of keeping vital systems under the public's oversight. We hope that Edison residents remain involved in setting up the new water department and that this example of democratically-determined municipal control of water is an inspiration to other communities looking to take back control of their water and sanitation systems. 

Oregon’s legislature has approved a ballot measure for the Nov 2020 ballot to amend the state’s Constitution to allow limits on campaign contribution at the state, county and city levels, to allow disclosure of contributors, and to allow political advertisements to also include information on who paid for them. But that hasn’t put a stop to a citizen effort to collect enough signatures to get a similar measure on the ballot.
 
Oregon is one of only five states that have no enforced campaign contribution limits—the others are Alabama, Nebraska, Utah and Virginia. The result is outlandish amounts of money given and spent in elections--$37 million in the last gubernatorial race, with $2.5 million coming from Nike founder Phil Knight alone--and an increasingly clear line between money and inaction on issues of concern to voters. For instance, Republican legislators who skipped the state to block a vote on a clean energy jobs bill also received large donations from companies whose bottom lines would have been impacted by the legislation. 
 
Still, Oregonians are continuing to collect 220,000 signatures statewide to get the a similar measure on the ballot, since it’s possible for the state legislature to rescind their approval.  Alliance council member Joan Horton said that legislators take the signature drive seriously, and knowing that people in their districts were out working for the measure spurred them to support a referral “A continuing signature drive is “insurance” that the legislature will not rescind their referral of SJR18 during 2020’s short session. According to our attorney, we are not on the ballot for certain until that short-session is over next year. He says it’s very unlikely to be rescinded, but it’s a chance we don’t want or need to take”, she said.
 
Alliance national co-chair David Delk noted that in Portland, the local chapter’s efforts will be focused on having the 2020 state ballot measure approved by city and county voters and supporting efforts elsewhere in the state. Every expectation is that it will pass locally, since Portland and Multnomah county voters have already approved two other local ballot measures by about 90%, though implementation is still partly tied up in court. The chapter will also join with other supporting organizations to make sure that when the question passes, contribution limits established under it are not too high and the implementing legislation is loophole-free.
 
In another legislative win Oregon also approved two legislative study committees on a single payer health care plan for the state, and a state public option. David, who also leads the Health Care for All Oregon Metro chapter, said “The single payer study committee is expected to write legislation to implement such a program in Oregon.  Passage of this study committee is quite exciting for Oregonians and moves the ball forward for Oregon to be the first state in the nation to create a single payer health care system.  Remember, everybody in, no one out!"

 

by Jim Tarbell

After the rousing launch of our map of the Economy for the Common Good in Mendocino County on April 29 with Emily Kawano and Keith Taylor, we quickly began the process of capturing that energy and launching the whole project into the future. On May 19, over two dozen citizens dedicated to fulfilling the promise of the Economy for Our Common Good, gathered to outline all of the issues, projects and campaigns that need to be part of the new economy. These themes were then taken up by a larger public gathering on June 15 that covered many issues involved in Building the Economy for Our Common Good. 

We began with a great communal singing of the Melanie DeMore song Lead with Love, which led into testimonials from organizations already on the map and a community-base media group aiming to be citizen-driven and worker-owned. From there we broke into three groups looking at:

• Issues around the availability and affordability of housing and the viability of establishing a Community Land Trust to ensure long-term affordable housing;
• Our natural commons and the state of restoration forestry, including pushing the County to enforce a publicly passed ordinance that “put a wrench in the longstanding timber-management practice” of using carcinogenic chemicals to kill hardwood trees. We also discussed how to support the County’s newly formed Climate Action Advisory Committee; 
• Establishing co-ops and collectives in the County and organizing a regular media presence for presenting current news on our progress  in Building the Economy for the Common Good in Mendocino County.

At the conclusion of the gathering we also outlined plans to hold more workshops at Mendocino College, concentrating on both adding organizations to and expanding our Map of the Economy for Our Common Good, as well as exploring new issues and campaigns necessary for a robust Economy for the Common Good and the development of new organizations to fulfill that promise.

As we ere breaking up, one enthusiastic participant exclaimed, “this is the best meeting I have been at in years. We did not just talk, we came up with actions to do.”

Not in Mendocino County? Visit this page for information on the Grassroots Institute's solidarity economy mapping curriculum, and consider organizing to create a similar map where you live. 

by Bonnie Preston

Since Maine’s town meeting season of 2011, 55 towns have passed the Local Food and Community Self Governance Ordinance (LFCSGO), which gives small farmers who sell directly to their customers an exemption to licensing and inspection requirements.

For some reason, the Maine Municipal Association (MMA), a statewide membership organization which provides an array of services to assist municipalities in their governance, has never supported the LFCSGO. The MMA doesn't set policy, but instead supports needs that are frequently beyond the scope of what small towns in particular can do for themselves. Yet they have recently recommended a seriously modified version of the LFCSGO to towns that ask for their advice on this issue.

On March 16, the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine hosted the Maine Hunger Summit, and Local Food Rules was there.

Conference organizers invited us to participate to give our perspectives on how food sovereignty, or the ability of communities to control land use, production of food, and how it is sold or otherwise distributed--can help address hunger. Our two presentations drew an audience mostly made up of students. They listened intently, asked good questions, and stayed around after the presentations to talk with us.

One of our presenters, Suzanne Dunham, was the lead organizer for passing a Local Food and Community Self Governance ordinance in her town of Greenwood, Maine. Suzanne manages the local farmers market with her husband. She recounted how several people have used their town's ordinance, which allows unlicensed farmers to sell face-to-face with customers, to test a product to judge if it might be worthwhile to get licensed so it can be sold through more conventional retail channels. At least one farmer has moved from farmer's market to store distribution, adding to her family's financial well-being as well as adding economic development to the town. Other farmers and home-based food producers in town are simply happy to be able to use the farmers market for some legal extra income.

Craig Hickman, a Maine state representative who is a small farmer and B&B owner, told about his efforts to add a right-to-food amendment to the state constitution. This would ensure people's rights to feed themselves on a local level, bringing aspects of the Local Food Community Self Governance Ordinance statewide. 

Jesse Watson, a permaculturist, talked about how the intense focus of permaculture on improving the soil will enable more people to grow their own food, providing greater resilience to our food system.

Sonia Acevedo has a micro-farm in a poor town, and convinced people that farmers markets are not just for the elite. She said that in her town, poor people buy food from poor farmers, and it works; no one goes hungry.

Matthew Hoffman, head of the Food Studies Program at USM, is looking for more ways to connect us with his students. We were delighted to present to these committed young people, and look forward to future collaboration. Urban meets rural will be a win-win!

California Governor Gavin Newsom is taking "unprecedented steps" to block President Trump's attempts to send water to San Joaquin Valley's agriculture interests. In the fight to protect the Delta's water, fishery and ecosystems, not to mention the drinking water of 25 million Californians, California has temporarily stopped deferring to the federal government on environmental rules, and is drawing up its own regulations. Newsom's move will potentially add a court showdown over whether the federal government has to comply with state law to the 45 lawsuits the state has brought against the Trump administration on other issues.

The question has also gone to the Legislature, with California Senate Bill 1 requiring the federal government's actions on water to comply with the state's Endangered Species Act. You can read more here, including how some federal environmental officials feel caught in the middle between the state and the White House.

Newsom's focus on protection hasn't gone unnoticed. In this commentary by Don Nottoli, a Sacramento County supervisor and chair of the Delta Counties Coalition, and Bill Dodd, a CA senator representing the Delta, Newsom is praised for rejecting the twin tunnels proposal and thereby calling for a more thoughtful process to conserve water and preserve the Sacramento Delta while also addressing irrigation needs. They praise Newsom's openness to "a more holistic approach that could include alternatives like water use efficiency measures, levee restoration, additional storage and other local projects supported by the Delta Counties Coalition."
​
They note that while the two-tunnel project was rejected, a single tunnel plan is still on the table, though its impacts have not been studied and there are no details about its size, location, cost or operation. What is certain, though, is that a tunnel alone won't be a sustainable solution for California water needs. "The funds allocated for tunnels would be better spent on regional portfolio-based measures, including strengthening levees, restoring ecosystem habitat, increasing water use efficiency, developing local and regional water supplies, and providing additional surface and groundwater storage and recharge." they write. "This winter’s storms underscore how much excess runoff we could have captured for future droughts and retained if we had more reservoir and groundwater recharge projects completed."

by Jim Tarbell

It is going to be a busy spring for the Grassroots Institute in Mendocino County, California. We are working toward introducing our solidarity economy mapping project to the public. This interactive, online map, detailing the Economy for Our Common Good in Mendocino County, features the business, non-profit, government and citizens groups that are already at work supporting a local economy that works for both people and planet. We are also planning how we can best introduce this mapping tool into neighboring counties.  In order to accomplish our first goal we are finalizing the data on over five dozen organizations that will be on the initial map. That is only a small portion of the over 200 organizations that have been nominated to be on the map. Adding and updating the map will be an on-going, ever-changing process.

In order to share this process with citizens and groups across the country we are finishing up a study guide on the year-and-a-half experience of creating the map. We will put that up on our website at grassroots-institute.org along with a link to the map, a sample video of the interviewing process for map-worthy organizations, and information on two upcoming events where we will be introducing the Economy for our Common Good mapping project and discussing how to incorporate more geography and data.

The first event will be the conference on "Post Capitalism: Building the Solidarity Economy" at Humboldt State University in Arcata CA on April 26 and 27. Emily Kawano, the founder of the US Solidarity Economy Network and our adviser on our mapping project, will be a keynote speaker at that conference. The Grassroots Institute will also present a workshop to help communities map their local solidarity economy that is already in existence.

Then Emily Kawano is coming down to Mendocino County for the grand public presentation of our map and all the organizations on it that are building an economy for the common good.  We'll also be holding a roundtable community discussion on building co-ops and collectives in Mendocino County. We are excited to be able to bring the diversity and vitality of our local solidarity economy into clearer view for Mendocino residents, and we hope that what we've done will be an inspiration to activists in other parts of the country to do the same where they are.

Jim Tarbell is editor of the Alliance journal, "Justice Rising: Grassroots Solutions to Corporate Power," a former host of "Corporations and Democracy" and a facilitator and instructor at the Grassroots Institute.

Congratulations to the people of Toledo OH, who recently amended their city charter to give legal standing to Lake Erie, the first time such recognition has been accorded to an entire ecosystem.

The victory follows years of collaboration between Toledoans for Safe Water and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, as well as decades of regulatory failure and recent severe algal blooms. Opponents included big agricultural interests represented by the Chamber of Commerce and the Farm Bureau. The lake is the primary source of drinking water for Toledo, so its health impacts the health of some 300,000 people on its shores. In 2014, more than 100 people were sickened by algae which had proliferated thanks to agricultural run-off. 

The Alliance has also played a role in the movement to gain legal standing for nature. Back in 2005, the Alliance for Democracy's Defending Water for Life campaign brought the CELDF strategy of rights-based ordinances to Barnstead NH where citizens were organizing to prevent bottled water companies from privatizing their water. By the following spring, the citizens passed the first ordinance in the country to declare...

“...We the People of the Town of Barnstead declare that we have the duty to safeguard the water both on and beneath the Earth’s surface, and in the process, safeguard the rights of people within the community of Barnstead, and the rights of the ecosystems of which Barnstead is a part...”

In quick succession three more towns in NH passed similar ordinances and the following year two towns in Maine did so as well. You can read the full Barnstead ordinance here. 

"We praise the residents of Toledo Ohio for expanding this rights-based strategy to apply to the whole Lake Erie ecosystem," said AfD's Ruth Caplan, who brought the rights-based approach to Barnstead.