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| Issue: # 39 | November 4, 2010 |
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RPA Office
317 11th St
510-412-2260
RPAActivist@gmail.com
510-595-4661 |
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To have an item listed send it to
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Richmond Moves Forward
 | | Disability Action Brigade. Thanks to Jean Stewart |
*Casino rejected decisively. *Gayle re-elected. *Jovanka and Corky elected. *Eduardo very close and his program was widely adopted.
Thank you, everyone who participated in talking to your neighbors, phone-banking, canvassing, leafleting, drawing cartoons, writing, contributing money, putting up signs, entering data, and of course voting. It all added up. You all made a difference. |
 November 2 was a wonderful day for the Richmond community! We re-elected our Green mayor, Gayle McLaughlin and elected Jovanka Beckles to the City Council. Along with Corky Booze, Jeff Ritterman, and Tom Butt we have an opportunity to begin the transformation of Richmond into a city that considers first and foremost the welfare of the citizens of Richmond. An important first step will be to reach out to all of Richmond communities and help them come together for the good of all. Although I didn't win, I am very proud of how well we did with my bid for a city council seat and I want to thank all the people who worked so hard on my campaign and all the citizens who voted for me and my program for the children of Richmond. I was pleased to see, that although I was a new candidate, my ideas resonated enough that other candidates made education a major part of their platforms.
My plan for the near future is to continue to work within the community and with the Mayor and City Council and others who are committed to my program to begin to implement some of the ideas I put forward during the campaign. I hope to be a catalyst to begin the process of empowering communities to begin to create intergenerational local institutions which will help everyone grow and thrive.
Once again, I am very thankful to all of you who helped me and voted for me.
Together we will create a "Richmond for the Children".
--Eduardo
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 The people of Richmond are the real heroes of this election. They were able to see through the fog of millions of dollars worth of campaign mailings and well financed smear campaigns. In part this was the result of the effort of all the people of the RPA and others who volunteered so many hours to go door to door, phone, and work the polls on election day.
Thank you.
Congratulations to Corky on his election and Jim Rogers on his re-election. Thank you to Jeff Ritterman and Tom Butt and Mayor McLaughlin all of whose encouragement and endorsement gave me both strength and insight.
The election results show that there are still deep racial divisions in Richmond. While the results show hopeful signs of these divisions breaking down we have a lot more work to do. I will work hard for all residents to move us to "One Richmond" by making sure that the city pays attention to the needs of the African-American and Latino communities which have been hardest hit by the economic collapse,
--Jovanka |
 Thanks to the amazing volunteers and campaign efforts of the Richmond Progressive Alliance and other progressive organizations and individuals, we have embarked on a new era for Richmond. Through their votes, the people of Richmond have shown that the power of big corporations is not unbeatable. While we witnessed some of the most negative smear tactics ever, we stood strong with dignity and integrity.
It is because we believe in the people of Richmond and because the people in Richmond believe in themselves, that we have triumphed. I look forward to continuing our work, reaching out to everyone in Richmond, healing the divides and engaging with everyone in constructive dialogue as we move forward. The democratic process in Richmond is alive and well. We, as a community, must now join hands and show our generosity of spirit for one another as we continue to steer our own destiny into a better and better future!
--Gayle |
61 of 61 Precincts Reporting
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City of Richmond Mayor (Vote For 1) | | | |
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Percent |
Votes | |
NAT BATES | |
36.52% |
5,675 | |
JOHN 'JOHN Z' ZIESENHENNE | |
22.85% |
3,551 | |
GAYLE MCLAUGHLIN | |
40.43% |
6,282 | |
WRITE-IN | |
0.20% |
31 | |
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15,539 |
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City of Richmond Member, City Council (Vote For 3) | | | |
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Percent |
Votes | |
JIM ROGERS | |
14.26% |
5,665 | |
COURTLAND 'CORKY' BOOZE | |
14.82% |
5,885 | |
JOVANKA BECKLES | |
13.21% |
5,245 | |
GARY BELL | |
7.46% |
2,963 | |
MARIA 'MTV' VIRAMONTES | |
10.93% |
4,340 | |
MYRNA LOPEZ | |
11.57% |
4,594 | |
VIRGINIA FINLAY | |
4.76% |
1,891 | |
HARRY SINGH | |
2.36% |
936 | |
EDUARDO MARTINEZ | |
10.77% |
4,278 | |
RHONDA F. HARRIS | |
9.75% |
3,873 | |
WRITE-IN | |
0.11% |
43 | |
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39,713 |
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What Next?
As you can imagine, as an all volunteer campaign we are happy but exhausted. Several things are clear.
- We are a community within the bigger community committed to working together to improve.
- We must be involved and do considerable work between elections.
- We have our work cut out for us. While we won important victories in Richmond, the results of several of the ballot measures will make our job more difficult. Tax loopholes for businesses were not closed and the undemocratic two-thirds vote requirement was extended to local fees. And there was a right-wing wave nationally which will have a big impact on the economy and on Richmond.
So we will take a few days to recharge our batteries. In the next few weeks we will be trying to analyze this election and figure out how we should organize to keep Richmond moving forward. We invite you to send in your ideas and join the effort.
--Mike Parker
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Post-Election Party
 | | Pictures by Robert Rogers, Richmond Confidential |
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RPA Activist Info
is for Richmond community members who want to be active in taking on the problems of the environment, racism, joblessness, housing, and crime to create a healthy Richmond. We believe that community involvement means more than voting every two years. It means regular communication with the candidates we elect, letting them know our issues and positions, supporting them as they try to take our issues forward. It means we attend meetings, use email, phone our neighbors, or go on marches building an organized movement to create real change.
Comments and columns are welcome. Articles and columns are the views of the author, unsigned text the views of the editor, Mike Parker, and not necessarily those of the RPA. Send photos, articles, and comments to RPAactivist@gmail.com or call 510-595-4661. Longer articles of analysis and archives of past newsletters can be found on our website.
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