Homeless Shelter

Ken Riter

NGP June 2019 Newsletter


Hello Nebraska Grassroots Progressives! You are receiving this newsletter because you attended a meeting, signed a petition or participated in some other event for Nebraska Grassroots Progressives and we appreciate your support. Here are some of the updates we have from June 2019.

Organizing:
We have an event on Facebook to call your Members of Congress to tell them to cosponsor the Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act of 2019, in the House its HR 2354, in the Senate its S1039.  Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. To find out who your Members of Congress are visit this website: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members   Below is the script you can use when you make the calls.

SCRIPT: Hello, I’m a constituent from [city, state] and I’m very concerned about the possibility of a new war with Iran given recent escalations.

Before Iran shot down a US drone and before the US sent more troops to the region, Trump foolishly violated the nuclear deal, destroying a diplomatic pathway to cut off Iran’s path to a nuclear bomb and provide a framework to build upon with more talks. Now John Bolton and the war cabinet are escalating tensions. It feels a lot like Iraq War 2.0.

Will [your MoC] co-sponsor [H.R. 2354/S.1039] and issue a public statement making clear that Congress has not authorized the use of any military force against Iran? Will they commit to voting for amendments to must-pass bill such as the National Defense Authorization Act that would prevent a new war with Iran? I will be closely watching for [MoC]’s actions on this and following up. /EndScript

Events: There are a few events listed below for the Democratic Debates this week along with their primary host. The last event is the FB event Page for Kara Eastman’s official launch for 2020.

William Treyson https://www.facebook.com/events/448296782674748

Omaha DSA: https://www.facebook.com/events/684486408656701

Lancaster Dems: https://www.facebook.com/events/436914510197497

Kara Eastman’s Official Campaign Launch
https://www.facebook.com/events/426939878146199

We have several petitions still active that we’d like people to support. Here are two petitions we consider very important and timely.

DNC Refuses Climate Debate, Tell Them To Reverse Their Decision!

Omaha Needs a City Owned & Operated Homeless Shelter

Please visit our website for the latest updates! https://nebraskagrassrootsprogressives.com

Thank you!

Ken Riter

Omaha Needs a City Owned and Operated Homeless Shelter.


Omaha has no city run homeless shelter. Omaha does have a few privately run homeless shelters in the city but they are constantly overcrowded. Many homeless people can be seen sleeping in parked cars outside the homeless shelter because they are so full. There are about 2000 people homeless every night according to the Open Mission. Many homeless shelters are NOT inclusive to all homeless people, nor do they provide enough services for all the homeless people’s needs to get them out of homelessness and poverty. Many homeless people sleep outside along the Keystone Trail, Heartland of America Park and various other places where they can sleep undisturbed and unnoticed without being picked up police.

Local nonprofits play a big part in Omaha’s homelessness pipeline and absorb millions of dollars without the City seeing an actual end to homelessness, hunger or poverty, nor is the performance of these nonprofits checked for efficiency.  This should be a requirement when its taxpayer money and taxpayer lives on the line. The Omaha City Hall has no problem removing people from busy intersections, but has a very difficult time giving people a decent place to stay.

Omaha can make up for these oversights by building a multi-purpose facility for an inclusive, city-owned and operated homeless shelter with space for a health center, education and job training center, soup kitchen, housing office and even a city employment office built into it. The City of Omaha must operate an inclusive homeless shelter that also protects against discrimination based on race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or religion.

INFO
https://www.opendoormission.org/about-us/fast-facts/

Please support the idea of a City-Owned and Operated Homeless Shelter and helping to work toward getting it done!

Please Sign the Petition.

Ken Riter

NGP May 2019 Newsletter


Hello Nebraska Grassroots Progressives!

It has been a few months since Nebraska Grassroots Progressives sent out any email newsletters, but you are receiving this because you attended a meeting or event, signed up at a booth, or signed a petition online at one point. We will be sending out a monthly, sometimes biweekly, newsletter, especially with so much activity brewing this summer and fall ahead of the 2020 elections.

The Omaha City Council passed the Plastic Bag Ban on Tuesday, May 21st. We need all Grassroots Progressives on board to tell the Omaha City Council to override the Mayor’s Veto on the Plastic Bag Ban. We have an Event Page on Facebook asking people to call or email their city council member to vote to override the Mayor’s veto, with an emphasis on everyone also calling Rich Pahls to vote to override the veto. Pahls could most likely the 5th vote needed for a veto override vote.
Here is the Facebook event page: Tell The Omaha City Council To Override Stothert’s Veto.
OWH Article: https://www.omaha.com/news/metro/mayor-stothert-follows-through-on-threat-vetoes-omaha-s-plastic/article_7fd48ef2-e80c-5ece-b0b0-104dabe5f0c7.html

The Omaha City Council also voted against Slumlord Dave Paladino’s request for TIF. We had different events for Omahans to call or email their Omaha City Council member to tell them to vote no on Paladino’s TIF request. A big thanks to all those who made those calls or sent those emails. Here’s the latest OWH article on the Paladino TIF issue:    https://www.omaha.com/news/metro/city-council-won-t-give-tif-to-omaha-landlord-of/article_1ae3d5aa-5ec9-50f9-a456-531b433d122e.html

This last week of May is also the last days (May 30-31) of the 2019 Unicameral Session. Its the last chance we have kill the bill, tell your Senator, especially Democratic Senators to vote NO, as a handful of Democrats either sponsored the bill or actually voted for it. Here’s our FB event page: Last Call To Stop LB209, Misinformation Medication Abortion Bill.
Senator contact info: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/pdf/senators/roster.pdf
Recent votes on LB209: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_votes.php?KeyID=4952
List of Democratic Senators in the Unicameral. https://nebraskademocrats.org/elected-democrats/

The Trump administration keeps moving our country towards war with Venezuela and Iran. We have a peace rally planned for June 8th at 1pm demanding the Trump keep his #HandsOffVenezuela and #HandsOffIran. Please join us to show elected officials we don’t want anymore wars!
Here’s the FB event page: Peace Rally: #HandsOffVenezuela #HandsOffIran
RSVP here: https://actionnetwork.org/events/omaha-peace-rally-handsoffvenezuela-handsoffiran

Some of our members are part of an event canvassing for Bernie Sanders May 31st at 6pm at Midtown Crossing in Turner Park. Bernie Sanders supporters will be canvasing the Turner Park Night Market using the BERN app, where you can open an account here: The Bern app. Be sure to bring your phone, fully charged. The event is organized by Nebraskans For Bernie Sanders 2020. Here is the FB event page: Bernie Sanders 2020 Community Canvas.

Check out these maps from organizations we support for any other events in your area.
Indivisible: Indivisible Event Map
Our Revolution: Our Revolution Event Map
Bernie Sanders: Bernie Sanders 2020 Event Map

Check out our website: Nebraska Grassroots Progressives
Sign our latest petition!  Omaha Needs a City owned & Operated Homeless Shelter!
Join Our Cause! Join Nebraska Grassroots Progressives

Thanks for reading our latest actions and news.
Ken Riter, Nebraska Grassroots Progressives