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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

DNC Refuses Climate Debate


OMAHA, NE –
The Democratic National Committee announced on June 5th, 2019 that they would not hold a climate debate, much to the disappointment of the Democratic 2020 POTUS Candidates and their supporters. Denying Democrats a debate on climate is unacceptable, irresponsible and suppresses an opportunity to discuss as issue that affects the entire planet. The number one issue among Democrats is climate change, and once again the DNC turns a deaf ear to the wishes of it voters. They do this even as studies show that we must achieve Zero Carbon emissions by 2030 to have any chance of reversing the effects of climate change.

Help us tell the DNC to REVERSE this dangerous & irresponsible decision. We need our public officials talking about climate change if we are ever going to pass a Green New Deal. Sign the petition at the link at the bottom of the article and we’ll send the following short letter below to the DNC’s misleaders.

“I am extremely disappointed the DNC has decided to refuse our Democratic candidates a chance to debate climate change. We deserve to hear from Democratic presidential candidates about how they will take action to address our global climate crisis. The future of our planet depends on it. I call on the DNC to REVERSE your decision on the climate debate!”

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