Dear OSTPDX Members, Oregon’s Stay Home Save Lives initiatives have proven to be effective as state health officials reported that an estimated 70,000 infections may have been prevented during these weeks of strict physical distancing. Below you’ll read about efforts some right-wing groups are taking in an attempt to end physical distancing measures before it’s actually safe to do so. Take a look at what’s being done to counter this. Also, in today’s newsletter we share with you information about a presentation that One Small Thing will be hosting this Wednesday on ballot measure 26-210, debate presentations for the candidates running for City Commissioner Position #2, as well as a variety of virtual actions such as letter writing and postcarding events.
Announcements
Vote Yes on Measure 26-210 Ballot Measure Presentation
One Small Thing is hosting a virtual conversation with Cole Merkel, HereTogether's Deputy Director, Outreach & Engagement (who spent a decade working in direct service with people experiencing homelessness at Street Roots) and Laura Golino de Lovato, executive director of NW Pilot Project, who will talk about how dollars raised by ballot measure 26-210 will expand the service continuum's capacity to serve the homeless members of our community. Please register in advance for this virtual presentation on Wednesday, April 29 @ 7p.m. Voters across the Portland metro region have the opportunity to fund homeless services on the May 19th primary ballot on a scale that matches the scope of the current homeless crisis. Passing Measure 26-210 will create a dedicated source of revenue, funded by a small tax on large businesses and high income households, so that our region's service providers can continue to provide the lifesaving work to end people's homelessness. To find out more about the measure, go to WeAreHereTogether.org. Want to show your support for the measure? Sign up for a lawn sign and HereTogether volunteers will be happy to deliver one like this to your lawn--no contact necessary!
Social Media Storm to Counter Right-Wing Rally in Salem
You may have heard that an extremist right-wing group is organizing a public rally in Salem on May 2nd to demand that Oregon prematurely abandon the physical distancing strategy that has enabled us to “flatten the curve” and avoid at least 70,000 cases of COVID-19. They are demanding that Governor Brown “reopen Oregon” now, disregarding all expert advice from public health officials. The Consolidated Oregon Indivisible Network (COIN), DemCast Oregon, and progressive women physicians have developed a strategy to enable us to resist this very dangerous and reckless demand. This is the time for us to act together. If you have social media accounts either with Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, we invite you to participate in a Social Media Storm over the next week where we will coordinate our social media and other actions and amplify them so that we can have maximum impact. The Social Media Storm starts Monday, April 27th at 5 p.m. and continues into the evening and will be repeated daily at that time. We are asking that you share relevant posts using the following hashtags: #StayHome #StayHomeSaveLives #TestingTestingTesting #WeAreAllInThisTogether #StopTheSpread #ProtectHealthCareWorkers Below is a list of Facebooks posts and tweets ready to be shared:
Share this FB post and reply and share to FB groups: https://www.facebook.com/OSTPDX/posts/700453537375441
Retweet this twitter post and reply to it with the hashtag. https://twitter.com/IndivisibleSoOR/status/1254555126288637953?s=20
This video from FB can be shared: https://www.facebook.com/113469440295964/videos/3398730487019408/?v=3398730487019408
Same video for twitter. https://twitter.com/StayOregon/status/1245869613725782016?s=20
Then search for other's posts and amplify them with comments and sharing. To find our tweets on twitter go to: https://twitter.com/search?q=%23protecthealthcareworkers&src=typeahead_click&f=live
To find our FB posts, go to: https://www.facebook.com/search/posts/?q=%23ProtectHealthCareWorkers&epa=SERP_TAB
Portland City Commissioner #2
Candidates running for the remainder of Nick Fish’s term, are part of a large and impressive group. Of the 18 in the race for Commissioner #2, several have worked in city and/or county government and many are committed community activists. For this big race, Portland City Club divided their debate into two presentations with four candidates in each one. Debate 1 (Castro, Catalani, Black, Smith) Debate 2 (DeGraw, Chase, Hurst , Ryan) Another good source for information on candidates is vote411.org After you enter your address, it has details on almost all the candidates on your ballot including this race. It also has the commissioner candidates’ answers to questions on climate, homelessness and reorganizing city government. Also check the Voter Pamphlet for info since they’re now appearing in our mailboxes.
Actions & Events
OST-PDX Activist Reading Group
The OST-PDX Activist Reading Group will be meeting every other Thursday evening from 7:00-8:30 p.m., with the next meeting being on April 30th, for the duration of the stay-at-home period of the coronavirus epidemic. The group will be serving two functions: decreasing individual isolation and exploring ways we can be politically active. If you are interested in joining our meetings, contact Ken Rosenberg at rosenbergkd@yahoo.com.
Action by Indivisible Oregon
Our Tuesday ask: We need a Congress #WhoCaresForUs. There must be another covid-19 package that puts money in the hands of the people and provides money for states so they can sustain vital services to the people. The action will be posted on Tuesday at 6:00 AM here: indivisibleor.org/actions
Virtual Swing Left & Vote Forward Letter Writing
Vote Forward and Swing Left are working together to increase civic participation by sending letters to voters. If you’re interested in printing and writing letters on your own, click here for more information. Listed below are some virtual letter writing events and you may search for others here. Write Letters to Voters Virtually with Indivisible Oregon and Swing Left! Tuesday, April 28th from 11-1 p.m. Swing Left's National Virtual Letter Writing Party - the North Carolina Edition! Tuesday, April 28th from 7-9 p.m. Indivisible National has created this resource on how to host your own virtual events and more information on letter writing parties specifically can be found here.
Digital Events
City Club of Portland has put all of their programming online and is FREE to the public. Check out their upcoming virtual events calendar. Be a Primary Voter Action Party: Tuesdays & Saturdays PMPC - Unite Oregon Candidates Forum: Thursday, April 30th from 6-8 p.m. HD 50 Candidate Forum: Thursday, April 30th from 7-8 p.m. Digital May Day Rally-Causa: Friday, May 1 from 11:30-1:00 Indivisible Clackamas Virtual Postcard Party: Sunday, May 3 from 12:30-2:30 Candidate Forum on Restorative Justice: Tuesday, May 5th from 7-10 p.m. Virtual Indivisible Tuesday at Sen. Wyden & Rep. Blumenauer's: Tuesday, May 5th at 11:30 a.m. Indivisible Webinar Series-Deep Canvassing While Social Distancing:
Articles
Visit our website – www.onesmallthingpdx.org – like our Facebook page -- follow our Twitter account -- @onepdx. Oregon Schools Would Pay the Price of Suspending the Corporate Activity Tax Oregon Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Campaign Contribution Limits Oregon Hospitals Rely on Prison Labor to Do Their Laundry During the Pandemic Oregon City commissioners to Gov. Brown: Ignore our mayor. We won’t defy your coronavirus stay-home order 69 PERCENT OF AMERICANS WANT MEDICARE FOR ALL, INCLUDING 46 PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS, NEW POLL SAYS Why Mitch McConnell Wants States to Go Bankrupt Video: The Liar Tweets Tonight Video: Freedom Ballot OSTPDX will not be endorsing any candidates before primaries. All content included in our newsletters is informational in nature and should not be considered an endorsement. Regards, Sara McKinney