Dear All,
Attached and pasted below are the Minutes of May 8, 2010, which I received from Jawj today. I will post them on the LPSF Website by Wednesday 16th; so please let me know if there are any changes by then. The "approval" will have to be handled that way for now.
Regards,
Marcy
Minutes of the LPSF Meeting of May 8, 2010
Members Present: Marcy Berry (Chair), Michael Edelstein,
Jawj Greenwald (Secretary), Tim Kuklinsky, Les Mangus (Treasurer), Rob Power,
Starchild, Jason Williams, David Faden.
Non-members: Ann
Grogan, Ron Choy, Melissa Handman, Officer Eugene Louie, Antoine Tasmell.
Officer’s Reports:
Treasurer: There was no bank account activity last
month. The balance in the LPSF
account remains $2,193.36.
Secretary: The minutes of the April
meeting were submitted and will be reviewed next month.
Vice Chair: No report
Chair: No report.
Committee Reports:
Internet Communication/Social
Networking: Rob Power submitted
for review the postcard to be mailed to LPSF members giving our June
primary election recommendations and inviting members to the July 4th
barbecue. The postcard was
unanimously approved subject to correction of the recommendation on Prop B
to a NO. It was decided by the
required supermajority vote (4 Yes, 2 No) not to give the actual
membership votes by which our ballot recommendations are decided, on this
or any future ballot recommendations.
Outreach: Starchild reported that he had spoken at
a recent Tea Party event. He
reviewed upcoming events, including the National LP Convention and an East
Bay LP weekend over Memorial Day weekend.
Announcements:
Richard Winger reported on his recent activities against Proposition
14, “the top-two primary” measure. On
May 15 he and Christine Tobin will make a presentation in Sacramento at a
Californians for Electoral Reform event.
The next two meetings are scheduled for the Main Library,
but not necessarily in the same
room.
Old Business:
San Francisco Patrol Special Police. Most of the meeting was devoted to a
long-awaited presentation by the SF Patrol Special Safety Program. Ann Grogan introduced various colleagues from
the program. She gave a power point presentation
explaining the history and current role of the program, which provides
supplementary service-oriented neighborhood policing. It’s the only private police force in the US, and pre-dates San Francisco’s first government police
force.
The Special Police train at the Police Academy,
pass a security check, and are overseen by the Civilian Police Commission. They rely on citizens’ arrest powers rather
than police ones. They are uniformed and
armed, use radios on the police bandwidth, and provide community quality of
life “value” policing. Their services
are paid by private subscription contracts averaging $48 per hour, compared to
the $109 per hour (plus 22.6% administrative fee and add-ons for cars,
pensions, etc.) that private businesses must pay to hire an off-duty policeman
for special events and services. Further
info is available on their website: www.
sfspecialneighborhoodpolicing.com.
She outlined various ways in which we
might help the program:
-- Take an official organizational
position in support.
-- Take individual positions in
support.
-- Add our name to their e-alert
list.
-- Volunteer to testify on their
behalf.
-- Write letters to the Board of
Supervisors and Police Chief.
We observed a minute’s silence in
honor of Jane Warner, whom some of us had met.
She died this morning after serving 18 years as a member of the Special
Police in the Castro and elsewhere.
Candidate’s Campaign Updates. Rob Powers had been in contact with Phil Berg and
reported on the progress of Phil’s campaign for U.S. Congress. Starchild reported on his campaign for
Supervisor. He welcomes small
contributions of about $15 to keep his fundraising below $1000, a sum he cannot
legally exceed unless someone is willing to serve as official campaign
treasurer.
New Business:
Plans
for PRIDE parade weekend. This
year’s Gay Pride weekend is June 26/27. We will not be marching, but will have
a booth at Civic Center both days. We discussed
logistics of having an easel for the “world’s smallest political quiz” and other arrangements. Rob Powers is coordinating plans.
Signature gathering. Les
Mangus solicited signatures for the November ballot “Fix MUNI Now” initiative. Support for this measure can be given on the
LPSF website.