Hi All. Here are the minutes from the last meeting. Please review them for accuracy and let me know if I missed anything or made any boo-boo's. Marcy, if you could post these on the website after a few days, that would be appreciated.
Minutes written by Aubrey FreedmanLibertarian Party of San FranciscoMinutesfor Monthly Meeting at the San Francisco Public Library on Saturday, May 14,2016 Attendees: Phil Berg, Marco Delaroche(guest), Aubrey Freedman (Chair), Les Mangus (Treasurer), Jim Napier (guest), andBill Shireman (guest).Activist Reports: Les has still been writing letters to the editor of theChronicle but has not had any success lately in getting them published. Most recently he wrote letters regarding theteachers unions and extending taxes. Billhelped organize a successful conference in Dallas, Texas for 120 executivesregarding a market-based environmental agenda. Jim posts on Facebook when he is moved onpolitical issues. Aubrey went to theExaminer office with Marcy, and they did an interview with two staff members onall the ballot measures. He is alsoworking on the campaign of Joel Engardio, a moderate Democrat looking toreplace Norman Yee as District 7 Supervisor. Announcements: · Monday, May 16-7:00-9:00 PM-GoldenGate Liberty Revolution-Monthly Meeting-Moksha Life Center-405 Sansome Street.· Tuesday, May 17-anytimebetween 10AM and 11PM-Mixer/Fundraiser for John McAfee (LP Presidentialcandidate)-Downtown SF (no exact location yet).· Friday, May 279AM-Monday, May 30 noon-LP National Convention-Rosen Centre Hotel & Resortin Orlando, Florida.
- Saturday, June 4-7:00-11:00 PM-Free Exchange-Jim Elwood’s in Parkmerced.
TransportationPanel Discussion Report: Aubrey reported that our “Tax Day”event was moderately successful this year on Sunday, April 10. Transportation experts Tom Rubin and GeraldCauthen have been in the field for years and were convincing critics of thecurrent government-run transportation system, especially projects like theCentral Subway and light rail. Both feltthat government has a role in facilitating the movement of people, but bothagreed that the current emphasis on removing people’s transportation choiceswas not a good thing. Attendance waslighter than last year’s event, probably due to neither panelist being as gooda draw as Randal O’Toole last year, but the meeting room at the Noe Valley Librarywas smaller than the room at the Main Library last year, so the turnout lookedrespectable. Starchild was themoderator. The event got off to a latestart due to technical difficulties with the overhead projector, and we gave uptrying to get it going after a while, and the discussion proceeded without the audiovisual successfully because the panelists really knew their stuff. The audience was well engaged and the paneldiscussion could easily have gone on longer. Membership/NewsletterReport: Aubrey reported that membership is up by 2 to41 (20 lifetime members and 21 current paid up annual members). There were no expired memberships since lastmonth, and 2 new members popped up on the state membership listing. He will send letters of welcome to the newmembers and include them on the newsletter mailing list. He is behind on the newsletter this month andstill has not sent it out but is working on it. Treasurer’s Report: Les reported that our coffers are in good shape: in our Bank of America account we have $6,106,and in our PayPal account we have $265, for a total of $6,371. He reported that through the period January1-May 13 our net income was $1,881 due to generous donations received and nochecks written. June Election Ballot Measures: Aubrey suggested that we increase our budget for the upcomingJune election from $750 to $1,000 since our coffers are healthy and what elseis the money for. Starchild’s postcardof ballot measure recommendations is completed and is set to run as an ad inthe SF State University newspaper Golden Gate Xpress on May 18 for a cost of$220.50 (same rate as last year). Aubreytried to get our ad in the Guardsman, the school newspaper for CCSF, but hemissed the deadline so that one is out this time. Marcy has requested funding for running aFacebook ad luring folks to our website for our recommendations and to increaseour visibility. Aubrey researchedrunning an ad in the Westside Observer (a more fiscally conservative paper inthe West Portal district), and he showed the dimensions and costs of runningdifferent size ads, and the consensus was that the 6x5 ad for $300 would be thebest use of our money. The postcardmailing of Starchild’s postcard is in process (estimated at 1,142 names @ .43 =$491), and Aubrey said he can adjust the size of the mailing to squeeze it intothe budget, depending if we can get our ad into the Westside Observer or not(not sure about the deadlines). Therewas consensus that any combination of these advertising efforts is fine as longas we don’t exceed the $1,000 budget. Pride June 25-26, 2016: Aubrey stressed that weneed helpers to help out at the booth again this year. In previous years the registration andinsurance ran about $350-$400, but they changed their pricing structure, andour cost was only $205 this year. Starchild had come up with the suggestion several months back of havinga spinning prize wheel of the unlikelihood of landing on a slot where you didn’tbreak a law, so Aubrey priced them out from two websites that Marcy found. The one website had various models availablepriced from $59-$303 and the other one had them from $85-$345. Looking at the various models, Aubrey feltthat for around $100 he could find a suitable one for our needs for this Pride,which could also be used at other outreach events in the future. The group agreed $100 would be allocated fora new spinning prize wheel, and Aubrey will order one. WALL Event in August: Aubrey reported that WALL(War & Law League) is having Dr. Helen Caldicott speak at the Main Libraryon Saturday, August 13 on “Nuclear Weapons: Can They Be Abolished?” and inquired if there was any interest in theLPSF helping to sponsor the event. Therewere several objections raised to participating in this event, mainly that theUS government would get rid of its nuclear armaments but how could you reallyensure that other countries’ governments would do the same. One person thought it was a good idea to getour name out there hosting worthwhile and interesting events but did not feelparticularly passionate about this topic. The LPSF will not be participating in this event. Upset Visitor: A late guest (with the last name of Parker) toour meeting wanted to address the group. Since all the essential business had basically been covered, Aubrey lether have the floor. She was the motherof a student at SF State University and was extremely upset about an incidentthat happened at the university recently where the Mayor of Jerusalem wasdisrupted by Palestinian protesters during a speech and the campus police didnothing. She was also furious at thecollege President Les Wong for not doing anything and insisted that he’s on theside of the protesters. She sought helpfrom the LPSF in helping to educate the administration on this obviousinfringement of free speech and civil behavior. We suggested that she try the local YAL group on campus and also theorganization FIRE for assistance.
Thanks!Aubrey