MINUTES FOR APRIL 19, 2009 MEETING

FRAMINGHAM DEMOCRATIC TOWN COMMITTEE

1. Chair called the meeting to Order at 7:05 PM.

2. Co-Chair will be taking minutes for tonight’s meeting.

3. Attendance was taken.

4. Chair asked that we suspend our business portion of the meeting to allow our Guest – Mr. Matt Harutunian from Congressman Markey’s office, who has another meeting to attend, speak to the FDTC regarding the Stimulus Package put forth by the President.

* The information is on the website www.recovery.gov (Federal) and www.mass.gov/recovery.
* Projects have to ready to go within 120 days and completed by 2010.
* Additional appropriation in September.
* Infrastructure improvements – SAFETEA-LU
* For further information, contact Matt at [email protected]

5. Chair resumed the Business meeting by noting that the minutes will be voted next month.

6. Treasurer’s Report was given by ELSA.

7. The Chair indicated that it is time for the FDTC to give the Framingham Green a donation of $100 for the use of the facility. A motion was made and seconded. Passed unanimously.

8. The Chair indicated that the FDTC’s annual Picnic is being scheduled for June 13th and was seeking volunteers to organize the event. Special Guest will be former Gov. Michael Dukakis. (Special thanks to Michael Zimmer for arranging with the Governor) The following people volunteered for the committee:

Joan Rastani
Beverly Hugo
Claire Farragher
Elza Avisa
Rochelle Sivan
Michael Zimmer

9. Nancy Covelle Wallace made a pitch for the Edgell Memorial Library which is in the running for a grant from Partners in Preservation by voting on their website (ends May 17th). www.partnersinpresevation.com to vote.

10. The Chair brought up the issue of poor turnout for the Local Elections and what could be done. The was lively discussion the topic.

11. The Chair mentioned that the FDTC should be thinking about getting involved in different projects for next year – such as Habitat for Humanity or serve food to various agencies, etc. A list should be developed.

12. The date of the next meeting was discussed either Monday May 11th or Sunday May 17th. It was decided that it would be on May 17, 2009.

13. Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM.

Minutes taken by T. Mahoney

PENDING APPROVAL

Minutes for Mar. 8, 2009 breakfast meeting of the Framingham Democratic Town Committee
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Breakfast began at 10:30 am. Many thanks to those who helped prepare breakfast, most especially Elsa Aviza, Beverly Hugo, and Lloyd Kaye.

Vice Chair Person Tom Mahoney called the meeting to order at 11:15 am Sunday morning, March 8, 2009.

Minutes from the January 12 meeting were read and approved.

Treasurer Elsa Aviza reported a balance of $2052.55, and the report was approved.
Members were reminded to check with the treasurer to be sure they paid their dues for the fiscal year that is ending.

Tom Mahoney read the very appreciative thank you letter from Voices Against Violence for our $50 donation.

Parwez Wahid spoke about the MNW Alliance (for our state senate district). Our committee voted
unanimously to continue support and participation for the MNW Alliance.
We’ll elect two representatives at our April meeting.

Michael Zimmer was voted unanimously to fill Chris Lorant’s empty seat as member of the Framingham Democratic Town Committee.

We heard from the following candidates for the April 7 town election:
Beverly Hugo, school committee. Seeking re-election.
Carol Spack, planning board. Seeking re-election.
Tom Mahoney, planning board. Seeking re-election.
Ed Cahnberry, housing authority. Seeking re-election.
Nancy Coville Wallace, library board of trustees
Ed Burke, library board of trustees

Jerry Desilets opened the public hearing for the state Democratic party platform.
The current platform is listed at www.massdems.org.
The following people testified for changes or additions to the platform:

Beverly Hugo, education
Tom Driscoll, ethics reform
Mel Warshaw, equal rights and unused laws
Rep. Tom Sannicandro, equal rights
Rep. Pam Richardson, equal rights and immigration reform

The testifiers remind us that we are the party who lobbies for those without a voice and
who defends and promotes equal rights for all.

People can still send input to the platform. They can send it to
Jerry Desilets at [email protected]
or send it directly to the state committee by filling out the form at http://massdems.org/index2.cfm (see the link at the bottom of the page).

The platform hearing calendar is also at http://massdems.org/index2.cfm.

After the hearing, the meeting adjourned.