Meeting Attendees: All FDC members listed, those in BOLD were present
Members: Lori Bornstein, Christopher Broyles, Tracey Bryant, Jeanne Bullock, Jerry Desilets, Patrick Dunne, Mary Kate Feeney, Barbara Fontes, Adam Freudberg, Kurt Fusaris, Linda Fields, Ruth Litter, Audrey Hall, Jim Hansen, Rosamond Hooper-Hamersley, Beverly Hugo, Mike Hugo, Shahid Khan, Ohad Klopman, Doug Lawrence, Barbara LeDuc, Caraline Levy, Chris Lorant, Jack Patrick Lewis, David Magnani, Thom Mahoney, Betty Muto, Kathie McCarthy, Amanda Northrup, Phil Ottaviani, Isabella Petroni, Cindy Rubin, Margareth Shepard, Norma Shulman, Ravi Simon, Priscila Sousa, Yvonne Spicer, Adam Steiner, John Stephanini, Cesar Stewart-Morales, Jim Stockless, Larry Stoodt, Cheryl Tully-Stoll, Parwez Wahid, Mel Warshaw
Associate Members: Maureen Dunne, Ricky Finlay, Karen Garafolo, David Gordon, Tilia Klebenov Jacobs, Andrew Machkasov, Joan Rastani, Pamela Roberts, Brandon Ward, Joel Winett
Guests: William LaBarge, Rahim, Abbasi (Mass is not for Sale), Beth Griffith of MN4$, Karen Schlosberg, Laura Rainsford, Brooke Harvey, Leslie White Harvey, Kate Donoghue
Welcome, Announcements and Updates – Chair Mike Hugo (5 min)
Correction to Agenda: Joe O’Brien cannot join us. O’Brien was going to speak about the issue of wage theft and House Bill 4681 – An Act to Prevent Wage Theft, Promote Employer Accountability, and Enhance Public Enforcement.
Reading of Framingham Democrats Mission Statement – Barbara Fontes (2 min)
Mass is Not For Sale – Rahim Abbasi & Beth Griffith (45 min)
Rahim spoke for 25 minutes in opposition to the Uber/Lyft sponsored ballot issue that will classify drivers as contractors not employees, without benefits. They are a “No” campaign on the issue, but will move on to general worker rights issues. A “No” vote means nothing changes, a “Yes” vote leads to changes that favor the companies.
Parwez Wahid spoke to say that as an Uber driver the issue is complex, and he is still evaluating the ballot question, and preserving the current system is important to current drivers. Questions continued for 15 minutes.
Massachusetts Is Not for $ale,
Our website: https://massachusettsisnotforsale.org/,
Our volunteer sign-up form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf_I1npn-HBGwRcvEQWzliRGpGdexrtjw_gBoSyG3rLj-chpQ/viewform,
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MassNotForSale/, Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Massnotforsale
Stop Wage Theft! – Mayor Joe O’Brien, Legis. Director for the Carpenter’s Union (was not able to attend, no presentation)
o Will give us an update on Labor’s fight to get paid for their work
o Sound’s simple enough, do work, get paid. Maybe not so much!
Treasurer’s Report – Larry Stoodt
Bank Balance 4185.29 in May
+$0.18 in interest
+ $ 255.00 in dues paid
4440.46 beginning balance
- $1.59 paid to Act Blue
$4438.87 is current bank balance
- Dues are $20 Member /$15 Associate. You can pay by Act Blue, or cash, but check is preferred, to save the $0.79 Act Blue admin fee (to offset the cost of ActBlue, please increase your donation to $21.00)
- please mail your 2022 dues to Larry Stoodt at 615 Belknap Road, Framingham, MA 01701.
Vote to accept Treasurer’s Report: K. McCarthy moved to accept Treasurers Report, seconded by Tracey Bryant, vote to accept was unanimous.
Acceptance of May 2022 Meeting Minutes – Doug Lawrence
Corrections to prior month bank balance (off by $100) and 2 wording/spelling corrections were suggested and accepted.
Vote to accept Prior Month Minutes as amended: K. McCarthy moved to accept the May minutes as amended. Parwez seconded. Vote was unanimous.
Report from our City Council representatives
Tracey Bryant – Attended the State Democratic convention via zoom which worked very well. She had some concerns about the Voting App due to less specific instructions, but a telephone coach was able to resolve any issues and app worked very well.
Adam Steiner
CC agreed to Mayor’s budget proposal, Original Budget 2.5% increase. Small reductions were made. New P&CD director Sarkasian has proposed an increase in % affordable housing at the last Planning & Zoning Subcommittee above current 10% which could be very helpful. Proposal to require green energy in new development projects. Council has voted to exit the MMA (Mass Municipal Assoc) and save $16K over transparency issues. Extensive discussion of negative impact on the city of cutting funds for MMA ensued.
Motion: Margareth Shepard proposed a resolution to ask Council to reconsider membership in MMA. Second by Kathie McCarthy. Parwez offered friendly amendment to refer to Leg Comm to draft a motion. FA was withdrawn in interest of moving quickly to make our views known.
Vote on Main Motion was unanimous, with School Comm & City Council members abstained.
Cesar Stewart-Morales
Council will hear from MMA in near future. Would be a great venue to raise our support for MMA membership.
Report from School Committee
Priscila Sousa, Chair
Framingham is the first school district to adopt a climate change policy for the District. She worked on the policy since 2000, great to see it come to fruition. Upcoming MASC conference, Sousa was a panelist in renaming schools and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. District 2 vacancy to be filled (R. Finlay resigned. , 3 applicants will be interviewed in open meeting on Wednesday. Graduated over 500 students last weekend on Friday night, and for the first time remarks were delivered in 3 languages. Sousa urges that council members view SC interviews 7PM Wednesday night.
Adam Freudberg
COVID is still here. Over 4,000 cases in the District this year. Students age 5-11 can now get boosters. Comes with $25 gift card to encourage dosing. Framingham is still at a low percent Vax compared to Metrowest communities. FPS is partnering with the COVID-19 Mobile Vaccine Clinic/Vaccine Equity Initiative to provide COVID-19 vaccines at a community clinic at Harmony Grove Elementary School on June 21.
What: COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic
Where: Harmony Grove Elementary School, 169 Leland Street, Framingham
When: June 21, 2022; 3:30pm – 6:30pm
Who: COVID-19 vaccines are available to anyone 5 years of age and older. Pfizer booster vaccines will also be available!
Anyone who is getting their first or second COVID-19 vaccine will receive a $25.00 gift card – each member of the family who gets their first or second vaccine gets the gift card. Other fun giveaways will be available like beach balls, sunglasses, and sunscreen.
Beverly Hugo
Thrilled climate policy is in place, food services is working on eliminating styrofoam. Looking at a meatless Monday. First graduation on Friday evening (not Sunday afternoon). Tues 21st will be the vote on new school comm member among the 3 candidates, make your views known now to CC and School Comm.
Democratic Policies in Local Politics – Mike Hugo
Majority of CC, including Democratic members, voted not to support the Fair Share Amendment. FSA is endorsed by the state Democratic party and 73% of polled MA citizens favor the Fair Share Amendment. We need to start evaluating politicians, including our own Democratic politicians on willingness to support Democratic party positions and positions of Democratic citizens of the city. The FDC Executive Committee is considering evaluating local politicians on a set of issues and evaluating willingness to support and carry out the implementation of the state Democratic Platform. Extensive discussion ensued and support for this action was widespread. It was pointed out that CC voted in the past not to support the Mobility Act and now that is passed at state level they claim to have supported it.
State Legislature
Jack Patrick Lewis
Governor vetoed the drivers license bill, but it was successfully overridden. Voting Bill: House bills removed same-day voter registration, but does have early and mail-in voting. Mental health bills in Senate and House underway. Teen sexting bill passed in House. Municipalities should not wait for state action on issues. Framingham should not wait for state restrictions and guidelines. Especially as it relates to legislation that has not been passed or is in committee.
State Convention Report – Mike Hugo, Parwez Wahid, Norma Shulman
We need to understand any issues preventing app voting. If you had issues, let Mike and/or Norma know.
Norma: Overall very pleased with Convention. Largely on schedule, the speeches were amazing. Tellers on the floor did a great job enabling votes. Lots of people had late changes of plans and had to stay home, and had a great experience with the virtual convention. Norma was Maura Healey senate district captain. Some people did not check in on the floor, which left them out of some of the experience. People who did not prepare ahead of time on the app, credentials often did not have a great experience. Delegates MUST prepare ahead of time. She has swag left, contact her to access some Healey or Spilka swag.
Mel: An opportunity was missed to use rank choice voting, rather than run-off votes.
Note convention ENDORSED candidates, not NOMINATED them, that happens at the primary elections.
Subcommittee Reports, discussions, actions, and votes:
SKIPPED in interest of time
Bylaws – Mel Warshaw
Communications – Jim Hansen
Civics Education – Beverly Hugo
Environmental/Climate Change – Larry Stoodt
Outreach – Parwez Wahid
Legislative – Ravi Simon
Resolution: Move that we support the Legislative Comm language opposing gig worker amendment, as proposed at the last meeting.
Unanimous vote in favor, Council and SC members abstained.
Programming – Rosamond Hooper-Hamersley & Cesar Stewart-Morales
Great meeting with Barbara Fontes on anti-racism. Need more time earlier on agenda at next meeting to do this issue justice. Hugo committed to do so at the July meeting.
Update : MetroWest Blue & Beyond, fmr. Sen. David Magnani
Upcoming meeting on Arizona June 29th 7-8pm. Raising money for Latin and Native American voter registration in AZ. Past focus on PA, NC has been very successful. Channeling funds directly to on-the-ground organizations in these key states.
New Associate members – to be voted on in the next meeting
Member Leslie White Harvey introduced Brooke Harvey, her daughter, who then introduced herself. She is a junior at Suffolk U. She is an intern with DFI and attended the democratic convention in Worcester.
William Labarge – 14 years on Town Meeting, on School Committee for 2 terms
New Business, member announcements, general announcements for the good of the order
- Next meeting will hear from the 6th Middlesex candidates
- Outdoor BBQ proposed for 27th of August, venue to be announced.
- Thom Mahoney – CPC will hold an open meeting for community input, please attend.
Adjourned at 9:52pm – moved by Kathie McCarthy , seconded by Tracey Bryant , passed by acclamation.