Platform for the Common Good

 

Social Justice & Civil Rights

 

Our values:

 

Create a culture that supports racial, ethnic, lingual, tribal and gender equity, AND examines conscious and unconscious biases that prevent support of equity.

Voting is the core of civil rights. We resist legal limitations on voting and demand transparency in campaign financing.

The rule of law and accountability must be reinforced upward throughout our democracy, from the local level all the way to the federal. Our legal process must guarantee safety and equity through access to recourse.

 

We Support Federal Action to Ensure

 

• That each United States citizen have equal civil rights, and that no law shall be established that treats citizens unequally.  

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as a civic framework to promote equal access to fair treatment in society at all levels, where everyone feels welcomed, respected, and heard equally.

• Freedom of religious choice and separation of religion and government, so that no religious ideology or doctrine is adopted or enforced as law.

• That everyone has a right to personal and public dissent without suppression. 

• That federal elections be publicly funded and regulated, so that every candidate has equal resources to conduct his or her campaign for election. 

• That all United States citizens 18 years or older have an absolute right to vote.

• That each citizen’s vote shall have the same value as any other citizen’s vote.

• That every person born in the United States or its sovereign territory is a citizen of the United States.

• That immigrants granted United States citizenship through naturalization have the same civil rights and obligations as all other United States citizens.  

• That immigrants are subject to, and protected by, the same civil rights and laws as US citizens, with the exception of the right to vote.

• That only candidates receiving the most popular votes cast in a nationwide election to select the President of the United States shall hold that office.  The Electoral College must be abolished.

• That every person is subject to the same laws as any other person in the United States and is subject to the same civil & criminal judicial process and penalties as any other person.  

• That only Congress can impose taxes or tariffs.

• That only Congress can authorize expenditures by the national government of the United States.  

• That the executive branch must expend federal funds in accordance with its Congressional authorization.

• That the United States shall not suppress the civil rights of people by any means.

 

We Support State & Local Action to Ensure -

 

• That California shall not restrict the right to vote in state and local elections by US citizens that domicile in the state.

• That the state of California shall not impose a mandate requirement on local governments without providing adequate funding to ensure equal application of the mandate in every jurisdiction.

• That state and local elections campaigns be publicly funded and regulated, so that every candidate or ballot measure campaign that qualifies to be on the ballot has equal resources to conduct an election campaign.

• That law enforcement officials be liable for misuse of their authority administering the law. 

 

Environment

 

We Support Federal Action to -

• Ensure sustainability of ecosystems, minimize environmental destruction, and safeguard healthy water, air and land. 

• Expand and enforce the Endangered Species Act and other counter-extinction measures to sustain biodiversity and stop mineral leasing on protected lands.

• Recognize that climate change is an existential threat, and that all levels of government have an obligation to mitigate negative impacts, remediate climate disaster damage, and support actions to adapt to climate change. 

• Regenerate FEMA as a Restoration and Adaptation Agency that supports relocation from endangered areas like floodplains and other mitigations, and addresses recovery operations as opportunities for improved resilience.

• Regenerate the EPA to reinstate CO2 limitations, promulgate decarbonization and other greenhouse gas reduction programs.

• Disallow offshore oil and gas extraction, and revoke the current Lease offerings. 

• Re-establish Marine Protected Areas in Federal Waters 

• Explore distributed power generation through tidal, wave, solar, wind and geothermal sources.

• Expand publicly owned and operated electrical grids and fuel supply systems. 

1. Legalize and support Micro-grids, Community Solar and Municipalization. 

2. Reestablish Solarization, Energy Conservation, and Electric Vehicle Subsidies and fleet decarbonization standards.

• Establish healthy forest and agricultural programs that promote and enhance carbon capture and soil regeneration, that supports small farms, and that bans the sale of public lands. 

• Provide water security for communities through water storage systems and solutions, including rainwater catchment, municipalization, and control of supply corporatization. 

• Implement sea level rise and climate change adaptation that is just, equitable and sustainable. 

• Increase the resiliency of Coastal Communities through Living Coast measures.

• Increase International Cooperation to address environmental issues such as rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, WHO and the United Nations Environmental Program, Re-establishing AID and the Environmental Cooperation with developing nations.

 

We Support State & Local Action to -
 

• Change the purpose of the Jackson Demonstration State Forest away from testing sustainable forestry practices, and towards recreation and the optimization of carbon-sequestration-forestry. 

1. Include Tribal Representatives in Management and support Traditional Ecological Knowledge practices to enable indigenous Life-ways and access

2. Change CalFire funding from logging to strictly State and Federal sources.

• Change the role of the California Department of Toxic Substance Control on the Noyo Headlands away from reducing toxicity to a level acceptable for economic redevelopment, and towards reducing toxicity to the levels naturally present prior to contamination, or As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA). 

1. Support Noyo Headlands Regenerative Remediation with Day-lighted Creeks, Estuary Restoration and ESHA Protection for Carbon Capture, and site-appropriate Sustainable Development for the Public’s Highest Beneficial Use.

2. Establish the Community Considerate Standard of Care using the Precautionary Principle for the protection of sensitive populations and species. 

3. Support Training and Development of a Restoration Workforce.

• Update the California Coastal Act to put the highest priority on restoring the coastal zone as a natural resource for ecosystem resilience and recreational public use, with limited appropriate commercial uses.

• Implement Living Coast protocols for Sea Level Rise Adaptations

• Make sure that County and City General Plans encourage high density mixed use developments, reduce vehicle miles driven, and encourage walking and biking. 

1. Identify Corridors for Development with long range planning for population growth that includes workforce housing

2. Enlarge, Support, and Develop the MTA Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Fleet to reduce single occupant vehicle miles and provide Bus-to -Bike transport.

3. Increase Bus routes and encourage carpools through employer-oriented trip reduction and other programs.

• Increase State Support of Public Recreational Land and wildlife management areas, and return of tribal lands to be managed through Traditional Ecological Knowledge and practices.

 

Sustainable Economic Prosperity

 

We Support Federal, State and Local Action to 

 

• Pass the 28th US Constitutional Amendment, that money is not speech, and that corporations do not have the rights of humans. 

• Ensure all business entities care for the community, attain zero net energy use, produce healthy products and services, and adhere to all local public safety and zoning regulations.

• Create equitable ownership of all business entities by encouraging worker representation on corporate boards, and worker ownership of businesses.

• Build a Social Solidarity Economy by establishing business entities dedicated to promoting the community good, giving workers a role in decision making, and using energy and resources sustainably.

• Improve electrical & communication grid reliability, by decentralizing solar and wind generation, expanding zero emission geothermal electricity generation, and supporting energy conservation and efficiency, in both the public and private sectors.

• Support infrastructure investments in non-polluting technology, promote energy independence and efficiency, and accelerate emission reductions through renewable energy and zero emission vehicles.

• Oppose private ownership and control of energy and communication grids and fuel-supply systems.

• Recognize space, the atmosphere, water and land as public resource commons. Their use for any purpose shall be subject to licensing and regulatory requirements for the common good.

• Support the creation of public banks to assist in financing full employment in the least polluting industries and technologies necessary to ensure a prosperous sustainable economy for the common good.

• Enact full employment legislation to ensure that anyone capable and willing to work is employed and receives living wages and adequate benefits for themselves and their dependents to live with dignity.

• Ensure every worker is protected by strictly enforced health & safety laws that provide a workplace free of unnecessary risk.

• Adopt strict policies to ensure that those who benefit from natural resources bear the cost burden for their use, commensurate with the benefit they receive from the resources.

• Ensure workers have the right to organize and be a member of a union with the right to strike.

• Eliminate all public subsidies for any business that claims it is not subject to state & local environmental, building code, and health & safety laws and regulatory controls.

• Transition Mendocino County from an extraction economy to a restoration economy.

• Provide Local Investment in public goods and service Infrastructure, leading to the longevity of our cultural commons and a living wage, in regard to Housing, Transportation, Healthcare, Education, Agriculture and Food Security.  Specifically:

1. Affordable housing on in-fill properties already zoned for residential use.

2. Using the Fort Bragg Community Land Trust to provide public green housing.

3. Expansion of bus service by increasing the number of routes and frequency of service, ride-sharing, bike lanes on Hwy 1, park and ride infrastructure, and walkable downtowns-plazas-city centers.

4. Improving healthcare by expanding opportunities for health training & education at Mendocino College, elder care, disabled care, childcare, nursing, a CA single payer healthcare system, clinics providing medical, dental and vision care.  Doctor’s fees should be discounted if paid in cash.

5. Education opportunities at Mendocino College should be expanded to include training in Marine Science, Environmental Education, and Green Tourism.  

6. Support efforts to make communities sustainable, and utilize the West Company to encourage a solidarity economy.

7. Support sustainable agriculture by promoting local seed bank programs, by discouraging corporate food, through the expansion of farms, farmers markets, and food hubs, and by providing tax breaks for growers and local food distribution systems.

8. Expand cultural common resources by subsidizing CV Starr Center membership (especially for youth), by providing Rights of Nature education, and through City-sponsored community events.

• Support Private Investment in elder health, locally grown food, recreation, tourism, ecological restoration, and education.

• Support Elder Healthcare Zoning that expands access.

• Create more farmworker housing.

• Growing food on historic farmland, food education, and a tool lending library.

• Encourage Tourism which incorporates experimental environmental education (citizen science?) and supports existing programs such as Flockworks.

• Add College Ecological Restoration courses about Jackson Demonstration State Forest, drought resistant gardening, and Point Arena’s plant-a-tree project.

• Support Education and Job Training for local workforce industry needs, and which promotes a culture for environmental educational, and celebrates individuals doing work.

• Create Recreation programs which design and subsidize long-term visits (hostels, camping, tent-cabins for educational programs), shift Jackson Demonstration State Forest to an educational focus (?), and which improve calendar of events. (?)

• Reform Visit-Mendocino to make up-to-the-minute activities visible.

• Survey existing barriers to business owners. 

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Health, Housing, Education And 

Food Security

We Support Action in -

Housing to:
 

• Ensure Californians are housed safely, affordably, in a healthy fashion, and sustainably.

• Eliminate homelessness.

• Support innovative, alternative and community-based housing. 

 

Health to:

• Create a national single-payer public healthcare finance system.

• Create healthy community models for healthcare. 

• Publicly fund medical research.  

• Fund complementary medicine. 

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Education to:

• Publicly fund equal, high-quality education from kindergarten to college, regardless of ability to pay. All students must have access to healthy meals. 

• Educate children in creating a future that is regenerative and community based.

 

Food Security to:

• Establish federal farm policy that funds and supports regenerative agriculture, including small farms for the common good.  

• Ensure that people have access to the resources to grow food as a right, that people have the absolute right to grow their own food on their land.  

• Use land trusts and other models to free up resources and hold land for community self sufficiency.  

• Ensure that every person has adequate healthy food and does not suffer from malnutrition.  California shall ensure the right to adequate healthy nutrition.