Category Archives: Meeting notices

Meeting of January 8, 2019

Progressive Democrats of Benicia met on Tuesday evening, January 8, 2019 at 7pm. On the agenda for this meeting was election of PDB officers and discussion of activities for PDB in the coming months and seeking ideas from members.

MEETING LOCATION: Casa de Vilarrasa, 383 East I Street, Benicia, (corner of East I and East 4th Streets).  The room is called the Garden Room.

 


INVITATION FROM RALPH DENNIS, CHAIR…

December 14, 2018

Members,

It’s time to start the New Year off right – with the first 2019 PDB meeting! At the top of your 2019 to-do list, I am sure.

Well, ready or not, our next meeting is scheduled:

January 8th  7:00pm
The Garden Room
383 Casa Vilarassa (corner of East I Street and East 4th).

The Agenda for the evening will include:

  • Election of PDB officers.
  • Mimosa Montag, Vallejo-Benicia Indivisible for Justice. Indivisible 2.0 for 2019.
  • PDB planning for 2019 actions/meetings.
    • Benicia visit by Cong. Mike Thompson (co-sponsors)
    • Community air monitoring (expand info/awareness)
    • Recruiting women for public office: commissions and boards, gender parity in CA Legislature…. International Women’s Day, March 8.
    • Ideas from members

For those of you who were in on the beginning of PDB, we had our first public meeting on August 27, 2017 at the Garden Room, where we will be on January 8, 2019. It’s nice to revisit old roots, and many thanks to charter PDB member June Mejias for making the arrangements, then and now.

Don’t forget, PDB annual dues are payable in January of each year, that means you can pay your 2019 dues as you come to the Jan. 8 meeting. How convenient!!!

Hope to see you on Jan. 8. By the way, seating space in the Garden Room is about one-half the space we have had at the Library. A word to the wise….

As always, thoughts and suggestions are encouraged, and please visit your PDB web site at progressivedemocratsofbenicia.com/.

Ralph Dennis, Chair

PDB Meeting, November 13

General meeting of November 13, 7:00 p.m., at the Benicia Library, Dona Benicia room

Message from Ralph Dennis, Chair, November 9, 2018:

Members and Friends –

Our next meeting, and the last one for this year, is Nov. 13 at 7:00 pm, Benicia Library.   (Agenda)

Following the Club reports and related items, we’ll be discussing:

  • Elections: The Nov. 6 election results – local and national races. What happened, and what do we make of it all, in particular locally? (What’s it all about, Alfie?)
  • PDB in 2019: ideas and activities for PDB, beginning in January (then, to space and infinity, and beyond). Ok, enough song and movie references. Maybe we all needed a bit of brevity?

Both discussions are intended to be open with the audience. In fact, we hope to draw future meeting agendas from the comments and ideas provided by the members present. As well as hear any thoughts about how the Club did in 2018, suggestions, and especially anything we should be doing differently and better.

During the discussion of elections, we’ll also provide a summary of the Club’s process for election of its officers, which is scheduled for Jan. 2019 and is required by our bylaws.

As for what there is to say about the elections, we can at least vent some more – the PAC money intervention, the outrageous and nonstop and largely orchestrated comments on social media. But, that can help identify areas to address for the future – 2020, as is already started to happen. As a member recently expressed, “Heaven help us in 2020!” And, as I shared in a recent Benicia Resist! post, “If a progressive runs in 2020, you better have your own PAC.” Not to sling mud, but to counter the volume of stuff we saw on digital ads and through the postal mail. Counter, but remaining positive and on point.

This is an important meeting, as we’re talking about 2019 and how PDB should spend our time. We plan on continuing meetings every 4-5 weeks, maybe in the Library as we have mostly done of late, but maybe elsewhere (which would be less costly or even free). When you come, you can be part of the decision making as we plan out 2019, and ultimately get closer to 2020 races.

See you Tuesday, Nov. 13, Benicia Library, 7:00 pm. Be there or be square!

Ralph E. Dennis
Chair, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

PDB Oct. 9 meeting cancelled: WORK PARTY A SUCCESS!

On Tuesday, on October 9, instead of our monthly meeting, the Progressive Democrats of Benicia invited Benicians to come to a work party for our endorsed City Council candidate, Kari Birdseye.

We changed the location from the Library to 1215 West Second Street for this phone/postcard make-a-difference party!

This was an opportunity to put words and support into action. We made phone calls on behalf of our endorsed candidate for Benicia City Council, Kari Birdseye and wrote postcards to Democrats in districts that the Democrats hope to flip. Kari was present for a brief campaign update.

To help with the phone banking everyone was asked to bring a cell phone and a laptop along with necessary chargers. Training was provided. Those without laptops sent postcards to help flip a District.

There was also a brief summary of the propositions on the state ballot with the PDB Steering Committee recommendations and an update on our endorsed and recommended candidates.

Progressive Democrats of Benicia ENDORSEMENTS