About 30 concerned citizens attended the meeting and were from all walks of life.
To start off, we each introduced ourselves, our ward, our neighborhood and any previous involvement in city politics.
Click here to find your ward.
Click here to find your neighborhood.
I gave a short presentation on the workings of the website. Basically the settings allow for everyone to take part in their own way; since emails can be turned off, some on or all on -depending on your own level of involvement.
Mark Ogier then gave a presentation on being the public in public meetings.
Be sure to check out the witness contingency and the public meetings calendar.
It was decided to also have an activist events calendar.
Something I forgot to mention- networking is encouraged! Please feel free to promote any groups you belong to at our meetings, there is plenty of table space for handouts and I will gladly post any events on our activist calendar.
There were concerns mentioned at the meeting but we didn’t have anyone taking minutes and I don’t want to try to list them for fear of leaving someone’s concern out; next meeting we will take note of the concerns mentioned.
Please let me know if:
Any meetings or events in the city are not listed on the calendars.
You are a member and would like your blog promoted on Neighbor’s blogs.
You would like to learn more about the website and setting options.
You have a speaker in mind for our meetings
All suggestions are encouraged!
Our next meeting is scheduled for March 6, 2010 at the Kingshighway St Louis City Library. Doors open at 9:30, meeting begins at 10 and adjourns at noon.
Special thanks to Brother Bob and Darin, the two videographers that covered the first meeting.
Some updates from around the city:
1/16/10 – Arlington Heights Redevelopment Meeting – Alderman Boyd speaks on Eminent Domain
1/21/10 – City Earnings Tax could be put to a vote
1/25/10 – Neighbors assume greater Responsibility for Trash in Soulard
2/04/10 – Consent Judgment orders city to remove leafleting law from the books
2/06/10 – Photos of Gateway to Liberty meeting
2/09/10 – Delor Street Plant Holders in Ward 14 – you paid for it
2/10/10 – City Budget Meeting was standing room only!
2/15/10 – Tax for Metro Link expansion
2/16/10 – Push for Local Accountability of Police
2/16/10 – Court hearing on Blighting of Northside -McKee’s Redevelopment Plan
I also wanted to share this important eminent domain petition update from Ron Calzone, if you attended the meeting, you already received the update below.
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Eminent Domain Petition Update
We are 4 ½ years into the battle against eminent domain abuse in Missouri. Our foes are powerful and well funded – largely by our own tax dollars. They fear the loss of millions, even billions of dollars in redevelopment subsidies.
As you know, last month the Western Court of Appeals ruled in our favor in the challenge to our ballot titles. They handed down their ruling in an unusually prompt fashion once we got the full case before the three judge panel. I believe that was their reaction to the evidence of the Missouri Municipal League’s misuse of the court system.
In spite of a resounding “win” in court (the three judges unanimously ruled exactly as we suggested in our brief), it came only after a year long delay. That delay was on top of several weeks of delay by the Secretary of State and AG.
That delay may prove fatal to our effort in this (2010) election cycle.
Winning the Skirmish, But Losing the Battle – Then Winning the War.
The court battle was but one of many skirmishes (albeit a big one) in this fight for property rights. We have MML’s law firm on tape admitting, that their “main objective” in bringing suit was to delay the gathering of signatures. Even in their court loss, they have won their objective. They had to break the law to do it, but they achieved it, nonetheless.
That delay greatly hindered our fundraising. Right after the ruling things looked good. In just a few days we garnered over $200,000 in pledges – but then we hit a brick wall.
Donors we hoped we could count on were understandably gun-shy. Even though we were going to have more time than our “near miss” 2008 effort, it wouldn’t have been a comfortably larger amount of time. On the other hand, the volunteer base has grown tremendously. Success, though, will depend on a combination of volunteer and paid petition circulators.
Without the cash to pay full time professional circulators, it is best to conserve our volunteer efforts for another day.
Motion For Sanctions
The intentional use of the court system for purposes of delay or adding expense to your opponent is against the law. When such abuse occurs, the law provides for court ordered sanctions – including monetary payments to the damaged party.
MML’s illegal use of the courts has cost our effort hundreds of thousands of dollars and we have filed a motion with the court asking for reimbursement. It’s probably a long shot, but if the court will award enough, and do it soon enough, we may have a chance to hire the professional circulators and make it to the ballot this November. We have not totally given up on this election cycle.
A Punt May Be Necessary
Realistically, the odds of the court reacting fast enough and strong enough to our motion for sanctions are pretty slim. More than likely we will have to begin the entire process over this fall, after the November election.
The good news is that we should not have the same problems with court delays. We will submit the same petitions and should get the same ballot titles, which have already been litigated. There will be no excuse for the courts to permit such long delays.
Although we have not scuttled the effort for the 2010 ballot, the MO-CPR board – all unpaid volunteers, just like the many volunteer petition circulators — are sensitive to & understand your sacrifices for this effort. We want to ensure that your efforts produce the most fruit, so we suggest that volunteers hold off on gathering signatures and concentrate on other helpful endeavors for this and future campaigns.
Do things like:
• Recruit more volunteers
• Scope out and document places to collect signatures later
• Organize training meetings
• Help pass legislation that will prevent the sort of court delays that hurt us so badly.
Those things will help whether we go for the 2010 or the 2012 election cycle.
The 2012 Election Cycle is Near
2012 sounds like a long way off, but it starts this November 3rd. If we punt, and the odds are we will have to, we will have a much longer, more comfortable time to collect the many signatures we need.
While it is true that we will have to put up with two more years of the injustice of eminent domain abuse, our likelihood of success will be much, much greater. We must not forget, our fight is very much like that of the Founding Fathers against King George – and they had to fight 8 long years to win freedom!
We Will Win The War!
For me, personally, it is disappointing to think that we may have to drag this out two more years – I would like to go on to other projects. I stand undaunted, though, and will continue the fight until the war is won! I have talked to many of you in the last few days who have expressed the same resolve.
Together we will win – we have to because at the root of it, this war is for Economic Freedom and Economic Freedom is the foundation of ALL of our liberties.
Justice for all!
Ron Calzone and the rest MO-CPR Board
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Ron Calzone, chairman
Missouri Citizens for Property Rights
33867 Highway E
Dixon, MO 65459
Phone: (573) 759-3585
Cell.: (573) 368-1344
http://www.mo-cpr.org
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