Compiled by RADC Members - Tracy Wise and Jeff Poggi

1. Keep Pushing—The Clock Is Ticking: Ensure Voting Rights Legislation Is Passed in the U.S. Senate:

Senate Majority Leader Schumer brought up the voting rights bill again on November 3rd.  One Republican senator voted for it.  But it failed to survive the filibuster.  We must get voting rights passed and stop with the doomed vote theater and carve out an exception in the filibuster for voting rights.

Please write to Senators Feinstein and Padilla ASAP with this message (feel free to replace with your own words):

Dear Senator Feinstein/Padilla--

I am one of your California constituents who believes that passing voting rights legislation ASAP is vital to pushing back against efforts across the country to disenfranchise voters and block access to the polls. It is urgent that all Senate Democrats at least implement a carve-out in the filibuster for voting rights or cancel the filibuster altogether so that this bill can be passed ASAP. You are our voices in the Senate. We are running out of time.

Thank you

YOUR NAME

YOUR ZIP

Senator Diane Feinstein, 11111 Santa Monica Blvd., Suite 915, Los Angeles, CA 90025 - (310) 914-7300 or [https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me].

Senator Alex Padilla, 11845 West Olympic Blvd., Suite 1250W, Los Angeles, CA 90064 - (310) 231-4494  [https://www.padilla.senate.gov/]

 

2. Get Involved in Supporting Redlands

The City of Redlands livestreams meetings of its City Council and its Planning Commission (Channel 3 for Spectrum Customers, Channel 35 for Frontier Customers, and online at the URL below), along with offering the opportunity to attend the meetings in person.

 

City Council meetings follow this schedule: “Regular City Council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 5:00 pm (closed session) and 6:00 pm (open session) at the City of Redlands, City Council Chambers, 35 Cajon St., Ste. 2, Redlands and at such other times as special meetings may be called. Should a regularly scheduled Council meeting fall on a holiday, the meeting shall be conducted the next regular business day.”  https://www.cityofredlands.org/pod/city-council-faqs 

 

Information on the Planning Commission can be found here:  https://www.cityofredlands.org/planning-commission 

 

The most recent Agendas and Minutes can be found here, along with a link to the video of the meetings:  https://www.cityofredlands.org/meeting-agendas-minutes 

 

Instructions for City Council public comment: “Due to time constraints and the number of persons who may wish to give oral testimony, time restrictions are placed on oral testimony. You may wish to make your comments in writing to assure that you are able to express yourself adequately. Comments will be limited to three minutes. Written comments will not be read aloud by staff, but will be distributed to council members.”  https://www.cityofredlands.org/public-speaker-form 

 

Finally, contact information for City Council members can be found here:  https://www.cityofredlands.org/city-council 



3. Keep Up the Fight to Save Our US Postal Service

Sign the petition being circulated by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to remove the current head of the USPS Board, Ron Bloom, who has continued to support Louis DeJoy and his campaign to harm the USPS.  

https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/analysis/tell-president-biden-to-save-the-usps-replace-ron-bloom/ 

 

From the petition:

 

“Ron Bloom, the chair of the USPS Board of Governors—the body with the power to fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—is up for reappointment. President Biden must replace him. 

“Ron Bloom has defended DeJoy as he’s undermined public trust in the postal service. Bloom backed DeJoy even as he acted to apparently jeopardize the postal service’s plans to ensure that voting by mail would not be threatened during the pandemic. Since Bloom became the board’s chair, DeJoy has introduced a ten year plan to slow mail and increase prices and has come under federal investigation for an alleged straw donor scheme. The United States Postal Service also seriously mismanaged DeJoy’s conflicts of interest from the start, creating an exceedingly high risk of him violating criminal conflict of interest laws.

“Despite these serious threats to the Postal Service and mail delivery, Bloom did nothing to intervene and publicly supported DeJoy’s plan. 

“Ron Bloom also has his own conflicts of interest—DeJoy reportedly bought $305,000 in bonds from Bloom’s investment firm.

“The chair of the USPS Board of Governors is meant to make decisions that will protect the postal service and help it to best serve the American people. Ron Bloom has not done this. To protect the USPS, Biden must replace Ron Bloom, and the USPS Board of Governors must fire Louis DeJoy.”

 

ONGOING REMINDERS

 

  • REMINDER:  Voting Rights:  New *City* Redistricting Information/Action

Upcoming City of Redlands public meetings are scheduled:

  • January 18, 2022 (time, etc. tbd)
  • February 15, 2022 (time, etc. tbd)
  • April 17, 2022 – adoption of the final maps

 

  • REMINDER:  Voting Rights:  New *County* Redistricting Information

Here is the website, with the list of upcoming meetings *and* information on how to submit a map to the redistricting committee:  https://sbcountyredistricting.com/ The next two meetings are:

 

Special Meeting – Board of Supervisors

December 7, 2021 1:00 pm-3:00 pm

San Bernardino County Government Center

385 N. Arrowhead Avenue, 1st Floor
San Bernardino, CA 92415-0835+ Google Map

Special Meeting - Board of Supervisors
Watch Live

 

  • REMINDER:  Voting Rights:  New *Water* Redistricting Information

No new information available.  Here is a link to the current maps of the IE’s water districts:  https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=e1a0b6df610f490892a970b01952274d&entry=3 

 

We will continue to keep you up-to-date on redistricting efforts around our county (they voted NO on any meeting[s] in Redlands) and water districts and any further City redistricting news.

 

  • REMINDER:  Replacement process for Councilmember Paul Foster in motion

At the November 2, 2021 City Council meeting, with a vote of 3-2, “the City Council authorized Mayor Barich and Mayor Pro Tem Tejeda to speak to the five former Council members, residing in District 5, to determine their willingness to serve the remainder of Council Member Foster’s term, while also holding no interest in running for election in November 2022; the City Council authorized Mayor Barich and Mayor Pro Tem Tejeda to bring their recommendation to the full City Council; and agreed that in the event that none of the five former Council Members agreed to serve the remainder of the term, Council approved to fill the vacancy through an application and interview process as presented by Assistant City Manager McConnell.”—this quote is from the Minutes which can be found at: https://destinyhosted.com/agenda_publish.cfm?id=73352&mt=ALL&get_month=11&get_year=2021&dsp=min&seq=262 

 

STICK A PIN IN THIS

 

  • UPDATED:  The California 2021 Legislative Session ended with Governor Newsom signing his last bills prior to the October 10th deadline.  The next Legislative Session should reconvene in December.

 

    • The final set of approved bills included:
      • Providing Immediate Relief for those Hardest Hit by COVID-19
      • Confronting the Homelessness & Housing Affordability Crisis
      • Transforming Public Schools as Gateways for Opportunity
      • Building Infrastructure for the Next Century
      • Combating Wildfires & Tackling Climate Change

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/10/09/governor-newsom-takes-final-action-of-2021-legislative-session/