[WCUSP] Fwd: NEWS: Portland City Council votes 5-0 to bring the troops home!

[yvonne simmons]

>>WILPF members were present. Of the 70 speakers only
the last speaker spoke to not support the resolution.
Portland WILPF's co-chair Georgia Pinkel and Yvonne
Simmons spoke to the city council. For me the
wonderful atmosphere of hundreds of peace peace, labor
and community activists in the chambers made for a
positive feeling. Yvonne.  Today, November 30, 2006,
on a 5-0 vote, Portland's
> City Council passed a 
> resolution calling for the troops to come home in
> order to fund human 
> needs.
--http://www.pjw.info/finalportlandresolution.html).
> 
> -----------
> 
> WE DID IT!
> 
> A "standing room only" crowd witnessed moving
> testimony from more than 50 
> people who made the case for the resolution. Those
> testifying included 
> military families, veterans and Iraqi-Americans,
> labor and faith group 
> leaders, youth and students and those who work on
> health care, education, 
> housing, homelessness, environmental justice and
> other human needs issues. 
> The presenters made a strong case for the many local
> impacts of the war on 
> the Portland community and why we need to speak up
> as a city for peace.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who contributed to this
> campaign--those who signed the 
> petition, gathered signatures, volunteered, spread
> the word and showed up 
> for the hearing. This was truly a group effort and
> it showed!
> 
> Portland has spoken: now we have to make sure our
> federal officials act on 
> behalf of our wishes to bring the troops home from
> Iraq and to change our 
> policies to reflect Portland's priorities.
> 
> -----------
> 
> The next steps will include looking to the state
> legislature to pass a 
> similar resolution. At the hearing, Oregon Rep. Chip
> Shields announced his 
> intention to introduce a resolution in the house
> when the legislature 
> convenes in January.
> 
> (If anyone on this list has a particular connection
> to any State Rep. or 
> State Senator please get in touch with us here at
> PJW.)
> 
> The City resolution was sponsored by Portland City
> Commissioner Randy 
> Leonard, whose vote against a similar resolution
> prior to the 2003 
> invasion of Iraq led him to speak about how he felt
> he had been lied to by 
> the administration, and felt this was a way to make
> right the mistake of 
> supporting the war in the past.
> 


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com