This week, our New Orleans teachers returned to in-person school and in-person work in the midst of a pandemic that continues to rage and the emergence of the new, more contagious COVID-19 variant strain. School employees are working in hazardous conditions without hazard pay or sufficient PPE. Meanwhile, the Superintendent has the audacity to state that “schools continue to be the safest place for our children.” This is cherry picking data to serve a political purposes, and it places lives at stake. Our city’s teachers are standing up against this, and we are standing with them! Show your support for NOLA teachers!

First, contact Orleans Parish School Board members and the Superintendent’s office via email. Here is a sample letter you can use, but we encourage you to use your own words to make it more impactful! You’ll find all of their email addresses copied and pasted below. Email all of these individuals! 

Second, follow and share the NOLA 4 Safe Return Instagram account. Talking points and information about the fight for safe schools can be found there! 

Third, if you are a parent, a school employee, or a student, reach out to people in your school community. Ask your friends and coworkers to sign the NOLA 4 A Safe Return letter. Is there anyone in your community who has experienced person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 in the school setting? Reach out to nola4asafereturn@gmail.com – the teachers want to hear from you! 

Solidarity,

DSA New Orleans Local Council

P.S. New to DSA? Check out our chapter’s new member resources here. You can also always email hello@dsaneworleans.org with questions about how to get involved or about the work our chapter is doing. 

P.P.S. Not yet a member? The most important tool that the working class has is organization. We’re strong when we fight together. We have to build a durable, mass political organization to wield the kind of power we need to win real change in our society. If you aren’t a dues-paying member of DSA yet, join here! 

P.P.P.S. Here are the email addresses to reach the entire Orleans Parish School Board + the Superintendent! Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr.Superintendent , superintendent@opsb.us Mary Garton, Asst. Supt. of Admin, MGarton@nolapublicschools.com Tiffany Delcour, COO Tiffany_Delcour@nolapublicschools.com District 1: John A. Brown, Sr. – Board_Member1@opsb.us District 2: Ethan Ashley – Board_Member2@opsb.us District 3: Olin G Parker – Board_Member3@opsb.us District 4: Dr. Jancarlos (J.C.) Wagner Romero – Board_Member4@opsb.us District 5: Katherine Baudouin – Board_Member5@opsb.us District 6: Carlos Luis Zervigon – Board_Member6@opsb.us District 7: Nolan Marshall Jr. – Board_Member7@opsb.us

Would you like a $25 million dollar tax break? Sorry, it’s only available to corporations.

New Orleans City Council is poised to approve a multimillion dollar corporate tax cut if we don’t stand up and fight for our community. On Thursday 12/17, City Council will vote to approve what is estimated to be a $25 million property tax break for Folgers Coffee Company in New Orleans East via the infamous Industrial Tax Exemption Program (ITEP). That’s $25M that could go to support libraries, public education, and other much needed public services in our city. How can the City afford giving away $25M in taxes when they just furloughed 4,000+ city employees and are threatening to lay off many workers next year? We’re asking members to call or email your City Councilmembers in the run up to the 12/17 vote to ensure that they vote NO on the corporate tax break. It helps to contact your representative before the vote, because you have a better chance of changing their mind. While public comments at meetings are useful, the best way to get your Councilmember’s attention is with a flood of phone calls and emails.

Every resident of New Orleans is represented by Jason Williams and Helena Moreno. In addition, you have a representative according to which part of the city you live in. Additionally, CM Nguyen may especially need to hear from us as this development is in her district and she is the sponsor of the legislation. You can see the districts here. Phone calls or emails don’t have to be long, so please take a few minutes to call or email all three. At-Large CM Jason Williams Jarwilliams@nola.gov 504-658-1060

At-Large CM Helena Moreno morenocouncil@nola.gov 504-658-1070 District A CM Joe Giarrusso Joseph.Giarrusso@nola.gov 504-658-1010 District B CM Jay Banks DistrictB@nola.gov 504-658-1020 District C CM Kristin Gisleson Palmer Kristin.Palmer@nola.gov 504-658-1030 District D CM Jared Brossett jcbrossett@nola.gov 504-658-1040 District E CM Cyndi Nguyen Cyndi.Nguyen@nola.gov 504-658-1050

We’ll remind you next week to submit a public comment online, but we encourage folks to reach out as soon as they can to Councilmembers as they will be making up their mind how to vote on this tax break prior to the day of the vote.

You can read more about Folgers tax breaks here and more about the ITEP program here.

Not sure what to say? First, tell the person who answers the phone your name and address. Tell them you are calling because you want to urge your councilmember to vote no on this $25M tax giveaway to Folgers. You can explain why in your own words: we’re in an unprecedented fiscal crisis; corporations should pay their fair share of taxes; we have more than 4,000 city workers under furloughs and threat of layoffs; our infrastructure is in dire need of investment; it’s time someone took a stand for the regular residents of New Orleans who so often are left out of consideration. That’s it! It’ll take less than two minutes.

Thank you for your attention and dedication. Let’s win this.

Hi Everyone, 

This Saturday, December 19th, we will be holding our monthly General Meeting. This is the most important meeting our chapter holds each month. It’s our opportunity each month to come together as the assembled membership of New Orleans DSA and vote on proposals that shape our work. This month we’ll be discussing our yearly chapter budget, a proposal to support a sex work decriminalization bill, and hosting a presentation on local labor history!

You can register for the call here. If you are interested in submitting an agenda item — whether it’s a proposal for consideration by the membership or an announcement — you can submit that here. If you are interested in drafting a proposal but not sure where to start, you can use this template as a guide or reach out to hello@dsaneworleans.org to get connected with someone who can guide you through the process!

We understand that building power for the working class takes grit, effort, strategy, and know how- but we can’t do it without community, relationships, and joy. On Friday, December 18th at 7pm, New Orleans DSA will be hosting a game night where folks can spend time and let loose! Join us for online games in a casual space to chat with comrades old and new. You can Register Here and we hope to see you there!

Solidarity,

DSA New Orleans Local Council

P.S. New to DSA? Check out our chapter’s new member resources here. You can also always email hello@dsaneworleans.org with questions about how to get involved or about the work our chapter is doing. 

P.P.S. Not yet a member? The most important tool that the working class has is organization. We’re strong when we fight together. We have to build a durable, mass political organization to wield the kind of power we need to win real change in our society. If you aren’t a dues-paying member of DSA yet, join here! 

Hi Everyone, 

Our December 5th Run Off Voter Guide is officially here!

The introduction to this guide serves as a perfect update for the week, so we’ll give you a sneak peak here: “And then there were a few. We need not re-hash in this space the many exhausting frustrations of the year 2020 itself, let alone its seemingly interminable election cycle. Instead we can only offer the comforting reminder that this particular phase of the ordeal will soon reach its conclusion. And then we will breathe. For a moment, anyway, before it is time to get back to building the better world we want to see. It may not feel like it now but the work you have put in this year, however small or large, will help us get to where we need to be. For members of New Orleans DSA, it’s pretty easy to find a few highlights. Our national organization just recruited more than 12,000 members in six weeks, and our chapter was one of the top recruiters.

In the weeks since, our “No on 2” coalition campaign to save the libraries has brought in dozens of new organizers. It’s not just numbers we need, although we do need them, it’s also the political development that happens when someone actually gets to be a part of democracy for the first time (and no, we don’t mean just voting in municipal elections). Our new members are learning about how to target which voters to canvass, how to persuade a friend to get involved, and the complex relationships, obscure to many, that divide a winning campaign from a loss. It’s natural for novice organizers to stumble or feel humbled by first steps into seizing collective power.

With every season, we gain more people, more insight, and more paths to a better world. But before that, there are a few matters to wrap up. And so it is time again to focus. Runoff elections have lower turnouts than other races, which often makes it easier for incumbents and political insiders to win. But, that also means, it only takes a little motivation and organizing to mount up and push back. In the December runoffs, voters have a chance to push back against the establishment powers that keep us down. Our mayor, along with corporations that seek profit and control at the cost of public well-being, have shown us their intentions on this ballot. They want to slow down changes to our criminal punishment system.They want to keep corporate-controlled charter-friendly candidates on school boards. They want to cut funding for valuable public institutions and hand it over to charlatans and gentrifiers. They want to halt our state’s movement towards alternative energy. We don’t have to let them get away with that. We urge you to vote in this election, to pick a reformer for DA, to preserve funding for our libraries, to elect a Public Service Commissioner who will help us move to greener energy, and to vote for school board candidates who will fight for our communities.” 

Our campaigns, such as our fight to save the library, exist through the effort of our membership. There are so many ways to plug in to our work and our decision making process in New Orleans DSA, but one area we are specifically recruiting to at the moment is our communications group. If you’re interested in internal and external chapter communications, like social media, writing, graphic design, or website development – join New Orleans DSA Communications Team! 

Lastly, considering our recent boost in membership, we want to check in to make sure that our General Meeting time is accessible. If you have input, you can fill out this form. 

Solidarity, DSA New Orleans Local Council

Hi everyone,

The 2020 DSA New Orleans Voter Guide is live! Check it out here, and join our Municipal Action Committee for a Voter Guide Release Party on Zoom tonight at 7:30 PM. Register for the call here!

Solidarity,

DSA New Orleans Local Council

At our September General Meeting, we held a rousing debate and discussion about how our chapter should engage with electoral politics and state power. As a chapter, we voted to form an Electoral Politics Working Group, which will be housed under our longstanding Municipal Action Committee.

As part of their formation, the EPWG argued that whoever holds legislative power affects the possibilities for social change. EPWG also recognizes that, for many people who are open to socialist politics, their first experience with progressive and leftist ideas comes through electoral politics. EPWG is committed to establishing an openly democratic socialist presence in Louisiana politics. They will develop strategies for building working class power and redistributive politics in the electoral arena. They will support chapter efforts to develop and run candidates for office.

Electoral Politics Working Group meetings are held every other Sunday at 2 PM and are open to all. Check the calendar for the next meeting and the call-in information!

Hi everyone,

Last week, the Democratic Socialists of America launched the DSA100K recruitment drive – an ambitious attempt to recruit 5000 new members in the next 5 weeks. This is the first major recruitment drive our organization has ever run, and it’s going extremely well. In the first week, DSA grew by over 2000 dues-paying members: the fastest period of growth the organization has ever seen. In the past, we’ve seen big membership spikes when big news breaks, like when Alexandria Ocasio Cortez won her primary in New York. This recruitment drive success is even better than that, because this shows us that organizing works: making direct asks of our friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors to join our political project gets results.

Have you signed the 100K pledge yet? You can do so here! Recruit three members to DSA and not only will you build working class power, you’ll get a cool pink hat! Once you’ve signed the pledge, generate your unique join link here. 

The most important tool that the working class has is organization. We’re strong when we fight together. We have to build a durable, mass political organization to wield the kind of power we need to win real change in our society. If you aren’t a dues-paying member of DSA yet, join here! Also, not to brag, but New Orleans DSA is #3 in the country in recruitment numbers right now. Let’s keep that lead going! 

Lastly, if you speak Spanish and would be interested in helping translate some of our externally facing chapter materials into Spanish, please reach out to hello@dsaneworleans.org! We have also been doing weekly voter registration events, and we’d love to train some more Spanish-speaking volunteers in voter registration.

Solidarity,

DSA New Orleans Local Council

Our August General Meeting is this Saturday at 2 PM! This is the most important meeting of each month – the meeting where we put the small ‘d’ in democratic socialism. This is when we bring the whole chapter membership together and make decisions about how to move forward as a chapter. Do you have an idea for a project that the chapter should take on or a campaign that you’d like to see us get involved in? The General Meeting is where those ideas can be discussed and voted on by the whole membership. Email hello@dsaneworleans.org to submit a proposal or to find out more information about how to do so! 

At this month’s General Meeting, we will elect a delegate to the Green New Deal Strategy Summit, discuss how to structure our chapter’s abolition work, and consider other proposals being submitted by members like yourself! Join us – register for the call here!

Are you a teacher or a parent? Or are you concerned about ensuring a safe return to school for the teachers, parents, and students in your life? We are hosting a Safe Schools Panel with teachers from Jefferson Parish on Monday the 17th @ 7 PM. Join the call to get connected with other teachers and parents in our chapter and beyond!

Also, the DSA Municipal Action Committee has begun our work on a voter guide for the coming November elections, but we need more researchers, especially those with knowledge of Plaquemines, St. Bernard and Jefferson parishes, and local school or judicial systems. That being said, you do not need any experience or special knowledge to help with this project, it’s a collaborative effort between a group of people. To join the project, please fill out this form and we will get back to you. Our next Zoom meeting will be 8/27, and you can register for that call here (password: MAC). 

Lastly, on Wednesday the 19th at 10:00 AM the Louisiana House and Governmental Affairs Committee will meet to discuss if the threat of coronavirus in November will be enough to warrant an emergency voting plan, and if so what that plan should look like. Mail-in ballots are currently allowed for voters with especially high risks from COVID-19, but not for all residents. State Republicans have blocked past measures to make voting safer. To contact our state government and announce your support for an extended period of early voting and universal mail-in voting, you can email the H & GA Committee at h&ga@legis.la.gov and LA Secretary of State Ardoin online here or by phone at 225.922.2880.

See you on Saturday! Register for the General Meeting here.

Solidarity,

Local Council
New Orleans DSA

P.S. New to DSA? Check out our chapter’s new member resources here. You can always email hello@dsaneworleans.org with questions about how to get involved or about the work our chapter is doing. 

Hi everyone,

Last week, City Hall announced plans to hire Peter Bowen as a new Deputy Chief Administrative Officer (DCAO) in charge of the city’s land use. They will also expand the duties of the job, creating a new agency, the Office of Business and External Services (OBES), a project of Gilberto Montaño, the city’s Chief Administrative Officer.

The OBES will include the regulatory agencies already under the leadership of the DCAO and add agencies in charge of economic development and buying, selling and leasing city-owned land.

Bowen is a former general manager for Sonder, a short-term rental company that became the largest operator of STRs in New Orleans in 2018. Bowen fought against regulation for the STR industry and “blitz scaled the New Orleans market for Sonder from launch to 1,000 apartments (2,500 rooms) in under 36 months” (from his application for the DCAO position). 

The last DCAO left the position in the wake of scandals based around big business dodging city regulation. A building inspector was indicted on taking $65,000 in bribes, and two building inspectors were suspended for falsely claiming multiple inspections of the Hard Rock Hotel on Canal St.

City Hall has failed in its duties to regulate the STR industry, and appointing an STR exec to a powerful regulatory job makes it even more clear that our city government is catering to corporations at the expense of New Orleans locals. The needs of our city residents come before the profits of wealthy developers, especially during an economic crisis and looming mass evictions.

We oppose the hiring of Peter Bowen as a DCAO for the city and the creation of the OBES. We demand Gilberto Montaño step down as CAO and for City Hall to make good on its promise to regulate the STR industry fairly. Take action – send a email to City Hall officials today and sign our petition here!

Are you interested in getting involved in this campaign to oppose the hiring of Peter Bowen? Email municipal@dsaneworleans.org to get connected with a leader from our Municipal Action Committee or come out to one of our upcoming events! 

What’s next? Join our our next Local Council meeting, TONIGHT at 6:30 (register here). This is the monthly meeting of our chapter’s leadership body, and everyone is welcome to attend these meetings. And put the August General Meeting, which will be on August 22nd at 2 PM, in your calendar today! General Meetings are held monthly. These are the largest meetings of the General Membership (that’s you!) each month, and this is where the entire chapter membership makes collective decisions on how to move forward. If you can only make one meeting a month, a General Meeting is the place to start! 

Solidarity,

Local Council
New Orleans DSA

P.S. New to DSA? Check out our chapter’s new member resources here. You can always email hello@dsaneworleans.org with questions about how to get involved or about the work our chapter is doing. 

P.P.S. Here are the full minutes from our chapter’s annual convention last week! 

Hi everyone,

This weekend, our chapter wrapped up our 2020 Local Convention. This year’s Convention was split into two meetings, one for elections, which was completed last month, and one for political resolutions and bylaw amendments, which was this last Saturday. Over the weekend, we tackled a daunting agenda with 19 proposals, each with different solutions for addressing the structure and guiding the political direction of our chapter. This was by far the highest number of proposals we’ve ever considered at Convention. We had great debate and minimal technical difficulties. Well done everyone, and HUGE thanks to our Convention Committee for organizing our first entirely online Convention! 

Full minutes for the Convention meeting will be ready soon, but in the meantime, you can find a list of the proposals we considered and the results of the final votes here. Among other things, we voted to prioritize organizing towards abolition in Orleans and surrounding parishes, formalize our committee and working group structures within the chapter, and implement chapter-wide assessments for developing new projects. We also approved our General Meeting schedule for 2020-2021. Check it out here, and put these dates in your calendar! 

Are you interested in getting involved in making the proposals we passed this weekend a reality? Email hello@dsaneworleans.org to get connected with a New Orleans DSA leader, or come out to one of our upcoming events! 

What’s next? Join our our next Local Council meeting, on August 3rd at 6:30 (register here). This is the monthly meeting of our chapter’s leadership body, and everyone is welcome to attend these meetings. And put the August General Meeting, which will be on August 22nd at 2 PM, in your calendar today! General Meetings are held monthly. These are the largest meetings of the General Membership (that’s you!) each month, and this is where the entire chapter membership makes collective decisions on how to move forward. If you can only make one meeting a month, a General Meeting is the place to start! 

Solidarity,

Local Council
New Orleans DSA

P.S. New to DSA? Check out our chapter’s new member resources here. You can always email hello@dsaneworleans.org with questions about how to get involved or about the work our chapter is doing.