DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY OF RICHMOND MINUTES OF MEETING March 28, 2016 The meeting was called to order by acting club president Gary Lane at 8:15pm with the pledge of allegiance. The meeting was delayed to allow for a larger than usual turnout of guests to finish their dinners. First Speaker Gena Mimozo, Grants Administrator for Staten Island Arts *Our originally scheduled speaker, Linda Sarsour, was not able to make it due to schedule changes after a recent terrorist attack in Pakistan. She was rescheduled for our May meeting and Gena Mimozo of Staten Island Arts was gracious enough to step in as our first speaker.* Overview of the Staten Island Arts Council Staten Island Arts is the official arts council for Richmond County. Their core mission is to cultivate a diverse and sustainable arts community on Staten Island and they do so primarily by focusing on arts accessibility, local artist recognition and the provision of technical and financial assistance to local artists. They work to foster not just the studio arts but also music, performance arts, dance, creative writing, etc. In addition, they offer advocacy services to local arts groups and work with various immigrant communities to make sure that the voices and talent within our minority communities is recognized. Culture Lounge The culture lounge is the current gallery space for Staten Island Arts. It is located in the Staten Island ferry terminal and is meant to introduce both the local community and visitors to our art scene. It is also meant as a meeting space and project space where community members can sell or exhibit work or host events. Currently, the Culture Lounge is exhibiting a work called ‘Great White’ by Victoria Monroe Ongoing/ Upcoming Programs and Events by the Staten Island Arts Council ● Folklife ○ A program dedicated to the preservation, promotion and safeguarding of traditional arts within communities of various cultural and ethnic backgrounds ● Arts in Education ○ Offers grants and technical assistance to public, private and parochial schools as well as programs that train art teachers in order to support arts education ● Lumen ○ A yearly visual and performance art festival. This year, Lumen will be held on Saturday, June 25th from 7pm to midnight Question and Answer Q What is the status of the art works that had been exhibiting at the recently closed Deep Tank space?
A Staten Island Arts has acquired much of the work that was previously showing at Deep Tank. *Tickets for the 50/50 were sent out after the first speaker Speaker 2 Joseph Fontano, Secretary and Treasurer of Local 338 Local 338 represents retail, wholesale and department store workers as well as medical marijuana industry workers.
NYS Medical Marijuana Under New York State’s Compassionate Care Act, NY currently has five medical marijuana companies, operating a grand total of 20 dispensaries (17 of which are currently open). When NY’s medical marijuana law passed last year, Local 338 helped to fight successfully for a labor peace agreement requirement to be included in the law. It stipulates that all of NY’s medical marijuana growers and retailers must allow for a unionized work force. This will help ensure that those who are employed by NY’s medical marijuana farms and dispensaries are afforded the dignity of fair hours, fair pay, pension benefits and medical benefits. Such guarantees are vital given that in some states, shadier medical marijuana companies have been known to commit egregious labor violations, sometimes even paying their employees in bud. A&P Bankruptcy According to Mr. Fontano, A&P Supermarkets, which went into bankruptcy for the second time last year, has a history of rampant corruption. According to him, the company failed because store profits were being going towards upper management instead of towards the stores. During their current bankruptcy proceedings, A&P tried to force changes onto the labor agreements that it had bargained with workers for through Local 338, claiming that the unionized contracts had brought labor costs too high. Local 338 represented A&P’s workers in the bankruptcy court proceedings. They fought to make sure that most, although not all, of A&P’s former employees were found new positions as stores were shut down or bought out and they are currently helping laid off workers find new jobs and access all the benefits they are entitled to as they struggle to find a new job. Through Local 338’s involvement in the court proceedings, management was forced to shave 45% off of their bonuses. Likewise, through Local 338’s intervention, Stop & Shop, ACME and Key Foods were pressured to step up to the plate and hire much of A&P’s displaced workforce. Question and Answer Q How can people who do not belong to unions support union labor? A Support either unionized businesses or businesses who treat their workforce well when you shop. Be sure to avoid Walmart and Target stores since Target has been following in many of Walmart’s practices in regards to how they treat their workers. Q Will Local 338 be holding any big lobbying days in Albany soon? A Our staff meets will lawmakers in Albany at least once a week to lobby in regards to the issues we are currently working on.
Q (Regarding medical marijuana) How can we ensure that marijuana produced for medical use doesn’t end up feeding into the black market? A Not only are our state’s medical marijuana laws extremely strict, but medical marijuana is more expensive than the type of marijuana sold on the black market. It is highly unlikely that medical marijuana will get into the hands of those who use marijuana recreationally. Speaker 3 Richard Reichart, candidate for Congress Richard Reichart is our Democratic candidate for congress and hopes to once again turn the 11th congressional district blue. He opened up his speech by introducing himself as a longtime resident who knows the issues and has spent decades fighting for the working class. He is running for office to put Americans to work and save medicare and medicaid for future generations without raising the retirement age or cutting back on benefits. This would be paid for by changes to the tax code that would tax capital gains, close down offshore tax havens and target tax loopholes. Given Congressman Donovan’s paltry favorability ratings, he believes that with the party’s support, he has a real chance of winning the seat. Question and Answer Q In regards to Staten Island’s heroin epidemic, how would you approach the issue? Would you focus more on supply (by going after the sellers and producers) or demand (by focusing on the drug users)? A I would focus on getting the resources to bring more treatment centers to Staten Island Q How would you create more local jobs and what would you do to physically connect our disjointed borough? A He responds that job creation and transportation are really local issues to be addressed by the city council and state legislature but that he would support and strive to bring funding for any local efforts regarding mass transit infrastructure and job creation. *A comment is made which contends that Staten Island is a generally wealthy borough because we have the luxury of being able to find work in the other boroughs and bring that cash back here without having to deal with the downsides of job creation, like crowding and overdevelopment New Business ● Changes are made the to the executive board: ● Acting club president Gary lane calls for motions of confidence to name Dylan Schwartz as the club’s executive director instead of recording secretary and name Rose Uscianowski as the club’s new recording secretary. ● Both motions pass easily.
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An announcement is made that the Memorial Day parade is coming up and help is needed to do outreach for the parade to honor our island’s fallen soldiers. Such outreach is vital in keeping attendance high because although attendance has been rising in recent years, due in part to outreach by the club, many residents still forget that Staten Island hosts a Memorial Day Parade.
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The 50/50 is called at 9:49
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Dylan thanks club members for their support following his mother’s recent passing
The meeting came to a close at a few minutes before 10pm.
