A Tale Of Two Storefronts (click pic to zoom in)...



Howie Hawkins: Favored by thriving local businesses.

Carl Paladino: Favored by vacant, warehoused, tax-write-off property owned by Carl Paladino.

Prosperity vs. Austerity: It's your choice, New York!

Few people enjoy petitioning - though it is a great way to meet people in your neighborhood. But many people are happy to sign your petition - if only you ask. The experience and myself over the first week is that there more people willing to help get the Greens on the ballot than ever before - especially among young people. Several times I have been able to average 30 to 40 signatures in an hour - quite a bit higher than in prior years.

Petitioning at places like Farmers Markets, music events or alternative movie theatres are good ways to find people who have green values. People standing in line are often willing to sign - they aren't doing anything for the next few minutes anyway.

An easy way is just to carry a clipboard and petition around with you throughout the day and ask people that you already know to sign. At worst it will be a friendly conversation.

We have a great set of candidates this year. But without 15,000 signataures, our statewide candidates won't get on the ballot, we will lose the right to enroll as Greens, and we won't have any shot at getting the 50,000 votes we need to get our ballot line back. The heat and humidity discouraged many people from petitioning during the first week, or forced them to curtail their hours, so we need more greens to step up and help make up the difference.

Power is never given - it must be taken. Organize. Petition.

In peace and justice

Mark Dunlea

July 12 -- I did a ten minute interview with WHCU, 879 AM, a news/talk station in Ithaca this morning in the 7:15 segment. We covered a lot of the issues: progressive tax reform, a public jobs programs, fully funding schools, public investment in a sustainable green economic recovery, banning hydrofracking, mayoral control and privatization agenda vs. elected school boards and public accountability, and cleaning up Albany corruption through public campaign financing, proportional representation, and defunding the legislative party leaders' patronage machines based on member items and the $100 million discretionary budget for leaders in each chamber for legislators' staff, lulus, and other resources.

I hope to get to Ithaca later this week for petitioning and meeting up with Ithaca Greens.

A good turn out for Howie's announcement today. TimeWarner's YNN covered the announcement. 

Howie's full announcement can be viewed here.