District A Monthly Meeting

District A will be meeting to discuss upcoming events, progress within the district, and more!
We will gather in City Hall’s First Floor Lounge.

RSVP on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1389534897759700/
MINUTES FROM APRIL MEETING:

Norwalk District A Democrats
Monday, April 3, 2017 – 7:00 PM
1st Floor Lounge, City Hall, Norwalk, CT 06851

Call to Order The meeting came to order at 7:10 PM but a quorum was not present.

Roll Call
Voting District A Democrats, having attended 3 or more meetings in the past 12 months (from March 2016), in accord with DTC rules. Names in bold were present at the 4/3/17 meeting.

 Ayers, Nicol
 Bryant, Marija
 Bryant, Tod
 Camacho, Ed (transferred from Dist.B)
 Corbett, Julie
 Fuller, Carolyn
 Gbenro, Khadijat
 Hamilton, Taber (transferred from Dist.C)
 Melendez, Eloisa
 Murray, Rosa
 Obuchowski, Daniel V.
 Obuchowski, Elsa Peterson
 Olguin, Juanita
 Perella, Joe
 Perone, Chris
 Sawyer, Broderick
 Sead, Jalin
 Serasis, Steve
 Yerinides, Chris

Non-voting District A Democrats who have attended 1 or 2 meetings in the past 12 months:

➢ Alvarado, Carlos (6/11/16)
➢ Callan, David (6/11/16)
➢ Crevecoeur, Yvel (6/11/16)
➢ DeMarche, Derek (4/3/17)
➢ Massucco, Tricia (4/4/16, 9/12/16)
➢ Osorio, Fanny (10/31/16, 2/6/17)
➢ Robert, John (10/3/16)
➢ Shaw, Michael (3/6/17)
➢ Tiffen, Ross (6/11/16 [District E])
➢ Williams, Darius (3/6/17)
➢ Womelsdorf, J. Rose (4/3/17)
➢ Zullo, Frank (3/6/17)

Others: (none)
Please notify the Secretary of any errors or omissions.

Chair Broderick Sawyer being delayed, Chris Yerinides was elected to serve as Chair Pro Tem.

Minutes of previous District A meeting: March 6, 2017 (tabled for lack of quorum)

REPORTS

Campaign Recap
Special Elections to fill the House seats of Eric Berthel (R-Watertown) and Doug McCrory (D-Hartford) will take place April 25, 2017. Lou Esposito is the Democrat running for the Watertown seat. Elsa reported that this is a long shot because Watertown is strongly GOP.

2017 Norwalk Municipal Elections and candidate selection
• Review of how the districts choose candidates to endorse.
• Key dates (from Secretary of the State website):
o Party endorsements: July 18-25, 2017
o Certification of endorsements: July 26, 2017 (4:00 p.m.)
o Nominating petitions filed by: August 9, 2017 (4:00 p.m.)
o Primary petitions filed by: August 9, 2017 (4:00 p.m.)
o Primary (6:00 a.m. — 8:00 p.m.): September 12, 2017
o Election Day Tuesday, November 7, 2017
• Candidate vetting checklist (developed by District D in 2013). Chris said the Platform Committee is working on adapting this for citywide use.
• Information Session: Wednesday, April 5 at 6:30 PM in the Community Room of City Hall there will be an information session for all Democrats, especially women, to learn more about the process of running for office and/or helping with campaigns. Featured speaker will be Patricia Russo, President of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale. If you want to help, contact Nora King.
Rose reported that she attended campaign school at Yale. It was an all-day event with 3 tracks (activist, speaker, candidate). She showed us the “textbook” provided at the event.

Elsa reported that she was on the host committee for the DFA campaign school several years ago. It was very driven by what it takes to win – how many votes = 50% + 1.

Chris, as a delegate to the DNC, had a handbook for campaign school. Elsa suggested offering it when we have a campaign HQ where people are running.

Derek said he was interested in running for Common Council.

DTC
Platform Committee has met (on March 9) and an Issues Committee will likely also be formed.
If you want to help, contact Chris Yerinides or Pam Parkington.
Elsa mentioned that we had a Democratic Party statement a few years ago that people were asked to sign, but this didn’t fly because people saw it as a hindrance to freedom of speech.
Chris said the platform that is now being developed is more likely to be a guideline, advisory.
State Central Committee is holding campaign training events (see last page*).
Next DTC meeting is the fourth Monday in April (4/24) at 7:30 PM at the South Norwalk Community Center.

Common Council
(no one present) Derek commented that Council has a lot of power, for example Board of Ed. Julie explained that the BOE & Superintendent make a budget proposal, which then goes to the Council (with BET also involved).

Board of Education

Yvel Crevecoeur sent a brief written comment: “Board of Estimate and Taxation approved the budget (and whatever else our Council members can add in regard to the budget on their end).”
Julie mentioned the District B open forum called by Erik Anderson for residents to talk about the schools. She suggested that Yvel might do something similar for District A families.

Board of Estimate & Taxation (none present)

1st Taxing District

Elsa reported that this evening at 6 PM we had gazebo lighting on the Norwalk Green for Autism Awareness Month. Budget workshop prior to April monthly meeting. Lab monitoring of water quality, flushing pipes. Personnel. Property owned by 1st TD.

Old Business

Cleanup Day or other neighborhood event, suggested location had been Mathews Park / Devon’s Place. Chris and Jalin said a citywide cleanup is set for Earth Day, April 22, so it would be better to do ours on a different date. Elsa reported that the conditions in Mathews Park are not so much trash cleanup but rather professional repair of equipment. Broderick asked about the DPW division that goes around cleaning up streets; we should coordinate with them. Jalin also talked about canvassing to ask people what their concerns are, not to ask for votes or to persuade. Jalin felt Ernie Dumas might help us since we’re helping with the SoNo cleanup on 4/22. We should set a date. Proposed May 13, rain date May 20. Moved, seconded, voted in favor.

Broderick checked with DPW who said they clean up the commercial streets every other day. Suggest ask Ernie Dumas for any leftover materials from 4/22 and advice. Meet at Freese Park at 8 AM, disperse to do cleanup, reunite at 10:30 for coffee & food. Get food donations. Equipment: trash bags, grabbers, gloves, weed wackers, rakes, shovel. Encourage people to bring their own water bottles & gardening gloves. Ask DPW where to deposit trash.

Chris, Jalin, & Derek agreed to organize it. Rose will help design a flyer.

New Business

Chris said he and Jalin want to start canvassing to ask people about their concerns. Flyer for the cleanup and inviting them to District A meetings.

Broderick said people need to be aware of hoarding as a hazard. He is on a fire dept. task force to address hoarding with State of CT to get an administrative warrant to gain access to people’s homes. The blight ordinance is about outdoor junk, but if people move stuff inside their homes it’s even more of a hazard. Hoarding is a mental illness.

Next District A meeting is Monday, May 1, 2017, at 7:00 PM in the 1st Floor Lounge.

Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.