DLer Alice forwarded along some information regarding the public hearing about bars in residential mixed-use zoning districts. Voice your support for neighborhood bars:

The bad bill just keep stacking up whenever the legislature is in session, don’t they? The most comprehensive commentary on this years’ bills are over on Curtis’ Blue in Red Zion.

I’ve been hearing quite a bit about HB 187, which is of interest to the Utah Rivers Council and users of Utah’s rivers. This bill could mean 1000’s of miles of Utah rivers could be open to development. This bill is going to hearing and Utah Rivers Council could use your support by showing up Friday, February 20 at 2:00 pm in Room 445 of the Utah Legislature. See more about this on the Utah Rivers Council website.

A group of us met 2 weeks ago to discuss the possibility of creating a Utah chapter of Marriage Equality USA. So far, we are organizing through the Facebook group for the most part. Our first meeting was at the Marmelade Cafe, and we had about 25 people attend. This might seem like a lot for a first meeting, but it really seems like a lot when you realize the meeting started at 7 am!

We came up with a lot of questions that Michael Mueller, the guy who is heading up this effort, is going to answer for us at the next meeting. Some of those questions are about whether we would benefit from joining with the national group, and what sort of expenses we would be looking at. Some of the attendees volunteered to reach out to public figures like Mayor Corroon, or to local gay-friendly churches. We were all asked to write letters to the editor, which will be shared with the group.

Our next meeting is Monday, November 24 at 8:00 pm at the Utah Pride Center. Anyone wanting to participate, but cannot make it in person can call in to the conference call at 1-218-486-8700, with the passcode: 72403. We will be following up on the action items from the first meeting, as well as finalizing our mission statement.

There seems to be a lot of interest, and our Facebook group has already grown to over 900 people. If you would like to join the Facebook group, find us under “Utahns for Marriage Equality”. We will be expanding our online presence soon, but for now that’s where it’s at.

I just received this from MoveOn; sounds like an event worth attending.
Anybody who has Thursday noon free could go, and so could anyone who works downtown and can visit for lunch:
“Dear MoveOn Member,
On Thursday, we’re making major news at events in Salt Lake City and around the country. We’re unveiling a new poll showing that local voters want to stop wasting billions in Iraq, and want to help the economy by investing those resources here at home.
In Salt Lake City, we can make an even bigger splash if there’s a crowd at the press conference—ten or twelve folks to show that voters in your community care about this issue.
This event is short—likely less than 45 minutes—and all you have to do is be there. Can you come?
Host: Richard L—fellow MoveOn member
Where: Federal Building Plaza (in Salt Lake City)
When: Thursday, Apr. 24, 2008, at 12:00 PM
Here’s the link to RSVP:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/recessionreport/46351?id=12488-6296802-ZIbxLp&t=4
These press conferences are key part of our larger “Iraq/Recession” campaign to highlight the links between the war and the struggling economy—and put heavy pressure on pro-war Republican senators who keep voting to continue this costly war.
MoveOn members have already stepped up to host events nationwide…”

Howard Dean’s presidential bid may have fizzled in 2004, but Democracy for America is still alive and kicking. The local chapter, aptly titled Democracy for Utah, still meets monthly and maintains an excellent blog and calendar.

D4U’s president, Carrie Ulrich, visited DL last night and told us about a weekend training workshop put together by Democracy for America. DFA is trying to ensure that we continue to elect progressive leaders in 2007 and beyond. The training if for anyone involved in a progressive group, running for office, working to elect someone, local activists, and grassroots supporters.

Visit Democracy for Utah’s website for more information or www.dfalink.com/uttraining to RSVP and pay online.

We have ordered the army men (about 425) and we have the labels to print the stickers. We will probably bring the supplies to our meeting at the Piper Down on August 18th to receive help attaching the labels and spreading the word. As far as the project goes, we will begin gathering on Saturday August 26th, at 10:00 am at the Salt Lake Roasting Company and then deploy at 10:30 to try and avoid the heat.

http://www.mouthswideopen.org/armymen.shtml

When your grandchildren ask what you did to stop the genocide in Darfur, what will you say? Join the Utah community on Sunday, April 30, 2006 at 3pm in front of the City County Building located at 451 South State Street to rally support and urge President Bush to help stop the Genocide in Darfur. The rally will be one hour long and include speakers, drummers, and a “call-in” to the White House. Please bring a cell phone.

The rally is part of the “Million Voices for Darfur” campaign to generate one million postcards for delivery to President Bush, who recently pledged to push for additional U.N. and NATO help to protect the people of Darfur. The UN calls it the “greatest humanitarian crisis in the world,” yet the slaughter continues – 400,000 dead, 2.5 million displaced, thousands raped. History has shown that silence in the face of unspeakable evil equals death. We must take a stand. We applaud the President’s leadership, but the work is far from done. We are urging President Bush to take steps necessary to end the genocide and build a lasting peace for the people of Darfur.

The “Save Darfur: Rally to Stop Genocide” is part of a National Rally organized by the Save Darfur Coalition. Locally the program is organized and supported thus far by National Council of Jewish Women Utah Section, the I.J. & Jeanné Wagner Jewish Community Center, the United Jewish Federation of Utah, Greater Salt Lake City Hadassah, Salt Lake Community College’s Sudanese Student Association, the International Rescue Committee, and the National Council for Community and Justice.

Stop Genocide in Darfur – Because We Must!

APRIL 22 8:00 A.M. (DON’T BE DRINKING TOO HARD ON FRIDAY NIGHT)
HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL
2166 SOUTH 170O EAST

If you haven’t received your notice “Call to Convention” and are a delegate, call the Salt Lake county office and tell them. Precinct chairs are invited as well, it is fun to see what is going on and to meet other Democrats.

Via John Urgo and HEAL Utah:

Here’s a reminder that neighborhood caucus meetings for choosing delegates are coming up in a week: Tuesday, March 21st, at 7:00pm. These meetings are the most important two hours you can spend if you want to help shape the local political process and get involved as a delegate.

The info for the Democratic neighborhood caucus meetings is here: http://www.utdemocrats.org/ht/display/AlertDetails/i/737953 (scroll down for the meeting times and locations).

The info for the Republican meetings is here: http://utgop.financialprintplus.com/Content.asp?W=20&C=31.

The UEA also has a good page with general information on the meetings and how to prepare: http://www.utea.org/politicsLegislation/caucuses/index.htm.

Unfortunately, this year’s legislative session was often marked by many legislators’ open disregard for the public (fortunately, the media took notice. See: “Shame on rude, petty lawmakers”, “Lack of civility mars session”). The good news is you can do something about it. As a delegate, you choose the candidates who run and help shape the platforms they run on.

Make your voice heard now because by November it could already be too late!

From MoveOn.org:

The president is breaking the law. Momentum is already mounting in Congress for a real, independent investigation into the president’s illegal wiretapping program. But unless Congress knows that citizens are concerned, they’ll shrink from their responsibility to act as a check on the president’s power.

To turn up the pressure on Congress, we’re organizing nationwide “Constitution Vigils” on Wednesday, February 22nd, to bear witness to the president’s lawbreaking.

We’ll get together with other MoveOn members and read the Bill of Rights to remind Congress about what’s at stake.

Thousands of us will gather together to send a strong message to our elected representatives that they won’t be able to ignore–especially since many of them will be home in their districts for the Presidents’ Day holiday. The more of us that participate, the louder our message will be.

Where: Pioneer Park
When: Feb. 22 6:00pm
Who: Hosted by Jess Brown
More information: MoveOn.org