A personal account from a P4C member re one of the two Feb. 8th economic recovery house parties in Petaluma

From Lee Strauss. Lee opens with a personal message about her impressions of the meeting, and then outlines the ideas that came out of it:

At the Dorenfeld's yesterday, we all agreed to submit a summary of the discussion. The bulk of it was the background and problems of the participants and each one''s current concurrence or displeasure with the state of the stimulus package.

Bottom line...there was no agreement of any type of action that we as a group or individuals could undertake.

There were several good suggestions presented that could be acted upon (beyond the philosophies that we all talk about).

To list a few: (and not in order of importance or preference)

1. Consumer Affairs Dept. (in D.C.) oversee a rebate program on large tickets items i.e. washers, dryers, refrigerators, water heaters, furnaces ETC. to stimulate purchases for persons with a definite NEED, but not the available finances to make the purchases.

2. Require large businesses to bring outsourced services back to US and hire locally.

3. Explore the first-hand knowledge with Ted Nordquist, CEO of a corporation in Sweden (American Citizen) who is intimately familiar with incentive programs, to save natural resources. I have his contact information.

4. Organize local volunteer projects to help the local economy (ie food for animal shelters, goods and services for persons who are no longer independent (newly unemployed) ETC, ETC, ETC.,

5. Talk to Betty Ann Bruno, retired Broadcast Journalist, about getting media coverage for the various projects. (She was at the meeting and very knowledgeable.)

I believe that if a meeting was announced and an agenda included that addresses how to start and manage these projects (amongst others), it would result in action. The people on the attendance list should be notified so that they feel that their participation is valued and needed. That's what gets and keeps volunteers!

Lee Strauss