Remarks for Saving California Communities: Next Steps
By Susan Lovenburg, May 15, 2010
Introducing the work of Saving California Communities
- Diverse and growing group of Davis community members who agree that the challenges facing California today are only partly the result of an economic downturn.
- We believe there are fundamental flaws in our system of government that we must address before prosperity will return
- We came together seeking to better understand options for reform, and how our group could assist the effort.
- We developed a set of guiding principles
- At our forum a year ago we identified two key areas in which to work:
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- build knowledge and understanding of the reform efforts underway
- link the Davis effort to groups in Yolo County and around the state, understanding that more voices carry a stronger message
- We have made progress toward those goals
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- sponsoring a speaker series:
- research analysts: Eric McGhee, Kimberly Nalder and Christopher Elmendorf
- reform stategists: Fred Keeley, Bob Hertzberg and Jim Wunderman
- policy makers: Senators Mark DeSaulnier and Loni Hancock
- worked with a parallel effort of Yolo city, county and school elected representatives identifying common areas of interest and collaboration; made contact with statewide efforts as well
- advocate for the reform proposals of California Forward
Despite this progress locally, the statewide reform effort is faltering.
- We are here again, to assess and understand, and determine what next
- Looking forward to the insight our speakers will provide