The Nerk Informer (8/1/16)

As I begin the process of getting prepared to run for school board next year, these updates will steadily become biweekly at best. I will try to provide at least a brief overview of the coming full council meetings, such as will be the case this week, and will continue reviewing the same as I have been up through now. As for the committee meetings, the notes that I take while attending/watching those will be shared as part of my report on the full council meetings.

Tonight, at 7pm, council will be considering four pieces of legislation. Two will deal with spending money (one is on the first reading), one is to establish a backflow prevention program (it is on the first reading), and another will ponder annexing a part of Newark Township.

In other news, I was involved in two citizen initiatives which were submitted via petition to the city. One pertained to the decriminalization of marijuana (I was listed as part of the committee needed to circulate such, but I was not able to help get signatures due to my busy schedule), and the other is a measure - circulated by an organization that I led the way in bringing together in late-2011, The 99% of Newark and East Central Ohio - which is in support of an amendment to our nation's Constitution to clarify that money is NOT speech and that no artificial entity (such as a corporation, a union, a nonprofit, etc.) should have all the same unalienable rights as individual human beings. The latter initiative will also create an annual Democracy Day that the city will have to host in order to give the people of Newark a chance to come together and speak/learn about what is happening to our political system. I'm pleased to announce that both initiatives will be on the ballot this November!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!