Revolutionizing Green Party Communication, Information, and Participation

By Genevieve Marcus

THREE OBJECTIVES I PLANNED TO PROMOTE AS A MEMBER OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL: A Report

In addition to the usual work of serving on the County Council, I had three objectives I wanted to actively promote. How have they fared in the two years? Not bad at all. But the advances are not solid yet and improvements are needed to achieve their goals. For that reason, I want to continue on the County Council for one more term to complete my mission.

My first objective was the establishment of an exciting new L.A. County website that would make state and county activities open and accessible to all Greens. This Virtual Green Party of L.A. County would supplement the face to face meetings of the council by allowing it to deal with many agenda items online. This would free up meeting time for deeper discussion. These deeper discussions could also be continued online with the participation of other Greens throughout the county.

The county website would also give L.A. County Greens access to activities of the state CC and Committees as well as the national GP. It would be easier to be actively involved in the Party if you had ready access to all the information in one place.

There is a growing need to poll local members about state issues. The county website would have voting and polling capabilities, a big step toward Direct Democracy.

Greens in different locals would have space on the website to discuss issues of interest to them and ways in which locals can cooperate more, such as the planning of Regional Gatherings.

Through increased openness and access, I hope broader, more democratic participation in the Party will be invigorated.

I am pleased to report that L.A does have the beginnings of a county website up and running. But it needs more work to be truly user friendly and more promotion to expand its use. It also needs to do a better job of integrating all the Green Party websites into a one-stop Green Party Information and Communication Center.

The second objective I wanted to explore was the reasons behind the lack of grassroots affiliation with the County GP. Only two locals are affiliated with the County. With the help of more meeting time and website discussion, I hoped to clarify, amend, and strengthen the bonds between the various levels of the Party.

The County Council has begun working on local group affiliation. There is a draft benefits and procedures document, but this project, too, needs another term in office.

My third objective was to contact all registered Greens. I wanted to see the establishment of a database of email addresses for as many registered Greens in the county as possible. Through email, we can solicit funds, expand our pool of active skilled Greens, and increase the number and size of our locals.

The good news is, this database now exists and a few trial messages have been sent to registered Greens in L.A. County. During the next term, the Council will need more experimentation on eliciting responses. A low response means to me we aren't doing it right yet.

I still believe that these three goals are essential to the growth of the Green Party. I have helped them reach their present stage and want to see them through to completion.