Action Ridge Meeting Minutes
October 6, 2021
Park Ridge Community Church and via Zoom
Meeting began at 7:08pm
Review of Action Ridge Restructuring
Nan Parson talked about the new structure of Action Ridge and the process for developing it. A Work-in-Progress (WIP) group met several times over the summer to design a leadership structure that was more defined and sustainable. As the founders, Nan and Liz have shouldered a large burden of the work. Going forward, there will be more people to share the load and succession mechanisms will facilitate people moving in and out of positions.
Liz Swanson discussed how a nominating committee will put together a slate of proposed officers each October and present the nominees to the group for a vote the following January. Each officer will serve a one-year term and can serve up to four consecutive terms.
There will be five officer positions. The following slate of candidates will be voted upon at the January 2022 meeting:
Chair – Nan Parson
Vice-Chair – Liz Swanson
Secretary – Alissa Goldwasser
Communication Coordinator – Nan Parson, supported by individuals assigned to various email and social media channels
Membership – Kate Kerin
Nan can provide descriptions of each of these roles upon request to actionridge2017@gmail.com.
In addition to the executive team, Nan presented the initial list of committees, each representing an Action Ridge interest area. Each of the committee heads briefly discussed the focus of their committee and encouraged members interested in the topic areas to participate going forward. Kate will soon send out a survey by email to solicit indications of interest.
Committees 2021-2022
Policing and Criminal Justice – Alissa Goldwasser (alissasays@gmail.com)
- Promote fairness, equity and justice within the realm of public safety in Park Ridge and beyond
- Ensure that Park Ridge’s policing systems uphold, rather than hinder, Park Ridge’s identity as a welcoming place for all who want to live, work and visit here
- Topics of interest include school resource officer program and evaluation, use of citizens groups to provide patrol services, hiring practices and diversity within the PRPD, use of unarmed public servants to respond to certain calls, continued focus on de-escalation techniques for responding officers, and training in anti-racist practices
- Meet at least four times during the year and establish 12-month goals at our first meeting
- Regular activities will include reviewing data on PRPD activities, attending City Council meetings when Public Safety is presented, keeping tabs on issues in policing in the news
Gun Violence Prevention – Joan Bludeau Lavelle (joanbludeau@gmail.com) and Noreen Gayford (pngayford@sbcglobal.net)
Joan
- Advocate for sensible gun laws
- Inform and take action when needed; engage with the PRPD
- Fought against a 2019 resolution to arm school teachers and succeeded
- Promoting “The Price of Freedom” documentary showing on October 7
- Gather information from a variety of sources and distribute vital pieces to Action Ridge
Noreen
- Action Ridge is a member of the Coalition of Gun Violence Prevention and participates in a weekly phone call
- Participate in actions including gathering witness slips, sending emails, and making phone calls to support legislation
- Currently opposing new legislation to allow school staff who have been trained to carry firearms
- Participate in Lunch and Lobby session with Sarah Knizhnik through Newtown Alliance
Affordable Housing – Kristin Berg (mskristin.berg@gmail.com) and Nan Parson
Kristin
- Work was ignited by the updating process for the Park Ridge Comprehensive Plan
- Advocated to have affordable housing as part of the plan
- Attend City Council meetings when affordable housing is on the agenda
- Working with new Director of Preservation and Development, Drew Awsumb, and Planning and Zoning Coordinator, Claudia Hampel
- Education to inform people about affordable housing
- Putting together a document with language and data to talk with people in decision making roles
Voting and Elections - Pat Lofthouse (loftypat@aol.com) and Chris Parson (parsonchris@hotmail.com)
Pat
- Focus on ranked-choice voting
- Federal bill to provide up to $40M to local and state governments changing to ranked-voting. More information is available at fairvoteillinois.org.
- Evanston is looking to be the first community to implement through referendum.
Chris
- Action Ridge has partnered with League of Women Voters; doing voter registration at the Maine Township high schools
- Will hold get-out-the-vote and candidates forum closer to elections
Human Rights and Discussion Group – Karen Banks-Lubicz (lubicz@netzero.net) (presented by Fran)
- Educate ourselves and others about human rights issues
- Meet once a month to discuss books and movies about human rights. Some recent books/movies include, Strangers in Their Own Land, Caste, The Sum of Us, and The Long Shadow.
- Looking for people who are open to exploring their own biases and gaps
Environmental
This committee is looking for a chairperson – reach out to Nan if interested in leading
Announcements (Nan)
- On October 5, a few of us attended the D207 meeting to support of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the high school. They are doing good work and need to have supporters be involved from the community. There will be ongoing monthly meetings.
- The Deputy Registrars will register voters at Maine East tomorrow and on Friday.
- The Affordable Housing Advocacy Group will meet October 7 at 7:00, virtually.
- On October 11th, Nan and Kristin are meeting with the new Director of Preservation and Development, Drew Awsumb. They previously met with the new City Planner, Claudia Hampel, to discuss our support for increasing Affordable Housing.
- Nan and Kristin will present regarding Affordable Housing to the Palatine LWV on October 13th.
- Richard Rothstein will discuss The Color of Law, on October 13th, in collaboration with the Library. Tune in.
- On Thursday, November 11th (This is a change of date.)—The Discussion group will join the Collective Resource Book Club to discuss Garbage Wars—details to follow.
- WTTW is still planning to film Nan as part of their series “First Hand”.
- Next General Meeting--November 3rd at 7:00. Ann Kapustiak will present “How did Park Ridge Become Segregated?” and show her short documentary.
Chris mentioned that a previous speaker, Michael Rabbitt, is running for 15th congressional district in IL (part of Niles and Chicago). He is an advocate for affordable housing.
Meeting ended at 8:12pm
Notes submitted by Alissa Goldwasser and Nan Parson
