EscInd: Weekly Action Plan for August 23, 2020
Welcome to Escondido Indivisible’s weekly action plan for Aug. 23, 2020! Check Your Voter Registration (71 days until Election Day) and take the Census if you haven’t already (Escondido has a 71% response rate so far). Mail ballots will start going out on Oct. 5, 2020. Stay safe and healthy!
Events
- Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, 2:00 PM: Board of Supervisors Meeting via teleconference. Agenda on the adoption of Recommended Budget. Live broadcast of the meeting will be at sandiegocounty.gov here. Public comments may be made via eComment service or via email to publiccomment@sdcounty.ca.gov. See Voice Your Opinion.
- Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, 6:00 PM: Escondido City Council Meeting via teleconference. See agenda. Live broadcast of the meeting will be at escondido.org here. Public comments may be made via Public Comment Form.
Police Violence
- Read-up on Council, residents call for Escondido police oversight board.
- Contact the Escondido City Council and express support for an independent oversight board for the Escondido police.
- Contact Supervisor Gaspar and ask for the Board of Supervisors to amend the budget to invest in the resources and programs such as free telephone calls for all individuals who are currently incarcerated in County systems and increase funding for Public Defender to provide legal assistance to those who cannot afford it. See Actions for San Diego County Budget Hearings.
Immigration
- Read-up on A Private Security Company Is Detaining Migrant Children at Hotels (including at least 860 migrants at a Quality Suites in San Diego), Shadow Immigration System: Migrant Children Detained In Hotels By Private Contractors and DHS is holding migrant children in secret hotel locations and rapidly expelling them.
- Read-up on Trump Cabinet officials voted in 2018 White House meeting to separate migrant children, say officials.
- Contact Senator Feinstein and Senator Harris and express concerns about continuing reports of inhumane treatment of children asylum seekers in the U.S.
Election
- Plan how you will vote for the upcoming election. Mail ballots will start going out on Oct. 5, 2020. Early in-person voting will also start on Oct. 5, 2020: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday starting Oct. 5 at the Registrar’s office and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 31 through Monday, Nov. 2 at your assigned polling place or the Registrar’s office. Track your ballot at Where’s My Ballot. See Election Day 2020.
- In-related news: read-up on Senate Panel Details Ties Between 2016 Trump Campaign and Russia and Steve Bannon Charged With Misusing Donations For Trump's Border Wall.
Postal Office
- Read-up on Postal Service delays of prescription drugs put thousands of American lives at risk and USPS: Dead animals, rotting food, and chaos amid cutbacks.
- Read-up on USPS Headquarters Tells Managers Not to Reconnect Mail Sorting Machines, Emails Show, Former top Postal Service official testifies Mnuchin and White House were involved in slowing mail, DeJoy's USPS Policy Rollbacks Don't Appear to Change Much and Louis DeJoy eyes aggressive changes at USPS after election.
- Contact Senator Feinstein and Senator Harris and ask them to support H.R.2382 and S.2965 to repeal the requirement for the USPS to “pre-fund retirement health care costs for 75 years into the future” which had placed an undue burden on the USPS. Ask them to also support H.R.801 to “maintain prompt and reliable postal services during the COVID-19 health emergency”. Note H.R.2382 and H.R.801 passed the House. See Tell Your Representative to Act Now to Save the US Postal Service, Demand the Federal Government Support the United States Postal Service and Tell Congress to Save the United States Post Office.
Local COVID-19 Response
- Read-up on Escondido extends eviction moratorium through Sept. 30.
- Contact Assemblymember Waldron and State Senator Jones and express support for AB-1436 which “would make it so no one could be evicted for unpaid rent accumulated during California’s coronavirus state of emergency”.
- Note that as of Aug. 22, 2020, Escondido has reached 1,665 total positive cases (which is 1,090.1 per 100k population compared to 823.6 per 100k population on July 25th).
Federal COVID-19 Response
- Read-up on President Trump’s attempt to bypass Congress on stimulus is offering only limited economic relief.
- Contact Senator Feinstein and Senator Harris and express support for additional COVID-19 relief proposed by the HEROES Act and for continued funding of testing and tracing. Note that the HEROES Act has passed the House. See Tell your Members of Congress: Fight for the Emergency-Relief We Need and Indivisible's HEROES Act Summary.
Escondido Indivisible is a grassroots group dedicated to affecting changes in our local community. Our website is at EscondidoIndivisible.com, and our sister group is at Escondido Indivisible on Facebook. Send us links and comments at EscondidoIndivisible50@gmail.com and @EscInd50 on Twitter. And feel free to forward our newsletter to interested parties! If you were forwarded this letter, you can subscribe here, and check the archive here.
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