Dear Santa Fe DSA Friends,

Please join us for our November General Meeting tomorrow, November 30th at 2:00 pm, located at the YMCA/Earthcare building, 6600 Valentine Way Santa Fe, NM 87507.

We will be discussing what our priorities and goals for the chapter will be, so this will be a great opportunity for you to discuss your ideas, and help our chapter to get prepared to affect positive change in our state and communities.

Billionaires vs Baristas

We are pleased to have a guest speaker tomorrow, Glenn Silber, who will be discussing his film, Billionaires vs Baristas, which was recently showing at the Santa Fe CCA theater. Importantly, we will be discussing ways that our chapter and members can support striking Starbucks workers.

Working Group Updates:

Additionally, we will be discussing how to get members more active in our chapter via our working groups. See below to catch up on the latest from many of our working groups. We also encourage members to suggest their own working groups, but getting involved with any of our groups below is a good way to make a difference and learn more about what we do as a chapter.

Public Lands

The Santa Fe County Commission voted unanimously on November 11 to begin a feasibility study to establish a county-owned energy utility, an inspiring first step toward building community renewable energy. The study will examine governance options, startup costs, potential long-term savings for ratepayers and paths for transitioning to a publicly owned system.

As part of a broader campaign for public power, DSA Santa Fe has an opportunity to join the newly formed New Mexico Consumer Protection Alliance working with a state-wide coalition of advocacy groups to protect New Mexicans from unfair rate hikes and promote renewable and sustainable energy.

The coalition’s first priority will be to intervene before the PRC opposing the proposed buyout of PNM by the private equity giant Blackstone. Next will be to advocate at the legislature for the use of state permanent funds (which have grown significantly in recent years due to oil and gas extraction) to purchase a controlling share in PNM. Joining this coalition allows us to leverage our capacity to more effectively advocate for public power consistent with socialist goals.

Housing/Tenants’ Rights

The Housing Working Group meets every third Saturday of the month at 10am. Going forward, the group will be switching its meeting space from El Museo Cultural to the Chomp Food Hall.

Now that the chapter has adopted the housing platform developed by the Housing Working Group, and with the elections behind us, we can now look forward to the new year with an eye towards seeing our vision for tackling housing affordability, tenant rights and homeless services realized. In collaboration with the Advocacy Committee of the Housing 4 All Coalition, the group is assessing tangible goals that can be pursued in the city council and mayor’s office, as well as on the county commission as they plan for a slate of housing focused proposals.

In the meantime while the group is developing goals for the new year, there will be an additional focus on assessing and building up capacity

Book Club

We will continue reading Alberto Toscano's Late Fascism, and our next meeting will be December 7th, 4 PM at CHOMP Food Hall (so we don't conflict with the DSA general meeting on November 30th). For that meeting, we will read up to the end of chapter 5. Even if you don't finish the reading, we'd love to see you!

Burrito Brigade 101

Burrito Brigade is our mutual aid division. We cook Saturday nights and at 10 am on Sunday morning, Devargas Park (downtown) hand out burritos and other essentials like socks and gloves. The Brigade will be announcing a new Wednesday distribution plan as well.

If you want to learn more, come to Burrito Brigade 101 at Chomp Food Hall in Santa Fe on December 3rd (Wednesday) at 7:30.

Onboarding

The onboarding working group helps new members to learn about our chapter, and to plug into other working groups and organizing activities. The onboarding group will give an update at the general meeting.

Socialists in Office (SIO)

The Socialists in Office committee meets with DSA friendly and member candidates. They will give an update and let people know how you can get involved as well

Happy Hour (12/13)

Last, but definitely not least, we will have our monthly happy hour this December 13th at 5:00 pm at Nuckolls Brewery, located in the Santa Fe Railyard.

Thank you, and see you there!