Mike Laster, president of the club, opened the meeting at 10:07am.  First order of business was announcements as follows:

Jane Vidales needs help with the Melissa Noriega campaign, putting out signs at Bayland for early voting; making phone calls between now and May 12. Volunteers are urged to check out mellissanoriega.com or 713Melissa or call Martha Griffin at 281-773-5863 to find out how to help.

Scott Hochberg, State Representative SR137, endorsed Melissa due to her work with him while her husband was in Afghanistan.  Scott also told us about the constitutional amendment to fix the Republican error on the senior citizens property tax--vote YES on this.  He also mentioned the voter registration ID bill that would depress Democrat voter turn out.  The bill is not necessary as there have not been any reports of voter fraud made to the secretary of state.

On Monday, April 30 at 6:30pm, M.J. Khan will have a parks presentation at the Sharpstown Community Center.

ROAD (River Oaks Democratic Women) is having an event on the role of women in Texas politics at the University of Houston.

On Sunday, June 10, Harris County Democrats Billy Carr Institute will have an Environmental Summit with Jim Blackburn, Sierra Club, GHASP, and other groups participating.  Mayor Bill White will be keynote speaker.  Time is 1 to 5 pm at the U of H Academic Center, Main Campus.

Check HCDP website for info on the May 19 Town Hall meeting.

The Minutes of the March 24 meeting were read and accepted.  Treasurer report was made and accepted, our balance is approx. $1939.23.

Bert Anson took the floor to discuss projects, plans, ideas and objectives of SD 17.

    Looking for 2010 candidates to replace state rep Kyle Janek in SD17.  SD17 now has 3 Democratic reps and is trying for more.

    Next primary in March 08--have over 75% precinct chairs, need more.  Judith Gatchell, a new chair, was congratulated.

    The VAN (voter access network) has listed the last 3 years of Democratic voters. This will assist in grass root efforts to get chairs, train, and build Democrat base by precinct calls, block walking, etc.  There are 10 vacancies in precinct chairs in Sharpstown.

    There are 5 Statuatory committees in HCDP, mandated in the bylaws.  They are: Finance; Resolutions (Bob Carter of our group is a member); Rules; Audit; and Primary (the way HCDP  groups precincts for primaries, etc.).  It is important to do voter registration mobilizations and training.  SD17 has 82 precincts and 8 clubs. SD17 projects include:

        Training--Sept 2007 for chairs and activists.

        High School Dem. clubs organized at Lee, Sharpstown and Westside.

        National training group brought in for training.

        Sharpstown Mall office as a 2008 headquarters location.

        Leadership development and training development.

        Club training--identify projects, problems, memberships.

Mike showed a map of the SD13  precincts of which we have selected those which will be our backbone of activity first (Tier 1).  Mike reminded us of our club's mission and objective.

We then worked on our schedule for the upcoming months:

2007:  April 30--early voting, May 12--election, Nov 6--city election.

2008--Feb--presidential primary, precinct conventions that night, June?--state convention, ??--national convention, Nov--election.

Training on how to be a convention delegate, TDP is reviewing procedures.

Club schedule: May, Nov, Dec--no club meetings; June--invite Scott Hochberg (Mike); July--get together with Alief club on 3rd Tuesday?.  Rod Haper will contact the Alief Club president to talk about this.  Other ideas for speakers included TIRZ, PID, MD (new Management District), city council member(s), grass roots training.  EC meetings will be held about every two months, with Mike coordinating via email.

Past and possible club projects were discussed as follows:

    Garage sale--table to 20008.

    Special firemen's event--table, maybe do simple cake or cookies at some point.

    Sharpstown voter registration--table for 2008.

    Support local candidates by signing petitions for judge contacts, etc.

    Help high school clubs organize--Joyce Atkins has already made contact and Judith Gatchell is a volunteer with access to the schools.  Clubs only need a teacher sponsor and the kids.

    Fundraiser--EC committe will work on this.

    Recruit members with the help of precinct chairs.

    Advertising meetings in the SCAN--Mike will follow up.

    Focus on local elections and have candidate events in 2007.

    Training--VIP.

    Project concentration--fill in chairs on Tier 1 then Tier 2; local candidate support; high school clubs; fundraising.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:39 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Haper, Secretary

Invited Presenters

Bert Anson
Chair Senate District 17
will advise us of Senate District 17's plans for 2007. 

Julie Jackson
Chair Harris County Democratic Party Clubs and Organizations
will advise us of the HCDP's plans for clubs and organizations.

Please make plans to join us for our April Meeting.  We need your input in making plans for 2007.  See you there!

The meeting on March 24, 2007 began at 10:00 a.m. at Bayland Community Center.

Present at the meeting:  Sylvie Adams, Mike Laster, Ray Driscoll, Rod Haper, Alice Bergeron, Mary Haper, Jane Vidales, Ruby Bolanos.

Alice, current President, asked for nominations for officers.  None were named for President, although the other positions could be filled by volunteers already known to Alice.  Alice discussed options as to what to do with the treasury if the club folded.

Subsequently, Mike Laster was elected President for the remainder of 2007.  Jane Vidales was elected Vice President, Rod Haper as Treasurer, and Mary Haper as Secretary.  Board Members continue to be Bob Prater, Lena Brooks, Sylvie Adams and the officers as elected.

 It was evident those members present want the club to continue as we expect 2008 to be a more active year and the club should become more and more viable and active in the community.

 Our speaker was Evelyn Merz, who has been very active for many years in the environmental issues concerning Houston and Texas.  Her topic for our meeting was the Texas State Parks.

 There is a grass roots movement to get better funding for repairs (not currently being done) and for new vehicles and maintenance of old vehicles.  There are over 10 million visitors a year to Texas state parks.  These parks generate 60% of their budget, however this is not enough for acquisitions and hiring of educators as the state continues to rob the parks of monies.

We learned that Texas Parks and WIldlife makes grants to local munincipalities to acquire and develop park land--the state has reduced this money also.  In addition, the House Bill 6, Senate Bill 252 do not pass the "smell" test as they eliminate the cap on sporting goods taxes, but the cap is tied to the Texas Historical Commission's desire to transfer properties to itself.  Supporters of the park system do not like the idea of transferring historical sites from Texas Parks and WIldlife to political appointees/political agendas.  All were encouraged to contact their state reps to discourage these bills tthat would "giving more sporting goods tax revenue for parks if you give up 20+ historic sites"!  Texas politics at work.....

The special license plates that Texans buy to support the parks is not working out--the legislature needs to appropriate the special plates monies to the park fund.  So the money sits not being used for the parks which so desperately need these funds.

Ms. Merz introduced us to the Outdoor Section of the Houston Chronicle and the column of Shannon Tompkins--he is the environmental op ed and does some interesting stories.  His column is located in the Sports section so many of us missed it and will now be able to become better informed.

The meeting ended with questions to Ms. Merz and some visiting after her speech.  Mike Laster was congratulated on his presidency and keeping the club afloat. Alice Bergeron was presented with a thank you card for her two years of leadership for the club.  Alice is moving out of state and will be very much missed..

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Haper

2007 Officers and Executive Committee

Alice Bergeron talked about her campaign to collect hand-written letters to American soldiers in the Middle East.  She distributed envelopes and requested that letters be sent to her and she would include them in a package she is going to send.  Letters should be non-political.

 Rod Haper did the Treasurer's report.

 Alice stated she entered the By Law changes on to the website. She also mentinoed the need for volunteers for the membership committee, which is being chaired by Bob Prater.  Working the high schools for voter registration is being considered.  May 12 is the next election and we need to get the vote out.

A mock presidential election was held and was considered fun by the 25 or so persons attending the meeting.

Bert Anson distributed Texas Democratic Party fundraiser info for March 4.

Our guest was Melissa Noriega, who is running for Houston City Council in the At Large Position 3 vacated by Sekula-Gibbs.  Ms. Noriega is the wife of Rick Noriega, state rep who went to Afghanistan for a year and Melissa took his place during that time.  Ms. Noriega spoke about her experience with medical issues while her husband was serving in the Army; her years of working in HISD; her familiarity with our neighborhood and took questions and issues of concern from those present at the meeting.

Those present decided to endorse Melissa Noriega and the motion was passed.  All were encouraged to visit Noriega's website, www.MelissaNoriega.com.

Our next meeting is Saturday, March 24, 2007 at Bayland.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Haper, Acting Secretary