All Together Now

Actions for Week of April 26, 2020

Demand safe elections, send postcards to voters, and tell Congress relief is for us not big business! 

PRIMARY ELECTION UPDATE

Governor Cuomo has issued an Executive Order to make sure voters automatically receive a postage paid absentee ballot application. This is not an actual ballot, just a request to get one.  Fill it out and return it by mail at least a week before the election. 

This is a temporary “fix”.  There are various legislative proposals for more permanent solutions, some of which require amending the state constitution. They are:

  • S8015A (Biaggi) would add threat of spreading communicable disease in a pandemic to the temporary illness section of NYS Election Law 8-400

  • S8130 (Myrie) would allow email receipt of absentee ballot applications

Call/write your state reps and tell them to support these measures, as well as amending the state constitutions (which will take years) so we can have no-excuse absentee voting and vote by mail all the time.

Liz Krueger: (212) 490-9535
lkrueger@nysenate.gov

Dan Quart: (212) 605-0937
quartd@nyassembly.gov

Rebecca Seawright: (212) 288-4607
SeawrightR@nyassembly.gov

Monday, April 27, 2020

VIRTUAL MARKERS FOR DEMOCRACY
10 AM - noon (special guest at 10:30 AM)

Join Markers for Democracy, the Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, and their special guest City Council Member Helen Rosenthal who is running for New York City Comptroller in 2021. Helen is a prominent supporter of gender equality, accessibility, affordable housing, and funding for social services.  She is also  Chair of the Council’s Committee on Women & Gender Equity, co-chair of its Manhattan Delegation, and a member of its Budget Negotiating Team (BNT). 


Tuesday, April 28

Money for Nothing and the Checks for Free

Luxury hotel owner (and former Trump "ambassador") Gordon Sondland got a total of $59 MILLION in "small business" relief.  What the <CENSORED>?!?! There are numerous other examples of this. The AP found at least 75 large companies that received enormous sums of money.  Banks gave special treatment to existing private clients.  The real small businesses? Nothing. Zip. Nada.

Congress has passed three bills, but they are failing in many ways.  The money in the last round that was supposed to go to help small businesses, went to public companies instead.

Tell our rep (who is head of House Oversight after all), and our Senators to do something about this mess.

Demand they do better. The next bill should:

  • Keep people on payrolls: Stop mass layoffs, and preserve employment relationships for all businesses, including small businesses. Ensure federal dollars go to workers and small businesses, not enriching CEOs and Wall Street.

  • Provide financial relief: Expand aid for the most vulnerable in the COVID-19 epidemic, including direct cash assistance, increased food aid, debt relief, and eviction protections.

  • Protect public health: Guarantee full health coverage for all COVID-19 care and protections for all frontline workers.

  • Defend elections: Enact a vote-by-mail requirement for 2020 federal elections while maintaining access to in-person voting for those who do not have access to mail voting.

It's not complicated. It's really simple actually. Do we protect people? Or large corporations?  We're the ones paying the taxes, after all.

Senator Chuck Schumer: (212) 486-4430 
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:  (212) 688-6262
Representative Carolyn Maloney: (212) 860-0606


Friday, May 1

Zoom Postcarding with Markers for Democracy
9:30am -12:30pm (guest Alvin Bragg at 10am)

Meeting ID: 102 506 815
Password: 023440

Write postcards to voters and join Markers for Democracy's guest Alvin Bragg, who is running for Manhattan DA. 

If you don't have postcards,  you can get them here:

If you need postcards, contact Ellen or Elizabeth.

Ellen:  ellennsam@aol.com
Elizabeth:  elizabeth.reingold@gmail.com

Or order from:

  1.  Postcards for Voters https://postcardstovoters.mypostcard.com

  2. Creative Dem  https://www.etsy.com/shop/CreativeDem

  3.  REFcreatives   https://www.etsy.com/shop/REFcreatives

  4.  HelloVoter       https://www.etsy.com/shop/HelloVoter

QUARANTINE RESOURCES

ADULTS

Ballet

Kitchen Ballet
Russian ballet dancers perform arabesques, leaps, and pirouttes with pots, brooms, and 

NYC Ballet You Tube
NYC Ballot Facebook
NYC Website

If you'd prefer more traditional ballet, the New York City Ballet has you covered. They will stream full ballets and excerpts through May 29, for free on its YouTube channel, Facebook page and website.

Art

Painting Recreations
More painting recreations.. These are the best yet.

Theatre

The National Theatre
London’s national theatre is releasing a “new” play from an archived performance, each week. Starts every Friday. This week is Jane Eyre, followed by Treasure Island.

Andrew Lloyd Weber
Andrew Lloyd Weber has a new Youtube channel, called The Show Must Go On.  Same principle, a new play every Friday.

Joe's Pub
Or, closer to home, there are performances from Joe’s Pub at the public theater

Lectures and Talks

Talks at the 92nd Street Y
Listen to a conversation or a concert at the Y

Met Museum Drawings and Prints

Learn how prints and drawings are made, the tools artists use, and how their choices affect the resulting artwork.
 

KIDS

Story time with First Lady Michelle Obama
She will be reading aloud a different children’s book every Monday (for four weeks)

Science!
Kid-friendly science experiments you can do at home

Sketching
Saturday Sketching with the Met (for older children 11-18)

Educational online games