Tuesday, students from Wesleyan University presented a petition condemning the war in Iraq to Common Council rep Bob Santangelo for consideration by the Common Council.
It is on the agenda for the December 3 meeting (item 8f). The meeting begins at 7 pm with public comment at the beginning of the meeting, which is the only time the public can speak about the petition.
As a petition to be considered, it bears little weight. It does, however, allow the public to express their opinion about the petition.
All it takes is one Council member to sponsor it as a resolution for the council to consider, and a resolution bears much more weight. So, speakers advocating the creation and adoption of the resolution need to make a case for the Common Council to debate such a resolution and hopefully to pass it.
Since it will always be a symbolic resolution, because the Common Council has no authority to stop the war, we need to convince the Council that putting, on record, the displeasure of an entire community.
To that end, the more people in the chambers for the meeting, the better reception the petition will get. The more people, students and other residents, who speak out for peace and against the injustice of this war, the better. Acknowledging the symbolic nature of the resolution will be important, but demonstrating the power in the message that will be sent with its passage, is essential.
This resolution will not end the war, but it will tell our representatives in Washington, especially Creepy Joe Lieberman, that in his support of the war, he is not representing the people of Middletown.
It would be great to get Rosa Delaura, or a reprentative from her office to be at the meeting. And here's a shout out to Matthew Lesser, who's a Wesleyan student, an active member of the Democratic Town Committee, and an elected official, to support the measure in public.
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