More NPR Coverage Of The Seattle Bag Fee DebatesKUOW did a great program where they speak with Brady Montz, one of our own volunteers and Seattle Group Chair, Sierra Club, and with Joe Gillian, President of the Northwest Groceries Association. You can listen to the program online (mp3 file.) KPLU reminds us in their article that “The ‘no’ campaign has paid nearly $550,000 to a California firm run by the guys who created the famous “Harry and Louise” ads that helped defeat Clinton-era health care reform.” Bag Campaign Volunteer Featured On NPR.orgNPR has done a great piece on the bag fee debate, and featured one of our own volunteers, Heather Trim, on their article which also has a link to the All Things Considered segment that talks about the Referendum 1. Field Update From The Green Bag CampaignWant to know what $1.4M cannot buy? All the wonderful things that have been happening in the field for the Green Bag Campaign, that’s what — what you need instead to make this happen is the wonderful, priceless support of kind, generous, and dedicated well-wishers, supporters, volunteers, the hundreds of folks that are donating to the campaign, and are spreading our message in the off-line and online world. Here’s just a sample of what’s been going on — get in touch with us if you want to be part of the action!
Green Bag Campaign, onwards! Doug McDonald Is Converted To Pro- from Anti-Bag FeeOn Crosscut, Doug McDonald writes a very well-balanced article talking about how he himself changed his mind about the bag fee, after initially being against it. There are plenty of people still weighing the pros and cons of this legislation and McDonald does a great job of addressing all the concerns. Daily Kos Diary Picks Up Danny Westneat Piece“It’s time to stop the utter condescension that says harried poor people can’t learn new tricks too,” wrote ValerieTarico in response to Danny Westneat’s piece in the Seattle Times. And here’s a bonus for you, taken from the comments in the article: Read the rest of this entry » National Eyes On Seattle’s Bag FeeThe Center for American Progress has published an article on their website, reminding us that Seattle is pioneering a movements that has spread all across the country. “The case for a national bag tax is clear,” say the authors. “Plastic bags are a huge and growing problem.” ACC Misleads Public About Food Banks, Emergency Shelters and Ref. 1SEATTLE— As part of their $1.4 million dollar advertizing blitz in Seattle to try to defeat Referendum 1, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and their backers in the oil industry are making claims that “there are no exemptions for food banks and homeless shelters” from the bag fee when in fact, food banks are not subject to the fee at all.
The City ordinance which will be confirmed or rejected by the voters as part of the August 18 primary ballot explicitly includes four categories of stores: drug stores, groceries, supercenters, and convenience stores. All other retailers, including wholesalers of bags, are unaffected by the ordinance.
The ACC is trying to use the Food Bank issue as a wedge to convince compassionate voters in Seattle that the ordinance is unfair. The City, however, plans to use part of the 15 cents of the 20 cents fee to provide free reusable bags to all households and significant extra quantities of bags to low and fixed income citizens, potentially with a punch card, and also for Food Banks. [1]
City staff has said that they are prohibited from talking about their low income assistance program because it would be an ethics violation if they were perceived as trying to influence a ballot measure.
In San Francisco, where a plastic bag ban has been in place for over two years, agencies distributing groceries on behalf of the local Food Bank generally do not hand out bags, but instead the clients bring their own bags. “New food programs often give out bags at first while participants get used to bringing their own bags,” said Sean Brooks, Director of Programs, San Francisco Food Banks. “After an initial phase, the food programs no longer hand out bags, relying instead on clients to bring their own bags. Most of the food donated to Food Banks comes in boxes, bins or barrels – rarely in bags.”
Several food banks in Seattle have already begun encouraging their clients to bring their own bags, sometimes with incentives like providing an extra food item when someone brings in their own bag. Derek Wertz, Food Bank Manager, Jewish Family Service, says that he has already seen an uptick of people bringing in their own bags.
He adds, “I am personally motivated to vote for Referendum 1 not only for the obvious environmental reasons, as reusable bags are far more sustainable than plastic bags are, but also for the political reasons of eliminating our co-dependency on other countries. As most plastic products are petroleum based, it makes perfect sense why the ACC would be lobbying against the fee.”
“Downtown Food Bank is doing what we can to provide reusable bags to clients and reduce use of paper and plastic bags, and we don’t anticipate that a fee on bags would have much of an impact on our program or our clients,” said Matthew Brouwer, Food Bank Manager, Pike Market Senior Center/Downtown Food Bank.
Bill Hobson, Executive Director of the Downtown Emergency Service Center of Seattle said, “From our perspective, this is misinformation from the American Chemistry Council. Homeless shelters are not negatively impacted at all.”
“People who are low income care about the environment too and will be bringing their own bags just like the rest of the city” said Sharon Lee, executive director of the Low Income Housing Institute. “As a longtime advocate for low income residents in Seattle, I am distressed that the American Chemistry Council is trying to drive a wedge between environmental issues and low income issues. It shouldn’t be a tradeoff.”
Proponents of Referendum 1, led by environmental, small business, neighborhood and civic groups, aren’t surprised by the ACC tactics.
“We knew big oil couldn’t win by simply debating the policy, so they have engaged in a misleading campaign in order to try to win this election,” said Heather Trim with People For Puget Sound. “If big oil and the chemical industry truly cared about food banks and shelters they would donate $1. 4 million to provide food and supplies to them rather than to try to create this wedge issue with our Seattle voters who care both about the environment and about our low income residents.”
“They also are telling voters that big box stores, like Walmart and Fred Meyer are exempted, when the ordinance explicitly includes these stores, “ said Brady Montz of the Sierra Club. “Seattle voters can send a message that our elections and commitment to human services are not for sale by voting to approve Referendum 1 on the August ballot.” [1] As a note, the city issued a fact sheet that detailed that $1 million would be set aside to buy reusable bags in the initial phase of implementation of the ordinance. Attachment A of the Ordinance specifies the minimal ways that the city will support low income citizen (scroll to the bottom on this page.) For Immediate Release: Thursday July 30 2009 Contact: Christian Sinderman (206) 683-8380 Heather Trim, People For Puget Sound (206) 351-2898 Brady Montz, Sierra Club (425) 891-5087
Plastics Lobby Finds Token Local RepresentativeYou would think this sort of news would only be in The Onion, but sadly truth is stranger than fiction. Publicola reported this morning in their MorningFizz column that the American Chemistry Council, which has put an unprecedented $1,300,000 into their campaign to repeal Referendum 1, finally got someone from the Seattle area to put up a whopping $25 as a campaign donation. Read the rest of this entry » Write To The Editor And Support Ref 1!The Seattle Times has published a great op-ed by Kathy Fletcher and Denis Hayes, respectively the Executive Director of People for Puget Sound and the national coordinator of the first Earth Day. Kathy and Denis demolish the lies and myths being propagated by the American Chemistry Council in their article Read the rest of this entry » What Else Lobbying Money Buys: Child Pesticide SubjectsFrom Grist.org, comes this article on alternate uses of the more than a million dollars of plastic lobby money that has gone into defeating Referendum 1. Read the rest of this entry » |
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