The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | A ‘tale of two rebel cities’ with Steve Early & Nick Licata on July 27

Learn how Seattle and Richmond, California, became models for municipal action in the Trump era.

Nick Licata, left, and Steve Early.

Steve Early and Nick Licata will also share a “tale of two rebel cities” with host Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio, Friday, July 28, 2-3 p.m. (CT) on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin and streamed live here.

AUSTIN — Steve Early and Nick Licata will speak at a book party and discussion tagged “A Tale of Two Rebel Cities” on Thursday, July 27, from 7-9 p.m., at Scholz Biergarten, 1607 San Jacinto Blvd., Austin 78701.

Steve Early is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Richmond Progressive Alliance, and the Communications Workers of America (CWA). His new book, published by Beacon Press, is Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City. The book includes an introduction by Bernie Sanders.

Nick Licata is a former Seattle City Councilor and Local Progress leader. He is the author of Becoming a Citizen Activist: Stories, Strategies & Advice for Changing Our World.

The event,  sponsored by Austin DSA, Left Elect, and Labor Notes, is free and open to the public.

Early and Licata will be in Austin to attend a Local Progress conference taking place July 28-29 at the AT&T Conference Center, 1900 University Ave., Austin 78705 (see more below).

Early and Licata will also be Thorne Dreyer’s guests on Rag Radio, Friday, July 28, from 2-3 p.m.(CT) on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin and streamed live here.

Steve Early wrote the following about the Local Progress conference:

Until recently, “pothole progressives” in the U.S. — left-leaning mayors, city councilors, school board members, and other elected officials — have too often toiled in isolation. They have chipped away at local injustice or city hall dysfunction in ad hoc fashion with little national infrastructure to sustain or support them. But as their ranks have swelled in recent years, a national network, called Local Progress, has been formed to promote greater coordination of this difficult work through systematic sharing of information, ideas, and technical expertise.

On July 28-29, several hundred Local Progress members will gather in Austin (at the AT&T Conference Center) to celebrate recent municipal election victories and progressive policy gains — in the wake of the Sanders campaign — and lay the groundwork for more in the future. LP’s labor and community organization affiliates share a “commitment to a strong middle and working class, equal justice under law, sustainable and livable cities, and good government that serves the public interest effectively.” The group’s mission is “to drive public policy at the local level — an area of governance that is too often ignored by the progressive movement.”

With more than 15 breakout sessions and skills trainings and over 100 elected officials, this conference will be a critical space for us to come together as a network to discuss, create, and continue shared strategies for the year ahead. Our sessions in the past have focused on a range of topics including:

• Immigrant Rights in the Age of Black Lives Matters
• Climate Solutions that are Proactive, Not Reactive
• Tools for Equity in the “On-Demand” Economy
• Beyond Community Benefits Agreements

and many more….

It will also be a space to support each other in continuing to build Local Progress to improve our cities, towns, and counties and resist harmful policies seeking to create fear and division in our communities.

Find out more about the conference here.

If you are interested in attending, contact Sarah Johnson at this address: sjohnson@populardemocracy.org