1/7
Hugo and I meet at my office to review our strategy. We’ve written a letter to our city council member, Gale Brewer. We lift up our appreciation for her presence at all our recent events, her personal contributions and words in our behalf. But the fact remains that eight months after having been landmarked, the promised public support has yet to materialize. There is of course, the offer of $100,000 to help with the heat and water. But we have yet to be able to reach an agreement due to the strings. So we sit without heat and with the need to prove ourselves solvent with Presbytery. Much is riding on the next two to three weeks. We need to move beyond moral support to the hard dollars it will take to move us forward. We need to be clear and direct without creating an adversarial situation. Certainly Gale’s political colleagues who promised support and voted for landmarking need to step up and deliver. What do we need to do to make that happen?
We decide the letter’s good enough. Objective, clear. So we walk up the snowy 86th Street and around Columbus to hand deliver it to her. Soon after we enter her store front office, she arrives. Asks about yesterday’s meeting with Housing Works, talks of their confrontation with former mayor Giuliani. Their success in service and advocacy. How well we match. We thank her. Hand deliver the letter. We must talk next week, see what the next step will be. It’s an action. Small, but critical, clear. An action none the less.
Hugo and I stand under a deli awning. We will have to delay our next event with his former Sandinista foreign ministry colleague until we’ve got heat. We’ve got to get a 100th anniversary fund committee together. Now. Get some visible, name people on board. I’m off to meet our bookkeeper, get our financial report together. We’ve cleared another hurdle. Barely, but cleared. There’s a long way to go. Wet, large flake snow is falling.
Note:
To the list from New Year's Eve....
Presence
Relationship
Action
add.....
Authentic
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