Thursday, May 8 UAPA General Membership Meeting, 7:00 p.m.
Speaker: Healthcare Reform Activist Alice Faryna, M.D.
“What’s the Prognosis for Healthcare? An analysis of the presidential candidates’ plans.”
Upper Arlington High School

Saturday, May 17 Race for the Cure, 8:00 a.m.
Broad and High Streets, Downtown
See related article for details about how you can join the UAPA team.

Thursday, May 29 UAPA Barbeque FUNraiser, 6:00 p.m.
Home of Mark and Mary Baldwin
2271 Northwest Blvd.
See details below!

Sunday, June 22 Fourth Annual UAPA Picnic in the Park, 2:00–5:00 p.m.
Please note new location!
Fancyburg Park, Kioka Road

Friday, July 4 UAPA July 4th Parade Watching, 9:00 a.m.
We’ll gather near the corner of Northwest Boulevard and Brandon Roads. Look for the blue banner -- we’ll have the coffee and doughnuts ready!

Saturday, August 2 UAPA Second Annual Garage Sale
Corner of Ridgecliff and Redding road
Start saving your gently used household items to donate!
More details to follow!

Tuesday, August 12 Visit the UAPA booth at A Taste of UA,
3:30 – 8:30 p.m., Northam Park

Sign up with Team UAPA to support breast cancer research as we

UAPA is assembling a team for Race for the Cure and we would love to have you on it. Both runners and walkers are welcome!

To be a part of Team UAPA simply log on to: http://www.komencolumbus.org/race/ and follow the prompts. On the registration page, select Team Member Registration, agree to the waiver and age certification, and on the next page select Upper Arlington Progressive Action under the drop-down menu.

Regarding the questions about how you are connected, click on “I am an employee or student” and for the question “What employee/student” enter the word “self.” The rest is self-explanatory. The cost is $20.

If you choose not to run, you can donate directly at https://www.active.com/donate/columbusrftc08, or register for “Sleep In For the Cure” under Team Event options on the registration page. All registered participants will receive a Race T-shirt as well as a Team UAPA Race shirt.

When we get closer to the race, we’ll let you know where Team UAPA will meet the morning of the race for T-shirt and number distribution. For more information, call co-captains Barb Falkenberg at 488-0588 or Kathy Panning at 486-8462.

Please note that online registration closes on April 25.

John McCain has turned his back on working families.

He does not have a plan to address the issues that are affecting our state like foreclosures, trade and unprecedented job loss. Take a moment to view a short PowerPoint presentation here that reveals his dismal record of protecting American and Ohio jobs and working families. 

Myron Ebell is the denier the New York Times has been quoting for years, to give their stories "balance." It takes a British journalist to properly handle Ebell's brand of ideological denial. Watch.....

A "young earth" creationist, intelligent design (ID) advocate and philosophy professor Paul Nelson, will be speaking at Upper Arlington High School on Feb 11th.

A UA Library Board of Trustees member, Bryce Kurfees, is listed as the contact on the event's invitiation. Mr. Kurfees owns an investment business in Dublin. Interestingly, there is a link to "Biblical Money Management" on his website (http://www.kurfeescapital.com/).

Many ID advocates are classic creationists, arguing that the geologic ages are an illusion, and the world is less than 10,000 years old. Dr. Nelson is no exception:

"It's no secret that I hold a young earth view."
---- Dr. Paul Nelson at the Skeptics Society Annual Meeting, Los Angeles (June 22, 2002)

For anyone planning to attend the event, here are some links to help you brush up on the both sides of the argument:

Many of us have been glued to the television watching primary results. Depending on how things play out over the next several weeks, Ohio could play a role in who becomes the Democratic nominee. We thought it would be interesting to find out how UAPA supporters are feeling about the candidates, so we implemented our first ever presidential primary survey.

156 UAPA supporters responded -- 140 of them in the first 24 hours! Here are the results:

QUESTION: If the US Presidential primary were held today, who would you vote for?

As we expected, an overwhelming majority (96%) of respondents would vote for a Democrat, but 4% would choose a Republican in the primary. Perhaps that demonstrates the diversity among supporters of progressive action.

UAPA respondents were split almost evenly between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, with Obama squeaking by. But the next question is, where are the 26% who were considering John Edwards going to turn since their choice has dropped out of the race?

As of Feb. 2, Rasmussen national polling showed Hillary Clinton 45% and Obama 37%. (see recent daily numbers).

On January 15th, 2008 Virginia Barney, UA's City Manager, sent CoolUA a letter stating that CoolUA had been nominated for the 2007 Community Enrichment Award.

A presentation to the final award winner will be made this Monday, January 28th at the UA Municipal Building at 6:30pm.

Congratulations to everyone at CoolUA for raising community awareness about the environment and encouraging local officials and individuals to adopt energy efficient policies!

Videos of the excellent presentations from CoolUA's 2007 Town Hall Meeting can be found here.

"Information is the lifeblood of democracy — and when viewpoints are cut off and ideas cannot find an outlet, our democracy suffers."

Free Press, a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media

New to Columbus: Progressive Talk Radio

WVKO, 1580 AM

Just over a year ago, central Ohio's only progressive radio station was pulled from the AM dial leaving a tremendous void for those of us who spent a part of each day tuning in to hear thoughtful interviews, discussions and a little bit of silliness (for those Stephanie Miller fans). It's been a long road back, but Progressive Talk Radio can be heard once again at WVKO, 1580 AM. Check to see the impressive lineup of shows.

During the work week, may we suggest Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann and Rachel Maddow--three insightful radio hosts who will wow you with their intellect and thoughtful commentary.

For Progressive Talk Radio to continue, listener support is essential. Please listen to 1580 AM and spread the word to your friends. And please support the station's sponsors and ALWAYS let them know where you learned of them. And if you own a business of your own, remember that this format is "loved by its listeners" (to quote Dispatch media reporter Tim Feran), and 1580 AM serves a devoted and loyal audience.

New to Columbus: Community Radio Station

WCRS, 98.3 FM in Columbus and UA; 102.1 FM in Westerville, Gahanna, New Albany and Bexley

WCRS is a community radio station new to central Ohio and like most community radio stations it provides music and news that is popular to local audiences but is overlooked by more powerful broadcast groups.

During evening drive time, may we suggest Democracy Now! (3:00 to 4:00 pm and again at 7:00 to 8:00 pm) and Free Speech Radio News at 5:30 pm.

UAPA's endorsed candidates win re-election

After waiting well over a month for certified election results and taking a break for holiday merriment, we can finally announce that UAPA's best-outcome election scenario won the day in UA's City Council race! A belated thank you to the UA progressive community for realizing the importance of this City Council race and coming out to vote. Our endorsed candidates, Mary Ann Krauss and Ed Seidel, were re-elected in a race that was very close.

Election Analysis

1. The progressive vote had a race-determining impact --- only one vote per precinct separated the candidates in 2nd and 3rd place and the candidates in 3rd and 4th place. Table 1 shows the official vote tallies.

2. Kingsdale was arguably the single biggest election issue. The election of Seidel, Krauss and Yassenoff, who all share a common mixed-use vision for Kingsdale, strongly suggests that voters believe the City has a responsibility to UA citizens to negotiate for the best possible use of this scarce, commercial property in the very heart of UA.

Regency Centers has proposed a Kingsdale redevelopment plan that is 100% retail, includes a big-box Target store, and would require 16 variances to UA's strategic Zoning Ordinances due to its lack of office, residential and civic space.

It wasn’t too long ago that the local Gahanna newspaper nicknamed city council meetings “the Tuesday night fights.” Because of dissention among council members and other factors, the community was fading fast. But a determined group of residents, elected officials and city administrators were able to find ways to cooperate and vitalize their city.

The result is the Creekside development, an innovative mix of commercial, retail and living spaces in downtown Olde Gahanna.

Why should Upper Arlington citizens care what happened on the other side of town? Because we have an opportunity to bring innovation to our own area by insisting that Kingsdale once again become a jewel in our city’s crown.

The Regency preliminary proposal is not forward thinking. It is not sensitive to the neighborhood. It requires 16 variances to accomplish. It will not increase city revenues, but will increase demand on city services.

Let’s make our voices heard

Gahanna’s path to being named one of the top 100 cities in the U.S. was not always smooth. But planners listened to public opinion (at one point holding 12 forums to hear what residents thought) and incorporated what they heard into their concepts for Creekside.

Columbus Dispatch news brief from November 20, 2007, page C13.

Here are two updates on Kingsdale. On the left is an email from the City's Chad Gibson. On the right is an article from today's Columbus Dispatch.

From: Chad Gibson [mailto:cgibson@uaoh.net]
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2007 2:51 PM
To: [Recipients removed to protect privacy]
Subject: 11/26 BZAP Meeting Postponed

Dear Resident,

Please be advised that the special meeting of the Board of Zoning and Planning to hear the Kingsdale Preliminary Development Plan proposal has been postponed. Regency Centers, LLC has requested a delay until the New Year, per a letter received from its legal representative Smith and Hale LLC on Friday, November 16, 2007, which reads as follows:

"As you know, Regency and the City Staff are currently working on the Regency proposal for the redevelopment of Kingsdale to make the final plan for the center a "win-win" for both the City and Regency. We appreciate the City's efforts to date but after discussions with City staff and their planning consultant, we feel that further study is warranted to investigate the possibility of adding a mixed-use component into the plan. Therefore, because we believe it is beneficial to continue to work with the City, Regency respectfully requests that the hearing before BZAP scheduled for November 26 be tabled or held over to the next BZAP hearing date in January.

The results from the UA Chamber of Commerce's Kingsdale survey #1 are in:

"... 2 stark results from previous survey include: 88.3% support making Kingsdale a mixed use development, 83.3% support the use of public funds for developing Kingsdale into a focal point for the community"

From the results, it's clear that Chamber members understand the importance of mixed use redevelopment and leveraging the Kingsdale's central location in UA to create a town center. They are also in favor of a public/private partnership.

Here's the Chamber's most recent letter to their membership. It has some excellent facts and observations about Regency's Kingsdale proposal: