The Democracy Referendum Petition for Dutchess County

Do you believe in democracy-- government of, for, and by the people? I do.

Given the fact that we here in Dutchess County continue to suffer from the current de facto recession, the fact that too many small businesses and the vast majority of us continue to be crushed by property taxes and the inequitable way too many necessary programs are funded, the fact that far too many of us can barely make ends meet, given the skyrocketing price of gas, oil, health insurance, and the continuing housing crisis in spite of the recession, critical state of our county's air, our region's climate, and the planet re: global warming, and given the fact that far too often still our county government serves the priorities of wealthy special interests instead of us-- ordinary taxpayers...

And given the fact that many hundreds of county residents have signed on to the ten online petitions below for real reform of our county government over the last several years-- yet Dutchess County government has yet to act on them...

Given all of that-- if you truly want real reform on those issues and real solutions to those problems, as noted below, sign on to this petition and pass it along to all you know-- if you agree that at the very least the taxpayers of Dutchess County should be allowed the opportunity to vote up or down on a referendum this November on these ten common-sense initiatives:

1. Slash property taxes: replace funding for some services with local income tax (as in NYC & Yonkers).
[http://www.petitiononline.com/Fairness; http://www.petitiononline.com/fairtax;
http://www.petitiononline.com/FAIRTAX; http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/OneNewYork.html;
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1318.xml?ReleaseID=1169]

2. Help local small businesses and fully fund microenterprise loans: close chain store tax loopholes.
[http://www.PetitionOnline.com/SmallBiz; http://www.petitiononline.com/smallbiz;
http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/20082009NYSBudget.html; http://www.ABetterChoiceforNY.org]

3. Living wage law: $10/hour; exempt some nonprofits/small businesses/students (as in San Francisco).
[http://www.petitiononline.com/livwage; http://www.PetitionOnline.com/MLKToday;
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Taxpayer; http://www.LivingWageCampaign.org]

4. Save tax dollars by making sure all have access to preventive health care (as in San Francisco).
[http://www.HealthySanFrancisco.org; http://www.petitiononline.com/duhealth;
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/us/14health.html (many local leaders of faith signed on)]

5. Protect/expand right to organize-- help employees at middle/large companies unionize if they wish.
[http://www.petitiononline.com/yourback; http://www.workrights.org/issue_organize/ro_right_to_organize.html]

6. Green jobs-- expanded loan funding for energy efficiency/solar/geothermal (as in Cambridge, MA).
[http://www.CambridgeEnergyAlliance.org; http://www.petitiononline.com/greenbld; http://www.petitiononline.com/solaryes; http://www.NewEnergyChoices.org]

7. Affordable Housing Land Trust & New Homes Land Acquisition Program (as in Westchester County).
[http://www.petitiononline.com/hsgtrust; http://www.westchestergov.com/Planning/housing]

8. Shift tax burden to polluters-- green tax system on products according to environmental/health costs.
[http://www.petitiononline.com/carbontx; http://www.progress.org/banneker/shift.html]

9. Hold oil companies accountable-- gas stations in county should prominently post oil company profits.
[http://www.petitiononline.com/stopgame; http://www.Citizen.org/documents/House08.pdf]

10. Campaign finance reform-- a $100 limit on donations from county vendors (as in Rockland County).
[http://www.petitiononline.com/cleangov; http://www.PubliCampaign.org]

How many more years should we all have to wait before at the very least we are allowed the opportunity to vote on a referendum for these common-sense initiatives?

None.

So again-- help make sure our county legislators and local state legislators work together to put this referendum on the ballot this year-- in 2008.

The working families of Dutchess County deserve no less.

Sign on to this petition, pass it along to all you know, and send a letter to our County Legislature at [email protected]

Joel Tyner
Dutchess County Legislature Environmental Committee Chair
County Legislator, Clinton/Rhinebeck
324 Browns Pond Road
Staatsburg, NY 12580
[email protected]
(845) 876-2488

[for more information on each issue/initiative go to individual online petition websites; click on "View Signatures" at each petition website to see comments of endorsement and names of supporters for each initiative]