The cat-a-lyst Book

The Point
How One Action Group Is Changing Mytown

    This is an account of an ongoing struggle of a local grass roots group of people in Mytown, Oregon and their attempt to "change the future." It is a story of how they worked within the system using the election process to get the citizen's voices heard. A story of how the city council thwarted the will of the people, apparently because of pressure from business interests that disagreed with the idea of a comprehensive Nuclear Free Zone for the town. And, finally, a story of how they are able to monitor the local politicians to make sure the politicians are doing as the people have instructed, because those who are responsible for bringing the issue to the citizenry for a vote are also members of the local community. These are people who live in this town. They are the ones whose lives are also effected by the action. They care. They work. They see. They still care. They work even more. Bless them!

First they saw a NEED and then decided to ACT.

    In 1985, Citizens Action for Lasting Security (CALS), now Mytown Peaceworks, began looking for a way to allow the citizens of My town to enact a comprehensive Nuclear Free Zone (NFZ), which would make a statement to the rest of the world about the type of community the majority of the citizens of Mytown envisioned creating for their home. Provisions in the City Charter allowed local citizens to place initiatives on a City Ballot by gathering signatures. In the summer of 1986 the CALS group easily gathered more than 7,000 signatures in three weeks--far above the 6,200 signatures that were required.

In November 1986, the comprehensive Nuclear Free Zone Initiative won easily with 59 percent of the vote!

    The adopted law prohibited not just nuclear weapons from within the city limits, but also nuclear power plants, the transportation of radioactive materials, the operation of food irradiation facilities, and the storage of radioactive waste. The law also included a variety of implementation provisions, such as the election of an NFZ Commission, the annual commemoration of August 6 as Nuclear Free Zone Day, and the posting of NFZ highway signs.

The Mytown City Council TOOK ISSUE with the Comprehensive Nuclear Free Zone Initiative.

    From the start the City Council refused to implement most of the provisions of the NFZ law, and after three years and many taxpayer dollars, the key issues remain unresolved.

    Shortly after the NFZ was adopted, the City Council appointed and commissioned a Mytown Nuclear Free Zone Task Force, ostensibly to work out "the minor legal problems." The Task Force was comprised of both proponents and opponents of the NFZ (including a local military contractor) and, to no one's surprise, it failed to reach a consensus on revising the law.

    Supporters of the original NFZ proposed a minimally revised version of the ordinance, which resolved the legal and constitutional questions while maintaining the spirit and scope of the original law.

    Conversely, opponents of the law proposed a radically different and significantly weakened version of the NFZ, banning only nuclear weapons and defining them very narrowly.

    Split between these two versions, the Task Force decided to send both versions to the City Council for consideration. After lengthy debates and public hearings, the City Council decided not to vote on the issue itself but, again, to let the people of Mytown decide in May 1988 whether or not they still wanted Mytown to be a Nuclear Free Zone-and again 59 percent said they did.

Yes, the City Council forced the voters to go to the poles a second time to say that, yes, they wanted a Comprehensive Nuclear Free Zone.

    Since the people had clearly said that they did want the Comprehensive Nuclear Free Zone but it was not legal to ask, "Which version?" on the ballot, the City Council was still faced with deciding which NFZ law to implement. So, yet another public hearing was held after the vote. Although speaker after speaker urged the Council to adopt the minimally revised version, the City Councillors, nonetheless, voted five (men) to four (women) to implement the weakened version. Predictably, shortly after the vote, the City began taking down the 40 NFZ signs from city entrances, as the City was no longer required to post them. The people who worked so long and hard on this issue were THWARTED by the "process," or so it seemed. NOT SO! These are local people and they care because their lives are effected by the decisions made at the LOCAL level. They were able to MONITOR the actions of the politicians and then REACT to those local politicians who ignored the will of the people. THEY DID NOT GIVE UP ..

    The proponents of the original NFZ were outraged by the Council's actions. They immediately started another petition drive to put the minimally revised version back on the ballot, but this time as a "charter amendment." The City Council is legally required to enforce a charter amendment and is unable to change it without voter approval. Although over 7,000 signatures were collected, they were submitted too late to qualify for the November 1988 ballot.

    Consequently, the next ballot that the initiative is required to be on is the May 1990 primary election. Although the City Council could place the proposed charter amendment question on a special election ballot sooner, it seems highly unlikely that they will.

    Supporters are anxious to immediately restore the Comprehensive Nuclear Free Zone that was stolen from the people of Mytown so that Mytown's NFZ signs can go back up, the NFZ Commission can be elected, and the real work of implementing and enforcing a Comprehensive Nuclear Free Zone can begin. They are convinced, now more than ever, that it will happen. What is the point? Several!

1. A small, dedicated group of people can work within the political process, at the local community level, and make changes that effect their lives on a day-to-day basis.

2. That same group can monitor the actions of politicians to see if the politicians have done as the voters have instructed.

3. If the politicians try to thwart the will of the people, something can be done about it!

4. At the community level, the people can effect change!

Now, Go Do It!!!