Atherton • East Palo Alto • Menlo Park • Portola Valley 
Redwood City • Woodside

Be Informed   •  Be Active  •  Be Democracy in Action

The League of Women Voters encourages informed and active participation in government. We work to increase the understanding of major public policy issues and work to influence public policy through education and advocacy.  The League's primary community efforts include:

• registering voters
• moderating local candidate forums and debates
• conducting state proposition presentations
• providing voters with Election Voter Guides

We never support or oppose candidates or political parties.

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Spotlight Event

On Uneven Ground:

How Unequal Land Use Affects 
Health in North Fair Oaks, Belle Haven, & East Palo Alto

Join local journalist Kate Bradshaw for a discussion about her reporting series "Uneven Ground," produced for The Almanac as a 2019 California Fellow with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

10:30am to 11:30am

Belle Haven Public Library
413 Ivy Drive, Menlo Park

Kate Bradshaw Almanac Reporter

The Midpeninsula isn't just a place where residents pay millions of dollars for their homes, an uncanny number of people drive luxury vehicles, gorgeous open spaces abound and markets teem with fresh produce. It's also a place where, in other neighborhoods, large numbers of families struggle to earn enough just to stay sheltered, ill-equipped streets choke with commuters cutting through to tech jobs, and parks and nutritious food options are harder to find.

How did these inequalities come to be, and how do they shape current and future disparities in environmental health in the communities of Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and North Fair Oaks?

More Info
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Spotlight News

From our Voter Outreach Team

The LWVSSMC Voter Outreach Team is gearing up for an energetic and engaging Election Year 2020. From now until the November 2020 our Team will be assisting community residents with registering to vote, updating their voter records, and providing general election information.

Following are upcoming Voter Outreach events. If you, a family member, a relative, or a friend needs assistance with voter registration, please stop by one of the following locations.

• Saturday, January 18, 2020  ---  11:00 am - 1:00 pm
  Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma, Menlo Park

- A nonpartisan Pros and Cons discussion of the March 3, 2020 ballot proposition
- 2020 Voting Process Questions
- Voter Registration - first time voters, update address or name change, and more

• Saturday, January 25, 2020 ---  10:00 am - 2:00 pm
  Menlo Park Library, 800 Alma, Menlo Park

 -Voter Registration - first time voters, update address or name changes, and more

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LWV South San Mateo County
 

From our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee

Why the "Wrong Side of the Tracks" is Usually the East Side of Cities

by Stephen DeBerry -- TED Talk 2018

Watch the TED Talk

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Our League Read

Our League Read follow-up meeting has been postponed until next spring.  In the meantime, we hope you’ll read “Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race”  by Debby Irving. 

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From our Climate Change Adaptation Committee

Adapting to Sea Level Rise:  The Bay Area Starts New Projects

The Bay Area will start seeing communities build structures to help protect them from rising ocean levels.

• Concerned that rising waves will flood runways and buildings in the coming years, officials at San Francisco International Airport are moving ahead with a $587 million plan to build a major new sea wall around the entire airport.  The sea wall should guard against 3 feet of sea level rise, plus another 2 feet for big waves during storms. The project will be funded with bonds and paid off through higher fees on airlines that fly in and out of SFO.
• Oakland International Airport is set to begin construction on a $46 million project to raise a 4-mile earthen dike by 2 feet to guard runways against rising bay water. 
• San Francisco is beginning to work on a 30 year $5 billion project to rebuild the 3-mile-long sea wall along the city's Embarcadero which was built in the 1800"s and is crumbing. 
• Faced with significant increases in flood insurance costs from existing sea levels, Foster City is set to increase the height of its berms to protect the city from existing sea levels and have the ability to increase protection for future sea levels.

According to ride gauges, San Francisco Bay has risen 8 inches since 1900. Scientists project it will rise another 1 foot by 2015 and another 3 feet or more by 2100.

The San Mateo County Leagues have established climate change adaptation related to sea level rise as one of its priorities. San Mateo County is the most vulnerable to sea level rise in the state of California. Citizens will need to confront tough land use policy as well as funding decisions to reduce the vulnerability risk. 

**** Information in this article was derived from a story in the October 20, 2019 San Jose Mercury News, entitled" SFO to build sea wall around airport" by Paul Rogers. 

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Urgent Call for Volunteers!

Our League is looking for volunteers in IT Support, Audio Visual, and LWV 100th Anniversary planning. These are back-up /apprentice type positions where you would be learning and shadowing for a time. These positions do not have set time frames for service.

For more information, check out LWVSSMC Volunteer 

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LWV US

LWV Wins Redistricting Litigation in Battleground States

Last week, a federal district court in Ohio ruled in favor of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, invalidating the 2011 redistricting maps. Read more about this win in the LWV press release - fair congressional district maps. The week prior, another federal district court ruled in favor of LWV Michigan by invalidating the congressional and state legislative redistricting plans in Michigan. Ultimately, both cases were egregious attempts to disenfranchise voters, but LWV is winning in court 5:1, and this is all due to the amazing work Leagues are doing across the country.

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Voters Protected Against Illegal Voter Purge in Texas

The League of Women Voters of Texas and other civil rights groups reached a settlement with Texas state officials last month to end the discriminatory purging of the state’s voter rolls. The settled lawsuit was raised in opposition to a purge effort in January that was based on a flawed list of possible non-U.S. citizens. The purge included thousands of naturalized citizens who were eligible to vote. Read press release - Texas purge ended.
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Upcoming Events