Current Projects

Combatting Systemic Racism in Steuben County

We are working to combat Systemic Racism in Steuben County. We are shocked by the ACLU Marijuana Arrest Report showing that Steuben County ranked number one in NYS for the greatest racial disparity in marijuana arrests. Black people were 19.1 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people in Steuben County. See https://graphics.aclu.org/marijuana-arrest-report/NY. For more information, visit our Racial Disparities in the Steuben County Criminal Justice System page.

Community Control of the Police

We are working to participate in the police reform process being conducted by Steuben County and the City of Corning. See Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative. Our efforts build on our long-standing support for police reform. In 2016 the Steuben County Green Party voted to endorse the Community Control Platform adopted by the Black Lives Matter movement. The platform calls for direct democratic community control of local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Click here for the SCGP resolution. Click here for an essay, "Who Polices the Police," by Terry Gerych, a Green Party member from Bath.

Promoting Participatory Budgeting

We are working to promote participatory budgeting in the City of Corning. Click here to download and sign a petition calling for the City to set up a participatory budgeting process. A second, related petition, which grows out of our work on the budgeting referendum, is for a referendum to add a formal referendum process to the City Charter. Click here to download and sign the referendum process petition. The petition have been developed by Darin Robbins, a Green Party member from Corning. Return completed petitions to Darin, 78 Sterling Street, Corning, NY 14830. Click here for more information about participatory budgeting and how it relates to police reform.

Supporting Green Party Candidates in 2020

The Steuben Greens are working to support the presidential campaign of Green Party candidates Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker and the eleven Green Party candidates running in New York State for Congress, State Senate and State Assembly. For info, visit http://www.gpny.org/2020_candidates .

Challenging New York's Restrictive Ballot Access Rules

The Green Party of New York and the Libertarian Party of New York filed a Federal lawsuit on July 27, 2020 in the Southern District of New York to invalidate restrictive ballot access provisions passed as a rider to the FY2021 New York State Budget. Read GPNY press release. "Whatever justification they may use for it, the choice by Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature to create new and onerous ballot-access thresholds this year is clearly designed to eliminate any threat of competition, preserve the state's anemic and uncompetitive electoral system, and satisfy their corporate paymasters. The Green Party stands with all other affected political parties, as well as the voters of New York State, who deserve a robust and expansive democracy," said Peter LaVenia, co-chair of the GPNY. The Steuben Greens are supporting this effort.

Protecting Local Water Bodies

We are working to protect local water bodies. Five members of the Steuben Greens are participating in the NY Water Sentinels program, monitoring local streams and rivers.

Promoting Small Local Solar and Wind Projects

We work to promote small, locally-owned clean energy projects and stop the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Working for a Ban on Fracking Wastes in NY Landfils

We are working for a ban on fracking wastes being spread on New York roads or being deposited in New York landfills because of our concerns about hazardous chemicals and radioactivity going into our air, soil and water.

Supporting the Ban GMOs Movement

The Green Party of Steuben County joined other local groups in sponsoring a March and Rally against Monsanto in Corning on May 21. We marched along Denison Parkway and rallied in Canfield Park. The event was part of the worldwide March against Monsanto events on May 21. Click here for an excellent video of the Corning march and rally by Heriberto Rodriguez.

Adopting a Steuben County Green Party Platform

On June 18, 2018 we adopted a platform proposing ways in which we can achieve greater democracy in Steuben County . Click here to check out our platform.

Supporting the Occupy Movement

The Steuben County Green Party supports and stands in solidarity with the Occupy movement, that began with Occupy Wall Street on September 17th and has grown to hundreds of cities across the United States and 950 cities across the globe. The Green Party is based on principles such as grassroots democracy, community economics, and decentralization of power. We find a congruence of the principles with the Occupy movement.

Gigantic income inequality, the inordinate power of corporations on our democratic process, and calls for austerity that push more people into poverty with less economic rights reveal that the status quo is untenable. What is also vital to this movement is the internal democratic process practiced by the General Assemblies. This process offers a new political model for our society as well as developing a method for the movement to articulate its grievances, demands, and solutions. This is in marked contrast to the Tea Party that has been consistently backed by corporate funding and supplied with a prefabricated agenda and talking points from such corporate organizations as Americans for Prosperity. The range of concerns of Occupy supporters is shown by the posting on the tumblr, We Are the 99%.

The internal democratic process of the various occupations is coupled with the formation of food distribution systems, medical services, and libraries at each protest site, further showing that this is something quite new in the political and economic landscape. With its many unique characteristics, the movement also does have historical precedents such as the Bonus Army of the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement of the early 1960's, and the worldwide protests during the Spring of 1968.

The Green Party is the only existing political party that is able to fully comprehend the political and economic context that has resulted in such harsh conditions for our fellow citizens. What the movement has been driving home through nonviolent civil actions, the Green Party has been talking about for decades. As the Occupy movement has grown and garnered more media attention, there has already been inclinations for it to be coopted by the two-party system, but the movement is structured in such a way as to avoid this weakening. The Green Party has been the only political party that has shown actual support through actions rather than mere talk, and we hope that through prolonged cooperation the members of the movement will see that the Green Party and the Occupy movement are naturally aligned not by political gain but by a vision for a better future.

Working for Demilitarization and Peace

In 2009, the Steuben Greens and the Hornell Alfred Unitarian Universalist Society sponsored a presentation in Hornell by Dr. Ismail Mehr about his recent humanitarian mission to Gaza. Dr. Mehr led a team of 9 physicians and 2 non-medical personnel on a ten day medical mission to Gaza in February 2009. Dr. Mehr is an anesthesiologist at St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell. The trip was sponsored by the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

Building Local Economies

On May 29, 2008, the Steuben Greens held a panel discussion on grassroots strategies for building Bath’s local economy. The Steuben Greens have been active in the Bath NY Group, which is working to build Bath's local economy. The group believes that many small local businesses will provide a much healthier long-term economy for the area than chain stores and big box stores. Steuben Green member Darin Robbins is the author of our flyer on How to Build a Local Economy.

Creating a Locally-Grown Food Network

The Steuben Greens initiated the formation of Farm to You, a network of consumers, farmers, food producers and food markets whose mission is to build markets for local grown food in Steuben County and the surrounding Southern Tier area. For information about our goals in setting up this project, click here for the CSA proposal prepared by Lisa Chacon. We are now promoting the program through the Friends of Steuben County Farmers Facebook page.

Supporting State and National Green Party Candidates

Members of the Steuben County Green Party are working for Jill Stein's campaign for President of the United State

Working to Promote IRV and Proportional Representation

The Steuben Greens are working to support the adoption of IRV and proportional voting in local elections. Darin Robbins is working to get the Corning City Coucil to conduct a nonbinding referendum to ascertain voter support for these voting methods.

Opposition to Electronic Voting

Members of the Steuben Greens are working on issues relating to the use of electronic voting machines by Steuben County and elsewhere in New York State.

Editorial Campaign

The Steuben Greens have a campaign to write letters to the editor on a regular basis. In this way, we keep the Green Party and our values in the public discourse. At election time, we write letters in support of our Green candidates.

Living Wage Campaign

Members of the Steuben Greens are working for the adoption of a living wage ordinance in Corning.

Peace and Justice Issues

The Steuben Greens work on peace events through our local, which is a member of the Finger Lakes Peace Coalition, and through other local peace groups, including the Bath Peace and Justice Group, the Corning Peaceful Gatherings Group and the Elmira Peace Studies group. We have organized programs, local demonstrations and local participation at demonstrations in New York City and Washington, DC.

Medical Marijuana

On April 2, 2004, the Steuben Greens sponsored a community forum on medical marijuana. Dr. Jennifer Daniels, from Syracuse, spoke on the medical properties of marijuana, their efficacy compared to legal drugs, and a current bill to legalize medical marijuana in New York .

Bill of Rights Defense Resolutions

Members of the Steuben Greens helped get a Bill of Rights Defense resolution passed in the Town of Urbana, and are working on resolutions in the Town of Bath, the City of Corning, and the Steuben County Legislature.

Steuben County Green Party Bylaws

In November 2004 we formed a county Green Party organization in accordance with the state Green Party bylaws to facilitate our participation in the state platform process. Click here to review our bylaws.

Green Party of New York State Platform

The Steuben Greens have submitted a number of suggested planks to the Green Party of New York for inclusion in the state Green Party platform. A 2006 state platform was approved at the May 20, 2006 meeting of the Green Party of New York state committee.

Supporting the Green Party of New York State

We work to support the state Green Party. Five of our members are supporting members of the state party. Darin Robbins is our state committee representative, and has been elected to serve on the state party executive committee.

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