Harmony Groves - Green City Council Member
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As an ardent advocate for cyclists, she has established excellent infrastructure for the greener transport, and promoted Arcata, CA “as a destination of eco-friendly bike tourism”. Also, as the youngest councilmember in a college town, she is proud to have “have spoken from a renter’s perspective to hold landlords accountable”.
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She praises Democratic policies on trade unions, and she goes so far as to say that “I believe in some of the Republican Party’s tenets.” She is referring to fiscal responsibility which is hardly left-wing, even though it has largely been abandoned by the Republicans under Bush.
Groves open-mindedness to other party’s political ideas is rooted in her belief in a democratic process and electoral politics. She thinks that no Green policy can be realistic and sustainable without support from people of different political backgrounds and beliefs. “We [Greens] need to be a part of larger discussions to find common goals and values we can agree on [with people who have different political ideologies], which are often broader and deeper than our disagreements”, she says.
She argues for the Green Party’s vital need to present ourselves as “a professional, creative and positive political voice” and “a credible, professional alternative”, not only as a pure and idealistic force. She emphatically appeals that we need to focus on the common values we share and work together for our common goals, if we are to succeed.
Some might disagree with her political styles and approaches. However, what is certain are that her voice is valuable to the green discourse and Green politics, and that her ideas merit consideration and discussion, both within and outside of the Green Party.
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