{PBJFlorida} FW: Nelson Betancourt/Request to co-sign Mayors for Peace Resolution

The U.S. Conference of Mayors will be held in Orlando from June 13-16, next week. As you know,  on February 10, 2011 the City of Orlando became one of the signatories to the Mayors for Peace initiative calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons by May 9, 2020. 

Mayors for Peace will be introducing its annual resolution during the conference and we would like Mayor Buddy Dyer to be one of the co-sponsors. There are already 12 U.S. Mayors on board as co-sponsors. I am sending the declaration separately for you to send to BPJ members. I would appreciate it very much if any of them would write to the Mayor and ask him to be a co-sponsor.

This letter is only an idea and reflects my leadership within the two groups I mention, but something similar or totally different could be submitted by anyone or you as coordinator of PBJ.  

Incidentally, we will be discussing this topic tomorrow at our Peace & Social Concerns Committee Meeting at 1:00 p.m in the Quaker Meeting House.

To abundance and peace,

Nelson 

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Nelson Betancourt <leafstormpictures@yahoo.com>
To: buddy dyer <buddy.dyer@cityoforlando.net>
Cc: frank billingsley <frank.billingsley@cityoforlando.net>; Carson Chandler <carson.chandler@cityoforlando.net>
Sent: Friday, June 8, 2012 11:34 AM
Subject: Nelson Betancourt/Request to co-sign Mayors for Peace Resolution

June 8, 2012

Dear Mayor Dyer:

I would appreciate it very much if you you become a co-sponsor of the Mayors for Peace Resolution, calling for U.S. leadership in the global elimination of nuclear weapons and redirection of nuclear weapons spending to meet the urgent needs of cities, which is being submitted at the U.S. Conference of Mayors this month in Orlando.

Ms Jackie Cabasso, North American Coordinator for North America, sent the latest draft with 12 current co-sponsors to your attention yesterday.

As host of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and supportive member of Mayors for Peace, your co-sponsorship would mean a great deal to this city and the survival of mankind. Your voice lends leadership, but rest assured that the ongoing work of making this resolution a reality will rest on serious civic involvement and commitment by people of our city and the world at large.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared last year at the U.S Conference of Mayor's signing of the resolution: "The road to peace and progress runs through the world's cities and towns". 

Board members of our non-profit organization--AWAKENING/art & culture, and members of the Peace & Social Concerns Committee of our Quaker Meeting in Orlando, are strongly committed to creating a sustainable and just community for our city and the Central Florida region. If a portion of funds that would otherwise go to developing nuclear weapons could be diverted to our city for jobs, infrastructure or economic development, your co-sponsorship would not have been done in vain. And your leadership on this matter would continue to keep the door open to the urgent resolution of the potential unimaginable nuclear destruction by accident or design. 

I ask that you protect the future of mankind with your heart by becoming a co-sponsor of the Mayors for Peace resolution.

Sincerely,

Nelson Betancourt

Executive Director

AWAKENING/art & culture

"Dedicated to artistry, heritage, imagination and the public interest"