By Lucas Pinelli, Chelsea Callas and Kirk Larsen
Volunteers, Student Peace Alliance
December 2008

By unanimous vote, the city council of West Linn, Oregon, on November 10, 2008 became the 38th governing council to endorse the legislation, H.R. 808, to establish a cabinet-level Department of Peace. The resolution was proposed by high school seniors, Lucas Pinelli, Chelsea Callas and Kirk Larsen who report the process:

First we met with Ken Bryan an activist who was instrumental in passing the resolution in Portland. Ken gave us insight and provided us with advice on how to successfully approach the city council with our proposal.

Next we decided it would be important to research the bill thoroughly so that we could become familiar with the material. We read the bill in its entirety along with other helpful resources found on thepeacealliance.org. This step was important because it allowed us to feel comfortable speaking before the city council and it allowed us to answer the council member’s questions with confidence.

We then contacted West Linn mayor, Norm King along with city manager Chris Jordan. They were both extremely helpful and did not hesitate to put us on the agenda for the upcoming work session. As the work session approached, we three met frequently and discussed the logistics of the upcoming meeting. We divided the bill into three aspects so that each of us would have a specific focus. The three aspects were international, domestic and overall need/additional statistics.

We first proposed the idea to the city council at the city work session. We were not allotted a lot of time, so we each spoke briefly on the most important points. The council asked us questions about budget, possible creation of more government, details concerning the education program, etc. We were able to answer confidently because of our familiarity with the bill.

At the end of our presentation, the council members thanked us for our passion and activism and told us they were very interested and very intent on following through with the resolution. Later that week, we heard from Chris Jordan who told us he would place us on the agenda for the city council meeting on November 10, 2008.

In the month between the work session and the meeting, we raised awareness around our school by passing out flyers, talking to friends, and speaking at various clubs such as Young Advocates for Peace and Global Awareness Take Action. We wanted to make sure we got as many people as possible to show up for support.
We also spoke to a teacher who is passionate about peace related initiatives. We knew she would be enthusiastic and want to help in any way she could. She would later give the first testimony in our presentation. Our second testimony was given by another teacher who is the club advisor for Young Advocates for Peace.

On November 10 we came before the city council again, and each spoke briefly on the benefits of this resolution, both domestically and internationally. After a few words of reassurance, the city council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution. We received attention from local media and received kind letters from members of The Peace Alliance.

Overall it was a fulfilling experience and we hope to encourage neighboring cities to take action as well.