Coffee Party Brewing in the Empire State

In less than two months, the Coffee Party movement has grown to over 100,000 members nationwide. And in three days, National Coffee House Day will officially kick off the movement to reform our political culture in all fifty states.

New York is playing its part in about a dozen fledgling organizations that will meet in the afternoon of Saturday, March 13, 2010. From Downstate to Upstate, the Empire State is set to become one of the hot spots of the movement to cool down the rhetoric so we can once again speak to our common goals as Americans.

I organized the Albany County Coffee Party to make sure Albany itself wasn't left out; within a matter of days, one for the city of Albany sprouted up as well.

But this movement is about more than just one blogger, or one city. A complete list of all the New York Coffee Parties are linked to below the fold. And since this movement is bigger than just one state as well, then if you've just heard of the Coffee Party Movement or are not really sure what we'll be doing on Saturday or what we're about, the video directly below makes it clear and simple:



Looks like fun, huh? Click "There's more" to see if there's a New York Coffee Party organizing in your neck of the woods.

(Cross-posted on the front-page of The Albany Project and to the diaries on  Daily Kos.)

The Coffee Party is currently in start-up phase as a truly bottom-up grassroots, non-partisan, non-affilliated movement. It's an organization that seeks to be more than the sum of its parts by the time the Kickoff Coffee Houses are done with and the March 27 (or earlier!)follow-up meetings are planned in even more locations.


So while there isn't a statewide New York Coffee Party yet, part of the goal is to go super-local as well as super-national. Part of what we'll talk about at all the Coffee Parties linked to below will be how we get more conversations started in smaller towns and neighborhoods as well as how to link them up into multi-town-county-and-state levels of organization.

This is how we will later be able to take the common ground we discover on Saturday in our own favorite coffee houses directly to Congress to talk some common sense into our representatives in preparation for a Coffee With Congress from March 27 to April 11.

But here's where you, fellow New Yorker, can join us on the ground floor this very weekend on Saturday, March 13th, and in the days to come:

NEW YORK STATE COFFEE PARTY NATIONAL KICKOFF

All Coffee Parties to take place Saturday, March 13th, 2010 unless otherwise specified.

NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN AREA

Coffee Party near Times Square at Le Monde Gourmet Deli, 38 West 48th St., Manhattan at 12 Noon. Questions? CoffeePartyNYC@11372.info -or- 617-421-0100.

Coffee Party in Union Square at 7:30 PM Tuesday, March 16 at Food Depot, 138 5th Ave at 19th St., upstairs in seating area.

Coffee Party in SoHo at the Bleeker Bar next to NoHo Star at 333 Lafayette Street at 12 Noon.

Coffee Party in Forest Hills, Queens at Manor Oktoberfest, 7311 Yellowstone Blvd., Forest Hills, NY, at 12 Noon.

Coffee Party in Mineola at Mo'joe, 95 Mineola Boulevard at 12 Noon.

Coffee Party in Westeshter County at 191 North Highland Avenue, Ossining, at 2:00 PM.

THE HUDSON VALLEY & CAPITAL REGION

Coffee Party in Albany County at Uncommon Grounds, 1235 Western Avenue, Albany at 2:00 PM.

Coffee Party in Downtown Albany at the Starbucks, 10 North Pearl Street at 12 Noon.

Coffee Party in Red Hook at Taste Budd's on 40 West Market Street at 9:00 AM.

Fair Trade Coffee in Poughkeepsie at Woman's Work, 2600 South Road at 12 Noon.

Coffee Party in the Hudson Valley at the Crafted Kup, 44 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie at 10:00 AM.

CENTRAL AND WESTERN NEW YORK AREA

Coffee Party in Rochester at the Bagel Bin Cafe, 2600 Elmwood Avenue at 12 Noon.

Coffee Party in Amherst on Friday, March 12 at 6:00 PM at Tim Hortons, 3394 Sheridan Drive.

Coffee Party in Jamestown at 2:00 PM at Labyrinth Press Company, 12 East 4th Street.

Coffee Party of Northen Chautauqua County at Central Station Restaurant at 332 Central Avenue, Dunkirk at 10 AM.

The events above are just a handful of the over 250 Coffee Parties that will be taking place across the country. So if you're of the Jersey or Connecticut part of the Tri-State Area, or if you're a Green Mountain Boy, you can just head to Coffee Party USA to find out where these are going on closets to you. There you can join the thousands of ordinary Americans taking the first step to stop being fed up with politics and take charge of our government.

All this from one Facebook comment in January. This is democracy in action.

See you there!