Safeway Shareholder Meeting - Thursday, May 16th

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

As many of you are aware, Safeway is holding its annual shareholder meeting

on Thursday, May 16th (one week from today) at the San Ramon Marriott Hotel

(2600 Bishop Drive, San Ramon, CA).

 

We are planning a PHENOMENAL presence outside the hotel. Everything we do

will be legal, interesting, powerful, and fun. We're asking people to arrive

at the site at 12:15 pm SHARP. We will maintain our presence until 1:30 pm,

at which time people are welcome to go. Some of us will stay through the

meeting, which is expected to last one to two hours tops (the meeting itself

begins at 1:30 pm - we need to begin at 12:15 so that all the shareholders &

media attending the meeting can see & hear our message as they go in). There

is a Whole Foods in the adjacent strip mall so any folks who choose to stay

longer will not want for food & drink. However, we are really only asking

people to stay for the 75 minutes from 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm. The additional

time is for people like me who are taking the day off and figuring that they

may as well just hang out in sunny San Ramon.

 

OUR ACTIVITIES:

 

CHEERLEADERS -- We will have a Shameway squad of male, female, and

cross-dressing cheerleaders, donning red & white skirts, white shirts, red &

white pom poms, and embroidered fake-felt lettering reading " Shameway "

across all 8 cheerleaders. Kelle Kacmarcik is a Goddess Supreme. I saw the

first of her 8 skirts last week - WOW! They're amazing - Kelle's thought of

everything: design, cut, velcro-enclosure to have a one-size-fits-all.

They're beautiful. The pom poms are fun, the font for the lettering is

perfect. We have our eight cheerleaders: Kelle K., Rebecca J., Lori P.,

Melody O., Rose B., Gabe P., Nora K., and either Roy W. or Pam W. Jay R.

very kindly offered to be a " backup " cheerleader. If anyone else is gripped

with a burning desire to join in the cheerleading fun, please wear black

slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt. We'll have pom poms for you. A

MILLION AND SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND THANKS TO THE PHENOMENAL KELLE FOR

DONATING HER RESOURCES, TALENT, AND TIME TO MAKING ALL OF THIS HAPPEN. THE

CHEERLEADERS WERE MY IDEA, BUT THE REALIZATION OF THIS MADE-FOR-MEDIA PIECE

IS ENTIRELY KELLE. Gimme a K! K! Gimme an E! E! ...

 

ANIMAL MASCOTS -- We already have a cow costume from PETA, and will be

getting (I'm fairly certain) a pig costume and a chicken costume as well. We

would like to have the animal mascots posing with the cheerleaders for all

the photographs so that the message is very clear that Safeway needs to be

ashamed of its treatment of animals. To make this happen, we need volunteers

to wear these costumes. I've worn some of these costumes in the past, and

they tend to be a little warm. But, it's still a lot of fun.

 

LARGE BANNERS -- I'm a little unclear on whether we'll have one or two

banners, but we will have at least one. We need volunteers to hold the

banner(s) so that when shareholders/media enter the driveway to go to the

hotel, it's absolutely clear why we are there.

 

SIGNS -- We need people to hold our signs (reading, " Safeway Means Animal

Abuse " ).

 

PRESENCE INSIDE THE MEETING -- Three activists (Bruce Friedrich of PETA and

two local activists, Davy Davidson and Simone Spearman) will be voicing the

animals' case *inside* the meeting hall through the power of proxy.

 

PRESENCE OUTSIDE THE MEETING -- To reiterate, our presence on the sidewalk

adjacent to the Marriott will be legal. With the cheerleaders, animals,

banners, signs, and fun cheers, we're hoping to cultivate a carnival-like

atmosphere that is fun and upbeat, positive and warm.

 

LOGISTICS -- The big issue is transportation. We need to organize carpools

and a shuttle to/from the BART station (the award-winning Dublin/Pleasanton

BART station is closest, at 7.65 miles from the hotel, an 11-minute drive

according to mapquest).

 

** SHUTTLE FROM DUBLIN/PLEASANTON BART STATION TO MARRIOTT HOTEL: There is,

presently, a shuttle operated by County Connection Public Transit to the

Marriott. In fact, one shuttle will drop passengers off at the Marriott at

exactly 12:15 pm. Talk about synchronicity! Unfortunately, that shuttle

takes the scenic route (it really *is* scenic, if you can ignore the

suburban tracts and focus on the lush green hills). The particular shuttle

(# 970 B - San Ramon Commuter Express from Bollinger Canyon Road) that

arrives at the Marriott at 12:15, leaves the BART station at 11:41 am. Not

great, but not bad. It would be great if someone (preferably with a van?)

could volunteer to shuttle people from the BART station to the Marriott.

Depending on how many people want to use this service, we could restrict

this to a single pick up time (say, 11:50 am) and keep it at that. Any

volunteers? Thanks so much.

 

** CARPOOLS FROM VARIOUS LOCALES: If you will be driving to the Marriott and

can accommodate more people in your vehicle, please let me know. If you

would like to hitch a ride with a carpooling volunteer, please let me know.

Also, kindly indicate where you live and if you are willing to drive, how

far out of your way you're willing to drive to pick up passengers. BEST OF

ALL, if you would like to volunteer to coordinate carpools, please let me

know. Thanks muchly.

 

I've likely forgotten a million other points, but true to form, this email

is already too long. Please be assured that annual shareholder meetings are

becoming the preferred activist tool to advance progressive positions across

the board. The shareholder meeting is our chance to let the CEO and

decision-making executives at Safeway know that we do not appreciate their

complicity in the brutal abuse of voiceless and defenseless animals. We can

accelerate the pace at which Safeway corporation embraces the ethically

appropriate decision by coming out in force and making our position very

clear. Please, please, please do consider taking the time next Thursday to

make the trip to San Ramon. 75 minutes from your day will make an enormous

difference in bettering the living and dying conditions of farmed animals

sooner rather than later.

 

Thanks so much for all that you're doing to make the world a more

compassionate place. Thanks to all the amazing volunteers who have given so

much of themselves to bring this together. I'm very psyched about our

presence at the shareholder meeting next week, and look forward to seeing

many of you there.

 

If you have any questions in connection with any of this, please feel free

to call me at home or at work.

 

In solidarity and with kindest regards,

Alka

home: 415 337 0663

work: 650 849 4330