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Dear People of Asgardia
Electoral region of Milan, Italy:

Hi everyone.

Thanks for listening to my official campaign kickoff. Thanks to the Nation of Asgardia for having me run as Mayor – such an honor. And thanks to the campaign committee, and the hundreds of other supporters with shoulders to the wheel to win this race. I want especially to thank my long-time boyfriend and life-partner Gabriele. We’ve had an amazing ride together and I certainly look forward to this next chapter together. I’m Eloisa Marchesoni, born in Urbana-Champaign, IL, U.S.A. and raised in Italy, first in Perugia and then in Milan, where I now study and operate, thus giving me the blessing of having dual citizenship, and I want to be your Mayor. I’m running for Mayor because Asgardia at this critical time needs a proven leader with unquestioned progressive values and a progressive vision for the future. I’m running for Mayor so that a generation from now, citizens will be glad we made the decisions we’re going to make in the next years. We know Asgardia will be the future for all of us, the best place to live in. I was one of the first people to acquire an Asgardian citizenship and to meet the CEO of Asgardia in person. We have discussed the progressive Asgardian way of life and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else in the near future. As Mayor I will protect our cherished public spaces, protecting them from destructive development or loss. And I will nourish our creative, innovative, diverse culture – supporting the arts and festivals and diversity and our beloved quirkiness – making sure Asagrdia stays true to its core values. Here on Earth, our proud progressive tradition has already grown and nurtured invaluable resources over the years, but we can now export that to Space and develop these features much faster. We cannot take for granted the Asgardia of today will be there for the next generation and the generation after that. It is far from automatic. As great as it is, we have some real work to do. We need to continue to be the leading progressive Nation and we need to find solutions to the problems that we are living here on Earth, in order not to have to face them again in Asgardia. And that’s where our next Mayor comes in.

Like many cities across Italy, we’ve lost lots of good-paying jobs from our community. Too many families now depend on part-time jobs because they can’t get good jobs. Too many talented young people who would like to make Milan their home are forced to leave. As Mayor of Asgardia for the electoral region of Milan, I’ll lead a full-court press to use the technological and futuristic strengths of Asgardia to attract sustainable jobs as well as help local businesses develop and grow. I will bring innovative approaches to economic development that have rejuvenated cities around the country ( https://www.wired.com/2015/09/design-issue-future-of-cities/ ): Creating a community-controlled broadband infrastructure that provides affordable high- speed internet to businesses and consumers alike. We’ll support a culture of innovation by creating a downtown facility for shared work space in the emerging Tech Park. We’ll support good-paying emerging businesses with city-backed financing. And, I will press for more active collaboration with universities and tech research centers. These are steps we can take immediately to attract, and grow, and start up sustainable businesses and the good jobs that come with them. As we work to make Asgardia a great place to earn a living, we need to ensure it’s a great place to live for everyone. As your progressive Mayor, I will work actively to address income inequality and make housing truly affordable. I will use proven strategies such as inclusionary zoning to require affordable set-asides, and long-term affordability to preserve our public investment for generations to come. And I’ll support a Seniority Homes project, so that inspiring elderly neighbors can get back on their feet. We need to assure that Asgardia is a place where people of all income, backgrounds, approaches to life, can live. It’s the right thing to do, and it also protects our diversity and innovative culture. And I will protect our community from unbridled, ugly development that diminishes rather than enhances our great physical spaces. As your progressive Mayor, I will work tirelessly to protect public education. I will be a loud and proud advocate for our teachers and our great public schools. We live in a state that is leading the world in attacks on public education. I will fight against any agenda that  seeks to privatize and denigrate our public schools. As Mayor, I’ll attend rallies, too. I’ll stand with our dedicated teachers and administrators, and great parents working together to ensure that very child, no matter their income or educational background, has the opportunity to learn. From the Mayor’s office I will work closely, and regularly, with the public school system in every way I can to help make Asgardia’s public school system a model of urban success.

Last but not least, as your Mayor, I want to throw open the doors in the Asgardian hall, literally and figuratively. You’ll see me in hall meetings, and neighborhood gatherings, and riding with police officers, and firefighters, and sanitation workers. This will be a participatory national hall with open doors. I want you to know how long it takes to fill a pothole in Asgardia, and where the parking meter money is going. Online and in person I want everyone to know how our community is doing. We’ll track how we are conserving energy. I want everyone to know that we will have zero tolerance for any bad apples who give government a bad name by cutting corners, or hiding information, or worse, stealing taxpayers money – integrity will be the watchword. I pledge to bring a new openness and transparency to all important decisions that bear upon the quality of life of Asgardian residents. People deserve a say in how their government operates. It assures the government is accessible and accountable. And so, let me tell you why I’m confident that I’m the right choice for our next Mayor? Two words: Values, and Passion.

I am proud to have shared and lived those values for decades. I have advocated and supported efforts in my community, my country, for civil rights, and women’s rights, for LGBT rights, and labor rights, for economic justice and environmental protection. I am a Bocconi University student finishing the third and last year of the Bachelor in Economics and Management, born in the USA and raised around the world. I was blessed with the honor to be accepted for an internship at a renowned firm of chartered accountants here in Milan, which deals in particular with providing financial, legal and fiscal advice to businesses. In addition to that, I am Chief Financial Officer of a startup operating in the IT and AI industry. As a hobby, I am learning the rules of technical trading and I am an Instgram influencer, using my profile for commercial purposes. I am a member and active voluntary of FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano). Also, I am anearly applicant for Hult International Business School and I have been accepted for the Master in Itnernational Business starting in Semptember 2019, with a Global Rotation Program, which will allow me to study in London, Dubai and Shanghai. At the moment, while having just being asked to take upon myself the role of Editor in Chief and Event Organizer, in collaboration with the other members, for the Kairos Organization, I am also working with a team of young entrepreneurs in order to launch an Initial Coin Offering of cryptocurrency. This kind of experience is essential to running a major nation like Asgardia well.

This is the agenda I will energetically pursue if Asgardia voters do me the honor of electing me as your Mayor. That experience along with those values employed to preserve and enhance the future of Asgardia is why I believe I’m the right choice for Mayor. But, first things first. We have a campaign to run and a May an election to win. If you believe in progressive values and want an experienced leader, if you want creative and smart economic development that protects and advances our Asgardian way of life, if you want an economically just and accessible, affordable community, if you want exceptional public schools, if you want openness in government - then please join my campaign. You can help by spreading my words and sharing my point of view on social media. Post a sign on your profile wall. Talk to your neighbors, colleagues, family and friends. Tell them they should get active and vote for Eloisa Marchesoni.

We have an opportunity and an obligation to build on the efforts of those before us, who have worked together to give us this great, futuristic community. It’s our turn to create an Asgardia that will last long after us and ensure that future generations will live in an Asgardia even better than the one we enjoy today. It’s what we should do, and together it’s what we can do.

Thank you.

Yours truly,

Eloisa Marchesoni