2011-09-30 "Vallejo notifies medical pot dispensaries of zoning code noncompliance" by Jessica A. York from "Vallejo Times-Herald"
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19010758]
Vallejo wants all of its medical marijuana dispensaries to close down -- or be closed -- following warning letters due to be mailed this week.
The letters will notify 17 property owners that the city believes illegal activity -- the operation of a medical marijuana dispensary -- is occurring on their land in violation of city zoning laws.
"We believe bringing that to the attention of property owners may be helpful in limiting this activity," Assistant City Manager Craig Whittom said Thursday.
But even as the city is trying to shut the door on an unspecified number of existing dispensaries, plans are being crafted to hold a "stakeholder meeting" with dispensary owners, neighbors, community advocates and others to discuss regulating them. A consulting firm hired this week is due to host the meeting later this month, Whittom said.
The city is not borrowing its letter-sending campaign idea from another municipality, nor has it heard of other cities where such an approach has worked, he said.
"The fact that there is illegal activity, it exposes the property to potential civil penalties, fines and assessments," Whittom said. "(Sending letters) is kind of our approach, given the circumstances that we find ourselves in."
The letter-sending approach will be accompanied by a more careful scrutiny of business license applicants, Whittom said. "Suspicious" applications, with potential tip-offs like certain types of store layout and location, will be referred to the Vallejo Police Department for review.
There is no existing city permit that the dispensaries would fall under. As such, Whittom said past dispensary applicants have been denied not only a license for such business, but also for any alternate enterprise.
Whittom said that because there is no ordinance prohibiting their existence, the city can only react to dispensaries who fail to apply for a business license, on those grounds.
Several existing dispensaries hold some type of business license, though Whittom could not say what the favorite alternate license has been. He also did not specify whether the city plans to pursue the false license holders, saying only, "we're going to be working with our attorney's office and police department on enforcement, and that may take a number of forms."
Several local dispensary owners were not immediately available for comment on the city's plan Thursday.
Friday, September 30, 2011
2011-09-30 "Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services shuttered after 31 years of providing services; Agency offered homebuyer counseling and financial assistance" by Jessica A. York from "Vallejo Times-Herald"
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19010762]
A 31-year-old Vallejo nonprofit housing assistance agency will close its doors permanently today.
The Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services has served as a "symbiotic" partner agency to the Vallejo Housing Authority since low-incoming housing assistance needs outgrew city hall, Vallejo Housing and Community Development Manager Melinda Nestlerode said Thursday.
"They have been a very crucial partner to the city of Vallejo," Nestlerode said after the organization's closure was announced publicly. "It is with great sadness that we see this happening."
The Housing Authority determines the city's affordable housing needs, and distributes federal funding to pay entities like Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services to deliver the services, Nestlerode said.
The organization has offered a series of public services, including homebuyer and mortgage counseling, foreclosed home rehabilitation and financial assistance for home purchases and repair.
Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services' board of directors voted Sept. 21 to shutter the agency, and notified the city on Sept. 22, Nestlerode said.
The city has already begun taking steps to transfer these duties to other agencies, including Solano Napa Habitat for Humanity and the Community Housing Development Corporation of Richmond, Nestlerode said.
"We have been looking at alternate options based on our knowledge of VNHS' financial situation," Nestlerode said. "We were hoping that it would not happen, but it's not a surprise."
Nestlerode said Vallejo is the only entity providing the organization with funding, but it was not enough to pay for all of its operations.
Last summer, the Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services and its national affiliate parted ways, which temporarily severed its Housing and Urban Development certification and disqualified it from receiving federal low-income housing funds.
Then, in September 2010, the organization found a new national affiliate and signed new service contracts with the city's Housing and Community Development division.
The pending closure was announced in a press release Thursday by Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services Executive Director Carol Hardy.
Hardy was unavailable for comment following the release of her statement. Members of the organization's board of directors were also not immediately available.
[http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_19010762]
A 31-year-old Vallejo nonprofit housing assistance agency will close its doors permanently today.
The Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services has served as a "symbiotic" partner agency to the Vallejo Housing Authority since low-incoming housing assistance needs outgrew city hall, Vallejo Housing and Community Development Manager Melinda Nestlerode said Thursday.
"They have been a very crucial partner to the city of Vallejo," Nestlerode said after the organization's closure was announced publicly. "It is with great sadness that we see this happening."
The Housing Authority determines the city's affordable housing needs, and distributes federal funding to pay entities like Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services to deliver the services, Nestlerode said.
The organization has offered a series of public services, including homebuyer and mortgage counseling, foreclosed home rehabilitation and financial assistance for home purchases and repair.
Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services' board of directors voted Sept. 21 to shutter the agency, and notified the city on Sept. 22, Nestlerode said.
The city has already begun taking steps to transfer these duties to other agencies, including Solano Napa Habitat for Humanity and the Community Housing Development Corporation of Richmond, Nestlerode said.
"We have been looking at alternate options based on our knowledge of VNHS' financial situation," Nestlerode said. "We were hoping that it would not happen, but it's not a surprise."
Nestlerode said Vallejo is the only entity providing the organization with funding, but it was not enough to pay for all of its operations.
Last summer, the Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services and its national affiliate parted ways, which temporarily severed its Housing and Urban Development certification and disqualified it from receiving federal low-income housing funds.
Then, in September 2010, the organization found a new national affiliate and signed new service contracts with the city's Housing and Community Development division.
The pending closure was announced in a press release Thursday by Vallejo Neighborhood Housing Services Executive Director Carol Hardy.
Hardy was unavailable for comment following the release of her statement. Members of the organization's board of directors were also not immediately available.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Community Fascism in San Francisco
2011-09-29 "Lawyers with SF contracts big donors to Herrera; Candidate for S.F. mayor might have violated law" by John Coté from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-09-29/news/30227946_1]
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who is running for mayor on a platform that touts his independence from powerful interests, has received more than $45,000 in campaign contributions since 2009 from attorneys at law firms that combined have received millions of dollars in city contracts from his office, a review of campaign finance records shows.
One of the donations appears to violate a city law barring contractors with deals worth at least $50,000 from donating to officials who approve those contracts. A new round of campaign finance reports will be filed today.
There are also at least six instances in Herrera's last two campaigns where multiple attorneys contributed to him within a few months of their firm receiving a contract worth more than $50,000 from his office, an analysis of campaign finance documents show. Lawyers are among the most active political donors nationally, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Any overlap between Herrera's donors and contractors is coincidental, his camp maintains.
"It's to support good candidates," Herrera spokesman Matt Dorsey said. "It's not to get city contracts."
'Protecting integrity' -
Herrera said the contracts were awarded on merit and no donations affected decisions made by his office.
"I've made sure I fought to protect the public interest and the integrity of city government," he said.
Five of six law firms scrutinized for their contracts and employee donations also had contracts under his predecessor, and one has ties to the city that go back decades.
The city's contractor ban, which voters overwhelmingly approved in 2000, is designed to prevent pay-to-play politics, where people contribute to candidates to get lucrative city contracts. It applies from the start of contract negotiations until six months after the contract is approved.
Herrera acknowledged that a $500 contribution, the maximum possible under city law, to his 2009 city attorney re-election campaign from Joseph Saveri, a member of the board of directors at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, appears to have been improper.
The contribution came in October 2009, less than six months after Herrera's office formally approved a $226,250 city contract with that law firm and another to pay the firms for representing the city on a contingency basis in pursuing price-fixing claims against a Muni vendor starting in 2003, city documents show.
The contract came after a court ordered payment of the $226,250, but Herrera said "the Saveri contribution may have been one that fell through the cracks." His campaign account "will reimburse the check as required by law," he said.
James Quadra, at the time a partner with at least a 20 percent stake in the other law firm that was part of that contract, Moscone, Emblidge & Quadra, also donated the $500 maximum to Herrera just two days before the contract was approved in June 2009, city records show. Herrera, though, said there was no violation of the contractor ban because the agreement had been signed in 2003.
Pattern among donors -
The other donations to Herrera from attorneys whose firms have city contracts don't appear to be violations of the city's contractor ban, which only applies to select executives, like members of the board of directors and those with ownership stakes of 20 percent or more.
Of the donors from firms that received contracts, the vast majority aren't top executives, though some are partners whose compensation is traditionally tied to their firm's performance.
Within six months of the June 2010 formal approval of a $500,000 contract from Herrera's office to the law firm Hanson Bridgett to assist with complex construction litigation cases against the city, 23 attorneys there donated a combined $6,950 to Herrera's campaign, including seven giving the $500 maximum, records show.
Andrew Giacomini, managing partner at the firm, said the donations were unrelated to the contract.
"It's kind of a common thing in the San Francisco legal community to be interested in the city attorney's race. It doesn't surprise me at all that multiple people continued to support Dennis' mayoral campaign," said Giacomini, who backs Herrera but was barred under the contractor ban from donating to his campaign. "We were hired for that project because we had unique qualifications in construction litigation."
[http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-09-29/news/30227946_1]
San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who is running for mayor on a platform that touts his independence from powerful interests, has received more than $45,000 in campaign contributions since 2009 from attorneys at law firms that combined have received millions of dollars in city contracts from his office, a review of campaign finance records shows.
One of the donations appears to violate a city law barring contractors with deals worth at least $50,000 from donating to officials who approve those contracts. A new round of campaign finance reports will be filed today.
There are also at least six instances in Herrera's last two campaigns where multiple attorneys contributed to him within a few months of their firm receiving a contract worth more than $50,000 from his office, an analysis of campaign finance documents show. Lawyers are among the most active political donors nationally, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Any overlap between Herrera's donors and contractors is coincidental, his camp maintains.
"It's to support good candidates," Herrera spokesman Matt Dorsey said. "It's not to get city contracts."
'Protecting integrity' -
Herrera said the contracts were awarded on merit and no donations affected decisions made by his office.
"I've made sure I fought to protect the public interest and the integrity of city government," he said.
Five of six law firms scrutinized for their contracts and employee donations also had contracts under his predecessor, and one has ties to the city that go back decades.
The city's contractor ban, which voters overwhelmingly approved in 2000, is designed to prevent pay-to-play politics, where people contribute to candidates to get lucrative city contracts. It applies from the start of contract negotiations until six months after the contract is approved.
Herrera acknowledged that a $500 contribution, the maximum possible under city law, to his 2009 city attorney re-election campaign from Joseph Saveri, a member of the board of directors at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, appears to have been improper.
The contribution came in October 2009, less than six months after Herrera's office formally approved a $226,250 city contract with that law firm and another to pay the firms for representing the city on a contingency basis in pursuing price-fixing claims against a Muni vendor starting in 2003, city documents show.
The contract came after a court ordered payment of the $226,250, but Herrera said "the Saveri contribution may have been one that fell through the cracks." His campaign account "will reimburse the check as required by law," he said.
James Quadra, at the time a partner with at least a 20 percent stake in the other law firm that was part of that contract, Moscone, Emblidge & Quadra, also donated the $500 maximum to Herrera just two days before the contract was approved in June 2009, city records show. Herrera, though, said there was no violation of the contractor ban because the agreement had been signed in 2003.
Pattern among donors -
The other donations to Herrera from attorneys whose firms have city contracts don't appear to be violations of the city's contractor ban, which only applies to select executives, like members of the board of directors and those with ownership stakes of 20 percent or more.
Of the donors from firms that received contracts, the vast majority aren't top executives, though some are partners whose compensation is traditionally tied to their firm's performance.
Within six months of the June 2010 formal approval of a $500,000 contract from Herrera's office to the law firm Hanson Bridgett to assist with complex construction litigation cases against the city, 23 attorneys there donated a combined $6,950 to Herrera's campaign, including seven giving the $500 maximum, records show.
Andrew Giacomini, managing partner at the firm, said the donations were unrelated to the contract.
"It's kind of a common thing in the San Francisco legal community to be interested in the city attorney's race. It doesn't surprise me at all that multiple people continued to support Dennis' mayoral campaign," said Giacomini, who backs Herrera but was barred under the contractor ban from donating to his campaign. "We were hired for that project because we had unique qualifications in construction litigation."
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
2011-09-28 "Taking Up the Slack: Paul and Leilani Slack provide opportunities for Napa's underground" by Gabe Meline from "Northbay Bohemian" newspaper
[http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/09.28.11/boho-awards-slack-1139.html]
Bloom Creative Hair Design shares a block in downtown Napa with the Napa Valley Opera House and Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio, but one step inside and a visitor knows that Bloom is no ordinary wine country destination. A current exhibit of tattoo and tattoo-inspired art hangs on the walls; at night, underground bands might play among the styling stations.
Across the street, at Bloom salon, even rawer, more political art adorns the space. Through a back hallway is Slack Collective Studios, where 13 different artists rent studio space for just $150 a month, and where canvases, silkscreen equipment, custom shoes, zines and sculptures pack every square foot. Stapled high on a loft is a T-shirt that says it all: "Shut Up and Make Something."
It feels a million miles away from the Napa of wine country weekends and tourist magazines, and that's just the way Paul and Leilani Slack like it. With their downtown endeavors, along with underground events held outside of town at their Slack Ranch, the Slacks are changing the status quo in Napa in the best possible way—not by complaining, or fighting, but by shutting up and making something. A lot of things, in fact.
Throw their upcoming InDIYpendent Culture Fair into the mix, and the jury has reached a consensus: it's time to give these people a Boho Award.
"When I moved to Napa, it wasn't a very solid artistic community, where people are really into what each other are doing, and making something bigger out of the individual perspective into something collective," says Paul. "That's a goal of mine, where people can come together."
Come together they have, and often under the umbrella of some Slack-related project or in a Slack-related venue. Both Paul and Leilani cite the formation of the group Wandering Rose several years ago as an inspiration to keep opening doors for the younger generation; as Paul says, "it was really exciting for me to see some young people, for the first time in the whole 17 years I've lived here, to see those young people stepping up and taking initiative to get things happening."
Leilani herself knows what little opportunities for teenagers exist in a city geared specifically for those over 21, having spent her formative teen years in Napa. "If you wanted to do anything, you had to go out of town," she says. "I'm surprised more people didn't get into drugs and become alcoholics, because that's all there was to do for kids in Napa back then."
Paul, a bassist in the band Planets, moved to Napa from Sacramento to live on land that's been in the family since the 1860s. ("It's three acres that are left out of literally hundreds of acres of property," he says of the homestead, "99 percent of it is all vineyards now.") That same night, upon arrival, he held a show at the ranch, walking through downtown Napa beforehand and inviting strangers to see live music.
Last year, the Slacks decided to take the reins of the InDIYpendent Culture Fair, a day-long event in a warehouse with live painting, bike repair workshops, craft workshops, belly dancers, fire spinners, baby goats and a taco truck. This year, the InDIYpendent Culture Fair on Oct. 1 will be held on the 950 block of Pearl Street, near the Slack Collective Studios, with the street closed to traffic. So far, interest has been massive.
"I was thinking I would have to go to these businesses on the block and explain the whole theory of DIY, and the punk ethic, but they were already in—just like that," Paul says. "It's amazing. I think that everybody has some sort of that ethic in them." With their continued support of emerging artists and their open-door policy to nearly anyone wanting to use their performance spaces, Paul and Leilani Slack are improving their city not simply by making the best of Napa, but as Paul pointedly says, "building the best of it." Here's hoping their construction is ongoing.
[http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/09.28.11/boho-awards-slack-1139.html]
Bloom Creative Hair Design shares a block in downtown Napa with the Napa Valley Opera House and Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio, but one step inside and a visitor knows that Bloom is no ordinary wine country destination. A current exhibit of tattoo and tattoo-inspired art hangs on the walls; at night, underground bands might play among the styling stations.
Across the street, at Bloom salon, even rawer, more political art adorns the space. Through a back hallway is Slack Collective Studios, where 13 different artists rent studio space for just $150 a month, and where canvases, silkscreen equipment, custom shoes, zines and sculptures pack every square foot. Stapled high on a loft is a T-shirt that says it all: "Shut Up and Make Something."
It feels a million miles away from the Napa of wine country weekends and tourist magazines, and that's just the way Paul and Leilani Slack like it. With their downtown endeavors, along with underground events held outside of town at their Slack Ranch, the Slacks are changing the status quo in Napa in the best possible way—not by complaining, or fighting, but by shutting up and making something. A lot of things, in fact.
Throw their upcoming InDIYpendent Culture Fair into the mix, and the jury has reached a consensus: it's time to give these people a Boho Award.
"When I moved to Napa, it wasn't a very solid artistic community, where people are really into what each other are doing, and making something bigger out of the individual perspective into something collective," says Paul. "That's a goal of mine, where people can come together."
Come together they have, and often under the umbrella of some Slack-related project or in a Slack-related venue. Both Paul and Leilani cite the formation of the group Wandering Rose several years ago as an inspiration to keep opening doors for the younger generation; as Paul says, "it was really exciting for me to see some young people, for the first time in the whole 17 years I've lived here, to see those young people stepping up and taking initiative to get things happening."
Leilani herself knows what little opportunities for teenagers exist in a city geared specifically for those over 21, having spent her formative teen years in Napa. "If you wanted to do anything, you had to go out of town," she says. "I'm surprised more people didn't get into drugs and become alcoholics, because that's all there was to do for kids in Napa back then."
Paul, a bassist in the band Planets, moved to Napa from Sacramento to live on land that's been in the family since the 1860s. ("It's three acres that are left out of literally hundreds of acres of property," he says of the homestead, "99 percent of it is all vineyards now.") That same night, upon arrival, he held a show at the ranch, walking through downtown Napa beforehand and inviting strangers to see live music.
Last year, the Slacks decided to take the reins of the InDIYpendent Culture Fair, a day-long event in a warehouse with live painting, bike repair workshops, craft workshops, belly dancers, fire spinners, baby goats and a taco truck. This year, the InDIYpendent Culture Fair on Oct. 1 will be held on the 950 block of Pearl Street, near the Slack Collective Studios, with the street closed to traffic. So far, interest has been massive.
"I was thinking I would have to go to these businesses on the block and explain the whole theory of DIY, and the punk ethic, but they were already in—just like that," Paul says. "It's amazing. I think that everybody has some sort of that ethic in them." With their continued support of emerging artists and their open-door policy to nearly anyone wanting to use their performance spaces, Paul and Leilani Slack are improving their city not simply by making the best of Napa, but as Paul pointedly says, "building the best of it." Here's hoping their construction is ongoing.
2011-09-28 "Taking Up the Slack: Paul and Leilani Slack provide opportunities for Napa's underground"
by Gabe Meline from "Northbay Bohemian" newspaper [http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/09.28.11/boho-awards-slack-1139.html]
Bloom Creative Hair Design shares a block in downtown Napa with the Napa Valley Opera House and Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio, but one step inside and a visitor knows that Bloom is no ordinary wine country destination. A current exhibit of tattoo and tattoo-inspired art hangs on the walls; at night, underground bands might play among the styling stations.
Across the street, at Bloom salon, even rawer, more political art adorns the space. Through a back hallway is Slack Collective Studios, where 13 different artists rent studio space for just $150 a month, and where canvases, silkscreen equipment, custom shoes, zines and sculptures pack every square foot. Stapled high on a loft is a T-shirt that says it all: "Shut Up and Make Something."
It feels a million miles away from the Napa of wine country weekends and tourist magazines, and that's just the way Paul and Leilani Slack like it. With their downtown endeavors, along with underground events held outside of town at their Slack Ranch, the Slacks are changing the status quo in Napa in the best possible way—not by complaining, or fighting, but by shutting up and making something. A lot of things, in fact.
Throw their upcoming InDIYpendent Culture Fair into the mix, and the jury has reached a consensus: it's time to give these people a Boho Award.
"When I moved to Napa, it wasn't a very solid artistic community, where people are really into what each other are doing, and making something bigger out of the individual perspective into something collective," says Paul. "That's a goal of mine, where people can come together."
Come together they have, and often under the umbrella of some Slack-related project or in a Slack-related venue. Both Paul and Leilani cite the formation of the group Wandering Rose several years ago as an inspiration to keep opening doors for the younger generation; as Paul says, "it was really exciting for me to see some young people, for the first time in the whole 17 years I've lived here, to see those young people stepping up and taking initiative to get things happening."
Leilani herself knows what little opportunities for teenagers exist in a city geared specifically for those over 21, having spent her formative teen years in Napa. "If you wanted to do anything, you had to go out of town," she says. "I'm surprised more people didn't get into drugs and become alcoholics, because that's all there was to do for kids in Napa back then."
Paul, a bassist in the band Planets, moved to Napa from Sacramento to live on land that's been in the family since the 1860s. ("It's three acres that are left out of literally hundreds of acres of property," he says of the homestead, "99 percent of it is all vineyards now.") That same night, upon arrival, he held a show at the ranch, walking through downtown Napa beforehand and inviting strangers to see live music.
Last year, the Slacks decided to take the reins of the InDIYpendent Culture Fair, a day-long event in a warehouse with live painting, bike repair workshops, craft workshops, belly dancers, fire spinners, baby goats and a taco truck. This year, the InDIYpendent Culture Fair on Oct. 1 will be held on the 950 block of Pearl Street, near the Slack Collective Studios, with the street closed to traffic. So far, interest has been massive.
"I was thinking I would have to go to these businesses on the block and explain the whole theory of DIY, and the punk ethic, but they were already in—just like that," Paul says. "It's amazing. I think that everybody has some sort of that ethic in them." With their continued support of emerging artists and their open-door policy to nearly anyone wanting to use their performance spaces, Paul and Leilani Slack are improving their city not simply by making the best of Napa, but as Paul pointedly says, "building the best of it." Here's hoping their construction is ongoing.
Bloom Creative Hair Design shares a block in downtown Napa with the Napa Valley Opera House and Ubuntu Restaurant & Yoga Studio, but one step inside and a visitor knows that Bloom is no ordinary wine country destination. A current exhibit of tattoo and tattoo-inspired art hangs on the walls; at night, underground bands might play among the styling stations.
Across the street, at Bloom salon, even rawer, more political art adorns the space. Through a back hallway is Slack Collective Studios, where 13 different artists rent studio space for just $150 a month, and where canvases, silkscreen equipment, custom shoes, zines and sculptures pack every square foot. Stapled high on a loft is a T-shirt that says it all: "Shut Up and Make Something."
It feels a million miles away from the Napa of wine country weekends and tourist magazines, and that's just the way Paul and Leilani Slack like it. With their downtown endeavors, along with underground events held outside of town at their Slack Ranch, the Slacks are changing the status quo in Napa in the best possible way—not by complaining, or fighting, but by shutting up and making something. A lot of things, in fact.
Throw their upcoming InDIYpendent Culture Fair into the mix, and the jury has reached a consensus: it's time to give these people a Boho Award.
"When I moved to Napa, it wasn't a very solid artistic community, where people are really into what each other are doing, and making something bigger out of the individual perspective into something collective," says Paul. "That's a goal of mine, where people can come together."
Come together they have, and often under the umbrella of some Slack-related project or in a Slack-related venue. Both Paul and Leilani cite the formation of the group Wandering Rose several years ago as an inspiration to keep opening doors for the younger generation; as Paul says, "it was really exciting for me to see some young people, for the first time in the whole 17 years I've lived here, to see those young people stepping up and taking initiative to get things happening."
Leilani herself knows what little opportunities for teenagers exist in a city geared specifically for those over 21, having spent her formative teen years in Napa. "If you wanted to do anything, you had to go out of town," she says. "I'm surprised more people didn't get into drugs and become alcoholics, because that's all there was to do for kids in Napa back then."
Paul, a bassist in the band Planets, moved to Napa from Sacramento to live on land that's been in the family since the 1860s. ("It's three acres that are left out of literally hundreds of acres of property," he says of the homestead, "99 percent of it is all vineyards now.") That same night, upon arrival, he held a show at the ranch, walking through downtown Napa beforehand and inviting strangers to see live music.
Last year, the Slacks decided to take the reins of the InDIYpendent Culture Fair, a day-long event in a warehouse with live painting, bike repair workshops, craft workshops, belly dancers, fire spinners, baby goats and a taco truck. This year, the InDIYpendent Culture Fair on Oct. 1 will be held on the 950 block of Pearl Street, near the Slack Collective Studios, with the street closed to traffic. So far, interest has been massive.
"I was thinking I would have to go to these businesses on the block and explain the whole theory of DIY, and the punk ethic, but they were already in—just like that," Paul says. "It's amazing. I think that everybody has some sort of that ethic in them." With their continued support of emerging artists and their open-door policy to nearly anyone wanting to use their performance spaces, Paul and Leilani Slack are improving their city not simply by making the best of Napa, but as Paul pointedly says, "building the best of it." Here's hoping their construction is ongoing.
2011-09-28 "Postal workers rally to save their jobs" by HOWARD YUNE from "Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/postal-workers-rally-to-save-their-jobs/article_511cf308-e993-11e0-82e1-001cc4c002e0.html]
Napa-area postal workers hoping to help save their embattled profession — and possibly their jobs — took their cause to downtown Napa on Tuesday afternoon.
Holding “Save America’s Postal Service” placards, more than 20 current and retired letter carriers lined Main Street outside Rep. Mike Thompson’s office.
Amid the car honks of sympathizers, they collected signatures for a petition to support legislation they said would repair the U.S. Postal Service’s ravaged finances and lessen the blow of threatened layoffs.
Even with mail volume slipping, rally organizers warned that cutting employees or Saturday service to slash costs would produce more harm than savings.
“The variety of things we deliver, like medicines, we have a large increase in that,” said Patrick Bjerke, 57, a letter carrier in Napa for 27 years. “Things like fruits, vegetables, even live chickens, those are things we can’t let sit over the weekend.”
The Napa rally was part of a nationwide campaign organized by five postal unions. The unions are supporting a Congressional bill to ease the Postal Service’s financial strain by reducing the pre-funding required for worker pensions. The unions, which represent letter carriers and post office clerks, were scheduled to hold events in all 435 districts of the House of Representatives.
H.R. 1351 would redirect the payments the Postal Service has made toward worker pensions since 2006 when Congress required it to pre-fund the pensions for 75 years and do so within a decade. The service could then use the overpayments to meet current financial needs.
Postal workers held their rally outside Thompson’s downtown office in support of the St. Helena Democrat, one of about 200 House members to co-sponsor the bill.
Union members argue the billions of dollars in pension pre-payments — and not shriveling mail use — are the main cause of the department’s troubles, and oppose major layoffs or dropping Saturday delivery.
“If we didn’t have to pre-fund pensions, we’d be making money,” said Karen Schuler, a postal carrier in Novato and a Santa Rosa-based officer in the National Association of Letter Carriers. “What kind of business could keep its doors open while paying for its unborn retirees? It’s outrageous.”
Postal officials warned earlier this month the service would run a $10 billion deficit in the current fiscal year, which ends Friday. The agency does not receive taxpayer money and must rely on sales and service revenue.
Since 2006, the Postal Service has closed 186 mail processing centers and eliminated at least 110,000 jobs. In July, the service announced it would consider shuttering 3,700 post offices, including the branch at the Veterans Home of California at Yountville.
The agency says mail volume has dropped by 43 billion pieces in the last five years, with the amount of first-class mail falling by nearly half as email and social networking steadily erode the number of person-to-person letters. Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe has proposed ending Saturday delivery to save up to $3 billion a year.
TUESDAY - SEPTEMBER 27, 2011 - NAPA, CA - State Senator Noreen Evans spoke to about 30 people at a rally in support of postal workers on Tuesday afternoon. The rally was aimed at saving cuts to the United States Postal Service and to bring attention to HR 1351, also known as the United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011. J.L. Sousa/Register
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/postal-workers-rally-to-save-their-jobs/article_511cf308-e993-11e0-82e1-001cc4c002e0.html]
Napa-area postal workers hoping to help save their embattled profession — and possibly their jobs — took their cause to downtown Napa on Tuesday afternoon.
Holding “Save America’s Postal Service” placards, more than 20 current and retired letter carriers lined Main Street outside Rep. Mike Thompson’s office.
Amid the car honks of sympathizers, they collected signatures for a petition to support legislation they said would repair the U.S. Postal Service’s ravaged finances and lessen the blow of threatened layoffs.
Even with mail volume slipping, rally organizers warned that cutting employees or Saturday service to slash costs would produce more harm than savings.
“The variety of things we deliver, like medicines, we have a large increase in that,” said Patrick Bjerke, 57, a letter carrier in Napa for 27 years. “Things like fruits, vegetables, even live chickens, those are things we can’t let sit over the weekend.”
The Napa rally was part of a nationwide campaign organized by five postal unions. The unions are supporting a Congressional bill to ease the Postal Service’s financial strain by reducing the pre-funding required for worker pensions. The unions, which represent letter carriers and post office clerks, were scheduled to hold events in all 435 districts of the House of Representatives.
H.R. 1351 would redirect the payments the Postal Service has made toward worker pensions since 2006 when Congress required it to pre-fund the pensions for 75 years and do so within a decade. The service could then use the overpayments to meet current financial needs.
Postal workers held their rally outside Thompson’s downtown office in support of the St. Helena Democrat, one of about 200 House members to co-sponsor the bill.
Union members argue the billions of dollars in pension pre-payments — and not shriveling mail use — are the main cause of the department’s troubles, and oppose major layoffs or dropping Saturday delivery.
“If we didn’t have to pre-fund pensions, we’d be making money,” said Karen Schuler, a postal carrier in Novato and a Santa Rosa-based officer in the National Association of Letter Carriers. “What kind of business could keep its doors open while paying for its unborn retirees? It’s outrageous.”
Postal officials warned earlier this month the service would run a $10 billion deficit in the current fiscal year, which ends Friday. The agency does not receive taxpayer money and must rely on sales and service revenue.
Since 2006, the Postal Service has closed 186 mail processing centers and eliminated at least 110,000 jobs. In July, the service announced it would consider shuttering 3,700 post offices, including the branch at the Veterans Home of California at Yountville.
The agency says mail volume has dropped by 43 billion pieces in the last five years, with the amount of first-class mail falling by nearly half as email and social networking steadily erode the number of person-to-person letters. Postmaster General Patrick Donohoe has proposed ending Saturday delivery to save up to $3 billion a year.
TUESDAY - SEPTEMBER 27, 2011 - NAPA, CA - State Senator Noreen Evans spoke to about 30 people at a rally in support of postal workers on Tuesday afternoon. The rally was aimed at saving cuts to the United States Postal Service and to bring attention to HR 1351, also known as the United States Postal Service Pension Obligation Recalculation and Restoration Act of 2011. J.L. Sousa/Register
Monday, September 26, 2011
This makes me sick. Napa County "law" outlawed the humanity of a number of low-income residents because THEY WERE POOR.
Instead of working with the residents, the "authorities" merely kicked the People out into the streets, People who had no meaningful work and lived inexpensiveley off the grid...
Napa County shows once again how Fascist it really is.
2011-09-26 "Cuttings Wharf cottages empty, facing demolition" from "Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/cuttings-wharf-cottages-empty-facing-demolition/article_80ed3576-e7f8-11e0-bc15-001cc4c002e0.html]
Months after their owner evicted his tenants and expressed a desire to demolish the properties, the 23 low-income cottages at Cuttings Wharf Road are still standing.
Peppered with “no trespassing” signs and abandoned by tenants who were served by a long stretch of dirt road, the homes continue to be the focal point of a legal battle between Napa County and property owner Kenneth Moore.
The row of homes now appears lifeless, stripped of personal belongings and absent the pack of neighborhood dogs that once roamed the block. On some of the homes, the only sign of recent life is the occasional phone number scribbled across a boarded-up door or window.
A laid-back, back-country way of life that existed at Cuttings Wharf for decades is now over.
As the legal dispute between the two sides rages on, the demolition that Moore told his tenants would take place months ago seems to be just around the corner.
According to a representative from the Napa County building department, Moore was issued a permit to demolish the cottages on Aug. 10.
Meanwhile, attorneys for both Moore and the county have scheduled a trial date for early February regarding the county’s attempt to have code violations abated, said Carrie Gallagher, an attorney for the county.
Talks of both demolition and court-ordered repairs have long dominated the conversation around the Cuttings Wharf cottages.
The dispute began back in early 2010 when county officials responded to a host of health and safety violations at Cuttings Wharf. Problems ranged from a lack of permanent foundations, to faulty wiring, to a lack of hot water in many of the homes, the county asserted. Most of the units also had additions built on without proper permitting, officials said.
In September 2010, the county sent Moore a letter saying that he must either correct the violations or be taken to court. Moore failed to make the necessary repairs, claiming he would rather demolish the units than fund the improvements.
In early December, he issued eviction notices to each tenant, forcing residents who had long relied on the cheap rent — less than $350 a month in most cases — to look for lodging elsewhere.
Hoping to preserve the cottages, which had provided low-income housing for decades, the county asked a judge to appoint a third-party receiver to oversee the repairs, a move that would have effectively forced Moore to fund the repairs.
Ultimately, Napa Superior Court Judge Raymond Guadagni sided with Moore and the eviction proceedings were allowed to continue.
In early February, the deadline for eviction came and went, yet at least two tenants continued to occupy their cottages, according to court documents. This prompted the county to file suit in March, again asking that Moore either bring the lived-in units up to code or demolish them.
Weeks later, Moore appeared to be willing to make some repairs to the units still being lived in, according to court documents filed in early April. Agreed-upon repairs included fixing an exposed gas line in one unit and ensuring water heaters worked.
Over the following few months, the last residents left the Cuttings Wharf neighborhood. All of the 23 units are now uninhabited, said Hillary Gitelman, Napa’s planning director.
Meanwhile, the county’s lawsuit against Moore has continued to move forward, Gallagher said, noting that Moore still needs to resolve the code violations, either by demolition or making the repairs.
“That’s why we filed the complaint,” Gallagher said.
Moore has long said that he would rather demolish the units than fund the repairs, and with permits now in hand, that outcome looks likely.
Neither Moore nor his attorney could be reached for comment on the matter, but both sides are expected to be present in court when the matter is taken up on Feb. 6.
FRIDAY SEPT. 23, 2011 NAPA, CA - A lawsuit filed by Napa County against landlord Kenneth Moore attempting to force repairs on homes in the 100 block of Cuttings Wharf Road may go to trial. The houses are now empty and the block essentially deserted. Jorgen Gulliksen/Register
Look how the Conservative attitude of the local oligarchy bleeds into the press coverage which dehumanizes the poor tenants by describing them prominently as "Stragglers"
2011-02-08 "Remaining stragglers leave Cuttings Wharf" by James Noonan from "Napa Valley Register" newspaper
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_0ee625b4-334e-11e0-955e-001cc4c002e0.html]
For the several dozen residents who made their homes at Napa’s Cuttings Wharf, life is about to change.
On Tuesday, the 60-day eviction notices issued by property owner Kenneth Moore run out, meaning that those living in the 23 low-income cottages perched along the river banks since the early 1950s must pack up and move on.
“It’d be nice if we had a couple more weeks,” Teri Dickerson said on Monday.
Dickerson, along with her neighbor Jerry Cuellar, were resting in the shade outside their homes — exhausted from the moving process and uncertain about what their future may hold.
The pair — who have both lived on Cuttings Wharf Road for nearly two decades — will be moving to Vallejo on Tuesday, where they will split the rent of a two-bedroom home costing about $900 a month.
During their years on Cuttings Wharf Road, Cuellar and Dickerson never paid more than $342 a month for their own units — a price unheard of anywhere else in the Napa Valley.
“Neither one of us can afford to live on our own now,” Dickerson said. “Not even in Vallejo.”
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s deadline, the friendly and uniquely rustic vibe that once characterized the community has morphed into feelings of confusion and chaos.
Each passing day, another resident would pack up and leave the wharf, severing ties that — in some cases — had taken decades to establish.
“Everybody’s just kind of lost, I think,” Dickerson said. “It’s really just a sad situation for everyone.”
Only a month back, the long, dirt road that served as the main artery for the river-side community was teeming with life. Residents darted between homes, children played outside and a handful of dogs roamed freely up and down the block.
Now, Dickerson and Cuellar sit alone — reflecting on their time spent at the wharf and wondering what life will look like moving forward.
“Once it’s finally all over with, it’ll be all right,” Cuellar said softly.
“It is what it is,” Dickerson answered back.
At the other end of the dirt road — at the Moore’s Landing diner — the final days of the Cuttings Wharf community are being felt just as hard.
Inside, co-owner Margie Morin peered out the window, gazing toward the row of homes that over the past month have been slowly drained of life.
“We’re going to miss those people,” she said. “They kind of kept an eye out for us over the years.”
Throughout the confusion and activity that came with the eviction process across the way, Morin has been assuring patrons that the eatery will remain open — though it will be without the regular business and local flavor provided by the wharf’s residents.
At one of the diner’s corner tables, Bob Humphrey who lives in Vallejo was mourning the end of an era.
“I’m heart-broken,” he said. “But for sentimental reasons.”
Humphrey — whose daughter has lived on Cuttings Wharf Road for the last 12 years — grew up in rural Napa County and knew the Moore family in his youth, he said.
While taking a break from helping Dickerson and Cuellar pack their final belongings, he lamented the loss of one of Napa’s rural treasures.
“If I would win the lottery tomorrow, I’d put it back in this place just to keep that legacy alive,” he said, knowing that no such savior is coming. “I’m just glad it lasted as long as it did.”
With the eviction date having come and gone, the fate of the small, well-worn dwellings remains in question.
Moore had previously provided residents with notices saying that demolition would be taking place Thursday, just two days after they were expected to vacate.
However, Eric Banvard, a plans and permit supervisor with Napa County, said that Moore had yet to pull demolition permits from the county’s planning and development office.
Banvard said that it normally takes between seven and 10 days after pulling permits before demolition can proceed, making the Feb. 10 date seem unlikely.
Moore could not be reached for comment.
While the cottages may live on for a few more weeks, those that filled them have uprooted and moved on.
“When we closed on Saturday night, there were no lights on over there,” Morin, the diner owner, said.
In all her years on the wharf, she had never seen it so dark. “It was pretty spooky.”
MONDAY - FEBRUARY 07, 2011 - NAPA, CA - Jerry Cuellar, right, discusses the upcoming evictions at Cuttings Wharf on Monday afternoon as his next door neighbor Teri Dickerson listens. Cuellar, who has lived at Cuttings Wharf for 17 years, will be moving to Vallejo where he will have Dickerson as a roomate. The county found a number of code violations at the properties, which the owner chose not to fix. The owner told the residents to evict the property and plans to demolish the homes. J.L. Sousa/Register
MONDAY - FEBRUARY 07, 2011 - NAPA, CA - Bob Humphrey of Vallejo takes a break at the Moore's Landing diner, from helping his daughter and friends move from their homes at Cuttings Wharf on Monday afternoon. Evictions are set to begin on Tuesday February 8, after the owner chose not to make repairs to the homes. The temporary homes, which first appeared on the property five decades ago, had a number of code violations. J.L. Sousa/Register
MONDAY - FEBRUARY 07, 2011 - NAPA, CA - Moore's Landing diner co-owner Margie Morin wants people to know that the upcoming evictions at the Cuttings Wharf homes hasn't affected her business. The popular eatery remains open after the county found a number of code violations on nearby properties, forcing residents to find other places to live. J.L. Sousa/Register
Instead of working with the residents, the "authorities" merely kicked the People out into the streets, People who had no meaningful work and lived inexpensiveley off the grid...
Napa County shows once again how Fascist it really is.
2011-09-26 "Cuttings Wharf cottages empty, facing demolition" from "Napa Valley Register"
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/cuttings-wharf-cottages-empty-facing-demolition/article_80ed3576-e7f8-11e0-bc15-001cc4c002e0.html]
Months after their owner evicted his tenants and expressed a desire to demolish the properties, the 23 low-income cottages at Cuttings Wharf Road are still standing.
Peppered with “no trespassing” signs and abandoned by tenants who were served by a long stretch of dirt road, the homes continue to be the focal point of a legal battle between Napa County and property owner Kenneth Moore.
The row of homes now appears lifeless, stripped of personal belongings and absent the pack of neighborhood dogs that once roamed the block. On some of the homes, the only sign of recent life is the occasional phone number scribbled across a boarded-up door or window.
A laid-back, back-country way of life that existed at Cuttings Wharf for decades is now over.
As the legal dispute between the two sides rages on, the demolition that Moore told his tenants would take place months ago seems to be just around the corner.
According to a representative from the Napa County building department, Moore was issued a permit to demolish the cottages on Aug. 10.
Meanwhile, attorneys for both Moore and the county have scheduled a trial date for early February regarding the county’s attempt to have code violations abated, said Carrie Gallagher, an attorney for the county.
Talks of both demolition and court-ordered repairs have long dominated the conversation around the Cuttings Wharf cottages.
The dispute began back in early 2010 when county officials responded to a host of health and safety violations at Cuttings Wharf. Problems ranged from a lack of permanent foundations, to faulty wiring, to a lack of hot water in many of the homes, the county asserted. Most of the units also had additions built on without proper permitting, officials said.
In September 2010, the county sent Moore a letter saying that he must either correct the violations or be taken to court. Moore failed to make the necessary repairs, claiming he would rather demolish the units than fund the improvements.
In early December, he issued eviction notices to each tenant, forcing residents who had long relied on the cheap rent — less than $350 a month in most cases — to look for lodging elsewhere.
Hoping to preserve the cottages, which had provided low-income housing for decades, the county asked a judge to appoint a third-party receiver to oversee the repairs, a move that would have effectively forced Moore to fund the repairs.
Ultimately, Napa Superior Court Judge Raymond Guadagni sided with Moore and the eviction proceedings were allowed to continue.
In early February, the deadline for eviction came and went, yet at least two tenants continued to occupy their cottages, according to court documents. This prompted the county to file suit in March, again asking that Moore either bring the lived-in units up to code or demolish them.
Weeks later, Moore appeared to be willing to make some repairs to the units still being lived in, according to court documents filed in early April. Agreed-upon repairs included fixing an exposed gas line in one unit and ensuring water heaters worked.
Over the following few months, the last residents left the Cuttings Wharf neighborhood. All of the 23 units are now uninhabited, said Hillary Gitelman, Napa’s planning director.
Meanwhile, the county’s lawsuit against Moore has continued to move forward, Gallagher said, noting that Moore still needs to resolve the code violations, either by demolition or making the repairs.
“That’s why we filed the complaint,” Gallagher said.
Moore has long said that he would rather demolish the units than fund the repairs, and with permits now in hand, that outcome looks likely.
Neither Moore nor his attorney could be reached for comment on the matter, but both sides are expected to be present in court when the matter is taken up on Feb. 6.
FRIDAY SEPT. 23, 2011 NAPA, CA - A lawsuit filed by Napa County against landlord Kenneth Moore attempting to force repairs on homes in the 100 block of Cuttings Wharf Road may go to trial. The houses are now empty and the block essentially deserted. Jorgen Gulliksen/Register
Look how the Conservative attitude of the local oligarchy bleeds into the press coverage which dehumanizes the poor tenants by describing them prominently as "Stragglers"
2011-02-08 "Remaining stragglers leave Cuttings Wharf" by James Noonan from "Napa Valley Register" newspaper
[http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_0ee625b4-334e-11e0-955e-001cc4c002e0.html]
For the several dozen residents who made their homes at Napa’s Cuttings Wharf, life is about to change.
On Tuesday, the 60-day eviction notices issued by property owner Kenneth Moore run out, meaning that those living in the 23 low-income cottages perched along the river banks since the early 1950s must pack up and move on.
“It’d be nice if we had a couple more weeks,” Teri Dickerson said on Monday.
Dickerson, along with her neighbor Jerry Cuellar, were resting in the shade outside their homes — exhausted from the moving process and uncertain about what their future may hold.
The pair — who have both lived on Cuttings Wharf Road for nearly two decades — will be moving to Vallejo on Tuesday, where they will split the rent of a two-bedroom home costing about $900 a month.
During their years on Cuttings Wharf Road, Cuellar and Dickerson never paid more than $342 a month for their own units — a price unheard of anywhere else in the Napa Valley.
“Neither one of us can afford to live on our own now,” Dickerson said. “Not even in Vallejo.”
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s deadline, the friendly and uniquely rustic vibe that once characterized the community has morphed into feelings of confusion and chaos.
Each passing day, another resident would pack up and leave the wharf, severing ties that — in some cases — had taken decades to establish.
“Everybody’s just kind of lost, I think,” Dickerson said. “It’s really just a sad situation for everyone.”
Only a month back, the long, dirt road that served as the main artery for the river-side community was teeming with life. Residents darted between homes, children played outside and a handful of dogs roamed freely up and down the block.
Now, Dickerson and Cuellar sit alone — reflecting on their time spent at the wharf and wondering what life will look like moving forward.
“Once it’s finally all over with, it’ll be all right,” Cuellar said softly.
“It is what it is,” Dickerson answered back.
At the other end of the dirt road — at the Moore’s Landing diner — the final days of the Cuttings Wharf community are being felt just as hard.
Inside, co-owner Margie Morin peered out the window, gazing toward the row of homes that over the past month have been slowly drained of life.
“We’re going to miss those people,” she said. “They kind of kept an eye out for us over the years.”
Throughout the confusion and activity that came with the eviction process across the way, Morin has been assuring patrons that the eatery will remain open — though it will be without the regular business and local flavor provided by the wharf’s residents.
At one of the diner’s corner tables, Bob Humphrey who lives in Vallejo was mourning the end of an era.
“I’m heart-broken,” he said. “But for sentimental reasons.”
Humphrey — whose daughter has lived on Cuttings Wharf Road for the last 12 years — grew up in rural Napa County and knew the Moore family in his youth, he said.
While taking a break from helping Dickerson and Cuellar pack their final belongings, he lamented the loss of one of Napa’s rural treasures.
“If I would win the lottery tomorrow, I’d put it back in this place just to keep that legacy alive,” he said, knowing that no such savior is coming. “I’m just glad it lasted as long as it did.”
With the eviction date having come and gone, the fate of the small, well-worn dwellings remains in question.
Moore had previously provided residents with notices saying that demolition would be taking place Thursday, just two days after they were expected to vacate.
However, Eric Banvard, a plans and permit supervisor with Napa County, said that Moore had yet to pull demolition permits from the county’s planning and development office.
Banvard said that it normally takes between seven and 10 days after pulling permits before demolition can proceed, making the Feb. 10 date seem unlikely.
Moore could not be reached for comment.
While the cottages may live on for a few more weeks, those that filled them have uprooted and moved on.
“When we closed on Saturday night, there were no lights on over there,” Morin, the diner owner, said.
In all her years on the wharf, she had never seen it so dark. “It was pretty spooky.”
MONDAY - FEBRUARY 07, 2011 - NAPA, CA - Jerry Cuellar, right, discusses the upcoming evictions at Cuttings Wharf on Monday afternoon as his next door neighbor Teri Dickerson listens. Cuellar, who has lived at Cuttings Wharf for 17 years, will be moving to Vallejo where he will have Dickerson as a roomate. The county found a number of code violations at the properties, which the owner chose not to fix. The owner told the residents to evict the property and plans to demolish the homes. J.L. Sousa/Register
MONDAY - FEBRUARY 07, 2011 - NAPA, CA - Bob Humphrey of Vallejo takes a break at the Moore's Landing diner, from helping his daughter and friends move from their homes at Cuttings Wharf on Monday afternoon. Evictions are set to begin on Tuesday February 8, after the owner chose not to make repairs to the homes. The temporary homes, which first appeared on the property five decades ago, had a number of code violations. J.L. Sousa/Register
MONDAY - FEBRUARY 07, 2011 - NAPA, CA - Moore's Landing diner co-owner Margie Morin wants people to know that the upcoming evictions at the Cuttings Wharf homes hasn't affected her business. The popular eatery remains open after the county found a number of code violations on nearby properties, forcing residents to find other places to live. J.L. Sousa/Register
Friday, September 23, 2011
STUDENT POWER! Occupy UC Berkeley!
2011-09-23 "Tolman Hall Update!"
[http://berkeleycuts.org/]
Update #1:
Hi all! Folks are still here holding the building open, having discussions, watching movies, etc. PLEASE COME OVER AND SUPPORT. EAT DINNER HERE, STUDY HERE, MEET PEOPLE. BE HERE AT 10PM AT 8:30PM WHEN WE WILL NEED THE MOST FORCES. We are on the 1st Floor in the class rooms as well as outside.
Don’t be intimidated by the police, they might be in our halls but we will be ok since we got each other’s backs and they know this. Interestingly, earlier we overheard the police saying that the one thing they do not want students to do is to break out their books and start studying and doing homework! Why are they so afraid of this? We don’t know, but this space is open for you to study. Please do so.
Some info on why Tolman Hall is an appropriate space for us to take and why people have taken it:
-Tolman Hall houses the Department of Education. Symbolically, this is important because our struggle is for free public education for all.
-Tolman Hall currently houses few classes due to seismic retrofitting. Any excuse by the UCPD and UC Administration that our presence here constitutes a disruption of classes is not true. The only disruption would be the UCPD.
Update #2
Posted on September 23, 2011 by Sub
We are still here, just had a class visit us, we’ve been watching documentaries, having some cool conversations and heard from supportive members of the Education Department!
Please stop by, take a room, study, and meet some new people. WE NEED PEOPLE HERE BY 8:30PM!!!!!!!!
Update # 3
Posted on September 23, 2011 by Sub
Unfortunately, the open occupation was ended rather violently by the UCPD. While students and community members had gone into Tolman to create an open, collective alternative space for organizing, studying and solidarity, the UCPD had no intention of allowing students to live in peace. UCPD tackled a demonstrator some time around 8PM arresting him for likely bogus charges. Later, while students chanted in the lobby of Tolman, UCPD tried to block the doors to force students in. When students tried to open the doors, UCPD pushed, punched, and batoned students. One demonstrator trying to exit was tackled, beaten, and had his legs twisted for absolutely no reason. His screams were audible even after UCPD carried him to the second floor of Tolman. More information and videos to come.
2011-09-23 "Video recap of yesterday’s Day of Action and UCPD police brutality"
[http://berkeleycuts.org/]
[From reclaimuc]
Friends:
One of our valued comrades and partner of a UC graduate was severely beaten by police inside Tolman Hall last night, while he cried out repeatedly, “please stop hurting me.” As a matter of course, he was issued severe charges; the more the police injure someone, the worse the charges must be so as to justify their violence.
There is little doubt that he will not be convicted, should this go to trial. However, because his injuries were severe and he had been denied medical attention at the UCPD building nor at Santa Rita, his partner felt it was imperative to get him out as swiftly as possible. This meant posting bond rather than the $15,000 bail, and forfeiting the $1,500.
The good news is that his partner just started a community care job this week that provides medical insurance; she told me this, tearfully but wryly, last night. The bad news is that she is currently broke. She managed to get the necessary amount from her family, but they themselves are quite poor. As a result, we are taking up a collection to help repay them some or all of the amount, and asking for your support. Please understand: because this was bond and not bail, any donations will be exactly that; it won’t be returned at trial. We are grateful for contributions of any amount.
Please contact Joshua Clover (jclover@ucdavis.edu) if you are able to help with this, and we’ll make arrangements about gathering what we can — and we’ll repeat our thanks, both in specific and for the strength of our shared friendships.
2011-09-26 "Statement of Solidarity with September 22 Actions and Arrestees" ratified by United Auto Workers Local 2865, Berkeley Unit:
On September 22nd, members of the UAW 2865 joined several other students, workers, faculty, and their organizations to nonviolently protest the austerity measures undermining the quality and purpose of public education at UC Berkeley and other universities around the state. Hundreds participated in a rally at Sproul Plaza and marched through campus to raise awareness of the undermining of our public institutions and reclaim education as a civil right.
Near the end of the march, participants decided to occupy and utilize empty classrooms in Tolman Hall where the Department of Education is based to hold teach-ins, documentary viewings, and general meetings open to anyone who wished to contribute. While some classrooms in Tolman Hall are still in use, the reclaimed classrooms, which once prepared future generations of educators, are now empty due to administrative and state disinvestment. We students, workers, faculty, and community members understand this neglect of space to be symptomatic of a larger crisis of priorities: upper-level administration and faculty – as well as UCPD – take increasing portions of the budget while workers are fired, overworked, and underpaid; student fees and tuitions are increased; and classroom buildings as well as departments are abandoned. Such austerity measures satisfy investors by selling off our futures, displacing educational costs onto unreasonable amounts of student debt. The university continues to grow and enhance its brand while instructional value suffers, students struggle to graduate, and staff works more for less money and job security. Students and workers transformed these derelict spaces into improvisational classrooms where people could speak critically and openly about how these changes are affecting their lives and about local, national, and international movements to restore affordable education at the center of our democracies. Documentaries were viewed. Food and water was distributed. A conversation with a student activist in Chile was organized. Teach-ins were held.
Although hundreds of students and workers entered Tolman Hall to carry out these peaceful demonstrations, they were met by the UCPD with shows of aggressive, physical force and pepper spray. Throughout the day, the presence of the UCPD militarized the situation and often escalated confrontations. Demonstrators grew increasingly frustrated as they watched one participant be beaten and seized in a hallway outside of a classroom under the pretense of fabricated charges. Around 8:50pm, the UCPD began locking down the building on peacefully chanting demonstrators without giving a dispersal order or even announcing that the building was to be closed – in contrast to the official statement made by UCPD and the UC administration. The counter-force exerted outside the building came after the police locked the doors on protesters. Ultimately, nearly all protestors inside the building were allowed to leave peacefully without receiving citations. We believe these violent, precipitous, and likely illegal actions by the UCPD to be a localized expression of broader structural tensions augmented by divisive strategies of austerity and privatization. The core mission for all members of the academic community –workers, students, faculty, and community members alike—should be the restoration of the purpose and viability of education as a public, democratic good.
The repression of students and workers cannot be tolerated!
Austerity undermining public education will not be tolerated!
As members of the UC community, we demand:
* A complete reversal of recent fee increases.
* A revision of current admissions policies to lift barriers faced by underrepresented students of color and working class students.
* The re-hiring of workers fired as a result of budget cuts
* A full investigation of the Regents’ conflicts of interest, especially their investments in banks and for-profit schools.
* An end to UC administrative and police surveillance, violence, and intervention in political and academic activities.
* Equal and full access to the university for undocumented students and workers.
* The democratic control of the university by students, faculty, and staff.
* All charges be dropped against the two individuals arrested on Sept. 22.
-
The UAW Local 2865, which represents academic student-workers, calls on community members and all faculty, students, workers and their organizations to join us in making these demands.
The escalation of police force against peaceful demonstrators indicates that conventional measures of protest and dialogue have been denied despite official pronouncements by UCPD and the UC administration. If faculty, students, community members, and workers cannot gather peacefully on campus to defend public education against the austerity measures imposed by the UC administration and enforced through the brutality of UCPD, we are increasingly left with no choice but to disrupt business-as-usual at the university in order to be heard.
We call on all community members, faculty, students, workers and their labor unions, associations and organizations to accelerate preparations for larger, collective actions if our demands are not met following sustained efforts of public statements, negotiation, and peaceful protests against the UC administration.
[http://berkeleycuts.org/]
Update #1:
Hi all! Folks are still here holding the building open, having discussions, watching movies, etc. PLEASE COME OVER AND SUPPORT. EAT DINNER HERE, STUDY HERE, MEET PEOPLE. BE HERE AT 10PM AT 8:30PM WHEN WE WILL NEED THE MOST FORCES. We are on the 1st Floor in the class rooms as well as outside.
Don’t be intimidated by the police, they might be in our halls but we will be ok since we got each other’s backs and they know this. Interestingly, earlier we overheard the police saying that the one thing they do not want students to do is to break out their books and start studying and doing homework! Why are they so afraid of this? We don’t know, but this space is open for you to study. Please do so.
Some info on why Tolman Hall is an appropriate space for us to take and why people have taken it:
-Tolman Hall houses the Department of Education. Symbolically, this is important because our struggle is for free public education for all.
-Tolman Hall currently houses few classes due to seismic retrofitting. Any excuse by the UCPD and UC Administration that our presence here constitutes a disruption of classes is not true. The only disruption would be the UCPD.
Update #2
Posted on September 23, 2011 by Sub
We are still here, just had a class visit us, we’ve been watching documentaries, having some cool conversations and heard from supportive members of the Education Department!
Please stop by, take a room, study, and meet some new people. WE NEED PEOPLE HERE BY 8:30PM!!!!!!!!
Update # 3
Posted on September 23, 2011 by Sub
Unfortunately, the open occupation was ended rather violently by the UCPD. While students and community members had gone into Tolman to create an open, collective alternative space for organizing, studying and solidarity, the UCPD had no intention of allowing students to live in peace. UCPD tackled a demonstrator some time around 8PM arresting him for likely bogus charges. Later, while students chanted in the lobby of Tolman, UCPD tried to block the doors to force students in. When students tried to open the doors, UCPD pushed, punched, and batoned students. One demonstrator trying to exit was tackled, beaten, and had his legs twisted for absolutely no reason. His screams were audible even after UCPD carried him to the second floor of Tolman. More information and videos to come.
2011-09-23 "Video recap of yesterday’s Day of Action and UCPD police brutality"
[http://berkeleycuts.org/]
[From reclaimuc]
Friends:
One of our valued comrades and partner of a UC graduate was severely beaten by police inside Tolman Hall last night, while he cried out repeatedly, “please stop hurting me.” As a matter of course, he was issued severe charges; the more the police injure someone, the worse the charges must be so as to justify their violence.
There is little doubt that he will not be convicted, should this go to trial. However, because his injuries were severe and he had been denied medical attention at the UCPD building nor at Santa Rita, his partner felt it was imperative to get him out as swiftly as possible. This meant posting bond rather than the $15,000 bail, and forfeiting the $1,500.
The good news is that his partner just started a community care job this week that provides medical insurance; she told me this, tearfully but wryly, last night. The bad news is that she is currently broke. She managed to get the necessary amount from her family, but they themselves are quite poor. As a result, we are taking up a collection to help repay them some or all of the amount, and asking for your support. Please understand: because this was bond and not bail, any donations will be exactly that; it won’t be returned at trial. We are grateful for contributions of any amount.
Please contact Joshua Clover (jclover@ucdavis.edu) if you are able to help with this, and we’ll make arrangements about gathering what we can — and we’ll repeat our thanks, both in specific and for the strength of our shared friendships.
2011-09-26 "Statement of Solidarity with September 22 Actions and Arrestees" ratified by United Auto Workers Local 2865, Berkeley Unit:
On September 22nd, members of the UAW 2865 joined several other students, workers, faculty, and their organizations to nonviolently protest the austerity measures undermining the quality and purpose of public education at UC Berkeley and other universities around the state. Hundreds participated in a rally at Sproul Plaza and marched through campus to raise awareness of the undermining of our public institutions and reclaim education as a civil right.
Near the end of the march, participants decided to occupy and utilize empty classrooms in Tolman Hall where the Department of Education is based to hold teach-ins, documentary viewings, and general meetings open to anyone who wished to contribute. While some classrooms in Tolman Hall are still in use, the reclaimed classrooms, which once prepared future generations of educators, are now empty due to administrative and state disinvestment. We students, workers, faculty, and community members understand this neglect of space to be symptomatic of a larger crisis of priorities: upper-level administration and faculty – as well as UCPD – take increasing portions of the budget while workers are fired, overworked, and underpaid; student fees and tuitions are increased; and classroom buildings as well as departments are abandoned. Such austerity measures satisfy investors by selling off our futures, displacing educational costs onto unreasonable amounts of student debt. The university continues to grow and enhance its brand while instructional value suffers, students struggle to graduate, and staff works more for less money and job security. Students and workers transformed these derelict spaces into improvisational classrooms where people could speak critically and openly about how these changes are affecting their lives and about local, national, and international movements to restore affordable education at the center of our democracies. Documentaries were viewed. Food and water was distributed. A conversation with a student activist in Chile was organized. Teach-ins were held.
Although hundreds of students and workers entered Tolman Hall to carry out these peaceful demonstrations, they were met by the UCPD with shows of aggressive, physical force and pepper spray. Throughout the day, the presence of the UCPD militarized the situation and often escalated confrontations. Demonstrators grew increasingly frustrated as they watched one participant be beaten and seized in a hallway outside of a classroom under the pretense of fabricated charges. Around 8:50pm, the UCPD began locking down the building on peacefully chanting demonstrators without giving a dispersal order or even announcing that the building was to be closed – in contrast to the official statement made by UCPD and the UC administration. The counter-force exerted outside the building came after the police locked the doors on protesters. Ultimately, nearly all protestors inside the building were allowed to leave peacefully without receiving citations. We believe these violent, precipitous, and likely illegal actions by the UCPD to be a localized expression of broader structural tensions augmented by divisive strategies of austerity and privatization. The core mission for all members of the academic community –workers, students, faculty, and community members alike—should be the restoration of the purpose and viability of education as a public, democratic good.
The repression of students and workers cannot be tolerated!
Austerity undermining public education will not be tolerated!
As members of the UC community, we demand:
* A complete reversal of recent fee increases.
* A revision of current admissions policies to lift barriers faced by underrepresented students of color and working class students.
* The re-hiring of workers fired as a result of budget cuts
* A full investigation of the Regents’ conflicts of interest, especially their investments in banks and for-profit schools.
* An end to UC administrative and police surveillance, violence, and intervention in political and academic activities.
* Equal and full access to the university for undocumented students and workers.
* The democratic control of the university by students, faculty, and staff.
* All charges be dropped against the two individuals arrested on Sept. 22.
-
The UAW Local 2865, which represents academic student-workers, calls on community members and all faculty, students, workers and their organizations to join us in making these demands.
The escalation of police force against peaceful demonstrators indicates that conventional measures of protest and dialogue have been denied despite official pronouncements by UCPD and the UC administration. If faculty, students, community members, and workers cannot gather peacefully on campus to defend public education against the austerity measures imposed by the UC administration and enforced through the brutality of UCPD, we are increasingly left with no choice but to disrupt business-as-usual at the university in order to be heard.
We call on all community members, faculty, students, workers and their labor unions, associations and organizations to accelerate preparations for larger, collective actions if our demands are not met following sustained efforts of public statements, negotiation, and peaceful protests against the UC administration.
2011-09-23 "UC Berkeley students protest tuition hikes, cuts" by Nanette Asimov from "San Francisco Chronicle"
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F09%2F22%2FBAGI1L4JNH.DTL]
BERKELEY -- Protest season began with a bang at UC Berkeley as hundreds of chanting, fist-pumping students angry about tuition hikes charged into Tolman Hall during a raucous protest and building occupation Thursday.
A group filled ground-floor hallways before UC police ordered them to disperse about 9 p.m. Protesters outside Tolman Hall began throwing rocks, bottles and chairs at officers, police said. Two people - both male - were arrested, according to UC police Lt. Marc DeCoulode.
One was arrested for an altercation earlier in the day with a UC police officer, whose .40-caliber magazine went flying.
Officer Donna Chapman, who had been trying to order students to clear the building entrance, ran to pick up the cartridge before protesters could grab it. Around her, students shouting, "No cuts! No fees! Education must be free!" flooded into the education and psychology building.
The second person was arrested after chunks of concrete and a chair were thrown.
"It was a little more violent and aggressive than in the past," DeCoulode said. "We respect people's right to protest, but we ask that they do it safely and peacefully."
Protests are expected to resume today.
During the day, students trying to study rolled their eyes at their cacophonous classmates. But most rooms were empty because the building has been declared seismically unsafe.
"We're going to try to put those classrooms to better use," said Callie Maidhof, a doctoral student in anthropology.
The protesters are angry that basic tuition and mandatory fees have soared to $13,218 this year, twice what they were five years ago - and are likely to rise again.
As the state has drastically reduced funding for UC - it cut $650 million this year alone - university officials have laid off hundreds of employees systemwide and say they need tuition increases of 8 to 16 percent a year for four years. The regents have balked, but that could change. They have raised tuition steadily for a decade.
"Let's go in these classrooms and educate students about the cuts and tuition hikes!" cried student organizer Shane Boyle into a megaphone.
Sproul Plaza rally -
The demonstrations began with a noon rally attended by more than 300 students on Sproul Plaza, where students, campus workers, professors and supporters spoke about the devastating funding cuts.
Professor Richard Walker, vice chairman of the Berkeley Faculty Association, told students what they already knew - that the public university is becoming more privately funded as state support diminishes and students pick up more of the costs.
"This great university may no longer be public and may no longer be great," he cried to those gathered on the plaza.
Competitive poetry slammer Gabriel Cortez, a political science major, awed the crowd with his "Protest Poem," urging them to "protest like you need the extra credit."
Speakers criticized lawmakers for failing to raise taxes at a time when California has too little revenue for social services - and higher education. The audience cheered.
Freshman Andrea Nguyen, 17, was excited to attend her first Berkeley protest.
"It's amazing to be involved in and see the reputation of this place in practice," she said.
Like many students, Nguyen comes from a middle-class background and doesn't qualify for financial aid. The rising tuition at Cal "is definitely a strain on our family," she said.
Shortly before 1 p.m., the rally turned into a march. Hundreds of students surged through Sather Gate, chanting "Whose university? Our university!" They exhorted students lounging in the campus sunshine to join them.
"We share the students' frustrations over the state's disinvestment in higher education, and we absolutely support their right to free speech," said campus spokeswoman Janet Gilmore.
But, she said, the protesters would have to leave when the building closed, she said.
Past discipline
Other protesters who have refused to leave buildings have been disciplined under threat of expulsion. Last week, the Alameda County district attorney prosecuted 21 students who took over Wheeler Hall in March.
Three charged with resisting arrest are scheduled to stand trial on Oct. 11. A dozen got community service for trespassing, and six were found not guilty of disturbing the peace.
September 22nd Day of Action + Crazy Police Brutality @ UC Berkeley (HD)
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F09%2F22%2FBAGI1L4JNH.DTL]
BERKELEY -- Protest season began with a bang at UC Berkeley as hundreds of chanting, fist-pumping students angry about tuition hikes charged into Tolman Hall during a raucous protest and building occupation Thursday.
A group filled ground-floor hallways before UC police ordered them to disperse about 9 p.m. Protesters outside Tolman Hall began throwing rocks, bottles and chairs at officers, police said. Two people - both male - were arrested, according to UC police Lt. Marc DeCoulode.
One was arrested for an altercation earlier in the day with a UC police officer, whose .40-caliber magazine went flying.
Officer Donna Chapman, who had been trying to order students to clear the building entrance, ran to pick up the cartridge before protesters could grab it. Around her, students shouting, "No cuts! No fees! Education must be free!" flooded into the education and psychology building.
The second person was arrested after chunks of concrete and a chair were thrown.
"It was a little more violent and aggressive than in the past," DeCoulode said. "We respect people's right to protest, but we ask that they do it safely and peacefully."
Protests are expected to resume today.
During the day, students trying to study rolled their eyes at their cacophonous classmates. But most rooms were empty because the building has been declared seismically unsafe.
"We're going to try to put those classrooms to better use," said Callie Maidhof, a doctoral student in anthropology.
The protesters are angry that basic tuition and mandatory fees have soared to $13,218 this year, twice what they were five years ago - and are likely to rise again.
As the state has drastically reduced funding for UC - it cut $650 million this year alone - university officials have laid off hundreds of employees systemwide and say they need tuition increases of 8 to 16 percent a year for four years. The regents have balked, but that could change. They have raised tuition steadily for a decade.
"Let's go in these classrooms and educate students about the cuts and tuition hikes!" cried student organizer Shane Boyle into a megaphone.
Sproul Plaza rally -
The demonstrations began with a noon rally attended by more than 300 students on Sproul Plaza, where students, campus workers, professors and supporters spoke about the devastating funding cuts.
Professor Richard Walker, vice chairman of the Berkeley Faculty Association, told students what they already knew - that the public university is becoming more privately funded as state support diminishes and students pick up more of the costs.
"This great university may no longer be public and may no longer be great," he cried to those gathered on the plaza.
Competitive poetry slammer Gabriel Cortez, a political science major, awed the crowd with his "Protest Poem," urging them to "protest like you need the extra credit."
Speakers criticized lawmakers for failing to raise taxes at a time when California has too little revenue for social services - and higher education. The audience cheered.
Freshman Andrea Nguyen, 17, was excited to attend her first Berkeley protest.
"It's amazing to be involved in and see the reputation of this place in practice," she said.
Like many students, Nguyen comes from a middle-class background and doesn't qualify for financial aid. The rising tuition at Cal "is definitely a strain on our family," she said.
Shortly before 1 p.m., the rally turned into a march. Hundreds of students surged through Sather Gate, chanting "Whose university? Our university!" They exhorted students lounging in the campus sunshine to join them.
"We share the students' frustrations over the state's disinvestment in higher education, and we absolutely support their right to free speech," said campus spokeswoman Janet Gilmore.
But, she said, the protesters would have to leave when the building closed, she said.
Past discipline
Other protesters who have refused to leave buildings have been disciplined under threat of expulsion. Last week, the Alameda County district attorney prosecuted 21 students who took over Wheeler Hall in March.
Three charged with resisting arrest are scheduled to stand trial on Oct. 11. A dozen got community service for trespassing, and six were found not guilty of disturbing the peace.
September 22nd Day of Action + Crazy Police Brutality @ UC Berkeley (HD)
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Welcome, you are now in the Northbay Uprising!
On today's episode we have two guests.
Beginning at 3:30pm, Age Scott [www.agescott.com] will talk about hip-hop comix, his new "Superhood" comic book, and his children's show "Cartooning with Age!" [http://www.youtube.com/user/AgeScottTV] shown twice every week, every Monday and Friday at 5:30 pm, on V-CAT TV in Vallejo (channel 26) and anywhere Comcast is showed. please tune in!
Check out his show:
The 2nd guest is Sharon Coleman, host of Backyards Poems for Local Change [as part of 100,000 Poets for Change]
Saturday, September 24, 7:00pm - 9:00pm at Frank Bette Center for the Arts, 1601 Paru at Lincoln, Alameda, CA
Ten poets who work professionally or voluntarily for local change read from their accomplished works of poetry.
Cyrus Armajani--teaches literacy in Alameda Co. Juvenile Hall
Mary J Dacorro--tutor extraordinaire at Laney College
Anita Garriott--critic of mental welfare programs
Kimberly Satterfield--social worker
Claudia Castro Luna--former Oakland school teacher
Milani Pelley--poetry workshop leader for under-served youth
Carla Kandinsky--writing workshop leader for adults on fixed incomes
Sari Friedman--former community college instructor
Lenore Weiss--union political action committee leader
Oscar Bermeo--Oakland school employee and poetry workshop leader for
under-served youth
Hosted by Sharon Coleman and facilitated by Jeanne Lupton
Another event that is part of the National "100,000 Poets for change" is "Revolutionary Poets Brigade in Solidarity with One Hundred Thousand Poets for Change"
Saturday, September 24, 2011, 7:00 pm, at Art International, 963 Pacific St. San Francisco.
poets include Dee Allen, Lincoln Bergman, Judith Bernhard, Kristine Brown, Jim Byron,Giancarlo Campagna, Yolanda Catzalco, devorah major, Agneta Falk, Gary Hicks, Jack Hirschman, Mark Kockinos, Jessica Loos, Jimmy Mankind, Rosemary Manno, Sarah Menefee, Alejandro Murguia, Dottie Payne, Maketa Smith-Groves
100,000 POETS FOR CHANGE, Saturday, September 24, 2011, 7:00 pm, at FOCUS GALLERY, 1534Grant Ave, San Francisco
* Liv Zutphen~ Painter Poet
* Special Guest ~ Tony Serra
* ruth weiss ~ poet
* with Hall Davis, percussion and Doug O'Connor, Bass
4pm-6pm with book signing
On today's episode we have two guests.
Beginning at 3:30pm, Age Scott [www.agescott.com] will talk about hip-hop comix, his new "Superhood" comic book, and his children's show "Cartooning with Age!" [http://www.youtube.com/user/AgeScottTV] shown twice every week, every Monday and Friday at 5:30 pm, on V-CAT TV in Vallejo (channel 26) and anywhere Comcast is showed. please tune in!
Check out his show:
The 2nd guest is Sharon Coleman, host of Backyards Poems for Local Change [as part of 100,000 Poets for Change]
Saturday, September 24, 7:00pm - 9:00pm at Frank Bette Center for the Arts, 1601 Paru at Lincoln, Alameda, CA
Ten poets who work professionally or voluntarily for local change read from their accomplished works of poetry.
Cyrus Armajani--teaches literacy in Alameda Co. Juvenile Hall
Mary J Dacorro--tutor extraordinaire at Laney College
Anita Garriott--critic of mental welfare programs
Kimberly Satterfield--social worker
Claudia Castro Luna--former Oakland school teacher
Milani Pelley--poetry workshop leader for under-served youth
Carla Kandinsky--writing workshop leader for adults on fixed incomes
Sari Friedman--former community college instructor
Lenore Weiss--union political action committee leader
Oscar Bermeo--Oakland school employee and poetry workshop leader for
under-served youth
Hosted by Sharon Coleman and facilitated by Jeanne Lupton
Another event that is part of the National "100,000 Poets for change" is "Revolutionary Poets Brigade in Solidarity with One Hundred Thousand Poets for Change"
Saturday, September 24, 2011, 7:00 pm, at Art International, 963 Pacific St. San Francisco.
poets include Dee Allen, Lincoln Bergman, Judith Bernhard, Kristine Brown, Jim Byron,Giancarlo Campagna, Yolanda Catzalco, devorah major, Agneta Falk, Gary Hicks, Jack Hirschman, Mark Kockinos, Jessica Loos, Jimmy Mankind, Rosemary Manno, Sarah Menefee, Alejandro Murguia, Dottie Payne, Maketa Smith-Groves
100,000 POETS FOR CHANGE, Saturday, September 24, 2011, 7:00 pm, at FOCUS GALLERY, 1534Grant Ave, San Francisco
* Liv Zutphen~ Painter Poet
* Special Guest ~ Tony Serra
* ruth weiss ~ poet
* with Hall Davis, percussion and Doug O'Connor, Bass
4pm-6pm with book signing
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
2011-09-21 "Wells Fargo Now "Zells Fargo"? E. Palo Alto Residents Rally to Protect Affordable Housing" by Alison Moreno
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/21/18690885.php]
Angered that Wells Fargo is not keeping its commitment to honor tenants' concerns, E. Palo Alto residents rallied in front of City Hall Chambers ahead of a City Council meeting on the evening of September 20th. That meeting's agenda: discussion of the sale of a bulk of the housing in the city to “Vulture Investor” Sam Zell of Equity Residential.
Activists loudly demanded at the rally in songs and chants that the City publicly oppose Wells Fargo’s imminent sale of nearly half of the multi-family housing in the City to Equity Residential. Residents were joined by volunteers from Community Legal Services (CLS), Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), and the Raging Grannies.
Demonstrators will hold a second protest at Wells Fargo Corporate Headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday September 21 at 3pm.
In 2006 Page Mill Properties purchased nearly 2000 units on the western edge of the City of East Palo Alto, to further a secret plan to extract the west-of-Bayshore property from its East Palo Alto home and have it incorporated into wealthy neighbors, Palo Alto and Menlo Park. At the peak of Page Mill’s ownership, almost two thousand families, approximately twenty-five percent of the total population of the City, were under the control of Page Mill. With much of the rental properties in the City under the sole control Page Mill Properties, PMP raised rents, flouted the City’s Rent Control Ordinance and sued the City and local agencies. Their actions resulted in immense financial cost to the City of East Palo Alto and massive social cost to its residents.
Renters were hopeful when Page Mill defaulted and abandoned their control of these properties to Wells Fargo bank, which held the mortgages on these properties. In meetings with community members, Wells Fargo committed to working alongside the East Palo Alto residents. Tenant rights activists urged Wells not to sell to a single buyer in order to avoid the monopolization of rental apartments that occurred under Page Mill.
Yet something bigger than Page Mill may be waiting in the wings. Equity Residential, led by Chairman Sam Zell, is a well-known company with nationwide holdings and a market value of approximately 16.9 billion dollars. Zell, who once said that low-income homeowners need to be “cleaned out” and not given sympathy, seems determined to treat low-income renters in East Palo Alto with the same callousness. East Palo Alto residents are determined to not allow Wells Fargo to break their promise. And if they do, Wells Fargo will be sorry...their name will be forever synonymous with corporate greed in the eyes of those watching.
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/21/18690885.php]
Angered that Wells Fargo is not keeping its commitment to honor tenants' concerns, E. Palo Alto residents rallied in front of City Hall Chambers ahead of a City Council meeting on the evening of September 20th. That meeting's agenda: discussion of the sale of a bulk of the housing in the city to “Vulture Investor” Sam Zell of Equity Residential.
Activists loudly demanded at the rally in songs and chants that the City publicly oppose Wells Fargo’s imminent sale of nearly half of the multi-family housing in the City to Equity Residential. Residents were joined by volunteers from Community Legal Services (CLS), Youth United for Community Action (YUCA), and the Raging Grannies.
Demonstrators will hold a second protest at Wells Fargo Corporate Headquarters in San Francisco on Wednesday September 21 at 3pm.
In 2006 Page Mill Properties purchased nearly 2000 units on the western edge of the City of East Palo Alto, to further a secret plan to extract the west-of-Bayshore property from its East Palo Alto home and have it incorporated into wealthy neighbors, Palo Alto and Menlo Park. At the peak of Page Mill’s ownership, almost two thousand families, approximately twenty-five percent of the total population of the City, were under the control of Page Mill. With much of the rental properties in the City under the sole control Page Mill Properties, PMP raised rents, flouted the City’s Rent Control Ordinance and sued the City and local agencies. Their actions resulted in immense financial cost to the City of East Palo Alto and massive social cost to its residents.
Renters were hopeful when Page Mill defaulted and abandoned their control of these properties to Wells Fargo bank, which held the mortgages on these properties. In meetings with community members, Wells Fargo committed to working alongside the East Palo Alto residents. Tenant rights activists urged Wells not to sell to a single buyer in order to avoid the monopolization of rental apartments that occurred under Page Mill.
Yet something bigger than Page Mill may be waiting in the wings. Equity Residential, led by Chairman Sam Zell, is a well-known company with nationwide holdings and a market value of approximately 16.9 billion dollars. Zell, who once said that low-income homeowners need to be “cleaned out” and not given sympathy, seems determined to treat low-income renters in East Palo Alto with the same callousness. East Palo Alto residents are determined to not allow Wells Fargo to break their promise. And if they do, Wells Fargo will be sorry...their name will be forever synonymous with corporate greed in the eyes of those watching.
2011-09-21 "Lines of Healing: The global spread of 100 Thousand Poets for Change" by Blake Montgomery from "Northbay Bohemian" newspaper
[http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/09.21.11/arts-1138.html]
Michael Rothenberg, Guerneville native, was chatting with a friend on Facebook, venting his angst about the current, deplorable state of politics, the environment, the war and the world in general, when he blurted out an idea: a hundred thousand poets standing up for change. His friend told him to go for it. Rothenberg created a Facebook event, a poetry reading with the dual goals of peace and sustainability under the umbrella of change.
By the end of the day, he had received hundreds of responses from all over the world. Some felt the same malaise that Rothenberg himself felt; others simply loved poetry and wanted to share it. Swiftly, the event grew into a sizable online community that clamored for concrete details. When would the reading happen? Who would be in charge of organizing the events? What was the focus for each event?
Rothenberg, realizing that he had made himself the de facto leader of a movement, set the date for Sept. 24. He left everything else up to the local organizers.
100 Thousand Poets for Change was born.
"Peace and sustainability were the guidelines, and locally, you do what you want," Rothenberg says. "Each event gets to have its own vision; you're getting a global snapshot of the poetry community. I believe that we have this potential to improve the kind of world we live in with poetry."
There is no doubt that the poetry bug has spread voraciously. Rothenberg, though not quite sure why, has certainly inspired the globe. With help from partner and fellow poet Terri Carrion, he's chronicling the events: parades in Montreal, galas in Israel, over 10 events in Mexico City alone. Yvonne de la Vega, a passionate, fast-talking spoken-word artist, has rented out the famed Wadsworth Theater in Los Angeles for her all-day event.
"When I saw the event on Facebook, it just felt right. I knew I had to be involved, and my organizers and I are trying to bring all the diverse communities of Los Angeles together for this event," de la Vega says. "This has never happened in the history of mankind before, the poets have never gathered like this, so we wanted to include everybody. When a poet speaks, he speaks the truth, and though people may not want to hear it, the voice of a poet pierces deeper."
Lisa Vihos, 50, from Sheboygan, Wisc., is planning a smaller event.
"My idea was not to tackle some big political, environmental issue. I wanted people in my town to be more aware of the world around them," Vihos says over the phone while cooking dinner in her kitchen. "We all have the ability to look at the world like poets, and if more people looked at the world with the attention of poets, they would take better care of it."
Of over 650 events in 95 countries worldwide, notable events include a reading across the border in Nogales, Ariz., to Nogales, Mexico, organized by Douglas Steindorff, an ex-marine and poet, to bring more focus to the human side of the current immigration situation. Sarah Browning, part of a group called Split This Rock in Washington, D.C., has brought together poets to read on the lawns of all the embassies of countries where events like 100 Thousand Poets are prohibited, such as China and Iran. Organizers have put together an event in Afghanistan, focusing on peace. Rothenberg himself has been invited to give press conferences in Brussels and Istanbul.
Locally, there are 21 events in the Bay Area alone. At the Sonoma County Book Festival in Santa Rosa, local poet and activist Francisco X. Alarcon has put together a reading in support of the Dream Act. Also in Santa Rosa, the Peace and Justice Center hosts a reading at Gaia's Garden the previous evening. At the Sebastopol Gallery, Sandy Eastoak partners with Hale Thatcher, Shepherd Bliss and others for a reading; former Sonoma County poet laureate Geri Digiorno hosts a "shout-out on the street" in Petaluma; and in Fairfax, a morning poetry gathering takes place at Deer Park.
Rothenberg's initial cry echoes Dickens' immortal opening "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . . in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received in the superlative degree of comparison only." He seems to want the world to awaken to multiple contradictory views: it is the golden age of gorgeous nature, our planet is doomed; look at the world with the eyes of a poet, no one cares about poetry.
"It's an act of desperation and faith, and I try not to make it more than it is," Rothenberg says. "But at times I can't believe what it is. It's out there, and people are writing. People keep telling me that they're really glad this is happening, and they say they really need it to happen now."
For more, and a full list of events happening around the world, see [www.100tpc.org].
[http://www.bohemian.com/bohemian/09.21.11/arts-1138.html]
Michael Rothenberg, Guerneville native, was chatting with a friend on Facebook, venting his angst about the current, deplorable state of politics, the environment, the war and the world in general, when he blurted out an idea: a hundred thousand poets standing up for change. His friend told him to go for it. Rothenberg created a Facebook event, a poetry reading with the dual goals of peace and sustainability under the umbrella of change.
By the end of the day, he had received hundreds of responses from all over the world. Some felt the same malaise that Rothenberg himself felt; others simply loved poetry and wanted to share it. Swiftly, the event grew into a sizable online community that clamored for concrete details. When would the reading happen? Who would be in charge of organizing the events? What was the focus for each event?
Rothenberg, realizing that he had made himself the de facto leader of a movement, set the date for Sept. 24. He left everything else up to the local organizers.
100 Thousand Poets for Change was born.
"Peace and sustainability were the guidelines, and locally, you do what you want," Rothenberg says. "Each event gets to have its own vision; you're getting a global snapshot of the poetry community. I believe that we have this potential to improve the kind of world we live in with poetry."
There is no doubt that the poetry bug has spread voraciously. Rothenberg, though not quite sure why, has certainly inspired the globe. With help from partner and fellow poet Terri Carrion, he's chronicling the events: parades in Montreal, galas in Israel, over 10 events in Mexico City alone. Yvonne de la Vega, a passionate, fast-talking spoken-word artist, has rented out the famed Wadsworth Theater in Los Angeles for her all-day event.
"When I saw the event on Facebook, it just felt right. I knew I had to be involved, and my organizers and I are trying to bring all the diverse communities of Los Angeles together for this event," de la Vega says. "This has never happened in the history of mankind before, the poets have never gathered like this, so we wanted to include everybody. When a poet speaks, he speaks the truth, and though people may not want to hear it, the voice of a poet pierces deeper."
Lisa Vihos, 50, from Sheboygan, Wisc., is planning a smaller event.
"My idea was not to tackle some big political, environmental issue. I wanted people in my town to be more aware of the world around them," Vihos says over the phone while cooking dinner in her kitchen. "We all have the ability to look at the world like poets, and if more people looked at the world with the attention of poets, they would take better care of it."
Of over 650 events in 95 countries worldwide, notable events include a reading across the border in Nogales, Ariz., to Nogales, Mexico, organized by Douglas Steindorff, an ex-marine and poet, to bring more focus to the human side of the current immigration situation. Sarah Browning, part of a group called Split This Rock in Washington, D.C., has brought together poets to read on the lawns of all the embassies of countries where events like 100 Thousand Poets are prohibited, such as China and Iran. Organizers have put together an event in Afghanistan, focusing on peace. Rothenberg himself has been invited to give press conferences in Brussels and Istanbul.
Locally, there are 21 events in the Bay Area alone. At the Sonoma County Book Festival in Santa Rosa, local poet and activist Francisco X. Alarcon has put together a reading in support of the Dream Act. Also in Santa Rosa, the Peace and Justice Center hosts a reading at Gaia's Garden the previous evening. At the Sebastopol Gallery, Sandy Eastoak partners with Hale Thatcher, Shepherd Bliss and others for a reading; former Sonoma County poet laureate Geri Digiorno hosts a "shout-out on the street" in Petaluma; and in Fairfax, a morning poetry gathering takes place at Deer Park.
Rothenberg's initial cry echoes Dickens' immortal opening "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . . . in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received in the superlative degree of comparison only." He seems to want the world to awaken to multiple contradictory views: it is the golden age of gorgeous nature, our planet is doomed; look at the world with the eyes of a poet, no one cares about poetry.
"It's an act of desperation and faith, and I try not to make it more than it is," Rothenberg says. "But at times I can't believe what it is. It's out there, and people are writing. People keep telling me that they're really glad this is happening, and they say they really need it to happen now."
For more, and a full list of events happening around the world, see [www.100tpc.org].
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
2011-09-20 "Santa Cruz Sleeping Ban Struggle: Judge Accepts Considering "Writ of Habeus Corpus" by Becky Johnson, Linda Lemaster, Robert Norse
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/20/18690858.php]
Under pressure from pro bono attorney Jonathan Gettleman in an extensive Writ of Habeas Corpus brief, Superior Court Judge John Galllagher postponed the scheduled misdemeanor trial of long-time homeless activist Linda Lemaster for at least a month. Before the trial, Gallagher will hear the Habeas Corpus motion, which claims that Lemaster cannot even be tried for "lodging" because the case is really one of political dissent being suppressed by authorities.
Lemaster PC 647 (e) Case Postponed until October 28th
---
Santa Cruz, Ca. -- Appearing in court on Wednesday, September14th for a pre-trial readiness hearing, Linda Lemaster still faces misdemeanor "illegal lodging" for allegedly falling asleep at PeaceCamp2010 on a single night in August 2010.
Her pro bono attorney, Jonathon Gettleman, filed a comprehensive writ of habeas corpus, claiming that 647(e) is vague and overbroad, and that Lemaster's freedom of speech was truncated when County Sheriff Deputies used the antique "lodging" law to break up an otherwise legal protest.
Deputy District Attorney Sara Dabkowski again offered to reduce Lemaster's charges to an infraction with zero public service as a consequence. Having previewed the Writ a week earlier, Lemaster declined again.
In court, Judge John Gallagher, Dept 2, ordered DA Dabkowski to answer Gettleman's "well-written, voluminous" brief by October 14th, with Gettleman's response to hers due by October 21st. A hearing on the 'writ' is set for October 28th. If a trial is to result, the date will be set then. The hearing is to take a closer look at the Lodging law as applied during PeaceCamp2010.
In related news, Ed Frey and Gary Johnson, convicted of PC 647(e) in May 2011, have received the court-approved complete transcript of their trial in order to file their appeals. Frey and Johnson still face the remainder of their 6 month sentences should their appeals fail.
# # # #
Linda Lemaster herself on Linda's Hearth at [http://www.hearthbylinda.blogspot.com/] notes: I was very impressed by the "Writ of habeas Corpus", eighty pages my attorney brought together to bring the First Amendment back into these trials and hearings. As a long time advocate for homeless families and individuals, I felt a kind of validation when I saw the Jones and Eichorn cases, and the ghost of Mitch Snyner in gettleman's citing the Community for Creative Nonviolence's supreme court's decision, in this Writ.
I hope to be able to focus for a bit now, health permitting, on a fundraising dinner. To raise money for legal costs, but this event also hopes to function as a thank-you for both attorneys involved so far with this lodging law stuff.
I'm forming a "dinner committee" (and it 'may' not be a consensual one?). If any of you would like to be contacted or included in planning and carrying out such an event, e me back with your phone number or preferred contact info (I have neither a meeting directory nor a computer in my home at present).
If you have not read "my" article in Street Spirit's September issue, here's the URL to their dynamic website: thestreetspirit.org. Putting "my" in quote marks because it was largely and sensitively edited (two stories into one!) by Street Spirit's editor Terry Messman, who deserves equal credit on the writing in this instance.
---
More recent stories about PeaceCamp 2010, the struggle against the City's anti-homeless Sleeping Ban, and those being prosecuted for Sleepcrime can be found at "D.A. Bob Lee Tries Linda Lemaster for Sleep Ban Protest" at [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/13/18690213.php] Follow the links there.
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/20/18690858.php]
Under pressure from pro bono attorney Jonathan Gettleman in an extensive Writ of Habeas Corpus brief, Superior Court Judge John Galllagher postponed the scheduled misdemeanor trial of long-time homeless activist Linda Lemaster for at least a month. Before the trial, Gallagher will hear the Habeas Corpus motion, which claims that Lemaster cannot even be tried for "lodging" because the case is really one of political dissent being suppressed by authorities.
Lemaster PC 647 (e) Case Postponed until October 28th
---
Santa Cruz, Ca. -- Appearing in court on Wednesday, September14th for a pre-trial readiness hearing, Linda Lemaster still faces misdemeanor "illegal lodging" for allegedly falling asleep at PeaceCamp2010 on a single night in August 2010.
Her pro bono attorney, Jonathon Gettleman, filed a comprehensive writ of habeas corpus, claiming that 647(e) is vague and overbroad, and that Lemaster's freedom of speech was truncated when County Sheriff Deputies used the antique "lodging" law to break up an otherwise legal protest.
Deputy District Attorney Sara Dabkowski again offered to reduce Lemaster's charges to an infraction with zero public service as a consequence. Having previewed the Writ a week earlier, Lemaster declined again.
In court, Judge John Gallagher, Dept 2, ordered DA Dabkowski to answer Gettleman's "well-written, voluminous" brief by October 14th, with Gettleman's response to hers due by October 21st. A hearing on the 'writ' is set for October 28th. If a trial is to result, the date will be set then. The hearing is to take a closer look at the Lodging law as applied during PeaceCamp2010.
In related news, Ed Frey and Gary Johnson, convicted of PC 647(e) in May 2011, have received the court-approved complete transcript of their trial in order to file their appeals. Frey and Johnson still face the remainder of their 6 month sentences should their appeals fail.
# # # #
Linda Lemaster herself on Linda's Hearth at [http://www.hearthbylinda.blogspot.com/] notes: I was very impressed by the "Writ of habeas Corpus", eighty pages my attorney brought together to bring the First Amendment back into these trials and hearings. As a long time advocate for homeless families and individuals, I felt a kind of validation when I saw the Jones and Eichorn cases, and the ghost of Mitch Snyner in gettleman's citing the Community for Creative Nonviolence's supreme court's decision, in this Writ.
I hope to be able to focus for a bit now, health permitting, on a fundraising dinner. To raise money for legal costs, but this event also hopes to function as a thank-you for both attorneys involved so far with this lodging law stuff.
I'm forming a "dinner committee" (and it 'may' not be a consensual one?). If any of you would like to be contacted or included in planning and carrying out such an event, e me back with your phone number or preferred contact info (I have neither a meeting directory nor a computer in my home at present).
If you have not read "my" article in Street Spirit's September issue, here's the URL to their dynamic website: thestreetspirit.org. Putting "my" in quote marks because it was largely and sensitively edited (two stories into one!) by Street Spirit's editor Terry Messman, who deserves equal credit on the writing in this instance.
---
More recent stories about PeaceCamp 2010, the struggle against the City's anti-homeless Sleeping Ban, and those being prosecuted for Sleepcrime can be found at "D.A. Bob Lee Tries Linda Lemaster for Sleep Ban Protest" at [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/13/18690213.php] Follow the links there.
2011-09-20 "Billionaire may buy Berkeley's occupied public housing units"
by Lynda Carson [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/20/18690864.php]
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
---
Berkeley - In another step to privatize Berkeley's 75 occupied public housing town-homes, billionaire Stephen M. Ross, CEO and founder of The Related Companies, and 95% owner of the Miami Dolphins, is in talks with the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) to buy Berkeley's occupied public housing units, through one of his companies.
The BHA has entered into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement with billionaire Ross and his company known as The Related Companies of California, LLC, after the BHA's joint finance and feasibility subcommittee recommended that his company should be chosen to buy Berkeley's 75 public housing units. As of September 8, currently 66 units of the 75 units of Berkeley's public housing are still occupied.
According to Forbes as of March 2011, 69-70 year old Stephen M. Ross is worth around $3.4 billion, and has made his fortune in real estate, is married with 4 children, and has lost around $1.6 billion in net worth during the past few years because of the crumbling real estate market. Ross resides in luxury at 956 5th Ave., in New York City.
As recent as September 8, Tia Ingram, Executive Director of the BHA, directed the members of the Berkeley Housing Authority Board to approve the recommendations to authorize the Executive Director to enter into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement (ENRA) with The Related Companies of California, LLC, for the transfer of Berkeley's 75 public housing units to the company owned by the billionaire, Stephen M. Ross.
BHA's Ingram, wants the ENRA to last a period of 90 days, with the possibility of a 30 day extension, to negotiate the terms of the Disposition and Development Agreement to transfer the 75 public housing units, and to designate the BHA's joint Finance/Feasibility Subcommittee as the lead to work with BHA staff during the negotiations.
If billionaire Ross and The Related Companies gets their hands on Berkeley's public housing units, the city of Berkeley may end up subsidizing the billionaire and his company out of the city's Housing Trust Fund in the effort to renovate and rehabilitate the public housing units, but the majority of funds needed to renovate the buildings will have to be raised by the Related company.
When asked if the BHA has another developer interested in buying Berkeley's public housing units if the negotiations breakdown, BHA's Project Manager, Kathleen Sims said, "The BHA is in negotiation with The Related Companies of California, and until those negotiations are over I cannot say more about the next step the BHA will pursue with it's public housing units if the negotiations fail. I think that finding someone to renovate and maintain the public housing units as HUD has ordered, is a good thing for Berkeley."
Berkeley has long been known as a bastion of liberal causes and the progressive movement, and it is obscene gesture to many in the community that Berkeley's public housing units may end up in the hands of a billionaire and his for-profit corporation, and that the billionaire and his company may be subsidized with funds from the city's Housing Trust Fund.
Former Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner, Eleanor Walden said, "The BHA has now fallen into lockstep with people like Dick Cheney and Haliburton, if this contract is not transparent or competitive. I am appalled at the record of the BHA during the past few years which has contributed to the erosion of public housing."
Though established during 1966, in recent years the BHA has spent numerous years listed as a Troubled agency. The BHA owns and manages 75 public housing units, administers around 1,939 subsidized housing Section 8 voucher contracts, and filed papers with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Dec. 29, 2009, to dispose of it's public housing units. The approval by HUD to dispose of and sell Berkeley's 75 public housing units occurred on Dec. 22, 2010.
As recent as May 2, 2011, the BHA released a Request For Proposals (RFP), in an effort to find one or more so-called nonprofit housing developers, or for-profit developers willing to buy Berkeley's mostly occupied 75 - three and four bedroom townhouse units, located throughout the City of Berkeley, on 15 parcels.
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
---
Berkeley - In another step to privatize Berkeley's 75 occupied public housing town-homes, billionaire Stephen M. Ross, CEO and founder of The Related Companies, and 95% owner of the Miami Dolphins, is in talks with the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) to buy Berkeley's occupied public housing units, through one of his companies.
The BHA has entered into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement with billionaire Ross and his company known as The Related Companies of California, LLC, after the BHA's joint finance and feasibility subcommittee recommended that his company should be chosen to buy Berkeley's 75 public housing units. As of September 8, currently 66 units of the 75 units of Berkeley's public housing are still occupied.
According to Forbes as of March 2011, 69-70 year old Stephen M. Ross is worth around $3.4 billion, and has made his fortune in real estate, is married with 4 children, and has lost around $1.6 billion in net worth during the past few years because of the crumbling real estate market. Ross resides in luxury at 956 5th Ave., in New York City.
As recent as September 8, Tia Ingram, Executive Director of the BHA, directed the members of the Berkeley Housing Authority Board to approve the recommendations to authorize the Executive Director to enter into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement (ENRA) with The Related Companies of California, LLC, for the transfer of Berkeley's 75 public housing units to the company owned by the billionaire, Stephen M. Ross.
BHA's Ingram, wants the ENRA to last a period of 90 days, with the possibility of a 30 day extension, to negotiate the terms of the Disposition and Development Agreement to transfer the 75 public housing units, and to designate the BHA's joint Finance/Feasibility Subcommittee as the lead to work with BHA staff during the negotiations.
If billionaire Ross and The Related Companies gets their hands on Berkeley's public housing units, the city of Berkeley may end up subsidizing the billionaire and his company out of the city's Housing Trust Fund in the effort to renovate and rehabilitate the public housing units, but the majority of funds needed to renovate the buildings will have to be raised by the Related company.
When asked if the BHA has another developer interested in buying Berkeley's public housing units if the negotiations breakdown, BHA's Project Manager, Kathleen Sims said, "The BHA is in negotiation with The Related Companies of California, and until those negotiations are over I cannot say more about the next step the BHA will pursue with it's public housing units if the negotiations fail. I think that finding someone to renovate and maintain the public housing units as HUD has ordered, is a good thing for Berkeley."
Berkeley has long been known as a bastion of liberal causes and the progressive movement, and it is obscene gesture to many in the community that Berkeley's public housing units may end up in the hands of a billionaire and his for-profit corporation, and that the billionaire and his company may be subsidized with funds from the city's Housing Trust Fund.
Former Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner, Eleanor Walden said, "The BHA has now fallen into lockstep with people like Dick Cheney and Haliburton, if this contract is not transparent or competitive. I am appalled at the record of the BHA during the past few years which has contributed to the erosion of public housing."
Though established during 1966, in recent years the BHA has spent numerous years listed as a Troubled agency. The BHA owns and manages 75 public housing units, administers around 1,939 subsidized housing Section 8 voucher contracts, and filed papers with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Dec. 29, 2009, to dispose of it's public housing units. The approval by HUD to dispose of and sell Berkeley's 75 public housing units occurred on Dec. 22, 2010.
As recent as May 2, 2011, the BHA released a Request For Proposals (RFP), in an effort to find one or more so-called nonprofit housing developers, or for-profit developers willing to buy Berkeley's mostly occupied 75 - three and four bedroom townhouse units, located throughout the City of Berkeley, on 15 parcels.
2011-09-20 "Billionaire may buy Berkeley's occupied public housing units" by Lynda Carson
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/20/18690864.php]
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
---
Berkeley - In another step to privatize Berkeley's 75 occupied public housing town-homes, billionaire Stephen M. Ross, CEO and founder of The Related Companies, and 95% owner of the Miami Dolphins, is in talks with the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) to buy Berkeley's occupied public housing units, through one of his companies.
The BHA has entered into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement with billionaire Ross and his company known as The Related Companies of California, LLC, after the BHA's joint finance and feasibility subcommittee recommended that his company should be chosen to buy Berkeley's 75 public housing units. As of September 8, currently 66 units of the 75 units of Berkeley's public housing are still occupied.
According to Forbes as of March 2011, 69-70 year old Stephen M. Ross is worth around $3.4 billion, and has made his fortune in real estate, is married with 4 children, and has lost around $1.6 billion in net worth during the past few years because of the crumbling real estate market. Ross resides in luxury at 956 5th Ave., in New York City.
As recent as September 8, Tia Ingram, Executive Director of the BHA, directed the members of the Berkeley Housing Authority Board to approve the recommendations to authorize the Executive Director to enter into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement (ENRA) with The Related Companies of California, LLC, for the transfer of Berkeley's 75 public housing units to the company owned by the billionaire, Stephen M. Ross.
BHA's Ingram, wants the ENRA to last a period of 90 days, with the possibility of a 30 day extension, to negotiate the terms of the Disposition and Development Agreement to transfer the 75 public housing units, and to designate the BHA's joint Finance/Feasibility Subcommittee as the lead to work with BHA staff during the negotiations.
If billionaire Ross and The Related Companies gets their hands on Berkeley's public housing units, the city of Berkeley may end up subsidizing the billionaire and his company out of the city's Housing Trust Fund in the effort to renovate and rehabilitate the public housing units, but the majority of funds needed to renovate the buildings will have to be raised by the Related company.
When asked if the BHA has another developer interested in buying Berkeley's public housing units if the negotiations breakdown, BHA's Project Manager, Kathleen Sims said, "The BHA is in negotiation with The Related Companies of California, and until those negotiations are over I cannot say more about the next step the BHA will pursue with it's public housing units if the negotiations fail. I think that finding someone to renovate and maintain the public housing units as HUD has ordered, is a good thing for Berkeley."
Berkeley has long been known as a bastion of liberal causes and the progressive movement, and it is obscene gesture to many in the community that Berkeley's public housing units may end up in the hands of a billionaire and his for-profit corporation, and that the billionaire and his company may be subsidized with funds from the city's Housing Trust Fund.
Former Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner, Eleanor Walden said, "The BHA has now fallen into lockstep with people like Dick Cheney and Haliburton, if this contract is not transparent or competitive. I am appalled at the record of the BHA during the past few years which has contributed to the erosion of public housing."
Though established during 1966, in recent years the BHA has spent numerous years listed as a Troubled agency. The BHA owns and manages 75 public housing units, administers around 1,939 subsidized housing Section 8 voucher contracts, and filed papers with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Dec. 29, 2009, to dispose of it's public housing units. The approval by HUD to dispose of and sell Berkeley's 75 public housing units occurred on Dec. 22, 2010.
As recent as May 2, 2011, the BHA released a Request For Proposals (RFP), in an effort to find one or more so-called nonprofit housing developers, or for-profit developers willing to buy Berkeley's mostly occupied 75 - three and four bedroom townhouse units, located throughout the City of Berkeley, on 15 parcels.
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/20/18690864.php]
Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com
---
Berkeley - In another step to privatize Berkeley's 75 occupied public housing town-homes, billionaire Stephen M. Ross, CEO and founder of The Related Companies, and 95% owner of the Miami Dolphins, is in talks with the Berkeley Housing Authority (BHA) to buy Berkeley's occupied public housing units, through one of his companies.
The BHA has entered into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement with billionaire Ross and his company known as The Related Companies of California, LLC, after the BHA's joint finance and feasibility subcommittee recommended that his company should be chosen to buy Berkeley's 75 public housing units. As of September 8, currently 66 units of the 75 units of Berkeley's public housing are still occupied.
According to Forbes as of March 2011, 69-70 year old Stephen M. Ross is worth around $3.4 billion, and has made his fortune in real estate, is married with 4 children, and has lost around $1.6 billion in net worth during the past few years because of the crumbling real estate market. Ross resides in luxury at 956 5th Ave., in New York City.
As recent as September 8, Tia Ingram, Executive Director of the BHA, directed the members of the Berkeley Housing Authority Board to approve the recommendations to authorize the Executive Director to enter into an exclusive negotiating rights agreement (ENRA) with The Related Companies of California, LLC, for the transfer of Berkeley's 75 public housing units to the company owned by the billionaire, Stephen M. Ross.
BHA's Ingram, wants the ENRA to last a period of 90 days, with the possibility of a 30 day extension, to negotiate the terms of the Disposition and Development Agreement to transfer the 75 public housing units, and to designate the BHA's joint Finance/Feasibility Subcommittee as the lead to work with BHA staff during the negotiations.
If billionaire Ross and The Related Companies gets their hands on Berkeley's public housing units, the city of Berkeley may end up subsidizing the billionaire and his company out of the city's Housing Trust Fund in the effort to renovate and rehabilitate the public housing units, but the majority of funds needed to renovate the buildings will have to be raised by the Related company.
When asked if the BHA has another developer interested in buying Berkeley's public housing units if the negotiations breakdown, BHA's Project Manager, Kathleen Sims said, "The BHA is in negotiation with The Related Companies of California, and until those negotiations are over I cannot say more about the next step the BHA will pursue with it's public housing units if the negotiations fail. I think that finding someone to renovate and maintain the public housing units as HUD has ordered, is a good thing for Berkeley."
Berkeley has long been known as a bastion of liberal causes and the progressive movement, and it is obscene gesture to many in the community that Berkeley's public housing units may end up in the hands of a billionaire and his for-profit corporation, and that the billionaire and his company may be subsidized with funds from the city's Housing Trust Fund.
Former Berkeley Rent Board Commissioner, Eleanor Walden said, "The BHA has now fallen into lockstep with people like Dick Cheney and Haliburton, if this contract is not transparent or competitive. I am appalled at the record of the BHA during the past few years which has contributed to the erosion of public housing."
Though established during 1966, in recent years the BHA has spent numerous years listed as a Troubled agency. The BHA owns and manages 75 public housing units, administers around 1,939 subsidized housing Section 8 voucher contracts, and filed papers with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Dec. 29, 2009, to dispose of it's public housing units. The approval by HUD to dispose of and sell Berkeley's 75 public housing units occurred on Dec. 22, 2010.
As recent as May 2, 2011, the BHA released a Request For Proposals (RFP), in an effort to find one or more so-called nonprofit housing developers, or for-profit developers willing to buy Berkeley's mostly occupied 75 - three and four bedroom townhouse units, located throughout the City of Berkeley, on 15 parcels.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
2011-09-18 "Update on the movement to save KUSF college radio 90.3FM in San Francisco" by DJ Rubble
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/18/18690680.php]
KUSF in Exile DJ and former music director Irwin Swirnoff discusses the ongoing legal and activist fight opposing the January 2011 sale of KUSF to radio conglomerate Entercom and a shadowy “non-profit” radio conglomerate Classical Public Radio Network, reportedly affiliated with the University of Southern California. A petition to deny the sale was filed earlier in the year on the grounds that KUSF has served the local community effectively for decades, while this CPRN is neither local nor in any way fitting the mandate of a non-commercial educational station. (25 minutes)
KUSF IN Exile, with the help of band space donated by popular non-commercial New Jersey music station WFMU, is currently broadcasting its popular menu of music and public affairs shows on the internet from a Bayview studio location as they fight to retain their FM dial space.
KUSF was yanked off the air without even a minute’s notice on January 18 with station personnel forced out by armed security. A $3.75 million sale had been negotiated in secret several months earlier under a corporate “non-disclosure agreement” through a three-way deal between radio conglomerate Entercom - the 5th largest radio corporation in the U.S. - and newly emerging local “non-commercial“ chain Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN).
CPRN took over the long-time classical music station owned and operated by Entercom on 102.1FM, and are currently broadcasting on 90.3FM while they wait for approval of the sale. CPRN has purchased at least 3 Northern California stations and by its own admission is looking to acquire non-commercial stations throughout California. Entercom replaced the commercial station by simulating its San Jose classic rock station KUFX. So KUSF, a musical treasure and home of many really good public affairs shows for about 33 years, is replaced by simulcast classic rock and a really bad classical music station.
While trying to pedal their station as educational (simply by virtue of being in the business of classical music), as mandated by FCC guidelines for the left end of the dial, CPRN is anything but non-commercial. It apparently has big money (Entercoms?) to be buying up numerous stations for millions of dollars each. It broadcasts right out of Entercom’s studios. Listening will tell you the rest. Between poor quality music, bland, monotone announcers frequently direct listeners to a dot.com site (CPRN.com?) in which everything broadcast on the station along with trivia like mugs and tee shirts can be purchased. Faithful listeners of the 102.1FM classical station are very disappointed in the deteriorated quality.
After getting absolutely nowhere trying to deal with a hostile KUSF administration led by President Father Privett, KUSF filed a petition to deny the sale with the FCC. KUSF’s objective is to get a live hearing with the FCC in hopes of overturning the sale. If successful, this will be a first of a kind victory. Getting to a hearing will be an unprecedented step.
The FCC has been rubber-stamping corporate station purchases for years on the commercial part of the dial and more recently allowing “repeater“ stations easy access for licenses while making it virtually impossible for new community-based stations to enter the market. Congress has recently mandated that the FCC develop a plan to open the left end of the dial equitably for new low power FM stations. The FCC is basically allowing a corporate oligopoly on the dial, filled with about 5,000 repetitive big money songs and AP wire service news from profit-making conglomerates. Artificial scarcity of dial spaces and unrealistic barriers to enty such as costs in the millions for the intangible asset of a broadcast license keep low budget stations out while government-financed NPR and a national religious network control most non-commercial public affairs. Activist have long criticized a cozy relationship between the FCC and broadcast lobby arm the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).
After the sale and shutdown, KUSF assembled a legal team and has been fundraising continuously to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. They continue to broadcast on internet and sponsor enjoyable music and cultural events around the city. While their relationship as the University of San Francisco’s radio station is dead, they want to continue operating on 90.3 as a self-financed station and can make this happen if they can get the sale overturned and maintain the dial space.
A number of legal actions have occurred since the petition has been filed, some of them fairing well for the prospect of an FCC hearing. Early on, two separate requests by CPRN to move the transmitter from the USF campus to Marin County were denied after a number of stations wrote in opposing the move. KUSF had help from surrounding college stations at UC Berkeley, Foothill College, and Stanford University. The local stations filed reports in opposition to the move because it could cause interference in their existing signals and because CPRN is a predator chain, going up and down the state looking to buy other small community-based stations in an effort to match their once large corporate station.
The issue has become a rallying cry for college radio enthusiast nationally, the “death of college radio” as well-finance conglomerates like NPR continue to buy up station licenses by offering incredibly inflated prices to cash-strapped colleges happy to get out of the radio business. Thus we are seeing the dissolution of community-based non-commercial radio nationally, and many college stations are allied with KUSF in this fight. Recent sales of popular stations at Rice University in Houston, Duquesne University in Pittsburgh have raised eyebrows, as is an impending sale of the Vanderbilt University station in Nashville.
On June 28, the FCC sent an unprecedented written inquiry to the parties in the sale, requesting answers to 15 detailed questions related to the sale and subsequent operating maneuvers. Friends of KUSF attorney Alan Korn is quoted, “The letter means that the FCC is giving serious consideration to the issues submitted in our Petition, along with objections raised by others“. The attorney’s describe the submissions to these 15 questions as quite evasive. Attorney Peter Franck is quoted “This action by the University is one more action which demonstrates that the parties to this whole transaction act as if the FCC was nothing more than a rubber stamp. In fact approving this sale would violate the FCC’s duty to act in the public interest, as we will point out further if the FCC grants our petition to set the whole matter for a public hearing.”
KUSF’s Irwin Swirnoff reports improprieties by USF Administration. Apparently, USF president-turned -dictator Father Privett reported that he could not supply E-Mails required because he had erased them. In violation of FCC regulations, USF dismantled the KUSF studio without FCC approval with the proposed sale still pending. In my interview, Irwin alluded to numerous legally dubious maneuvers around the sale. National conversation and involvement has developed as a result of KUSF’s efforts. Broadcast attorney John Garziglia was recently quoted in an industry journal, “The FCC’s staff for some time now has been aware that non-commercial stations have been entering into (Local Marketing Agreements) for what is essentially the sale of broadcast time. It appears the FCC is finally asking questions about this. In a sense, the buyer and the seller dared the FCC staff to ask more questions.”
A spirited save KUSF rally was held in late August at the Entercom broadcasting offices in the South of Market area. Despite acting as if an independent non-commercial outlet, CPRN is broadcasting on 90.3 right out of that Entercom office. SF Supervisor and mayoral candidate John Avalos addressed the crowd, calling KUSF an “island against” the commercialization of the left end of the dial. Avalos told the crowd, “It was a San Francisco station. We need to do more to make sure that KUSF does continue.” Avalos was previously part of an 8-3 Board of Supervisor’s vote on a resolution to oppose the sale. Supervisors Mirkarimi and Mar co-sponsored the resolution and mayoral candidate Leland Yee has spoken out in support.
Activism is needed to make this happen. You can find out how to get involved by accessing the website [savekusf.org], , where you can listen to the internet station, contact station personnel, find out about fun community-based fundraising and outreach events, and access broadcast archives.
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/18/18690680.php]
KUSF in Exile DJ and former music director Irwin Swirnoff discusses the ongoing legal and activist fight opposing the January 2011 sale of KUSF to radio conglomerate Entercom and a shadowy “non-profit” radio conglomerate Classical Public Radio Network, reportedly affiliated with the University of Southern California. A petition to deny the sale was filed earlier in the year on the grounds that KUSF has served the local community effectively for decades, while this CPRN is neither local nor in any way fitting the mandate of a non-commercial educational station. (25 minutes)
KUSF IN Exile, with the help of band space donated by popular non-commercial New Jersey music station WFMU, is currently broadcasting its popular menu of music and public affairs shows on the internet from a Bayview studio location as they fight to retain their FM dial space.
KUSF was yanked off the air without even a minute’s notice on January 18 with station personnel forced out by armed security. A $3.75 million sale had been negotiated in secret several months earlier under a corporate “non-disclosure agreement” through a three-way deal between radio conglomerate Entercom - the 5th largest radio corporation in the U.S. - and newly emerging local “non-commercial“ chain Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN).
CPRN took over the long-time classical music station owned and operated by Entercom on 102.1FM, and are currently broadcasting on 90.3FM while they wait for approval of the sale. CPRN has purchased at least 3 Northern California stations and by its own admission is looking to acquire non-commercial stations throughout California. Entercom replaced the commercial station by simulating its San Jose classic rock station KUFX. So KUSF, a musical treasure and home of many really good public affairs shows for about 33 years, is replaced by simulcast classic rock and a really bad classical music station.
While trying to pedal their station as educational (simply by virtue of being in the business of classical music), as mandated by FCC guidelines for the left end of the dial, CPRN is anything but non-commercial. It apparently has big money (Entercoms?) to be buying up numerous stations for millions of dollars each. It broadcasts right out of Entercom’s studios. Listening will tell you the rest. Between poor quality music, bland, monotone announcers frequently direct listeners to a dot.com site (CPRN.com?) in which everything broadcast on the station along with trivia like mugs and tee shirts can be purchased. Faithful listeners of the 102.1FM classical station are very disappointed in the deteriorated quality.
After getting absolutely nowhere trying to deal with a hostile KUSF administration led by President Father Privett, KUSF filed a petition to deny the sale with the FCC. KUSF’s objective is to get a live hearing with the FCC in hopes of overturning the sale. If successful, this will be a first of a kind victory. Getting to a hearing will be an unprecedented step.
The FCC has been rubber-stamping corporate station purchases for years on the commercial part of the dial and more recently allowing “repeater“ stations easy access for licenses while making it virtually impossible for new community-based stations to enter the market. Congress has recently mandated that the FCC develop a plan to open the left end of the dial equitably for new low power FM stations. The FCC is basically allowing a corporate oligopoly on the dial, filled with about 5,000 repetitive big money songs and AP wire service news from profit-making conglomerates. Artificial scarcity of dial spaces and unrealistic barriers to enty such as costs in the millions for the intangible asset of a broadcast license keep low budget stations out while government-financed NPR and a national religious network control most non-commercial public affairs. Activist have long criticized a cozy relationship between the FCC and broadcast lobby arm the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).
After the sale and shutdown, KUSF assembled a legal team and has been fundraising continuously to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. They continue to broadcast on internet and sponsor enjoyable music and cultural events around the city. While their relationship as the University of San Francisco’s radio station is dead, they want to continue operating on 90.3 as a self-financed station and can make this happen if they can get the sale overturned and maintain the dial space.
A number of legal actions have occurred since the petition has been filed, some of them fairing well for the prospect of an FCC hearing. Early on, two separate requests by CPRN to move the transmitter from the USF campus to Marin County were denied after a number of stations wrote in opposing the move. KUSF had help from surrounding college stations at UC Berkeley, Foothill College, and Stanford University. The local stations filed reports in opposition to the move because it could cause interference in their existing signals and because CPRN is a predator chain, going up and down the state looking to buy other small community-based stations in an effort to match their once large corporate station.
The issue has become a rallying cry for college radio enthusiast nationally, the “death of college radio” as well-finance conglomerates like NPR continue to buy up station licenses by offering incredibly inflated prices to cash-strapped colleges happy to get out of the radio business. Thus we are seeing the dissolution of community-based non-commercial radio nationally, and many college stations are allied with KUSF in this fight. Recent sales of popular stations at Rice University in Houston, Duquesne University in Pittsburgh have raised eyebrows, as is an impending sale of the Vanderbilt University station in Nashville.
On June 28, the FCC sent an unprecedented written inquiry to the parties in the sale, requesting answers to 15 detailed questions related to the sale and subsequent operating maneuvers. Friends of KUSF attorney Alan Korn is quoted, “The letter means that the FCC is giving serious consideration to the issues submitted in our Petition, along with objections raised by others“. The attorney’s describe the submissions to these 15 questions as quite evasive. Attorney Peter Franck is quoted “This action by the University is one more action which demonstrates that the parties to this whole transaction act as if the FCC was nothing more than a rubber stamp. In fact approving this sale would violate the FCC’s duty to act in the public interest, as we will point out further if the FCC grants our petition to set the whole matter for a public hearing.”
KUSF’s Irwin Swirnoff reports improprieties by USF Administration. Apparently, USF president-turned -dictator Father Privett reported that he could not supply E-Mails required because he had erased them. In violation of FCC regulations, USF dismantled the KUSF studio without FCC approval with the proposed sale still pending. In my interview, Irwin alluded to numerous legally dubious maneuvers around the sale. National conversation and involvement has developed as a result of KUSF’s efforts. Broadcast attorney John Garziglia was recently quoted in an industry journal, “The FCC’s staff for some time now has been aware that non-commercial stations have been entering into (Local Marketing Agreements) for what is essentially the sale of broadcast time. It appears the FCC is finally asking questions about this. In a sense, the buyer and the seller dared the FCC staff to ask more questions.”
A spirited save KUSF rally was held in late August at the Entercom broadcasting offices in the South of Market area. Despite acting as if an independent non-commercial outlet, CPRN is broadcasting on 90.3 right out of that Entercom office. SF Supervisor and mayoral candidate John Avalos addressed the crowd, calling KUSF an “island against” the commercialization of the left end of the dial. Avalos told the crowd, “It was a San Francisco station. We need to do more to make sure that KUSF does continue.” Avalos was previously part of an 8-3 Board of Supervisor’s vote on a resolution to oppose the sale. Supervisors Mirkarimi and Mar co-sponsored the resolution and mayoral candidate Leland Yee has spoken out in support.
Activism is needed to make this happen. You can find out how to get involved by accessing the website [savekusf.org], , where you can listen to the internet station, contact station personnel, find out about fun community-based fundraising and outreach events, and access broadcast archives.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
2011-09-17 "Jobless rate plunges in both Solano, Napa counties" by Rachel Raskin-Zrihen, rom "Vallejo Times-Herald"
The unemployment rates in Solano and Napa counties fell precipitously in August, though whether or not this portends a positive trend remains to be seen, experts say.
The state's latest employment figures, released Friday, show this was the deepest drop between July and August in 21 years in both areas, state Employment Development Department labor market consultant Linda Wong said.
The unemployment figures for Solano and Napa counties in August stood at 11.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively. That was down from 12.2 percent and 9.2 percent in July. It's even below the year-ago estimates of 11.9 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively.
These figures compare with a statewide jobless rate of 12.1 percent and 9.1 percent nationally during the same period.
Though still the highest in the Bay Area, "Unemployment fell more drastically in Solano than in most of the surrounding region and Solano had the 25th lowest unemployment rate out of 57 California counties in August," Wong said. "Napa had the third lowest."
And it's not a matter of a large number of people giving up looking for work and falling off the rolls, she said.
"It's a positive," Wong said. "The labor force increased. Some 1,300 people joined the workforce in Solano County last month and the number of unemployed fell by 1,200."
Solano County's employment level rose from 185,500 people working to 188,000 -- meaning 2,500 more people were employed here in August than in July, she said.
Overall, in Solano County, total jobs increased over July by 1,900, Wong said. Government gained 600 jobs, "which is better than the 21 year average for this time of year," she said.
The trade, transportation and utility sector recovered 300 jobs in August, while the professional and business, private education, health, and leisure and hospitality sectors each gained 200 jobs, she said.
On the other hand most, sectors still lost jobs when measured against August last year, Wong said. In fact, the only sector that gained jobs last month compared to August, 2010 was government, which was up 400 jobs. It's the first year-over-year gain in that sector in 27 months, she said.
But, all in all, the news is good, Solano Economic Development Corp. head Sandy Person said.
"We're below 12 percent," Person said. "That's fantastic news. There has been some significant wins for us in the county lately, like the (green manufactured homes firm) Blu Homes in Vallejo and (electric car maker) CODA in Benicia, so there's some significant momentum. I'm feeling positive and encouraged."
Blu Homes is initially bringing some 90 jobs to Mare Island and CODA is partnering with Benicia's Amports, Inc. to install certain components and do final inspections when the cars arrive from China.
Job ads by city
July August Difference
-- Vallejo 769 820 up 51
-- Fairfield 1221 1236 up 15
-- Vacaville 912 921 up 9
-- American Canyon 100 88 down 17
-- Napa 1,249 1,254 up 5
Top five employers by number of want ads by county in August
Source: California Employment Development Department
Solano Napa
-- Kaiser Permanente -- 127 -- St. Helena Hospital -- 68
-- NorthBay Healthcare -- 92 -- VIRTUAL HIREvent (hospitals) -- 44
-- Benicia Unified School District -- 42 -- Treasury Wines Estates -- 43
-- Nurse Options USA -- 36 -- Kaiser Northern California -- 37
-- Sutter Health -- 34 -- Napa Valley Unified School District -- 27
Top five occupations by number of job ads in August
Source: California Employment Development Department
Solano County Napa County
-- Registered nurse -- 272 -- Retail sales person -- 66
-- Retail sales supervisor -- 133 -- Registered nurse -- 60
-- Retail sales person -- 119 -- Retail sales supervisor -- 54
-- Truck driver -- 108 -- Customer service representative -- 48
-- Customer service representative -- 63 -- Waitperson -- 45
The unemployment rates in Solano and Napa counties fell precipitously in August, though whether or not this portends a positive trend remains to be seen, experts say.
The state's latest employment figures, released Friday, show this was the deepest drop between July and August in 21 years in both areas, state Employment Development Department labor market consultant Linda Wong said.
The unemployment figures for Solano and Napa counties in August stood at 11.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively. That was down from 12.2 percent and 9.2 percent in July. It's even below the year-ago estimates of 11.9 percent and 9.4 percent, respectively.
These figures compare with a statewide jobless rate of 12.1 percent and 9.1 percent nationally during the same period.
Though still the highest in the Bay Area, "Unemployment fell more drastically in Solano than in most of the surrounding region and Solano had the 25th lowest unemployment rate out of 57 California counties in August," Wong said. "Napa had the third lowest."
And it's not a matter of a large number of people giving up looking for work and falling off the rolls, she said.
"It's a positive," Wong said. "The labor force increased. Some 1,300 people joined the workforce in Solano County last month and the number of unemployed fell by 1,200."
Solano County's employment level rose from 185,500 people working to 188,000 -- meaning 2,500 more people were employed here in August than in July, she said.
Overall, in Solano County, total jobs increased over July by 1,900, Wong said. Government gained 600 jobs, "which is better than the 21 year average for this time of year," she said.
The trade, transportation and utility sector recovered 300 jobs in August, while the professional and business, private education, health, and leisure and hospitality sectors each gained 200 jobs, she said.
On the other hand most, sectors still lost jobs when measured against August last year, Wong said. In fact, the only sector that gained jobs last month compared to August, 2010 was government, which was up 400 jobs. It's the first year-over-year gain in that sector in 27 months, she said.
But, all in all, the news is good, Solano Economic Development Corp. head Sandy Person said.
"We're below 12 percent," Person said. "That's fantastic news. There has been some significant wins for us in the county lately, like the (green manufactured homes firm) Blu Homes in Vallejo and (electric car maker) CODA in Benicia, so there's some significant momentum. I'm feeling positive and encouraged."
Blu Homes is initially bringing some 90 jobs to Mare Island and CODA is partnering with Benicia's Amports, Inc. to install certain components and do final inspections when the cars arrive from China.
Job ads by city
July August Difference
-- Vallejo 769 820 up 51
-- Fairfield 1221 1236 up 15
-- Vacaville 912 921 up 9
-- American Canyon 100 88 down 17
-- Napa 1,249 1,254 up 5
Top five employers by number of want ads by county in August
Source: California Employment Development Department
Solano Napa
-- Kaiser Permanente -- 127 -- St. Helena Hospital -- 68
-- NorthBay Healthcare -- 92 -- VIRTUAL HIREvent (hospitals) -- 44
-- Benicia Unified School District -- 42 -- Treasury Wines Estates -- 43
-- Nurse Options USA -- 36 -- Kaiser Northern California -- 37
-- Sutter Health -- 34 -- Napa Valley Unified School District -- 27
Top five occupations by number of job ads in August
Source: California Employment Development Department
Solano County Napa County
-- Registered nurse -- 272 -- Retail sales person -- 66
-- Retail sales supervisor -- 133 -- Registered nurse -- 60
-- Retail sales person -- 119 -- Retail sales supervisor -- 54
-- Truck driver -- 108 -- Customer service representative -- 48
-- Customer service representative -- 63 -- Waitperson -- 45
Thursday, September 15, 2011
2011-09-15 "UC Berkeley Police Abuse Treesitters" by Jasmine Malina
UC Berkeley Police harassed me in association with the tree sit in Peoples Park. They came to my bedside in the hospital, and asked me questions directed towards my relationship with one of the treesitters who is now in jail on seperate charges.
They proceeded to ask me personal questions and threated that if I did not cooperate that they would claim to the media that he pushed me out of the tree and reveal personal information regarding my gender identity.
When I refused to cooperate they told me that they had put the treesitter in custody in Santa Rita Jail, when I began to cry they took pictures of my face and laughed at me mockingly.
Please do not let them get away with this, spread the word and take action.
2011-09-15 "Treesitter 'Amy Blue' harrased by Uc Berkeley Police at her hospital bed" by anonymous
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/15/18690436.php]
Two police officers came to her bedside asking her questions about her involvement in the treesit and her relationship to the other treesitters, when she refused to cooperate they took pictures of her face while she was crying.
I have been informed by Amy from her hospital bed that the following account happened while she was in Highland Hospital:
UC Berkeley Police harassed me in association with the tree sit in Peoples Park. They came to my bedside in the hospital, and asked me questions directed towards my relationship with one of the treesitters who is now in jail on seperate charges. They proceeded to ask me personal questions and threated that if I did not cooperate that they would claim to the media that he pushed me out of the tree and reveal personal information regarding my gender identity. When I refused to cooperate they told me that they had put the treesitter in custody in Santa Rita Jail, when I began to cry they took pictures of my face and laughed at me mockingly. Please do not let them get away with this, spread the word and take action
Comments:
2011-09-16 "Context" by Konsider -
You should have included the details of the tree sit so as to put the incident in context for readers.
Amy Blue fell out of a tree at three in the morning ending a tree sit occupation underway in People's park. Amy was the third tree sitter to have taken up the action primarily organized by Running Wolf.
The precise details of why Amy fell, and what then happened to her, have been unknown until the recent email reprinted in your post. As to the injuries she sustained, I am not altogether sure, they're apparently not as substantial as some feared because she's out of the hospital now, but again, details are missing from your post needed to clarify what's going on.
The reasons for the tree sit are multiple, and they include bringing attention to a letter recently drafted by the organization known as the Telegraph Ave. Business Improvement Association urging the University to get rid of social services such as Food Not Bombs, whom they say bring homeless deviants to the park, thus blighting it's appeal.
The letter too, calls for making People's park University student oriented which they claim would provide a more wholesome and attractive environment.
Another reason for the tree sit includes Running Wolf's claim that tree sitting is a necessary way to show that people's Park is situated on Native American land.
The particular background circumstances that initiated the tree sit, and what then resulted, are crucial to understanding what we are dealing with.
2011-09-16 "wrong!" by berzerkeley -
I have been inviolved in the treesit since the beginning and actually she was the second to go up and she is suffering from a broken pelvis and spinal fractures and a lacerated spleen.
2011-09-17 "Support for treesitter who was arrested at people's Park tree sit" by Amy Blue
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/17/18690581.php]
I have been writing to my comrade 'Oberon' who was also involved with the treesit but was arrested. He is currently in jail and has no money on his account, which means he cannot afford stamps, envelopes, hygene supplies, ect. I am currently unemployed and have a bunch of hospital bills. Due to my fall from a platform. If you can help donate and put money on his account, please email me at, lavendardeodarant [at] gmail.com, and I will give you the information on how to do so
UC Berkeley Police harassed me in association with the tree sit in Peoples Park. They came to my bedside in the hospital, and asked me questions directed towards my relationship with one of the treesitters who is now in jail on seperate charges.
They proceeded to ask me personal questions and threated that if I did not cooperate that they would claim to the media that he pushed me out of the tree and reveal personal information regarding my gender identity.
When I refused to cooperate they told me that they had put the treesitter in custody in Santa Rita Jail, when I began to cry they took pictures of my face and laughed at me mockingly.
Please do not let them get away with this, spread the word and take action.
2011-09-15 "Treesitter 'Amy Blue' harrased by Uc Berkeley Police at her hospital bed" by anonymous [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/15/18690436.php]
Two police officers came to her bedside asking her questions about her involvement in the treesit and her relationship to the other treesitters, when she refused to cooperate they took pictures of her face while she was crying.
I have been informed by Amy from her hospital bed that the following account happened while she was in Highland Hospital:
UC Berkeley Police harassed me in association with the tree sit in Peoples Park. They came to my bedside in the hospital, and asked me questions directed towards my relationship with one of the treesitters who is now in jail on seperate charges. They proceeded to ask me personal questions and threated that if I did not cooperate that they would claim to the media that he pushed me out of the tree and reveal personal information regarding my gender identity. When I refused to cooperate they told me that they had put the treesitter in custody in Santa Rita Jail, when I began to cry they took pictures of my face and laughed at me mockingly. Please do not let them get away with this, spread the word and take action
Comments:
2011-09-16 "Context" by Konsider -
You should have included the details of the tree sit so as to put the incident in context for readers.
Amy Blue fell out of a tree at three in the morning ending a tree sit occupation underway in People's park. Amy was the third tree sitter to have taken up the action primarily organized by Running Wolf.
The precise details of why Amy fell, and what then happened to her, have been unknown until the recent email reprinted in your post. As to the injuries she sustained, I am not altogether sure, they're apparently not as substantial as some feared because she's out of the hospital now, but again, details are missing from your post needed to clarify what's going on.
The reasons for the tree sit are multiple, and they include bringing attention to a letter recently drafted by the organization known as the Telegraph Ave. Business Improvement Association urging the University to get rid of social services such as Food Not Bombs, whom they say bring homeless deviants to the park, thus blighting it's appeal.
The letter too, calls for making People's park University student oriented which they claim would provide a more wholesome and attractive environment.
Another reason for the tree sit includes Running Wolf's claim that tree sitting is a necessary way to show that people's Park is situated on Native American land.
The particular background circumstances that initiated the tree sit, and what then resulted, are crucial to understanding what we are dealing with.
2011-09-16 "wrong!" by berzerkeley -
I have been inviolved in the treesit since the beginning and actually she was the second to go up and she is suffering from a broken pelvis and spinal fractures and a lacerated spleen.
2011-09-17 "Support for treesitter who was arrested at people's Park tree sit" by Amy Blue
[http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2011/09/17/18690581.php]
I have been writing to my comrade 'Oberon' who was also involved with the treesit but was arrested. He is currently in jail and has no money on his account, which means he cannot afford stamps, envelopes, hygene supplies, ect. I am currently unemployed and have a bunch of hospital bills. Due to my fall from a platform. If you can help donate and put money on his account, please email me at, lavendardeodarant [at] gmail.com, and I will give you the information on how to do so
2011-09 letter from Mutawally, a conscious prisoner at Pelican Bay Hunger about the Strike
Published as 2012-02-25 "RHHR Receives Letter from Pelican Bay while Hunger Strike Continues" from "Revolutionary Hip-Hop Report" [http://rhhr.wordpress.com/2012/02/25/rhhr-receives-letter-from-pelican-bay-while-hunger-strike-continues/]:
Join the Hip-Hop on Lock-Down Correspondence Connection and write to an inmate in Pelican Bay: Contact RHHR at (209) 874-6512 or rhhrorg@live.com or P.O. Box 3027 Modesto, CA 95353
---
Mutawally Cooperwood #C46411, Pelican Bay State Prison S.H.U.
In September of 2011 RHHR got a letter from longtime follower Mutawally, a prisoner in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) of Pelican Bay State Penitentiary where a hunger strike, protesting horrible conditions, is still on-going. Mutawally writes:
[begin letter]
The prisoners of Pelican Bay State Prison have called for a second wave of our indefinite hunger-strike to protest the long-term isolation in the S.H.U. and the human rights violations as well as the prison/state sanctioned torture to extract information from or cause mental illness to these prisoners held inside its security housing units.
I have been inside the notorious S.H.U. for the past 20 years, serving an indeterminate sentence based on illegal allegations of the CDCR gang affiliation placement. I have, over the past 20 years, experienced and witnessed the CDCR psychological terror techniques. ‘Mentacide’ and torture may be defined as scientific methods that are systematically being utilized by the CDCR and its law enforcement liaisons (ie Special Service Unit and Institution Gang Investigation) to wage indiscriminate psychological warfare and murder upon the minds and bodies of a class of prisoners to break their will to resist. For the past 20 years and counting, a certain class of prisoners housed at Pelican Bay SHU and Corcoran Super Maximum Security, have been subjective targets of human experimentations, manipulation, psychological warfare, sensory deprivation, cultural deprivation, illegal behavior modifications, and long term effects from solitary confinement as well as small group confinement in D1-D4 “Short Corridor.” The short corridor is the super max of the SHU where CDCR house the indeterminate prisoners until they “debrief, parole, come into mental illness, or die.”
These prisoners have been confined together in pods (sections) of very small groups for many years. Each pod has 2 short tiers with 4 cells on each tier. The cells are approximately 6 by 10 feet containing 2 concrete slabs to sleep on and a built-in toilet and sink. The front door is made of heavy gauge perforated metal which significantly blocks light and vision. Its interior is designed to reduce visual stimulation. Each cell is dull white and windowless.
The pod exercise yard is a small pen with a cement floor and walls 20 feet high and precludes the sun and any view of the outside world! The intermediate prisoners are inside our cells for 22 ½ hours a day, only released to said yard for fresh air and a 20 foot walk for approximately 1 ½ hours. There are 10 individuals inside my pod who have been within the 8-cells for over 20 years!
Being confined together in a small area 24 hours a day has dramatically increased levels of hostility, interpersonal conflicts, and paranoia upon some of us. Dr. Stuart Grassian, a board certified psychiatrist who had once compiled clinical data as an expert in the Madrid v. Gomez a class action suit concerning conditions at Pelican Bay SHU, stated “individuals exposed to such conditions also tend to become irrationally territorial, staking out areas of exclusive or special pod use and acting with hostility to trespasses by others.” Being confined in long term SHU has caused many of us to experience severe difficulties in thinking, concentration, and memory loss. For example, myself and others have reported among ourselves that long term confinement in SHU has made it difficult to perform tasks requiring some mental effort, such as reading or writing! Only for the early part of the morning, about 3 hours, is the mind alert! After, the mind seems to slow down, so much “in a fog” that we become entirely unable to maintain any meaningful mental effort.
In spite of the class action suit brought by prisoners at Pelican Bay SHU, Madrid v. Gomez which in part ruled that the prison had been in violation of the United States Constitution under the 8th Amendment (cruel & unusual punishment) and 14th Amendment, the prison continues a deliberate failure to provide and safeguard minimum medical and health care to its prisoners. The medical staff inside the SHU allows the prison guards to insinuate themselves in decision making of prisoner’s diagnosis and the circumvention of medical treatment, thus, intentionally subjecting its patients to unwarranted torture. My arrival in the SHU 20 years ago, I was in great health without any serious medical problems. Long term solitary confinement has threatened my health and life and I am now suffering from 1)high blood pressure 2)hearing impairment 3)vision loss 4)leg/knee surgery 5)deteriorating disk in lower back 6)depigmentation/natural sun-vitamin deficiency and 7)chronic asthmatic. Being that I am a chronic asthmatic that is housed inside D1-D Pod, a contaminated section of the security unit, I am being subjected to deliberate indifference to my serious medical needs, as a result of the lack of medical care provided and the unsanitary and inhumane living conditions. The small group living environment exposes chronic asthmatic patients to known substances that provokes and triggers severe asthmatic attacks, headaches, insomnia, shortness of breath, exhaustion, allergies, fevers, vomiting, and vision impairment. I pray that this document brings some light the deprivation of our situation in Pelican Bay State Prison (S.H.U.) and other similar prisons around the world.”
[end letter]
---
"Make Some Noise: International solidarity for Pelican Bay Hunger Strike!" (from http://sfbayview.com):
Prisoners across the U.S. are showing their solidarity with the Pelican Bay SHU prisoners by joining the hunger strike for varying lengths of time – including prisoners in Corcoran, Folsom, CCI Tehachapi, Calipatria and Centinela State Prisons in California and Ohio State Penitentiary – or by bravely writing statements and letters or calling people outside to relay messages to the Pelican Bay hunger strikes.
Prisoners at Collins Bay Federal Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario, who have been on work strike since June 28 showed their solidarity with Pelican Bay prisoners on hunger strike when, on July 4, this banner was dropped off a building overlooking City Hall in downtown Kingston.
Supporters in Ontario are linking the struggles at Collins Bay to prisoners’ struggles at Pelican Bay.
Families and loved ones of prisoners have been organizing outside of Pelican Bay, sharing information with each other before visiting with their loved ones inside.
Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc dancers from Los Angeles are up in Crescent City in front of the prison to support the hunger strikers with ceremony.
Outside Corcoran State Prison, where prisoners have joined the Pelican Bay hunger strike in solidarity, families and community members have been rallying to show their support, as well as sharing information before visiting their loved ones.
In Seattle, Washington, a group of people equipped with a mobile sound system met in front of the King County Juvenile Detention Center in the Central District of Seattle.
The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee in Western Australia also supports the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike, dedicating an action in Perth on July 3 for NAIDOC Week, a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survival.
Make sure to check out the actions page for upcoming rallies and events to show your support, help circulate the online petition, and call the CDCR and California elected officials and urge them to honor the prisoners’ demands!
Join the Hip-Hop on Lock-Down Correspondence Connection and write to an inmate in Pelican Bay: Contact RHHR at (209) 874-6512 or rhhrorg@live.com or P.O. Box 3027 Modesto, CA 95353
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Mutawally Cooperwood #C46411, Pelican Bay State Prison S.H.U.
In September of 2011 RHHR got a letter from longtime follower Mutawally, a prisoner in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) of Pelican Bay State Penitentiary where a hunger strike, protesting horrible conditions, is still on-going. Mutawally writes:
[begin letter]
The prisoners of Pelican Bay State Prison have called for a second wave of our indefinite hunger-strike to protest the long-term isolation in the S.H.U. and the human rights violations as well as the prison/state sanctioned torture to extract information from or cause mental illness to these prisoners held inside its security housing units.
I have been inside the notorious S.H.U. for the past 20 years, serving an indeterminate sentence based on illegal allegations of the CDCR gang affiliation placement. I have, over the past 20 years, experienced and witnessed the CDCR psychological terror techniques. ‘Mentacide’ and torture may be defined as scientific methods that are systematically being utilized by the CDCR and its law enforcement liaisons (ie Special Service Unit and Institution Gang Investigation) to wage indiscriminate psychological warfare and murder upon the minds and bodies of a class of prisoners to break their will to resist. For the past 20 years and counting, a certain class of prisoners housed at Pelican Bay SHU and Corcoran Super Maximum Security, have been subjective targets of human experimentations, manipulation, psychological warfare, sensory deprivation, cultural deprivation, illegal behavior modifications, and long term effects from solitary confinement as well as small group confinement in D1-D4 “Short Corridor.” The short corridor is the super max of the SHU where CDCR house the indeterminate prisoners until they “debrief, parole, come into mental illness, or die.”
These prisoners have been confined together in pods (sections) of very small groups for many years. Each pod has 2 short tiers with 4 cells on each tier. The cells are approximately 6 by 10 feet containing 2 concrete slabs to sleep on and a built-in toilet and sink. The front door is made of heavy gauge perforated metal which significantly blocks light and vision. Its interior is designed to reduce visual stimulation. Each cell is dull white and windowless.
The pod exercise yard is a small pen with a cement floor and walls 20 feet high and precludes the sun and any view of the outside world! The intermediate prisoners are inside our cells for 22 ½ hours a day, only released to said yard for fresh air and a 20 foot walk for approximately 1 ½ hours. There are 10 individuals inside my pod who have been within the 8-cells for over 20 years!
Being confined together in a small area 24 hours a day has dramatically increased levels of hostility, interpersonal conflicts, and paranoia upon some of us. Dr. Stuart Grassian, a board certified psychiatrist who had once compiled clinical data as an expert in the Madrid v. Gomez a class action suit concerning conditions at Pelican Bay SHU, stated “individuals exposed to such conditions also tend to become irrationally territorial, staking out areas of exclusive or special pod use and acting with hostility to trespasses by others.” Being confined in long term SHU has caused many of us to experience severe difficulties in thinking, concentration, and memory loss. For example, myself and others have reported among ourselves that long term confinement in SHU has made it difficult to perform tasks requiring some mental effort, such as reading or writing! Only for the early part of the morning, about 3 hours, is the mind alert! After, the mind seems to slow down, so much “in a fog” that we become entirely unable to maintain any meaningful mental effort.
In spite of the class action suit brought by prisoners at Pelican Bay SHU, Madrid v. Gomez which in part ruled that the prison had been in violation of the United States Constitution under the 8th Amendment (cruel & unusual punishment) and 14th Amendment, the prison continues a deliberate failure to provide and safeguard minimum medical and health care to its prisoners. The medical staff inside the SHU allows the prison guards to insinuate themselves in decision making of prisoner’s diagnosis and the circumvention of medical treatment, thus, intentionally subjecting its patients to unwarranted torture. My arrival in the SHU 20 years ago, I was in great health without any serious medical problems. Long term solitary confinement has threatened my health and life and I am now suffering from 1)high blood pressure 2)hearing impairment 3)vision loss 4)leg/knee surgery 5)deteriorating disk in lower back 6)depigmentation/natural sun-vitamin deficiency and 7)chronic asthmatic. Being that I am a chronic asthmatic that is housed inside D1-D Pod, a contaminated section of the security unit, I am being subjected to deliberate indifference to my serious medical needs, as a result of the lack of medical care provided and the unsanitary and inhumane living conditions. The small group living environment exposes chronic asthmatic patients to known substances that provokes and triggers severe asthmatic attacks, headaches, insomnia, shortness of breath, exhaustion, allergies, fevers, vomiting, and vision impairment. I pray that this document brings some light the deprivation of our situation in Pelican Bay State Prison (S.H.U.) and other similar prisons around the world.”
[end letter]
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"Make Some Noise: International solidarity for Pelican Bay Hunger Strike!" (from http://sfbayview.com):
Prisoners across the U.S. are showing their solidarity with the Pelican Bay SHU prisoners by joining the hunger strike for varying lengths of time – including prisoners in Corcoran, Folsom, CCI Tehachapi, Calipatria and Centinela State Prisons in California and Ohio State Penitentiary – or by bravely writing statements and letters or calling people outside to relay messages to the Pelican Bay hunger strikes.
Prisoners at Collins Bay Federal Penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario, who have been on work strike since June 28 showed their solidarity with Pelican Bay prisoners on hunger strike when, on July 4, this banner was dropped off a building overlooking City Hall in downtown Kingston.
Supporters in Ontario are linking the struggles at Collins Bay to prisoners’ struggles at Pelican Bay.
Families and loved ones of prisoners have been organizing outside of Pelican Bay, sharing information with each other before visiting with their loved ones inside.
Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc dancers from Los Angeles are up in Crescent City in front of the prison to support the hunger strikers with ceremony.
Outside Corcoran State Prison, where prisoners have joined the Pelican Bay hunger strike in solidarity, families and community members have been rallying to show their support, as well as sharing information before visiting their loved ones.
In Seattle, Washington, a group of people equipped with a mobile sound system met in front of the King County Juvenile Detention Center in the Central District of Seattle.
The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee in Western Australia also supports the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike, dedicating an action in Perth on July 3 for NAIDOC Week, a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survival.
Make sure to check out the actions page for upcoming rallies and events to show your support, help circulate the online petition, and call the CDCR and California elected officials and urge them to honor the prisoners’ demands!
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