San Francisco

Homeless Advocates: Stop Criminalizing Homelessness

November 21, 2014 Andrew Klein, www.truth-out.org Resist! Homelessness, Protest, San Francisco

The names of the five individuals shot and killed by police officers of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) emanated from a bullhorn at a recent San Francisco rally, protesting BART's treatment of the city's homeless. For the activists lining the walls of the Powell Street BART Station on this Saturday morning in November, the BART police shootings underscored the injustice of an institution, which, for its detractors, has become synonymous with racial profiling, police brutality and abuse of power. The rally, which its organizers labeled a "sleep-in," centered on a policy ratified in July 2014, which allows BART police to arrest or issue citations to anyone resting or sleeping against the walls of BART stations. Those in attendance were aiming to reverse that specific policy, but they located their campaign within a broader effort to both reform the conduct of BART police and combat the general marginalization of San Francisco's poor.

SF Bay Residents Organize Healing Walks

July 12, 2014 Pennie Opal Plant, www.greenpeaceblogs.orgs Resist! Activism, Oil & Gas, San Francisco

The following is a guest post from Pennie Opal Plant, member of Gathering Tribes & organizer of the Refinery Corridor Healing Walks. Prior to organized healing walks in the San Francisco Bay area, many residents had not been aware of the five oil and chemical refineries along the Bay. In 2012, the Chevron refinery explosion in Richmond, California which sent more than 15,000 people to the hospital raised the profile of these refineries. The organized walks called the Connect the Dots: Refinery Corridor Healing Walks heightens awareness of the refineries and unites activists. Each walk begins by the Bay with local community speakers and Native American prayers. Participants then proceed with Native American elders, community members and those wishing to remain in prayer leading the way. We then “circle up” along the way at the refineries and toxic sites where it is felt that prayers are needed. Some local critters will often join including deer, squirrels and a hawk.

Hundreds Of San Francisco Transit Workers Call In Sick

June 5, 2014 Rose Arrieta, www.inthesetimes.com Resist! Labor, San Francisco, Strike

San Francisco commuters are being asked to find alternative transportation arrangements in Day 2 of a Muni driver sickout, affecting the operation of city buses, light rail, cable and trolley cars. Today, only 300 of 600 vehicles are operating, according to Muni spokesman Paul Rose. Yesterday commuters scrambled to find ways to and from their destinations in the surprise sickout that left two-thirds of the Muni system buses non-operational. Forbidden from going on strike over contract negotiations, drivers called in sick again today despite a strongly worded memo from SFMTA last night that warned, “Operators engaging in an unauthorized work stoppage or ‘sick out’ are not entitled to receive paid sick leave and further, may be subject to discipline, up to and including termination.” Muni spokesperson Paul Rose said in a statement yesterday that about 400 out of 600 morning runs—both buses and rail car—remained parked on Monday. SF Bicycle Coalition tweeted this morning “Ride your bike today to avoid any #Muni delays.” The Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, which represents the 2,200 operators, is involved in a contentious contract dispute with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). The agency manages public transportation in the city, including Muni.

Crackdown On Homeless In The SF Bay Area

June 4, 2014 Mark Karlin, www.truth-out.org Educate! Eviction, Homeless, San Francisco

The East Bay city of Albany, California, a relatively small town (approximately 19,000 residents) - just north of the former bastion of leftist politics and culture, Berkeley - this past Thursday cleared the last homeless residents from public land by charging them with "suspicion of illegal lodging." According to the Monday June 2 The Daily Californian: Police arrested Bulb [the name of the publicly owned landfill in the bay] residents Amber Whitson and Philip Lewis, along with their friend Erik Eisenberg, on suspicion of illegal lodging. The city began enforcing a no-camping ordinance in October in an effort to relocate the homeless population so that the Bulb can be turned into a state park. Local law firms then filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of the residents, which ended in an April settlement that gave residents $3,000 each as long as they agreed to leave the Bulb by April 25 and stay away from the area for one year.

The Rise Of The Progressive City

May 29, 2014 Michelle Goldberg, www.alternet.org Create! Cities, Cooperatives, New Economy, New York (NY), San Francisco

As the gears of federal government have ground to a halt, a new energy has been rocking the foundations of our urban centers. From Atlanta to Seattle and points in between, cities have begun seizing the initiative, transforming themselves into laboratories for progressive innovation. Cities Rising is The Nation’s chronicle of those urban experiments. * * * The Bush years were grim for progressives, but they did offer one small consolation: the hope that if only a smart and decent person could ascend to the White House, our politics could be repaired. Now, after years of destructive austerity and hopeless stalemate, that faith is dead. People on the left will debate where to lay the blame, but few will disagree that our federal institutions seem utterly unequal to the challenges of a country still reeling from economic crisis. Indeed, our national politics are so deformed that it’s hard even to imagine the steps necessary to fix things. Last year, The Boston Globe ran an award-winning series, “Broken City,” about the entropy in Washington. The final piece noted that potential remedies for the country’s problems are met with “almost complete indifference in Washington, the world’s capital of gridlock, even when alternative, perhaps better, ways are already at work, some in plain sight.”

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