If you would like to come early and get an introduction to the concepts of public banking, or more locally to who we are and what we do, please email us and someone will come meet you at 5:30.

Working Group Meetings:

Some of our working groups meet between organizers’ meetings, and others just confer by phone and email. You can plug into any one of these:

• Outreach to Organizations
• Outreach to Individuals
• Digital Outreach
• Advocacy (working with politicians)
• Governance
• California Public Banking Alliance
• Fundraising
• Operations

Just send us a note and we’ll help you get connected to the work you want to do.

You can help us find interim board members for the Public Bank of the East Bay. We are building an Interim Board to facilitate the transition to an approved, operating Board of Directors. Review the requirements for Board members. If you would like to be on the Interim Board, or you know someone you think would be good, you can email us or use the contact page linked above.

You can donate to our efforts, or get and wear our spiffy t-shirt, through the green buttons on the right. (Pic of the t-shirt shows up when you click.)

You can help us with outreach (tabling at events, farmers’ markets, etc.)

You can encourage your organization(s) to join us as supporters.

You can come to our meetings and work with us.

You can help us find major donors.

You can tell people about public banking.

OTU’s Mission

The Oakland Tenants Union is an organization of housing activists dedicated to protecting tenant rights and interests. OTU does this by working directly with tenants in their struggle with landlords, impacting legislation and public policy about housing, community education, and working with other organizations committed to furthering renters’ rights. The Oakland Tenants Union is open to anyone who shares our core values and who believes that tenants themselves have the primary responsibility to work on their own behalf.

Monthly Meetings

The Oakland Tenants Union meets regularly at 7:00 pm on the second Monday evening of each month. Our monthly meetings are held in the Community Room of the Madison Park Apartments, 100 – 9th Street (at Oak Street, across from the Lake Merritt BART Station). To enter, gently knock on the window of the room to the right of the main entrance to the building. At the meetings, first we focus on general issues affecting renters city-wide and then second we offer advice to renters regarding their individual concerns.

If you have an issue, a question, or need advice about a tenant/landlord issue, please call us at (510) 704-5276. Leave a message with your name and phone number and someone will get back to you.

Join Oakland Privacy to organize against the surveillance state, police militarization and ICE, and to advocate for surveillance regulation around the Bay and nationwide.

We fight against “pre-crime” and “thought-crime,” spy drones, facial recognition, police body camera secrecy, anti-transparency laws and requirements for “backdoors” to cellphones, to list just a few invasions of our privacy by all levels of Government, and attempts to hide what government officials, employees and agencies are doing.

We draft and push for privacy legislation for City Councils, at the County level, and in Sacramento. We advocate in op-eds and in the streets. We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and believe no one is illegal.

Oakland Privacy originally came together in 2013 to fight against the Domain Awareness Center, Oakland’s citywide networked mass surveillance hub. OP was instrumental in stopping the DAC from becoming a city-wide spying network.  We helped fight and helped win the fight against Urban Shield.

Our major projects currently include local legislation to regulate state surveillance (we got the strongest surveillance regulation ordinance in the country passed in Oakland!), supporting and opposing state legislation as appropriate, battling mass surveillance in the form of facial recognition and other analytics, and pushing back against ICE.

On September 12th, 2019 we were presented with a Barlow Award by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for our work.

If you are interested in joining the Oakland Privacy email listserv, coming to a meeting, or have questions, send an email to:

contact@oaklandprivacy.org

Check out our website: http://oaklandprivacy.org/   Follow us on twitter: @oaklandprivacy

Check out our sister site DeportICE.

“WATCHING YOU WATCHING US”

Oakland Privacy works regionally to defend the right to privacy and enhance public transparency and oversight regarding the use of surveillance techniques and equipment.  Oakland Privacy drove the passage of surveillance regulation and transparency ordinances in Oakland and Berkeley and is kicking off new processes in various municipalities around the Bay.  To help slow down the encroaching police and surveillance state all over the Bay Area, join us at the Omni.

Come by our open Delegates Meetings every Thursday evening at 7pm! We’ll give space to brief announcements, updates from working groups, proposals up for consensus, and discussion around important issues. The schedule is created weekly at the following url: https://pad.riseup.net/p/omninom

This meeting usually happens in the Ballroom, but the the location may change depending on the access needs of people attending and other events taking place in the building.

Join SURJ’s Mobilization Committee for our annual “Wake-Up Call” during the 6th Annual Reclaim Martin Luther King Jr.’s Radical Legacy Weekend. We’ll be calling commuters in with broadcasts of inspiring MLK speeches, passing out information on alternatives to calling the police, and inviting people to come out to Monday’s big MLK Day rally and march (see https://www.facebook.com/events/747077179148170/ for more info).

Join us to build “The Right to Exist” Village no experience necessary! (But if you’re a builder, give us a call.)

For the past three years, The Village in Oakland #feedthepeople has participated in Reclaiming Dr. Martin Luther King’s Radical Legacy by reclaiming unused and/or neglected public landed owned by the City of Oakland to build temporary emergency shelter for our brothers and sisters living on the streets.

The goals are simple:
1. Let people get off the ground, out of tents and into something safe until permanent deeply affordable housing is accessible to our people.
2. Show how illegitimate, ineffective, cruel and inhumane the mayor and her Encampment Management Team are in approaching the homeless crisis that her decisions helped create.
3. Connect the dots between gentrification, the housing affordability crisis and the homeless state of emergency.
4. Inspire regular people like us – both housed and unhoused – to take matters in our own hands and provide community driven solutions since city hall refuses to.

This past year, we focussed on upgrading existing curbside communities by building homes and communal kitchens, upgrading self made homes,, defending self built homes from demolition, and improving conditions at curbside communities that are neglected or brutalized by the mayor’s encampment management team.

One such community is in East Oakland behind the Burger King on East 12th and 14th Ave. We built three emergency homes, are providing regular trash service, and supported the residents in their political empowerment – in particular learning about their rights and developing self government.

This Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, instead of moving on to an empty piece of public land, we call all housed and unhoused volunteers to concentrate our energies on this East Oakland encampment and finish building “The Right To Exist” Curbside Community – that the longterm residents have designed and named.

On January 18 & 19th from 10am to 5pm, we will build 5 tiny homes, a communal kitchen, a solar shower, a bike operated washer, raised garden beds, and paint murals on the three finished homes. We will serve food all day, do a huge trash pick up along East 12th from 14th to 22nd Ave, and offer workshops and services for our unhoused brothers and sisters: Know Your Rights, Adverse Possession and Squatters Rights, Health and Wellness for Curbside Living.

If you want to help us prepare, you can join a committee by contacting Needa Bee at 510-355-7010 :
– building (for skilled builders, carpenters and handy people)
– gardening
– trash pick up
– murals
– outreach to surrounding neighborhood
– food services
– donation solicitation
– portapotty outreach – finding a neighboring business or community to sponsor portapotty services

But, most importantly, please come on MLK weekend – even if you can only be there for a couple of hours! Bring your friends and neighbors (housed and unhoused), too!

If you cannot contribute in person, please contribute resources: We need $16,000 to complete this work. We currently have $8,000 raised. To fill the gap, you can

– donate at https://www.paypal.me/thevillageinoakland
– send a gift card to TheVillage (maowunyo@gmail.com) at https://homedepot.cashstar.com/
– donate building materials, food, etc, by contacting mlkdonations2020@gmail.com

If you have other questions or media requests, please contact Needa Bee at 510-355-7010.

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall.  If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph.  If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months,  once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
3. Announcements
4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

RALLY AND UNDISCLOSED ACTION!

The time it long over due for those in poverty to be heard. Unhoused,advocates, and allies will be coming in from across CA. we will have a rally and an undisclosed action.

On Nov 4 2019 we had to disrupt a meeting with 350 statewide representatives. Our main demand was that we be at the table in these forums panels and homeless policy workshops. We have been approached by less then a handful of reps. We wrote a statement with 21 demands. We also mentioned we would be heard or we would start shutting it down. Martin Luther King Day is the day before this event. This is the same fight 50 years later. Everyone come and be loud and help remind this government they work for all of we the people. NO MORE ABOUT US WITHOUT US, NO MORE DEATH ON THE STREETS AND HOUSING NOW! CA has 189,000+ unhoused. There is a war on the poor.

The National law Center on Homelessness and poverty just released its 2019 report. In the 120+ report is the HALL OF SHAME 7 total made the list. Sacramento made the list due to the stockton blvd sweep and the city trying to sue the unhoused, also redding CA made the list regard mayor trying to gain conservatorship of the unhoused. UNITED WE MUST RISE AGAINST THE INJUSTICES. SACRAMENTO IS THE PLACE TO SHUT IT DOWN! SILENCE IS COMPLICITY AND COMPLICITY IS CREATING POLICIES THAT ARE KILLING PEOPLE!

Lets be loud! BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF HISTORY SEE YOU THERE

Weekly Friday Vigil with music, snacks, letter writing, conversation

The Occupy Oakland General Assembly meets every Sunday at 3 PM at Oscar Grant Plaza amphitheater at 14th Street & Broadway near the steps of City Hall.  If for some reason the amphitheater is being used otherwise and/or OGP itself is inaccessible, we will meet at Kaiser Park, right next to the statues, on 19th St. between San Pablo and Telegraph.  If it is raining (as in RAINING, not just misting) at 3:00 PM we meet in the basement of the Omni Collective, 4799 Shattuck Ave., Oakland.  (Note: we meet at 3:00 PM during the cooler months,  once Daylight Savings Time springs forward we tend to assemble at 4 PM).

On every ‘last Sunday’ we meet a little earlier at 2 PM to have a community potluck to which all are welcome.

OO General Assembly has met on a continuous basis for over five years! Our General Assembly is a participatory gathering of Oakland community members and beyond, where everyone who shows up is treated equally. Our Assembly and the process we have collectively cultivated strives to reach agreement while building community.

At the GA committees, caucuses, and loosely associated groups whose representatives come voluntarily report on past and future actions, with discussion. We encourage everyone participating in the Occupy Oakland GA to be part of at least one associated group, but it is by no means a requirement. If you like, just come and hear all the organizing being done! Occupy Oakland encourages political activity that is decentralized and welcomes diverse voices and actions into the movement.

General Assembly Standard Agenda

1. Welcome & Introductions
2. Reports from Committees, Caucuses, & Independent Organizations
3. Announcements
4. (Optional) Discussion Topic

Occupy Oakland activities and contact info for some Bay Area Groups with past or present Occupy Oakland members.

Occupy Oakland Web Committee: (web@occupyoakland.org)
Strike Debt Bay Area : strikedebtbayarea.tumblr.com
Berkeley Post Office Defenders:http://berkeleypostofficedefenders.wordpress.com/
Alan Blueford Center 4 Justice:https://www.facebook.com/ABC4JUSTICE
Oakland Privacy Working Group:https://oaklandprivacy.wordpress.com
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity: prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/
Bay Area AntiRepression: antirepression@occupyoakland.org
Biblioteca Popular: http://tinyurl.com/mdlzshy
Interfaith Tent: www.facebook.com/InterfaithTent
Port Truckers Solidarity: oaklandporttruckers.wordpress.com
Bay Area Intifada: bayareaintifada.wordpress.com
Transport Workers Solidarity: www.transportworkers.org
Fresh Juice Party (aka Chalkupy) freshjuiceparty.com/chalkupy-gallery
Sudo Room: https://sudoroom.org
Omni Collective: https://omnicommons.org/
First They Came for the Homeless: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-they-came-for-the-homeless/253882908111999
Sunflower Alliance: http://www.sunflower-alliance.org/
Bay Area Public School: http://thepublicschool.org/bay-area

San Francisco based groups:
Occupy Bay Area United: www.obau.org
Occupy Forum: (see OBAU above)
San Francisco Projection Department: http://tinyurl.com/kpvb3rv

Fred Craves is the owner of Gamechanger LLC. For over a year, he and his lackeys, The Law offices of Alan J horowitz and “the Evictors” have been harrassing The West Oakland Wood St community, all in attempt to develop the land beneath their feet.

Join The United Front Against Displacement and The West Oakland Wood St Community in a Rally against the Law offices of Alan J Horowitz. These law offices call themselves “The Evictors” and specialize in helping landlords evict working people. The Billionaire Fred Craves is using these law offices to harrass and take legal action against the homeless residents of Wood st. These crooks want to develop the land and make millions, leaving the homeless people of Oakland with nothing and nowhere to go.

The number of social justice movements is growing  That means there are more people relying on  “Public Comment” at City Council meetings.

Why do people rely on “Public Comment”?
Because they are locked out of policy-making !

The rules of council need to be changed so that:

1.      those who will be affected by a policy get to participate in writing and deciding the policy

2.      the council stops silencing people with its procedures.

Join us!

 Supporters in Alameda County are welcome.

Here are the links to the draft agenda and 12/1/19 meeting notes.

We hope to see you there.