Calendar

The city council meets to discuss the measure for $19/hour by 2020 on November 10! If this measure passes Berkeley will have the highest minimum wage ordinance in the country, paving the way for a higher minimum wage nation wide. This has become part of the National Day of Action for the Fight for $15, which has an event in San Francisco early morning and an event in Oakland at 4:30 PM.  Then on to Berkeley at 7:00 !

1. a. Revisions to Minimum Wage Ordinance B.M.C 13.99 (Continued from September 15, 2015)
   From: Commission on Labor
   Recommendation: Adopt first reading of an Ordinance amending Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 13.99 that will ensure the Berkeley Minimum Wage Ordinance is successful in promoting and protecting the rights and the individual self-reliance of working people in Berkeley by raising the minimum wage to a living wage, adding an annual cost of living adjustment, and granting adequate paid sick leave to all workers.
   Financial Implications: None
   Contact: Delfina Geiken, Commission Secretary, 981-5400

13. Proposed Amendments to the Minimum Wage Ordinance; Amending Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 13.99(Continued from September 15, 2015)
    From: City Manager
    Recommendation: Review and consider information regarding the activities and costs associated with implementing and enforcing the Commission on Labor’s proposed amendments to the Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO), including the potential impact of the proposed amendments on the City’s minimum wage employees, employers, non-profit organizations and community-based organizations, on-call workers and youth training program workers, and either:
    1. Adopt first reading of an Ordinance amending Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 13.99, which includes staff-recommended revisions to the Commission’s proposed Ordinance;
    -OR-
    2. Refer the MWO back to the City Manager for further analysis and revisions.
    Financial Implications: Staff time
    Contact: Kelly Wallace, Health, Housing and Community Services, 981-5400
14. Paid Sick Leave Ordinance; Adding Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 13.100
    From: City Manager
    Recommendation: Review and consider the attached Paid Sick Leave Ordinance (PSLO), including the potential benefits and impacts of the ordinance on employees, employers, and the community and either:
    1. Adopt first reading of an Ordinance adding Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 13.100;
    -OR-
    2. Postpone adoption of the Ordinance until businesses have had a chance to assess the impact of the new state Paid Sick Leave law on business operations.
    Financial Implications: See report
    Contact: Kelly Wallace, Health, Housing and Community Services, 981-5400

1. Berkeley Fair Elections Public Campaign Financing Ballot Measure (Continued from September 15, 2015)
   From: Fair Campaign Practices Commission
   Recommendation: Consider the public funding proposal from MapLight and the League of Women Voters (dated January 5, 2015) for possible further consideration for the November 2016 ballot.
   Financial Implications: None
   Contact: Savith Iyengar, Commission Secretary, 981-6950

Film evenings begin with optional potluck refreshments & social hour at 6:30 pm,
followed by the film at 7:30 pm, followed by optional discussion after the film.

Here’s a description of this film.

Humanist Hall is wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street

Last week Berkeley High students walked out en masse and marched to UC Berkeley over a racist notice at the Berkeley High school.

They plan to do it again. Join them in solidarity.

During the accreditation crisis, City College students and workers fought alongside our community for CCSF. Now Administration intends to shrink classes by 26%, layoff more than a quarter of the faculty, and refuses to negotiate a fair faculty contract. Help us defend a City College for everyone!

1:30 PM: MARCH for CCSF
from CCSF Downtown (88 4th St. @ Mission)
to CCSF Civic Center (1170 Market St. @ UN Plaza)
2:00 PM: RALLY for CCSF

A National Day of Action on November 12th.

The #MillionStudentMarch demands three key things:
1 – Tuition-free public college
2 – Cancellation of all student debt
3 – $15/hr campus-wide minimum wage at every college in the country

The United States is the richest country in the world, yet students have to take on crippling debt in order to get a college education. We need change, and change starts in the streets when the people demand it.

Over 40 million Americans share a total of $1.2 trillion in student debt and over half of that is held by the poorest 25 percent of Americans. While top administrators take home six and seven figure salaries, campus workers are paid poverty wages.

The 1960 California Master Plan for Higher Education reaffirmed California’s prior commitment to the principle of tuition-free education to residents of the State. This is not happening. The UC is a public university system under attack by predatory lenders, ignorant corporate leadership, and the forces of capitalism that oppress students and promote inequality of race, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status.

We will no longer sit idly by. #MillionStudentMarch will be a day of local actions united to show support for the above demands. Imagine the message we could send to the government and the corporate establishment if we have marches at hundreds of colleges. Education should be a human right and we’re willing to fight for it! Join the march, join the movement! With students, college graduates, and workers united we can build a movement capable of winning debt-free college for all and a $15/hr minimum wage for all campus workers!

If you or your organization would like to sponsor or be part of planning for this action, please contact the organizers at eavporganizing@asuc.org.

Newly revised: Zara’s Faith
by Marc Sapir

Featuring Kenia Serrano Puig, President of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) and Member of the Cuban Parliament.
Others to speak, Dra. Laura Gomez recently graduated from the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba, Richmond Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin and others.

Door open at 6:30 PM.

Dear Healthcare Activist,

I hope you can attend a presentation on ColoradoCare on Nov 14.
`
The San Francisco & East Bay branches
of the California Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program
are proud to present journalist and health reform advocate

T.R. REID

well-known author of

The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care

Speaking about ColoradoCare
a citizen’s initiative to provide

affordable, high quality health care for all Colorado residents

going before voters of Colorado in November 2016

more info: http://coloradocareyes.co

Refreshments will be served

Description of the program

ColoradoCare is a ballot initiative for a publicly financed, universal health plan for the state of Colorado that would be operated by a private cooperative under a 21-person elected Board. While the ballot measure spells out the program’s governance and Board structure in considerable detail, key aspects of the program are not specified, and/or left to the discretion of the Board. In the past the drafters made clear in public statements that ColoradoCare is NOT a single-payer plan.

The initiative would cover all Colorado residents under a publicly funded, cooperative insurance plan. While the new program would replace most private insurance, Medicaid and CHIP coverage, it would serve only as supplemental coverage for those covered by Medicare, the VA and TriCare. The initiative would not prohibit the purchase or sale of private coverage duplicating the public plan. However, proponents expect that little private insurance would persist, since most businesses and individuals would not want to pay twice for coverage.

The proposal would cover a broad range of benefits, but would not cover dental care for adults, or long-term care for most individuals.

ColoradoCare would be funded via a payroll tax of 6.67 percent on employers and 3.33 on employees, or 10 percent of non-payroll income (excluding pensions and annuities), along with federal funds that would have come to the state via subsidies for private coverage under the Affordable Care Act, for Medicaid, and for other programs.

The drafting of ColoradoCare was spearheaded by Colorado Sen. Irene Aguilar and psychologist Ivan Miller. Volunteers and paid staff gathered the signatures necessary to put it on the ballot. Journalist T.R. Reid has become a champion and spokesperson for the plan both inside and outside of Colorado.

Strengths of ColoradoCare

1. The proposal if implemented would cover all, or nearly all of Colorado’s uninsured, apparently (and laudably) including the undocumented.
2. The proposal includes some useful cost-control features, notably the creation of an annual budget, and the ability to negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies.
3. The plan allows for a free choice of primary care doctor.
4. The financing plan is more progressive than the current system.
5. ColoradoCare’s organizers have mounted an impressive campaign with considerable mobilization.

Weaknesses of ColoradoCare

1. Multiple payers would persist – probably including private insurers. As a result, it sacrifices much of the administrative savings that could be realized through a true single- payer reform because providers would have to maintain much of their current cost-tracking and billing apparatus in order to apportion costs among the multiple payers. Published cost estimates for ColoradoCare overstate the savings that could be achieved through single payer, and do not take into account the additional costs entailed by ColoradoCare’s failure to adopt a full single-payer structure.
2. The initiative makes no mention of how hospitals or other institutions would be paid – apart from a rhetorical nod favoring ACOs. It makes no mention of global budgeting, separating operating and capital payments, or other constraints on hospital capital spending. Global budgeting is critical to achieving administrative savings; separating operating and capital payments is a bedrock of effective health planning, which is essential for long-term cost containment.
3. The initiative would not ban for-profit hospitals or other providers, despite clear evidence that they inflate costs and compromise quality. For-profit ACOs (indistinguishable from HMOs in most respects) might also flourish.
4. The initiative specifies that patients would have a free choice of primary care physicians, but makes no mention of whether the choice of specialist or hospital could be restricted.
5. While the plan would outlaw deductibles, the Board could impose copayments.
6. While the 10 percent tax rate would apply to both the rich and poor (including those with incomes below the poverty line), income over $350,000 would not be taxed.
7. The campaign’s anti-government rhetoric is problematic.
8. Rather than specifying critical aspects of the plan, the initiative leaves many of these to be decided later by the Board. Delaying such decisions has often favored corporate interests, who can intervene after the popular mobilization required to pass a reform has subsided. In the case of the ACA, corporate lobbying during the rule-making process attenuated cuts in Medicare HMO overpayments; reduced promised funding for public health and community clinics; effectively neutered limits on insurance overhead; and watered down the mandated benefit package. In Vermont, the broad-brush program initially passed by the legislature was whittled down in the detailed design stage, leading to rising cost estimates and ultimate rejection by the governor.

Dr. Ida Hellander is director of health policy and programs at Physicians for a National Health Program. Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler are internists, professors at the City University of New York School of Public Health, lecturers in medicine at Harvard Medical School, and co-founders of PNHP.

PNHP note: While there have been numerous articles about the ColoradoCare plan, one by Michael Corcoran, published by Truthout on Oct. 20, is among the most comprehensive.

Join Gill Tract Farmers and Jasmine Fuego for a whirlwind day at the Grand Lake Farmer’s Market, to celebrate real farmers and help us call out greenwashers Sprouts “Farmers Market”!

10am-2pm: We’ll be photographing and taking testimony from real farmers and the eaters who support them, to highlight their successes, and to let them know about the imminent invasion of Sprouts “Farmers Market”, a national big-box that is not only anchoring the development project that threatens to pave the southern 7 acres of the historic Gill Tract, but also is greenwashing the hard work these farmers do everyday to create real farmer’s markets.

NOON: Performance artist and co-founder of the Permaculture Action Tour, Jasmine Fuego, will lead us in a rehersal and first performance of a Dance Disruption, to Michael Jackson’s Beat It. Find us at Eastshore Park, at the corner of Macarthur Blvd & Grand Avenue to rehearse, and in the meantime watch Jasmine’s video to learn the basic moves:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws7I68IX5EA&feature=youtu.be

Alameda Renters Coalition Calls for Immediate Withdrawal
of Eviction Notices at 470 Central Avenue

The Alameda Renters Coalition will hold a press conference Saturday, November 14, 2105 at 2:00 PM at the apartment complex with the families of the Bayview Apartments in attendance.

—–

The ink was barely dry on Alameda’s unanimously approved rent increase and eviction moratorium when all tenants of the Bayview Apartments, a 34-unit complex at 470 Central Ave. in Alameda, were told they were being kicked out.

On Nov. 7^th, residents at Bayview Apartments were given notices of termination of tenancy telling them all to move out by January 8, 2016, forcing them to pack up their homes over the holiday season and disrupting the education of some 16 students in the middle of the school year.

Sridhar Equities of San Jose, owner of the complex for less than a month, said in the notice that tenants needed to leave their homes so they could “perform work on the building.” The notice was given despite the fact that the new owner hadn’t even applied to the city for permits for construction at the 470 Central Avenue address according to city officials.

Sridhar did repost notices on Veteran’s Day changing the move-out day to Jan. 11, assumedly to avoid conflict with the city’s new 65-day moratorium on evictions. Vietnam Veteran Mike Sabo, a resident of Bayview Apartments, said that getting that notice was “like a spear in the heart.”

Alameda Renters Coalition demands, on behalf of the families and residents at 470 Central Avenue, that Sridhar Equities withdraw all termination notices. Essential repairs on the apartments can be done with tenants remaining in their homes.

The Coalition will hold a press conference Saturday, November 14, 2105 at 2:00 PM at the apartment complex with the families of the Bayview Apartments in attendance.

“This tight-knit community, where most children attend school next door at Paden Elementary School, is in danger of being completely torn apart,” said Catherine Pauling, spokesperson for Alameda Renters Coalition. “Sridhar is just using this as a smokescreen for evictions to get immediate high market rates. This callous disregard for Alamedan families is not acceptable to our community and demonstrates why renters need protections”

– Alameda Renters Coalition

Alameda Renters Coalition is a group of Alameda city residents who recognize housing as a basic need and seek to bring housing stability to our community.

Come to this meeting to discuss Socialist politics, watch a special video from Kshama Sawant, and hear from local organizers of Socialist Alternative.

“We need a new party of the 99%”

 We have a duty to fight. We have a duty to win. 

Salt of the Earth (1954) provides one of the best examples of blacklisted filmmaking in the 1950s. Few films were so affected, from every possible direction, by the House Un-American Activities Committees proceedings. For one thing, the movie focused on a highly controversial topic – labor relations – in its story of Chicano workers in a New Mexico zinc mine. When Anglo workers are given higher wages and safer conditions, the Chicanos go on strike to receive the same treatment. The film follows not just their strike but how the workers’ wives become involved as well.

Join us for discussion and food after the viewing.

The Oakland Livable Wage Assembly builds community and power among those who seek higher wages and better work life conditions for area workers.

Click to download printable 4/1 flyer

The Howard Zinn Book Fair, now in its second year will welcome over 140 authors and 50 publishers to a day celebrating the work of legendary historian Howard Zinn, author of The People’s History of the United States. Last year more than 1500 attended this free public event and we expect an even bigger crowd this year.

Our keynote address will be delivered by two giants in the fight for civil rights: Award-winning historian Dr. Clayborne Carson and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza. They will be introduced by Dr. Nicholas Baham III, author of The Coltrane Church: Apostles of Sound, Agents of Social Justice.

This year’s tributes to the author of A People’s History of the United States include sessions led by David Barsamian of Alternative Radio and Voices of a People’s History co-author Anthony Arnove, as well as a special participatory reading of Marx in Soho by our very own local activists the Renounce War Project.

Keeping with the precedent we set last year, the Book Fair includes local, national and international authors and activists, such as Rebecca Solnit, David Talbot, Rachel Cassandra, Lauren Gucik, David Zirin, the Revolutionary Poets Brigade, and a special reading of Terry Bisson’s screen play Kansas Brown, featuring Peter Coyote.

Our complete program is available at: http://howardzinnbookfair.com/2015-program/
and our growing list of sponsors includes: University of California Press, Seven Stories Press, AK Press, City Light Publishers, Haymarket Books, Heyday Books, Eastwind Books, PM Press, Verso Books, Ithuriel’s Spear, Reading Partners, and the SEIU 1021 Peace & Justice Committee.

And to top it all off, we are presenting a Firebrand Records Showcase at Oakland’s Omni Commons the night before the fair, featuring The Last Internationale, Son of Nun, Built For the Sea and Ryan Harvey. These dynamic acts will be joined by the Bay Area’s premier political Hip-Hop band, Mass Bass and MC’d by poet Ananda Esteva. Expect performances by surprise guests. Tickets available in advance at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2226859

For more information about the program or if you are a publisher or organization who would like to participate, please contact us atwww.HowardZinnBookFair.com

The Community Democracy Project is your connection to direct democracy in Oakland! Convened out of Occupy Oakland in Fall 2011, we’re gathering steam on a campaign to bring the people back in touch with the city’s resources through participatory budgeting.

Picture this: Across Oakland, Neighborhood Assemblies are regularly
held in every community. People come together to tackle the important issues of their neighborhoods and of the city. At these assemblies, people don’t just have discussions–they learn from one another, from city staff, and they make fundamental decisions about how the city should run. They decide the city budget.

Democratic, community budgeting is a powerful step toward building strong communities, real democracy, and economic justice–and it’s being done all over the world.

The budget of the City Oakland totals more than $1 billion per year. Although part of the budget must be used for specific purposes, still over half of the budget–over $500 billion per year–consists of general purpose funds paid by the taxes, fees, and fines of the people of Oakland. The Mayor and the City Council decide the city budget, with minimal input from the community.

Working together, we will not only get a seat at the table–we will REBUILD the table itself. Participatory democracy is real democracy–join us to say: Local People, Local Resources, Local Power!

New anti-homeless ordinances are being introduced to City Council at the November 17th meeting.  Come and stand in solidarity with Berkeley’s homeless and against the ordinances.

Stop Berkeley’s anti homeless laws. Old City Hall. Starting on 11/16 at 11am until…

This photo is the heart breaking truth of too many people in this country. This is someone’s home. Every night this person builds this structure, and every morning they take it down. This has been going on for over a year here at the Berkeley Post Office Occupation.

The person inside this structure is a 69 year old retired nurse. She dedicated her life to helping others. Now, in a week, Berkeley wants to pass new laws that will have a negative impact on people who are barely surviving. The truth is, this is the face of homelessness that the press doesn’t report. The politicians don’t consider her plight, but a housed voter gets to say no, no homeless in my park, or on my sidewalk, or in my shopping district. City officials don’t have to care if the community is not willing to. Few city officials have understanding or compassion. If they did, Julie would not be living in a self made, cardboard box shack on the sidewalk.

Please share this. Berkeley City Council must be made to understand there is a human cost to criminalizing people because they have to survive.

First They Came For The Homeless.

Rally Against New Anti-Homeless Laws

Dear City Council,

We don’t need a “two square foot” rule for personal belongings. It makes our community look silly, and makes it harder to get grant funding. The Department of Justice and Housing and Urban Development oppose criminalization and prioritize grants from which stop criminalizing unavoidable human conditions. They state such laws are unconstitutional.

Monday         

6:00 am: Prayer Circle and Fasting
11:00 am: Press Conference
6:00 pm: Sing out/Rally for Justice and Human Rights

 Tuesday

6:00 pm Rally and speak out before City Council

Shuffling people from place to place is ineffective and inhumane. We need low income housing, not luxury housing, and we save money with practical solutions.

Sincerely, Citizens of Berkeley

and Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE)

6pm Protest will follow earlier events in the day.
Bring your voices and instruments for a long night

New anti-homeless ordinances are being introduced to City Council at the November 17th meeting. Come and stand in solidarity with Berkeley’s homeless and against the ordinances.

Berkeley Copwatch is tired of unjust policing and lack of accountability. We stand in solidarity with those protesting the murders of black people across the nation and say that this must end! We have our unique problems in Berkeley and the East Bay and we must take local action to stand up and demand justice!

We Demand:

• End racial profiling in Berkeley! Get the statistics on who is really being detained and arrested and stop handcuffing men of color for no reason!
• No tasers in Berkeley! Spend money to study how to end racial profiling – not acquire tasers!
• End the militarization of the police! No boats, no armored personnel carriers, no more weapons and no more military games. Withdraw from Urban Shield!
• Justice For Kayla Moore!
• Decriminalize Mental Illness! Police with no training in mental health crisis are most often the first responders to these kinds of situations. Berkeley must fully fund emergency mental health response in the city and prevent militarized cops from being the first point of contact for members of the public who need help in dealing with emergency mental health situations. No more putting spit hoods over the heads of people with mental illness! No taser use on mentally ill people! Counselors not cops!

Meetings at 7pm every Monday!