Calendar

DOWNTOWN OAKLAND FOR THE PEOPLE!
Meet at 4:30 pm, march at 5
RSVP on Facebook!
Send a letter to the mayor!

What’s the future of downtown Oakland? Luxury condos and Uber offices for the rich, and poverty wages and displacement for workers and people of color? Or good jobs, affordable housing, schools, and arts spaces for ALL of Oakland’s communities?

This fall, the Oakland Planning Department is considering approving a new Hampton Inn in downtown Oakland – behind closed doors with no public process. This is a terrible deal for workers.

The Hampton Inn developer already operates 2 local hotels where workers have reported low pay, no health benefits, horrible working conditions, shorting of workers’
pay, abuse and humiliation from managers, and violations of the new Oakland minimum wage.

Building a poverty-wage hotel in downtown Oakland would not only be unfair to the future workers at the Hampton Inn, but would hurt union hotel workers around the East Bay who are struggling to maintain the wages and health benefits that they have fought for over the years.

And this project would exacerbate the East Bay’s crises of inequality and displacement – no one can afford to live in Oakland today on wages this low.

People power stopped the backroom deal to develop market-rate housing at the East 12th Street parcel. People power can stop this project too.

Come tell the City of Oakland: we don’t need secret deals to create more poverty-wage jobs. Downtown Oakland needs good jobs, affordable housing & real democracy!

Organized by UNITE HERE Local 2850, 1440 Broadway, Suite 208, Oakland, CA 94612 | www.unitehere2850.org

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)

A rally on the steps at 6:00 PM.
Council meeting begins at 7:00 PM.

Agenda item #28 (anti-homeless ordinances) Improve Conditions on Our Community Sidewalks; Amending Berkeley Municipal Code Chapters 13.36 and 14.4 may not be heard until after 9:00 PM.

Also there will be agenda item #24 City Manager Referral: Implementation of Tier One Recommendations from the Homeless Task Force

Also, check out the press conference the day before.

#28

From: Councilmembers Maio, Capitelli, Droste, and Mayor Bates

Recommendation: Discuss and refer the following services and ordinances to the City Manager for implementation, and adopt first reading of three Ordinances:
1. Adding Section 13.36.085 to the Berkeley Municipal Code prohibiting urination and defecation in public places.
2. Amending Sections 14.48.020 and 14.48.170 of the Berkeley Municipal Code regulating use of sidewalks.
3. Adding Section 13.36.040 to the Berkeley Municipal Code prohibiting obstruction of City-owned planters and trees.
Additional Services:
1. Create a secure storage facility for personal belongings; bins must be of adequate size, of reasonable number (estimate of 50 – 100 at the outset) and ensure reasonable access, with posted hours.
2. Provide additional bathrooms in the Downtown and Telegraph areas.
3. Provide mobile showers and bathrooms for public use.

Ordinances Would Disallow:
1. Urination and defecation in public spaces.
2. The placement of personal belongings on sidewalks and plazas covering more than 2 square feet during the day, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. (storage to be provided).
3. The placement of a wheeled mobile unit, no more than 6 square feet in size (i.e. a standard shopping cart) during the day, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. for no more than one hour in one location after which time the unit must be moved to a different block face (storage to be provided).
Note: Purpose of #2 and #3: Amend Berkeley Municipal Code Chapter 14.48 so the Traffic Engineer may adopt regulations and ensure that public streets, and especially sidewalks, are fully accessible and usable for the purposes for which they were constructed and intended, specifically the movement of goods and traffic, pedestrians and wheelchairs.
4. Lying inside of planter beds or on planter walls.
5. Personal items affixed to or placed on public fixtures including poles, bike racks (except bikes), planters, trees, tree guards, newspaper racks, parking meters and pay stations. Pet leashes exempt only as not prohibited in BMC 10.12.110.
6. Placement of personal objects in planters, tree wells, or within 2 feet of a tree well to enable tree care and to protect tree trunks.

In Addition:
A. Provide public notice before enforcement, including direct interaction with persons to explain the ordinances, location of storage facilities, and location of services.
B. Prior to issuing a citation regarding personal belongings persons shall receive an initial warning with information regarding available storage.
C. Refer to the budget process extending transition-aged youth shelter hours beyond winter months. D. Make public restrooms available and well publicized. Involve BART in exploring possible locations.
E. Ordinances concerning the placement of personal belongings and wheeled mobile units on sidewalks will not be enforced until storage services are in place.

#24

From: Councilmember Arreguin
Recommendation: Refer to the City Manager to develop a plan to implement the Tier One Recommendations of the Homeless Task Force, which involve expanding the City’s Homeless Outreach Team and Mobile Crisis Team, increasing funding for the Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), increasing the number of public restrooms, and providing additional storage spaces and warming centers for the homeless population.

Nine months ago we flooded the BART Board meetings twice in a row, overwhelmed them with hours and hours of public comments, surprise banners, chanting, and general people power, and forced BART to drop the restitution against the Black Friday 14!

Now, as we approach the one-year anniversary of the Black Friday action that was a call to action nationwide for people of conscience to step UP to end the state-sanctioned War on Black lives, it is time for us all to return to BART and demand that they urge D.A. Nancy O’Malley to#DROPTHECHARGES NOW!

Start practicing your speech, cuz it’s time again to flood the BART Board meeting with public comments and show BART that we’re still here, we’re still fighting, we still stand with the #BlackFriday14, we still remember their racist and deadly legacy, and it’s time they took steps to get on the right side of history!

San Francisco Progressive Democrats of America

FIGHTING BACK III
How Bay Area activists are defending our civil liberties

Our freedoms are being threatened more than at any time since the McCarthy period of the fifties.  Not just by the antics of politicians, but directly in our living space: Massive surveillance with the latest technology; the militarization of the police; online monitoring of our messages; the unrestrained killing of African-American and other minority people; media self-censorship.

As always, resistance and opposition are coming from activists on the ground. This is especially true in the Bay Area. At this month’s forum, activists will tell us what they are doing to fight back against the incipient police state.

Speakers:

Shahid Buttar, Director of Grassroots Advocacy, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Tessa Drcangelew, Leadership Development Manager at the ACLU of Northern California:
Zaki Manian, San Francisco Organizer, Restore the Fourth
Tracy Rosenberg, Executive Director, Media Alliance

A free public forum — Wheelchair accessible  — Snacks and beverages served

PLEASE SHARE this so we pack the house with 200 new neighbors: A Panel Presentation by Experts is the next big opportunity, before the holidays, to inform and educate our community of the massive 450,000-tree deforestation plan in the Oakland and Berkeley Hills:

Panelists include:
1) Dave Maloney, former Chief of Fire Prevention at Oakland Army Base;
2) Dan Grassetti, founder of The Hills Conservation Network;
3) Peter Gray Scott, 1991 Oakland hills fire survivor who instigated The Grand Jury investigation of that fire
Moderator is Jack Gescheidt, TreeSpirit Project founder

• A full hour of audience Q&A will follow so the community can ask follow-up questions.

TreeSpirit Project Event page: http://TreeSpiritProject.com/PanelTalk111915
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/527182347436611

We observe and document all suspicious activities of our local law enforcement agencies.
Come learn the art of copwatching and help out as we go out afterwards on our “neighborhood watch.”

Pizza provided during debrief.

@EastBayExpress @0aklandish @Oakland @TheNewParkway RT? Free thanksgiving meals for the community Sat Nov 21 pic.twitter.com/coyPUUqzmH

— Oak Life Church (@oaklifechurch) November 9, 2015

Are you tired of racist, classist, ableist and anti-homeless policing? Want to deal with crisis and conflict in other ways?

When the police fail to “protect and serve,” who can we turn to in moments of need? How can we respond to conflict and crisis without the punishment and violence that comes with policing and prisons? What would take to build and use alternative responses in our own lives and communities?

Come out to talk about these questions and more.

If folks want to share (optional, of course), there will be time to talk about situations from our lives and brainstorm responses that prioritize de-escalation, accountability, healing and preventing harm.

Everyone is welcome to attend, regardless of their stance on the police. However, the focus of this workshop will be on considering options other than the police.

Snacks will be provided.

***Please RSVP by 11/14 if possible to email above***

OR RSVP on this Facebook page

Fundraiser for Soli-Kitchen Convoy, a radical group in Europe which travels to various border points providing direct services to refugees.

Food, speakers, and discussion on the political and historical context of the current wave of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Europe, and Central American refugees in North America, the policing of migration and the possibilities for resisting borders.

Organized by the Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee.

What: Fundraiser, cafe, and discussion on the political and historical context of the current wave of Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Europe and Central American refugees in North America. We will discuss the policing ofmigration and the possibilities for resisting borders. Benefit for solidarity group providing material aid to migrants as they make their journey across Europe.

*please note that Station 40 is up two flights of stairs and is unfortunately wheelchair inaccessible.

The family of Tamir Rice, the 12 year old boy who was killed on November 22, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio, has called for a national day of action on the anniversary of this blue-blooded act of terrorism.

We must continue the fight for justice on Tamir’s behalf and on behalf of ALL VICTIMS OF STATE SPONSORED TERRORISM. We must stand together with all the families as one ~ in love, solidarity, and struggle. By fighting against police terrorism in unity, we will bring an end to these vicious crimes against humanity.

Rally at 1:00pm at Powell & Market
March to follow.

Please bring red ribbon to symbolize the trail of bloodshed and honor the lives of all those slain by police terrorism.

#NoMoreStolenLives #NoFamilyLeftBehind

Protests nationwide on the 1-year anniversary of the killing of Tamir.

One year and still NO CHARGES against his murderers.

Teach-In on the housing affordability crisis in Berkeley and what can be done about it.
Facilitator:
Paola Laverde, Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner
Speakers:
Stephen Barton, Ph.D., Former Director of the Housing Department
and Deputy Director of the Rent Stabilization Program in Berkeley
Moni Law, Affordable Housing Activist
   Rick Lewis, Executive Director, Bay Area Community Land Trust
and former Housing Advisory Commission Member
  Austin Pritzkat, President, Berkeley Student Cooperative
  Katherine Harr, Berkeley Tenants Union
Panelist will address
* What are the dimensions of this crisis and what can we do about it?
* What could our local elected officials do to address this crisis?
* How do we prevent displacement?
* How could the City generate more revenue for the Housing Trust Fund
to fund affordable housing construction and acquisition?
Peruse or post local announcements:
http://berkeleycitizensaction.org
Join Berkeley Citizens Action on Facebook please: https://www.facebook.com/groups/319627034774973/

Free Movie: This is What Democracy Looks Like (2000 Documentary Directed by Jill Friedberg and Rick Rowley – 72 minutes.) Filmed during the WTO protest in Seattle, November 30, 1999. Plus WTO shorts and discussion.

The Fukushima nuclear plant disaster remains very dangerous. What might we still be able to do about it? Who’s monitoring radiation levels? What about California’s last nuclear plant, Diablo Canyon, surrounded by a dozen earthquake faults, and San Onofre, closed in 2013 but containing tons of nuclear waste? Nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen and Fairewinds Director Maggie Gundersen; with Joanna Macy, environmental activist, author, scholar of Buddhism, deep ecology, whose work addresses psychological and spiritual issues of the nuclear age; Gar Smith, author “Nuclear Roulette”; Mary Beth Brangan, EON-Ecological Options Network; songs by singer-songwriter Vic Sadot.

Sponsored by the BFUU SJC, EON, Codepink Women for Peace
Wheelchair accessible.

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