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.
The Oscar Grant Committee Against Police Brutality & State Repression (OGC) is a grassroots democratic organization that was formed as a conscious united front for justice against police brutality. The OGC is involved in the struggle for police accountability and is committed to stopping police brutality.
Press event to ReFund and ReInvest in Oakland & Release of our Community-Labor Budget Platform
We are inviting you to join renters, residents of affordable housing developments, city workers, seniors, artists, immigrants and low wage workers to call on City Leaders to ReFund our communities and support a Community Budget that ensures a healthy, livable and sustainable Oakland for EVERYONE!
In the wake of the Administration’s release of their proposed Bait & Switch Budget that prioritizes displacement and criminalization over the needs of our communities, the ReFund Oakland Community-Labor Coalition will be unveiling the community and worker’s vision for ReFunding & ReInvesting in our city and its most impacted neighborhoods. It’s time to prioritize public services, housing our residents and protecting our workers and artists who make Oakland the soul of the Bay.We will be demanding the Administration stand on the side of long-term residents, youth, seniors and workers and NOT wealthy developers who have helped to shape a Bait and Switch Budget that prioritizes displacement!
Please RSVP by responding directly to this email!
Background:
Oakland is in the midst of possibly the worst housing crisis in its 165 year old history. Thousands of mostly Black and Brown families have been pushed out of the city, homeless encampments have proliferated, wages are still stagnant for low wage workers and our youth and long term, residents of color do not have access to the higher paying jobs that are attracting wealthier newcomers to the city.
In November, 2016, voters took to the polls in hopes of addressing many of these concerns, voting overwhelmingly to authorize ballot measures including Measure KK, Measure HH and others that they thought would alleviate the housing crisis and increase health amongst young people. However this past Tuesday, Oakland’s current Administration released a Bait and Switch Budget that misallocates and redirects these funds. It continues to prioritize large developers and displacement, placing renters, youth, our city workers and first responders, low wage, immigrant workers, homeless folx and families on the back burner. At a time of record displacement, nearly weekly fires at homeless encampments and a national administration that has waged war on poor, communities of color, we must demand that Oakland ReFund and ReInvest in our long-term communities and the thousands who have been forced out of their homes and onto the streets. Additionally, there was no concrete plans in the Mayor’s budget to implement Measure JJ, the renter protection act, to ensure we are protecting tenants at a time of increased displacement.
The ReFund coalition includes ACCE Action, EBHO, SEIU 1021, Street Level Health Project (SLHP), Causa Justa::Just Cause, IFPTE Local 21, Oakland Tenants Union (OTU), CURYJ, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) and many others!
Anti Lab is a kind of clubhouse for creative resistance, a meeting place for people who want to transform their frustration with the current political climate into action. Anti Lab’s calendar features everything from a tenants’ rights workshop presented by the East Bay Community Law Center to weekly screen-printing hours and a trans photo booth. All for free.
It will be open every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 11am-8pm (ish). With workshops/events on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, plus Saturday afternoons.
In the mood for resistance? Read our profile on Anti Lab & join them tonight at 6pm for Hot Fresh Dissent: https://t.co/1vZpSDX7xJ
— East Bay Express (@EastBayExpress) May 4, 2017
Subject: Surveillance And Community Safety Ordinance
From: Office Of The City Administrator
Recommendation: Adopt A Surveillance And Community Safety Ordinance Which Prescribes The Rules For The Acquisition And Use Of Surveillance Equipment And Technology, Establishes Oversight, Auditing And Reporting Requirements, And Imposes Penalties For Violations
It’s been a little over three years since we came together to stop the DAC – the surveillance octopus orwellingly named the Domain Awareness Center.
Out of that effort came the establishment of the Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission by the Oakland City Council. One of its mandates was to propose an ordinance to regulate all use of surveillance equipment by the City of Oakland, including and especially by OPD.
The ordinance the Commission has crafted, approved unanimously in January, is now up for consideration by the Oakland City Council. It will first be taken up by the Council’s Public Safety Committee on May 9, 2017. This is a crucial hearing.
We need and would very much like you to send a simple letter of support for the ordinance to City Council members. Here’s a brief summary of what the ordinance will do:
Send Them An Email: Tell the City Council NOW to pass the Privacy Commission’s version. No weakening. No watering down. Real change.
Join experts Nicole Ozer (ACLU of California) and Malkia Cyril (Center for Media Justice) for a timely conversation about digital rights and freedom.
For 15 years there’s been a heated battle over your right to privacy online — from the Patriot Act to the Snowden revelations to the recent repeal of Internet privacy protections.
* What can we expect in the Trump Era?
* What’s at stake? Who’s at risk?
* And, most of all, what can you do to protect yourself and defend democracy in a digital world?
This event during Digital Inclusion Week (May 8-13) kicks off Oakland Public Library’s Digital Self Defense series, which will include hands-on workshops this summer.
Call for information: 510-238-6931
“On Mayday, we marched to make visible the caring work that is integral to reproducing society every day. Caregiving, cleaning, cooking, emotional labor, sex work. These and other forms of caring work are often made invisible, because they are not valued.”
“We formed ourselves as a group of “invisible laborers”. We took pots and pans, the implements of domestic labor, and made noise with them.”
Join us to continue our work.
“We need an identity. Now that May Day has passed, we can start making decisions about a long-term project. Come with ideas and proposals.”
Have you ever wondered:
The process of allocating Oakland’s 2.6 billion dollar budget for 2017-2019 has begun. We believe that the scandal-ridden and dysfunctional Oakland Police Department consumes far too many of our city’s resources. It’s time to audit police spending and performance, and redirect wasted funds to community-building, constructive strategies for making Oakland a safer and better place to live.
Our Demands:
PLEASE COME OUT TO YOUR LOCAL BUDGET FORUM:
Monday May 8, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Abel Guillen
St Paul’s Episcopal Church, 114 Montecito Ave
Wednesday May 10, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Annie Campbell
Bret Harte Middle School, 3700 Coolidge Ave
Saturday May 13, 10am-12pm, Councilmembers Lynette McElhaney & Dan Kalb
Beebe Memorial Church, 3900 Telegraph Ave
Wednesday May 17, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmembers Larry Reid & Rebecca Kaplan
Oakland Zoo- Snow Building, 9777 Golf Links Road
Thursday May 18, 6-8pm, Councilmember Desley Brooks
Eastmont Police Dept. Substation, 2651 73rd Ave
Monday May 22, 6-8pm, Councilmember Lynette McElhaney
West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St
Thursday May 25, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Abel Guillen
Lincoln Rec Center, 261 11th St. (cantonese interpretation)
Defund OPD will be at each of these budget meetings with information about the police budget, questions to ask, and our demands! Please show up 15 minutes early if possible. More information is available at defundopd.org.
#DefundOPD
In the last few weeks we’ve built a ton of momentum and had some significant successes:
-With incredible and wide-ranging community support, we’ve succeeded in making sure that the city’s outrageous and unaccountable spending on police is the #1 topic of discussion at every single city council member budget forum.
-We’ve already gotten the mayor to stand down from her effort to increase the police force to 800 officers, and now the discussion is turning to maintaining the current staffing levels (near 750) instead of the fully budgeted levels (792).
-We’ve gotten almost every council member to commit, on the record, to supporting an independent, thorough audit of police spending, and the city auditor’s office is on board.
-We’ve built a huge amount of synergy and mutual support with dozens of organizations who are calling for various budget priorities that will ACTUALLY make Oakland a safer and more just city — and many of them are now making explicit connections between the bloated police budget and the lack of funding for these crucial measures to support housing affordability, education, homeless services, youth programs and employment, and cultural initiatives.
The last two city council members are hosting meetings TONIGHT and THURSDAY NIGHT!
Monday May 22, 6-8pm, Councilmember Lynette McElhaney
West Oakland Senior Center, 1724 Adeline St
Thursday May 25, 6:30-8:30 pm, Councilmember Abel Guillen
Lincoln Rec Center, 261 11th St. (cantonese interpretation)
For those of you looking for ways to plug in, here’s what we could use right now:
1) come out tonight and/or thursday if you can, and mobilize others to come!
2) Post to social media with the hashtag #DefundOPD and tag Defund OPD in your posts on facebook.
3) Email budgetsuggestions@oaklandnet.c om with our demand: Defund OPD, invest in community. Feel free to reach out if you want to collaborate on more specific verbiage – or just mention the budget priorities that matter to you, and state that you’d like the $ to come out of the police budget (Please cc defundopd@gmail.com)
Open as many homes as possible… Hold them as long as possible.
“To the Ends of the Earth” follows concerned citizens living at the frontiers of extreme oil and gas extraction, bearing witness to a global crossroads. They call for human ingenuity to rebuild society at the end of the fossil fuel era.
The people we meet are uniquely positioned to watch this global crossroads unfold. For example, the mayor of an Inuit village in Canada’s high Arctic who is concerned that seismic testing for oil in the ocean is blowing up the eardrums of the animals that the Inuit hunt to survive. Or the environmental lawyer who goes on a journey to areas that produce energy for the tar sands of Alberta — he learns of the massive inputs of energy that have to be put into this resource — and the reasons why the second largest oil project in the world is economically unsustainable. Or the river conservationist in Utah who fights to protect the Colorado River from oil shale projects that would disturb its headwaters.
“To the Ends of the Earth” brings forward the voices of those who not only denounce the rise of extreme energy, but also envision the new world that is taking shape in its stead: a future beyond the resource pyramid, a post-growth economy.
A film by David Lavallee. Narrated by Emma Thompson. 80 min. DCP.
Wednesday 7pm at the Roxie in San Francisco. Only, sole, single San Francisco showing. To The Ends Of The Earth https://t.co/9Ou6R9qgwr
— Media Alliance (@twrling) May 9, 2017
Whose Technology? Protest, Resistance, and the Reshaping of the Global Village
Two groundbreaking critics and historians of technological effects on culture discuss a re-envisioning of the electronic commons. As reactionary corporate elites reshape our geo-political landscape, possibilities emerge for a radical re-accessment of our relationship to information technology and its use. Finn Brunton and Ramesh Srinivasan rigorously explore the possibilities for grassroots resistance to misinformation campaigns, invasions of privacy, trolling, and offer creative approaches for the rebooting of progressive agendas and effective techniques of re-appropriating technology into the service of democratic principles.
Ramesh Srinivasan celebrates the release of his new book:
Whose Global Village? Rethinking How Technology Shapes Our World
About the speakers:
Finn Brunton (finnb.net) is an Assistant Professor in Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. He is the author of Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet and, with Helen Nissenbaum, Obfuscation: A User’s Guide for Privacy and Protest (both MIT Press) and numerous articles and papers. He is currently working on a history of digital cash and utopian currencies.
Ramesh Srinivasan studies the relationship between technology, politics and societies across the world. He has been a faculty member at UCLA since 2005 in the Information Studies and Design|Media Arts departments. Srinivasan earned his Ph.D. in design studies at Harvard; his master’s degree in media arts and science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering at Stanford. Srinivasan is a regular speaker for TEDx Talks, and makes regular media appearances on NPR, Al Jazeera, “The Young Turks,” and Public Radio International. His writings have been widely published by Al Jazeera English, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post. Visit:http://
Shahid Buttar is the Director of Grassroots Advocacy for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Shahid leads EFF’s community outreach efforts. He’s a constitutional lawyer focused on the intersection of community organizing and policy reform as a lever to shift legal norms, with roots in communities across the country resisting mass surveillance. Visit: www.eff.org/
http://www.citylights.com/
Anti Lab is a kind of clubhouse for creative resistance, a meeting place for people who want to transform their frustration with the current political climate into action. Anti Lab’s calendar features everything from a tenants’ rights workshop presented by the East Bay Community Law Center to weekly screen-printing hours and a trans photo booth. All for free.
It will be open every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 11am-8pm (ish). With workshops/events on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, plus Saturday afternoons.
In the mood for resistance? Read our profile on Anti Lab & join them tonight at 6pm for Hot Fresh Dissent: https://t.co/1vZpSDX7xJ
— East Bay Express (@EastBayExpress) May 4, 2017
“Readers interested in labor activism, history, economics, industrial relations, or immigration studies will find this book to be compelling and captivating, as Rosenblum captures the story of this unifying, important, and successful fight for economic equity.” — Booklist
Join us for a book talk with author Jonathan Rosenblum to discuss his new book, Beyond $15: Immigrant Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the Labor Movement. With captivating narrative and insightful commentary, labor organizer Jonathan Rosenblum reveals the inside story of the first successful fight for a $15 minimum wage, which renewed a national labor movement through bold strategy and broad inclusiveness. Just outside Seattle, an unlikely alliance of Sea-Tac Airport workers, union and community activists, and clergy staged face-to-face confrontations with corporate leaders to unite a diverse, largely immigrant workforce in a struggle over power between airport workers and business and political elites. Digging deep into the root causes of poverty wages, Rosenblum gives a blunt assessment of the daunting problems facing unions today. Beyond $15 provides an inspirational blueprint for a powerful, all-inclusive labor movement and is a call for workers to reclaim their power in the new economy.
Books will be available for purchase at the event or can be purchased online from Beacon Press.
This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited; please register for the event.
Join us, build with us and unite around an issue that affects all families and all communities. Featuring music, poetry and moderated dialogue with local activists, performing artists and literary icons.
Among other pertinent issues of the day, this event will aim to increase awareness for the missing Black girls in D.C. through catalyzing both conversation and action around the growing epidemic of abducted Black youth nationwide. Although this tragedy has afflicted families and communities on the east coast, we are here in the spirit of solidarity. We will also discuss the horrific conditions of the prison system, the importance of knowing our civil and human rights, and we will address many other injustices faced by oppressed people here and abroad.
Presented by The Hijabi Chronicles in conjunction with Anti Lab
Confirmed participants:
Cat Brooks– Anti Police-Terror Project / KPFA Radio
Zahra Billoo-Executive Director of CAIR – San Francisco Bay Area
Chairman Fred Hampton Jr.-Black Panther Party Cubs / POCC
Dave ‘Davey D-Oakland’ Cook– DJ / Hard Knock Radio – 94.1
Alia Sharrief -MC/Music Artist/Founder The Hijabi Chronicles
Christina Krea Gomez – Indigenous community
Field Marshall Tur-Ha Ak– Pocc Panther Cubs /ARMED Combatives
Ras Ceylon -Educator/Organizer/MC
Yahsmin M. B. Bobo- Writer/Speaker/Educator
Richelle Scales – Songstress/Live band
Candice Antique Davis -Songstress
Edil Yousuf-Poetry
CamishaFatimah Gentry-Ford and daughters – Poetry
Kamilah Mahasin Bilalian Shuaibe -Songstress
Amelah El-Amin – Poetry
*More speakers, performers and special guests TBA soon!*
WHERE: Anti Lab & Chapter 510
2301 Telegraph Ave
Oakland, CA 94612
WHEN: THURSDAY May 11th, 2017
Doors open at 6PM
Admission: FREE
Join us for a speakers panel with visionary artists and organizers Patty Berne, Reina Gossett, Malcolm Shanks, and Kiyaan Abadani, on the intersections and tensions between struggles for disability and trans justice.
This event will be Livestreamed on the Sins Invalid Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/events/206085096568351/
This event is free but due to limited space, RSVP through Eventbrite is required at bit.ly/WeMoveTogether.
As disabled and/or trans people whose bodies are pathologized and policed, how can we move together towards collective liberation? How do we reclaim self-love for our bodies, establish our autonomy, foster interdependence, and assert our right to exist in public space? How can we build cross-movement solidarity from an understanding that no one is disposable? How can artists advance our vision of a world where all body/minds are valued?
This event is organized in conjunction with Trans Life + Liberation, an art exhibit at the event space. It is co-sponsored by Sins Invalid, Peacock Rebellion, Barnard Center for Research on Women – BCRW, and CultureStrike.
Capacity is limited and due to the popularity of this event, we will be seating on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please refrain from using scented products so more community members may attend. For a partial list of unscented products, visit bit.ly/2n85XuZ. See more info here about being fragrance free and why it’s important.
A parking garage is available on 13th St and Franklin until 8pm. Street parking is scarce but sometimes available.
Childcare is available upon request, provided by Bay Area Childcare Collective, from 6:30-9:30pm at the event space. Please contact micah [at] forwardtogether.org if you’d like childcare.
ACCESS INFORMATION
– The venue is wheelchair accessible.
– Gender neutral ADA accessible restrooms are on the same floor as the event.
– ASL and Spanish interpretation provided from 6:30-8:30
– A quiet/chill room will be available for those wanting reduced stimulation.
– A fragrance reduced area and access to an outdoor rooftop patio will be available.
– Please note: This building has off-gassing materials and other construction scents. There are multiple florescent lights in the lobby, elevators, and event space.
– Access support people will be wearing purple armbands and positioned at the front of the building, the building elevators, the food and drink table, the quiet room and by the fragrance reduced area. A volunteer will be available in the central display area throughout the event to read gallery labels, art text, and visual descriptions.
SAFETY INFORMATION
There will be a trained safety team at the event. They are available to walk with people short distances to and from the event.
>>>Call 510-679-7185 if you’d like a someone to walk with you for safety and/or access support.
This event is supported in part by the Akonadi Foundation’s Beloved Community Fund.
Local Clean Energy Alliance is partnering with the Ecology Center for a free presentation on:
At the Bay Area Town Hall on Environmental Justice and Renters Rights, Asian, Black, Latino and immigrant communities impacted by pollution and displacement will discuss statewide solutions for clean air and renter protections with local legislators.
APEN (Asian Pacific Environmental Network) co-hosts this important event with California Environmental Justice Alliance, Causa Justa Just Cause, Tenants Together, special guest Assemblymember Rob Bonta, and others TBA.
How does housing justice prevent displacement and fight climate change?
Climate justice and housing justice are deeply connected. The climate and housing crises hit low-income communities and communities of color first and worst, and the solutions to both must start with these communities.
As economic development and displacement impact where our communities live, work, and play, our most vulnerable communities are concentrated in the most under-resourced and politically marginalized neighborhoods. Strategies for climate resilience must include policies such as stronger renter and tenant protections to prevent displacement, and investments in safe and affordable housing. Fighting displacement creates climate-resilient communities.
Food, screenprinting, and interpretation will be available.
RSVP here.
(near Fruitvale BART, above Citibank)
Now that everybody and they moma have seen the movie Get Out, its about time to have a fun lively disscussion and social about it.
Invite your family and friends, and prepare for a fun and intense night of talking/acting out this highly acclamined and ground breaking movie.
SPACE is LIMITED so RSVP youself.
the Event is FREE.
Donations are welcomle to pay for the space.
Allies, Accomplices, and down ass folks are welcolme.
Join us May 13th at grow Incubator for our Monthly (every second Saturday) Community Clinic.
Enjoy a free hot meal and an array of healing modalities,
No-one-turned-away-for-lac
Massage Therapy is always happening.
More services TBA.
4 Pm- Narcan and Overdose Awareness and Harm Reduction training
5 PM- Qigong
Anti Lab is a kind of clubhouse for creative resistance, a meeting place for people who want to transform their frustration with the current political climate into action. Anti Lab’s calendar features everything from a tenants’ rights workshop presented by the East Bay Community Law Center to weekly screen-printing hours and a trans photo booth. All for free.
It will be open every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 11am-8pm (ish). With workshops/events on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, plus Saturday afternoons.
In the mood for resistance? Read our profile on Anti Lab & join them tonight at 6pm for Hot Fresh Dissent: https://t.co/1vZpSDX7xJ
— East Bay Express (@EastBayExpress) May 4, 2017