Calendar
The City of Oakland is planning a massive eviction, so the People have planned a Resource Fair.
Beginning Monday, September 16th, at 8am at West Grand and MLK. pic.twitter.com/ueqlzaCCMW— Mama Lisa (@LisTeague) September 15, 2024
Tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/B5XC2lVtV9
— Y Disassembler (@loomdoop) September 23, 2024
Please join the rally!
“If you’ve been waiting to turn up for that one protest action for the unhoused, this’ll be it! We need numbers, folks, as we want the city of Berkeley to here our outlay at their unjust actions! See you there.”
The resolution to fund and expand ShotSpotter will come before the full Oakland City Council Tuesday, October 15th at 3:30pm. That means there is still time to urge your city council member to vote against the resolution.
The Oakland Privacy Advisory Commission recommended to the Council that the Shotspotter contract not be renewed, because of lack of evidence that it is effective, noting that the monies could be used for things that are known to be effective in reducing crime. The Council, however, is leaning towards ignoring that recommendation, a recommendation made by the Commission the Council, well, commissioned, to make such technical evaluations.
ShotSpotter, produced by SoundThinking, is an acoustic gunshot detection system (AGDS). Its many sensors and microphones constitute a mass surveillance network that does more harm than good to residents of cities across the U.S., including Oakland.
Write to Council members before Tuesday and urge them to say NO to ShotSpotter.
Why ShotSpotter Does Not Belong in Oakland’s Communities
Other U.S. cities, including Chicago and New York, are questioning or outright discontinuing their contracts with SoundThinking because the technology does not live up to its claims of improved public safety or police effectiveness. Houston’s mayor plans to end the city’s contract with SoundThinking, calling their technology a “gimmick” that did not improve the city’s public safety. After a one-year pilot program, Durham, North Carolina’s city council voted against continuing their contract after an audit showed abysmal results. Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Committee (PAC) voted against funding ShotSpotter on April 4th, 2024.
The technology attempts to triangulate the location of gunshots and decrease officer response time to shooting incidents. The Oakland Police Department (OPD) touts ShotSpotter as a crime deterrent that reduces gun violence and keeps communities safer. A growing body of evidence indicates that ShotSpotter fails to achieve any of its supposed benefits.
OPD reports there were 8,318 unique gunshot incidents detected by ShotSpotter in 2023. Of these incidents, only four lead to an arrest. According to OPD’s incident reports, 73% of gun violations were for negligent discharge of a firearm, not a violent crime. OPD Captain Lewis has confirmed “many of the ShotSpotter firearm recoveries are from gun owners doing ‘target practice in their backyard.'” ShotSpotter artificially bloats OPD’s workload, diverting them away from actual community needs.
OPD’s average time to respond to the most serious 911 calls for help has increased. The same increase has occurred in Chicago, Cleveland, and St. Louis. This trend can be partly explained by the artificial workload ShotSpotter creates for officers. For example, in St. Louis, AGDS added 3,400 new calls per average year in addition to 2,800 citizen-initiated calls – a 67% increase in service calls. OPD categorizes ShotSpotter alerts as a Priority I call (immediate dispatch). Therefore, officers are being diverted from urgent and potentially life threatening emergencies to address ShotSpotter alerts that have a decent chance of being nothing more than a loud noise.
ShotSpotter often sends police officers to chase false positive alerts. The technology is notorious for reporting fireworks, automobile backfires, and construction noises as gunshots. False reportage is not only a waste of time. It leads directly to civil liberties abuses and false arrests, as was the case for 65-year old Michael Williams. In his case and others, court documents reveal that law enforcement frequently requests that ShotSpotter’s analysts modify alerts to support their narrative of events.
U.S. Senators have urged the Department of Homeland Security to investigate funding of ShotSpotter for civil rights violations and discriminatory policing. In Chicago, the 12 districts with ShotSpotter installations are those with the highest populations of Black and Latinx residents. In NYC, 70% of acoustic sensors were placed in precincts with majority Black or Latinx residents. The same racist pattern holds for Kansas City, MO; Cleveland, OH; Atlanta, GA; and Boston, MA.
In Oakland, ShotSpotter has been deployed in four geographic phases. The first two phases of deployment were in predominantly Black, Latinx, and Asian communities, which is easily observed by comparing OPD’s map of ShotSpotter deployment (see page 6) with a race, ethnicity, and diversity map of Oakland. A Stanford University study found that OPD officers display a stark racial disparity in who they search, detain, and arrest. Placement of ShotSpotter sensors consistently follows patterns of historical over-policing, and Oakland is no exception.
The money wasted on ShotSpotter would best serve Oakland residents if redirected toward other community needs. Please write to your city council members to tell them that ShotSpotter is a wasteful and dangerous surveillance technology.
Queers for a Free Palestine meet up and march! All are welcome! Call out state senator Scott Wiener, who has been attacking Palestinian activists at UC and CSU campuses, opposes inclusion of Palestine in ethnic studies, introduced oppressive legislation to silence the voice of the Palestinian people and their comrades, and attacking houseless people. He opposed the cease fire back in January. Mask up, bring friends. Let’s San Francisco now that you oppose SF politicians who have not called out an end to the genocide in Gaza! And an end to the apartheid government of Israel!
https://www.shutitdown4palestine.org/nov2
On November 2, just days before the U.S. Presidential election, people will take to the streets across the entire country to say NO VOTES FOR GENOCIDE!
We’ve been mobilizing every single day for over a year demanding an end to the U.S.-funded and supported Israeli genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. This election cycle, we will not forget these candidates’ direct support for this genocide.
The US government has the ability to enact an arms embargo, it has the ability to stop this genocide. This is a US war as much as it is an Israeli war on Palestine and Lebanon. We won’t be fooled by arbitrary 30-day deadlines and we will not be tricked into believing the political rhetoric of those who could have stopped the genocide with a single phone call to end military aid to Israel.
The Coastal Commission is meeting on Friday, November 15 in San Francisco to discuss the violations and unpermitted work by a Texas oil company, Sable Offshore Corp., which is charging ahead with dangerous plans to restart an old, corroded oil pipeline that ruptured off the Santa Barbara coast in 2015. Restarting the pipeline would be a disaster for coastal communities and our climate: it would allow Sable to bring three offshore oil platforms back online that have been shuttered for nearly ten years.
We’ll be rallying at the Coastal Commission meeting and then giving public comment to encourage the commission to stand strong and require Sable to play by the rules. We need to ensure that this disastrous pipeline will never have a second chance to spill!
Will you join us in San Francisco and help bring a few friends and allies, too? Sign up here.
What: Rally and Press Conference Opposing Restart of Dangerous Oil Pipeline in Santa Barbara, followed by public comment.
When: Friday, November 15 at 8am before the California Coastal Commission Meeting
Where: Hyatt Regency San Francisco, 5 Embarcadero Center, San Francisco, CA 94111
Who: Center for Biological Diversity, Last Chance Alliance, Extinction Rebellion SF Bay, Oil and Gas Action Network, Fearless Grandmothers, 1000 Grandmothers, Sunflower Alliance, CalPIRG, UC Santa Barbara Environmental Affairs Board and more!
If you want to make public comment, you’ll need to sign up on this form (for General Public Comment) before 5pm on Thursday.
Thanks so much for showing up at this very critical time. Together let’s send a strong message that drill baby drill will get no traction here.
Join us in Sacramento on December 2 for a People's March & Rally from 11am- 1pm PT.
Where: Area 27, next to the California State Capitol Building (grassy area on N street between 12th and 13th street). pic.twitter.com/hrCNdJkYmZ
— Secure Justice (@SecureJustice) November 29, 2024
Information and Links to send message
NOx gases are toxic to our health and climate. The Air District is considering a rule that all new water heaters and space heating systems be zero NOx-emitting, starting in 2027 for water heaters and 2029 for furnaces. There is lots of fossil-fueled opposition. Send a message online and speak up at the meeting for the rule. See article for talking points.
On December 4, BAAQMD will hold a board meeting to review progress toward implementing these new regulations. Opponents are expected to turn out in force to delay or weaken them. To ensure that these regulations go into effect, BAAQMD needs strong public support. You can send a message to the BAAQMD board to express support of Rules 9-4 and 9-6 here.
You can also speak up at the BAAQMD board meeting. Click here to comment via zoom. This discussion is Item No. 25 on the agenda.
The staff slide presentation on the rules starts on p. 15 of this pdf. And some helpful talking points are here.
Whether you email a comment (by December 3rd) or speak at the meeting, we need everyone’s voice!
UNITE To STOP The Fascist HB 9495 NOW Rally At Democratic Senator Alex Padilla’s Office Friday December 6, 2024 12 noon 333 Bush St. San Francisco Trump and the Republican party with the support of some Democrats in the House have passed HB 9495. This fascist bill titled Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act would allow the secretary of the Treasurer to unilaterally without out any process take away non-profit status of an organization that the Secretary determines to support “terrorism”.
This means that organizations like Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, The Lawyers Guild, Greenpeace, immigrant righst organization and organizations supporting the Palestinian people could immediately be put out of business financially by the Trump appointed Treasury Secretary.
This also could include unions that for example are opposed to sending arms to Israel and in favor of a ceasefire. Unions such as the UAW, SEIU, NEA, APWU have taken positions that Trump and his fascist supporters would like to crush and this bill would give them the power to do it when he takes power. The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act — would allow the Treasury Department unilateral authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit it designates as a “terrorist supporting organization.”
Rally and march for People's Park liberation on Saturday, December 14 at 1:300pm at the Dwight Triangle aka Chuck Herrick Peace and Freedom Memorial Park. More info soon. pic.twitter.com/Ok24a05mAl
— Mama Lisa (@LisTeague) December 8, 2024
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The CPUC is voting Thursday on a plan that might keep the dirty Aliso Canyon gas storage facility indefinitely open.
Please join us at the CPUC hearing for a rally and to make public comment demanding they delay the proceeding until March rather than approve the process that would keep Aliso Canyon open. Residents of Aliso have been dealing with the serious public health repercussions of the blowout and fighting to shut it down since 2015. They need our support!
For a quick update on Aliso Canyon, see Sammy Roth’s recent editorial in the LAT, “Gavin Newsom’s failure to close Aliso Canyon is hurting us all.”
RSVP here to help Shut Aliso Down!
Companies like United Healthcare, Humana, Emblem, Aetna and the healthcare industry are driven by how to make more profit by privatizing Medicare and taking more profits from patients to put in their pockets.
United Healthcare like other profiteers is also now using AI to Deny, Delay and Depose so their profits will skyrocket and further harm and kill people who need healthcare.
The recent strike of Unite Here Local 2 hotel workers only ended when the union threatened to have mass pickets at their convention if they didn’t sign a contract.
They are fearful that that American people are waking up and fed up with their scams to rip off healthcare from the people of this country.
A key issue in the hotel strike was the effort to take away their union health plan, so insurance companies can get away with more deductibles and denials for Lo-cal 2 members.
The only way to stop this madness is to take the healthcare industry away from the capitalists and for public worker control of the healthcare system. This will not happen with the Democrats who like the Republicans are controlled by the same billionaires and profiteers.
We need a labor party that has as its program the nationalization of the entire healthcare industry under control of the healthcare workers and health industry workers instead of these capitalists who put profits over lives.
Join us at the rally & tell your story about how these companies are denying helping
to kill people who need healthcare Initiated by: United Front Committee for A Labor Party
ufclp,org
info [at] ufclp.org