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How do you solve homelessness? You give people housing. How do you convince politicians to do what’s right? You get the public on board. HOW TO GET PUBLIC SUPPORT? – PLANT A SEED USING CROWDSOURCING!   First They Came for the Homeless has been fighting homelessness for years, as well as fighting against the privatization of the Postal Service and the sale of Berkeley’s downtown Post Office along with other activists. They have literally been ‘on the sidewalks’ in Berkeley for almost two years, and before that in San Francisco. … Continued

Three ballot initiatives have been filed with the City of Oakland and will soon be ready to begin signature gathering. These initiatives represent a message to the City Council and the ‘Housing Cabinet’ : half measures aren’t going to cut it. People need living wages without every wage increase being consumed (and more!) by rental increases. People need to know they aren’t going to be evicted without cause so real estate moguls can make even higher profits. People need to know they can walk down the street without fear of … Continued

San Francisco has a police department whose members get to send racist texts without any reprecussions and execute people firing squad style without a care – and want to keep it that way. No matter that the firing squad execution of Mario Woods and the publishing of some truly disgusting racist remarks – that you’d think would only be overheard at a Trump rally – have outraged much of San Francisco. The police are showing no love towards the idea that there is an alternative to “shoot first, shoot often.” … Continued

Twelve years of federal monitors, $30M in taxpayer money to pay for them, and more than $70M in lawsuit settlement costs later, OPD is no closer to not being a rogue agency than it ever was. Having managed to hide the video of Hernan Jaramillo being suffocated to death by its officers for years, even apparently from the family until after a lawsuit settlement was seemingly agreed to; having managed to kill Demouria Hogg after finding him asleep or unconscious in his car, unable with an entire squad of officers … Continued

How the Other Half Banks is both the historical story of banking for the non-wealthy in America and why we once again need postal banks to serve the un- and underbanked, now in thrall to “alternative credit services” such as payday lenders. When the book, authored by Mehrsa Baradaran, was published last Fall, Strike Debt Bay Area (SDBA) was all over it, having been advocating for Postal Banking for years. One of their members wrote the first Amazon review and they invited Professor Baradaran of Georgia University’s Law School to … Continued

By Jesse Smith There is a long tradition of targeting activists with trumped-up charges. This is a simple and disgraceful fact of America’s sordid history with activism. To a large degree, false charges are SOP (Standard Operational Procedure). This practice is a mundane (yet Orwellian) reality known to any activist who has been arrested-for-resisting-arrest, or charged with assault after being brutalized by police. Activists seen as “leaders”, are targeted for charges that will never stick, in an attempt to neutralize them through harassment and intimidation. After all, when one faces … Continued

For almost four years now Occupy the Farm protesters have been fighting to save the Gill Tract, a large parcel of prime urban farmland at the corner of Marin and San Pablo in Albany, CA, from development. The latest fight has been part of the acreage where a new Sprouts, a parking lot and a high-end senior assisted living facility are to be constructed. Five meditators took their seats early this morning so as to halt, or at least delay, construction crews. Three were ultimately arrested. 3 meditators arrested; one … Continued

One year after the execution of Yuvette Henderson on the streets of Oakland by Emeryville Police, nothing has changed. No officers have been charged, Emeryville’s police still carry AR-15’s, and the Emeryville City Council has taken no action. The carnage, nationwide, continues. Group in front of Home Depot- Showing up for racial Justice #justice4Yuvette pic.twitter.com/HI3iU8Fffb — Alyssa (@alyssa011968) February 4, 2016 One year to the day after the execution of Yuvette Henderson, some one hundred people gathered in front of the Home Depot in Emeryville from which she exited only … Continued

The Alameda City Council was at it again, debating rent control, eviction restrictions and whether mom and pop landlords deserve a break even though the rents they charge go up as much as the rents neither mom nor pop landlords can charge. And again doing it at 2:00 in the morning as Tuesday, February 2nd turned into Wednesday, February 3rd. It’s not clear what, if anything, they decided, and no votes were taken. That will happen on February 16th. The agenda item on Tuesday was for further discussion – and … Continued

The Occupy Oakland Foreclosure Defense Group was formed in late January / early February of 2012, just about four years ago now. It was able to undertake a number of campaigns, some very successful, some less so, to stop foreclosures and keep people in their houses.  Numerous articles about the group’s activities can be found on this website (e.g., here, or here) Its most intensive campaign was to keep Morgan Stanley from foreclosing on Jodie Randolph (pictured on her porch, 2nd from right, with oofdg members). She was a woman … Continued