On August 29th, more than two-hundred Bay Area residents demonstrated outside of developer Lennar Corp.'s Headquarters in San Francisco and then headed to Oakland to rally in front of the Oakland Police Department (OPD). The local chapter of the Right to the City Alliance, a national coalition of more than 35 social justice organizations, along with allies and supporters, aimed to bring attention to rogue developers, gentrification and criminalization of communities of color from the Bay Area to New Orleans.

Lennar Corp, a housing redevelopment corporation based out of Miami, plans to redevelop Bayview Hunters Point but Bayview residents are calling for more affordable housing and a stop to the project, which has been sending toxic dust into nearby homes and schools. Outside of Lennar's San Francisco office, Katrina Survivor August Forman spoke about the connection between community displacement and corporate greed, calling the Bay Area's decline in Black and working class residents a "dry Katrina." Because of the constant threat of displacement, Forman said, "We are all Katrina evacuees."

In Oakland, speakers noted that the displacement of communities of color was not only economic but in many cases closely connected to the demonization of youth of color through such tactics as gang injunctions. Oakland resident Sister Beatrice X explains, "The Oakland Police department harasses working class communities and just recently raided a housing complex in West Oakland with military tanks and swat teams, they are using brute force to literally push us out."

Demonstrators also drew parallels between recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the Gulf Coast and the spike in ICE enforcement in California. Protesters demanded that OPD stop working with ICE and criminalizing the migrant community.

Photos | Past Indybay Katrina Coverage

An Alameda County judge has made another ruling in favor of tenants at the California Hotel in Oakland, keeping in place a temporary restraining order preventing Oakland Community Housing Inc. (OCHI) from evicting residents or shutting off utilities at the historic hotel.

In 1992, OCHI agreed to offer low-income housing at the hotel for 30 years but has since abandoned the tenants, many of whom are elderly and disabled, and is attempting to frighten them out of their housing. On July 15th, the non-profit threatened to cut off the utilities but the tenants have fought back and refused to move.

Since July 15, tenants have been providing for their own security, managing the hotel and keeping it clean, with the assistance of the Eviction Defense Center and other community organizations in Oakland. Currently, around 52 residents remain in the 150 room historic hotel, fighting against OCHI's attempts to force them out of their housing.

On July 23, residents celebrated their first week of resident control by dropping a large banner in front of the hotel that said, "We Will Not Be Moved."

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At their meeting on September 9th, the Santa Cruz City Council will decide whether to fund the initial design for a 5-story garage at Cedar/Cathcart. The garage will displace the Downtown Farmer's Market. The Campaign for Sensible Transportation is proposing that the City implement less costly and greener alternatives to building the garage. These alternatives are recommended in a 2003 report commissioned by the City called the Master Transportation Study. That study recommends that downtown employees be given incentives not to drive to work, including free bus passes, emergency taxi vouchers, credit at bike stores, and cash. The study cites examples from other cities in which such measures have substantially reduced car trips. To date, the City has not implemented the recommendations in the study.

On September 3rd, City Council candidates will face the garage issue at a Candidate Night on Sustainable Transportation, at Louden Nelson Center, 7-8:30pm. Read More

Glen Chase, a Professor of Systems Management, has released a second report identifying the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) eradication program as a fraud. Professor Chase's first report revealed the falsehoods the CDFA delivered after June 19 when courts and public pressure stopped the CDFA from aerial spraying synthetic pheromone based pesticides directly on cities. This second report reveals the fraud and misinformation delivered by the CDFA from the fall of 2007 until June 19, 2008.

"CDFA has demonstrated that they will lie, cheat and even sacrifice the lives of California's children in order to steal $100's of millions of emergency funds, set aside for real emergencies."

"We are now into the third year after noticing the Light Brown Apple Moth in California and recognizing that LBAM has been living here about 30-50 years or more, while doing NO DAMAGE. The CDFA is getting more and more desperate to quickly implement fake emergency eradication methods, so they can access the emergency funds and pretend they are saving California by stopping the LBAM from doing damage. For emergency funding, it seems the CDFA would claim to save us from Lady Bugs, if we didn't know better."

The only real emergency is the CDFA. The CDFA is planning to expose children and adults to toxins by many methods and interfere with natural balances in nature in order that programs are ongoing that appear to be a legitimate eradication. CDFA is also threatening the existence of small farmers and nursery businesses by imposing quarantines on their products, without assisting them financially. Read More and Download the Report

Union laborers, community representatives, and neighbors of La Bahia Hotel in Santa Cruz want to upgrade the distressed beachfront site with a hotel. But they all demand something better--and smaller--than the plan currently being proposed by Barry Swenson Builder and the Seaside Company.

According to Don Webber, a longtime neighbor of La Bahia, "There's a lot of support for building a hotel at La Bahia that is built in scale with the Beach Hill area, in conformance with the zoning law and more in line with community values." Neighbors have been asking city officials for story poles to demonstrate the height and placement of the 125-room luxury hotel up for approval by the City Council in September. Labor unions aren't happy with Swenson's plans since the company hasn't committed to building as a union shop or to a card count union election process for hotel staff. Historic preservationists are unhappy with the decision to totally demolish the aging landmark currently on the site instead of trying to restore even part of it. Community representatives don't like the City Council riding roughshod over the general plan, the zoning law, and a host of other city policies intended to protect the quality of life in Santa Cruz. But Swenson wants to demolish a city landmark and build 30 feet above the legal height limit, so he definitely needs to have the city change a number of important planning laws.

A rally was held in front of La Bahia on August 21st to protest the project as it is currently being proposed. Read More with Video and Photos | More Photos

East Palo Alto's rent stabilization program, established by voters in the early 1980's, was designed to help tenants know the maximum their future rent increases could be, enabling them to plan their family budgets with a measure of certainty. But in 2005 Page Mill Properties started buying up residences on East Palo Alto's west side and disputes with tenants and then with the city brewed.

Rent hikes, reduced maintenance service, and altered lease terms increased until many of the apartments owned and managed by Page Mill now sit empty, say remaining tenants. Others have left, either unable to pay the increases or confused by frequent notices from the giant landlord. Many of the residents are recent immigrants.

The west side of East Palo Alto sits close to the affluent city of Palo Alto and even shares the same zip code, leading residents to assert that Page Mill's motive is to get rid of all the tenants in order to "flip" the property for monetary gain.

Residents have filed class action suits, formed petition signature drives, and demonstrated in front of Page Mill Properties' Office in downtown Palo Alto. One group of tenants has particular reason to be outraged. Many East Palo Alto residents are public employees and their retirement system, CalPERS, has Page Mill Properties in its portfolio of investments. CalPERS is the pension fund for California public employees and is one of the largest financial institutions in the US.

Photos: 1 | 2 | Previous Coverage

On July 22nd, over 3,000 people rallied at the Port of Oakland to protest against pollution and poverty. The event was co-sponsored by the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, the California Labor Federation, and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums were among those who spoke at the protest.
Photos

Many truck drivers at the port are classified as "independent contractors" and make as little as $8 an hour while receiving no benefits. The port trucking system requires drivers to sit idle in their trucks for hours everyday while their trucks spew out diesel emissions. Port diesel pollution is associated with high rates of cancer and asthma. Diesel pollution is five times higher in West Oakland than in other parts of Alameda county. As a result, cancer and asthma rates are higher in West Oakland than other parts of the Bay Area.

The Port of Oakland is developing a Comprehensive Truck Management Plan (pdf). In March, 2008, the Port Commission began the process of instituting a new trucking model to reduce diesel emissions. In an effort to achieve an 85% reduction in health risk from its operations by 2020, the Commission voted unanimously to levy fees on containers passing through the Port. The fees are expected to generate $520 million and will be used to mitigate air pollution by retrofitting and replacing dirty trucks.

The Commission directed Port staff to hire a consultant to conduct an Economic Impact Study on making drivers employees of the trucking companies, and to report back to the Commission on the next steps to phase in the Comprehensive Truck Management Program by the end of June. The Commission, however, failed to include any language that addresses how to institute an effective local hire program. Questions also remain as to how much of the old dirty truck fleet will be replaced through the container fees and how much of the costs of truck replacement, upgrades and maintenance will be shouldered by low-wage truck drivers.

Big Trucking Deal | Coalition For Clean and Safe Ports | Port Of Oakland

At a public meeting held July 15 in San Francisco, Bayview residents and supporters accused the San Francisco Department of Public Health of turning a blind eye to Lennar Corp's toxic construction in the Hunter's Point Shipyard. Bayview community members said Lennar Corp, a housing redevelopment corporation based out of Miami, has been digging into asbestos-rich serpentine rock sending plumes of cancer-causing dust into nearby homes, recreation centers and elementary schools.
Photos

Last November, The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) voted to fine Lennar for not accurately monitoring toxicity levels during construction.

California state law requires Lennar to monitor the toxicity of the air and inform residents when asbestos or other carcinogens reach a poisonous level. However, May 30, when asbestos meters sky-rocketed to 138,000 levels of particulate matter, community members were kept in the dark. Bayview advocates say the release far exceeded levels deemed lethal, even by the city's lenient standards, the Environmental Protection Agency reports that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure.
Bayview residents were not informed of this until more than six weeks later on July 14th.

The toxic reading came just days before the June 3 election, when a heated battle was taking place over Prop F, a grassroots proposition that would have forced Lennar to create affordable housing; and Prop G, an initiative that would grant Lennar permission to proceed with the construction of 10,000 condominiums on the Shipyard, a Superfund site.
"Such an overage should have triggered a complete removal of those most sensitive receptors which would have been our children..." noted Bayview resident Marie Harrison of Green Action, an environmental justice organization, as she addressed the commissioners.

Read More | Recent Related Posts From Francisco Da Costa: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Will Lennar ever be fined for dropping the dust ball? | Test the Lennar site: There is no safe level for asbestos exposure | Lennar slapped with racial discrimination lawsuit, accused of violating toxic asbestos cleanup restrictions

Previous Indybay Coverage

The Fair Rent Now Coalition held a petition drive Saturday July 26th to protest rent increases to apartments owned by Page Mill Properties. The increases affect about 1,300 of the private investment firm's 1,650 units in East Palo Alto.

Residents filed a class action suit on July 15, alleging that the rent hikes are illegal, meant to cause harm, and constitute unfair business practice. The complaint also says that Page Mill Properties is using a sham ownership scheme to subvert East Palo Alto's rent control law.

The City of East Palo Alto is also taking legal action against Page Mill Properties and the Stanford Law Clinic is helping the tenants. The firm Heller Ehrman LLP has taken on the residents' case pro bono. They are seeking punitive and actual damages.

Read More With Photo | Youth United

Residents at the California Hotel in Oakland are threatened with eviction. They received a letter on July 1, notifying them that the hotel will close on July 15. Some of the residents have lived in the affordable housing units for 20 years. On July 14th, tenants of the hotel and their supporters gathered at 3501 San Pablo Ave. to protest the attempt to illegally lock them out of their housing by their landlord Cahon Associates, and Oakland Community Housing Inc.

These two slumlords plan to evict all 75 tenants from the California Hotel on July 15 by shutting off the utilities and water. The tenants at the hotel are mostly elderly, disabled persons who are very low income and have no where else to go.

The landlords are in violation of their agreement with the State of California Tax Credit Allocation Committee to run a very low income project for thirty years (1990 to 2020). The State has warned them against this illegal closure but that has not stopped Cahon Associates and Charles Fowlks from conducting this illegal action. Cahon Associates also owns six other properties in Oakland including San Antonio Terraces, James Lock Courts and others. These are all scheduled to be closed down and turned into transitional housing with the eviction of the residents in the future after the California Hotel is shut down.

Read More | Photos: 1 | 2 | California Hotel Unlawful Eviction Update l Judge Grants TRO to California Hotel Tenants to Stop Shutoff Of Utilities l Tenants of Historic Landmark Hotel Sue Non-Profit Housing Developer l Just Cause Oakland

Tim Rumford writes, "Here in Santa Cruz we have our own county based health insurance providing healthcare for the poor, MediCruz. Although MediCruz has many problems, it has to be said that it is not a requirement of the City nor the County to provide such services. MediCruz was designed to give healthcare to the homeless and the most poor in our community.

"You can only apply only for MediCruz if you are currently having a health crisis. In other words, you must already be sick or injured to even apply. As of July 1st, MediCruz applicants have 30 days after applying to prove they filed their 2007 income taxes to be considered for eligibility. This additional layer of red tape is not designed to make the poor pay their fair share. It is designed to stop a percentage of people from applying for MediCruz at all." Read More

see also: "This Plan is Your Plan" sung by The Raging Grannies

On June 21, local activists in the Castro district united, in an outdoor public awards ceremony to "honor" the greedy landlord speculators most responsible for the gentrification and destruction of San Francisco's communities. The event took place at Harvey Milk Plaza at Castro and Market in San Francisco, and the activists called on people to stand up against gentrification by landlord speculators who are destroying our neighborhoods and communities. The event ended with people dancing, with music provided by the Brass Liberation Orchestra.

2008 Awards Recipients include CitiApartments/Skyline Realty, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Care Not Cash, Lennar Corporation, Landlord Attorney Karen Uchiyama, Lower Polk Neighbors, the SF Redevelopment Agency, the Mission Housing Development Corp, and a list of top real estate speculators.

Photos | Gentrifiers Scared From Castro by Roving Pack of Drag Queens | Event Announcement With Links To Award Winners

On June 19th, between 2,500 and 3,000 people gathered for a very spirited "Heathcare-Yes, Insurance Companies-NO" rally outside the Moscone convention center in San Francisco. The largest contingents came from the California School Employees Association (CSEA), the California Nurses Association, and the California Universal Health Care Organizing Project. Many other labor, community and political organizations mobilized significant contingents including the American Federation of Teachers, Lo. 2121, Senior Action Network, Gray Panthers, Calif. Alliance for Retired Americans, ANSWER Coalition, United Educators of San Francisco, Cindy Sheehan for Congress Campaign, Iraq Moratorium, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Gloria La Riva, PSL Presidential candidate, and Nathalie Hrizi, 12th Congressional District candidate of the PSL and Peace and Freedom Party distributed hundreds of flyers supporting free quality health care for all and calling for the insurance companies to be abolished.

Inside the center, insurance executives and their political mouthpieces were attending the convention of the American Health Insurance Association. In order to enter, many of the attendees had to pass by hundreds of workers chanting, "Shame, Shame, Shame."

Many of the rally speakers testified about having been denied health care by insurers when suffering life-threatening diseases. Others spoke of family members who had died after denial of benefits.
The main theme of the rally was the need for a universal health care system. The rally featured Sen. Sheila Kuehl and included protesters from the groups Physicians for a National Health Program, California Alliance for Retired Americans, California Nurses Association, Senior Action Network and California Universal Health Care Organizing Project.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Video | California Alliance for Retired Americans | California Nurses Association | California School Employees Association | California Universal Health Care Organizing Project | Gray Panthers of San Francisco | Senior Action Network | United Educators of San Francisco

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on June 20th, fires started off of Highway 1 between Mar Monte Road and Airport Road. By 6:00 p.m., 1,000 acres had already burned and several homes destroyed. It is currently burning out of control and continues to threaten the health and safety of people and animals in the area.

The fires ignited and took hold rather rapidly, with many people nearby the fires unaware of the danger or what procedures to follow. An observer of the fire from Freedom Boulevard around 3:00 p.m. was overwhelmed by the giant flume of smoke that encroached over the city of Freedom and headed towards Watsonville.

Currently, over 2,000 people are being forced to evacuate their homes and others are being asked to evacuate, including all areas within the Airport Road, Freedom Blvd and Larkin Valley Road area. Highway 1 is currently closed for a six mile stretch, between Larkin Valley Road and down to Riverside Drive, according to other news reports. Read More and View Photos