A fabulous tabloid entitled “No on N: The Care’s Not There,” can be yours if you walk precincts for the No on N campaign, Saturday or Sunday at 10 a.m. at Coalition on Homelessness, 468 Turk Street @ Larkin. EVERY PRECINCT WE WALK, WE WIN. This article highlights the features of the tabloid and provides the organizational supporters of the No on N campaign.

See the website for No on N for complete campaign activity information, at:
http://www.nomorehomelessness.org/Committee.htm

This four page 2-color tabloid has beautiful layout and much content. It highlights the failures of Prop N as follows, providing an explanation for each:

(1) Prop N makes poor people work for $1.84 per hour.
(2) Prop N will increase homelessness.
(3) Prop N is about politics, not solutions.

Jeff Adachi, the Public Defender-elect, wrote an excellent article opposing Prop N based on his experiences of defending the poor, entitled “Care, Cash or Catastrophe? The Truth, Lies and Consequences Behind Proposition N.”

Renee Saucedo provided an excellent article in Spanish entitled “La Gente Latina Se Opone A La Proposicion N”

Another article compares San Francisco’s response to the homeless crisis, which has existed since 1980, to that of New York City and Chicago, complete with charts and references . New York and Chicago are promoting a Prop N type of program and their homeless crisis is worse1

A major article describes real solutions to homelessness, including:

(1) Increase residential hotel stock and funding for supportive housing

(2) Improve prevention and support services

(3) Provide accessible and high-quality childcare to homeless families.

(4) Increase shelter access, information and crisis intervention for families.

(5) Change the City’s homeless policy-making process.

(6) Create more transitional housing, support and outreach services for those suffering with mental illness.

(7) Re-examine the effect of laws that deal with minor offenses.

Gavin Newsom, the millionaire promoter of this vicious attack on the workingclass, has made much of contrived medical support for Prop N. The No on N tabloid provides “A Medical Perspective on Prop N” opposing Prop N, signed by:
--Barry Zevin, MD, Tom Wadell Health Center, San Francisco Department of Public Health;
--Paul Quick MD, Medical Director, Housing Health and Integrated Servides
--Lucia Sommers, MD
--Paul Hathaway, Nurse Practitioner
--Nancy Stark, Adult Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
--Jason Blantz, Adult Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner

The fabulous, hard-working tenant activist, Tommi Avicolli Mecca, has an excellent article, originally in the Street Sheet of Sept. 2002, entitled “Prop N: Care Not Cash Hurts Gays” wherein he describes the disaster Prop N is for homeless gay people. He also provides some important statistics that highlight the crisis, such as:
--14% of people with AIDS in SF are homeless
--Up to 40% of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender youth are homeless.

The Bay Guardian’s 10 Lies of Proposition N, by Jennifer Friedenbach, originally in the September 18, 2002 Bay Guardian, is reprinted. You can also see the list and explanation at http://www.sfbg.com/36/51/x_oped.html

The back page has quotable quotes and a list of No on N endorsers. Some important quotable quotes are:

“Proposition N is nothing more than the latest attempt by local elites to blame their policy failures on poor and homeless people.” By Willie Ratcliff, Publisher, San Francisco Bay View

“Proposition N is unfair and illegal. Proposition N doesn’t guarantee services. It just slashes benefits. Homeless people who lose their shelter will be denied benefits altogether.” By Dorothy Ehrlich, Director, ACLU of Northern California

“A vote for Proposition N is a vote for increased homelessness. If a tenant who is on general assistance is evicted, they lose their general assistance benefits, making it impossible for the individual to regain housing.” By Ted Gullicksen, San Francisco Tenants Union

“Women and their children will be hurt by Prop N. It does NOTHING to guarantee availability of already inadequate services. If passed, homeless women who flee shelters in fear of the violence they experience there will lose their benefits and still have no choice but to be on the streets.” By Deborah Glenn-Rogers, President, SF National Organization of Women

ORGANIZATIONS OPPOSED TO PROPOSITION N
Green Party of San Francisco
Democratic Party of San Francisco
ACLU of Northern California
Bernal Heights Democratic Club
Caduceus Outreach Services
California Nurses Association
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco
Coalition to Save Public Health
Community Housing Partnership
CSCA Local 1000
Disability Advocates for Minority Organizations
Drawbridge
Drug Overdose Prevention and Education Project
Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Families In SROs Citywide Collaborative
General Assistance Advocacy Project
Gray Panthers
Harvey Milk Democratic Club
HERE Local 2
Housing Rights Committee
La Raza Centro Legal
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
Living Wage Coalition
Manilatown Heritage Foundation
Mental Health Association of san Francisco
Mission SRO Collaborative
National Lawyers Guild
National Women’s Political Caucus
Noe Valley Democratic Club
OPEIU Local 3
People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER)
POOR Magazine/POOR NewsNetwork
Pressman’s Union Local 4
Religious Witness with Homeless People
Richmond Democratic Club
San Francisco Day Laborer’s Program
San Francisco Food Not Bombs
San Francisco Labor Council
San Francisco Lesbians of Color
San Francisco NOW
San Francisco Tenants Union
San Francisco Women’s Political Committee
SEIU Locals 250, 535, 790, 1877
Senior Action Network
St. Anthony’s Foundation
Swords to Plowshares
Tenderloin Housing Clinic
United Educators