Peninsula Leads the Charge Against Prop 26

Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter campaign workers, volunteers, and allies armed with large No on 26 placards, showed up at a Palo Alto Chevron gas station to protest Chevron's support of Proposition 26 today.

Proposition 26 gets the bulk of its financial support from oil and gas companies, with Chevron leading the pack. Palo Alto resident Ruth Chippendale said "oil companies are not well liked here. Palo Alto is a green city." At age 81, "Granny Ruth C.", as she is known, has been manning phones and singing anti Prop 26 songs at parties to raise awareness about the dangers of Proposition 26. As a member of the Raging Grannies, she gives voice in song to the issue.

Crooning to the tune of "Yellow Rose of Texas", Ruth C., Granny Shirley Powers on the ukulele, and three other Grannies led a crowd of about 20 protesters in front of the Chevron at El Camino Real and Ventura Avenue in song.

Oh big bad oil-co Chevron, We're on to all your lies
You want to make a profit, from smogging up our skies
But California voters are much smarter than you think
They'll dump your dumb prop 26, they know how much it stinks!

Supporters of Proposition 26 are funding it because they want taxpayers to clean up their messes -- including the greenhouse gases they spill into the atmosphere, said critics of the initiative at the rally today. Proponents tout the virtues of their initiative by saying, "Stop hidden taxes." Critics say they are running deceptive advertising and call prop 26 the "stealth anti-environmental proposition".

Two blocks up the street at Crush Prop 23 headquarters, phone banks are running three shifts a day, manned entirely by volunteers. The No on 23 campaigners have added information about 26 to their script because it is much less understood. "The language in 26 is purposely misleading", said Gail Sredanovic, who has helped at phone banks at both the Crush Prop 23 location and from the Sierra Club's offices on E. Bayshore in Palo Alto. "Many people I've reached on the phone thank me for explaining about Prop 26, saying that they find the 26 issue a confusing one. I point out to them to look at who is funding the proposition, and they say 'Oh...'."

The crowd in front of Chevron chanted before ending their rally today. The sentiment in their cheers and songs pretty much reflect that of San Francisco peninsula residents, said one of the demonstrators, who came to the Palo Alto demo from Burlingame. The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter packed up their banner shortly after noon, but many of the chapter members who came to the rally headed to the office nearby for lunch and phone banking. Taking off in their hybrid vehicles on bicycles, the group was clearly committed to reducing the need for oil...and dependence on oil companies.

[update October 31, 2010: Calls to voters can make the difference in this very close race. To join a phone bank contact Karen.Maki [at] sierraclub.org]