On July 30, Michael Steinberg Writes:, "Today San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom hid in his office and locked the door on a crowd of tenants who came to petition him to support a package of renter relief measures. The SF Board of Supervisors passed the package earlier this month, but not by a veto proof margin, and Newsom has said he will veto it."

Today, as a crowd of tenants from across San Francisco chanted, “Let Us In!” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom hid in his office and locked the door on them. Over 50 renters from the Tenderloin, Chinatown, South of Market, the Mission, Bayview and other city neighborhoods gathered on the steps of City Hall at noon to protest Newsom’s promise to veto a package of renter relief measures passed by the Board of Supervisors earlier this month.

One measure would provide for limiting a tenant’s rent to 33% of income. A second would make it easier to add roommates to help pay the rent. And the third would limit “banked” rent increases (those saved up from previous years) to 8% a year. All three measures, sponsored by Supervisor Chris Daly, are intended to provide economic relief to tenants hard hit by the current economic crisis.

Though the measures passed, the margin was not enough to overcome a mayoral veto. And Newsom has announced that he will veto them. At noon a line of tenants stood holding signs and wearing tee shirts reading “Where’s Our Relief?”

Read more

Hundreds of People Who Would Be Affected by Newsom's Budget Cuts Take to the Streets | "Newsom's Cuts are Killing Us!"

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was guest speaker at Nancy Pelosi's $500-per-plate “Ultimate Women’s Power Lunch" on June 22, prompting about 150 demonstrators to gather in front of the Fairmont Hotel where the Democratic fundraiser was held. Sebelius said earlier this month that dismantling private health coverage was "a bad direction to go."

Sebelius' comments, plus Pelosi's lack of support for a Single Payer health care plan, drew nurses doctors and other health care advocates to the front entrance of the hotel. Demonstrators carried signs calling for support of a bill for national health care currently in Congress, HR 676, and insisting that Single Payer advocates be allowed a place in the national debates on health care reform. Dr. John Shearer spoke to the assembled group, and called out to the politicians as they entered the hotel, "Secretary Sebelius, can you hear us?" He said that health care is a moral issue.

The vociferous demonstration was punctuated by a skit and songs about the benefits of a Single Payer plan courtesy of the Raging Grannies, who took to a bullhorn and led the chant "Nancy Nancy you can't hide--Insurers are on your side" when the House Speaker was spotted in front of the hotel. Also attending the fundraiser was Rep. Anna Eshoo, another congressperson who has shown a lack of concern for her constituents' needs for comprehensive health care reform in the form of a single payer plan.

Photos | Video | Single Payer Now

The demolition of the Bevatron, a.k.a. Building 51 at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), is scheduled to begin in July. Demolition will include the removal of radioactive, hazardous, and non-hazardous waste totaling an estimated 4700 truckloads. Removal of waste will begin with 5 trucks a day, leading up to a planned 20 trucks a day by the end of July. Waste removal will take an estimated 3.5 years. According to the LBNL website (lbl.gov), 1000-1200 truckloads of the 4700 "may contain hazardous or radioactive material."

Activists and concerned citizens are leery of the possible public health repercussions of demolishing and transporting such a large amount of hazardous and radioactive material right down the middle of Berkeley via University Ave on its way to the freeway and disposal sites. Not to mention the fact that the City of Berkeley, since 1986, has prohibited all activity related to nuclear weapons and energy through the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act.

According to resident Pamela Sihvola, cited in a June 29th, 2006 SF Chronicle article, the Bevatron was "the very first nuclear lab established in the country" and "played a significant role in the development of nuclear weapons." This would not be the first time the City of Berkeley has reneged on the NFB Act. In February, the City allowed the library to grant a contract to 3M, a notorious nuclear-weapons-supporting company, for the maintenance of its checkout machines.

A press conference will take place on Tuesday, June 23rd at 6:30pm in front of Berkeley City Hall in order to draw attention to this further blatant disregard for city statute.

Daily Planet: Bevatron Demo Underway | SF Chronicle: Bevatron's future being debated | Daily Planet 3M Article

Previous Indybay Coverage: Bevatron Research Facility To Be Demolished | Berkeley Rally Against Bevatron Structure Pulverization

On Wednesday June 10th, hundreds of people who will be affected by Gavin Newsom's budget cuts took to the streets in protest. The demonstration followed a proposed budget, released by Mayor Newsom, that will terminate critical health and human services, while pumping up salaries for police by 25% and adding many new high paid patronage positions into his own administration.

Some highlights of the devastating impact of the budget include:

• Closure of Ella Hill Hutch shelter serving up to 100 people every night in the Western Addition;
• Closure of Caduceus Outreach Services, a mental health treatment and wrap around support program for severely disabled homeless adults with co-existing addictive disorders;
• Almost total elimination (66% cut) of SRO Families United program for families with dependent children living in hotels;
• Cut of 22% to residential substance abuse and mental health treatment programs budgets;
• Cut of 30% to all outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment;
• Almost total elimination of STOP treatment program;
• 1,600 people to lose psychiatric treatment through Private Provider Network; and
• Closure of Tenderloin Health, homeless multi-service center in the Tenderloin serving over 300 people a day, 16,000 people a year. The program provides health services, HIV case management, HIV prevention, mental health services, harm reduction work, improving quality of life by getting people out of the rain, providing hygiene kits, bathrooms, snacks, crisis intervention, 30,000 shelter reservations a year.

For the first time in recent memory, the City’s General Fund would give more to Police than to Public Health – and more to the Fire Department than Human Services.

Read More with Photos | Thuggery of the firefighters & police at 6/16 Bd of Supes hearing | Workers Storm City Hall Over Budget | Video: 1 | 2 | Newsom Budget Figures Don’t Add Up | Supes Push for More Equitable Budget

Advocates of a nationalized healthcare plan, fed up with the exclusion of single-payer medical care from the debate to fix the nation's health system, are demonstrating in over 50 U.S. cities during the last week of May and first week of June. In San Francisco, more than 200 healthcare advocates rallied in front of San Francisco's Federal Building on May 29th. They lined up to enter Representative Nancy Pelosi's office, finally causing one of her staff members to come down and hear the group's concerns.

In a single-payer system the federal government would pay for medical care delivered by public and private health professionals but medical bills would go directly to a government insurance plan and private insurance companies that make huge profits would be out of the picture. During Friday's demonstration single-payer proponents pointed out that cost-savings, efficiency and better delivery of care would result.

Activists protested the fact that health insurance and pharmaceutical industries have waged a huge lobbying effort to keep insurance companies involved in any healthcare reform. They called upon Pelosi to step up to the plate and co-sponsor a bill for single-payer for the nation, House Resolution 676. Pelosi has said that "single-payer is not on the table."

Video | Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Healthcare-NOW!

The weather is warming and this years summer crops at the Beach Flats Community Garden are coming up. It's been over a year since the Garden was first threatened with closure by the overburdened and resource-strapped Community Center which oversees it. Since, members of the community have banded together not only that once, but again last December, to make sure the garden stays open, the second time in the face of city budget cuts. Despite the threats, gardeners continue to plant, tend and harvest. Read more and view photos

On May 18th, concerned community members and mental health providers gathered to protest the handling of the American Psychiatric Association’s revision of so-called “Gender Identity Disorder” in its 5th revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The APA has been criticized for a number of moves regarding the revision, including the appointment of Kenneth Zucker, an outspoken reparative therapist of gender variant children, as head of the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group.

Organizer Danielle Askini said, “We demand that evidence-based medicine and scientific literature be the focus of how sexual and gender minorities are considered. That includes work in related fields of behavioral science, bioethics, and philosophy of science.”

Andrea James, also an organizer, stated, “We believe trans health services can be provided without diagnosing gender identity and expression as disordered. We believe any clinical distress may arise from attempts to suppress, shame, or cure nonconforming gender expression and can be resolved through clinically proven social and/or medical options.”

The protest began at 6:00pm at 4th & Howard in San Francisco’s South of Market District in front of the Moscone Center where the APA will hold its annual conference.

Read More with Photos | Event Announcement

GID Reform Advocates | Transgender and Gender Queer Panelists Address Therapists, Mental Health Practitioners

Update 6/9/09: Judge Returns Guilty Verdict In Metro Trespass Trial

Robert Norse writes: "Over six months ago on Sunday, November 2nd, 2008, I was approached by a Metro security guard at the Metro Transit Center in downtown Santa Cruz. I was interviewing two homeless men for Free Radio Santa Cruz. The guard insisted I leave. I declined to do so. He called the police.

"The SCPD, instead of defending my right to be there and advising the Metro Security guards to stop bothering me, forced me to leave the property on threat of arrest. A Metro supervisor subsequently humiliated me further and banned me for the day because I was visibly tape recording the complaint I made to her and her response."

The case goes to trial on Friday, May 15th at 1:30pm in Department 1 of the Santa Cruz County Courthouse. The charge is refusing to leave a "business" when asked to do so. Attorney David Beauvais of Berkeley will be defending Robert Norse in the case. Attorney Kate Wells will be filing a subsequent federal lawsuit for damages. The trial will be before Judge Ariadne Symonds without a jury. City Attorney John Barisone, or one of his attorneys, will presumably be appearing for the city. Read more | Notes from the Defendant

See also: Ticketing for Standing and Talking at the Metro Bus Stop Sunday || Rotkin Claims: No Flyering Allowed at the Metro Center--Protest 11-26

On April 30, 2009, a family of Section 8 landlords in Contra Costa County filed suit against the City of Antioch and several members of its Police Department for violating their civil rights. Antioch is around 40 miles east of San Francisco.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco's U.S. District Court for Northern California, alleges that members of the Antioch Police Department used rough and illegal tactics to force the landlords to evict their Section 8 tenants, many of whom are African-Americans.

The suit also alleges that the Riaz Patras family has been targeted by the City of Antioch through its Police Department because they rented their properties to Section 8 families. Read more

More articles by Lynda Carson: Corruption in Oakland's Section 8 program | Oakland housing nonprofit (EBALDC) retaliates against tenant activist | Investigation into Oakland non profit housing organization underway | Stop the Displacement of more than 500 Oakland Households! | Oakland's Just Cause ordinance protects tenants from bankers, realtors, and landlords | Tenants oppose Oakland's renovation plans that may displace hundreds | Nonprofit housing organizations use Tribune against critics of renovation schemes | Oakland's housing renovation schemes move forward | Oakland housing organization believes the poor are dirty and unclean | Housing News- Sending Kids To Jail For Cash |

On May 23-24, the Soupstock Food Not Bombs Convergence will be held in San Francisco. Soupstock will include a concert and a conference celebrating 29 years of Food Not Bombs, providing a forum for reflection on the past, present and future of the movement.

The conference will take place on Saturday the 23, at the 5lowershop at 992 Peralta St near the Alemany Farmers Market. Opening discussions will begin at 10AM and the event will conclude at 6PM. There will be movies, speakers, panels and group discussions. Sessions will discuss anarchism, food not bombs, solidarity, food justice and community building.

The concert will be held on Sunday the 24, at the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in McLaren park, a lesser known venue on the southern edge of San Francisco.

Read More | Soupstock | San Francisco Food Not Bombs

A Fresno homeless advocate has been sent a letter from Homeland Security, informing him that his attempts to help the homeless have been "brought to the attention of the Police Department's Terrorism Liaison Officers." The unwanted attention of the Homeland Security anti-terrorism group followed a City of Fresno "clean up" of a homeless encampment on the Mariposa Mall in downtown Fresno.

Several homeless advocates monitored the "clean up" and removal of homeless people's property on the morning of April 22, 2009 by City Sanitation Workers. "Clean ups" at the Mariposa Mall site, just west of Fresno City Hall, are conducted about once a month. City Sanitation puts up signs announcing the date of the clean up, most of the homeless people move out shortly before they arrive, and move back later in the day.

Phil Connelly, one of the homeless advocates, left the Mariposa Mall “clean up” and went to the City of Fresno Corporate Yard (2101 G street) in an attempt to see where the confiscated property was taken. It has been city policy to store property at that location for 90 days, or until it is reclaimed. A few days after his visit to the City of Fresno Corporate Yard, Connelly was contacted by Sgt. Ronald Grimm, Homeland Security Coordinator for the Fresno Police Department.

Read more and view Photos

Fresno Deputy Sheriff’s Disrupt Free Speech of Women in Black, Threatened Them with Arrest

On April 19, injured workers in Southern California joined together in front of the Downey Kaiser medical center to speak out about workers killed and injured on the job. SEIU hospital workers and movie workers from IATSE and laborers claim that the former military industrial nuclear facility was not properly cleaned of toxics and now workers are getting sick.

On April 28th in San Francisco, Workers Day Memorial events included a press conference at the Pfizer Research Facility at 3pm and a speak-out at the ILWU Local 34 Hall at 7pm. Speaker included injured workers, the director of the Silicon Valley Toxic Coalition, and union representatives.

Read More on Upcoming April 28th Pfizer Event | Read More on Downey Kaiser Event | Workers Memorial Day

April 28th San Franciso Announcements: Pfizer Press Conference | ILWU Speak-out Forum

On Friday, March 27, protesters decried budget cuts to home care workers in front of the State Building in Oakland. SEIU, which organized the protest, claimed that the California budget passed in February contains $1 billion in "trigger cuts" to home care, health care, higher education, SSI/SSP, and CalWORKS. The Oakland protest was part of a day of action organized by SEIU that included a rally at the Capitol Building in Sacramento and in five other cities. "When legislators buried these 'trigger cuts' deep in the February budget agreement, they were counting on not having to take responsibility for their decision to make such unpopular cuts. We're coming to our leaders' front doors to demand they accept responsibility for their decisions that will harm the elderly, the sick, people with disabilities, struggling families, and students," said Paula Cantera, a home care provider in Napa County. The home care workers weren't alone. "If our leaders can find a way to enrich corporations with billions in shameless giveaways, they can find a way to protect our seniors an people with disabilities, " said Gary Passmore, Executive Director of the Congress of California Seniors.

Photos

Evaluating the health effects of past and future pesticides applied on and around people to combat the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM), three state agencies concluded the potential danger was low because they incorrectly divided instead of multiplying. In their analysis, the agencies divided by the thousands of acres sprayed, when they should have multiplied by the same number of thousands. If only 1,000 acres were involved, the peoples' exposure was as much as one million times greater than reported by the state agencies.

In larger pesticide application areas, which are typical, the error is even greater.

The reports were prepared by the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and the Department of Public Health (DPH). All three joint reports released November 3rd, 2008, April 10th, 2008, and November 16th, 2007 contain the same error.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), based on these incorrect reports and their enthusiasm to proceed, gave their assurance to the public that the pesticide applications directly on and around the people and their children were safe.

This extreme error in toxicity exposure could explain why hundreds of people and doctors filed written health complaints following CDFA's application of pesticides on people and their children in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties in 2007. Read more

Previous coverage: New State Study Supports Concerns About Aerial Pesticide Spray; More Questions Remain