Feature Archives

More than a hundred healthcare workers marched outside Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital on October 21st to draw attention to the potential impact of more than 100 layoffs and employee buyouts ordered by hospital management. Employees decided to hold the picket by a 97% vote. Last May, nearly 900 respiratory care practitioners, licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, clerical workers and others voted by a landslide to join the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) and leave their old union, SEIU.

On the night of October 20th, four Santa Cruz Police Department officers ticketed a woman for spitting on Pacific Avenue. No warning was given, and she was issued a ticket for nothing more than spitting. However, the municipal code states that a person is violating 9.50.02 "after having been notified by a police officer, public officer or downtown host that he or she is in violation of the prohibition."

Veterans of Foreign Wars "Bill Motto" Post 5888 announced that it is unable to hold Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinners, this year, at the Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Building. For 24 years, this event has helped needy people, veterans, seniors, students and lonely residents during holidays which are based in giving.

New Leaf, a 35-year-old San Francisco center that offered mental health and substance abuse services for low-income, queer, and trans folks, has closed. Gay Shame organized a protest in front of the Department of Public Health and dramatized their frustration with the department's lack of support for New Leaf with street theater.

On Sunday, October 10th, a group known as Creative Housing Liberation occupied Hotel Leslie in downtown San Francisco. This occupation was planned as part of a rally and march for World Homeless Day. Over 120 people convened for this event, which began around noon at Civic Center with speakers, musicians and spoken word. Eventually, the group marched up Larkin Street to the hotel, gathering outside for more performances and speakers, food and music, tours of the abandoned building, and the eventual occupation of the building by a core group of people.

George “Elfie” Ballis, photographer, Indybay contributor, organizer, and chronicler of Fresno’s progressive movement died Friday, September 24. He was 85. In recent years George “Elfie” Ballis spent much of his time producing video documentaries of the progressive movement in Fresno and the Central Valley. Some of his footage about Peace Fresno’s infiltration by the sheriff’s department ended up in Michael Moore’s 2004 hit movie "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Last week the Concord Coalition and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation launched their “Fiscal Solutions Tour,” a series of public forums focusing on right wing cures for the nation’s economic problems. One of their major proposals is lowering the benefits and raising the retirement age for Social Security. In San Francisco and San Jose, they were met by protesters who shouted "Hands off Social Security!"