Feature Archives

Mike Rhodes reports: My first history lesson about Fresno’s corrupt underbelly was in the late 1990s when I read Mark Arax’s book "In My Father’s Name." It is a great book about Arax’s search for the killer of his father, which dives deep into Fresno’s interesting but corrupt past. Arax, writing for the Los Angeles Times, quoted Larry Miller, a retired federal agent who busted numerous Fresno bookies with connections to the Fresno Police Department in the 1960s. “It was a rotten town with a rotten police force and the citizens didn’t mind. Their indifference was practically suffocating.”

On February 25, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors doomed an old-growth grove of oak trees, and an easement trail, by deciding in favor of real estate moguls Tambri Heyden and David Montalbo. Despite opposition, the developers have been given the green light to proceed in the unincorporated community of Saranap, located between Lafayette and Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County. In their way stands a grove of old-growth oak trees. Also, at issue is the possibility of Indigenous remains and cultural artifacts on the site. However, it is not too late to stop the construction if people act up and speak out.

In the U.S. Senate impeachment trial of Trump that concluded with an acquittal on February 5, Republicans senators refused to let people with direct knowledge of Trump's behavior testify. Trump's defense attorneys asserted that a President could do whatever benefited him personally if he thought it was in the public interest. The same day Trump was acquitted, protesters in the Bay Area and across the country hit the streets and called out the trial out as a “hoax," “sham,” and “fake," using some of Trump's favorite words to describe events that don‘t accord with his notions.

Critics say that Facebook is leading its 2.7 billion users down a dark road into an information environment filled with dishonest propaganda. On January 9, activists demonstrated both outside and on the property of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California. The words "Fake News Real Hate" and other slogans were projected on to Facebook's giant thumbs up "like" sign to call out the platform's political ad policy, which allows for paid advertisers to deceive the public.

In September of 2019, the Mountain View City Council passed a sweeping ban that would close off most streets in the city to "oversized vehicles." Two days before Christmas, many RV dwellers got news that brought hope that they might be able to keep their mobile homes in the city, where most of the adults are employed. A referendum petition successfully collected enough signatures to overturn the Mountain View ban on RV’s. If the council wishes to try again to enact a ban, they must go to the voters. The earliest date for such an election would be November 2020. Meanwhile, there is no ban on RV's parked curbside in the city.

On November 18, unsheltered mothers claimed possession of a vacant investor-owned property in West Oakland. After receiving an eviction notice, Moms for Housing declared that they intended to remain in their new home and petitioned the courts to allow them to stay. Wedgewood refuses to negotiate with the moms on a sale backed by the Oakland Community Land Trust. At the latest court hearing on December 30, the judge did not issue a ruling, but might any day. Separately, Moms for Housing pushed back against a public relations ploy by Wedgewood — using affiliated Los Angeles nonprofit Shelter 37 to soften the company's image as it attempts to evict the moms.

On November 24, what was to be known as the Housing Justice Village began to take shape in Oscar Grant Plaza in front of Oakland City Hall. Housed and unhoused activists set up a number of tents on the grassy lawn to protest the city's never ending war against the homeless: demolitions, evictions, and tows of residential vehicles. In a political show of force, the city of Oakland directed a small army of police to mass arrest and jail 22 of the demonstrators on what would otherwise be a citable infraction. On December 2, arrestees held a press conference to address the city's attack and why they protested in the first place.