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PUEBLO Under Attack!
PUEBLO and Just Cause Oakland is under attack!! Members, board members and staff have been locked out of the office in a questionably legal move and prohibited from continuing to do the work of the organization and our movement.
Dear Friends, Allies, Supporters, Comrades, and Community Members,
PUEBLO and Just Cause Oakland is under attack!! Members, board members and staff have been locked out of the office in a questionably legal move and prohibited from continuing to do the work of the organization and our movement. In addition, the Executive Director has been placed on unpaid administrative leave indefinitely and the staff have been placed on paid administrative leave until March 3, 2004, with no certainty that they will be allowed back to work.
On February 27, 2004 a questionable vote was taken by two members of the Board of Directors to indefinitely suspend the Executive Director without pay. On February 28, while staff worked in our offices, these same two Board members demanded that staff and over 20 community members who were also there at the time leave the office. Today, March 1. 2004, PUEBLO and Just Cause staff arrived at their offices only to see a note attached to the door saying that the offices have been closed until March 3, and that all staff had been placed on administrative leave.
We believe that these attacks have arisen from a divergence in vision and strategy regarding which direction the organization should be heading. While these 6 members and 2 Board members would like to see PUEBLO remain primarily an issue driven organization, the majority of our members and the staff would like to see PUEBLO as an organization that does both critical issue-based organizing, as well as be at the fore-front of building a movement for justice in Oakland and the world.
The PUEBLO community is demanding a just, fair resolution to this issue. We know that community means all of us, not some of us or even one, two or eight of us.
There are a number of different things that you can do to lend your support.
1. Go to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/PUEBLO4U/petition.html and sign on to the Save Pueblo petition. Please forward widely˜we are fighting to collect over 500 signatures by tomorrow night‚s Board meeting!
2. Call the 2 PUEBLO members that are creating all of this havoc, Gwen Hardy, Treasurer and Vildred Dawson, Chair. Let them know that PUEBLO is a community effort, not an 8 person dictatorship! Urge them to solve this conflict in a principled manner!
Vildred Dawson, Chair: 510.535.0664 or 510.551.4122
Gwen Hardy, Treasurer: 510.286.0156 or 510.654.8054 or 510.306.318
3. Print out the attached petition and collect as many signatures as you can! Petitions can be picked up, emailed, or faxed. Call 510.866.7105 for more information.
4. Print on organizational letterhead and sign the letter of support included at the bottom of this letter so that we can present them to the Board at tomorrow night‚s Board meeting. These Board members need to know that we are committed to fighting for justice, not just us, and that they should do the same!
5. If you or someone you know has administrative resources that you could share with us (i.e. office space, a computer, phones, a desk, etc.) please let us know asap. We can‚t do the work without them!
Email savepueblo2004 [at] hotmail.com or call 510.763.5877 for more information.
Your support is greatly appreciated. Please feel free to call or email us with any questions or information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 29th, 2004
To Whom It May Concern:
I am a representative of ________________________. My organization
has worked with PUEBLO (People United for a Better Oakland), JustCause Oakland, or Youth of Oakland United (Y.O. U) for ________
years. Our relationship has included _____________________(examples: working together in coalition against Measure FF, collaborating to build the power of Oakland youth, campaigning together for better air quality in East Oakland, etc.)
We believe that PUEBLO - one of the few organizations dedicated to
building the community-based power in Oakland ˆhas made crucial
contributions to the social justice movement in the Bay Area over the past 14 years. We have been deeply impressed by the visionary
leadership of Dawn Phillips, by the hard work of the PUEBLO staff, and by the growing power of PUEBLO‚s membership.
My organization is deeply concerned about the recent actions of two members of the PUEBLO board ˆincluding indefinitely suspending the Executive Director, Dawn Phillips and removing other staff members from the PUEBLO office ˆbecause we believe that these actions
threaten PUEBLO‚s capacity to organize Oakland‚s communities to fight for justice. Over the years, these kinds of internal divisions have hurt the progressive movement and weakened our ability to win real gains for our communities, and it has to stop.
We support the staff of PUEBLO in its efforts to find a principled resolution of these conflicts. We encourage this faction of the PUEBLO board to engage in a fair and open negotiation with the PUEBLO staff and Executive Director. We believe that this kind of open process will put PUEBLO in the best possible position to be accountable to its membership and to advance its social justice agenda. We strongly encourage them to reinstate Dawn Phillips immediately and to allow the PUEBLO staff to continue its invaluable work to organize the people of Oakland to fight for community justice.
In solidarity,
Name
Position
Organization
PUEBLO and Just Cause Oakland is under attack!! Members, board members and staff have been locked out of the office in a questionably legal move and prohibited from continuing to do the work of the organization and our movement. In addition, the Executive Director has been placed on unpaid administrative leave indefinitely and the staff have been placed on paid administrative leave until March 3, 2004, with no certainty that they will be allowed back to work.
On February 27, 2004 a questionable vote was taken by two members of the Board of Directors to indefinitely suspend the Executive Director without pay. On February 28, while staff worked in our offices, these same two Board members demanded that staff and over 20 community members who were also there at the time leave the office. Today, March 1. 2004, PUEBLO and Just Cause staff arrived at their offices only to see a note attached to the door saying that the offices have been closed until March 3, and that all staff had been placed on administrative leave.
We believe that these attacks have arisen from a divergence in vision and strategy regarding which direction the organization should be heading. While these 6 members and 2 Board members would like to see PUEBLO remain primarily an issue driven organization, the majority of our members and the staff would like to see PUEBLO as an organization that does both critical issue-based organizing, as well as be at the fore-front of building a movement for justice in Oakland and the world.
The PUEBLO community is demanding a just, fair resolution to this issue. We know that community means all of us, not some of us or even one, two or eight of us.
There are a number of different things that you can do to lend your support.
1. Go to http://www.PetitionOnline.com/PUEBLO4U/petition.html and sign on to the Save Pueblo petition. Please forward widely˜we are fighting to collect over 500 signatures by tomorrow night‚s Board meeting!
2. Call the 2 PUEBLO members that are creating all of this havoc, Gwen Hardy, Treasurer and Vildred Dawson, Chair. Let them know that PUEBLO is a community effort, not an 8 person dictatorship! Urge them to solve this conflict in a principled manner!
Vildred Dawson, Chair: 510.535.0664 or 510.551.4122
Gwen Hardy, Treasurer: 510.286.0156 or 510.654.8054 or 510.306.318
3. Print out the attached petition and collect as many signatures as you can! Petitions can be picked up, emailed, or faxed. Call 510.866.7105 for more information.
4. Print on organizational letterhead and sign the letter of support included at the bottom of this letter so that we can present them to the Board at tomorrow night‚s Board meeting. These Board members need to know that we are committed to fighting for justice, not just us, and that they should do the same!
5. If you or someone you know has administrative resources that you could share with us (i.e. office space, a computer, phones, a desk, etc.) please let us know asap. We can‚t do the work without them!
Email savepueblo2004 [at] hotmail.com or call 510.763.5877 for more information.
Your support is greatly appreciated. Please feel free to call or email us with any questions or information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
February 29th, 2004
To Whom It May Concern:
I am a representative of ________________________. My organization
has worked with PUEBLO (People United for a Better Oakland), JustCause Oakland, or Youth of Oakland United (Y.O. U) for ________
years. Our relationship has included _____________________(examples: working together in coalition against Measure FF, collaborating to build the power of Oakland youth, campaigning together for better air quality in East Oakland, etc.)
We believe that PUEBLO - one of the few organizations dedicated to
building the community-based power in Oakland ˆhas made crucial
contributions to the social justice movement in the Bay Area over the past 14 years. We have been deeply impressed by the visionary
leadership of Dawn Phillips, by the hard work of the PUEBLO staff, and by the growing power of PUEBLO‚s membership.
My organization is deeply concerned about the recent actions of two members of the PUEBLO board ˆincluding indefinitely suspending the Executive Director, Dawn Phillips and removing other staff members from the PUEBLO office ˆbecause we believe that these actions
threaten PUEBLO‚s capacity to organize Oakland‚s communities to fight for justice. Over the years, these kinds of internal divisions have hurt the progressive movement and weakened our ability to win real gains for our communities, and it has to stop.
We support the staff of PUEBLO in its efforts to find a principled resolution of these conflicts. We encourage this faction of the PUEBLO board to engage in a fair and open negotiation with the PUEBLO staff and Executive Director. We believe that this kind of open process will put PUEBLO in the best possible position to be accountable to its membership and to advance its social justice agenda. We strongly encourage them to reinstate Dawn Phillips immediately and to allow the PUEBLO staff to continue its invaluable work to organize the people of Oakland to fight for community justice.
In solidarity,
Name
Position
Organization
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
How is PUEBLO funded? Who determines who is hired and fired within PUEBLO?
Is this a labor dispute? Do you need assistance? Feel free to contact me.
For more information:
http://www.iww.org
call these people and tell them to go organize republicans ... this kind of fake progressives, that come in and then wreck things - this is really hurting us right now ... does anyone have their pictures ...? We need to publish their image and warn folks to beware ... plastic is easy to see through ...
So how did the meeting go last night. Did the lockout end?
Wait a minute here!
The persons who posted the above article and petition have presented this to appear as though it’s another “KPFA-takeover” type of thing. And perhaps it indeed is. But there is reason to suspect otherwise. So before giving support to either side in this matter, let’s hear both sides of this thing! OK?
The persons who placed the Executive Director placed on unpaid administrative leave may have valid reasons for doing so. Now it is up to them to present us with their story and evidence to back it.
The persons who posted the above article and petition have presented this to appear as though it’s another “KPFA-takeover” type of thing. And perhaps it indeed is. But there is reason to suspect otherwise. So before giving support to either side in this matter, let’s hear both sides of this thing! OK?
The persons who placed the Executive Director placed on unpaid administrative leave may have valid reasons for doing so. Now it is up to them to present us with their story and evidence to back it.
The author of 'Wait a Minute' is right on. There's always two sides, and only one has appeared in these exchanges. Folks should take a deep breath -- maybe even a recess for a while -- and eventually, the facts will emerge. Thanks to the writer for reminding us that many progressives seem to have fallen into the 'rush to judgment' trap. What's important is that PUEBLO survive and thrive and continue their efforts to fulfill their mision. That's more important than any of the players or personalities. But for the curious, the truth will eventually emerge once the smoke clears ---have no doubt.
There's two sides to every story and then there's the truth. Once the dust settles and the facts come out; folks will agree that the correct actions were taken!
Do not assume that the right actions are being taken by anyone involved in this. One side is involving the whole progressive community and making unsubstantiated accusations. The other side is not defending itself, will probably lose its credibility because of that and wind up being the victim.
i just checked pueblo's website and there is no mention of the conflict anymore. so, who won, or is it still ongoing? has the other side made any public statements?
http://www.peopleunited.org/PUEBLO/accountingletter/boardhank7-30.htm
Looks like they got busted for embezellment.
Looks like they got busted for embezellment.
An accountant's report has confirmed that $185,000 was embezzled by the persons who were entrusted with the management of PUEBLO's funds. That alone is disgusting; the embezzlers betrayed our trust. But most disgusting of all is the way the embezzlers responded some five months ago at the time they were first discovered. That is, the embezzlers continued to take advantage of the trust of the progressive community, and posted the call for help which is at the very top of this thread. They embezzlers told us that they were "under attack" and called to us of the progressive community for support against the PUEBLO members who had initially discovered and exposed the wrong doing.
Looks like they got reckless and lost their ass in a political campaign. Was it proposition e? I hope they didn't use money from the kids program.
Did Pueblo juice up their just cause campaign with kids first money? If so, should EE be thrown out?
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