Privatization of Laney and CCSF and "The Fight For 52 cent" On 1934 Minneapolis Gen Strike

WorkWeek on 10/31/17 looks at the privatization land grab at Laney college by the A's owner John J. Fisher and also the proposed property development at the SF PUC owned Balboa Reservoir. Both projects would take public land that is needed by the community colleges for their students, staff and faculty.
In Oakland, the owner of the Oakland A’s John J. Fisher is the son of Gap Inc. founders Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. He is also the head of the K.I.P.P. Foundation which has been privatizing education with his charter chain Rocketship and last year he gave $50,000 to the California Charter School Association to support anti-labor candidates throughout the state. His baseball company announced in September that he wanted part of the Laney college property for a new stadium. We interview Laney professor Chris Weidenbach and CCSF professor Rick Baum and CCSF Music professor Madelein Mueller.
The trusteeship of City College of San Francisco took power out of the hands of the elected school board and ended up downsizing the college by tens of thousands of students and also selling off the Gough Street property. Now Mayor Ed Lee and developers along with Habitat for Humanity are seeking to grab land owned by the SF PUC and presently used by the college staff and students and turn it into high priced condos.

Earlier this month AFT 2121 called for the PUC Balboa Reservoir to be turned over to the college instead of property developers.
Next we will look a play that commemorates the 1934 Minneapolis general strike. We interview San Francisco playwrite and actor Howard Petrick. One of the most important general strikes in the 1930’s was the Minneapolis Teamster strike in ‘34. Like the San Francisco general strike there was the use of the National Guard to crush the striking workers and also battles on the streets. San Franciscan Howard Petrick has written a play called the “fight for 52 cents”. It is based around the role of one of the organizers Ray Dunn whose brother was also a striker. Ray had been through the grinder. He had been beaten up several times by the police on picket lines, attacked in the street by armed thugs, thrown into jail and confined in a stockade under military guard by the governor. He was a strike leader and Howard Petrick has brought the lessons of that strike back for today. It will play tomorrow night at the Marsh theater in San Francisco.

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Resolution of AFT 2121 passed at October 17, 2017 Meeting
Public Land Must Stay in Public Hands

Whereas, the SF Public Utilities Commission in close cooperation with the SF Planning Department and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development is proceeding with plans to build a private housing development on public land currently owned by the SF Public Utilities Commission; and

Whereas, the proposed housing development is located on the section of the Balboa Reservoir that CCSF has improved and leased from the PUC for decades; and

Whereas, we understand public land to be a sacred public trust from previous generations, whose future belongs to many generations into the future, and not a commodity to be sold; and

Whereas, despite claims of being “affordable” housing most, if not all, of the units in the proposed housing development will be unaffordable to most, if not all, CCSF students, classified staff and faculty; and

Whereas, written agreements state that if water were put into the reservoir the college would have air rights for parking above; and

Whereas, the proposed housing development will eliminate parking with no corresponding improvement of transit alternatives, thereby limiting access for students who do not have other viable options; and

Whereas, San Francisco public agencies must abide by both the spirit and the letter of State Surplus Land Statute 54222, which requires that any local agency disposing of surplus land shall send, prior to disposing of that property, a written offer to sell or lease the property … to any school district in whose jurisdiction the land is located; and

Whereas, CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) requires state and local agencies to identify the significant environmental impacts of their actions and to avoid or mitigate those impacts, if feasible; and
. .
Whereas, the process for planning this development has been tightly controlled, in some cases secretive, and has routinely ignored community input; and

Whereas, the process for planning this development has involved pressure exerted on CCSF administration to serve the goals of other City agencies rather than the needs of City College; and

Whereas, accreditation standards require that CCSF administration defend the college from undue influence; and

Whereas, the current private plan inadequately addresses the desperate need for truly affordable housing in San Francisco; therefore

Be it resolved, we, AFT 2121, ask ​the SF PUC to transfer this public property to City College of San Francisco; and furthermore

Be it resolved, we will call on other unions and the San Francisco Labor Council to pass a resolution asking the SF PUC to transfer this public property to CCSF; and finally