Comment Archives: stories: News
Re: “Are More Cops the Answer?”
More officers are definitely the answer for Oakland.
No one disputes that crime has many causes, and that economics especially has a lot to do with it. General truisms do not change the fact that Oakland police are seriously understaffed by any reasonable comparison. The Oakland poverty rate is typically much lower - yes, lower - than in most violent cities.
See orpn.org for the facts.
Jean Quan has relentlessly driven down OPD officer staffing, and now Oakland is number one in the country for robberies.
Re: “CEQA Reform Bill Is Too Modest”
Keep Gammon away from that Koolaid! Can he provide cites to any "current research on climate change" which proves that building apartments will prevent people from buying homes in the suburbs? Can he tell us exactly which "research shows that residents of Manhattan have a much smaller carbon footprint than the average American?" Does this include the second and third homes of the increasingly 1% Manhattanites? Making our cities unpleasant, cutting off light and air and paving over open space, will just drive people, especially those who have families, farther out. Jerry Brown's original plan to gut CEQA has been opposed by both labor and environmentalists, and Steinberg's version is almost as bad.
Re: “Debtor's Purgatory”
This article about the attempts of unrepresented debtors to get legal justice highlights the tragic futility of individual responses to systemic abuses. Strike Debt Bay Area is beginning to organize people to respond collectively to all forms of debt—including medical, student, mortgage and credit card debt as well as auto, pay day and other loans. We are breaking down the shame, fear and isolation associated with debt and developing ways to support each other to negotiate fairer financial arrangements. We are also interested in combating the use of debt against public agencies which face exorbitant interest rates from financiers--money which is ultimately paid by all taxpayers.
The second Bay Area Debtors’ Assembly will be held on Saturday, May 18, from 2 to 5 pm at the Unite Here union hall, 209 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. The Debtors' Assembly is a chance to talk with other people, sharing personal experiences and developing ideas for collective action in response to debt. The assembly will also include an introduction to the Strike Debt movement and a presentation putting personal and municipal debt into the context of modern capitalism. For more information go to strike-debt-bay-area.tumblr.com. We welcome anyone affected by debt or concerned about the impact of debt to attend the assembly or contact us at strike.debt.bay.area@gmail.com.
Another resource is the Debt Resistors’ Operations Manual, which is available on line at strikedebt.org. This publication from New York Strike Debt provides suggestions for individuals to contest debt along with analysis of the economic system promoting debt.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
If Kaiser members were persuaded by CNA/NUHW's claim that SEIU-UHW is moving forward as a Union which does the bosses' bidding, and if their readings of the plain language of their last two contracts have been full of concessions, then our Kaiser Service and Tech members would not have turned out to vote to ratify the contracts in record numbers, and they would have voted to leave SEIU. They did not. They are simply unpersuaded by NUHW's "facts".
Before I came on as a staff member of SEIU-UHW, I was a rank-and-file member at Eden Medical Center, where I worked for 25 years and organized my Clerical residual unit into the Union. The training and development I gained as a trade Unionist under the Rosselli-led Local was tremendous. The people leading NUHW are skilled organizers and they wish to help workers. I have zero doubt about that.
Unfortunately, they have lost their perspective and vision. Organizing the organized will not move the labor movement forward. The vast majority of health care workers at hospitals and convalescents in California have no Union. Those caregivers need organizing help to increase their compensation and advocate for better patient care quality and safer working conditions. For these workers, CNA-NUHW has very few answers.
The vast, vast majority of NUHW's organizing has been in attempts to raid SEIU health care worker bargaining units in California. They have attempted to take members from multiple SEIU public sector Unions in addition to their lengthy battles with caregivers represented by UHW. These fights have borne little fruit, and NUHW has not achieved higher standards in the contracts they have managed to settle. And, of course, they have been in negotiations with Kaiser for many years and have been unable to negotiate a contract for any of their bargaining units.
I'm glad that the current SEIU International leadership has steered away from the strategies at the end of Andy Stern's leadership, most notably ending the attempt to organize Unite HERE members and keeping UHW Homecare workers in their Union. The current elected SEIU-UHW President, Dave Regan, was among the International Executive Board members who organized against Anna Berger, Stern's preferred successor, and helped elect Mary Kay Henry as the current SEIU International President.
I think of the leaders who came up with a brilliant set of strategies to win our Sutter Health fights, facility by facility, in 2005 and 2006. I have been sorely disappointed by the direction they have taken their supporters since that time.
Re: “A Little Dab Could Doom Ya”
Straight from the opinion:
"Section 11358, in contrast, could potentially apply to any number of possible
alternative methods for producing concentrated cannabis. Prosecution under section
11358 would be appropriate, for example, if the resin was physically extracted from the
marijuana plant through pressure, through a screening process, or by using an ice water
method to produce the concentrated cannabis. Similarly, section 11358 would properly
apply to the production of concentrated cannabis if the method used was instead by
leaching the resin from the plant material by dissolving it in a nonchemical lipid
extractor, such as butter."
Section 11358 "Every person who plants, cultivates, harvests, dries, or
processes any marijuana or any part thereof, except as otherwise
provided by law, shall be punished by imprisonment pursuant to
subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code."
215 patients are exempt from this section that this opinion is designating for other methods that are not butane. It basically states that butane extraction falls under Section 11379.6, making it illegal. And other methods fall under section 11358 which 215 are exempt. So no, people will not start getting arrested for making bubble hash as this opinion clearly just defined it under a law 215 holders are exempt.
yay?!
Re: “West Contra Costa School Official on Leave for Sending Racist Emails”
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Re: “West Contra Costa School Official on Leave for Sending Racist Emails”
This comment was removed because it violates our policy against anonymous comments. It will be reposted if the commenter chooses to use his or her real name.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
NUHW supporters are in denial and it's time to stop. Two election; two defeats::::::please accept it; Kaiser members spoke and Democracy must prevail.
The labor movement is dying and the world is changing. If it really is about working families, then focus your energy on that. Regardless on how evil NUHW supporters think SEIU is, the facts are that the Kaiser SEIU contract protects working families well; with respectable wages, benefits, and a 52 weeks of income security that no one outside of that contract has, including NUHW or CNA....
Start focusing on the economy, unemployment, National Debt, the rising cost of Healthcare, the competition, and the fact that only 9% of American families have a retirement plan. That's the fight that labor needs to fight.... Not each other....
If Kaiser workers don't wake up soon, the world around them will change their lives just like the American Autoworkers' lives changed while their union was focusing on being militant and fighting "the boss", and in the end, their lack of vision for the future, and understanding of the world around them, was the root cause that failed to protect the contracts that brought Blue Collar workers to the middle class of American society........ Wake up!!
Re: “Drakes Bay Oyster Company Tied to Oil Drilling”
This whole thing smells fishy, excuse the pun!
Thank you Robert Gammon, for keeping our eyes open. Very interesting.....
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
So, Doug, I guess being a political organizer for SEIU, you kinda have to say the things you do in your post. There are many facts that contradict your statements, but I will not bother to challenge you with facts enumerate them, they are available on the NUHW web site and stopseiucuts.com. It would be futile to discuss the facts with someone so obviously wedded to SEIU, because SEIU's modus operandi seems to be to distort facts. There are takeaways built into the recently "ratified" Service & Tech group's contract. None of the S&T members I know was even notified of an opportunity to "ratify" the contract. In fact, to get a copy of the contract (actually a summary - the members don't even get a copy of the actual full contract) people were required to sign a card stating that they would vote for SEIU in the election. Does that sound like democracy? One of the clauses in the contract actually allows the employer to change any aspect of the contract unilaterally and at will. Does that sound like protection? As for SEIU's motivation to create a weak contract? They want to be the boss's friend, so that they are assured lots and lots of members (and lots and lots of dues money). That is why we decertified and went with NUHW.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
Adam,
"SEIU did what amounts to a hostile takeover when it put the local in trusteeship, and the leaders who were erroneously charged with malfeasance and thrown out formed NUHW."
Erroneously charged with malfeasance? Then why was there a civil judgement of $1.5 million for SEIU against NUHW and more than a dozen NUHW leaders which has been sustained on appeal?
"NUHW is the Kaiser workers old union, reconstituted after a hostile takeover,...".
I thought NUHW claimed that members are the Union, not the staff representatives. Were SEIU-UHW members, Kaiser and non-Kaiser, responsible for building the best contract for health care workers, or was it all Sal and Pals? If it was all Sal and his team, then how does that meet with the claim that it's all about the members?
"...the trustees, who are now the leadership under SEIU,...".
The leadership elected by the members, you mean? The leadership elected with a much higher voter turnout than was ever managed for a leadership election in the Rosselli Era? The leadership with an Executive Board made up of 300 members and NO staff, unlike the E-Board under Rosselli which was a fraction of the size and was dominated by powerful staff members? That leadership?
"SEIU, who will make contract concessions to Kaiser at the expense of its own members....".
Yes, the prediction of "contract concessions" that NUHW leaders have made since 2009, two contract negotiations ago, negotiations led by the largest Kaiser SEIU-UHW member bargaining team ever (much, much larger than the Rosselli-era bargaining teams), which maintained contracts with industry-leading wage, benefit and job security standards and were ratified by supreme majorities with higher voter turnout than ever before.
First, Kaiser SEIU-UHW members disagree that they have suffered great concessions in their last two contracts; their enthusiastic ratification votes prove it.
Second, and I mean this seriously, what would be the motivation of the current SEIU-UHW leaders to create "secret concessions" now and in the future? Explain to us why you think they would do that, and, if they were planning on doing so, why they participated in the creation of new SEIU-UHW bylaws which established a much larger membership presence among top leaders? If they wanted to give away the store, why would they set themselves up to be watched so closely?
Re: “CEQA Reform Bill Is Too Modest”
We used CEQA the way it was designed to be used. Any project that even might have an impact on the environment must undergo some kind of environmental review. Is that even controversial? With the Bicycle Plan, obviously if you take away traffic lanes and street parking on busy city streets, you might make traffic worse, right? Of course the city should have done that review before they began implementing the ambitious Bicycle Plan, and they knew it. They just thought they could get away with it. Now that they've done an EIR on the Bicycle Plan, it tells us that yes the Bicycle Plan is going to make traffic worse for everyone but cyclists, including delaying a number of Muni lines.
Re: “CEQA Reform Bill Is Too Modest”
Just curious, are you the same Rob Anderson who used CEQA to stymie bicycle improvements in SF for years on the grounds that they would hurt the environment?
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Last Friday at lunch, 20th St btwn San Pablo and Telegraph: 8 placards out of 24 cars parked, or 3 times what you would expect.
Today at lunch on Harrison btwn 19th and 18th: 11 of the 18 cars, or 6 times the norm.
Enforcement on these two blocks could have potentially earned the city up to $28,000!!! Why isn't enforcement a top priority??? It's a win-win: a cash cow for the city, and it makes the city more accessible to the truly disabled.
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
Soooooo Mr. Jay Youngdahl, I understand your cousin is Jon Youngdahl, the Executive Director of SEIU California State Council - their chief lobbyist! There goes whatever credibility you had as a journalist... And to think, I used to enjoy East Bay Express...
Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
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Re: “It's Time for the Union Fighting to Stop”
NUHW suporters: Please take note of the astute conclusions of author Jay Youngdahl: "The argument that the workers were too scared to vote for NUHW-CNA was condescending and paternalistic when made by NUHW supporters to explain their 2010 defeat. And one cannot credibly claim that, with the backing and money of the militant and committed this time around, Kaiser workers were again mousy and scared." Because that is exactly what you are continuing to do. Please stop insulting the workers that you claim to care so much about--if you don't respect the folks you want to represent, you probably shouldn't be the ones representing them...
Re: “CEQA Reform Bill Is Too Modest”
Unconvincing account of CEQA "reform." You put "enough parking" and "too much traffic" in quotes, but who exactly are you quoting? And please cite some specific lawsuits over aesthetics and some of the other so-called abuses of CEQA. "Forward thinking" requires that cities all morph into something like Manhattan? You don't seem to understand that most people---especially people with families---don't want to live in your trendy, "transit oriented" urban environment. They accept long commutes to live in the suburbs.
Re: “Do Disabled Motorists Need Free Parking?”
Helen Connolly -
I do not like the idea of putting personal info on the placard, and the placards go with the person, not the vehicle. If you want the vehicle to be permanently allowed to park in disabled parking spots get a disabled license plate.
How they do it here in Oregon is there are two types of placards... one is the general disabled placard, the other is specifically for those in wheelchairs etc that require clearance on the side for a ramp or lift or to be able to load the person into their chair at the car door. They are slightly different in color. I have one of the latter.
Signs at disabled spots are either the regular type or specifically for wheelchair type placards. Even with a regular disabled placard you will get a severe fine (over $1000 as I recall) if found in a wheelchair only spot. Fine for abusing a regular disabled placard spot is punished with a fine around $500.
The placards show the date of expiration (which matches the expiration of their driver's license or ID card) with the ID/DL number written in large black marker on the placard.
The alternatives are a disabled license plate for the vehicle or just using paratransit services from local mass transit. I use mass transit when I can, and paratransit services most other times, but also have a manual folding wheelchair to put in a friend's car if we are going somewhere so the license plate would do me no good.
General rule is if the parking space, disabled or not, has a 2 hour or longer maximum duration those with placards can park for unlimited time, free if there are meters. If there is a shorter limit the vehicles with disabled placards in regular spots are limited to the same time as anyone else... there is never a time limit for actual marked disabled parking spots.
I have not seen wholesale violations like the article refers to up here, but maybe that is just a factor of the much lower population density here in Salem, the capitol city. I believe Portland has more issues with such, but again even going up to Portland I have never been unable to find a disabled parking spot.
What gets me is this:
If I pull up to a place and there is a disabled spot with a non-disabled spot close by, I will use the non-disabled spot if it is workable for me. This leaves the limited number of disabled spots available for other disabled customers.
The red faced ragers I have encountered who are outraged that I 'stole' a parking place they could have used. Truly amazing. I would point to a number of open spots less than 100 feet away which, not being disabled, they should easily be able to traverse. The laziness of people is astounding to me. They will burn half a tank of gas circling a block waiting for the spot right in front of where they are going to open up... when within a block or two there are huge parking structures that are free to park in and which is are connected to sky bridges between several of the large malls downtown. Truly amazing to me.
Re: “Are More Cops the Answer?”
Fascinating that the union that is directly competing with police for money thinks the police department should continue to shrink as crime escalates. How persuasive!