According to the latest missive from Oakland City Hall, Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan has rescinded the temporary encroachment permit that the City Administrator's office issued to activist and veterans' rights attorney Becca von Behren for a teepee and vigil in honor of Occupy Oakland. The permit, which was issued on November 29, allowed for a symbolic demonstration at Frank Ogawa Plaza as a small concession to protesters about a month after their camp was razed. Though it looked like an olive branch, the gesture also came with several conditions attached, including that the teepee be taken down at 10 p.m. each night and not used for long-term personal storage. Today, city administrators declared the teepee and concomitant Occupy Oakland vigil unlawful, since people had been camping and distributing food there without health permits. On Friday, December 30, thirteen people were arrested near the plaza, with charges ranging from battery of an officer to "urging a riot."
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1. Democrats, led by members of Congress, manipulated California’s redistricting process by enlisting lobbyists, union officials, and community groups to influence the state’s new independent redistricting panel, ProPublica reports. At open hearings in front of the independent panel that drew up new boundaries for Congressional and state legislative districts, numerous people with ties to the Democratic Party portrayed themselves as average citizens. The resulting districts heavily favored Democrats in California and short-circuited reform efforts designed to create more competitive political races in the state.
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1. House Republicans blocked a bipartisan compromise that would have temporarily extended a tax cut for 160 million Americans, and as a result most Americans will have to start paying higher taxes on January 1. The hard-line GOP members, who have repeatedly stymied efforts to raise taxes on the wealthy, decided to vote for higher taxes on everyone else because Democrats would not go along with more budget cuts. The House Republican stance, however, has fractured the GOP because the majority of Republicans in the Senate voted for the compromise that would have avoided the January 1 tax hike. The Los Angeles Times reports that Senate Republicans apparently realize that it’s politically toxic to raise taxes on low and middle-income voters, while refusing to increase them on the wealthy.
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1. Alameda County labor leaders vowed yesterday to help Oakland Mayor Jean Quan fight the recall campaign, the Trib and Bay City News reports. Josie Camacho, executive director of the Alameda County Labor Council, which represents 120 unions with 120,000 members, called the recall “a waste of time and a waste of resources.” Camacho and other labor leaders said Quan does not deserve to be recalled from office and that union members will be working with mayor’s supporters to fend off the recall.
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1. Oakland Mayor Jean Quan was jeered last night by Occupy protesters during a forum on the Occupy movement in San Francisco, the Trib reports. Occupy protesters remain livid at Quan for twice ordering police to clear the Occupy encampment at Oakland City Hall. Quan praised the Occupy movement for furthering progressive goals, like taxing the rich, but expressed no regrets for her actions. She also criticized Occupy Oakland for not considering small downtown businesses in Oakland, particularly in Chinatown, that she says were harmed by Occupy protests.
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1. Governor Jerry Brown announced that state budget cuts to K-12 education will not be as severe as some had thought because the California economy is showing signs of recovery. The Chron reports that the state will slash about $327 million from public schools — far lower than the $1 billion that many had feared. Overall, California must slash $1 billion in total spending on January 1 because state tax revenues are less than what had been anticipated early last year. Other cuts include $100 million each to the UC and CSU systems, and $102 million to community colleges.
Stories you shouldn’t miss:
1. Thousands of Occupy protesters marched on the Port of Oakland in waves yesterday, closing down the vast majority of operations in both the day and evening shifts, the Chron and Trib report. The successful protests and blockade came despite opposition from most unions, including the longshore workers’ union, and public officials, including Mayor Jean Quan. At a press conference last night, Quan called the port shutdown “economic violence” because it had hurt dock workers and small, independent truckers who can’t afford to lose a day’s wages.
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1. The planned blockade of West Coast ports today is sparking controversy among labor groups, especially in Oakland where the longshore workers’ union officially opposes the Occupy movement’s protest, while some union members are helping organize it, the Chron reports. Blockades are planned from Anchorage to San Diego, but it’s unclear how successful they will be if dock workers’ refuse to cooperate. In Oakland, the only major union to officially support today’s protest is the teachers union.
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1. The proposed recall of Mayor Jean Quan is already fracturing before it has started, as a second group opposed to the mayor has surfaced to do a recall of its own. The Chron reports that the second group, headed by ex-mayoral candidate Greg Harland, is frustrated with the first group, which is run by Gene Hazzard, a photographer for the Oakland Post newspaper. The Oakland City Clerk officially certified Hazzard’s recall petition yesterday, but Harland’s group doesn’t believe that Hazzard can gather the requisite 19,000 signatures. However, it’s unclear whether having two recall petitions going on simultaneously is legal.
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1. Occupy protesters shifted their focus to foreclosures yesterday, as demonstrators throughout the nation, including Oakland, helped those who have lost their homes to re-occupy them, the Chron reports. The Occupy Our Homes demonstrations also included protests at banks and foreclosure auctions on the county courthouse steps. So far, the Obama administration’s feeble attempts to help homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages avoid foreclosure have failed.