Local News & Views

Folks were lovin' Sen. Barack Obama Saturday afternoon in Oakland when they finally got inside the enclosed Frank Ogawa Plaza area.

Few events reflect the priorities of elected officials more vividly than a budget crisis. It is during a budget crisis that policy-makers are forced to choose between the interests of powerful or popular constituencies and the needs of the less powerful and most vulnerable citizens. Presently, this drama is being played out in San Francisco, where social and legal services to the poor are being slashed while Police and Fire Department budgets are being protected. This Faustian bargain is displayed in Mayor Newsom's proposal $1.9 million cut to the Public Defender's budget, while adding $18 million to the Police Department budget.

Almost had a riot yesterday! The police slammed a disabled man to the ground and broke his shoulder on Third & Palou. When I got over there, three cops were on top of him on the ground. The rookie cop who slammed him to the ground was laughing when they rode off.

San Francisco – Mayor London N. Breed today celebrated the signing of San Francisco’s Right to Return Ordinance. She was joined by Supervisor Shamann Walton, Hope SF leadership and residents, and community members at Hope SF’s Potrero Hill housing development. The ordinance was sponsored by Mayor Breed, Supervisor Walton and the other members of the Board of Supervisors. The ordinance went into effect Jan. 19, 2020.

Data gathering shows that disparities continue in COVID vaccination access for race and ethnic groups, notably Black and African American students.

Love Self and Planet! Organize! Unite! Strategize! VOTE!

Mayor Dellums decided to look to law enforcement as a model for healing the community in 2007. Today, we are still at war, our youth the casualties of this war.

The female BART officer that was on that platform even stated in her testimony that she supposedly feared for her life, and she just knew that she was going to have to shoot somebody or kill somebody that night. Those were her words in court. The judge said: "Hold up. Wait a minute, who were you going to shoot first?"

DeWitt Lacy, who has made defending poor people his career, writes: “I need your vote to make sure we finally get our fair share of city services and resources (and) to put a voice in office that will not cave in or crumble under the many political pressures of City Hall.” If you live in San Francisco's District 10, the Bay View strongly urges you to vote for DeWitt Lacy as your No. 1 choice. If you're in District 6, make James Keys your No. 1 choice. They will open doors to the many who have been locked out. VOTE 100% on Election Day, this Tuesday, Nov. 2!

Mayor Ed Lee is considering a New York City-style stop-and-frisk policy, where police search anyone they consider “suspicious.” Lee, the first Chinese American mayor of San Francisco, said, “I will be tagged – as the minority mayor of this city – for racial profiling.” He’s right – and that tag is entirely justified.

In selecting Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., as its new chair, the Congressional Black Caucus chose one of its most progressive members who, days after Sept. 11, 2001, was the only person in Congress to vote against authorizing the use of force in Iraq.

Green waste-bins, green grass, green bottles, green jobs, green futures, green gentrification? As I walked past the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC) Recycling Center, I noticed there were multi-colored micro-business people carefully recycling their multi-colored bottles and cans into bright green recycling bins debris boxes. They were green like everyone else’s recycling bins, but somehow the HANC bins weren’t green enough to fight the lies of green nimby-ism, green displacement, green classism and yes, even green racism from an onslaught of hate from housed members of the Haight Ashbury neighborhood and beyond who want to get rid of the truly green center of activism and micro-business that is HANC.

San Francisco Greens want an Improved Medicare for All bill introduced in the California State Assembly or Senate at the beginning of the next legislative session in January 2021.

California’s nine-member Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, convened the second of 10 planned meetings and voted on a proposed community engagement plan to include “listening sessions” across the state.

Most people say you should vote because people died for that right, but that doesn’t tell us what to vote about, the effect of it or why it’s important. Election time is a window for leveraging and positioning. It’s a time to politic for what you want in the city. We need to know who and what to take an orchestrated stance for or against and show our ass election time.

Signed into law by Gov. Newsom, AB 832 updates California’s eviction moratorium rules, extends it and brings over $5 billion in federal relief to renters and landlords alike, with 15.79 percent identified as Black or African American.

Gwendolyn Watkins remains steadfast in her determination to revive Yeshua’s Second Chance Foundation with a new fire truck manufacturing company she intends to name “Pride of America.”

The Public Defender’s Office will be forced to lay off seven attorneys and five staff members and eliminate the BMAGIC and Mo’ MAGIC programs if $1.6 million is cut from the office’s budget, as proposed by Mayor Gavin Newsom. Show the Board of Supervisors your support for the Public Defender’s Office on Tuesday, July 21, 2 p.m., City Hall Room 250. Give them a call today.

Covered California offers healthcare premium relief opportunities to especially Black, Brown, Asian, other people of color and lower- and middle-income families.

The pollution at the shipyard impacts everyone in the Bay Area. In the coming years, with rising sea levels, the entire bay will be contaminated by radioactive material.