Tag: David Campos

It’s winter and yet DA Chesa Boudin is making lemonade for the people from the lemons we’ve been puckering on for too long by immediately launching the new Community Liaisons program, a team for each district highlighting more emphasis on the voices of residents in the historically biased prosecutorial environment.

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin appoints longtime San Francisco public servant David Campos as the new chief of staff for the SF District Attorney’s Office. With a long commitment of service to the Bay Area, David Campos brings deep and personal understanding to the challenges in achieving reform to the drivers of injustice for the most vulnerable in our communities.

The news was expected to be bad. San Franciscans for Police Accountability (SFPA), a civilian watch group, held a public forum in the Koret Auditorium of San Francisco’s Public Library. It was Saturday, Sept. 24, and featured D.A. George Gascón’s specially appointed Blue Ribbon Panel – the forum appropriately titled, “Making SFPD Accountable: A Community Conversation.” And what a conversation this was – one I could not miss!

TODAY, MONDAY, MAY 23, is the LAST DAY TO REGISTER for the June 7 primary election. Rarely in my lifetime has the choice been so clear. As U.S. president, Bernie Sanders would definitely make Black lives better. He is “unbought and unbossed” in the tradition of Shirley Chisholm. A big win in the California primary June 7 could give him the leverage to win the nomination – and the presidency. To vote for Bernie, you must be registered either as a Democrat or No Party Preference, and the last day to register for the primary election is Monday, May 23.

San Francisco’s Black and Latino/a communities came together March 18 on the steps of City Hall to launch a united campaign to end police impunity in the officer-involved murders of Mario Woods, Alex Nieto and Amilcar Pérez López. The new Black and Brown United Coalition coalesced after the shocking March 10 exoneration of police in a federal civil trial in the killing of Alex Nieto, 28, by a jury on which no Blacks or Latinas or Latinos had been selected to serve.

My name is Dorsey Nunn. I’m with All of Us or None and executive director of Legal Services for Prisoners with Children. I’m sitting back there waiting for (agenda) Item No. 3 (a new jail for San Francisco), and while I’m waiting for it I’m listening to the testimony for Item No. 1 (hiring more police officers). And I can’t help but ask the question: “How much racism needs to be practiced for us to determine that we don’t need this jail?” Hours of powerful testimony on June 18 before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee were capped off by Dorsey Nunn – and the crowd erupted in cheers.

Tim Redmond, executive editor of the website 48 Hills, the Secrets of San Francisco, says that 17th District California State Assembly candidates David Campos and David Chiu are quite different candidates, especially on hard core economic issues. However, the race between them is now so close that it’s all about who most effectively gets their voters to the polls.

It’s time for Black people to wake up and use the power that set us free. We have not claimed our victory. We can get started on repairing our political power. We all must start turning out to vote. We can’t turn out at 20 percent or less and expect the power structure to meet our demands – or even our most basic needs. Let us show our resolve by getting our community ready to vote, then voting 100 percent in November. Oct. 20 is the last day to register for the Nov. 4 election.

A Dec. 4, 2012, ACLU letter to SF Mayor Ed Lee urged rejecting any SFPD proposal “to deploy tasers or other conductive energy devices”. The letter emphasizes that costly tasers would generate heavy legal fees from officer overuse and abuse, posing serious injury and death risks, especially to SFPD’s targeted populations: people in public mental health crisis and people of color.

Dozens of parents and youth advocates testified before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Government Audits and Oversight Committee supporting Municipal Transportation Agency Director Ed Reiskin’s proposal to apply recently awarded regional funds to implement the free Muni for youth pilot program. The MTA board will vote on this proposal Dec. 4.

Voting empowers our communities to get what we want. If we don’t vote, we’re invisible. If we turn out in large numbers for this election, we’ll get respect – from City Hall to the White House. Here are the Bay View’s recommendations for Tuesday, Nov. 6, including candidates for San Francisco Board of Supervisors, School Board, College Board and BART Board. On state propositions, the Bay View recommends that you vote Yes on 30, No on 31 (LAST MINUTE CHANGE), No on 32, No on 33, No on 34, No on 35, Yes on 36, Yes on 37, Yes on 38, Yes on 39 and Yes on 40. But however you vote, VOTE! Voting is our most powerful right. Use it.

It’s election time. Whether you vote by mail or go to the polls like I do on Election Day, June 5, be sure that you and your household, family and friends cast your votes. You’ll be upholding a proud tradition – Bayview Hunters Point oldtimers’ motto, VOTE 100%, once made Blacks a powerful political force in San Francisco. By voting – and by organizing, making demands and showing the way – we can regain and expand our power, stop the backsliding and get the boot off our neck. - Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff

We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1 percent. We propose a citywide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city. All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them. ... The whole world is watching Oakland. Let’s show them what is possible.

The fight by the people of San Francisco to hold the San Francisco Department of Public Health and mega-developer Lennar accountable for clean air and the health of Hunters Point residents endured another round Thursday, June 23, at City Hall. The verdict? Jury still out.

Crying “Have a Heart, Save Our Homes,” a large Bay Area coalition marched in a driving rain from City Hall to the San Francisco Federal Building – Causa Justa/Just Cause, San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, POOR Magazine/Prensa POBRE and many more.

Last night, July 13, the SF Board of Supervisors held a 10-hour hearing on the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for Lennar’s proposed 10,000 unit condominium complex, stadium and green tech development at the Hunters Point Shipyard Superfund site and Candlestick Point. The EIR passed with a 8-3 vote.

Outraged Bayview residents armed with signs that read “Bayview Not for Sale,” “Parks for the People,” and “Governor, Veto SB 792 – Save Candlestick Park” entered Sen. Mark Leno’s San Francisco district office on Friday, Oct. 9, and erected a cardboard condominium tower topped with a sign that read “Leno: Do you miss your office? We’ll sure miss our park.”