SFPO DISPATCH EDITION 14
Apr 6, 09:05 PM by Administrator
OUR PICKS FOR THIS EDITION (4/6/07)
1) Win Healthy Saturdays in GG Park -- Monday
Important Hearing Monday at City Hall for Car-Free JFK Dr. in GGPark2) San Francisco Tenants Union News - Help Needed Now For Ellis Act Amendment
SB 464, introduced by Senator Sheila Kuehl, has introduced legislation that will amend the Ellis Act and severely curb its impact. Action need to now to support the bill!3) Act Now: Funding for Affordable Housing in SF on the Line
On April 18th, an ordinance to fund $27 million in affordable housing with the current year budget surplus will be heard at the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee. In an effort to create a smokescreen to scuttle the ordinance, Mayor Newsom has asked city departments to propose an additional 3% from their budgets, saying the ordinance would add to next year's budget deficit.4) Protest President Bush's No Child Left Behind
No Child Left Behind is dismantling public education by forcing standardized testing and myriad obstacles to academic development in the absence of adequate education funding. Gather outside the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Join teachers, parents, administrators, school board members and students from the south valley, the peninsula, Oakland, San Francisco and elsewhere protesting the impact No Child Left Behind is having on education.
Please Comment! [51]
Win Healthy Saturdays in GG Park -- Monday
Apr 6, 08:57 PM by Administrator
Join us at an important hearing this Monday, April 9th in support of Healthy Saturdays in Golden Gate Park! The SF People’s Organization supports healthy Saturdays, a six-month trial of car-free space in Golden Gate Park, just like the popular Sunday program. We will need to turn out as many supporters as possible to the Board of Supervisors' Land Use Committee. Other supporting groups include the SF Democratic County Central Committee, Sierra Club, Green Party, Taxicab Workers Union, Walk SF, Harvey Milk and Alice B. Toklas LGBT Dem. Clubs, and many others.
This is our big chance to influence decisionmakers to do the right thing and to test the expansion of more car-free space in Golden Gate Park. Is it a Park or a parking lot?
TAKE ACTION:
| WHAT: | Come to the hearing Monday, April 9 th at 1pm at City Hall, room 263. If you want to be added to our phone tree (and we’ll call you when the item is up) email andy@sfbike.org before Monday. Can’t make the hearing? Then please call two Supervisors to ask them to support Healthy Saturdays: Bevan Dufty at 554-6968 and Sophie Maxwell at 554-7670. |
| WHEN: | Monday, April 9 at 1pm |
| WHERE: | City Hall Room 263 |
| CONTACT: | For more information on Healthy Saturdays, see http://www.goldengatepark.org. |
Please Comment! [2]
Act Now to Support Ellis Act Amendment
Apr 6, 08:59 PM by Administrator
State Senator Sheila Kuehl (LA) has introduced an amendment (SB 464) to the Ellis Act, which will significantly curtail evictions under Ellis. Her amendment would require that a property owner must have owned the property for at least 5 years before they can evict tenants under the Ellis Act. This will stop speculators from using the Ellis Act--speculators do most of the Ellis evictions in San Francisco. A report done by the SFTU last year, for example, found that 1/4 of all Ellis evictions were done within the first month of ownership and that over half were done within the first 6 months of ownership. Overall, landlords who had owned the building for less than 5 years did 80% of the Ellises. Besides the ownership requirement, the Kuehl amendment would also mandate that all tenants in a building get a 1-year notice if there is a senior or disabled tenant in the building. Since over 80% of the buildings Ellised have at least one senior or disabled tenant, this will effectively extend the 1-year notice (from 120 days) to nearly all tenants.
TAKE ACTION:
| WHAT: | HELP GET THIS BILL PASSED! SB 464 passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 27. San Francisco Sen. Leland Yee has not committed to voting for the legislation and is leaning against it now! Write, call and fax Sen. Yee: Click Here CC a copy to (916) 324-482 |
| WHEN: | ASAP |
| OTHER: | To track the bill's passage and see what committees it will go before: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/index.html. From that site, you can directly contact the legislators on each committee that is hearing the bill, and learn the dates of hearings. PLUS, when you sign up for SB 464 tracking, automatic e-mails will be sent to you in advance of hearings! |
| CONTACT INFO: | San Francisco Tenants Union |
Please Comment! [4]
Act Now: Funding for Affordable Housing in SF on the Line
Apr 6, 09:00 PM by Administrator
On April 18th, an ordinance to fund $27 million in affordable housing with
the current year budget surplus will be heard at the Board of Supervisors
Budget and Finance Committee.
$20 million of the ordinance would be used to build new housing -- $10
million for low income families, $5 million for seniors and people with
disabilities and $5 million for people who are homeless or at risk of
homelessness.
$5 million is for rehabilitation and repairs at public housing developments
under the San Francisco Housing Authority.
$2.5 million would go toward helping tenants to buy their buildings in
cooperatives with limits on the equity of the property, creating and
preserving affordable ownership opportunities.
$550 thousand would go toward the acquisition of a building to house various
housing related services in the Mission District area.
In an effort to create a smokescreen to scuttle the ordinance, Mayor Newsom
has asked city departments to propose an additional 3% from their budgets,
saying the ordinance would add to next year's budget deficit.
TAKE ACTION:
| WHAT: | Show your support for this meaure: Mayor Gavin Newsom, 2. Call or email the Board of Supervisors Budget Committee members: Supervisor Tom Ammiano, Supervisor Bevan Dufty, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, 3. Attend and testify in favor of the ordinance at the Budget Committee meeting on April 18 at 1pm, Board of Supervisors Chambers at City Hall. 4. Attend rally and press conference on Monday, April 23rd at 12 noon on
the steps of city hall. |
| OTHER: | FYI: Last year a similar measure was passed that resulted in over 600 units of affordable housing, including 170 units of family housing. Last year, the Board of Supervisors had passed over $50 million in early
budget decisions that resulted in violence prevention, affordable housing,
park fixtures and street resurfacing. There is plenty of flexibility in the
budget to absorb these housing funds. |
| CONTACT INFO: | Call John Avalos at Supervisor Chris Daly's Office @ 415-554-7970. |
Please Comment! [1]
Protest President Bush's No Child Left Behind
Apr 6, 09:01 PM by Administrator
No Child Left Behind is dismantling public education by forcing standardized testing and myriad obstacles to academic development in the absence of adequate education funding.
Gather outside the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Join teachers, parents, administrators, school board members and students from the south valley, the peninsula, Oakland, San Francisco and elsewhere protesting the impact No Child Left Behind is having on education.
TAKE ACTION:
| WHAT: | Information picket outside
the National School Boards Association annual meeting: Saturday, April |
| WHEN: | Saturday, April 14th from 10am - Noon |
| WHERE: | National School Boards Association Meeting Moscone Center North and South |
Please Comment! [5]