2006

by J. Damu

January 1, 2004 marks exactly 200 years since the culmination of one of history’s most titanic, earth-shaking events. Hundreds of thousands of casualties were sustained, national economies were either wrecked or displaced, the history of the western hemisphere was forever altered and the wars of national liberation of Africa, Asia and Latin America that characterized much of the 20th century were pre-figured. What single event caused so much altering of history and empowerment of Blacks and other colonized peoples?-The Haitian Revolution.

When current Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, rises to speak to what will surely be tens of thousands of Haitians to welcome the new year and commemorate one of history’s greatest achievements, he will speak to the worthy successors of those enslaved Blacks and downtrodden masses who rose up so long ago, and he will speak to those in Haiti who continue today to fight for dignity, peace, improved living conditions for all, reparations and even life itself.

Not surprisingly most academicians sweep the Haitian Revolution under the world’s carpet of history. They do this simply by dismissing the revolution, when they refer to it at all, as an event that created the second oldest republic in the western hemisphere. It accomplished this of course, but it did much, much more.

Soberly considered the Haitian Revolution, more than the American and French Revolutions, which were conducted, after all, by slave holders, was the first instance in the history of the planet, where formerly enslaved men and women, workers from throughout society, unified to overthrow their oppressors and to establish their own republic.

Though European and American slave owners never thought such a thing could happen,
the truth of the matter is Haiti, prior to the revolution, was considered the sugar bowl of the world, producing fully one third of the world’s sugar, and it was by far the wealthiest of all the European colonies in the Western hemisphere. Despite the affluence it created however, Haiti was perhaps the most harshly administered of all the slave societies, with the possible exception of Barbados. This was an important pre-condition for the revolution.

The Haitian Revolution which began in August of 1791 with a slave revolt led by Boukman, a voudun spiritual leader, and culminated 13 years later under the successive leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines was successful due to a prodigious set of circumstances.

Factors often cited to explain the success of the enslaved Haitians in their overthrow of the French slavocracy include the ideological impact of the American and French revolutions on the Haitians, as well as the inter-imperialist rivalries between the U.S., England, Spain and France. These economic and territorial rivalries prevented any of them sending France more than token support to fight the Black armies.

Only the U.S. seemed to profit nicely from the Haitian revolution. Desperate to raise money to fight the Haitians and simultaneously conduct military expeditions in Europe, France offered to the U.S. the Louisiana Territory, a purchase that would increase the size of the U.S. by nearly one third. At the fire sale price of $15 million, the U.S. quickly accepted the offer, after deducting $3.5 million in U.S. citizen’s claims against France.

While these conditions cannot be discounted as contributing to the success of the revolution, the military experience of the Blacks themselves cannot be overestimated. For instance numerous Haitians had participated in the American Revolution and gained valuable fighting experience there. Henri Christophe, who later served as president of Haiti was typical. As a youth he left his native Graneda and traveled to South Carolina, where he and others from the Caribbean participated in the battle of Savannah. By 1790 he was in Haiti and participated in the revolution from its beginning.

Even more important to the Haitian revolutionary cause, however, were the Congolese and Angolan soldiers. Captured in African warfare, defending their homelands, these highly trained soldiers had been enslaved and sent to Haiti. These soldiers, many of whom still considered themselves subjects of particular African kings and queens, organized and fought spectacularly for a free Haiti.

Furthermore, once the Haitian republic was born, its leaders did all they could to continue to promote the twin goals of abolition of slavery and national liberation throughout the hemisphere..

Well aware of Simon Bolivar’s long running attempts to free the Spanish colonies from colonial rule, Haiti’s leaders supported him when they could. On two different occasions, after Bolivar had been driven from the South American mainland, Haitian president Alexandre Petion re-supplied and re-armed Bolivar’s forces. When Bolivar, who is referred to by some, as the George Washington of South America, asked what he could do to re-pay Haiti, President Petion responded, “You can repay us by freeing all the slaves in the Spanish colonies.”

Petion then gave Bolivar something more important than arms and ammunition. He gave Bolivar a printing press on which was printed the declaration freeing the all the enslaved Africans and Indians held by Spain. Bolivar’s declaration did not prove to be lasting until 1846, however.

Today President Aristide has become a modern version of Boukman andToussaint, a spiritual fighter thrust into political leadership on the crest of a flood-tide of the people. Despite international intervention, wide ranging machinations by foreign intelligence services, collaboration on the part of the five oligarchic Haitian families with remnants of the corrupt Haitian military and massive economic penetration and fundamentalist economic policies imposed by world lending institutions, all in an attempt to return Haiti to the old order dictatorship headed by the Duvalier family; Aristide, his Lavalas organization and the masses of Haitian people have successfully resisted and thwarted political reaction and have implemented policies of social democracy.

Despite many successes however, Aristide and his supporters face dangerous times in Haiti. Violence is being threatened by Duvalierist supporters against many who would celebrate the revolution. Pretexts will be created, many say, to force the removal of Aristide before his elected term is up. Much danger yet exists in Haiti.

African-Americans, Blacks in the Diaspora, Africans, around the world should all express support for Haiti during this most difficult period. All should especially embrace Haiti, particularly on the occasion of its bicentennial celebration, as it looks backward in order to go forward.

J. Damu is the Acting Western Regional Representative for N’COBRA
(National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America.) He can be reached at jdamu@sbcglobal.net.

by Tiny/PNN

The marble floors glistened like freshly cut diamonds in the morning sun. My feet, shod in my favorite mickey mouse socks glided down the halls like an expert skier It was 6:00 am. I was 10 years old and had sneaked out of our hotel room at The Waikiki Sheraton while my mother was asleep. We were there cause my moms new boyfriend was the head of HouseKeeping so he could get us a room for free in that very expensive hotel. He had been a server for 16 years and finally after so many years of dedicated labor at slave wages was promoted to a pseudo-staff position. It meant he could wear a cheap tie and a better pair of polyester slacks, but most importantly it meant he could get health benefits and a .50 cent raise.

"We’re just trying to hold onto an affordable health benefit plan, and a cost of living (COLA) wage raise, basically we're just trying to survive in San Francisco…that's all" . My brief stint with those marble floors in Hawaii 21 years ago came back to me as I listened to Anna, a housekeeper at the Hotel Mark Hopkins.She had worked tirelessly there for the last 18 years and was a current member of the Local 2 union that was holding a powerful strike of many of the city's most expensive hotels, all of which are owned by some of the worlds largest multi-national corporations. Anna went on to explain that housekeepers like her only earn between $8.00 and 8.75 per hour.

As I walked up the massive hill leading out of the tenderloin where I live to the Monolithic pillar of wealth and privelege that was The Hotel Mark Hopkins and The Fairmont Hotel, I was struck by the tragic irony of these workers' situation, most of whom were immigrants and/or people of color, having to strike just to get basic worker rights like health care and COLA wage increases from the large for-profit corporations, like The Hilton, The Starwood(Sheraton) and The Intercontinental which owns the Mark Hopkins, all of which showed net profits of $156-325 Billion in 2003. The same corporations that if they can get away with it pay virtually nothing to their workers, like my mothers boyfriend who was so afraid to lose his job he never dared join a union or even think about such an act of resistance as striking for benefits.

"They (hotel corporations) are offering us a health plan that will cost an employee with a family of four $273.00 per month to start with an annual increase, a family of four can barely afford to pay rent in San Francisco much-less afford those kind of premiums," Riva , an African Descendent PBX operator for the last 15 years at The Fairmont Hotel concluded by explaining that the new contract proposed by the Hotels did not include a 401(K), IRA or fully funded pension.

The strike was born out of failed contract talks between the Union (UNITE HERE and Local 2) and The Hotel Corporations which began on August 14th when the old contracts between workers and the corporations expired and the hotels refused to change their very unfair contract proposal which included a mere .5 cent raise for workers earning $8.00 per hour and not much more for higher paid workers, as well as the overpriced health care plan. The unions, who were not eager to strike, worrying about the patrons and the City's economy, much of which is built on tourism, waited for 15 days more after they voted to strike on September 14th just to see if the corporations would offer at least something a little better, but they didn't budge by even a nickel.

"We are not striking now, we are locked out," Ann Hunch, a server for 26 years at The Fairmont Hotel clarified the workers current situation "the negotiations (between workers and the Hotels) were stalled after 16 sessions so the Union decided to have a measured strike, just a two week strike at a small group of hotels, cause we don’t' want to mess up the economy at all, and two days later, all of the other multi-group owned hotels like the Fairmont, The Mark Hopkins, and the Holiday Inn civic center locked us all out like garbage, and this isn't regular people, this is big Corporations, like the Fairmont, half of this hotel is owned by a Saudi Prince "

by Joe B.

What We Do Best

I couldn’t begin my column there were errand to see to before stating, oh to Ms. Sweet747.

(My God Please may the size be a true description of a well fed,healthy, robust,heavenly body with brains to match.

I never was good at this web romance email thing, being economically strapped makes it worse.

Those other lovelies,You know who you are could’ve always contacted me through my column I am not hiding if you’ve stumbled onto a certain strange eclectic column.

I’m a really poor guy working in a struggling non profit organization.

Glad to have the job,a roof over my head and take a fem friend out on a date, while trying to pay back another for the free dinners she’s given me in her home and in other restaurant’s.

My regular bed had to thrown out because it was full of bedbugs and the wood was rotted through.

I have enough pride in myself that I couldn’t let them sleep on the bare floor.

Better they be in a Motel 6,Days Inn, with their more comfortable single,double,king,or queens size beds than in my bad smelling bachelor space.

If I’m in a woman’s home at her discretion its her decision of yes or now. I’d like to be invited back a second or third time because I am trusted to be alone with and of course other thing but without trust everything is lost.

I’m believed in Cryonics,Life Extension, and Immortality.

Cryonics is a last gasp at life being frozen immediately after death so what ever killed me can be reversed and life is returned to me.

However,Life Extension is an ongoing process and eventually leads to an immortal life.

As a formally houseless,jobless person it was always on my mind that people such as I from bum, tramp,to hobo,and transients aren’t suppose to think these things only of the next meal,next bed, or rare romp in a woman’s bed.

Yes,a woman will feed a guy or girl either before or after physical exercise.

Between money,sex,or food whew I’d chose food cause energy is needed and after strenuous exercise some scratch and that’s only if the woman feels the guy or girl is deserving of it.

Which brings me to the main topic what we as American’s do best.

Sex-No,Food-No,Aha,but money we’re great at making money,finding ways of exploiting each other making more loot.

That radio show of the weird ‘um Coast to Coast Am.

As usual worried about my own economic downturn, where to go next and basic survival the words "Stem Cells,Anti-Aging" came at me and I began to listen hard to Mr. Art Bell and his guest Dr. Ronald Klatz, President of American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine or the 4A’s.

I became very angry at Select President Bush’s stand in the way of research and technology.

He’s suppose to be able to balance his own private beliefs with all those American’s suffering from illness and disease that may be curable or be in less pain because of this emerging new science that has the potential of bypassing the cloning debate all together.

Although cloning can be intimately involved at times.

But then remembering he’s an oil man, anti-choice,began a war in IRAQ,and flipped taxes so monies are taken from the poorest folk,balanced on the working and shrinking middle class while giving a tax break to the wealthiest 1%.

What should I expect but this automatic "This is against God and Nature" knee jerk reaction.


1095 7th & Market Street,

S.F. Ca.94103

also M.O.'s (hey,I work at P-M-I that's it.

Snail or Email

Joe at:
1230
PO Box #204

S.F.,Ca. 94102

by By Laurence Ashton/PoorNewsNetwork Youth in Media

" What are you doing in the hall?" A mechanical voice shot through the cavernous hall of Oakland Technical High School. It couldn't have been for me, I thought, I had a hall pass and wasn't causing no trouble for noone

"……did you hear me… what are doing in the hall?" And then it hit me , it was for me and this time it was accompanied the dreaded click click noise of police heels studded with metal tips for that almost like-a-gun sound.

"I have a pass," I turned around and faced two Oakland Police Officers who by this time were now fingering their guns and coming toward me, clicking in unison.

"Let me see it" They had reached me now and one of them was less than five inches away from my face"

I fumbled for my jacket pocket, as I did 'the other cop began whispering into his shoulder, "code… call for back-up"

Suddenly before my nervous hands could find the pass, I was against the wall and they were patting me down. Within seconds instead of weapons, they found the pass and after a short cough, one of them helped me up and said, "you should of spoke up sooner, next time keep your pass in your hand" With that, they both walked on down the hall ready to harass the next unsuspecting student who happened in their path.

Later that day I found out that the Oakland Police Department had been called on campus for "a disturbance" which turned out was nothing, so I figured just to make their day not a complete waste of time, they decided to get me on a casual WWB (Walking While Black) violation. But of course what they failed to differentiate was the fact that I wasn't just "walking" I was a 16 year High School student walking through The Halls of my school and, in my opinion, they had absolutely no right in there in the first place.

This disgusting experience, one of many I have encountered as young African Descendent male living in Amerikka, happened almost 3 years ago, and it all came back to me in living sickening color when my editor at PNN asked me to write about the proposed legislation Proposition Y, which aims to put at least 63 more cops on the streets in Oakland funding it with a new flat tax on Oakland homeowners.

Proposition Y will go on November's ballot because it was approved by a majority vote of the Oakland City Council, and instead of funding the already poverty stricken Oakland schools will direct 60 percent of the newly raised taxes to hire more police officers in Oakland.

Education Not Incarceration reported that just like in my case, cops don't prevent violence, they cause violence, they instigate problems where there aren't any. When there were less cops on Oakland's streets such as between 1995 - 1996 when there approximately 100 less cops on the streets, homicides decreased from 152 to 102 and a similar situation occurred from 1999 to 2000, when homicide rates decreased when the number of Oakland police officers decreased.

Those of us who deal on the frontline of racism and poverty have known all of this for a long time, in my case, not only is it my situation but my fathers' who is a houseless, mentally ill Black man. He lives homelessly in LA and the Bay Area and gets harassed, abused and profiled by cops every day. He doesn't get accepted into over-filled supportive housing or access to scarce mental health treatment just because he is arrested for sleeping in a park at night. And similarly, I don't get a better public education because I get harassed in my school's hall. Police don't get at the root causes of poverty and racism; they just make life harder for the poor folks and the folks of color unlucky enough to be on their radar screen that day.

Now I am not saying that all cops are bad, only most of them, but the idea that getting more cops will solve Oakland's' problems is just more Jerry Drowning of our scarce resources and services to supposedly make life better for scared rich folks who want to move foreward with the march towards a whiter, richer, more militarized Oakland.

by Lynda Carson/ reprinted from The Street Spirit

On December 10, 2004, tragedy struck downtown Oakland, when a 33-year-old woman who felt brutalized by Oakland's kangaroo courts plunged to her death from the Oakland Tribune Tower.

Mary Jesus, a longtime Oakland renter, had a message that she wanted to get out to the public at large, and she was willing to sacrifice her own life to do so.

On that fateful day, Mary Jesus stood high above the crowd down below, and gazed upon hundreds of people gathered on the sidewalks beneath the Tribune Tower as they shouted out to her not to do it. Local attorney Bob Salinas was one of those in the crowd that tried to save her as he frantically yelled to her not to jump.

A moment before she died in a crushing pool of blood on the sidewalk seven stories below, Mary Jesus responded to the crowd by tossing down hundreds of copies of the suicide note that she wanted everyone to read.

All too often in American society, many people feel they are being pushed over the edge by greedy profiteers and the corrupt legal system that caters to their needs. According to Oakland attorney Matthew Siegal, Mary Jesus was one of those people that had been chewed up and spit out by Oakland's brutal eviction system.

"Mary Jesus had evidence that the appeal process was all screwed up," said Siegal. "The judicial system is biased against tenants and it chewed her up and spit her out. This case was not about rent: it was all about pushing her over the edge."

About 50 people came to an Oakland memorial on January 10 for Mary Jesus. "There were many people there that witnessed the suicide and were looking for closure," Siegal said.

Marion Vale of San Francisco was with Mary Jesus during her last evening on earth. and she states that Mary Jesus had taken her own life to bring attention to those that had forced her over the edge.

The suicide note mentions four names that Mary Jesus wanted exposed. In the suicide note, Mary Jesus starts by writing: "Mark Roemer, James Lewis and Dean Miller. They are the catalyst!" Alameda County Superior Court Judge Yolanda Northridge was the only other name mentioned in the suicide note of Mary Jesus.

As it turned out, Mark F. Roemer and James L. Lewis were the landlords that owned the apartment building where Mary Jesus resided at 1515 Alice Street in Oakland. Dean .Miller was the attorney representing the landlords trying to evict her, and Judge Yolanda Northridge had ordered her eviction from the home she had loved for so many years.

In her last act on earth, Mary Jesus had pointed her finger at these four individuals, who in her mind had apparently held the keys of life or death to the world that she had loved and cherished.

On January 20. 2005, I reached Juanita Moore, the court clerk for Judge Yolanda Northridge, to ask how this tragedy could have come about. Both the clerk and the judge declined to comment on what had occurred in their courtroom and how it led to the death of Mary Jesus.

Also on January 20. 1 contacted Dean Miller at his residence in Piedmont and he confirmed that not only was he the attorney that went after Mary Jesus. but also that James Lewis and Mark Roemer are some longtime high school friends of his from Piedmont High. many years ago.

This trio of friends were the ones that Mary Jesus had named in her suicide note as the "catalyst" that led to her personal tragedy of eviction and suicide.

Mary Jesus had resided for 13 years at the beautiful Dunsmuir Apartments at 1515 Alice Street in downtown Oakland. The 29-unit apartment building, built in 1912, was loaded with beautifully crafted oak trim on the doors and the windows that added a look of elegance and old world charm to the spacious building.

The records show that the Dunsmuir Apartments were bought on January 16, 1998, for $1,320,000 by the landlords of Mary Jesus, listed as the Dunsmuir Apartments Limited Liability CX.

To get to the heart of the message that Mary Jesus had wanted so desperately to give to the public at large, one must first take a look at a press release that she sent out to media outlets on October 27, 2004, less than two months before her death.

Her press release reads as follows:

"This is a newsworthy story that the public would definitely be interested in. The Building I live in, in downtown Oakland, was purchased five years ago. I had already been living here for seven years. I was the manager for a brief period of three years, then fired without cause. They have harassed me consistently since. then. Even attempting to evict me in July of 2003, then again in September of 2004 I am very poor, so had to represent myself. It seemed to me that this particular judge (Yolanda Northridge) a Superior Court Judge in the limited jurisdiction, has a tendency to decide against Pro Per litigants. My case NEVER should have gone as far as it went, because the Oakland rental hoard had already stated that I did not owe the landlords any money. They sought to evict me anyway; the judge allowed their attorney to stifle my evidence. It was all totally illegal!"

The above press release referred to an Oakland rental arbitration board case that Mary Jesus filed against the two owners of the Dunsmuir Apartments, where she was fighting an illegal rent increase. Even though the Oakland rental arbitration board had ruled in her favor as of September 1, 2004, because of an improper notification by the landlord, four weeks later Judge Yolanda Northridge of the Alameda County Superior Court over-ruled the rent board's decision, and ordered Mary Jesus to pay the landlords $1,018.77 in back rent and to vacate her long-term residence of the past 13 years.

Mary Jesus felt crushed by this cruel, corrupt, heartless system in Oakland, after having done everything possible to defend herself from the rent increase imposed upon her by the greedy landlords.

Any way that one looks at this tragedy, Mary Jesus was overwhelmed by a four-some of professionals wielding great power over her. The four of them were unrelenting in their efforts to run her out of the home she had lived in for 13 years, and the eviction resulted in the violence of her death by pushing her over the edge.

It is no secret that Oakland renters have been up against a brutal eviction-for-profit system for many years. Nor is it a secret that Oakland renters have held several protests these past few years against landlords and judges that act together to evict renters. Indeed, Superior Court Judge Yolanda Northridge is not the only judge in Oakland that has come under the scrutiny of the public during these past few years, nor shall she be the last.

The tragic message of Mary Jesus is a testimony written in blood and death. It cannot escape our attention, not should it ever be ignored. She sacrificed herself to deliver her last message. The suicide note is her last testimony about a corrupt and brutal system in Oakland controlled by the rich and the powerful. Her suicide note stated:

"Mark Roemer, James Lewis and Dean Miller. They are the catalyst.

"Goodbye cruel world, and all that. Just look up the case, and you'll see why. Just listen to the August 31st 2004 Authenticated recording from rent adjustment. And everyone will say what they always say when something totally preventable wasn't prevented. `Why didn't anybody do anything.' A couple of people did, but they had no power, and those that did have power were more concerned with technicalities, than justice. Except for Yolanda Northridge, she just does this to people too poor to afford an attorney, and attorneys only take your case if you have money. It's all about money! The love of money is the root of all evil!

Mary Jesus

P.S. Just cremate me and I have no family.

PROFOUND IMPACT OF HER DEATH

The death of Mary Jesus had a pro-found impact on the deepest levels of my consciousness.

On December 20, 2004, 1 received a call from a dear friend, Sue Doyle. Sue works for a number of pro-tenant attorneys in Oakland that I happen to know. Sue told me the unfortunate news about the death of Mary Jesus. I felt stunned.

I had not seen Mary Jesus since the day I was wandering up and down Alice Street in Oakland on a warm Saturday afternoon, using a bullhorn to call tenants out of their sleepy apartments to sign a Just Cause (anti-eviction) petition. I was with Sue Doyle and John Reimann at that moment, and we were part of a group known as the Campaign for Renters Rights.

People streamed out of their apartments that day to join us and sign the petitions we had brought with us. Some of the landlords were screaming at us from their buildings and threatening to call the cops if we did not start moving along.

Sue Doyle had briefly met Mary Jesus that sunny afternoon as we were out collecting signatures for an initiative that rewrote Oakland's rent laws, and gave the renters some protections from unfair evictions and the eviction-for-profit system.

Once upon a time, I had resided on Alice Street in a lovely building for about eight years; and I lived directly across the street from Mary Jesus for much of that period. Of course, that was until some greedy landlord bought the property I resided in and immediately evicted me because I had the cheapest rents in the building. My anger at that bastard knew no bounds. To this day, I still miss the garden that I nourished for so many years in the backyard of the property.

Mary Jesus was a splendid character and was unmistakable in the neighborhood. She generally dressed all in black, with dark shades and long, flowing, dark hair. She seemed rather fierce in her own way. Not the type of person that I would want to get into a feud with.

We got to know one another a bit, and at times we went out for a bite to eat and a chat. At one point, I helped her to plant some new flowers and other plants in front of the building where she resided. She was the resident manager at that time.

In a crazy world that's gone totally mad, Mary Jesus was no crazier than any-one else; and it's a shame that the media pundits insinuated that she was a lunatic who lacked therapy, when they wrote the stories about what had occurred on December 10 at the Tribune Tower.

Neither therapy, nor the leather restraints and Thorazine at John George Psychiatric Pavilion, would have done a thing to keep the profiteers from evicting her from the home she loved, even though she had lived there long enough to be a part owner of the building by now.

Mary Jesus was targeted and the whole weight of the legal system was set in motion to push her over the edge.

Many landlords in Oakland have been cruel enough in their pursuit of profits to make many a soul in Oakland consider suicide as an escape from their greedy grasp. Believe it. I get calls and e-mails from desperate tenants all the time, and at times suicide seems like an option in a world where the rents are so high that people become convinced that they will never come up with the cash needed to move into some other slumlord's rat-infested hellhole.

Her landlords are lucky that Mary Jesus did not do to them what she had done to herself. That would have given the Tribune and the Chronicle something to write about; but that was not what her message was all about. Instead, Mary Jesus took her own life to expose the legal system that exists here in Oakland, and the greedy landlords that use the system to push their renters over the edge.
Eviction Defense Center, A Non-Profit Law Corporation
1611 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 726 (near 16th Street)
Oakland, CA 94612
Voice (510) 452-4541
Fax (510) 452-4875

Provides legal services to prevent evictions.

On October 18, 2004, I received an e-mail from V. Vale of Re/Search Publications, asking for help to stop Mary Jesus' eviction. I immediately responded, and sent off a good-sized list of attorneys' names and phone numbers, including the Eviction Defense Center. I gave instructions for Mary Jesus to take action as soon as possible to stop the eviction and to con-tact an attorney immediately for assistance.

I was happy to do what little I could to stop the profiteers from dumping her out onto the cold-hearted streets of Oakland. I live for moments like this.

Indeed, when V. Vale contacted me, he had no idea that I actually knew Mary Jesus, and was totally surprised that I knew a few things about her. I sent him a list of attorneys and instructions which he handed over to Mary Jesus. Vale also called some of the attorneys to see if he could line one of them up to help Mary Jesus in her time of need.

It felt good to hear back from Vale, and to receive a thank you for being there to help. I thought that I had done my part to help, and set my mind to other tasks. I did not see, I could not see, the dark future that was looming just ahead.

I cannot get the picture out of my head of Mary Jesus standing there high above the street, just before she plunged to her death. I keep thinking of what she may have been feeling those last few moments and days of her life. I keep wondering how her short life of 33 years finally ended so tragically atop the Tribune Tower.

I wish I could have done more to help keep a roof over her head and preserve her right to remain in her much-loved home.

It was somewhat of a comfort to learn that Mary Jesus spent the last evening of her life with Vale and his wife Marion in San Francisco. These two had tried their best to help her fight the eviction proceedings that ended up pushing her over the edge. They had offered her shelter from the storm when she needed it the most.

I can't help but cry when I think of the last few moments of Mary Jesus, and what she must have been going through as she gazed upon the crowd of 200 onlookers that witnessed her death. I can't help but think about her final hours as she made copies of her suicide note and the message she wanted the people to read.

The message of Mary Jesus is splattered with the blood of her ultimate sacrifice — a sacrifice that ensured her voice would be heard loud and clear.

She is pointing her finger at the land-lords, the judges and the legal system that pushed her over the edge. I call for an immediate and thorough investigation into the cases that Mary Jesus refers to in her message to the people.

It will be up to each and every one of us to take the message of Mary Jesus to heart, and to do whatever is necessary to make certain that the injustices that pushed her over the edge will be exposed and held accountable.

May Mary Jesus rest in peace, and may her troubled soul find some happiness in the next dimension of reality, far removed from the greedy landlords and war criminals that have wreaked havoc on the American people and the world at large.

Lynda Carson may he reached at (510) 763-1085 or tenantsrule@yahoo.com

by tiny/PNN

"I don't like it to be here, but for a minute, when they open I will apply for a job" 16 year old East Oakland resident Miguel Coelho pushed his wayward ghetto-fabulous fro' out of his eyes as he spoke to me over the grinding traffic sounds emanating from the nearby Hagenburger road.

We were huddled on the tip of the medium strip on Edgewater Road near the Oakland Airport as part of a Rally against the impending development of another Slav-Mart (oh excuse me, Wal-MART) Store

"Can I take your picture for the story," I asked Miguel

"Yea, but I want to take it under this sign; " Government Responsibility and Corporate Accountability……

And so it goes, the frightening paradox of low-income, conscious, intelligent youth like Miguel who although he is Not Down with the 40 million dollar Corporate Welfare deal struck between the City and Port of Oakland and Simeon Commercial Properties that will bring the first Wal-Mart store to Oakland, he needs a job, and Wal-Mart, as the largest employer in the US with 1.4 million workers, always has a lot of low-wage, non-unionized,jobs with no benefits, not to mention, unfair racist, sexist employment practices.

Or consider the case of Oji graduate from The YouthinMedia program at POOR Magazine, who is an extremely talented visual artist, musician and poet but due to his poverty was forced to apply for welfare and then told by his General Assistance (Welfare) caseworker that he must find a job, any job. Lacking many other employment opportunities as an African Descendent youth in the Bay Area, he began working for Slave-Mart, there I go again, I meant, Wal-Mart in West Contra County.

"We're out here today, cause we just found out that the City provided a huge amount of dollars to bring a Wal-Mart into Oakland without any community input, Alicia Schwartz, an organizer with Just Cause Oakland was breakin down the reasons that led Just Cause folks to call this rally, " and we are letting folks know that they have a right to deserve more from Oakland City Government and from these kinds of large corporations especially when they are getting our tax dollars"

The proposed location for this new Oakland Wal-Mart is near the Oakland Airport and will be called The Metroport Development Project, and will include several other large chains like N' and Out Burger and Payless shoes, also known for paying its workers low wages and not giving back to the community.

"In Berkeley large corporations are forced to give back to the community by funding youth apprenticeship programs and job development" Alicia outlined the kinds of give- back programs that Wal-Mart, owned by the Waltons, listed as five of the richest people in the world and #1 contributors to The Republican Party could do in the very poor county of Oakland. She concluded, " Our schools need money, our communities need money"

"Wal-Mart believes that paying women a living wage leads to broken single-parent headed families" Ben from The Oakland Coalition of Congregations (OCC) was one of the several community youth and adult leaders that spoke at the rally on the bizarre draconian worker practices of Wal-Mart. His disclosure about Wal-Marts old-school Euro-Centric sexist beliefs reminded me of the whole GW Bush-Jerry Falwell concept of what is a "healthy family" i.e., the way for welfare moms to become economically stable is to get married, no matter who they marry, similar to the welfare/Wal-Mart mandate of a job, any job.

"In this year alone, over 300 immigrant workers were arrested and deported from their jobs, while hundreds more were laid off from their jobs" An organizer from Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride spoke about the flagrantly racist tactics of Wal-Mart, "As well, Wal-Mart pays a very low wage to its workers and gives no benefits," He concluded with a chant that the crowd of over 50 community members, workers and organizers joined in on, "Wal-Mart you are not Welcome here!"

"So we already know that Wal-Mart is shady, that they are unfair to Black people and females, and we know that Wal-Mart has the money to pay its workers more considering that it just received a multi-million dollar payoff to come here", Theresa, a young African Descendent woman was summing up the goals of the community at this rally, "So what I want is a job with a living wage so I can support my family, career development and education and what I want is for Wal-Mart and Simeon development to create a fair partnership with the community so that we can all live while Wal-Mart is here."

For more information on the effort to demand a fair partnership from the developers and elected officials call Just Cause at (510) 763-5877.

by Tiny

"I am the mother of 2 African American young men - one of them is Bipolar …what am I going to do the next time my son gets a manic attack? As this mother spoke her voice trembled with deep rooted tears born form the ongoing assault by the police on the civil and human rights of disabled people of color all over Amerikka who live day to day in trepidation and fear of the next "search and seizure", harassment or like this mother, murder.

This tearful mother spoke at the Q&A section of one of the most powerful "panels" I have attended this year; The War on the Disabled, people of color, speak out, fight back against police brutality, sponsored by The Freedom Socialist Party, Race and Disability Consultants Inc, and POOR Magazine. The panel was moderated by revolutionary poet, race and disability consultant, and PNN's own illin and chillin columnist Leroy Moore and included the mothers of police shooting victims Cammerin Boyd and Idriss Stelly, Marylon Boyd and Mesha Irizarry, as well as, Nellie Wong, from Comrades of Color, Malaika Parker for Bay Area Police Watch, and, Labor activist and mental health worker with The City and County of San Francisco, Roland Washington

"Its not about whether you committed a crime - its about an out of control police department- in fact a lot of out of control police departments- but its also about officers not being trained, but even more clearly its about not enough resources in our communities, police officers should not be responding to medical emergencies" After Malaika presented the cases of disabled folks of color who had been the victims of fatal police shootings, including Joseph Timms and Cammerin Boyd, she got the root of these senseless crimes, i.e., the fact that police officers should NOT be called out on 911 emergencies that are really 5150 ( ie mentally ill) emergencies.

"They are trained in combat, and that is not appropriate training for someone suffering from a mental health crisis." Malaika concluded with calling out for the need for "Real training in mental health crisis for cops and most importantly, discipline, cause without that the training means nothing"

Readers of PNN and the SF Bayview, are well aware of the current fatal shootings of Young African Descendent citizens of the Bay Area, i.e., Cammerin Boyd, Idriss Stelly, Joseph Timms and at least 26 others in the last four years but one of the reasons this panel was so important is the not so well- known factor of these young brothers disability, and when the corporate media reports on these shootings, its reported as the shooting of "a Black youth, or Asian Female" or other media sponsored stereotypes, which in its depiction automatically releases the cops of the culpability for the death of not only another man or woman of color but of the shooting of a Disabled man or woman.

"As a mental health worker who works specifically with homeless Black mentally ill folks in San Francisco, all I can say is, this has got to stop, just stop" Ron Washington, who spoke as a scholar from so many fronts made a point of connecting the dots of his work as a Labor organizer, housing advocate and mental health activist, " I have worked on these police training's, and they only go so far, so maybe we need to do something pre-emptive as a community when we know folks have a problem," Roland described how he personally has been "touched" by the Police departments profiling of African Descendent males as a standard procedure and how it just made him all the more dedicated to seeing the end of this kind of murder.

"I'm already Black, do you think I need a double diagnosis" The next inspiring speaker was human rights activist, advocate, writer, and mother of Idriss Stelly, African descendent youth of 23 who was shot in the Metreon Theatre in 2002 by police, who quoted her multi-talented son, Idriss, who as well as being a teacher, activist and actor in his own right was also very aware of all of the dangers of being a young Black man in Amerikka with a psychological disability. Mesha outlined the entire story of her son's tragic case including the way that the police interrogated her and Idriss' girlfriend to cover-up the accountability of the police in the death of her son.

"It is very important for folks to come to the Police Review Commission hearings" She concluded her compelling story with the plea that we must attend the commission hearings and that if we don't keep holding these public officials accountable they will drop the ball. Which this PNN writer would also urge, seeing as the people, led in large part by Mesha and her tireless work for justice for parents who have lost their children to this kind of violence, were able to get the police review commission to actually be a more community led body rather than the puppet body that it was before the ballot initiative prop H.

"More money for War means less money for domestic violence at home, and as a disabled elder of color I am acutely aware of this kind of police violence" the last speaker of the panel was the poet, writer, vibrant fighter for justice and representative from the Comrades of Color Caucus of the Freedom Socialist Party who connected the larger illegal wars on poor people all over the world as well as the civil rights crimes of the so-called patriot act and other attacks put into full effect by Real Terrorists The Bush administration and its troupes. As well, Nellie brought out the issues of capitalism and the root causes of violence against poor people of color by police.

Finally, The floor was opened up to a very powerful Q&A session in which there were many more voices of scholarship from folks who are resisting these abuses everyday including the announcement of the Bush Administrations October Plan which aims to turn the streets of Amerikka into a pseudo state of Martial Law in October in honor of the upcoming election and how we as people must answer back by getting involved in the organizing work that is struggling to resist these oppressive realities including the work of the October 22nd coalition which will lead a march against police murder and abuse, The Million Worker March, and The Cammerin Boyd Action Committee which will have its first meeting Monday, October 11th at 6:00 pm at 54 Mint street in San Francisco.

Through the work of all these wonderful folks and through the one on one work of mothers everywhere maybe we can solve these senseless crimes and in turn come up with real solutions for mothers and fathers of youth of color everywhere.

by tiny

"We have kids to support, we have bills to pay" The brown eyes of Larry Montoya glistened in the morning glare. He spoke to me over the sounds of horns honking in solidarity with the over 40 street cleaners who were protesting their illegal and wrongful termination from The Department of Public Works. He concluded, "We are protesting to get our jobs back, they fired us cause of nepotism"

Mr Montoya was referring to the reasons why the protest had been called by the workers and their advocates, La Raza Centro Legal, who began assisting the general laborers after they were unfairly, and illegally, terminated from their jobs due to corruption and nepotism in the Department of Public Works.

"I was an Environmental Control Officer there before Deputy Director Mohammad Nuru and Edwin Lee began retaliating against an entire unit in DPW ( by firing us) because he didn’t like that our unit was making complaints against him publicly, " I spoke next to the very powerful looking Derek Maderis, one of the protesting DPW workers, an African Descendent general laborer with seniority who was wrongfully terminated. He concluded, " He tried to call this a service cut and its not."

"40-80 DPW workers in San Francisco were fired from their jobs and replaced by people further down on the DPW seniority list, as well as by people who were friends and relatives of Management, " to get the details on the claims of nepotism I sought out the fierce civil and human rights advocate and executive director of La Raza Centro Legal, Renee Saucedo who was protesting alongside the workers outside of the DPW offices on Cesar Chavez Blvd on Tuesday morning " The workers, the majority of whom are African American, Latino and Asian came to La Raza Centro Legal for help"

She continued, "We are fighting to get the hiring system investigated and to make sure the practices of the DPW, particularily by Mohammad Nuru are above the table and to make sure these folks get reinstated with full seniority" Renee concluded with her usual real talk," these are general laborers that work their asses off to keep this city clean, they do the hard jobs and they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity "

It was interesting to this reporter to note that the small but loud huddle of workers were overrun with an awkward looking array ( or perhaps: display) of cops, called out for what reason, I can't imagine as these peacefully powerful DPW employees were only exercising their constituional rights to free assembly and free speech. Its also important to note in the workers charge of nepotism and favoritism that Nuru was originally hired for another position under Willie Brown's Administration, well-known for its rampant nepotism and favoritism, including the hiring of the man who is now our Mayor.

To my queri of what the next move for these workers would be Renee said, " Well ultimately, Newsom is responsible for all of this and because Nuru didn’t have the courage to meet with them (the workers) today they are gonna go straight to the mayors office – probably within the next two weeks ."

by PNN shelter Observer with poetryJournalism by Po Poet Laureate A. Faye hicks

Care not Cash

It is not my friend

No Cash, No Care, No House

No where to lay your head

Care for the Homeless?

Just who is the homeless, just us?

Houseless Americans

We come in all shapes, colors, sizes, and ages!

"When the rains come, where will we go?" Tears of sorrow and powerlessness poured from the eyes of PNN's Shelter Observer. Now for most folk that wouldn't be so strange but for this feirce, currently houseless African Descendent woman who is a, poverty scholar and survivor of a lifetime of race and class oppression, those tears were wrong on so many levels.

"Since Care Not Cash they are making it impossible for folks on SSI who stay in shelters to get a bed, they make us go through so many hoops, and go so many places that elderly women and men like me can't possibly do them. Meanwhile, they are reserving the beds for people on Welfare and most of the time beds just go empty." As she spoke haltingly I cringed with fury.

As readers of PNN and the Bayview will know the poverty journalists and media organizers at PNN/POOR fought with every nerve left in our body to halt the racist classist legislation known as Care Not Cash. The legislation created as Mayor Gavin Newsoms mayoral platform reduced the welfare checks of Welfare recipients from the already meager amount of 279 to just $59.00 per month , which is straight-up theft for the GA recipients seeing as noone gets free money - all GA recipients who aren't disabled have to work for their cash grant so now they are earning less than minimum wage and their money is being taken from their checks to pay for the shelter beds. All of this resulting in the frightening result that we all predicted which is that folks on SSI or working poor folks who aren't on any government subsidy don't have access to any seven day beds at all and even for one day beds its so much work that most people give up and stay on the streets.

We are not just, Bag Ladies, and Men

We are not just people pushing a buggy filled with their belongings

We are not just faceless people, panhandling, with a cup stuck out

We are people in America, sleeping out doors

Rain or Shine, disabled, displaced teens, the elderly, ex-convicts,

Unemployed, mothers with children

"Well we will fight back," I consoled her with the sounds of resistance , but in my heart I, too, felt dejected and weary. Newsoms master plan is just another in a nation-wide trend of mayors backed by big business dollars begining with New Yorks' Rudy Giuiliani who launched the shelter as jail system - that hooks your bed in with unpaid labor, forcing residents to do a daily piss test, kicking you out on the street with one infraction and leaving you with only one option; the other shelter for poor folks- the county jail .

In God we Trust!

Because we can’t rely on “Care not Cash

We can’t rely on the Shelter System

Bed today none tomorrow.

To our sorrow, running here, running there

No beds, just confusion, empty beds lay wasted

While long lines form

"they used to give folks a sandwich if they weren't able to find a meal that day - those are no longer provided , but now due to these new rules you can't even get to your dinner," When I called DHS to get a quote about the sandwich , I was told that that was no longer possible with the new budget cuts.

She continued, "and just like we were worried about, the only solution they give you when you try to fight back is that maybe you , the elder, should be put in another "place" if you can't do the hoops, i.e., an old peoples home "

The fog is settling in as we finally trek, to our “slot”

Lights out Nine o/clock

We barely lay down, we its l5 minutes, up and at it again!

Something to eat and a place to sleep

Seven days a week!

by Tiny

Yeah, a mid-night train is coming

Right down "Homeless Row"

The Metro, co-signed by "Mr. Willie"

The Bar-be-cue’s of Bayview, he threw yearly

Oh but it’s going to cost the home owners dearly

Trickin the people to cut their own, pocket books

Yeah, they used to Lynch a Nigga, at Southern Bar-be-cues

Young bloods mis-guided, hating one another

Railroaded to Jail, by the coming of the Lite rail.

No jobs, no homes, get out of the way, toot, tooted!

Excerpt from "The coming of the Rail" by Po Poet Laureate A. Faye Hicks

Large concrete teeth sliced through the asphalt. Dirt filled my shoes, dust infested my nostrils. And I was only half-way across Third Street at Palou. On this bright Tuesday morning in September I wavered between the sort of safety of the crumbling curb and the near death of the middle of the non-street in ground zero of the largest, most devastating gentrification, oh excuse me, Development projects to hit a poor African descedent community since the descimation of the Fillmo.

So how do you destroy an entire community without a bomb, a firefight or missile?

" They are building this project right up the middle of this mostly Black community (BVHP) and they aren't kicking down any of the money or the contracts to the black residents of this very community." After I walked through the mess that is Third street circa 2004. I ran into longtime Bayview resident, Kyle, who has lived and worked (when he can find work) in San Francisco for the last 20 years.

"It’s the same ol story, how do you get rid of people?… sell off their land and their contracts to outsiders until one day they become the outsiders in their own land" Kyle ended by looking in the direction of the other big "gentrification" (read:displacement) project in BVHP which is the demolition of several hundred projects " on the hill" by the Redevelopment agency and the rebuilding of market rate condos in their place, which this PNN reporter considers a frightening example of 21st colinization

Kyle told me that on many occasions he has inquired into job opportunities in the li(t)e rail project from MUNI, the City, EDD, etc, only to be given the runaround in more ways than one

I came to BVHP this morning to meet with Kyle in preparation of a Transportation hearing held later that morning at SF City Hall to approve the funding (with sales tax and release of prop k funds) of The Metro East Maintenance Facility which was chaired by SF Board Supervisors, Chris Daly Bevan Dufty and Sophie Maxwell.

The issue of who will get this contract and who will be hired has the ire of several San Francisco City Council members, including Matt Gonzalez, Chris Daly and even District 10's sometimes ambivalent-to-act, Sophie Maxwell because of the bizarre lack of compliance by MUNI with the hiring quotas of 50% resident, 25.6% minority, 6.9% women and the fact that the multi-million dollar "Lite Rail" project that runs right all the way up 3rd street right through the Black community has so far not been given to a local African-American contractor.

" I have a stack of memos, that are only just that, memos from meeting after meeting with officials, and none of those translate into jobs." At the meeting, I spoke to Gus Amador teacher in one of the Community based organizations doing training for the very jobs that would be needed if MUNI were to follow the hiring quotas and open the bidding to African American contractors rooted in the community. Gus concluded with a sigh "and I am training low-income residents of this community to become union carpenters and the bottom line is these San Franciscans deserve to get jobs in San Francisco."

This meeting was held at the SF Transportation Authority one week after a 300 community member strong meeting was held before the Human Rights Commission. The fact that the Human Rights Commission was so well attended and this meeting (the one that really mattered,) much less so, was no accident, as the CBO's who on one hand will benefit if these hiring quotas are followed because their participants will be hired upon graduation, are also receiving money from the very folks who are leading the charge to gentrification/descimation of BVHP i.e., the Mayors office of Community Development, et al, These same CBO's decided that it was imperative that they hold classes today at the same time as the Transportation hearing.

" I just want to make sure we look at both sides of the coin," A man who represented himself as a consultant to non-profit agencies that provide employment and training spoke to me outside the hearing room in hushed tones, "yes there is always room for improvement in contracting opportunities, and there is always room for improvement in employment and training opportunities, but I do want to say that there are a number of CBO's that have been very successful in training and placement in projects such as the MUNI lite rail project," Now this well-spoken African Descendent gentleman completely confused me with paragraphs that sounded a lot like they came right out of a grant proposal or MOCD Request For Proposal(RFP) so I had to ask again, "are you saying that MUNI is employing the BVHP community or not?"

"Well, what I am saying is that MUNI has been creating some employment for the community and leveraging other funds to create other training and placement situations happen….." At this point a whole rush of youth who had just spoken before the panel rushed out of the door in a wave of protest, only to meet the eager gaze of Apolliona's skilled camera, which caused the perfect distraction for my consultant friend, well-timed because I didn't know how much more double talk my brain could hold.

Some noteworthy comments from the Board members present included one by Chris, " Unless you satisfy the people in the community, I am not voting for this" (funding) and even an unusually scathing comment to MUNI from Sophie, " Aren't you jus doing the same thing again"

As well, several powerful folk from the community did come up and speak, one of which was a young African Descendent woman, Erica Mccrury, proud enough of her hoped for future with MUNI, that she even donned the requisite orange mesh jacket over her gray sweatshirt for a PNN photo, "I am an out of work veteran of Desert Storm, and I just want to make sure that when I graduate ( from my pre-apprentice-ship program, I get a chance to work on the lite rail project rather than them bringing folks in from the outside (to work on the project) "

Editors Note; This piece was first published in the SF Bayview Newspaper in September. Thanks to the resistance of the community MUNI and The African American Contractors Association are currently in negotiation to reach a fair and equitable situation that would include living wage jobs for the community including folks re-entering the community post-incarceration.

by Joe B.

A 6 year cacoon,comfort zone must be left for other vista's,Wish I had a Vista Cruiser so I could...

Cruise the Vista's.

Now,I have to find work either as a columnist in some obscure news paper, magazine,or organization.

Wait- done that aleady.

I'd still love to write columns but no reporting, taking pictures with camcorders.

I'm thinking of traveling by cruise ship, train,or bus.

How am I to break it to my bosses?

A stickler there,anyway its time I left,look for work.

Who know maybe I can do bit parts in porn you know like the folks in commercials parts of it.

Mari always said I write porno. If you by chance ever see me in a skin flick know that I'm being taken advantage of at all as for you beyond our secret letters Y.A.L. (read some past email and I hope I haven't angered you.

I hurt when you are. Hope your doing ok PEACE.

This could be my golden opportunity I wonder if Ms. Nina Hartley could help me,oops no classes.

I must run,and for the people on cerain Adult Date sites I guess I can finally try and be a real member and pay for the privilige.

This is not for PM but for ME. I NEED MONEY, A LAPTOP,WELL,MAINLY MONEY IN MONEY ORDER FORM.
that's it - Not Quite.

Snail or Email

Joe at:
1230
PO Box #204

S.F.,Ca. 94102

PSI don't have home pc,they all break down but I'm seeing a friend who knows about swap meets to by G3's, 4's and printers.

But still I'd like to get a free gift in the mail if any of you don't need your old PC's mail... no I might not be able to reiburse you. Only those that can aford to do it should.

Again,for my readers take care,live long,live free,enjoy your lives,because you never know when its suddenly.
Over.

By for now.
Joseph O. Bolden.©

by PNN's Shelter Observer

"I just won’t be getting a bed tonite" PNN’s shelter observer leaned her head against the back of the couch in POOR’s offices, and continued wearily explaining the recent viscious cycle facing San Francisco's homeless folks, " since they closed the sanctuary, if we even want to have a chance at getting a bed we have to start waiting in line and running all over town as early as 4:00 each day, its just too hard for most people"

She was speaking of the crisis caused by the closing of Episcopal sanctuary on October 19th, one of San Francisco’s biggest city funded shelters for an unspecified period of time for renovations.

The odd thing about this closure is that it came on the heels of the implementation of the very problematic and harmful legislation; Care Not Cash, which already caused across the board lockouts from shelters for most housless San Franciscans. These lockouts were caused by Care Not Cash’s policy of prioritizing shelter beds for General Assistance/GA (welfare) recipients over the majority of shelter recipients who like PNN’s shelter observer are on SSI and not receiving GA.

" for the last three nights I just slept on the street", Maury Williams , a 52 year old African Descendent houseless man who is an immigrant day laborer from the Dominican republic, works 16-20 hour days and can’t get a bed because it just takes too much time to go through the hoops that Department of Human Services has put forth since Care not Cash was implemented, and now that they closed Sanctuary he has even less chance of getting a bed, " I am just trying to work and make enough money to afford an apartment of my own, this will make it even more impossible" , Maury concluded in discouraged sigh

As well, the way the city "noticed" the shelter residents was indicative of their overall disregard for the civil and human rights of houseless people. 24 hours prior to the closure Sanctuary's residents were stunned to learn that they had less than twenty-four hours notice before they were required to relocate to makeshift accommodations at other shelters. And well into the next day after the notice they still didn’t know where they would be transferred not to mention the fact that they had to haul al their belongings across town to the City’s Storage space.

" I never got a flyer about the closure at all" , Maury who stays at the shelter whenever he can never received a flyer about the closure, " Most of the guys I know never got one, even the guys who stay in there every night" Maury corroborated the story that many shelter residents reported to me, which is that the residents of the shelter were the last to find out about this closure even though the nights are getting colder and wetter as we approach November. Maury went on to report the fact that there is a rumour about the closure of A Man’s Place, another city funded shelter that houses several of the City’s homeless men for asbestos clean-up or as he put it "something or other"

In light of all of the problems facing San Francisco’s shelters since Care Not Cash San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matt Gonzalez introduced a
long-awaited legislation on October 19th, to create a Shelter Monitoring Committee, which would provide public oversight of shelter conditions and policies. If such an oversight body were already in place, residents of Episcopal Sanctuary would have been better informed and prepared for their relocation. This legislation was also heard in front of the Finance committee on October 27th and was supported by Supervisor Chris Daly and will be heard in front of the Rules Committee on November 10th in room 263 at 9:00 am