Story Archives 2002

by Joe B.

[To all Editor’s, Publisher’s, Literary Agents, and its hard working industry people.
I, Joseph Bolden in my capacity as POOR Magazine’s OP/ED would appreciate pos or neg on my work seen daily on PM’s-website. If you or others have time to read and want to respond email or snail me.
Please Do At.

askjoe@poormagazine.orgor snail

P.O. Box #645 1230 Market St.

San Francisco, CA. 94102-4801
I’ve no phone but working on it.
Whatever help you can lend to a struggling scribbler is priceless.


Thank You for reading past and present works.

Like a message in a bottle floating on foam ‘n’ surf I hope this bottle doesn’t break up or wash up on an island empty of life, light, and sound.]

In four months another milestone will be celebrated. 33rd. Anniversary of the Moon Landing.

Remember "The Cold War, The Iron Curtain is still up and the Berlin Wall with barbwire, machine guns and soldier’s manning towers, shooting people trying to escape to the West?

A Russian satellite scared leaders of the so-called free world.

It became an international machismo showdown of intelligence and testosterone in a televised battle to see who’s soft and hardware was the best, whose scientists, engineer’s, astronaut’s "Had The Right Stuff, and who’s was the superior nation.

Both American’s and Russian’s had Astronauts died and both nations mourned wondering was it worth it this "Race For Space.

"America made it to the moon before the Russians.

The last men on the moon went in 1972 picking up moon rocks, ride a buggy, and play golf by way of fun, checking the 1-6th G or gravity or a combination of both.

In 1986 an "O" ring engineering problem and pressure not delay another launch cost the lives of 7 more astronauts.

Heady, sad, fascinating, dramatic, fun, transcendent, vitalizing, tiring, exhilarating and lethal in turns are the realms of space flight.

Imagine if on an alternate earth where women in an "All That Glitter’s world rule.

[that old TV show can be revived and won’t seem all that strange now]

Can you hear Russian and their American counterparts in full strength estrogen charged potency going all out to conquer that huge hanging scrote?

R: "Set up oval sphere, get our gals ready, to jump-the old man!"

A: "We’ve got our girls, we’re ready, Let’s stop pussying around with flyby’s and land feet first on the guy's one nut-moon-in space.

R:"Gotta bed my man"

R:"I have a date in Star City with an athletic Moscovite male."

A: "My ‘poundin 'Pud, I need a guy any guy for a night."

A: "I’ma feed my hubby stay hard pills, ware my edible panties and have him lap up honey, and buried cherries under the whip cream, that's my kind of brinkwombship.

The language is raw as it would be in on our own world.

But women in control would have male equivalent’s of warrior males, men’s lib, and A Madam President having oral sex with a not so innocent or hapless male underling.

Kidding aside, if I’ve offended anyone with the above sociological otherworld content – sorry folks blame it on parallel mental leakage to said alt-world's bleeds into me, like one story bleeding on to another pages content.

Between September 11, 2001 and July 20, 2002 these two horrific plus the and joyous celebrations must be joined.

The reason why space is being occupied again is the human will to explore and 9/11/’01 war fever is equally strong though its outcome is deadlier.

Today, the competition is economic but still people are dying.

What better way to improve the human condition than to literally improve our lives in health, intelligence, going outward bound from the moon to mars and beyond.

Why don’t we start to build or carve out asteroids, planetoid’s using their natural resource instead of doing the gravity well dance.

The late, brilliant, and soft spoken Gerard K. O'Neill dream of living in space can be shared by every human on earth, but once in space earth seems less all powerful, its government so far away their rules and regulations won’t apply much.

Is that what nations fear most the lost of control of people’s lives, you can see the example of 9/11’s chilling affect as everyone comes under their nations governments is under suspicion.

Lets link life extension, space exploration, and living in space as our ultimate futures not future but FUTURES.

We could do this now because all private monies aren’t tied up with the war.

I don’t know what we’re waiting for, either get past this
point and improve our lot controlling our own evolution or stop advancing stagnating backwards to staying grounded to earth.

It is up to all the people in every nation to chose not their only their leaders who may want to retard, slow, delay, or stop the steady upward rush to the stars.

Any views pro/con from women or men?

I know sex would last longer and female pregnancy easier and less painful in zero G space or 1 6th than on 1G earth.

I thank the
NASA Apollo Mission Apollo-11 website for the information enclosed.

As for myself I have to get my cryo-coffin ready so at death I’ll be immediately frozen waiting for a better day of revival or rebirth.

Those are my plans unless I step into an artificial space/time warp, get kidnapped by aliens, or do a accidental "Buck Rodgers"/"Bikini Planet" Bye...

by Joe B.

To all Editor’s, Publisher’s, Literary Agents, and hard working industry people.

I, Joseph Bolden as a POOR Magazine’s columnist appreciate comments on my work on PM’s-website.
If time permits to read and respond by email or snail me.
Please Do At.

askjoe@poormagazine.org or snail

P.O. Box #645 1230 Market St.

San Francisco, CA. 94102-4801
I’ve no phone but working on it.

Whatever help you can to a struggling scribbler is priceless.

I’m not thinking of anything in particular to write about this Thursday, March, 15, 2002 except if and when life exstension and immortality humans coexisted side by side how would our perceptions change?

The time between birth, death, and living inbetween would become awkward, odd, and continue as utterly strange.

The right to Life, Death With Dignity, Neptune Society, and Immortalists, Eternals, Cryoic-Iced people both full body and neuro-cold (Frozen Heads Only) will have lively discussions [minus frozen dead body or/ head folks.

The ultimate political stake: long people will want to live.

Question:Do we really want politicians and corporate entities deciding how long we or our children's children lives will be?

If like me the answer is no then there now is the time to begin a process of tackling these questions face on in a public forum, and not only by people in in business, politics.

I believe most of the scientist and researchers are with us because they to have families and want to personally see themselves, friends, friends, and loved ones benefit from the booming bio-sciences.

Lets start an on going debate on the most important
decision in all our lives.

The Extension of and eventual Immortality in our or vastly extended lives.

There might be underground networks of shadowy corporate research scientists, techicians, nano-molecularists working individually or in groups make money the new feild of sleeper/ extension/Immortalism.

Longer life may become a both open and gray market business.

From legitimate Life Ex/ ‘Emmortal clinics to places like the Brain Wash, or other spots in San Francisco may really have temporary and perminent hormonal, intelligence/paranormal increasing drugs, serums, med-tech devices, combined with cyber-organism with mutual parasitic and symbiotic properties to not only maintain health but when possible nanosecond by nanosecond subtly improves all germ/stem cells in the system.

These healthier humans will look and and like us still subject to death even if it no longer age related, better control of interior and exterior biological systems though still not gods just the first of long lived humans full of lifetimes of experiences, worries, regrets, and whatever human folly they are subject to - in other words...

Look in the mirror, that is the face of immortality.

Stronger, faster, intelligent using 40 to 60 or more percent of increase brain capacity and dormant paranormal abilities.

Stay on earth, travel starward, live on other worlds, create human made ones in space, greet aliens, or become so genetically changed that our species become alien to our ancestors and descendants, parallel or altinate world traveling, or through time itself.

When one has time its hard close off other possibilites of study, living, exploring.

It may not be in your or my life times [that’s what cryonics and hibernation chambers, and suspended animation is for].

Now a surgeon name Joe says he can make it possible for humans to fly; he’s talking real flapping wings (High Flying Angel) X-Man/Woman wings.

I’d go for it but first I need time to see the pitfalls.

I can already see and feel the joy of complete freedom from the ground but I’ll deal with one hard science miracle at a time.

For now life exstension and immortality is what I want and need and with time I just might want and need wings in a long future.

How about it readers extremely long lived to immortal humans able to fly under our own power?

Would you if you had long life go for winged flight too?
'Kinda makes that
"Men wern't made to fly, "I can't stand to fly "Superman" song obsolete, well not yet but someday soon. Bye.

by Anita Roddick

If you consider yourself a person of
conscience who believes in justice, this is one
letter you'll want to read carefully. It's a
Letter of Conscience, offered in solidarity
with the Angola Three, three men who have been
languishing in solitary confinement for 30
years for crimes they did not commit.

If, after you've read this brief overview of
their story, you are as outraged as I was when
I first heard it, I urge you to sign your name
to the bottom and send it on to your friends.
We hope to gather several thousand signatures
to be delivered to the lawmakers and human
rights officials who have the power to right
this egregious wrong.

Albert Woodfox, Harman Wallace, and Robert
Wilkerson are three black men who arrived at
the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola in
the early 1970s on unrelated robbery
convictions. At the time, Angola was known as
the most brutal, corrupt, and racially
segregated prison in America. Stabbings,
shootings, and rapes were almost daily
occurrences. Hoping to make a stand for basic
human rights and dignity, the three men founded
a chapter of the civil-rights group the Black
Panthers to protect those inmates being
victimized the most and to expose and fight the
corrupt prison administration.

When a young white guard turned up dead inside
the prison, officials worked quickly to pin the
crime on members of the Panthers in an effort
to smash the group. Woodfox and Wallace were
soon tried for the crime, based on testimony by
known prison snitches who were paid for their
testimony with reduced sentences and, in one
case, with a carton of cigarettes a week. They
were convicted by all-white juries, sentenced
to life without parole, and thrown into
solitary confinement indefinitely.

Wilkerson soon joined them, convicted by
another all-white jury for the stabbing death
of a fellow inmate, again based on testimony by
a fellow inmate who later said he was coerced
into fingering Wilkerson. While on trial, the
judge had Wilkerson's mouth duct-taped shut.
Wilkerson's conviction stood for 29 years,
despite the fact that another man had confessed
to and was convicted of the murder.

Wilkerson's conviction was finally overturned
last year and he was freed. But Woodfox and
Wallace remain behind bars, in solitary
confinement 23 hours a day. The American Civil
Liberties Union has filed a suit against the
prison administration maintaining that 30 years
in solitary constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment.

Mumia Abu-Jamal said of the Angola Three, "It
is past time for people to organize for their
life in freedom. They are political prisoners
of the highest caliber who deserve your
support."

http://www.prisonactivist.org/angola/ .//www.prisonactivist.org/angola/>//www.anitaroddick.com/>

By signing this letter and forwarding it to
other concerned citizens, you are expressing
your commitment to human rights and justice, in
America and elsewhere. No one is free while
others are oppressed.

STATEMENT: Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace
are political prisoners who have suffered for
three decades under inhumane and cruel
conditions for crimes they did not commit. We
demand that they be moved immediately from
their solitary "supermax" cells into the
general prison population. Further, we demand
that evidence that has since emerged that their
convictions were based on false and coerced
testimony be considered in granting them new
trials. The American justice system lies at the
heart of the country's very identity as a free
and democratic republic. Travesties of justice
such as this weaken the system as a whole, and
therefore weaken both the country itself and
the cause of freedom around the world.

SIGNED:

1) Anita Roddick, West Sussex, UK

2) Justine Roddick, California, United States

3) Scott Fleming, Oakland CA, United States

4) Cal Joy, Brisbane, Australia
5) Brooke Shelby Biggs, San Francisco CA,
United States

6) Stephanie Green, San Francisco CA, United
States

7) Bruce Allen, St. Catharines, Ontario,
Canada

8) Marina Drummer, Berkeley, CA, United States

9) Kiilu Nyasha, San Francisco, CA, USA

10) Mary Ratcliff, San Francisco, CA, USA

11) JR Valrey, Oakland, Ca, usa

12) Lisa Gray-Garcia San Francisco, Ca, USA

TO SIGN: Copy the entire message into a new
email (please don't forward it!), add the next
consecutive number along with your name and
location, and send it to as many friends as you
can. (Please be sure to include this endnote!)
If there are 100 names signed when you receive
this, please send a copy of the email back to
me at staff@anitaroddick.com, clear the list of
names, add yourself as #1, and send it on. If
you choose not to sign or forward this email,
please send it back to staff@anitar

by TJ Johnston from Weird Services

"Call off your dogs," pleaded former President George H.W. Bush to the residents of Marin County, California. "I apologize. I am chastened and will never use 'hot tub' and 'Marin County' in the same sentence again. I shouldn't have done that," stated Bush in his Feb. 26 mea culpa to the affluent suburb, whose name he mispronounced.

That was his request to Marin Independent Journal editor Jackie Kerwin, who urged readers to respond to Bush's Jan. 25 defamatory remarks against suspected American Taliban John Walker Lindh as "some misguided Marin County hot-tubber."

And the letters flowed from maligned Marinites. In the last month, three editorial pages were devoted to their rejoinders.

Since Lindh, formerly of San Anselmo, made headlines with his involvement with the now-ousted Taliban of Afghanistan, the Marin lifestyle has been put under a microscope. Pundits have long ridiculed the home of the hot tub party, but after Bush's characterization of the 20-year-old Muslim fundamentalist, residents were fed up.

Because of the controversey, Kerwin guested on the Today Show on Feb. 28. The signature water container conspicuously appeared on the set.

Judging from the reaction of area yuppies, 23% of whom voted for Bush in 1992, most seemed forgiving.

"Of course, nobody wants to painted with broad strokes and I'm against stereotyping," notes San Rafael housefrau Mindy Universe while shopping for Zinfadel in Safeway. "Not all of us should be grouped in with the 'hot-tubbers,' especially Walker. Like, did you see how the boy looked? He needs to be deloused."

Particularly sensitive to Bush's comments is Kensington spa proprietor Blaine Worthington III. "If he hadn't apologized, I would still be smarting. It's never OK to hold a grudge. The recession and Sept. 11 have already cramped business. His saying 'I'm sorry' may stop the slide from going further."

However, other hot tub enthusiasts, like realtors Todd and Tiffany Terwilliger, still feel a sting. "We Marinites take a lot of flack for our lifestyle," muses Todd. Tiffany is quick to add, "Don't they have key parties in Conneticut or Maine or Texas, wherever he's from? He thinks jacuzzis are absolutely sinful." Todd goes on to say that Bush is uptight and "in need of a good soak."

Outside the area where Huey Lewis calls home, contrary viewpoints are plentiful. One angry, anonymous emailer vilified the Golden State. "You jerks from California have way too much time on your hands if this remark offended you poor babies! get a life. Most of the people in this country can't even afford food and health care, let alone feel bad about the hot-tubbers in Moron County."

Another vitriolic and nameless detractor wishes for "a really big earthquake will come along and separate California from the rest of the United States and it will drift out into the middle of the Pacific ocean."

"Dissing the county don't mean a thing," wrote Marin City storekeeper Muhammed Malcolm al-Kaline in an unpublished letter. He voices different concerns. "If baby Bush and Ashcroft go after this white boy from a nice neighborhood, there's no telling who else they'll lock up and throw the key away." Attempts for additional comments from al-Kaline were unsuccessful. He has since been reported missing and no one knows his whereabouts.

While apologizing for his "hot tub" comments, Bush denies disparaging local wildlife. "But what's this about peacock feathers?" he writes to Kerwin. "As Dana Carvey might say, 'Didn't say peacock feathers, wouldn't be prudent.'"

by Connie Lu

I am seated at a round table with pale purple
tablecloth and enjoying the festive trio of Mexican
musicians playing their guitars and maracas, as I rub
my hands to replenish the warmth that the angry wind
had taken with its every exhaling gust. The entire
room brightens softly, as the sun peaks through the
heavy clouds to shine its rays through the glass
skylight at the top of the pointed church ceiling.
The murmurs of surrounding conversations are heard
without the recognition of specific words. But, my
ears then draw my attention to the familiar sound of a
Chinese conversation at a nearby table, which sparks a
curiosity for the poems that I was about to hear and
experience at this book reading.

"Voices of Our Own - Mothers, Daughters, and Elders of
the Tenderloin Tell Their Stories" by Nancy Deutsch is
comprised of a collection of works by an eclectic
group of women from various walks of life, who have
shared their life stories with each other, but are now
able to share their beautiful words with many more
through this new book. The writers themselves span a
wide age range of 7 years old to 77. They have the
combined ability to speak a total of 11 different
languages.

Several poems are recited, but I am especially moved
by Jean Hui Shih's piece, which is read from Jean's
oral history. She nervously begins reciting with a
shy Chinese accent and I suddenly recall my own
memories of sweating and stuttering through dreaded
oral reports in school. Her piece is both a
recollection of her past, as well as a reflection of
her inner strength. Growing up in a family consisting
of one sister and four brothers within a society that
favors boys over girls was far from easy.
Then in 1984, she immigrated to America and was
determined to give up anything to give her daughter
the life that Jean was never allowed to have due to
the importance of carrying the family's name through
the boy, and not the girl. A few more lines are read,
as she continues to paint an image of her love for her
daughter with each carefully chosen word. Her
sacrificial love is shown again, when she sells the
few pieces of jewelry she had out of a relentless
desire to give her daughter a successful life full of
opportunities and joy.

After hearing Jean's piece, my heart is touched by the
incomparable love between a mother and her daughter,
as my gratitude for my own parents is renewed after
realizing how easily I would take them for granted in
countless instances. I am also reminded of the
hardship my parents endured in coming to America with
a small amount of money, in addition to the language
barrier they faced. They have come such a long way in
overcoming many challenges so that my brother and I
could have what we have today, a loving family.

I continue to listen to a few more poems. Then the
guest speaker is introduced. Her name is Dolores
Huerta, Cofounder of the United Farm Workers, who
endorsed Nancy's book and inspired her to work towards
social justice. I could sense the effect her
presence was about to have upon the room as she begins
to speak. Her words are a source of encouragement and
motivation to me. I write down her simple, yet
powerful phrase that she concludes with, "Women must
learn to speak loud and proud".

Nancy then proceeds to the next set of poems.
However, this time the poems are not recited. Nancy
explains how the writers were given the title of the
poem which was, "Every Girl Should BeÖ" and asked to
write a poem based upon this title. Coincidentally,
all the women had overlapping ideas and words such as
sweet, nice, quiet, and skinny, despite the fact that
they had come from completely different countries and
backgrounds.

At that moment, I found myself sharing this same idea
of being and living up to the expectations of others
upon the characteristics of a woman. I don't remember
being told to act a certain way, but perhaps it was my
reaction to fitting into the ideal mold that society
places women in, instead of defining my own identity.
But at the same time, this feeling brought great
comfort and reassurance to me, knowing that these
women truly understood my struggles.

A few of the women felt reluctant to read their poems
because they do not feel comfortable in front of an
audience with its several pairs of daunting eyes
focused upon them. I could feel their hearts beating
nervously on stage. Every passing minute would feel
as if it had been several hours since the first line
of the poem was read. However, I have great
admiration and respect for these soft-spoken women,
knowing that it is difficult for them to speak
publicly because I have yet to overcome this fear as
well.

As much as some of these women disliked being on
stage, Nancy asks all the women to stand in front of
the audience as this event comes to an end. These
women may appear timid and weak due to their fear of
being on stage, but their true inner strength and
courage is spoken even louder by the words they write.
I recognize the women as they stand together because
their faces are familiar now. Some have gray hair,
others have a head of braids. There are almond-shaped
eyes, as well as eyes of other colorful skin. Each
face is a reminder and symbol to me of each woman's
achievement.

To order books Directly you can go their website: www.frommywindowbooks.com

Voices of Our Own, upcoming events:

Thursday, April 11, 7:30 p.m.
Reading/signing with Nancy Deutsch and women
from Tenderloin; Barnes and Noble @ Jack London Square, Oakland

Sunday, May 5, 2 p.m.
Reading/signing with Nancy Deutsch and women/girls from Tenderloin;
SF Public library, Main branch.

by Ace Tafoya/PNN media intern

During the summer of 1972, I heard the dreadful sound of slippers… Feet walking slowly, almost sliding to the bathroom to start yet another monotonous day. These house shoes belonged to my sister. She was getting ready to go to work in the tomato fields in the valley. It was 3.00 a.m. She was 14 years old.

Walking into the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery on March 2, 2002 to see five local bay area artworks responding to War and Globalization reminded me of my older sister.

The War mural from Rigo 2002, Michael, Asim Butt, Rene Muslin in
collaboration with LYRIC (Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center), represented how Americans feel about the war. The imagery of the gray colors of the mural, along with the model airplanes flying overhead, and the tape machine belting out youth voices commenting on how they are living during this time of war were very powerful.

On Target by John Leanos working with The Mexican Museum, Horace Mann Middle School and School of the Arts High School, is a powerful response to anti-youth discrimination, and it sent me back to my childhood days when my sister and older brothers were required to work in the fields like some sort of family tradition. "I don’t want you to have to work out there, ever," she said with sad and tired eyes.
I heard of all the horror stories about working out in the fields: the bugs, the mice and rats, dead and/or alive, the fainting spells
of both men and women, the grueling heat and the terrible working conditions.

"possible SIDE EFFECTS may include..." by Rene Garcia of Los Cybrids is a TILT (Teaching Intermedia Literacy Tools) project presented in partnership with Youth Arts collaborative of the San Francisco Art Institute and commissioned by Co-Lab:New Generations Collaborative Art and Learning and conceived in partnership by San Francisco State University and the San Francisco Arts Commission showcasing television
sets exhibiting endless commercials, war references, amazing sounds and lighting effects is an intergenerational, multidisciplinary installation exploring globalizations effects on the relationship between government, multinationals and media conglomerates. They all took me back to that summer when my sister had to wake up so early and face her bleak future.
I couldn’t help to think that she was being used as some sort of symbol.

Visit the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery at 401 Van Ness during the month of March 2002 and with great imagination, it could take you back to a time when life seemed less stressful. Unless you were a bubbling teenager on the brink of working in the demanding fields, or a third world child whose nation has collapsed due to globalization.

by Isabel Estrada/Youth in the Media Intern

The houseless people in front of the San Francisco Public library made a busy contrast to the wide, endlessly lazy gray pavement that just existed to absorb the bright sun. They talked, some collected cans, and others let upbeat phrases roll off their tongues, tempting oblivious passersby to buy a smile, maybe a moment of happiness or a sense of satisfaction at dropping a few pennies into a paper cup. I knew I was supposed to be going to City Hall, the huge stone building with the intricate gold that stood out against all the gray. I finally walked across the wide expanse of grass up to the steps of City Hall and into the cool darkness of the building and found myself just another person in a huge crowd of people waiting to get into the Legislative Chamber.

I tried to squeeze through until the guard at the door let us know that only the people in the line were going to get through.  So I walked passed all the people until I got in line with an old high school teacher.  She was with her partner who was involved in the Mid-Market PAC (Project Area Committee) to redevelop the area spanning from 5th to 8th streets between Mission and Market.  At first I was a little uncomfortable because while working at POOR I have come to see re-developement more as socio-economic cleansing, relieving rich white folks of the plight of having to see defecation on the streets and having to feel bad about all the money they have when there are people with no food or shelter.  However, I was slightly comforted by the fact that my teacher's partner was actually in the PAC meetings to advocate for more housing, more space for non-profit organizations and to keep the pro-business interests at bay.

I was soon to find out in the discussion that in fact the PAC -with all its pro-business interests and plenty of people who wouldn't mind seeing the poor simply swept off of the streets- is only a small hurdle.  As many people would note, the PAC is somewhat willing to listen to the community.  However, the PAC is only an organization of developers hired to advise the Redevelopment Agency. The PAC can give all the advice it wants, but the Agency isn't required to listen, and it has shown that often it doesn't.  That is where the problem arises.

The discussion going on in City Council essentially consisted of public comment on Chris Daly's proposed ordinance of disbanding the Redevelopment Agency, which is made up of of 7 Mayoral appointees, and handing over its work to the Board of Supervisors itself.

The example of the case of the Plaza Hotel, which included the Bindlestiff Theatre, the only Filipino based arts space in the nation, was cited repeatedly.  Over the past year, the non-profit organization TODCO has been presenting the Redevelopment Agency with a plan to renovate the highly dilapidated building, creating more low income housing and providing a space for the Bindlestiff Theatre (as opposed to illegally kicking people out to make it into a tourist hotel, as could have occurred with the Empress turned West Cork Hotel).  The much needed plan is still being held up in the Redevelopment Agency.

After waiting outside the meeting for quite a while I decided to try to get in as press but because I had no press pass and all my business cards had run out, the guard said, "Sorry, can't do anything for ya."  On my way back to the line a young African-American man in a large group, they were all wearing hard hats, stopped me and asked if I was a reporter.  When I told him yes he asked me to make sure to include his opinion.  His name is Tyson and the group he was with was YCD (Youth Community Development).  When he told me that he was for the ordinance and against the Redevelopment Agency I thought he would be echoing the general opinion of the African-American community.  He said he thought that Mayor Willie Brown was trying to make life harder for the people before he left office.  However, if I 'm to base the general sentiment of the African-American community on who spoke in the City Council meeting then they were at odds with the young men outside.  I heard by chance that the meeting was being played on a T.V. in the North Light Court.  I was angry and disappointed to find that in the 3 hours I was watching, the young men from YCD who had had so much to say and who had been bursting with so much energy had never gotten a chance to speak.  Perhaps they hadn't even been alerted that the meeting was being shown in the room below or that they could still speak even though they weren't in the Legislative Chamber.  

After some discussion, mainly between Supervisor Yee and Daly, over the fact that Marsha Rosen, the Director of Redevelopment Agency, was not even present, Daly stated that the Agency had been alerted about the meeting with plenty of time to makeplan to show up and ended requesting a 5 week continuance.  Supervisor Maxwell asked the Board to consider that the Agency is "helping and doing things in neighborhoods that we don't even consider."  However, she also mentioned the movement of African-Americans out of the Western Addition: "They called it Urban Renewal, we called it Negro Removal."

John Vargas spoke in a quick, clever and indignant manner in favor of the ordinance and very against the Redevelopment Agency.  "The housing crisis today stands on those failed policies and misapplied capital expenditures that went into the redevelopment process...You can't do anything better than reform this agency; look at what housing, what jobs have been lost.  Why didn't you do this twenty or thirty years ago?"

Next spoke an ex-Supervisor, Amos Brown.  He wanted the board to get rid of the ordinance.  He didn't think that the Board of Supervisors would do a better job.  He stated, "You can't have it both ways, if you want to be mayor run for mayor."  Then he resorted to personal attack with his comment directed toward Supervisor Ammiano, "you sound like snakes and some of you act like snakes."

Geoffery Liebowitz mentioned the case of the Whole Foods proposal for Fourth Street that would allow a grocery store that would provide healthy food with discounts for seniors right next to a building that housed 600 seniors.  The Redevelopment Agency never let it happen.  Liebowitz proposed term limits for the Commissioners on the Agency.

Of the three hours that I watched the public comment there was one pervasive opinion that almost had the quality of conspiracy.  Almost all the African-American's from Bayview/Hunters Point were against the ordinance and very supportive of Willie Brown and the Redevelopment Agency.  One man commiserated that "what the mayor is going through is living hell."  A woman told Ammiano that this ordinance was not "using due process of law."

Another man stated, "y'all need to give us liberty or give us death...The only thing that's savin' us today is the Redevelopment Agency."  James Gardner, who is a member of the PAC, said that he had worked hard to maintain a good relationship with the Agency, "there are difficulties but we're working through them." 

Another woman working with the PAC is scared of becoming unemployed if the Agency were to be disbanded.  Many said that redevelopment had come to their aid and had helped to stop evictions.  Yvonne Dylan said that she felt threatened by the ordinance. Ironically, despite all the praise of the Agency and of Willie Brown coming from the community, it is still the people of Bayview/Hunters Point that are suffering from high instances of asthma and cancer due to the fact that there is a PG&E Power Plant and an old Navy Shipyard dumping ground in the neighborhood. Besides, when you think of it, throwing down some money to appease this community of color is a small price to pay for the Redevelopment Agency if it means that it will be supported when it attempts to sweep all the poor folks out of the mid-market area, which is a much more lucrative area than Bayview/Hunters Point. Just judging by looks it seemed to me that the majority of the people who had spoken were at least middle class. I certainly didn't feel that I was getting a full representation of all of Bayview/Hunters Point. I even heard some comments made about Willie Brown busing a bunch of people over to the meeting so that they could testify in his favor.

There was only one African-American woman from Bayview/Hunters point that was completely against the Redevelopment Agency.  She said, "I do not want what happened in the Fillmore to happen in Bayview...We as the people are not getting housed."  She thinks that it's the Redevelopment Agency that needs "to be evicted." A disabled Asian man from Bayview/Hunters point said that he personally had seen no improvements in his neighborhood except for a prettier McClaren Park.   

One Anglo man accused many of the previous speakers of using "race-baiting to attack this proposal."  He noted that it was mostly communities of color that were evicted and gentrified under Willie Brown when the Dot.Com boom occurred. 

Sam Dodge of the Central City SRO Committee was indignant at all the support from the African-American community of Bayview/Hunters Point, noting that though the PAC may be listening to the people, it didn't mean that the Agency would too.

Every person who lives or had lived on Sixth Street spoke in favor of the ordinance and against the Redevelopment Agency.  Delphine Brody stated that she and the other tenants of the Seneca Hotel had been promised necessary repairs -a working elevator (especially important for the seniors), a washer and dryer as well as a community kitchen- by the Agency for three years.  Yet while they have seen no repairs "police repression has doubled...arresting my neighbors for walking while black."

We heard from a deaf African-American woman, Adriana Taylor who was a single mother living in the Plaza Hotel.  She said that living in such unhealthy conditions and with no kitchen was very detrimental to her son's health.  She said in sign language, "I want to ask for your help in fixing the Plaza Hotel."
 

Allison Lum, a former Sixth Street resident of the Raymond Hotel said that after a fire that occurred, most of her neighbors were not able to relocate.  She asked: if the Agency is doing so well, "why are there vacant buildings when people are dying on the streets." 

Another man pointed out that neither he nor any of the Supervisors could understand what it means to live in conditions like the Plaza Hotel.  He thought it was time for the people to stop letting "Willie Brown run the city for his business buddies and bring the decision making to the communities."  Bruce Allison mentioned that all over South of Market there used to be low-income housing where now there is the Moscone Center and the Yerba Buena Gardens.  The ex-tenants were never provided with housing at anywhere near the same cost. It's surprising that people wonder why there are so many homeless people in San Francisco.

At the beginning of the meeting, one man said that this ordinance was "a dividin' thing."  And, its turned out to be true.  An African-American man from the Plaza Hotel stated, "It's not about race; it's about housing.  Please take over the agency."  Here we have a man who is both poor and of color which means that he is the one who never gets listened too; the one who never gets any easy breaks.  We'll see if he'll have his way and I will continue to be able to listen to Guajira Guantanamera being played by street musicians in Civic Center Bart station and continue to see people of such different colors and backgrounds who know so much more about life than I when I walk around my city.

"Everytime I come here everything happens to me.  I lose my man, I lose my
head, I lose my mind, feel like I'm almost dead...I been down so long that down
don't worry me."

                        -Stormy Blues performed by Billie Holiday  

by Joseph Bolden/PNN

My last dollar goes to the 14 bus on its way to Embarcadero.
I am traveling with Jewnbug, Tiny, Mari, Isabel Estrada and Charles of POOR Magazine.

My 7th day straight working and I’m not feeling as enthusiastic as the rest of the POOR staff but here we go....

We meet up with huge crowds at the Embarcadero, a multitude of signs, people, shape, sizes, creeds, sex, national origins.
Communities from so many cultures and colors are represented At this beautiful rainbow march, hopefully there will be less police.

This brother wonders where are the TV camera’s, digital camera’s etc, so if the police get rude it can be caught instantly on the web, sent globally before they can stop the evidence from being seen and have their stories of what caused the incidents.

As I record the array of voices and sounds on my trusty recorder, Mari, Jewnbug, and Charles are debating stuff I can’t hear because band music on a flatbed truck is playing and being in front of it guarantees an ongoing trail of salsa/banda

I will be way behind the march because I’m not walking fast

Charles talking a deep south or midwest dialect about the march sounding like an authentic, salt-of-the-earth farmer guy in solidarity with the march. My only critique of today is it doesn’t seem quite as well organized as last year. As we creep up Market Street, I am told by Tiny "The low wage workers" and other people are up the next block."

There is a split or section in the middle of the street where we’ve stopped in the shadow of a huge gray, granite, cement and steel buildings blocking the sun - there is a slight wind makes it colder.

At 388 Market st, The 1st Republic Bank on Fremont walking down Market Street. Supervisor Mark Leno appears and begins to join the march here. Then we are all guided to stop in deference to a trollycar containing Nancy Pelosi and other VIP’s. More children from Horace Mann Middle School and others join in the parade at 4th street.

At 6th street we walk by my tenderloin hotel and I run in for a restroom moment. I use the bathroom, clean up and return to the march still in progress.

Just like last year the marchers take the long way around 8th street before ending the Cesar Chavez March at the Civic Center where a great celebration ensues replete with a Hip Hop artist who is Cesar’s nephew rapping bout globalization and issues concerning low wage workers locally and globally

We set up the POOR Magazine outreach table (aka the Po’ table) at the festival, which has moldy green smudges on it but with a little creative use of our signs as a tablecloth it is serviceable.

All in all it was a beautiful day for us poor folks to celebrate what I like to think of as one of our own, a true hero de la gente, Cesar E. Chavez.

by By Isabel Estrada/PoorNewsNetwork Youth in the Media Intern

A numbness came over me. I’m the one in my family to skip over all the emotional distressing and get onto fixing the situation. "So we’re either going to have to get a lawyer and go to court or we’re going to have to get a new place," I told my mom matter-of-factly. "Isabel, I have bad credit, there’s a one percent vacancy in San Francisco, the rents are higher than they’ve ever been and lawyers charge, what, $200.00 an hour. It’s not that easy," as she said it the furrows in her forehead and around her mouth got a little deeper and her skin a little paler. "Oh," I said, the confidence draining from my voice. I could see the worry beginning to suffocate her. She didn’t see any way out of the situation. Our landlord was trying to raise our rent from $1500 to $3000 because she said we were sub-tenants. We already needed a roommate just to make up the initial rent so there was no way we could afford the increase.

Now Scott Sloan and his family, including daughter Javlyn Woods, her husband and children, of 588 55th street in Oakland are also in danger of losing their home. The inside of the house looks like a movie set. There is a dark reddish light permeating the air. The center of the house is the living room where the older members of the family converge to participate in the telling of how the County Social Services is trying to take away their home. The kids come in to tumble over their mother like newborn cubs, all the while observing us in with intelligent, knowing eyes.

This seems to be a case of the Alameda county government scamming a poor family out of their home and out of their money simply because they can. Mrs. Beatrice Sloan owned four properties until Alameda County Social Services decided that she was to sick and to old to see to care for them properly, so that they assigned Alfred Fisher, Estate Manager/Investigator, as her public guardian. While Mrs. Sloan’s daughter, Luella Williams was acting as her conservator they did not allow her to sell any of the properties; she could only make repairs. However, in 1997, Alfred Fisher sold one of Mrs. Sloan’s properties first giving the reason that it was for maintenance of the other properties, then changing his story to say that it was to pay for medical expenses though Mrs. Sloan was being cared for by her daughter. None of the family ever saw any repairs or any money. When Williams missed one court date that she says her lawyer never told her about, the Social Services Department decided to assign Sloan a nurse instead of allowing her own family to care for her. Fisher then sold a property where another member of the family was living, giving no reason at all. When she visited the house Javlyn said she never even saw a for sale sign.

Now there are only two properties left, the one that the Sloans and Woods’ are living in and another house a few blocks away. Scott Sloan, at 65 yrs. old has reason to say, "I don’t like movin’," but he’s been packed since October to move out temporarily so that the house can be fixed by Fisher, who has been receiving rent from them for the 15 years they’ve been living there. The reason is that one of his grandchildren has already suffered from Lead Poisoning from living in the house. However, though the family has been requesting repairs for numerous years, the only changes since 1976 have been that smoke alarms were installed and some metal bars were taken off of the windows. The more important requests, like taking care of the lead situation have not been dealt with. Mrs. Woods says that Fisher’s response is to send someone to "come in and take a picture."

When Mr. Sloan asked Fisher where all his mother’s money was going Mr. Fisher got very uncomfortable and soon after started threatening eviction, supposedly because he needed to pay for the rest home where Beatrice Sloan is now living. Sloan has noted that, "when you start asking questions, that’s when all the stuff really starts coming down." Now that he wants to evict them so that he can sell the property, Fisher is stating as a reason that the living conditions are unhealthy because there are eight people in a small two-story house. However a small living space is desirable when compared to the alternative of no living space at all.

Just as my mother and I never believed that our landlady would double our rent just because she could under the obscure Costa Hawkin’s law, Sloan and his family never conceived of being evicted out of their own family’s house. Now they say "we don’t have nowhere to go." As Mr. Sloan put it, this rampant and unfair eviction is "why I see so many homeless people on the streets."

Now Mr. Sloan is looking for a lawyer. He says that all the lawyers he has spoken to are completely willing to take the case until they hear that the Alameda County Social Services is involved and then they back away like they’ve encountered the plague. My mother and I were able to solve our situation because my grandfather was able to give us the money for a lawyer, but what are the Sloans going to do if all the lawyers are too scared to take the case?

After hearing his story I knew exactly how Mr. Sloan felt when he said that if the County Social Services is going to hurt him, he’ll hurt them first, "I will burn it [the house] down." In his face I could see that same indignation masking the fear and worry that had changed my mother’s face so much. As we left all I could do was hope that somehow Fisher and the Social Services department would pay for what they had done to this family.

At POOR we are trying to make sure that the Sloans are not thrown out of their house. If you could assist us by helping to provide a lawyer or any type of support, please contact us at (415) 863-6306

by Joe B.

Excuse me Mr. H.R. Cooley, last weekend I had to visit mama living out of the City.

Every once in a while I leave Planet Holly-S-Frisco for a couple of days break and sanity.

I just remembered, I completely forgot go to a Justice Defence League Saturday for a birthday bash for a hard working, activist senior citizen turning 85.

They are probably fuming thinking “That creep, where did he go?

The only way to make it up is to call or drop by explaining what happened hoping for forgiveness.

The the Housing Authority’s annual me/they visit to their offices on Van Ness and inspection of my apartment.

Yes, I know it has to be done as the rules are set in federal law or statute but at least time my asthema didn’t have me gasping as I worried trying to get scattered paper work in order - I am not the most orderly of people.

With this done I reread a hardcopy of email sent to me by Mr. H. R. Cooley about the stunningly stupid, vicious, new bloodsucking, ordiance in Union City California prohibiting people from sleeping in their vehicles costing $271 fine effective April 30, 2002.

Mr. Cooley(an honest working man) says he’s parked there (around Central Ave) for several years never seeing drug dealers or prostitution and no shanty.

Meanwhile they [Union City Hall? Disgruntled, dwindling middle class types, so called concerned citizens, or developer/speculator folk?
I don’t know which] Italics mine.

Mr. H.R. says “We are a quiet group of working people who can’t aford to pay rent.

We are trying to come up in our lives and they want o maek our situation more unpleasent than it already is.
They say, “Join the commute” or go to a campground.”

I’m thinking when all the vehicles go to one centralized campground then the party really gets started with tickets that turn into warrants, warrants turned into violations and jail time. What happens to the only property they have...? Impounded, junked, or sold.

I always thought if I had transportation I could get a better job, travel to that job, and at least sleep in my own vehicle that I paid for and not a low-mean-dirty-’ord that could become a hard law takes away what many people have as their only means of shelter and transpertation. Their Car/Home, HouseCar, Fourwheeled-Apt., or Auto-Place.

The city certainly hasnt provided one for homeless people.
The Union City coucil and Police Dept. have now joined the
coalition of communities who are pursecuting the less fortunate by harassment and lies.

Of course Mobil homes (Homes on wheels) parked in trailer parks are fine if owner are economically well off, now they’re taxable too.

Remember when carjacking was a quick sometimes deadly way to take cars from while the occupants were still it them? Now with this idiot ordinance socalled regular citizens living from paycheck to paycheck, or police can harrass houseless folks in their vehicle legally take cars away creating more homeless and jailed slave labor.

Car or no car folks must gear-up, join other organizations.

What’s last but not least? Oh, yeah, get in touch with Mr. H. R. Cooley
and organize, stratagize, agitate, and intiate altinate solutions.

Howcool101451@aol.com.
Spread Wheeled Anarchy. Have I helped a little? Bye.