Story Archives

by Kaponda

Like a high-speed rail train, family and friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal moved quickly and precisely to claim their seats. A banner of "Congratulations," draped across the eaves of the balcony, expressed the attitudes of most of those sitting in the dim surroundings of Mission High School. The standing-room only crowd in the auditorium came to congratulate not only Professor Angela Davis, Geronimo Ji Jaga, Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter for their heroism in the face of adversity, but also to move the trial of Mumia Abu-Jamal from the political grasp of red tape to the people's court of humanity.

Armed to her teeth with the truth about the circumstances swirling about the controversial case of Mumia, I asked the minister of confrontation for the MOVE organization and disciple of John Africa, Pam Africa, what she expected to accomplish at this Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal? "People get on the move and stay on the move. This government is serious about killing each and every last one of us! People have to educate themselves and resist -- that is the key. You have to resist a government that is hell-bent on killing....If we are talking about freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal, then we have got to deal with these issues. How can you care for one and dam all the fuckin' rest?"

Donned in a black beret to which a solid piece of revolutionary material was fastened, Pam moved swiftly to tell the many young people in the auditorium, whom she cited as a primary reason why Mumia will prevail, and the other friends and family of Mumia Abu-Jamal that, "We are at War!"

Opened and declared armed hostile conflict has been used in the past to champion the liberty of many people and organizations. In 1934 two longshoremen were killed during a maritime strike. Their deaths provoked the entire city of San Francisco to anger; and, subsequently, the citizenry became sympathetic to the strikers and a general strike resulted. I spoke to Walter Johnson of the San Francisco Labor Council and asked him what role labor played in the mobilization to free Mumia?

"The San Francisco Labor Council is here to make sure everyone understands that we still support Mumia Abu-Jamal, and we are happy to say that we got a resolution passed by the California Labor Federation of the state of California which states that we support a new trial for Mumia Abu-Jamal. I think justice has to prevail. If we are going to talk about the Declaration of Independence and Constitution and the right of an individual to have a fair trial, then we must be persistence and get the message across the country."

As a stream of light from a projector cast him in a panoramic view, Walter Johnson conveyed to the audience that he asked President Bill Clinton in a written letter, "what is more important, a human life or an inmate?" However, according to Walter Johnson, the president declined to respond.

Everyone who spoke alluded to the unusually large presence of adolescence and Leonard Weinglass, Mumia's chief legal counsel, used this demographic as a possible deciding factor in the eventual freedom of Mumia Abu-Jamal. In fact, he stated that if this groundswell of support by our young people continue, then "I think Mumia will regain his liberty." I asked Leonard to talk to me about the status of Mumia's case?

"For the first time in 19 years," stated Mumia's attorney, "Mumia's case is before a federal judge in Philadelphia. We filed all our papers. We are waiting for the judge to contact us. We can go into court and argue Mumia's case for a new trial. It should happen before the end of the year."

"The court is the Federal District Court in Philadelphia, the lowest federal court. It is in the nature of an appeal. We have completed all of our case in the state courts. We have finished with our state appeals. Now we move over to the federal court and start anew."

I asked Weinglass about his thoughts concerning Mumia's eventual freedom?

It is going to be a long struggle. We are at the beginning point now which is a critical point in the federal courts. If this movement -- evidence of which you see tonight -- continues to build and develop, then I will become more optimistic. But the people have to be heard from. The public has to be heard from. People have to get engaged. If that happens, then I think the judge will be compelled to follow the law. If he follow the law, then Mumia will be a free man."

Leonard Weinglass told the young people and everyone else in attendance that Judge William Yohn, a judge appointed by then-President George Bush, will decide whether an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the mountain of facts in favor of Mumia, heretofore not included, will be admissible or whether the federal courts will review Mumia's case based on the Pennsylvania court record.

Much has been recorded about the case of the inmate on death row in the state of Pennsylvania, even Mumia himself has written books and has chronicled over 400 columns on his life. So when I talked with Michael Franti, who provided the spoken words of the evening, I did not expect him to offer very much when I asked him if he felt that justice would prevail in Mumia's case? However, as it turned out he may have offered the most compelling insight of the night.

"If I did not feel that justice would prevail, I would not be here. I feel that in the end the truth will come out and that Mumia will be set free!"

Franti told the young people and other friends and family of Mumia that he was told by Mumia not too long ago, that "the role of the artist today is to, "enrage, enlighten, and inspire."

Professor Angela Davis inspired the audience with words of resounding assurance. She spoke of the collective power of the people in the audience and how that power is underestimated. She also alluded to the recent Democratic and Republican debate in which the death penalty was not even an issue, although many people are being released from death row based on new DNA evidence and other factors.

Professor Davis brought the crowd to its feet when she stated that "there are more police in the United States than in any other police state in the world characterized as a fascist state or a dictatorship."

The keynote speaker and one of the real heroes of the evening, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter closed out the event with a series of anecdotes of his 20 years of wrongful imprisonment. He stated that he was convicted of triple murder and sentenced to a triple life sentence in 1966. According to Rubin Carter, "I am a survivor of solitary confinement and prison in the same way as someone who survived some of the most heinous crimes against humanity in the history of the world.

The legal defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal was bolstered by a $25,000 check donated to the Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal by Danny Glover on behalf of The Vanguard Public Foundation. Pam Africa received the check on behalf of the Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal amid a thunderous applause as traces of moisture trickled down her smooth, brown expression of conquest.

by Kaponda

I had already envisioned its sight before I opened the pale door held together by incongruent strips of wood. The stench of abandoned viscosity smothered my nose when I stepped into the small, forlorn room. I quickly mixed a milky abrasive the label of which claimed to be stronger than dirt -- into a liquid whose label portrayed a man whose head was shaven completely. The result was a product that could probably have annihilated the most hardened of scum. After three hours of scrubbing mucous and crud from the walls inside the room at the Jefferson Hotel, I felt the environment was safe for me to sleep.

Vulgar sounds on the other side of the door invaded my sleep like the teeth of a lion piercing the flesh of an African wildebeest. A loud thump on the door brought me to full alert as I moved quickly to the door. The person at the door held crack cocaine in his hand as he blurted out the price of his bag of death. I snapped back with threats that I was the master of this house and that I did not want to be disturbed. He replied on that April night in 1999, while five or six people sat in front of doorways smoking rocks in their crack pipes, that the Jefferson Hotel "belonged to the dope man" so I had no rights.

It has been over 11 years since that rude awakening at the Jefferson Hotel on Eddy Street had welcomed me to San Francisco. It was a hotel in which I had never thought I would have to sleep. There are many other hotels in San Francisco that operate like the Jefferson. They are like bordellos with organized drug dealers, prostitution and unsanitary living conditions. However, as of Wednesday, October 4, 2000, the Jefferson can no longer be classified as that kind of hotel.

The Jefferson is one of five (5) hotels in San Francisco whose residents have adopted a new attitude because the Board of Supervisors approved a proposal to launch a Master Leasing program which affects every part of the life of the tenants of the Jefferson. The program was spearheaded by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic and the Coalition on Homelessness.

"This program at an extraordinarily low cost has brought conservatively 350 vacant units (and overall 800 units) onto the real estate market because the hotels that had been leased prior to this did not maximize the permanent residency," stated Randy Shaw of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, to me in an interview as he discussed some of the strategy that was involved with the development the Master Leasing program.

Before both the dot.com boom and surge in the economy, hotels such as the Jefferson had charged rents which were tied to the income that a person received from General Assistance or other fixed income. Since 1997, however, all of the residential hotels in San Francisco had begun to charge unaffordable rents and the housing shortage had tightened. Hotels were no longer accepting referrals -- the prevailing system at that time -- due to the rent increases. Out of this dilemma was born the concept of a Master Leasing program.

"I think that there are aspects to what the Tenderloin Housing Clinic is doing that are beneficial for people to get into housing. I think it sets up a scary situation when the only way a poor person can get housing is through a social worker," Paul Boden of the Coalition on Homelessness advised me during a telephone interview.

Since both Paul Boden and Randy Shaw, two people who have advocated for social change for years in San Francisco, view this program as a constructive move toward affordable housing, it could probably be safe to assume that the program would have passed through without a hitch, right?. Not so!

The Master Lease program went through intense scrutiny as part of the budget hearings. There were many concerns by members of the community and community-based organizations which forced the Coalition on Homelessness to request Board of Supervisor President Tom Ammiano to place money in reserve that had been earmarked for a Master Lease program at the Hartland Hotel, the first Master Lease program to come on line. In addition, the Coalition on Homelessness subpoenaed all papers related to any shelter policies by any agency of City government under the Freedom of Information Act. These processes by the Coalition on Homelessness caused a cooperative meld of the Department of Human Services (DHS), the Coalition on Homelessness and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic.

After all the players in the attempt to find affordable housing for homeless and impoverished people had begun to interact, the Master Lease program began to take form. The Coalition on Homelessness submitted a detailed report that recommended the course of action for the program. I asked Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness about the position paper and what it included?

"The Coalition came up with recommendations around how access [to affordable rooms] should work for Master Leasing. We took the issue before the Board of Directors of the Coalition on Homelessness, the Substance Mental Health Work Group and other service providers who tried to get leasing." Jennifer continued to recount the developments of the process that brought respectability to five of more than 100 residential hotel buildings in San Francisco.

"During the time we were in negotiations with DHS, there were only one or two people getting referred from the Department of Human Services’ PAES program and/or shelters to hotel rooms. The process was slow. Rooms were vacant while people slept on the street. The Department of Human Services wanted to handpick people in shelter case management programs or employable in their PAES program. After the Coalition on Homelessness and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic negotiated the Master Lease program with the Department of Human Services as a solid unifying force, the Hartland, Jefferson Seneca, Mission and Vicente hotels were approved as sites for San Francisco’s Master Leasing program."

The approval for these hotels means that these buildings are no longer managed and/or operated by their owners. These buildings are managed and maintained by employees of City Housing, a nonprofit in San Francisco. However, any major repairs are the owners’ responsibility. Residents of these hotels pay their rents to City Housing, which uses it to pay the monthly lease to the private owners of the hotels.

I asked Kerry Abbott of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic who actually is eligible for the Master Lease program? "Originally, only people coming out of case management for 30 days in shelters and those on PAES were eligible. Now, people working with any community-based agency can be referred." Kerry stated that this system is much better than the earlier policy.

I asked Paul Boden why have only five buildings out of 100 signed onto the Master Lease program?

"I am glad that there have only been five buildings to sign on at this point," stated Paul with an expressionless tone. "The access is not broad enough to satisfy the Coalition on Homelessness. If you are not able to go to work, for example, you cannot access these hotels." It seems the policies around the Master Lease program are not yet satisfactory, according to Paul Boden. With a surge of renewed interested, he went on to state that, "If we use government money to lease a building, then there should be a long-term plan to own that building and any homeless person should have an equal shot to access the building. Furthermore, there should be made available, if government money is used, direct access to housing throughout for people with disabilities."

There have been much handwriting on the walls of the Jefferson since that day in 1999, when I was told that I had no rights in my room. Today, however, thanks to the masterplan of both the Coalition on Homelessness and Tenderloin Housing Clinic, if the walls could talk, they would say to me, "Welcome to your clean home, master!"

by Joseph Bolden, staff writer,

On December 10, 1948 the
General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (U.D.H.R.) This Declaration
guarantees the rights of all people and encompasses a broad spectrum
of economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights. The Human
Rights USA Steering Committee.

That was 52 years ago, 6 months more or less. Tell that, to Mr.
Mumia Abu-Jamal Geronimo Pratt now known as Geronimo Dijaja
and other falsely accused, wrongly convicted, faulty eye witnessed
individuals in prison or anyone that has been stopped for no other
reason than "reasonable suspicion." Dust off your old books, pamphlets,
or papers; you know, your Bill of Rights. Its: The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.

I keep hearing America's economy is breaking records, creating
more wealthy individuals while at the same time people, families,
and single adults on fixed incomes, struggle with two or three jobs
because their low wages does not keep pace up to this "miracle market"/
economic boom. People are working longer, harder without a living
wage. As science and technological innovations place more people
on the unemployment line. One of many bright spots in this bleak
picture is we're living longer, are healthier, of course no one
wants to be a healthy, lusty individual at 80 without the means
to forfill those urges.

Imagine, being retired with little or no savings and though your
65, 70, 80 or more and your brain, hormones and you act and feel
10-20 years younger and though your at an age when your not suppose
to be working you may have not saved enough money or none at all
now you must work another 15 years. This cuts down on your personal
pleasure principle drastically. The elderly should be knowledgeable
sages about banks showing life is a process in motion,we don't just
grow older but change, improve, keep on growing wiser, stronger
more independent.

 top of article 

WE ARE THE PEOPLE, ELECTING PEOPLE TO BETTER
OUR LIVES NOT LINE THEIR POCKETS, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE MORE OF US
THAN THEM - PLEASE REMEMBER THAT. Folks, take a rest, nap, walk
outside, do other life affirming things... and when you're ready
read on... Our government, Yes our government needs to change too.
It doesn't have be drastic but in incremental fundamental ways.
Now that there is a surplus of funds built up by the I-net, Dot-
Com, real estate, foreign, and domestic investments created by Global
Capitalism shouldn't all the people benefit?

What I'm proposing isn't new, it has been said, written, thought
of two or more decades ago by brilliant, creative, and thoughtful
people and if by chance some readers know what I'm writing about
and want to contribute to the discussion please go to e-boards,
e-mail, each other, Congress, both President and Vice President
and on down the line so there is a ground swell of support.

Sounds radical, could be, all I'll say for now to excite your neurons
is:

When corporations have economic downturns our government supplies
extra cash we regular working stiffs call it a subsidy or
bailout. When people are out of jobs, strapped for cash, in need
of temporary or long term assistance or being-on-the-dole- its Welfare.
Think a minute or two ECONOMIC INCENTIVE, or WELFARE, THE ONE DIFFERENCE
IS THE WORDING, yet both need cash replenishment. Next time Part
2: The N0-WORK-SOCIETY. Bye.

(back to top) 

WE ARE THE PEOPLE, ELECTING PEOPLE TO BETTER
OUR LIVES NOT LINE THEIR POCKETS, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE MORE OF US
THAN THEM - PLEASE REMEMBER THAT. Folks, take a rest, nap, walk
outside, do other life affirming things... and when you're ready
read on... Our government, Yes our government needs to change too.
It doesn't have be drastic but in incremental fundamental ways.
Now that there is a surplus of funds built up by the I-net, Dot-
Com, real estate, foreign, and domestic investments created by Global
Capitalism shouldn't all the people benefit?

What I'm proposing isn't new, it has been said, written, thought
of two or more decades ago by brilliant, creative, and thoughtful
people and if by chance some readers know what I'm writing about
and want to contribute to the discussion please go to e-boards,
e-mail, each other, Congress, both President and Vice President
and on down the line so there is a ground swell of support.

Sounds radical, could be, all I'll say for now to excite your neurons
is:

When corporations have economic downturns our government supplies
extra cash we regular working stiffs call it a subsidy or
bailout. When people are out of jobs, strapped for cash, in need
of temporary or long term assistance or being-on-the-dole- its Welfare.
Think a minute or two ECONOMIC INCENTIVE, or WELFARE, THE ONE DIFFERENCE
IS THE WORDING, yet both need cash replenishment. Next time Part
2: The N0-WORK-SOCIETY. Bye.

(back to top) 

by Tiny

A cold grey mist carpeted the cement floor- and gathered at the base of the massive palm trees. Those large, brown, dusty trees that lined the path of what looked like a half-constructed Taj Majal. As I drove in to the circle of municipal art structures in the interior of Golden Gate Park towards an event entitled; Painting The Picture, Raising Awareness About Homelessness’ I started to get nervous.....

It was 2:00 pm and I couldn’t see any humans - only those dusty trees and empty benches that surrounded The Golden Gate Park Bandshell. The event sponsored by Community Action Now (CAN) a youth organization whose mission is to train young adults from diverse backgrounds to be leaders and life long learners by engaging them in service to develop their leadership potential was already supposed to be in progress and yet I saw noone.

And then suddenly through the trees and fog - I saw a small crowd gathered on the stage - sitting in a circle talking on a microphone-" Do you know what homelessness feels like...Do you know how hard it was for myself and my children......?"
As I got closer I noticed a young woman from Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP) on the verge of tears grappling with words to describe the pain of "being homeless"....how do you describe the pain of outsideness...I thought back on my own description of that experience;

"I climbed out of my chair, unable to say a pleasant goodbye, and tumbled outside. I watch the masses pass me, certain each of their twinkling laughs was unfetteredby the imminent danger of homelessness. I had never felt so desperately sad. My bones ached with the overwhelming sadness of it all. Dry tears welled in the corners of my eyes, large gulps of unused air throttled my breathing. I could not explain this sadness to the minions of apartment dwellers that surrounded me-to be able to know your kitchen sink, look at it comfortably and know it will always be yours. To sit on your back step and fondle your light weed growth, look calmly upon your front door with no danger of not seeing it again, to lavish in insideness - your walls, your light fixtures, your toilet paper holders....

Eventually I climbed up on the stage where the small group was talking about what none ever really talks about - and of course the fact that it was only a few of us, representatives from organizations like Huckleberry House, Coalition on Homelessness, Youth Industry, Delancey Street, Homeless Prenatal Program and POOR Magazine, made complete sense, because that is the reason we were meeting... to talk ... to think and to... Paint the Real Picture.about homelessness.

by PENNSYLVANIA ABOLITIONISTS

PHILADELPHIA (October 20, 2000) -- Today in Philadelphia, a jury came back with a not guilty verdict in the retrial of William Nieves, first arrested for a murder in 1992. Nieves will be 35 on October 31, 2000. Nieves, who has spent the past eight years on death row, except for the period of his retrial when he was held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility on State Road, is a free man. The jury deliberated for about a day.

Nieves was granted a new trial in 1997 by the trial court in post-verdict motions, when his attorney, Jack McMahon, argued that Nieves' trial attorney had improperly advised him not to testify, against his wishes. The re-trial was delayed for over two years while Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Roger King appealed the trial court's decision and struggled to preserve the conviction and death sentence.

Nieves has steadfastly maintained his innocence. At the retrial McMahon again represented Nieves, and it became clear that the prosecution suppressed evidence in the initial trial.

Among the evidence was the testimony of eyewitnesses --including an informant the prosecutors themselves sought out-who identified the shooter as a physically large African-American male; Nieves is a Latino of medium size. Zealous advocacy and judicious evidentiary rulings from Judge Mazzola, who was assigned the retrial, resulted in Nieves obtaining discovery the Commonwealth had previously withheld. Despite overwhelming evidence that they had the wrong man, the prosecution persisted, withholding evidence until the last possible moment.

At one point prosecutors attempted to introduce traffic tickets from three years prior to the offense that purportedly placed someone named Nieves -- with a different date of birth -- in a vehicle similar to the one at the shooting. Judge Mazzola denied the prosecutor's attempts to introduce the traffic tickets on the grounds that they would not prove anything, but declined to comment on the fact that the prosecution had evidently held onto the tickets since 1992. McMahon, however, noted in argument that it was strange that the tickets had suddenly appeared, after eight years, halfway through the retrial.

Nieves took an active part in his own defense. He is well liked by other inmates on death row and has been helping out in the CFCF law library for the past few months.

************************************************************

PENNSYLVANIA ABOLITIONISTS

United Against the Death Penalty

P.O. Box 58128, Philadelphia, PA 19102

Phone: 215-724-6120 Fax: 215-729-6189

************************************************************

by Twila Decker

INSIDE the city's Central Library in the heart of downtown, the homeless have become art.

Captured in mostly black and white by 13 photographers, including Tipper Gore, their haggard, downcast faces are symbols of urban sadness.

Browsers meander slowly through the popular exhibit in the library's Getty Gallery. Its title: "The Way Home: Ending Homelessness in America." The exhibit's final day is today.

OUTSIDE, on the library's sidewalk, is the real thing -- more than 30 homeless people in soiled and reeking clothes who have been living in cardboard boxes here for the last two weeks.

On their way to lunch at Cafe Pinot or meetings, passersby dressed in pressed suits and heeled shoes step quickly around them to avoid their gaze.

"The real homelessness is outside the gallery. Right here in the streets," said Ted Hayes, an advocate for the homeless who sits next to his box and an American flag. "But it pains people, so they would rather not see it."

Hayes led the homeless people from skid row, where they usually live, to the 5th Street side of the library, in the heart of downtown's high-rise district, to protest the city's handling of those who live on the streets.

Hayes wants the city to call an emergency meeting to discuss homelessness. He wants the city to donate land and build facilities so the homeless have a dignified place to sleep.

Rather than coming up with real solutions, he says, the city corrals the homeless like animals on its outskirts, out of public view, in skid row, east of downtown.

"They have zero tolerance [for homelessness] in Bunker Hill, but down there in skid row, they overlook it," he said. "If it's illegal in one place it should be illegal every place."

So far, Hayes' protest has been largely ignored by officials. No emergency meeting has been set.

Police, who are on a first-name basis with Hayes from his many years of protesting, have given him only a couple of warnings.

Los Angeles library officials have not complained to police. They say they are sympathetic to the homeless.

"We have been in touch with Ted, and we're working with him," said Peter Persic, a library spokesman. "It has been a very positive experience."

Police Capt. Stuart Maislin said his department hasn't received enough complaints to warrant moving the encampment. Hayes also has promised that the library encampment is temporary.

"While some people may view it as an eyesore, it is not disrupting any business or any other activity in that area," Maislin said of the encampment.

It is illegal to camp on city streets or block sidewalks, but police are reluctant to throw people in jail for it.

Maislin said his department generally handles the problem by responding to complaints. If a business complains, the encampments are taken down. He said he would be thrilled if Hayes found a place for the homeless.

"I would love to be out of it forever," Maislin said regarding dealing with the homeless. He said he would be happy if they would "find enough shelter and convince hard-core shelter-resistant people to use it."

For years, Los Angeles officials have mostly looked the other way as the homeless congregated on skid row, building a ragged community with cardboard boxes and broken lives.

The streets, primarily around Industrial Way, are covered with foam cups, cardboard condos and people whose faces show more sadness than anything that could be captured on a gallery wall.

The location of skid row is constantly moving--pushed farther and farther away from the center of downtown.

But even some of the homeless say they are afraid to sleep there. Ernie Bell, 50, and his longtime companion, Yolanda Turner, 41, who spent the past couple of nights beside the library, are among those.

The couple came to Los Angeles a few weeks ago from Oakland, hoping for a new start. They were going to look up some friends and find a job. They couldn't find their friends or a job.

After spending all of their money, $319, on a motel for two weeks, they ended up in a box on Industrial Way.

Then they met Hayes and moved to the library to help his cause, and to get away from skid row.

"We stayed on skid row, but it's not suitable," Bell said.

"It's a pit," yelled Turner, rising out of her cardboard box. "I never saw so many terrible people in all my life. I slept with one eye open."

Bell and Turner say they hope Hayes succeeds, although they don't plan to be homeless for long. They want to find a way out, or at least a way back to Oakland.

Donna Bates, who likes to call herself "the downtown hostess," and her 11-year-old twin daughters, are also among those sleeping at the library. Bates said she and her daughters have been homeless for about five years.

She takes Trish and Michelle to school each morning, and then she spends the day begging for spare change. She often makes enough to pay the $20 she needs for a night for a motel room.

Bates, who grew up in Arizona, has her reasons for being here. She left behind a job as a card dealer at a casino and bad memories, including the deaths of her parents.

Bates says she realizes she could probably get welfare to support her daughters, but she doesn't have their birth certificates. She said she can't spare the money and the time it would take to get them.

When they sleep on the street she keeps a candle in her box for those times when they are frightened.

"This is real life out here," Bates said. "It's not a pretty picture."

by by Megan Say @yahoo.com>

Discussion of the rent crisis in Boston, how it is affecting the artistic community. The Fort Point Cultural Coalition's battle against big city property owners and related issue affecting San Francisco's similar crisis.

Over the past year I have seen and heard very little discussion about the state of the arts on a grass root/community level. The arts and support of the arts has had no mention in the large demonstrations that have been taking place in Boston and around the Country. Among all of these world difficulties and concerns, it seems like we have forgotten about one of the most imprtant channels for unified voice and consciousness. What about the arts?

Yes, there is a powerful undergound scene happening and the puppetry and demonstration circus has been leaving a tremendous impact on the public's impression of what anarchy produces; but what happens affter the barricades are dismantled and there are no longer clusters of masquerading protesters? Where do we all go to regroup and discuss for the next battle? Over-priced and most often tiny rooms (I looked at a 8ft by 6ft room renting for $380) are becoming even more difficult to find and maintain. Rents are outrageous and continue to bewilder those of us who have no hope of purchasing living accomidations or even are able to say we have in our posessession enough money to pay for more than one month's rent and bills?

Recently, over the last year, the artists living in the Fort Point area of Spouth Boston have been dealt a heavy hand as twenty-five artists were displaced from a well-known squat in an old yarn mill on Stillings Street. Currently ther resides a parking lot, that is never fulll while people struggle to find affordable housing and a corner to call a studio to continue working on their self-expression. Some residents were even promised relocation only to be evicted again a short time later.

The entire Fort Point area is under seige as one of the oldest Boston land management companies is selling off the entire area for more parking lots, market rate condominiums and dot com offices. To combat this gross raping of a major cultural stronghold, the Fort Point Cultural Coalition has begun the slow process of creating more publicity for this home town catastrophy with a syposium discussion set on a lot at the Market Street and Midway Street site on October 22, 2000. A "coalition of non-profit organizations and individual artists that seeks to preserve, promote and expand this unique cutral commmunity [and seeks to] affirm the cultural, econmic and social contributions that their neighborhood makes to the city of Boston..."

The Boston Warf company owns 95% of the area and seemingly does not care what happens to the 500 residents and many cooperatives such as Mobius and the Revolving Museum who are at risk of being evicted over the next 4 years as leases run up and rents quadruple. Within a week of meeting with agents from the Boston Warf Comapny representatives from the FPCC and the FPAC (Fort Point Arts Community) were told four brick factory buildings near Market street and Midway Street were not for sale, 14 buildings in the area were bought by Beacon Capital Partners. This is just one step closer to what looks like a clean sweep of the artists to make way for a "tourist attraction for engineers" and an expansion of the financial district. In preparation to start buying some of the buildings, the FPCC was promised $50,000 for a feasibility study but was denied the ability to gain site control by Boston Warf.

This hard ball dealing is what artists in San Francisco are also stricken with. Massive protests have already begun to gain national recoginition in the underground sceene as hundreds of artists,long-standing performance groups, galleries, muscians, clubs and co-ops of all flavors have no place to live or continue their arts. Instead are a plethera of .coms and their employees.

Joan Holden, the San Francisco Mime Troupe's playwright since 1967 was on the panel discussing the epidemic and toting warnings to be on the look out for more of this cultural cleansing as the battle in SF is leaving many scars in building rights. After finally being granted zoning laws that stated live/work loft spaces had to only house for artists working and living in their spaces it provided only to be an open window for land owners to get money granted from the city for cheap renovations for supposedly new artist spaces while they continue to rent at the quadrupled market prices to dot com's and their employees and silicone valley spin-offs.

Currently arts organinzations in the bay area are trying to instate propsition L to reorganize the loft laws and fix the invasion of "creative multi-media companies." Over the October 21/22 weekend the SF Mime Troupe performed their newest creation "City for Sale&" at the Strand Theater in Dorchester. The hillarious performance was a documentary about the artists' forced exodous from the industrial areas by greedy building owners and a slack government whose hands are so deep in the pockets of the city contractors it is rendered almost powerless to help.

Other representative on the panel discussion were Joan Leyton an affordable housing advocate from Veda Urban and Director of City Life, Jane Deutsch, Board President and a founding member of the FPAC, Ted Landsmark (moderator), President, Boston Architectural Center, and Cheryl Forte, A Fort Point business owner and founding member of FPAC and FPCC. All members of the panel pleaded to create better awareness of this problem as for 25 years they have lived and nursed the Fort Point area into a thriving community by keeping the area safe and in tact only to have gained the title of "caretaker community" by the developers and contracters who can't wait to see them leave.

Solutions presented by the audience after discussion included proposing percent funds from the MFA on all their donations to protect and subsidize struggling artists; creating new identities that will appeal to the suburbanites that treck into the city once a year to partake in the open-studios weekends; look towards cities such as SoHo, Providence, RI, and New Orleans as models for growth; and making sure while new developers come to the area they make a percentage of their remodeled buildings for arts and non-profit organizations as the new property owners of the "we were here first/should of been ours" buildings, Beacon Caital Partners have been graciously discussing.

Panelists suggested that an more humble attitude is in order as all smaller arts cooperatives should immediately begin a movement to gain publicity in their locality to emphasize to town council and local government orangizations the importance of a thriving arts communtiy, so that when talking to landlords the backing of the town is present and dropping exclusive personas to create wider acceptance of supportive public.

In summary, the symposium should pose as a warning to all artists to banish the shy introspective, univolved demenor that prevents us from dealing with these issues until they have escalated out of control.

"...and then they came for me and there was noone left to speak."

ADD YOUR COMMENTS http://boston.indymedia.org/comment.php3?top_id=1315

by Dan Luzadder

The Lowry Redevelopment Authority settled a lawsuit Tuesday with Catholic Charities and the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless over housing for homeless families.

The agreement will guarantee housing for 70 formerly homeless families at two apartment complexes, while preserving efforts by developers to make existing housing compatible with new construction.

Monty Force, deputy director of the Redevelopment Authority, said the agreement also clears the way for housing construction projects held up by the lawsuit since last October to move forward.

"We're very pleased with the outcome," Force said. "We've been negotiating this for three years."

Catholic Charities and the homeless coalition sued in Denver District Court last year, alleging that the Redevelopment Authority was refusing to comply with requirements for housing for the homeless at the former military base.

A federal law requires that a portion of existing military housing at bases being closed around the country be used to house the homeless.

Force said disagreements arose over preserving low-cost housing at the base during the development of higher priced housing.

The agreement will allow the Coalition and Catholic Charities to place 30 transitional families in an existing housing unit on the former base, where 92 apartment units are now.

The other units at the Blue Spruce complex will be used for affordable housing, and for market rate housing, Force said.

A second facility, yet to be built, will provide 120 apartments, of which 40 units will be reserved, for transitional or formerly homeless families. The Colorado Homeless will hold title to both facilities.

Under the terms of the agreement, Catholic Charities and the homeless coalition can sell their interests in two other existing housing facilities to Lowry for $3.7 million. The two organizations will split that money, Charities officials said.

James Mauck, president of Catholic Charities, said they also were satisfied with the agreement.

"It was important to Catholic Charities to support and advocate for homeless families to have decent and safe housing," Mauck said. "A dispute over rights is always difficult."

by Laura Clinton, Dee Gray, Chris Barrett and The Courtwatch staff

CourtWatch is an advocacy group for parents
who feel that they have been unjustly treated by Child Protective Services
(C.P.S.) and the Juvenile Dependency Court (J.D.C.). In addition to
advocating for these parents, we would also like to assist you in providing
more comprehensive services to your clients.

CourtWatch is designed to assist parents who are entangled with
C.P.S. and J.D.C. and feel as though they have been mistreated, regardless
of whether or not they wish to regain custody of their children. We are
committed to the belief that ALL people deserve to be treated fairly and
justly by governmental agencies and the legal system, without the use of
intimidation, threats, and/or being kept uninformed of their rights.

This group will serve to supplement the legal services provided by
your agency by further assisting individuals with documenting their
experiences and writing letters to the governmental agencies that they feel
are accountable for their mistreatment. We would work to combine advocacy
with support by accompanying individuals to court, and providing them with
a space to share their experiences with others.

We are also committed to making accountable C.P.S., the City
Attorney's Office, and all agencies that deal with parents. For instance,
this would include addressing the misuse of the term "social worker" when
it is applied to unlicensed child welfare workers in court proceedings/ court documents. It would also include a critical analysis of
the impact of false psychiatric diagnoses by unlicensed child welfare
workers as well as biased psychiatric evaluations as evidence for removing
children from their parent's custody and preventing reunification. In
addition, we want to see a thorough investigation of the statements and
motivations of those that report child abuse and enforcement of criminal
penalties of false statements.

We have synthesized the experiences of many parents who have
themselves been mistreated by C.P.S. and other governmental agencies, and
have drawn on their techniques in resisting their injustice (i.e.
documenting their experiences through letter writing, phone calls, writing
articles, etc.) as well as the advocacy experience of the staff at POOR
Magazine.

We hope that you will inform your clients about our services, and
that we can work together to provide the best services possible to clients
in need. Like you, we believe that everyone is entitled to fair, equitable
treatment within the legal system.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at
(415) 863-6306. We thank you in advance for your time and continued
commitment to equality.

"[Every ] poor family comes with a [state] worker
who wants to take your kids away."
-Malcolm X

by Kaponda

As I gazed at the jack-o'-lantern perched on the sill, a subdued splendor draped the skies of San Francisco. Shadows of dusk cleaved to the beautifully designed, legendary mural of the Women's Building. There was an uncanny sense of intrigue in the illuminated auditorium as I prepared to report on the debate on Propositions K and L between Debra Walker and Emilio Cruz.

In 1986, San Franciscans approved an initiative ordinance governing office space construction. In effect, the measure restricts the City to a total of 950,000 square feet of office space approval. Propositions K and L purport to amend the 1986 initiative ordinance making changes in the laws governing new office development in San Francisco. There were widely divergent attitudes between Debra Walker and Emilio Cruz toward this premiss. and the amount of restriction on office space was the proposition advanced for discussion for the remainder of the evening.

Like a scene from a Halloween tale, voices shrilled frantically across a thick darkness that had besieged the auditorium. The contenders were undaunted by the flight of light and agreed to commence the discussion.

Debra Walker, an artist and one of the many people who assisted in the formulation of the language of Prop L, began the debate by explaining what would occur in the event both Props K and L pass. "If both measures pass, then the one receiving the greater number of votes will become law, that is the measure requires 50 percent, plus one vote to pass." That explanation sounds logical, right? Wrong!

The debate had officially begun when the Mayor's Economic Development Director, Emilio Cruz, painted a different scenario of what would happen in case both Propositions K and L passed. His scenario involved a directing measure that would go into effect if something exists in one of the Proposition that is not in the other.

I knew at that instance that I was in for a treat because there is language already written in the Voter Information Pamphlet which was prepared by the Department of Elections and governs any eventualities. The language, according to the Pamphlet, reads, "Propositions K and L appear to conflict with each other. If both measures are approved by the voters, and if the two measures do conflict, the one receiving the greater number of votes will become law."

Emilio did agree with the assertion made by Debra that the Planning Department did nothing to mitigate the out-of-control development by multimedia companies, but did not think that the solution was "planning by initiative." In fact, a lot of light was cast on Prop K by Debra Walker as a result of in-depth investigation into some of the people that would benefit if it were to pass.

The first beneficiary, according to Debra, would be the darling of developers, the Mayor himself. He would benefit because Prop K creates a growth czar who is appointed by the Mayor for a ten-year term and is accountable to no one. His primary function would be to target areas for new office development. However, the Mayor's delegated authority retorted that the new position would be modeled after the City Controller's position and provide some independence to the new czar.

Another flicker of insight into the beneficiaries of Prop K involved the grandfather clause of Prop K, which exempts "any development project that has filed an environmental evaluation application, a building or a site permit application, or a request for a Zoning Administrator's determination...no later than 5 p.m. on August 9...provided that appropriate environmental review of the development project is complete by December 31, 2000."

As the darkling debate slipped into its first 30 minutes, neither Debra Walker nor Emilio Cruz appeared rattled by any of the assertions made by the other. It was at this time that the proponent of Prop L, Debra Walker, began to expound on the advantages of Proposition L. "Proposition L has been put on the ballot to save at-risk businesses that are seized upon by loopholes in Prop M. It defines live/work lofts as offices and housing and requires developers to make 10 percent of their lofts affordable. It empowers residents to determine the future of their neighborhoods through the planning process. Proposition L encourages a diverse economy."

Emilio Cruz stated that Prop L is a double-edged sword. But the language of Prop K which appears enshrouded in a cloak of mystery, according to Emilio "could have contained some things that he would have personally like to have seen that is not therein."

A splendor of light streeked across the entire auditorium amid a huge ovation. The remainder of the debate occurred under the light without tricks or dressing up language to disguise its intent.

I spoke to Debra Walker about the debate and asked her why was she fighting so tenaciously for Proposition L?

"I think we are pretty much united in wanting to make sure that what growth happens doesn't wreck and displace what is already here. I've been out there at meetings, neighborhood and political groups getting input from people. An overwhelming majority of the people support Prop L.

There are 7.5 million square feet of real estate under construction in downtown San Francisco and over 2 million square feet of office developments in the industrial areas that are displacing already that have been approved under this administration. It also includes a million square feet of live/work space that is suppose to be housing and is being occupied fully as office. It is everywhere and coming to your neighborhood, soon!

Five million square feet that is under development have been approved as office and two million that has been incorrectly classified or allowed that is supposed to be industrial businesses but is actually office."

I then asked Debra what changes she would like to see immediately if Prop L passes?

"I would immediately like the Planning Department to call the live/work units housing if Proposition L were to go into effect so that we could immediately get affordable units out of them, and that they can't be occupied as office only. It also will keep them out of some of the neighborhoods that they are impacting so drastically. It also will immediately call office dot.com proposals 'office.' So those too will be assessed as to their affect on the neighborhood... and fees from developers to pay for affordable housing, child care and schools -- a lot of the stuff that these developers have been allowed to take a big pass on. So, immediately as soon as the election is verified and Prop L wins, those things will go into effect."

I asked Emilio Cruz about the artists and small businesses that have been displaced by the multimedia industry?

"We clearly need to address that situation. We cannot do a lot about those that have already happened. But what we do need to do is to put in the moratoriums and controls to protect the neighborhoods. But we also need to do that in a way that we also have the ability to build elsewhere so we can build more of downtown and keep the economy moving while protecting neighborhoods with moratoriums."

An observer at the debate, Tom Harriman, shared his thoughts with me as well. "I am clearly for Proposition L because after a great deal of reading and thought I discovered that if we look at the voting record of the Planning Commission over the last six years, we see a strong bias in their voting pattern in favor of large developers. As a result communities no longer have a say in what is constructed in their neighborhoods. I feel that communities should have a say in what is built in their neighborhoods, and they do not have that right now. San Francisco is an interesting place because we talk about community involvement but we are not doing it."