A multi-national corporation has submitted plans to build a hazardous liquefied natural gas import terminal on the North Spit of Coos Bay, and a 230-mile pipeline through Southern Oregon's neighborhoods, rivers, streams and public lands. Their main intent is to sell gas to the lucrative California market.

Members of four major unions (TWU, which has been without a contract since March, AFSCME D.C. 33 and 47, which have been without contracts since June, and SEIU 32BJ, which has suffered salary cuts), joined by supporters from around the city, marched on July 21 through Old City to the Constitution Center, where a conference of state legislators were meeting. Their main message was painted on a white banner in green and black lettering: "DON'T CUT THE BUDGET ON THE BACKS OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES!"

RELATED: "Are their families more perfect than our families?": Municipal workers rally

The national housing crisis has led to thousands of families losing their homes. The rise in homelessness has contributed to the increase in tent communities across the United States as a grassroots solution to the problem.

In response to the disastrous cuts to the LAUSD budget, community members have taken a number of actions in opposition and protest.

A roving campout of hunger-striking teachers, eager to add their life experience to their in-class pedagogy, along with their supporters, traveled from campus to campus. They eventually set up in front of the downtown district office, where they were visited by veteran activist Dolores Huerta.

High school students walked out of class and marched to neighboring schools and to the LAUSD office, where some engaged in direct action at a board meeting.

After nearly a month, the teachers broke their fast in front of Supertintendent Cortines' house. While the teachers have ended their strike, the dancers of Danza Cuauhtémoc have take it up, and are currently camped in front of the LAUSD office. The danzantes, who are present at almost every march, rally, and action that occurs in the Los Angeles area, normally give willingly of their feet, voices, and talent to provide their blessing. But this time, inspired by the teachers and impressed with the urgency of the situation, they have taken the extra step of sacrificing their own bodies as well. [ Read Full Reports with Pics From Newswire ]

Since the Legislature and Governor Tim Pawlenty failed to reach a deal for the next two fiscal years (fiscal 2010 starts July 1st, 2009), as it turns out, the governor has the arbitrary power to cancel whatever planned spending his mulleted head desires, within some rules. This is called unallotment, and it's about to happen, ten times bigger than has ever happened in the state's history. This happens Tuesday at 2 PM, an attempt to pack the bad news into one day, as TC-IMC noted earlier. [It will be live on TheUptake.]

Unfortunately, his moves will be designed to please national Republican primary voters, a sadistic bunch that want to see lesser classes and identities crushed for grim reasons of the authoritarian psyche. On the block are Minnesota's local governments, higher education and health care - the very things which, over decades, made Minnesota a relevant and formerly prosperous state (due to its socially progressive history).

All this civic investment goes up in smoke as billions of dollars are going to get slashed Tuesday; Minneapolis and St. Paul stand to lose, in particular, because as economic centers, they generate much of the state's jobs and culture -- in the GOP view, this is all from the "subsidy" of Local Government Aid and County Program Aid.

Local governments will also get payments slashed, and property taxes will get hiked (within certain levy limits). This plan benefits rich suburbanites, who may not have to suffer much in property tax hikes, at the expense of the long-term economy, which gets hollowed out from the center. It's the people who need county services, mental health help (as well, as, say, firefighters) who will lose out. As always it'll be a short-term pandering to the upper class, followed by further economic disaster. The challenge for activists is to step in and help the people that are getting screwed.

More links to unallotment news & research below - please add more!

On Wednesday, June 10th, hundreds of people who will be affected by Newsom's budget cuts took to the streets to demand that the Board of Supervisors save front-line services, and take a more balanced approach to the San Francisco budget. The demonstration followed a proposed budget, released by Mayor Newsom, that will terminate critical health and human services, while pumping up salaries for police by 25% and adding many new high paid patronage positions into his own administration.

Last Friday, May 29th over 50 people testified at a hearing of the Council’s Committee on Government Operations & the Environment in support of Bill 18-0076, aimed at reforming the city’s laws concerning the re-purposing and disposition of public property. Many more submitted written testimony in support of the legislation. The committee is chaired by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh.

After many months of putting road block after road block in the way of hundreds of Worcester residents trying to open some number of neighborhood swimming pools this summer, City Manager Michael V. O'Brien and Commissioner of Public Works and Parks Robert L. Moylan released two reports at the last City Council meeting saying that NONE of the neighborhood pools are safe to open this summer.

Worcester City Councilors weighed in with their latest position on Worcester's pools this past week which ran from Councilor Rushton's belief that at least 5 pools could be open to City Councilor Haller's belief that, "It may well be there are no safe pools". Meanwhile, District 3 City Councilor Paul Clancy took the position that, "waste of time to even think about opening pools". [Pools discussion starts 2 minutes in, and cuts out part of Councilor Rushton]

The Bloomberg blitz on New York City voters has started, with robocalls, commercials, and mailings flooding every corner of the city as Mayor Mike attempts to buy the 2009 mayoral election.

So far, the mayor—the richest person in New York City, by the way—has spent close to $20 million dollars on his re-election campaign, almost twice the amount he had spent by this time in 2005, when he was supposed to be running for a final term (the City Council voted to give Bloomberg and themselves another chance to run the city in November 2008, when they agreed to scrap term limits).

Steven Wishnia writes, “If he’s going to buy the election, let’s at least get a decent price for it. For the $11.5 billion he has added to his fortune since elected mayor in 2001, we’d be willing to cancel the election and crown him mayor for four more years.

Under Bloomberg, the gap between the rich and everyone else has widened so much that if Manhattan were a country, it might beat out Namibia for the title of the most economically polarized in the world. Developers have packed New York’s skyline with luxury condos. Landlords have driven tenants out of their homes all over the city to jack up rents. The symbol of Bloomberg’s New York is city parks where drinking fountains don’t work, but there are plenty of pushcarts peddling pints of bottled water for $2…

So let him put some real money into buying the election. Let him pay for the value he’s getting.

What could $11.5 billion buy for the people of New York? The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s annual deficit is now estimated at almost $2 billion. For $6.5 billion, Bloomberg could avert a fare increase and prevent service cuts for the next four years.

The city has a critical housing shortage. For $3.5 billion, he could pay for 35,000 new apartments of affordable housing. This would create thousands of construction jobs and allow many working families to remain in the city.”

To read the whole article, click on the link to “Bill the Billionaire: If Bloomberg wants to buy the election, let him really pay for it,” below. Also included in the latest issue of the Indypendent: World-renowned sexologist Dr. S. Hite on the “uncelebrated beauty of men’s sexuality”; John Tarleton sheds some light on WBAI’s troubles; Laura Boylan, a practicing neurologist, on the origins of the swine flu; and a beautiful illustrated essay by Isabel MacDonald on Haiti and the “secret trial run of a new humanitarian doctrine.”

Web Exclusive: Moving Mountains with Theatre: An Interview with Playwright Sarah Moon || Web Exclusive: On The Streets: An Interview with Oscar Olivera || Bill the Billionaire: If Bloomberg wants to buy the election, let him really pay for it || Brooklyn Zeroes in on Food || Tenants’ Voice || NYPD Getting Frisky || Sunset Park Sidewalk Clash || Permits Please || Colombia Calling: The Other Wiretap Scandal || Why Pakistan Will Not Become a Theocracy || Reclaiming Einstein: New Book Reveals Famed Scientist as an Opponent of Israel || WBAI Showdown: Power Struggle Escalates as New General Manager Moves to Remake Troubled Community Radio Station || Digging the Heart of Soul || The Uncelebrated Beauty of Men’s Sexuality || North Korean Musical Pushes Boundaries: A Review of Yodok Stories || Web Exclusive: New York is Burning || Web Exclusive: A Review of Lemon Tree || Web Exclusive: A Review of Engaging the Muslim World || For a Woman on the 6 Train || Of Swine and Men || School Bullying is Not Child’s Play || News Analysis: Responsibility to Protect? || Haiti and the Secret Trial Run of a New Humanitarian Doctrine || Indypendent Reporter Joseph Huff-Hannon Honored with 2008 James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism || Community Calendar || Reader Comments

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to buy re-election to a third term. The city’s economic and media power elites have already anointed him.

On May 14, Mayor Fenty appeared at the "Hinckley Hilton" to receive a lifetime achievement award from the DC Building Industry Association, a developer group. He had to run a gauntlet set up by Empower DC to get into the hotel to receive his award. Empower DC distributed fliers giving this list of public property giveaways from Fenty to his campaign contributors:

*PN hoffman got 16 axcres of SW Waterfront land on a 99 year lease for $1 a year.
*Donatelli and Klein(where the Mayor's fundraiser/birthday party was held) is getting two properties on Georgia Avenue worth over $1 million for only ONE DOLLAR!
*Lowe Enterprises got 9 acres at Riggs Rd and S Dakota Ave NE,worth over $6M for only $500,000.
*Argos Group got Old Engine House #10 on Capitol Hill, worth about $2M, for only $260,000.

Read More | VIDEO

Representatives from a number of Houston organizations held a press conference and rally near Congressman Gene Green's east Houston office, after being prevented from holding a press conference on the property where his office is. The group had tried to meet with Rep. Green or his chief of staff on March 2, when Rep. Green was in town, but Rep. Green told the group something had come up and he had to leave town the morning of the meeting, and a substitute meeting with his chief of staff was cancelled because that person was not available, either.

The "Funk Fenty" speakout and funk concert was reported to be clearly audible (every word) throughout the Wilson Building! Speakers ripped into Fenty for funding stadiums and developer giveaways while closing schools, shelters-and almost everything else real people use. WSQT Broadfast Audio

New York City's street vendors demand more jobs on the steps of City Hall.

Taking a break from the hustle and bustle of working the city streets, around 40 street vendors gathered on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday, chanting “Vendor Power!” and “Si Se Puede!” (Yes, We Can!), to urge the New York City Council to pass Introduction 324, which would create more than 10,000 jobs by increasing the number of licenses and permits for vendors...

Homeless residents, displaced from downtown due to the closing of Franklin Shelter, have filed federal claims in the US District Court against Mayor Adrian Fenty for violating the Fair Housing Act, the American with Disabilities Act, and place of residence discrimination under the DC Human Rights Act. The claims result from the growing and systematic pattern of displacement of the largely African American homeless population from the downtown area to the poorest and most violent parts of the city, where health care facilities, sources of proper nutrition, job and counseling opportunities are virtually absent.

Judge Orders Restraint Against Further Dissemination of Documents and Handover in 24 Hours for His Inspection.

March 12, 2009 — “The gist of this lawsuit is that she may have unlawfully obtained the documents. Handing them over is a discovery tool to see if this in fact the case,” explained Judge Lloyd Medley Jr. today in the Civil District Court. “The plaintiff's concerns are valid.” [...]

The documents in question are electronic copies of emails sent over a thirty month period by four members of the New Orleans City Council: Jacquelyn Clarkson, Arnie Fielkow, Shelley Midura, and Stacy Head. Lawyer and Civil Rights activists Tracie Washington acquired the emails through a public records request made in December of 2008. Her intention has been to gather City records and place them a website, accessible to the public, in order to facilitate citizen involvement and oversight.

It’s hard to imagine someone as different from New York’s current mayor, Michael Bloomberg, as performance-activist William Talen (a.k.a. Reverend Billy), who recently announced his mayoral candidacy on the Green Party ticket.

Rule changes proposed by the New York City Department of Buildings in February have been slammed by critics citywide, and have raised fears that the changes could lead to a significant rise in illegal construction across the city and boroughs after they are implemented in mid-April.

The Rules of the City of New York (RCNY) guide city agencies like the Department of Buildings (DOB) when interpreting the City Charter and enforcing its laws. RCNY changes can be made by the Buildings Department without a vote from the City Council.

Toxic gas rilling, contamination, food security, and climate change are major issues (see http://www.powervote.org/platform). A 'natural' gas-related crisis of unprecedented proportions is about to be released upon NYS. The time is now for us to end extraction of fossil fuels. We need to protect and support our region's food security. Council members urged to re-introduce a bill urging a ban on gas drilling throughout the state.

On Wednesday, March 19, 2009, police attacked members of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) in the gallery of the City Council during the City Council session where Mayor Nutter was announcing his 2010 budget. International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement members were holding signs protesting Mayor Nutter’s budget, which cuts essential services for the African population while spending more than one billion dollars a year for police and prisons attacking the black community. Subsequent to the police attack, InPDUM international organizer Diop Olugbala, (aka Wali Rahman), and member Shabaka Mnombatha, (aka Franklin Moses), were brutally arrested and are being charged with aggravated assault on police!

Perhaps now, after nearly three decades of dominating our city, of gentrifying our neighborhoods, decimating our ethnic enclaves, and sucking every last bit free expression from our communities in the name of law and order, the day of the yuppie in New York City has ended.

Last week, Mayor Nutter presented another round of budget cuts that represent a continued attack on the poor and working people of Philadelphia.

The Boston media used a grainy photograph released by the FBI to conclude that Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner is guilty of extortion. But the accompanying FBI affidavit, when shorn of speculation and irrelevancies, is a decidedly unconvincing document that fails to provide a legitimate law enforcement justification for the targeting of Turner. Could it be that Chuck Turner’s history as an outspoken critic of the FBI had something to do with his being targeted? Read More | Past Coverage: Chuck Turner Stands for Us, We Stand with Chuck | Photos--Chuck Turner press conference/rally

Unity Rally and Lobby Day in Olympia
Presidents Day, February 16
Washington State Capitol Campus, Olympia
Rally at 10:00am, followed by lobbying

According to a Picture the Homeless press release, "the last of the Right to the City Eight were released from Central Booking, after spending more than 24 hours locked up. Many thanks to all of you who turned out for this morning's press conference, or made calls to the police or the Mayor's office, or spread the word to friends and allies. The police response shows that the Mayor is vulnerable and nervous, and we need to keep the pressure up. And the PRESS response shows that people are paying attention. So stay tuned as we turn up the heat."

The eight were arrested after "members of the Right to the City NY Alliance (which includes Picture the Homeless) stormed the boardroom where the Mayor was meeting with the CEO's of several major companies." To see the original post from the open-publishing newswire, click here.

After nearly a year of stalling legal maneuvers by NYC Corporation Counsel Attorneys representing NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the United States Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case of Viola Plummer v City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on Thursday, January 29th.

On July 9, 2007 City Council Speaker Christine Quinn illegally fired Viola Plummer, who was then City Councilman Charles Barron’s Chief of Staff. The firing was in retaliation for Mrs. Plummer’s and Mr. Barron’s opposition to Speaker Quinn’s racist intervention in the City Council’s naming of 4 blocks in Bedford-Stuyvesant after famed and respected Black Nationalist Sonny Abubadika Carson. Ms. Quinn used the powers of her office to defeat the naming in direct opposition to the wishes of the Black community of Bedford-Stuyvesant and their elected representative Councilman Albert Vann.