[SF] Communique from the Forgotton: HRC Glamdalized By Queers Against Assimilation

The article is at the top, the communique is at the bottom. --Ianna.

suggested by Macio, re-posted from Lez Get Real

HRC BUILDING VANDALIZED

Early this morning the Human Rights Campaign building was vandalized. Early police reports say that around 4am this morning the building was defaced. According to police the vandals used either paintball guns or balloons filled with paint. It appears to have been a drive by and the police have no suspects.

The vandalism occurred after HRC’s Annual National Dinner fundraiser where President Obama spoke. This was the most publicized dinner HRC has held because of the President’s appearance. Obama’s speech was televised live on Cspan and also covered by CNN.

Today is also the National Equality March where thousands of LGBT people will be marching for equal rights.

LGR will be following this story and will provide updates from the police as they come in.

At 4:30om EST today a group claimed responsibility by leaving a comment here on this post. Calling the act “glamdalism” the group states in their message that “a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement (of the HRC building) now reads a tag, "Quit leaving queers behind."

Here is the full message:

Communique from the Forgotton:

Human Rights Campaign HQ Glamdalized By Queers Against Assimilation

HRC headquarters was rocked by an act of glamdalism last night by a crew of radical queer and allied folks armed with pink and black paint and glitter grenades. Beside the front entrance and the inscribed mission statement now reads a tag, "Quit leaving queers behind."

The HRC is not a democratic or inclusive institution, especially for the people who they claim to represent. Just like society today, the HRC is run by a few wealthy elites who are in bed with corporate sponsors who proliferate militarism, heteronormativity, and capitalist exploitation. The sweatshops (Nike), war crimes (Lockheed Martin), assaults on working class people (Bank of America, Deloitte, Chase Bank, Citi Group, Wachovia Bank) and patriarchy (American Apparel) caused by their sponsors is a hypocrisy for an organization with "human rights" in their name.

The queer liberation movement has been misrepresented and co-opted by the HRC. The HRC marginalizes us into a limited struggle for aspiring homosexual elites to regain the privilege that they've lost and climb the social ladder towards becoming bourgeoisie.

Last night, Obama spoke at the HRC fundraising gala and currently the HRC website declares, "President Obama underlines his unwavering support for LGBT Americans." The vast amount of organizing resources the HRC wastes on their false alliance with the Democratic party leaves radical queers on the margins to fend for themselves. Our struggle has always had to resist the repression of conservative tendencies in government and society to gain liberation in our lives.

The gourmet affair was sponsored by 48 corporations including giants Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, and Wachovia Bank. At $250 dollars a plate the HRC served our movement a rich, white, heternormative atmosphere that purposefully excludes working class queer folks.

REMEMBER THE STONEWALL RIOTS! On the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, pigs raided a queer bar in Texas, arrested and beat our friends, and we looked towards politicians and lawyers to protect us. This mentality is what keeps the money flowing to the HRC and their pet Democrats, and keeps our fists in our pockets.

Most of all we disagree that collective liberation will be granted by the state or its institutions like prisons, marriage, and the military. We need to escalate our struggle, or it will collapse.

~~Love and Solidarity~~

[Philly] Internet for Everyone[

suggested by Bryan, re-posted from MediaMobilizing.org

The Internet for Everyone: Digital Philadelphia
by Todd Wolfson and Hannah Sassaman, 07/08/09

PHILADELPHIA is lining up for a race with a big prize - tens of millions in stimulus money to expand Internet access. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has authorized $7.2 billion for broadband programs, with everything from tricking out community centers with high-speed lines to mapping broadband availability already on the table as fundable programs.

The other day in Erie, Vice President Biden announced the guidelines, and set a 45-day window for the first round of applications, closing Aug. 14. That's especially exciting for us, since only about 50 percent of Philadelphians have daily Internet access and even fewer have access at home.

With all the economic problems the city and the country face, why has the administration prioritized the Internet? As Biden said, these grants are "a first step toward realizing President Obama's vision of a nationwide 21st century communications infrastructure - one that encourages economic growth, enhances America's global competitiveness and helps address many of America's most pressing challenges."

With Internet access, low-income families can access jobs, young people can create media about their lives and neighborhoods, small businesses can innovate and develop, and communities can take greater part in government. Access to broadband communication gives poor people power that they need more than ever.

It's great that we have a chance at money to build a communications system that serves everyone. But the feds are being very careful about how that money gets used. "Service" can't just mean that Verizon will come to your home and install a line for a monthly fee many can't afford. It will mean training, hardware and the leadership to get people online in real ways.

That's why the National Telecommunications and Information Administration is looking hard at the applications. It isn't just big corporations or shiny ideas that will walk away with these dollars - the more community engagement the NTIA sees, the better the chances of getting the cash.

But Philly is ready. Our chief information officer, Allan Frank, deserves credit for leading the most open process in the country when it comes to designing the city's application for broadband stimulus. A series of conversations with community groups and institutional leaders, launched with an all-day meeting on June 23, will lead to an application designed by everyone from high school students to shelter managers and community organizers.

The results from that meeting will be used by the city and a partner coalition of digital-inclusion specialists to design a winning bid. The communities who need the broadband connectivity are working with the city to design the plan to get it - this is bold thinking Mayor Nutter should fully support.

Only a few things can trip up the city now. Philly is standing at the starting line with other national competitors for this money: city and county governments, tech companies, community groups. The city will win big if it keeps its plan to solve the problem of the digital divide for low-income and disenfranchised communities.

To do that, the city must keep community groups at the table in a real way and the grantwriting process transparent. Other cities (San Francisco, Seattle, Boston) are building networks to conduct major city services and business, to provide public safety and help poor people get online. Now it's our turn.

We have a chance to build a city where everyone has Internet access. If we keep communities at the table and support our CIO, we can change how Philadelphians communicate, for good.

Todd Wolfson represents the Media Mobilizing Project and Hannah Sassaman the Digital Justice Coalition.

[NYC] Con Ed staff protest's company's poor wages/health benefits

suggested by Allen, re-posted from NY Daily News

Con Edison staff protests power company's poor wages and health benefits plan, 06/03/09

Con Edison CEO Kevin Burke's annual wages are, without a doubt, extremely generous. But the wages of workers who clean his luxurious Manhattan office every day are not.

Burke makes a whopping $7.3 million a year, but the men and women who maintain his office and power plants are paid a meager $8.50 an hour and get no benefits. Talk about disparity.

One of those workers is Fernando Cruz, a Dominican immigrant and 15-year Harlem resident. Cruz has been a maintenance worker at the Con Ed power plant at 14th St. and Avenue C for about a year. He works five days a week from 7a.m. to 3 p.m. His take-home pay is about $300 per week.

"I work at Con Ed, but need food stamps to get by," said Cruz, 31, the father of a 5-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl. "Now that even the subway has gone up, my weekly take-home pay is barely enough to pay for transportation.

"And with a monthly electricity bill of some $200," he added with some bitterness, "I feel that Con Ed is taking back whatever little I get paid,"

Cruz's predicament is not at all unusual among the maintenance workers who are members of Local 32BJ, the largest property service union in the country.

To dramatize their plight, hundreds of workers and their supporters rallied Tuesday at Union Square, a block from the Con Ed headquarters.

The workers, although not on Con Ed's payroll, were demanding that Burke hire contractors that pay decent wages.

"Although the cleaners are not direct employees of Con Edison, as a publicly regulated utility, your company has an obligation to ensure that it hires responsible contractors that employ workers at reasonable, livable wages with health benefits," state Sen. Thomas Duane wrote to Burke.

He was one of several state and city elected officials, including Assembly members Linda Rosenthal and Adriano Espaillat, and City Council members Miguel Martínez, Letitia James and Rosie Méndez, who have written to Burke urging him to hire responsible contractors. The utility is regulated by the state Public Service Commission.

Right now, the cleaning contractors Con Ed uses at its power plants, offices and electrical substations across the city are Nelson Services, Apple Maintenance, T&T Cleaning and Janitorial, Accent Maintenance and Martinez Cleaning.

Héctor Figueroa, secretary treasurer of Local 32BJ, said the union has met with a Con Ed vice president to discuss this issue.

"He told us that he was 'very sorry,' but that because these workers were not their employees, he didn't think this was Con Ed's problem," said Figueroa.

"But it isn't just a matter of legal obligation; there is also a moral obligation. What Con Ed is doing by not assuming responsibility is promoting hunger wages."

A BIG PART of the problem, Figueroa said, is that contrary to what happens in other states, in New York utilities are exempt from any prevailing wage laws. The union, he said, is asking legislators to reconsider.

Clearly, the unions and the workers are not asking for anything out of the ordinary. They just want to be fairly compensated for their work, to have sick days and health insurance for themselves and their families, as well as paid vacations.

They also are asking Con Edison, a company that makes millions every year, to use its considerable leverage with the contractors it hires.

"We are only asking for what should be rightly ours," Cruz said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/07/02/2009-07-02_con_edison_works_say_.html#ixzz0KalJUkOJ&C

[NYC] Over 120 Unregistered Billboards Taken/Painted By Artists

suggested by Lewis, re-posted from Consumerist.com

Art Vigilantes Paint Over 120 Illegal Billboards in NYC
by Chris Walters, 05/01/09

Last Saturday, ads-in-public-spaces activist Jordan Seiler spearheaded NYSAT, or New York Street Advertising Takeover, where teams of artists, videographers and activists replaced 120 unregistered billboard advertisements throughout the city with original art installations. There's a lot of coverage of the event available online, as well as pics and videos of the various installations. Here are a few good places to check out the results of the event. Some of the art is quite nice.

VIEW PHOTOS HERE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37774782@N05/

[SF] Pranksters Install Swings on BART

suggested by Eli, re-posted from Laughing Squid

Pranksters Install Swings on BART Public Transit System in San Francisco
by Burnstein, 04/28/09

Some brilliant pranksters installed beautiful swings on BART last night. What apparently happened, according to witnesses, was a team of six or so people hopped on to a north-bound train from 24th Street station in San Francisco around 8:30 p.m. last night, installed three matching red swings, and then exited at 16th Street leaving their swings behind for public consumption.

I personally love this prank because of the joy that it inspires in the innocent by-standers. Look at the photos. Even the dudes that are not swinging are smiling (except for one woman - that is just how some people roll, I guess). I declare this to be an epic victory for joy and whimsy over the mundane!

VIEW PHOTOS HERE:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreypenven/sets/72157617328268331/

[NYC] Mystery Donor Gives $5M to Hunter College and other colleges run by women

suggested by Brittany, re-posted from NY Post

So kick ass! Now I only hope they use the designated scholarship money for students who really need it (versus as a recruitment tool for Ivy Leaguers)... --ianna.

Mystery Donor Gives $5M to Hunter College
Associated Press

A mystery donor has given millions to at least 14 colleges run by women.

Hunter College said Monday it received $5 million in the fall and realized only recently that more than a dozen other colleges nationwide had received similar donations.

Hunter College President Jennifer Raab says the money "couldn't have come at a better time."

The City University of New York school says the donor earmarked $4 million for scholarships. The school will use the rest to update its library and give students more group study space.

The gift is Hunter College's largest-ever donation.

At least 13 other schools with women presidents have received anonymous donations ranging from $1 million to $10 million in the last two months. The gifts total at least $74.5 million so far.

[Fresno] C.A.F.E. Fresno Infoshop Opening in May

re-posted from AnarchistNews.org

CAFE Fresno Infoshop Opening
submitted by mikerobe, 04/25/09

C.A.F.E. (Collective for Arts, Freedom, and Ecology) infoshop is holding a grand opening during May Day weekend. Party Friday; Lecture and discussion Saturday; Vegan potluck and film Sunday. 935 F St in downtown Fresno. Doors open at 6 pm each night.

For three years we've been dealing with cops, city inspectors and the fire marshal during which time we've thrown dozens of shows, held lectures (John Ross, Dennis Banks, Rob los Ricos, and others), shown films, had parties, hosted community groups, planned and plotted. We still haven't dealt with the various state assholes, but we thought we may as well have a grand opening. Come on out if you happen to be in the neighborhood. FNB, community grocery, bike clinic, library, zines, rad film library, sierra nevada earth first! and many other community groups using the space.

The trolls and flame throwers out there will talk their shit. Whatever. This infoshop is opening in the spirit of Emma Goldman's insights about the Spanish as opposed to the Russian revolution:

"The reality was that despite the evident readiness of the masses for the social revolution in the fall of 1917, they were not fully prepared to undertake the enormous reconstructive tasks that confronted them or to resist the Bolshevik assumption of dictatorial powers. In contrast, Goldman found both kinds of preparation in Spain. The accomplishments and endurance of the collectives that she described with such admiration were grounded in the long history of the anarchist movement in Spain, dating back to at least 1845. Goldman spoke repeatedly of the libertarian spirit of the Spanish people.... In August 1938 she reiterated, 'it will interest you to know that I found in some villages four generations steeped in Libertarian Communism. To them the idea was not merely on paper or in books, but a living force.'"

May the force be living within you and expressing itself with others.

mikerobe

[Amy Tan] Saying Thanks To My Ghosts

re-posted from NPR: "This I Believe"

Saying Thanks To My Ghosts, 04/26/09
By Amy Tan

I didn't used to believe in ghosts, but I was trained to talk to them. My mother reminded me many times that I had the gift. It all stemmed from a lie I told when I was 4. The way my mother remembered it, I refused to get ready for bed one night, claiming there was a ghost in the bathroom. She was delighted to learn I was a spirit medium.

Thereafter, she questioned anything unusual — a sudden gust of wind, a vase that fell and shattered. She would ask me, "She here?" She meant my grandmother.

When I was a child, my mother told me that my grandmother died in great agony after she accidentally ate too much opium. My mother was 9 years old when she watched this happen.

When I was 14, my older brother was stricken with a brain tumor. My mother begged me to ask my grandmother to save him. When he died, she asked me to talk to him as well. "I don't know how," I protested. When my father died of a brain tumor six months after my brother, she made me use a Ouija board. She wanted to know if they still loved her. I spelled out the answer I knew she wanted to hear: Yes. Always.

When I became a fiction writer in my 30s, I wrote a story about a woman who killed herself eating too much opium. After my mother read a draft of that story, she had tears in her eyes. Now she had proof: My grandmother had talked to me and told me her true story. How else could I have known my grandmother had not died by accident but with the fury of suicide? She asked me, "She here now?" I answered honestly, "I don't know."

Over the years, I have included other details in my writing I could not possibly have known on my own: a place, a character, a song. I have come to feel differently about my ghostwriters. Sometimes their clues have come so plentifully, they've made me laugh like a child who can't open birthday presents fast enough. I must say thanks, not to blind luck but to my ghosts.

Ten years ago, I clearly saw a ghost, and she talked to me. It was my mother. She had died just 24 hours before. Her face was 10 times larger than life, in the form of a moving, pulsing hologram of sparkling lights. My mother was laughing at my surprise. She drew closer, and when she reached me, I felt as if I had been physically punched in the chest. It took my breath away and filled me with something absolute: love, but also joy and peace — and with that, understanding that love and joy and peace are all the same thing. Joy comes from love. Peace comes from love. "Now you know," my mother said.

I believe in ghosts. Whenever I want, they will always be there: my mother, my grandmother, my ghosts.

[LA] Revolutionary Autonomous Communities' Food Program going strong after a year and five months

reposted from APOC Conference list

Revolutionary Autonomous Communities' Food Program

The Revolutionary Autonomous Communities has created a food program where we are empowering ourselves and others to become self-sustainable.

The Food Program is a mutual-aid project where people themselves are organizing and distributing food in their own neighborhoods. This is not charity, we do not believe that change will happen this way. This is self-empowerment, where working class neo-colonies are feeding themselves, and organizing to feed themselves.

Since the first week of November, 2007, RAC has distibuted much needed grocieries to the needy workers of the area. Last week 200 people standing in line received food packages.

You can join us every Sunday at 1:30 PM. Meet at the SE Corner of Wilshire and Parkview in MacArthur Park.

RAC Mission Statement:

We feel that this system is killing our people by what the corporations feed us or don't feed us. At the same time there is an abundance of healthy food that goes to waste. They would rather let food go to waste than allow the prices of food in the market to drop. Then they disconnect people (all indigenous and colonized people) from the land, which a free and independent people need to survive. They centralize power and resources in the hands of the few, this is how they keep oppressed people dependent on a white-supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist-imperialist system.

RAC's Food Program is a way that we can work with supporters and other organizations to feed healthy food to our communities. We want people to connect with each other, to pick up and distribute the food amongst themselves. We will support, help connect people and to supply whatever resources we can. Through this process our goal is to connect our communities and to take them back. Our overall goal is to regain our necessary connection to the land. We need land to survive, and the land belongs to us, not the colonizer. We want to relearn how to live off the land and how to truly be self-sustainable.

We're Still Here, We Never Left

Support our Food Program.

Help Pick Up Food.

Help Distribute Food in Your Neighborhood.

Donate to our Community Mutual-Aid Program.

Get Organized!

Take Back Our Communities and Take Back the Land!

All Power THROUGH the People!

-Revolutionary Autonomous Communities


E-mail RAC:
rac@lists.riseup.net

To donate to the RAC Food Program:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=3639082

RAC Blog:
http://revolutionaryautonomouscommunities.blogspot.com/

Radio RAC LA
Tuesdays 9PM-12AM
http://killradio.org/

[NC] Small town of Wilson tells Time Warner to Suck It

re-posted from Consumerist.com

Time Warner Cable Cannot Possibly Compete With the Small City of Wilson, NC
By Meg Macro, 04/23/09

The city of Wilson, NC was tired of high internet, cable, and telephone prices, so they decided to do something about it. They started their own, city-owned, ISP. Now Time Warner Cable and Embarq have teamed up to convince North Carolina's legislature to propose bills outlawing community owned ISPs because the big guys cannot possibly compete.

We can see why they are worried. Wilson's ISP sounds great. It's an all fiber optic network that has 81 basic cable channels, 10 Mbps (download and upload), and a digital phone plan with unlimited long distance to the U.S. and Canada, all for $99.95, says Daily Tech. A comparable TWC package would cost $137.95, for an introductory rate.

Now Wilson's ISP, which calls itself "Greenlight" has started a blog to protest the legislation. Here's an excerpt:

"My name is Brian Bowman. I'm the Public Affairs Manager for the City of Wilson, NC, and I'll bet my broadband is faster than yours. I have a 10Mbps up/down connection at my house. Can't get half that from the cable company. I buy it directly from the City of Wilson. After less than a year of residential service, almost 3,000 Wilson citizens are subscribing to Wilson's fiber optic network. Local businesses can get up to one Gbps. Local homes get up to 100 Mbps. We call it Greenlight. NC Senate Bill 1004 and House Bill 1252 would change the law to stop cities from providing broadband. The bills say they "Level the Playing Field" but they are designed to protect cable monopolies in our state. The cable company told me Wilson would be exempt, but it's still wrong for NC."

[NY] Governor to Submit Bill Legalizing Gay Marriage

suggested by Eric, re-posted from New York Times

Paterson to Submit Bill Legalizing Same-Sex Marriage in New York
by Jeremy W. Peters, 04/15/09

Gov. David A. Paterson plans to introduce legislation on Thursday to make marriage between same-sex couples legal in New York, advancing his push for greater rights for gay men and lesbians, at a time when other states have done so.

Mr. Paterson’s plans represent the most public effort yet by the governor, who has been a consistent supporter of gay rights, to position himself and New York at the crest of a broadening national movement.

The move allows him to lead on an issue that could prove defining in his governorship, which has so far been marked by political missteps and the crumbling economy.

But it is also something of a political gamble, because the legislation faces an uphill climb in the State Senate. Democrats acknowledge that they do not have enough votes there to get the measure approved, meaning that its chances could rest in the hands of a few Republicans.

The governor also risks alienating socially conservative voters at a time when he can least afford to drive away any more support.

Nevertheless, he has said he is committed to putting the measure to a vote in Albany sooner rather than later.

“The timing was always right,” Mr. Paterson said on Tuesday as he announced an economic-development grant in Nassau County. “It’s just who is willing to take that step. And I am.”

Once Mr. Paterson introduces the bill, a step that he is expected to formally announce on Thursday morning, the focus will shift to the Assembly, where the measure passed in 2007 by a vote of 85 to 61, and is expected to pass again this year.

“And I think that all could happen rather quickly,” said Micah Z. Kellner, a Democratic assemblyman who represents the Upper East Side. Once the Assembly acts, it will be up to Senate Democrats, who control the chamber 32 to 30, to decide whether to bring it to the floor for a vote. Some in the Senate, including its only openly gay member, Thomas K. Duane, have said they want the bill to be voted on only if its passage is certain.

Some same-sex-marriage supporters said they hoped that by introducing the measure now, when it is likely to receive plenty of attention after the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision this month overturning a ban on same-sex marriage and the Vermont Legislature’s vote last week to override a veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry, the governor would create momentum for the bill.

“Maybe by coming out publicly like this and reaffirming his support for marriage equality, the governor can sway some colleagues in the other house who might be nervous about voting for this,” said Matthew Titone, a Democratic assemblyman from Staten Island. “I think it’s an opportunity for him to show people that he really believes in something.”

But cracking the Senate Republican conference, which is known for its unanimity and solidarity, will be a difficult task, same-sex-marriage supporters concede. Republican leaders have said they are not budging on the issue.

“Our conference hasn’t supported gay marriage, and nothing has changed,” said John McArdle, a spokesman for Senate Republicans.

But Mr. Duane said that he had assurances from some Republicans that they would vote for the bill. He declined to name them.

Still, Mr. Duane said that while the governor’s bill was an important gesture, it could end up being ultimately just that.

“It’s still only paper, words, unless we all fight to make it a reality,” he said.

[West Virginia] The Art of Being a Neighbor

re-posted from NPR: Weekend Edition/This I Believe

The Art of Being a Neighbor
By Eve Birch, 04/12/09

I used to believe in the American dream that meant a job, a mortgage, cable, credit, warranties, success. I wanted it and worked toward it like everyone else, all of us separately chasing the same thing.

One year, through a series of unhappy events, it all fell apart. I found myself homeless and alone. I had my truck and $56.

I scoured the countryside for someplace I could rent for the cheapest possible amount. I came upon a shack in an isolated hollow, four miles up a winding mountain road over the Potomac River in West Virginia.

It was abandoned, full of broken glass and rubbish. When I pried off the plywood over a window and climbed in, I found something I could put my hands to. I hadn't been alone for 25 years. I was scared, but I hoped the hard work would distract and heal me.

I found the owner and rented the place for $50 a month. I took a bedroll, a broom, rope, a gun and cooking gear, and cleared a corner to camp in while I worked.

The locals knew nothing about me. But slowly, they started teaching me the art of being a neighbor. They dropped off blankets, candles, tools and canned deer meat, and they began sticking around to chat. They'd ask if I wanted to meet cousin Albie or go fishing, maybe get drunk some night. They started to teach me a belief in a different American dream — not the one of individual achievement but one of neighborliness.

Men would stop by with wild berries, ice cream, truck parts and bullets to see if I was up for courting. I wasn't, but they were civil anyway. The women on that mountain worked harder than any I'd ever met. They taught me the value of a whetstone to sharpen my knives, how to store food in the creek and keep it cold and safe. I learned to keep enough for an extra plate for company.

What I had believed in, all those things I thought were the necessary accouterments for a civilized life, were nonexistent in this place. Up on the mountain, my most valuable possessions were my relationships with my neighbors.

After four years in that hollow, I moved back into town. I saw that a lot of people were having a really hard time, losing their jobs and homes. With the help of a real estate broker I chatted up at the grocery store, I managed to rent a big enough house to take in a handful of people.

It's four of us now, but over time I've had nine come in and move on to other places from here. We'd all be in shelters if we hadn't banded together.

The American dream I believe in now is a shared one. It's not so much about what I can get for myself; it's about how we can all get by together.

[Canada] Several Cities Contemplating Drive-thru Ban

re-posted from ActionSpark.com

Numerous Cities Contemplating Drive-thru Ban
By cstar, 03/02/09

Various Canadian cities – including North Vancouver, BC, Edmonton, AB, King's County, NS, and Toronto, Peterborough, London, Ajax, Mississauga, and Sarnia, ON – are currently looking at banning, more strictly regulating, or studying the impacts of drive-thru restaurants.

As reported by CTV.ca on January 22, "A North Vancouver councillor wants to ban restaurants from building drive-thrus in his city because he's worried about the environmental damages caused by idling vehicles. Councillor Sam Schechter introduced a motion Monday night to ban drive-thrus at restaurants. The motion would also prevent the only current restaurant in the City of North Vancouver with a drive-thru, an A&W, from expanding...In the U.S., two cities in California and one in North Carolina have imposed moratoriums on drive-thrus as a result of similar initiatives. City council has ordered an investigation into Schechter's motion and has asked for a report in a few months."

The Kitchener-Record also reported on January 22 that, "Kitchener could soon join a growing list of cities looking to ban, or regulate more closely, new drive-thru operations. City council is expected to consider the issue in early March, following the lead of cities that include London, Hamilton, Mississauga and Winnipeg.

In 2006, an air-quality report from the (Kitchener Environmental Advisory) committee called for a ban on drive-thrus and for an anti-idling campaign...The report was accepted by city councillors, who launched an anti-idling campaign last year...but city councillors took no action on drive-thrus."

On January 25, the Edmonton Sun reported that, "Some green-minded civic politicians want Edmonton to consider closing the window on new restaurant drive-thrus and their idling vehicles. The belief is that would send fewer greenhouse gases into the atmosphere...(Councillor Don) Iveson said a ban on new drive-thrus could be considered in the Alberta capital as the city in the coming months reviews the way neighbourhoods are designed. He wants to see more pedestrian-friendly planning...Councillor Dave Thiele said a ban on drive-thrus may ultimately be what the city needs. He said he's stopped using the lanes altogether in an effort to reduce his carbon footprint and because he finds the service inside to be quicker."

And the Erie Times-News reported on February 10, "Toronto and Vancouver have instituted bans on building new drive-thru coffee shops and created strict regulations on building drive-thrus in residential, mixed commercial-residential areas and some pedestrian areas. Other cities, including Hamilton and North Vancouver, are considering similar regulations. Officials who are proponents of the bans say that bans of drive-thrus would improve air quality by reducing the number of idling cars."

Toronto's CityTV reported on December 17, 2007 that, "Two years ago, a Toronto bylaw came into effect prohibiting new drive-thrus within 100 feet of any residential property. But some councillors think it's time to toughen up that law. 'Many, many American municipalities have gone in the direction of just absolutely banning drive-thrus, and it's time for the city of Toronto to consider the same,' maintains Councillor Joe Mihevc."

Business opposition

In terms of opposition to the proposed bans on drive-thrus, the Kitchener-Record reported that, "City councillors recently deferred any decision about a ban on new drive-thrus because they want to hear details of a study by Mike Lepage of RWDI, a Guelph-based consulting firm. The study concludes that cars idling in a drive-thru are less harmful than having the engines shut off for a few minutes and then restarted. The study cited the burst of particulates that is released when a cooling engine restarts. The study was paid for by Tim Hortons and is being peer-reviewed by scientists at Carleton University in Ottawa, said Victor Labreche, a private-sector planner representing Tim Hortons, who appeared before councillors recently.

The peer review won't be ready until late February or early March. City councillors want to see the review before making any decision about a ban." The North Shore News reported on January 23 that, "The drive-through option offers safety and convenience to many people, such as parents with small children, the physically challenged and the elderly, and a ban would produce questionable environmental benefits, he said. Parking lot only locations produce about 60 per cent more green house gases and 20 per cent more smog pollutants than drive-through services, Mark von Schellwitz (spokesman for the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association) said."

Yet, as reported by the Canadian Press on December 8, 2007, "Students at the University of Alberta monitored a popular Tim Hortons outlet in Edmonton last year for 54 hours and counted 3,756 vehicles idling for an average of more than five minutes each. The longest idle was more than 12 minutes." Additionally, the Edmonton Sun reported that, "A 2006 University of Alberta study found that vehicles idling in fast-food drive-thrus across Edmonton contribute about 8,600 tonnes of emissions per year into the atmosphere." A study conducted by the Ontario Medical Association in 2005 estimated that there are 5,829 premature deaths and 16,807 hospital admissions due to air pollution each year.

The London chapter

The London chapter of the Council of Canadians has launched a petition which states, "Drive-throughs are an incredible detriment to our environment and are a luxury item we can live without. Climate Change is real. A grave threat to all life on this planet. It is time to place our environment and the health and well being of our children ahead of business interests and profits. I demand that all levels of government impose an immediate moratorium on all new commercial drive-through operations and establish a timetable to phase out all existing drive-through operations through zoning or other by-laws." To sign the petition go to, http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-drive--throughs-in-canada.

The Council of Canadians has argued that the five principles of a Canadian Energy Strategy should include security of supply, production, distribution, access, and the environment. Within security of the environment we argue that, "Canadians are concerned about climate change. In spite of this, we are also a wasteful nation in terms of water and energy use, and greenhouse gas emissions. We need to push the government to enact policies that meet the expectations of Canadians by encouraging environmentally sustainable production, distribution and use of energy."

And as municipal politicians consider the idea of addressing drive-thru restaurants, federal politicians may want to look again at the issue of federal cabinet ministers and their idling limousines on Parliament Hill. As reported by the CanWest News Service on February 5, 2007, "Federal cabinet ministers must insist their chauffeurs stop idling their limousines for hours at a time during long winter meetings on Parliament Hill, according to MPs who add that every measure counts when it comes to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions...(MP Yves) Godin wants the House affairs committee to resurrect a 1990 edict ordering ministers' chauffeurs to stop idling their engines. RCMP officers were asked to enforce the rule, said Godin."

[Utah] Four Day Workweek

re-posted from NPR, Morning Edition

Utah Finds Surprising Benefits In 4-Day Workweek
By Jenny Brudin, 04/10/09

Last summer, amid surging gas prices, Utah became the first state in the nation to mandate a four-day workweek for state employees.

A recent assessment of the program by state planners found the expected energy cost savings haven't materialized, but there have been unexpected boosts to productivity and worker satisfaction.

Sonia Smith is one of the 18,000 state workers who began a four-day, 10-hour workweek eight months ago. At first, she says, she was shocked and scared about the change. The state accountant is a single mom, and she worried about child care for her 10-year-old son. Now, Smith is a champion of the switch.

"I like having the three-day weekend," Smith says. "I like being able to have one day set aside to do everything that I need to do, and then the other two days where I can devote to my son."

Every Friday morning now, Smith volunteers at her son's school. She helps students with their spelling tests and relishes the extra time with her son. Smith's family and baby sitter adjusted their schedules to enable her to work the adjusted hours.

Smith is among the 70 percent of Utah state employees surveyed who now say they prefer the shorter workweek. Mike Hansen, strategic planning manager in the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, says one of the more surprising effects of this workday change is that employees are now taking significantly less leave.

"That's increased productivity — that's employees behind their desk more this year than the last two years, to the tune of 9 percent" less time off, Hansen says. Paid overtime is also down.

But when Utah implemented the shorter workweek, the goal was to cut energy use by 20 percent and save the state money — and those big savings haven't come through yet.

So far, energy use has been reduced — but only by 13 percent. Each of Utah's 900 government buildings is unique. State energy managers have to figure out how to turn everything off on Fridays — especially the massive heating and air conditioning units.

Energy specialists monitor kilowatt hours used at state buildings, looking for inefficiencies that might be driving costs up. In May, the state also plans to kick off a peer-to-peer energy reduction campaign in each department.

The shift to longer hours isn't without other challenges.

For Nicki Lockhart the change has taken a toll emotionally and physically. "I hate it," she says. "It is not working one single bit for me."

On a recent day, Lockhart walks around her office building. It's about 3:30 in the afternoon, right when fatigue is starting to set in, with nearly three more hours of work left to go. "A 10-hour day for me is like eternity," she says.

By the time the customer service agent gets home and eats dinner, she says, it's time for bed. By Friday, Lockhart is so stressed out, she gets headaches. She's one of the 20 percent of state employees who are still struggling with the change.

But the good news, for everybody, is that the reduction in Friday commuters and the energy savings in buildings have cut down the carbon dioxide pumped into the local air. And the public — the people these government offices serve — seems happy with the change.

Exiting the Department of Motor Vehicles office, Utah resident Jose Sales says he likes the 10-hour days the program created "because I can come in after work and take care of my business — 20 minutes and I'm done."

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman will decide next summer whether to make the four-day week permanent. If Utah's experiment succeeds, it could have an impact on thousands of workers across the country.

"Nobody else has done it like this on this scale," says Hansen of the Office of Budget and Planning, "and everybody is watching."

[VT] Vermont Lawmakers Override Veto, OK Gay Marriage

re-posted from NPR.org

VT Lawmakers Override Veto, OK Gay Marriage

April 7, 2009

Vermont lawmakers on Tuesday overrode the governor's veto of a measure legalizing same-sex marriage, making the state the fourth to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed — but the first to do so through legislation.

Both houses of the Democratic-controlled Vermont Legislature mustered the necessary two-thirds vote to override Gov. Jim Douglas' veto, issued just hours earlier. The vote was 23-5 to override in the state Senate and 100-49 to override in the House.

The move comes nine years after Vermont became the first state to allow civil unions for gay couples. Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa also allow same-sex marriage after courts ruled gays could not be excluded.

The vote in Vermont was a major victory for gay marriage supporters, some of whom celebrated outside the House chamber as the vote was announced.

Robert Dostis said he and his partner, Chuck Kletecka, were making wedding plans for the fall. "We haven't decided who's going to propose to who yet, but we've been together 25 years in September, so I think Sept. 14 could be a nice wedding day," Dostis told NPR.

The veto's overturn follows an April 3 decision by the Iowa Supreme Court, which struck down a law limiting the definition of marriage to a man and a woman. The high court said the law violated the constitutional rights of equal protection. That ruling opens the door for gays and lesbians to exchange vows in Iowa as soon as April 24.

Iowa lawmakers had "excluded a historically disfavored class of persons from a supremely important civil institution without a constitutionally sufficient justification," the justices wrote.

[Iowa] High Court Strikes Down Ban on Gay Marriage

re-posted from NPR

Iowa High Court Strikes Down Ban on Gay Marriage, 04/02/09

Iowa's Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on gay marriage, saying the provision violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples.

The unanimous ruling issued Friday would make Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal. The court's decision upholds a 2007 Polk County District Court judge's ruling.

The 2007 ruling prompted nearly two dozen people to apply for marriage licenses in Polk County, Iowa's most populous county and home to Des Moines. Only one couple managed to get married before the decision was stayed the next day.

The case stems from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization. The group filed a lawsuit on behalf of six gay and lesbian Iowa couples who were denied marriage licenses.

Gay rights supporter and former state lawmaker Ed Fallon told NPR that the ruling is consistent with Iowa's history.

"Iowa has always been on the cutting edge of civil rights," Fallon said, "whether it's regarding desegregation of schools or the rights of African-Americans to be full citizens."

"This is huge. And I think it's a testament to the fairness and sense of decency that Iowans have," he said.

The decision makes Iowa the first state in the Midwest and the third in the nation to legalize gay marriage. Massachusetts and Connecticut permit same-sex marriage; California did briefly before voters passed a ban in November.

During oral arguments before the Supreme Court in December, Des Moines lawyer Dennis Johnson argued Iowa's ban violated his clients' due process and equal protection rights.

Roger J. Kuhle, an assistant Polk County attorney, argued that the lower court's ruling for the plaintiffs violates the separation of powers and that the issue should be left to the Legislature.

During oral arguments, Chief Justice Marsha Ternus explained that the high court would determine whether the district court erred by finding that the same-sex marriage ban violated the state constitution and whether it erred by not allowing the county's expert witness testimony.

The timing of the decision could be awkward for state lawmakers who are on track to end the legislative session in coming weeks.

Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D-Council Bluffs) told reporters that it's "exceedingly unlikely" the Legislature would deal with the gay marriage issue this year, regardless of the court's ruling.

"This is the final step in a lengthy legal proceeding," said Gronstal. "We're going to wait and see that decision and review it before we take any action."

[Los Angeles] Cul-de-sac Communes

re-posted from NPR: All Things Considered

A Social Experiment: Communes In Cul-De-Sacs
by Jennifer Sharpe, 04/02/09

Ever since my next-door neighbor sent me hate mail, threatening to sue if I didn't cut down my eucalyptus tree, I've been having paranoid fantasies about how badly we'd do together in an apocalypse.

Stranded on a residential street in Santa Monica, Calif., where the neighbors hardly ever interact with each other, I realized we might all die as casualties of our own self absorption.

So when I heard about a social experiment urging people in Los Angeles cul-de-sacs to start communes together, I had to see if this strange suburban mutation could possibly survive.

So architect and social designer Stephanie Smith, who runs the company Ecoshack, took me to the first official cul-de-sac commune potluck at the end of January on a newly developed bluff in Topanga Canyon, three months after she came up with the idea.

"We're finally here," Smith said.

Weeks earlier, Smith sat in her office explaining that she launched her project "Wanna Start A Commune?" after having an epiphany in the first moments of the economy's collapse.

"It couldn't possibly be that I have to keep having to buy in order to be green," Smith said. "I have to buy a Prius. I have to buy a fluorescent light bulb. I have to buy a solar array. And I just frankly just couldn't afford to be green — and that scared me."

Coming together to share resources is the basic premise of Smith's vision for the cul-de-sac commune. Hoping to learn what kinds of tools she should design to help facilitate sharing, Smith listened to Scott Vineberg, who lives in the commune, and his progressive-thinking neighbors as they brainstormed ways to go off the grid together, raise chickens and manage their stress levels.

"I'd like a communal massage, get somebody who comes up, you get a reduced rate, it's all outside... Ahh, that would be amazing, we should do that!" says commune member Helena Kriel.

The stay-at-home convenience of the cul-de-sac commune is, as Smith sees it, a solution to the biggest design flaw of its predecessors.

"In the past, utopian communities have often failed because people who started them have really insisted that the best way is to leave your old community, leave society, leave culture and start over, and it's a valid idea in many cases, but, it also leads to failure," she said. "So what we're interested in doing is make them effective as part of a culture, not a counterculture this time."

By some strange coincidence, the very spot where this first cul-de-sac commune gathering was taking place is exactly where Topanga Canyon's biggest 1970s commune once lived.

And if there's anyone who disagrees with Smith's strategy, it's that commune's founder, Sridhar Silberfein, whose divorce from society has gotten only deeper as his commitment to communal living has grown.

"I think there are going to be more and more people coming into communes — that's really where the future's going to be now," Silberfein says. "Because the economy is really breaking itself down, the government is breaking down, all the systems are breaking down. And all that's going to be left is going to be small communities living together and sharing the land."

I asked him what he imagines will happen to Los Angeles, for example.

"I think big cities are finished," he said. "That's why I left."

I'd driven two and a half hours outside Los Angeles to meet Silberfein, who lives in Yucca Valley, where he works as a real estate agent and is starting a new — as he now calls it — "intentional community," on 85 acres of high desert, where he plans to drill wells and build enormous greenhouses.

But as I looked out over the rocky expanse, I felt a premature nostalgia for civilization, and, despite Silberfein's pessimism, drove back to Los Angeles excited to see if the cul-de-sac communes were catching on.

"Every single neighborhood in America and around the world is a commune," Ecoshack's Smith says. "And every single apartment building is, and every office building is, and every single thing is built new using guidelines around sharing resources. Nothing less than that."

Smith's vision continues to expand. Within a month of that first potluck, at the end of February, cul-de-sac communes were bubbling up around the city, including one down in Santa Monica's Rustic Canyon, a short walk from my house. So perhaps it's just a matter of time before even my block turns, and my hostile tree-hating neighbor comes knocking on my front door.

More information at: www.wannastartacommune.com

[U.S.] Housing First study

re-posted from NPR.com All Things Considered

For Homeless, A Home May Be the Best Rehab
by Joseph Shapiro, 03/31/09

All Things Considered, March 31, 2009 · Richard Corbett has been homeless for long periods of time. He has struggled with depression and alcoholism. But he says he doesn't drink very often anymore and only moderately when he does. When he lived on the scary streets and in shelters, he says, he would drink just to fall asleep.

The difference, Corbett says, is that now he has a permanent place to live and that makes him feel safe. He says he no longer has "to worry about being hit in the night with a brick upside the head and being robbed."

Corbett, 61, lives in a sparse, two-room apartment with high, white ceilings in a solid row house in Washington, D.C. Staff at Pathways to Housing found him in a shelter and moved him into this building and then got him counseling, even though he was still drinking heavily at the time. That's a new way of trying to help the chronically homeless. It's a philosophy called "Housing First."

The traditional way to help chronically homeless people has been to get them into a temporary shelter where they can work on getting sober or dealing with a psychiatric illness. Only once that hard work is done are they considered ready for permanent housing.

Housing First turns all that upside down. It finds the permanent place to live first. It doesn't matter if the homeless person is still drinking or using drugs, because having a home is considered therapeutic by itself. Case workers are then around to help the person address the problems that caused him or her to be homeless.

Now a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association offers new support to the Housing First approach that helped Richard Corbett.

Mary Larimer, a clinical psychologist at the University of Washington, chose to study a 75-unit apartment building for homeless people in Seattle because it used a Housing First approach — and because it had created controversy.

"The controversy is that there are a number of individuals who feel that it's important to use housing as a carrot," Larimer says. "And that by housing people who are not yet ready or able to stop their addictive behaviors and allowing them to continue to drink alcohol … that we would be reducing their chances of sobriety or in some ways would be enabling them."

Larimer and her co-researchers studied the people who lived at a building called 1811 Eastlake. It takes on some of the hardest homeless people to help: Those constantly on the streets and drunk. The research found that their drinking dropped steadily over the first year they had their own apartments, from, on average, about 16 drinks a day to about 11.

That's still a lot of alcohol. But even a small drop made a big difference. The study tracked down records of the time they spent in detox, in hospitals and jail. The researchers also compared how much government spent on them compared with those still living on the streets. Larimer found the cost savings were enormous: about $2,500 less per person per month.

"Ultimately abstinence is the safest goal and the desirable goal," she says. "I also think that there are people who are not in a position to obtain abstinence immediately. And that certainly people's chances of becoming abstinent are a lot better when they are in a warm, safe environment and they have lots of caring people and services available to them immediately."

Back at his home, Corbett points out the pots in the front yard where he and his landlord are getting ready to plant flowers. "I'm in a much better place than before I got this place," he says. "It's a feeling of respect and dignity that I didn't have before."

Most programs for homeless people don't use a Housing First model. But it's an approach that has spread in recent years to more than a dozen major U.S. cities.

[Oakland] Cesar Chavez Day prompts march for students rights

re-posted from Oakland Tribune

Cesar Chavez Day prompts march for student rights in Oakland
By Sean Maher, 03/30/2009

Oakland — Honoring the memory of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, about 30 students and other activists marched down International Boulevard today demanding rights for immigrant students.

"The families of undocumented students pay taxes and make an enormous contribution to our nation's economy and prosperity, yet their sons and daughters face the same kind of discrimination that young black students experienced in the old Jim Crow south," read a statement from By Any Means Necessary, the organization that held the march.

The Federal DREAM Act, which would give those students access to financial aid, was reintroduced last week, as was a similar state bill in California. Both have gone through a variety of forms and names and stirred controversy for several years.

The group started at International Boulevard and 98th Avenue and marched in the direction of downtown. Oakland police monitored the march as a precautionary measure.

A truck drove slowly down the right-hand lane, the marchers following and chanting, "Join the march! Join the fight! Let's stand up for immigrants' rights!"

Tuesday is Cesar Chavez Day, which honors the civil rights leader's birthday. Many schools throughout the state, though not all of them, will be closed in recognition.

[U.S.] Obama to Reverse Ban on Stem Cell Research

re-posted from NPR

Obama To Reverse Funding Ban On Stem Cell Work
by The Associated Press, 03-06-09

President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order on Monday reversing restrictions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.

The long-expected move is likely to stir up not only the promise of scientific breakthrough, but also the controversy over where government crosses a moral line.

Obama will hold an event at the White House to announce the move, a senior administration official said Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the policy had not yet been publicly announced.

Under President George W. Bush, federal money for research on human embryonic stems cells was limited to those stem cell lines that were created before Aug. 9, 2001. No federal dollars could be used on research with cell lines from embryos destroyed from that point forward.

Obama's move is expected to lift that restriction. The official said the aim of the policy is to restore "scientific integrity" to the process.

Embryonic stem cells are master cells that can morph into any cell of the body. Scientists hope to harness them so they can create replacement tissues to treat a variety of diseases — such as new insulin-producing cells for diabetics or new nerve connections to restore movement after spinal injury.

"I feel vindicated after eight years of struggle, and I know it's going to energize my research team," said Dr. George Daley of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and Children's Hospital of Boston, a leading stem cell researcher.

Such research is controversial because embryos must be destroyed to obtain the cells; they typically are culled from fertility-clinic leftovers otherwise destined to be thrown away.

Once a group of stem cells is culled, it can be kept alive and propagating in lab dishes for years.

There are different types of stem cells, and critics say the nation should pursue alternatives to embryonic ones such as adult stem cells, or those found floating in amniotic fluid or the placenta. But leading researchers consider embryonic stem cells the most flexible, and thus most promising, form; they say that science, not politics, should ultimately judge.

"Science works best and patients are served best by having all the tools at our disposal," Daley said.

Obama made it clear during the campaign he would overturn Bush's directive.

During the campaign, Obama said, "I strongly support expanding research on stem cells. I believe that the restrictions that President Bush has placed on funding of human embryonic stem cell research have handcuffed our scientists and hindered our ability to compete with other nations."

He said he would lift Bush's ban and "ensure that all research on stem cells is conducted ethically and with rigorous oversight."

"Patients and people who've been patient advocates are going to be really happy," said Amy Comstock Rick of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research.

The ruling will bring one immediate change: As of Monday, scientists who've had to meticulously keep separate their federally funded research and their privately funded stem cell work — from buying separate microscopes to even setting up labs in different buildings — won't have that expensive hurdle anymore.

Next, scientists can start applying for research grants from the National Institutes of Health. The NIH already has begun writing guidelines for what embryonic stem cell lines will qualify under Obama's ruling. Among other things, the guidelines are expected to demand that the cells were derived with proper informed consent from the woman or couple who donated the original embryo.