East Palo Alto's rent stabilization program, established by voters in the early 1980's, was designed to help tenants know the maximum their future rent increases could be, enabling them to plan their family budgets with a measure of certainty. But in 2005 Page Mill Properties started buying up residences on East Palo Alto's west side and disputes with tenants and then with the city brewed.

Rent hikes, reduced maintenance service, and altered lease terms increased until many of the apartments owned and managed by Page Mill now sit empty, say remaining tenants. Others have left, either unable to pay the increases or confused by frequent notices from the giant landlord. Many of the residents are recent immigrants.

The west side of East Palo Alto sits close to the affluent city of Palo Alto and even shares the same zip code, leading residents to assert that Page Mill's motive is to get rid of all the tenants in order to "flip" the property for monetary gain.

Residents have filed class action suits, formed petition signature drives, and demonstrated in front of Page Mill Properties' Office in downtown Palo Alto. One group of tenants has particular reason to be outraged. Many East Palo Alto residents are public employees and their retirement system, CalPERS, has Page Mill Properties in its portfolio of investments. CalPERS is the pension fund for California public employees and is one of the largest financial institutions in the US.

Photos: 1 | 2 | Previous Coverage

On July 22nd, over 3,000 people rallied at the Port of Oakland to protest against pollution and poverty. The event was co-sponsored by the Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, the California Labor Federation, and the Central Labor Council of Alameda County. Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums were among those who spoke at the protest.
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Many truck drivers at the port are classified as "independent contractors" and make as little as $8 an hour while receiving no benefits. The port trucking system requires drivers to sit idle in their trucks for hours everyday while their trucks spew out diesel emissions. Port diesel pollution is associated with high rates of cancer and asthma. Diesel pollution is five times higher in West Oakland than in other parts of Alameda county. As a result, cancer and asthma rates are higher in West Oakland than other parts of the Bay Area.

The Port of Oakland is developing a Comprehensive Truck Management Plan (pdf). In March, 2008, the Port Commission began the process of instituting a new trucking model to reduce diesel emissions. In an effort to achieve an 85% reduction in health risk from its operations by 2020, the Commission voted unanimously to levy fees on containers passing through the Port. The fees are expected to generate $520 million and will be used to mitigate air pollution by retrofitting and replacing dirty trucks.

The Commission directed Port staff to hire a consultant to conduct an Economic Impact Study on making drivers employees of the trucking companies, and to report back to the Commission on the next steps to phase in the Comprehensive Truck Management Program by the end of June. The Commission, however, failed to include any language that addresses how to institute an effective local hire program. Questions also remain as to how much of the old dirty truck fleet will be replaced through the container fees and how much of the costs of truck replacement, upgrades and maintenance will be shouldered by low-wage truck drivers.

Big Trucking Deal | Coalition For Clean and Safe Ports | Port Of Oakland

At a public meeting held July 15 in San Francisco, Bayview residents and supporters accused the San Francisco Department of Public Health of turning a blind eye to Lennar Corp's toxic construction in the Hunter's Point Shipyard. Bayview community members said Lennar Corp, a housing redevelopment corporation based out of Miami, has been digging into asbestos-rich serpentine rock sending plumes of cancer-causing dust into nearby homes, recreation centers and elementary schools.
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Last November, The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) voted to fine Lennar for not accurately monitoring toxicity levels during construction.

California state law requires Lennar to monitor the toxicity of the air and inform residents when asbestos or other carcinogens reach a poisonous level. However, May 30, when asbestos meters sky-rocketed to 138,000 levels of particulate matter, community members were kept in the dark. Bayview advocates say the release far exceeded levels deemed lethal, even by the city's lenient standards, the Environmental Protection Agency reports that there is no safe level of asbestos exposure.
Bayview residents were not informed of this until more than six weeks later on July 14th.

The toxic reading came just days before the June 3 election, when a heated battle was taking place over Prop F, a grassroots proposition that would have forced Lennar to create affordable housing; and Prop G, an initiative that would grant Lennar permission to proceed with the construction of 10,000 condominiums on the Shipyard, a Superfund site.
"Such an overage should have triggered a complete removal of those most sensitive receptors which would have been our children..." noted Bayview resident Marie Harrison of Green Action, an environmental justice organization, as she addressed the commissioners.

Read More | Recent Related Posts From Francisco Da Costa: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

Will Lennar ever be fined for dropping the dust ball? | Test the Lennar site: There is no safe level for asbestos exposure | Lennar slapped with racial discrimination lawsuit, accused of violating toxic asbestos cleanup restrictions

Previous Indybay Coverage

The Fair Rent Now Coalition held a petition drive Saturday July 26th to protest rent increases to apartments owned by Page Mill Properties. The increases affect about 1,300 of the private investment firm's 1,650 units in East Palo Alto.

Residents filed a class action suit on July 15, alleging that the rent hikes are illegal, meant to cause harm, and constitute unfair business practice. The complaint also says that Page Mill Properties is using a sham ownership scheme to subvert East Palo Alto's rent control law.

The City of East Palo Alto is also taking legal action against Page Mill Properties and the Stanford Law Clinic is helping the tenants. The firm Heller Ehrman LLP has taken on the residents' case pro bono. They are seeking punitive and actual damages.

Read More With Photo | Youth United

Residents at the California Hotel in Oakland are threatened with eviction. They received a letter on July 1, notifying them that the hotel will close on July 15. Some of the residents have lived in the affordable housing units for 20 years. On July 14th, tenants of the hotel and their supporters gathered at 3501 San Pablo Ave. to protest the attempt to illegally lock them out of their housing by their landlord Cahon Associates, and Oakland Community Housing Inc.

These two slumlords plan to evict all 75 tenants from the California Hotel on July 15 by shutting off the utilities and water. The tenants at the hotel are mostly elderly, disabled persons who are very low income and have no where else to go.

The landlords are in violation of their agreement with the State of California Tax Credit Allocation Committee to run a very low income project for thirty years (1990 to 2020). The State has warned them against this illegal closure but that has not stopped Cahon Associates and Charles Fowlks from conducting this illegal action. Cahon Associates also owns six other properties in Oakland including San Antonio Terraces, James Lock Courts and others. These are all scheduled to be closed down and turned into transitional housing with the eviction of the residents in the future after the California Hotel is shut down.

Read More | Photos: 1 | 2 | California Hotel Unlawful Eviction Update l Judge Grants TRO to California Hotel Tenants to Stop Shutoff Of Utilities l Tenants of Historic Landmark Hotel Sue Non-Profit Housing Developer l Just Cause Oakland

Tim Rumford writes, "Here in Santa Cruz we have our own county based health insurance providing healthcare for the poor, MediCruz. Although MediCruz has many problems, it has to be said that it is not a requirement of the City nor the County to provide such services. MediCruz was designed to give healthcare to the homeless and the most poor in our community.

"You can only apply only for MediCruz if you are currently having a health crisis. In other words, you must already be sick or injured to even apply. As of July 1st, MediCruz applicants have 30 days after applying to prove they filed their 2007 income taxes to be considered for eligibility. This additional layer of red tape is not designed to make the poor pay their fair share. It is designed to stop a percentage of people from applying for MediCruz at all." Read More

see also: "This Plan is Your Plan" sung by The Raging Grannies

On June 21, local activists in the Castro district united, in an outdoor public awards ceremony to "honor" the greedy landlord speculators most responsible for the gentrification and destruction of San Francisco's communities. The event took place at Harvey Milk Plaza at Castro and Market in San Francisco, and the activists called on people to stand up against gentrification by landlord speculators who are destroying our neighborhoods and communities. The event ended with people dancing, with music provided by the Brass Liberation Orchestra.

2008 Awards Recipients include CitiApartments/Skyline Realty, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Care Not Cash, Lennar Corporation, Landlord Attorney Karen Uchiyama, Lower Polk Neighbors, the SF Redevelopment Agency, the Mission Housing Development Corp, and a list of top real estate speculators.

Photos | Gentrifiers Scared From Castro by Roving Pack of Drag Queens | Event Announcement With Links To Award Winners

On June 19th, between 2,500 and 3,000 people gathered for a very spirited "Heathcare-Yes, Insurance Companies-NO" rally outside the Moscone convention center in San Francisco. The largest contingents came from the California School Employees Association (CSEA), the California Nurses Association, and the California Universal Health Care Organizing Project. Many other labor, community and political organizations mobilized significant contingents including the American Federation of Teachers, Lo. 2121, Senior Action Network, Gray Panthers, Calif. Alliance for Retired Americans, ANSWER Coalition, United Educators of San Francisco, Cindy Sheehan for Congress Campaign, Iraq Moratorium, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Gloria La Riva, PSL Presidential candidate, and Nathalie Hrizi, 12th Congressional District candidate of the PSL and Peace and Freedom Party distributed hundreds of flyers supporting free quality health care for all and calling for the insurance companies to be abolished.

Inside the center, insurance executives and their political mouthpieces were attending the convention of the American Health Insurance Association. In order to enter, many of the attendees had to pass by hundreds of workers chanting, "Shame, Shame, Shame."

Many of the rally speakers testified about having been denied health care by insurers when suffering life-threatening diseases. Others spoke of family members who had died after denial of benefits.
The main theme of the rally was the need for a universal health care system. The rally featured Sen. Sheila Kuehl and included protesters from the groups Physicians for a National Health Program, California Alliance for Retired Americans, California Nurses Association, Senior Action Network and California Universal Health Care Organizing Project.

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Video | California Alliance for Retired Americans | California Nurses Association | California School Employees Association | California Universal Health Care Organizing Project | Gray Panthers of San Francisco | Senior Action Network | United Educators of San Francisco

At approximately 2:00 p.m. on June 20th, fires started off of Highway 1 between Mar Monte Road and Airport Road. By 6:00 p.m., 1,000 acres had already burned and several homes destroyed. It is currently burning out of control and continues to threaten the health and safety of people and animals in the area.

The fires ignited and took hold rather rapidly, with many people nearby the fires unaware of the danger or what procedures to follow. An observer of the fire from Freedom Boulevard around 3:00 p.m. was overwhelmed by the giant flume of smoke that encroached over the city of Freedom and headed towards Watsonville.

Currently, over 2,000 people are being forced to evacuate their homes and others are being asked to evacuate, including all areas within the Airport Road, Freedom Blvd and Larkin Valley Road area. Highway 1 is currently closed for a six mile stretch, between Larkin Valley Road and down to Riverside Drive, according to other news reports. Read More and View Photos

Sam Farr, representative of the 17th Congressional District of California, stated in a June 19th press release that, "aerial pheromone application over urban areas is off the table" in the effort to control the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). The California Department of Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that aerial pheromone application will no longer take place over urban areas and will be "limited to agricultural land and undeveloped regions as a tool of last result."

In a June 19th conference call with environmental and citizen groups, Secretary A. G. Kawamura confirmed that aerial spraying of pesticides is off the table in all urban areas. He went on to say that this includes all areas that are accessible by road: If there are roads, CDFA considers it an urban area. Audio

“The bottom line for eradicating this pest has always been safety,” Rep. Farr said. “The public was never convinced that spraying was safe or the only option, and the result has been protests, anger and a series of lawsuits. It’s vital that we don’t delay in our efforts to control this pest. CDFA was correct to recognize that aerial application was becoming a distraction. A shift in strategy is the right move.”

reader comments, "Farr is a politico, he is only trying to keep the program alive."

"The public was never convinced that spraying was safe"

"No mention of the fact that it was actually not safe. Only public perceptions matter."

Aerial Pesticide Spraying Over Cities Stopped | Statewide Grassroots Movement Victorious in Stopping the Spray | Vegan Reader | LBAMspray.com | StopTheSpray.org | Helping Our Peninsula's Environment

On June 8, at Chai House in San Jose—a mostly Jewish senior housing complex—Jewish and Japanese American survivors of the camps of World War Two and their families met for the second time in three years to tell their stories and reach common understanding. Around two hundred at the event, called "A Gathering of Friends," snacked on bagels and sushi and then talked with each other for a couple of hours. The South Bay Holocaust Survivor Group and the Japanese American Museum of San Jose were sponsors of the meeting, and the group was about evenly mixed between the two communities represented. Said organizer Harvey Gotliffe of San Jose State University, “We are here to share, not compare.” View photos

NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Santa Cruz County and mental health advocates will rally on Tuesday, June 10th at 9:30am in front of the County Government Building on Ocean Street to call for the protection of mental health services in Santa Cruz County. Children, incarcerated individuals, and individuals with mental illness are losing their services or will receive reduced services.

The consequences of these reductions will intensify the current trends to:
• Decrease availability of services for children and adults
• Increase the number of people with mental illnesses in the County jail systems
• Increase the use of law enforcement to address mental health needs
• Force vulnerable populations to become homeless
• Increase unexpected deaths among mental health clients
• Increase use of expensive hospital emergency rooms and psychiatric locked facilities

Read More | Short Commentary | More Medicare cuts to doctors in Santa Cruz County!

The community of Felton prevailed in its six-year fight to acquire its water system from California-American Water (Cal-Am), a subsidiary of the German multinational corporation RWE. Cal-Am and the San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) announced a purchase agreement on May 30th, less than a week before the planned start of an eminent domain trial where a jury would have set the value of the water system. SLVWD will make a total cash payment of $10.5 million to acquire the water system, including the 250 acres of forested watershed land, which Cal-Am is 'donating' to SLVWD. In addition, SLVWD will assume the $2.9 million loan that Felton residents have been paying for a new treatment plant.

“Felton FLOW's landmark victory over private water interests demonstrates that grassroots action can stop corporate interests from profiteering on water,” said Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “This win, combined with the failure of RWE to efficiently and affordably deliver water to the residents of Felton is yet another example of why water utilities should be managed by the public. Felton’s victory should inspire other communities suffering from the effects of privatization to take back their water systems.” Read More

see also: Small California Town Overthrows Corporate Giant for Control of Water || Previous Coverage: Felton Community Resists Water Giant (June 21, 2007) || Felton Passes Measure to Take Back Water Utility (July 26, 2005)