Occupy DC Fights to Stop Eviction

Posted on June 6, 2012 by admin

Activists with Occupy DC outside Dawn Butler's home.

 

If evictions continue to be this costly there’s likely to be fewer of them.

Tuesday, law enforcement used no less than forty-five officers and thirty vehicles to evict a woman from her house in northeast D.C. For good measure, at least two officers carried assault rifles and at times a helicopter hovered above.

D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department mostly looked on and secured the area as a phalanx of U.S. Marshals dislodged activists who were attempting to prevent the eviction.

The U.S. Marshals, whose names and badge numbers were not visible, appeared to employ a strategy of maximum-force-with-minimal-paperwork, as evidenced by the absence of arrests despite numerous serious skirmishes.  Continue reading →

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Banks Don’t Need Homes, People Do: The Case of Deborah Harris

Posted on June 5, 2012 by admin

Occupy Our Homes activist Mike Isaacson in Chase's lobby

(A shorter version of this piece was published in Union City, the AFL-CIO Washington DC Metro Council’s newsletter.)

A sign in the lobby of JP Morgan Chase’s homeownership office in downtown D.C. read, “Banks don’t need homes, People do!” Sitting on the marble floor beside the sign was a member of Occupy Our Homes, an offshoot of Occupy DC which focuses on eviction protection.

Monday, as approximately 50 activists occupied the lobby and front of the building, Deborah Harris, a native Washingtonian and retired EMT with the D.C. Fire Department, was on the fifth floor trying to meet with Chase, something she’s been unable to do for the past year. Harris was joined by ten activists, including Occupy Our Homes’ Rooj Alwazir.

“They’re the reason for the unjust foreclosure,” Alwazir said of Chase, which foreclosed on Harris’ home before selling it in December 2009 to Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage lending giant.

Harris, who’s lived in her southeast D.C. home since 1995, fell behind on her mortgage payments as a result of an injury she suffered in 2007 while on the job.  Continue reading →

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D.C.’s Illegitimate Taxi Overhaul

Posted on May 31, 2012 by admin

Listen to The Taxi Link on WUST 1120 AM

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In their push to overhaul D.C.’s taxicab industry, District officials are ignoring the pleas of drivers, and the law.

According to the D.C. Code, the nine-member Taxicab Commission must have three industry representatives. But only Commissioner Stanley Tapscott is from the taxicab industry; and even he was prevented from voting on the sweeping changes approved last week requiring taxis older than seven years to be taken off the road.

There’s a good chance the Commission will soon be brought into compliance with the law thanks to legislation introduced by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh, chair of the Committee on the Environment Public Works and Transportation, which oversees the taxicab industry.

But instead of requiring the Commission to comply with existing law, Cheh, who’s a constitutional scholar, is attempting to amend the law such that it legitimizes the Commission’s practice of excluding taxi industry members. Continue reading →

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Who Should Be Honored on Memorial Day?

Posted on May 28, 2012 by admin

Maggie Martin

Listen to IVAW’s Maggie Martin on Voice of Russia Radio

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“No amount of medals, ribbons or flags can cover the amount of human suffering caused by these wars.”

With those words Maggie Martin, a sergeant who served two tours in Iraq, flung her war medals to the ground. More than 40 veterans did likewise in a ceremony outside the NATO summit in Chicago last weekend.

“It felt really liberating for me to be there with my fellow veterans and once again stand up publicly and say that we withdraw our consent,” Martin said on Voice of Russia Radio’s Capitol Correspondent, guest-hosted by TheFightBack‘s Pete Tucker.

She continued, “We’re sorry for [our] participation in those wars and we want to say that we don’t support them and that we’re standing in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq.” Continue reading →

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D.C. to host International AIDS Conference Amidst City’s Epidemic

Posted on May 25, 2012 by admin

Larry Bryant

Listen to Larry Bryant on Voice of Russia Radio

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It’s been more than twenty years since the International AIDS Conference was last held in the U.S. That’ll change in July when an expected 25,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries come to Washington, D.C.

The last International AIDS Conference held on U.S. soil took place in San Francisco in 1990, when individuals with HIV were denied entry into the country causing an international outcry. President Obama lifted the travel ban on HIV-positive individuals in 2009, paving the way for July’s gathering in D.C.

As the international community gathers this summer, it does so in a city which is experiencing an epidemic, where at least 3 percent of residents are infected with HIV, and far more in the city’s underserved communities.

According to Larry Bryant, national field organizer for Housing Works and co-chair of DC Fights Back, some District officials have taken a wait-and-see approach to dealing with the epidemic. Bryant said their mindset seems to be, “if we wait long enough the problem will go away.” They may be right.  Continue reading →

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Prison Hunger Strikers Call for an End to Indefinite Solitary Confinement, Better Treatment

Posted on May 24, 2012 by admin

Listen to John Tuzcu on Voice of Russia Radio

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“The day I arrived I was… told that I was at Red Onion now and if I act up they would kill me and there was nothing anyone could or would do about it.” – 1999 Prisoner statement to Human Rights Watch

More than 40 prisoners began a hunger strike Tuesday to protest their treatment at a remote super-maximum security prison in southwest Virginia.

Red Onion State Prison has come under scrutiny of late for possible human rights abuses, particularly surrounding its use of indefinite solitary confinement, a practice which the hunger strikers are protesting.

According to a list of ten demands posted at the website of a newly formed group, Solidarity with Virginia Prison Hunger Strikers, the prisoners are also calling for: proper food, and more of it; better communication with prison officials, including the ability to file grievances; visitations by “third-party neutral observers”; improved sanitary conditions; access to medical care, as well as a monthly haircut.

The prisoners’ tenth demand is that there “be no reprisals for any of the participants in the Hunger Strike.” Continue reading →

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Ralph Nader Talks Independent Media and Pacifica Radio

Posted on May 19, 2012 by admin

Portrait of Ralph Nader by Robert Shetterly

Listen to interview with Ralph Nader on WPFW Pacifica Radio

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Interview by Pete Tucker, written report by Chris Lewis (@Chris_Lewis_)

NPR is supposed to be full of liberals, right? Consumer advocate Ralph Nader would beg to differ. “Progressive leaders can’t get on public radio,” he said last week on WPFW Pacifica Radio. “The right wing gets on far more, because they’re afraid of the right wing. Public radio knows the right wing can stir it up in Congress.”

Nader spoke on the importance of Pacifica Radio and other independent media with WPFW Local Station Board chair Tony Norman and LSB member Pete Tucker.

“Just look at the news and look at the mainstream media and what is not covered,” he said. Conventional news outlets fail to explore the contradictions in American society, according to Nader. Continue reading →

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Alexandria’s Trail of Tears

Posted on May 16, 2012 by admin

Edwin Pineda, 10, testfies before the Alexandria City Council

Listen to Edwin Pineda and others testify

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This world was made by god for every human being, not only for the rich and other companies like JBG.  – Edwin Pineda, age 10

“This is a watershed moment for the Council,” community activist Ernie Lehmann said in testimony before the Alexandria City Council. “Will they bow to the profit motive of the developers or to the needs of the people?”

Saturday, the Alexandria City Council voted 6-0, with one abstention, to approve a plan that demolishes 2,475 apartments in Alexandria’s diverse West End community in the Beauregard area. The now-approved Beauregard Small Area Plan allows JBG and four other developers to move forward with the construction of 12.4 million square feet of development, most of it upscale housing.

In addition to demonstrations, the all-day hearing in the packed Council chamber saw a woman return to testify not long after she taken out on a stretcher after fainting. The heated hearing also saw two developer representatives at times all but running what was ostensibly a public hearing of the Alexandria City Council. Continue reading →

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Checking In With Occupy DC

Posted on May 10, 2012 by admin

Listen to occupiers Rooj Alwazir, Jason McGaughey and Justin Rodriguez on Voice of Russia Radio  

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“In a way I’m kind of happy the eviction happened,” said Rooj Alwazir, an organizer with Occupy DC, which was forcefully evicted from its K Street encampment at McPherson Square in February.

“Right now we’re shifting from just the encampment… to actually organizing with communities and learning how we can build people power,” Alwazir, 24, said last week on Voice of Russia’s Capitol Correspondent, guest-hosted by TheFightBack‘s Pete Tucker.

A member of Occupy Our Homes, an off-shoot of Occupy DC which focuses on home foreclosure defense, Alwazir discussed the case of Bertina Jones, a Prince George’s County homeowner who was slated to be evicted. Continue reading →

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West End Resident Hector Pineda, Planning Commissioner Donna Fossum Debate Development and Displacement

Posted on May 9, 2012 by admin

Present West End housing. Photo courtesy of JBG

Listen to West End resident Hector Pineda debate Alexandria Planning Commission’s Donna Fossum on Voice of Russia Radio

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Interview by Pete Tucker, written report by Chris Lewis (@Chris_Lewis_)

Hold on to your houses.

In northern Virginia, some residents are trying to do just that. On May 12th, Alexandria’s City Council will vote on a plan put forth by five area real estate companies to redevelop the city’s Beauregard area in the West End, a pocket of Alexandria with a reputation for diversity and affordability. Some residents fear losing their homes—the plan, led by Maryland-based developer JBG , calls for demolishing 2,475 units of housing and replacing them with denser and pricier apartments.

As the Council prepares to vote debate has flared over the merits of the proposal. In a Sunday feature, the Washington Post reported: “The stakes are high not only because the plan would make over the neighborhood but also, some argue, because it would more broadly influence who can afford to live in this increasingly affluent inside-the-Beltway city.” Last week on Capital Correspondent, TheFightBack’s Pete Tucker hosted a discussion on the development plan.

“This plan, it’s a mess,” said Hector Pineda, a resident of the area and president of the Beauregard Tenants Association. If the plan passes in its present form, Pineda’s home is slated to be demolished.  Continue reading →

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