Carson Decides on Whether to Give City Clerk Jim Dear the Boot p. 5 Beyond #OscarsSoWhite: Hashtag Cracks the Surface p. 14
Homeless by the Bay
Are Intentional Encampments the Cure? Story and photos by David Bacon: Special Report
—Terelle Jerricks, Managing Editor
NATIONAL REPORT
M
ichael Lee had seriously underestimated the cost of living in the nation’s most expensive city. This past May he started living on the streets of San Francisco. Lee, who came to the Bay Area from Las Vegas seeking medical treatment, searched for cheap, temporary housing in some of San Francisco’s most affordable neighborhoods. “I was under the impression the rent was $300 a month, and I brought the resources for 60 days,” he said. “I was going to go back to Las Vegas afterwards and go back to work. But the first place I walked into, they told me it was $300 a week. The next was $400 a week, and then $500. People were laughing at me.…So I wound up living on the streets.” Lee soon heard of a large encampment in downtown Berkeley that had been established by homeless activists to protest the U.S. Postal Service’s plan to sell the a historic post office building. So he moved across the bay and [See Intentional, page 3]
Feeling The Bern:
Dem Primary Heats Up
February 18 - March 2, 2016
[See Bernie, page 10]
Liberty City is the camp outside the old Berkeley City Hall, which residents call an occupation. It was a protest against the Berkeley City Council passing an anti-homeless ordinance.
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor Following a stunning 22-point victory in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary on Feb. 9, the largest in history, Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign is continuing to surge. There’s a growing sense of something historic underway, a sea-change in politics that will change the landscape, no matter who wins the nomination or the election. “We represent folks who really are about a change Democratic Party structure,” said former Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell, who’s serving on Sanders’ campaign advisory committee. Sanders and Farrell started in the same place—as college students, as members of the Congress of Racial Equality, CORE, a touchstone for many younger activists today. “I was one of the CORE folks who chose to participate in the Freedom Rides in the summer of 1961,” Farrell said. “Bernie was part of the CORE cadre up in Chicago at the University, that was also involved in some very important work that CORE people were doing across the country—testing the availability of housing.”
The Local Publication You Actually Read
The San Francisco Bay Area has long been considered a bastion of progressive ideals. Since the technology sector has become the main engine of the its economic growth, income inequality, the lack of affordable housing and a pattern of gentrification have turned it into a full gallop, from a slow creep. It presents a possible look into the future for Los Angeles Harbor Area residents.
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