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Greetings!
Wishing you a blessed observance of the Tritium and a Happy Easter!
This newsletter has important articles about
* Battle for Affordable Housing in Pleasanton
* Release of "Plan Bay Area" Draft
* Caseloads of Public Defender Attorneys
* New Efforts for Middle East Peace
Brief Links contains links to some very worthwhile reading.
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Upcoming Events
Friday, March 29, 6:30 A.M.Walk to Protest Nuclear War and Waste, See http://epicalc.org/Walk one mile to join mass rally held annually on Good Friday in front of Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab. Rally will last a few hours. Keynote address by Rev Phil Lawson.
Thursday, April 4, 7:00 P.M.
Social Justice Committee meeting
"Cry Room", St. Elisabeth Seton church
Monday, April 22, 6:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Contra Costa County Plan Bay Area Open House 6:00 - 7:30 P.M. Public Hearing 7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Marriott Hotel, 2355 North Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA
Wednesday, May 1. 6:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Alameda County Plan Bay Area Open House 6:00 - 7:30 P.M. Public Hearing 7:00 - 9:00 P.M.
Mirage Ballroom, 4100 Peralta Blvd., Fremont, CA, 94536
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Poor People's Neglected Right to Counsel
"It turns out there is a gulf between the 1963 promise [of the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Gideon v. Wainwright] and the 2013 reality. It turns out one lawyer can be expected to try 400, 500, 600 cases a year. It turns out public defenders are so underfunded and overwhelmed it is not uncommon for a defendant to meet his attorney for the first time in court. It turns out the situation is so dire that in at least one jurisdiction a judge pressed tax attorneys and property lawyers into service in criminal court. It turns out poor people's justice is to justice as monkey business is to business."
Excerpt from a column in the Tri-Valley Times on March 18 written by Leonard Pitts Jr originally appearing in the Miami Herald.
The column in its entirety is here . |
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New Efforts for Peace in the Middle East
Obama Speech in Jerusalem
Here are some of the central points President Obama made in his speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center, March 21:
* Israel has no greater friend than the United States and he personally will never forsake Israel.
* Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish state in peace and security, accepted by its neighbors and the world. "Israel is not going anywhere," he said. "So long as there is a United States of America, you are not alone."
* The president will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, but "we have to do everything we can to resolve this diplomatically."
* Peace is necessary: "The only path to security - the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish democratic state is through the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state."
* Peace is just: The right of Palestinians to self-determination "must also be recognized... It's not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished or when Palestinian farmers cannot farm their land. Settlements are counterproductive to peace. Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer."
* Peace is possible: "Negotiations will be necessary, but there is little secret about where they must lead - two states for two peoples."
* Israel does have a partner in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Catholics Confront Global Poverty webcast
On May 22 Catholics Confront Global Poverty held a webcast entitled "Promoting Human Life and Dignity in the Year of Faith: Pursuing Peace in the Holy Land." Here is a recording of the webcast. |
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Action Alerts
Please visit, call and/or write your Representative and Senators while they are in their home districts until April 6 to work for a just plan for funding the government in FY2014 (October 1, 2013 - September 30, 2014).
NETWORK continues to say:
* Increase revenue
* Cut Pentagon spending - even more
* Protect people at the margins (the elderly, children, those with disabilities) by ensuring basic needs are met (particularly food, shelter, healthcare and all that allows them to live with dignity)
If you agree, you can find our alert and sample message here.
Please also try to call and/or visit the district offices of your members of Congress. You can find information about your elected officials hereSee Legislative alerts and updates for further action alerts. |
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Battle for Affordable Housing in Pleasanton Continues
At the Housing Commission meeting on March 21 the commission members voted unanimously to reject the staff recommendation to accept an offer of more affordable housing units that were actually less affordable. The matter at hand was an Affordable Housing Agreement proposed for the 305-unit apartment complex located on 8.4 acres of the California Center property (CARR America). At their February 21 meeting the commission expressed dissatisfaction with the developer's proposal (Option 1) and asked staff to meet with them again. Staff came back recommending Option 2:
Summary of California Center Affordability Options Unit Type Option 1 Option 2
Unit Type 50% 80% 100% Total 50% 80% 100% Total Studio 5 0 0 5 5 3 8 16
1-Bedrm 5 5 5 15 3 4 5 12
2-Bedrm 0 6 0 6 0 4 6 10
3-Bedrm 0 10 0 10 0 4 4 8
Total 10 21 5 36 8 15 23 36
This table shows numbers of affordable units at 50%, 80% and 100% AMI levels of affordability. AMI stands for "Area Median Income" which is a statistic issued by the federal government each year throughout the country by region (Pleasanton is in the Oakland-Fremont Statistical Area which includes the counties of Alameda and Contra Costa). The AMI is generally used as the basis for calculating affordability levels.
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Draft of Plan Bay Area Released for Comment
The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) on March 22 released the Draft Plan Bay Area. Nearly three years in the making, Plan Bay Area is an integrated long-range transportation and land-use/housing plan that will support a growing economy, provide more housing and transportation choices, and reduce transportation-related pollution in the San Francisco Bay Area. The effort grew out of the California Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008 (California Senate Bill 375, Steinberg). [If you have trouble accessing this PDF copy and paste this in your browser:
The chapters are
Supplemental documents are
Plan Bay Area will be updated every four years to reflect new information and emerging priorities.
MTC and ABAG have scheduled public hearings in each of the nine Bay Area counties for comment on Draft Plan Bay Area (see Upcoming Events for April 22 and May 1). Each public hearing will include an open house slated for the same evening to give Bay Area residents an opportunity to view displays and ask questions about the draft plan. Those interested can stay for a public hearing to provide oral comments. For those unable to stay for the public hearing, a comment station will be open throughout the evening. Copies of the draft plan will be available for download at OneBayArea.org, and will be mailed to select public libraries in all nine counties.
Members of the public are also encouraged to view and comment on the draft plan online through Plan Bay Area Town Hall, which invites comments from residents on each chapter of the draft document. Comments will be reviewed by officials from both agencies as they consider the adoption of the final Plan in summer 2013. Comments may also be emailed to info@onebayarea.org.
TransForm is a nonprofit organization working for improved public transportation and "walkable communities" that has participated in discussions leading to the draft document and will be preparing analyses of it. Go to http://transformca.org/ and click on EMAIL SIGN UP in the left column to receive these analyses as they are completed.
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Brief Links
Pope urges religions, those with no church to ally for justice, link 1
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX about peace, government, employment, agriculture - an interview with radical activist S. Brian Willson from The Sun Magazine, link 2
News about War Lord in Democratic Republic of Congo from Africa Faith and Justice Network, http://www.afjn.org/
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