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Key Moment! Join Anti-Drilling FaceBook Page
by Eric Brooks 30 Apr '10

30 Apr '10

Join the FaceBook page 1,000,000 Strong Against Offshore Drilling http://www.facebook.com/dontdrill Offshore Drilling is bad for the planet, bad for people and bad for the economy. Take action: Send a message to Obama: http://350.org/dont-drill Then join us as we get work on clean energy in our communities! http://350.org/Oct10

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Why faregate/pay-machine overhaul in budget crisis?!
by Eric Brooks 09 Apr '10

09 Apr '10

Hi all, See this article about a complete (I would guess expensive) overhaul of fairgates and pay machines, which could clearly wait for better times; at the same time that Muni is proposing fare hikes and service cuts. Outrageous. http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/under-the-dome/Construction-begins-… Construction begins on Muni faregate replacement By: Will Reisman <http://www.sfexaminer.com/bios/41456417.html> Examiner Staff Writer 04/09/10 10:45 AM PDT Muni riders traveling in San Francisco downtown Metro stations will have to deal with some construction over the next eight months, starting Monday at the Embarcadero Station. The Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, is set to begin an extensive project to replace all of its existing faregates and swing gates, while installing new ticket vending machines. The first phase of construction will take place from April 12 to April 16 at the Montgomery Station. The faregate replacement project coincides with Muni's push to transition from its existing fare methods to the new TransLink --- soon to be called Clipper <http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/under-the-dome/Timetable-set-up-for…> --- card, a payment method that will one day be available on all 26 of the Bay Area's transit agencies. Read more at the San Francisco Examiner: http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/under-the-dome/Construction-begins-…

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Caltrain faces deep cuts, perhaps even closure
by Eric Brooks 02 Apr '10

02 Apr '10

Did any pubic officials give any of us -any- warning about this whatsoever???? http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2010/04/01/caltrain-faces-deep-cuts-perhaps-ev… Caltrain faces deep cuts, perhaps even closure 04.01.10 - 3:04 pm | Steven T. Jones <http://www.sfbg.com/category/author/steven-t-jones> | (0) Serious doubt was cast over the future of Caltrain <http://www.caltrain.com/index.html> today, with this vital commuter rail link threatened by the same funding cutbacks that are hobbling other regional transit agencies. The joint-powers agency might be forced to cut its service in half this summer -- probably by eliminating night and weekend service -- or perhaps even shutting the system down. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is in a fiscal emergency and moving ahead with service cuts and small but controversial revenue enhancements, all approved Tuesday <http://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/03/30/mta-board-votes-to-extend-fiscal-emerg…> by its Board of Directors, and the nearby San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) are in similarly desperate straits. Those three agencies run Caltrain, and all have had to scale back their funding commitments in order to preserve bus and light rail services in their core communities. "We're rapidly approaching a cliff," Caltrain CEO Mike Scanlon told the Caltrain Board of Directors today, according to the San Mateo Times <http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county/ci_14802053>. "It's going to be very, very painful. It's probably going to force people back on congested freeways." Caltrain spokesperson Mark Simon told the Guardian that the agency is fully funded through the current fiscal year that ends June 30, but after that, "I don't know how long we can survive." "I don't think I need to tell someone at the San Francisco Bay Guardian how bad things are at the SFMTA," he said, adding that the situation is as bad or worse at the other two agencies, and that Caltrain has no other sources of operating revenue. "That issue has come to a head and it's come to a head because the state has zeroed out how much money it gives to public transit," Simon told us. "What's really heartbreaking is that this is a time when we should be adding service." Indeed, Caltrain has been moving ahead with plans to electrify its track, which would increase train speed and therefore system capacity while polluting less. But while it seeks federal grants for that capital project, the operating funds that have traditionally come from the state via SFMTA, VTA, and SamTrans have dried up (state and federal transportation funds are strictly divided between capital and operating funds). Unlike Caltrain, SFMTA and many other transit agencies have the authority to put general tax measures on the ballot to fund transit services, but so far in San Francisco, neither Mayor Gavin Newsom nor the seven SFMTA board members he appointed have shown any leadership is doing so. ###

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Action: Stop EU Calling Palm Plantations 'Forests'
by Eric Brooks 05 Feb '10

05 Feb '10

info(a)regenwald.org wrote: Stop the EU Commission from forcing biodiesel from palm oil on EU countries. Dear friends, A leaked draft EU document shows that the Commission would like to rename palm oil plantations as “forest” in order that biodiesel from palm oil plantations can still meet EU biofuels sustainability criteria. Palm oil expansion is a major cause of tropical rainforest destruction and biodiesel from palm oil can easily cause more greenhouse gas emissions that the fossil fuel it is meant to replace. Please email the new energy and environment Commissioners and ask them to amend this document to give a clear message to member states that biodiesel from palm oil has no role to play in a sustainable EU energy mix. The alert can be found at http://www.rainforest-rescue.org/protestaktion.php?id=514 Many thanks. Best regards, Reinhard Behrend Rettet den Regenwald e. V. Friedhofsweg 28 22337 Hamburg Germany info(a)regenwald.org http://www.rainforest-rescue.org

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Vote Now! Chronicle Poll: Clean Power or PG&E!
by Eric Brooks 04 Feb '10

04 Feb '10

Hi all, Today's Chronicle has a poll asking whether San Francisco and Marin should move forward with Community Choice/CleanPowerSF. (In the poll, they call it "public power".) Of course choose the third option: "Yes, and San Francisco should too". Vote Now at: http://www.sfgate.com/polls/qlist.shtml?/polls/2010/02/04/public , or below in the article's left sidebar. Make your voice heard! Please Vote now and forward on to others that want a clean energy future and local green jobs! In addition to any computers you have, you can also vote from smart phones and PDAs; one vote per machine. PS: PG&E will probably ask their employees to vote from any computers they have so its really important that we show strong support for Community Choice/CleanPowerSF and Public Power today! PPS: The article has great news about Marin Clean Energy moving forward. Marin County to provide power, oust PG&E David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer <mailto:dbaker@sfchronicle.com> Marin County is poised to jump into the public power business, despite fierce opposition from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. The Question Should Marin County begin providing public power? Yes, way out of the PG&E monopoly No, it will wind up costing more And San Francisco should too View Results <http://www.sfgate.com/polls/result.shtml?/polls/2010/02/04/public> Disclaimer <http://www.sfgate.com/polls/disclaimer.shtml> More Polls » <http://www.sfgate.com/polls/> GET QUOTE Symbol Lookup <http://finance.sfgate.com/hearst?Account=sfgate&Page=LOOKUP> MORE BUSINESS * House Democrats challenge Comcast, NBC on deal <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/04/financial/f0322…> 02.04.10 * World markets plunge on European debt fears <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/03/financial/f1905…> 02.04.10 * Shell to cut more jobs as earnings disappoint <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/02/03/financial/f2341…> 02.04.10 In a series of votes tonight, officials with the Marin Energy Authority are expected to take some of the last key steps necessary to start providing electricity to many of the county's residents and businesses, taking over a role now filled by PG&E. The organization is a joint-powers authority formed by the county and all of its cities except Corte Madera, Larkspur, Novato and Ross. The authority's board is scheduled to vote tonight on a proposed contract with Shell Energy North America to line up wholesale electricity supplies from power plants, wind farms and solar facilities. The board also is scheduled to set the authority's electricity rates, matching PG&E's rates for most customers. "This is the final seal on a lot of the work we've been doing," said Dawn Weisz, the authority's interim director. "We've been working on this for seven years." If all goes as planned, the Marin Energy Authority would start supplying electricity to some customers in May. It would be state's first example of a new kind of public power, known as community choice aggregation. Created by a state law in 2002, community choice allows towns, cities or counties to buy electricity for their residents, while traditional utility companies such as PG&E continue to own and operate the electrical grid. San Francisco is developing its community choice aggregation system. "I'm just totally thrilled that it's finally happening," said Paul Fenn, who drafted the law and now helps communities adopt community choice aggregation. "This is a very big thing." But Marin's plan still faces hurdles placed in its path by PG&E. The utility, based in San Francisco, argues that Marin residents will end up paying more for power in the long run if the authority moves forward. PG&E also has complained that, under California's laws, the authority should have performed an environmental impact report before setting up its system. PG&E has funded an initiative on the June ballot that would make it far harder for anyone to adopt community choice aggregation in the future. Although the initiative would come too late to stop Marin, it could complicate any efforts by the Marin Energy Authority to expand. Finally, PG&E has threatened not to deliver electricity to the authority over the utility's power lines. "We are obligated to not deliver power if we believe that (the authority) is not complying with (community choice aggregation) tariffs and the law," said PG&E spokeswoman Katie Romans. But the community choice aggregation law explicitly requires utilities to cooperate with communities that adopt the system, said Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan, who also serves as the energy authority's chairman. PG&E's threat, he said, "is patently illegal, but they don't seem to care." E-mail David R. Baker at dbaker(a)sfchronicle.com <mailto:dbaker@sfchronicle.com>. This article appeared on page *D - 1* of the San Francisco Chronicle Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/04/BUN81BS696.DTL&… <http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/04/BUN81BS696.DTL&…> When this email was sent, we were ahead. The Question Should Marin County begin providing public power? Yes, way out of the PG&E monopoly (143) 35% No, it will wind up costing more(93) 23% And San Francisco should too(170) 42% Total Votes: 406 Refresh Results <http://www.sfgate.com/polls/result.shtml?/polls/2010/02/04/public> Return to Vote <http://www.sfgate.com/polls/qlist.shtml?/polls/2010/02/04/public>

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Forum and Speakout on the Future of KPFA
by Ann Garrison 30 Jan '10

30 Jan '10

Steve Zeltzer asked me to speak for about 10 minutes at the outset of this forum, next Wednesday, 02.03 on KPFA, along with Jack Heyman, Riva Enteen, and Dennis Bernstein, after which there'll be an open mike speak-out. Steve also asked me to write something addressing the "Whose station, whose news . . .to what end?" question for the SF Bay View and I'm working on that right now. I hope to have time to include an idea Steve Zletzer and I agreed on yesterday---that KPFA needs a regular show focussed on Bay Area metropolitan transportation issues and their larger context. Especailly now. Would the SF Greens---meaning the CC, or some sort of consensus, like to join the list of groups endorsing this 02/03 event, with the Labor Video Coalition and Peace'n Freedom Party? (Thus far.) Forum and Speakout on the Future of KPFA: Whose station, whose news, whose stories and voices, produced by whom, to what end? February 3, 2010 Wed 7:00 PM 522 Valencia St./16th St. San Francisco, CA Initial Speakers: Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10 Riva Enteen, Past Chair KPFA Local Station Board Ann Garrison, Independent Journalist, Green Party activist Dennis Bernstein, Producer, KPFA Flashpoints Endorsed by Labor Video Project Peace and Freedom Party San Francisco San Francisco Bay View Newspaper For Information call (415)867-0628 --A.

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Public Citizen Petition vs Corporate Free Speech
by Eric Brooks 22 Jan '10

22 Jan '10

As we told you in an email this morning, the Supreme Court today allowed corporations to use their immense wealth to take over our elections. *The court has put our democracy up for sale.* Public Citizen is launching a historic campaign to pass a constitutional amendment to restore people to the center of the political process. Join our grassroots mobilization to take back our democracy. The more people who join, the more power we have to fight a corporate takeover. *Forward this email to everyone you know who recognizes that letting unlimited corporate cash into our elections will be a catastrophe.* Public Citizen President Robert Weissman <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2B8g2q9jpbbCv3T25B%…>Click here to watch a short video about the ruling and Public Citizen's response to it. And sign our petition calling for a constitutional amendment to prevent corporate money from overwhelming our democracy. <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=iUoKM2%2F8DQhNQ22O%2…> The shocking decision in /Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission/ struck down 60 years of legal precedent prohibiting corporations from making campaign expenditures to attack or support political candidates. The court ruled that the First Amendment - meant to protect the speech of actual human beings - gives for-profit corporations the right to influence elections. *People or corporations?* Corporations are not human beings. Corporations should not be able to use their vast financial power to drown out the voices of real people. *Forward this email to friends, family, neighbors and coworkers to let them know about our campaign to fight unfettered corporate power.* Then watch the video and sign the petition. <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Lv16WfMd9arlhbYiszSh…> Please help me spread the word and build a massive movement to save our democracy. *Forward this email. Watch the video. Sign the petition.* Thank you. Robert Weissman, President To get regular e-alerts about opportunities for activism and other ways to help with Public Citizen's work, sign up <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=hoBStHezXmNu6pF9YfOM…> for the Public Citizen Action Network. Contribute <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=2OxxpsKKZl2EolsrC3md…> | © 2010 Public Citizen | Take Action <http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=%2FanniHrNg5anE2pUpB…>

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Copenhagen Reports :)
by Eric Brooks 10 Dec '09

10 Dec '09

Hi all, Both deeply disappointing, but also some powerful uplifting things, are happening in Copenhagen. For video and text reports see: http://oneclimate.net/ and http://www.linktv.org/climatechange/live

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New Transit Fare Evasion Study Shows Inspectors Worthless
by Eric Brooks 04 Nov '09

04 Nov '09

Hi all, I just got through watching today's Municipal Transportation Agency commission hearing in which the MTA staff announced the release of its fare evasion study. The study shows the following key results: 1) The fare evasion rate is only 9.5% (costing the system about $22 million at most). 2) Even when MTA fare inspectors and SF Police engaged in highly focused and expensive 'saturation' enforcement actions at specific transit access points, the evasion rate was only lowered to about 4% (a 60% reduction) 3) Fines for fare evasion are now $75 - The previous, much higher fines for second and third offenses have been abandoned due to the difficulty of establishing prior evasions when writing a ticket. 4) People cited with fines only pay them 60% of the time. (A police chief describing the saturation actions, and MTA chief Nathaniel Ford, both admitted openly that these saturation actions do not pay for themselves in fine and fare revenues.) 5) The transit lines that experience the highest rates of fare evasion, also have some of the highest rates of low income and people of color ridership. MTA staff recommended enforcement at targeted locations to make enforcement more efficient. (This would absolutely result in biased racist and classist enforcement.) 6) 50% of riders boarding at back do not have proof of purchase. (Anyone who has ridden the bus frequently, knows that many of the people who board at the back without paying are doing so because they are too poor to pay the fare.) What all of these revelations show is that the revenue from punitively deploying fare inspectors and police enforcement will never exceed the actual cost of deploying the inspectors and police in the first place. The only way to achieve better results with this punitive model would be to -reduce- the number of inspectors and then more selectively target lines and transit stops on which the poorest riders and people of color access the system. On the other hand, simply enabling most riders who -can- pay, to much more easily buy fast passes and multi-month passes would likely bring in just as much revenue if not more, without paying any fare inspectors at all. And of course, -free- Muni, paid for with business and car taxes would solve the problem entirely. Finally, on an ominous note. MTA staff indicated that they will soon move to the Translink system for Muni passes. Translink is the system in which you carry an electronic card charged with funds for Muni riding (much like a phone card). Once this Translink system is put in place, poor people are going to have a much harder time circumventing the system so that they can ride free... It's been a while since we had a Transpo working group meeting. Let's do one soon to develop a response strategy based on this report. peace Eric B

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Fwd: Mark Leno and S.B. 792
by Ann Garrison 09 Sep '09

09 Sep '09

> CA State Senator Mark Leno just said, yet again, on the KPFA > Morning Show, that only 18 parkland acres > now used as a 49ers parking lot will go to Lennar with his CA State > Senate Bill 792, even after his own lead > legislative aide, Carlos Machado, told me yesterday that he can't > imagine what Leno's talking about and > sent me the map we've all working off, which says 23 acres, > including grassland (in the triangular section). > > This is the second time Leno's done this. Here's the KPFA News > piece about this that aired last Friday, in which > he said 18 acres and only the parking lot, just as he did this > morning, on the KPFA Morning Show, > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAHGg7L6128 > I'm calling AFSCME, the American Federation of Federal, State, > County, and Municipal Employees union about this, because we need people from outside San Francisco to call their Assembly members, to ask them to vote no. Otherwise the rest of the Assembly is likely to support Leno, just because it's his bill and they've got no idea what it's about. Anyone have a statewide Green Party network to notify about this?

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