Coalition for Economic Survival
CES in the News

Los Angeles Mayoral Election Update
May 2013

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
Los Angeles Mayoral Election News

May 2013

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES Organizing Times Online

An occasional email newsletter reporting on the
activities of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES)

Victory for Workers and Customers
CES Supports New Waste
Hauling Plan Approved by
LA City Council

On April 24, the Los Angeles City Council overwhelmingly approved a proposal to change how private trash haulers collect garbage at businesses and apartment buildings. The proposal was advocated for and supported by unions, environmental and community groups.

CES testified in support of the plan, together with other members of LAANE's Don't Waste LA Campaign which led this successful effort, such as Teamsters Local 396, Southern Christian Leadership Conference of SoCal, Sierra Club, Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice and others.

The Council voted to establish an "exclusive franchise" system, which would carve up the city into 11 zones, each served by one trash company. CES supported this environmentally progressive plan believing it will help stem rate hikes which could lead to igniting new battles over landlord calls for rent increase pass throughs.

CES & Allies Continue
Legal Fight Against
Court Closures

CES is a party in a new State Court of Appeals lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles County Superior Court and the state. The legal action challenges the plan to cut court costs by reducing the number of courts handling landlord disputes to five from 26, thus shutting the courthouse doors on many of the county's most vulnerable residents.

The lawsuit and appeal was filed by the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the Western Center on Law and Poverty, and the Disability Rights Legal Center on behalf of the Coalition for Economic Survival, People Organized for Westside Renewal, Union de Vecinos, the Independent Living Center of Southern California and several impacted individuals.

The appeal was filed in response to a federal judge who threw out our lawsuit without ruling on the merits of the case, based on the judge believing the Federal Courts had no jurisdiction on the matter.

CES HUD Tenant Leaders
Meet to Save Affordable
Housing

On Saturday, April 13th, CES' HUD Tenant Council leaders met to discuss strategies to preserve their HUD subsidized affordable housing.

The tenants came from a number of buildings from South Los Angeles to Venice, which are at-risk of losing affordability restrictions due to the possibility of a maturing HUD mortgage, the landlord prepaying the HUD subsidized mortgage, or the owner opting out of the project-based Section 8 rent subsidy contract.

Los Angeles Mayoral Election Update

CES Information Contained In
Possible Illegal Wendy Greuel
Emails

The Los Cerritos Community News just ran an article in which Brian Hews, the publisher of the newspaper, claims that "Greuel is running her mayoral campaign out of the Auditor/Contoller's Office of Los Angeles using taxpayer resources, a clear violation of California state law."

The newspaper obtained emails from Wendy Greuel's mayoral campaign they believe proves this charge. Contained in one of the emails was CES information from one of our email blasts that was distributed to Greuel's campaign operatives sent out from her LA City Controller's office.

Click Here to Read Full Article

CES Files Ethics Complaint Against
Landlord Contributor to Wendy
Greuel Mayoral Campaign

CES recently filed a complaint with the Los Angeles Ethics Commission based on the possibility of a developer providing illegal contributions to the Wendy Greuel mayoral campaign. CES wants the Ethic Commission to investigate $11,150 in donations made by the developer, members of his family and an employee to determine whether these contributions are money that was laundered by the developer in violation of the city's campaign finance laws.

CES had organized tenants in a 100 unit Sherman Oaks apartment complex who successfully stopped numerous attempts by this developer to convert the building to high priced condominiums, with the assistance from Neighborhood Legal Services of LA County.

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES in the News

March 2013

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES in the News

March 2013

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Federal Judge Rules Against Lawsuit to Stop the Closure and Consolidation of Los Angeles County Courts
But, Battle Will Continue...

Late yesterday (March 18th), a Federal court judge ruled that the Federal Courts had no right to intercede in State court matters ("abstention" doctrine). Thus, the lawsuit filed on behalf of the Coalition for Economic Survival, People Organized for Westside Renewal, Union de Vecinos, the Independent Living Center of Southern California and several impacted individuals to stop the closure and consolidation of Los Angeles County Superior was thrown out.

The judge ruled purely on the issue of abstention. He felt strongly that this was an issue that should go to either State court or the Federal Court of Appeals. But, he did not rule on the merits of our case. As a result, there is strong determination by the attorneys and plaintiffs to continue on.

Our attorneys at the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the Western Center on Law and Poverty and the Disability Rights Legal Center are weighing the next step to take. But, there will, most certainly, be a next step!

The courts cannot be allowed to move forward with this court closure and consolidation policy. The impact would be devastating to poor people and people living with disabilities.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES Organizing Times Online

An occasional email newsletter reporting on the
activities of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES)

Protestors Decry Planned Cuts at L.A. County Courts
In the coming months, the court system intends to shut eight regional courthouses and lay off hundreds of employees as it tries to close a budget gap.

By Hailey Branson-Potts

In the coming months, the Los Angeles County Superior Court is to enact a cost-cutting plan that includes the complete closure of eight regional courthouses, consolidations of court services and layoffs of hundreds of court employees.

"The unbalanced scales of justice are being further weighted against low-income and disabled people ... with this outrageous plan," said Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival.

Click Here to Read More

LA Eviction Court Closures
Prompt Federal Lawsuit

By Andrew Strickler - Friday, March 15, 2013

Law360, New York -- A group of Los Angeles nonprofits hit the county's superior court system with a federal lawsuit Thursday, claiming that the closure of all but five courtrooms for tenant eviction hearings would deal a "devastating blow" to low-income communities and the disabled.

Larry Gross, executive director for the Coalition for Economic Survival, one of the plaintiff organizations, said the closure of 21 of 26 neighborhood courtrooms - scheduled to begin Monday - would unfairly impact poor communities most in need of local access to courts.

"To have your day in court, you need a courtroom, and you need that courtroom to be accessible, and we see that the already unbalanced scales of justice will be further unbalanced by these closures," Gross told Law360 on Friday. "Our worry is we're going to see a situation where landlords are going to serve tenants with evictions when there is no legal justification and the tenants won't be able to respond or show up."

Click Here to Read More

David Cruz, host of KTLK radio's the David Cruz Show, interviews Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross on the National Low Income Housing Coalition report stating that a minimum wage worker in California must toil about 130 hours a week in order to feasibly afford a two-bedroom rental.

Click Here to Listen to the Radio Program

David Cruz, host of KTLK radio's the David Cruz Show, tells Coalition for Economic Survival Executive Director Larry Gross, that he's David's 'go to guy' when he wants to know wants going on in the streets. Cruz tells his audience that CES does "phenomenal work."

Click Here to Listen to the Radio Program

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES in the News

February 2013

* Greuel Trumpets Endorsement by Landlord Group

* Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) Expresses Big Concern
Over Landlord Group Endorsement of Wendy Greuel for L.A. Mayor

* LA Mayoral & City Council District 13 Candidates Finally Faced
With Questions on Protecting Rent Controlled Affordable Housing

* Will Mayoral Candidate Wendy Greuel
Turn Back Clock on Slum Housing Prevention?

* L.A. Mayoral Rivals Dinged for Favoring
Developers, Fueling Affordable-Housing Loss

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES in the News

February 2013

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
Los Angeles Election News

February 2013

CES Starting to Have Success in Getting LA Mayoral & City Council
Candidates to Tell Voters Exactly What They Are Going to Do To
Ensure Tenants' Rights, Prevent Displacement
& Preserve Existing Affordable Housing

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES in the News

January 2013 - #3

In CES' Ongoing Effort to Challenge LA Mayoral & City Council
Candidates to Tell Voters Exactly What They Are Going to Do To
Ensure Tenants' Rights, Prevent Displacement
& Preserve Existing Affordable Housing

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES in the News

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES in the News

Support the Work of CES

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES Organizing Times Online

An occasional email newsletter reporting on the
activities of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & NEW YEAR FROM CES!

IRIS from Cirque du Soleil - A Journey Through The World of Cinema

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES Organizing Times Online

An occasional email newsletter reporting on the
activities of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & NEW YEAR FROM CES!

Council Member Eric Garcetti, author of the Foreclosure Eviction Ordinance, states the case of why this crucial law needs to be extended.

Crucial Tenant Foreclosure
Eviction Protections WON!
CES Applauds LA City Council's Extension of Tenant Eviction Protections to Non-Rent Controlled Foreclosed Properties

On December 11, 2012, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to extend the City's Foreclosure Eviction Ordinance to protect tenants living in rental properties not subject to the City's Rent Stabilization Ordinance (RSO) from eviction on the grounds of foreclosure for another year. This Ordinance prohibits lenders from evicting any tenants in the City merely because of foreclosure on their landlords. Tenants living in rent controlled units have had these protections.

Click Here to Read More

Show your support for the work of CES by making a year end Tax Deductible Donation Now!

The economic justice victories that CES has won over the years such as rent control, creating the city of West Hollywood and winning numerous laws to combat slum housing, secure tenants' rights and preserve affordable housing has only been possible with the generous financial support from people like you. As CES begins its 40th Anniversary year, help make 2013 another year of victories by donating now.

A broad based coalition of West Hollywood groups & activists from the LGBT, Russian-speaking and business communities, along with the local Democratic Party Club and CES have joined together to oppose a City Council term limit measure on West Hollywood's March 5, 2013 ballot.

The measure is supported by a host of Republican activists and a number of people who have run for City Council many times but can't get elected. Measure C was put on the ballot with the help of the same tea-party people who passed Proposition 8.

West Hollywood voters have previously rejected term limits as undemocratic.

CES Executive Director Larry Gross was just re-elected to the American Civil Liberties Union-Southern California's Board of Directors for a 3-year term, which will further build a bridge between this important organization and CES.

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

CLICK HERE

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
IN ACTION

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

As Black Friday Approaches, Strikes & Protests by Walmart Workers, Supporters Spread

Pico Rivera, Calif. workers who set off wave of walkouts in October walk off their jobs once again; one of 1,000 protests in run-up to Black Friday

PICO RIVERA, Calif., Nov 20, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- As Black Friday nears, Walmart workers and community supporters are beginning 1,000 nationwide non-violent protests leading up to and on Black Friday, including strikes, rallies, flash mobs, direct action and other efforts to inform customers about the illegal actions that Walmart has been taking against its workers. As part of the protests, Walmart workers walked off the job Tuesday morning in Pico Rivera, just outside Los Angeles, in protest against the company's attempts to silence workers who speak out for better jobs. In October, the workers in Pico Rivera were the first group of Walmart associates to go on strike in the company's history.

Last week, the 1,000 protests kicked-off with warehouse workers from Southern California and Walmart workers from San Leandro, Calif., Seattle, and Dallas walking off the job. Workers in the Washington DC area joined them yesterday in going on strike. Walmart workers from cities across the country have announced additional strikes in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Milwaukee, Washington DC, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Louisiana and Minnesota in the upcoming days.

"We're not trying to shut down business, we are supporting our co-workers who speak out for better working conditions," said Yesenia Yaber, a two-year Walmart Associate in Chicago, Ill. "These Associates have been speaking out for changes that will help all Associates help our families and make Walmart stores better places for our customers to shop. Yet, Walmart reacts by attempting to silence them. No one wants to strike, we want to work, but we can't continue under Walmart's threats and retaliation."

Workers' concerns about wages and staffing have been affirmed by newly uncovered company pay-plans exposed by the Huffington Post, poor sales reports and a new study on the retail industry. Huffington Post uncovered what reporters call "a rigid pay structure for hourly employees that makes it difficult for most to rise much beyond poverty-level wages." Meanwhile, last week's sales reports show that understaffing, which affects workers' scheduling and take-home pay, is also having an impact on company sales. Last week's sales report showed that Walmart's comp store sales are about half what competitors like Target reported this quarter, continuing a pattern of underperformance by the world's largest retailer.

"Walmart is doing everything in its power to attempt to silence those who speak out. But nothing--not even this baseless unfair labor practice charge--will stop us from speaking out," said Colby Harris, a Walmart associate from Lancaster, Texas, in response to Walmart's frivolous unfair labor charge and the number of charges filed by workers against the company. "Unfair labor is working full time and living in poverty. Unfair labor is seeing your health care premiums skyrocket year after year. Unfair labor is being denied the hours needed to support your family. Unfair labor is being punished for exercising your freedom of speech and association. Walmart workers know what unfair labor is--because we endure it every day. So until Walmart listens to our concerns, we will continue to speak out. We will continue to stand up when Walmart attempts to silence those who speak out. We will continue to demand respect."

As workers and community supporters call for changes at Walmart, a new report from the national public policy center Demos, shows that better jobs at Walmart and other large retailers would have an impact on our economy. A wage floor equivalent of $25,000 per year for a full-time, year-round employee for retailers with more than 1000 employees would lift 1.5 million retail workers and their families out of poverty or near poverty, add to economic growth, increase retail sales and create over 100,000 new jobs. The findings in the study prove there is a flaw in the conventional thinking by companies like Walmart that profits, low prices and decent wages cannot co-exist.

"Walmart has forgotten about families," said Larry Gross, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Survival in Los Angeles, Calif. "Thanksgiving day scheduling, poverty paychecks, and unaffordable healthcare are all evidence of Walmart's disregard for the 1.4 million workers that keep its doors open and shelves stocked. We should expect more from the country's largest employer."

Walmart workers have been speaking out about the company's manipulation of hours and benefits, efforts to try to keep people from working full-time and their discrimination against women and people of color, but rather than listening to the concerns facing 1.4 million Walmart workers, Walmart has attempted to silence them. Some workers have also been speaking out about the early start of Black Friday sales - on Thanksgiving Day -which will keep many retail workers from being able to spend the holiday with their families. Watch a video from Walmart workers on why they're standing up or follow the conversation on Twitter at #WalmartStrikers.

With so many Americans struggling to make ends meet and Walmart taking in $16 billion in profits and compensating its executives $10 million each, workers and community leaders have been calling on Walmart and Chairman Rob Walton to address the wage gap the company is creating. At the same time frontline Walmart workers are facing financial hardships, the Walton Family - heirs to the Walmart fortune - are the richest family in the country with more wealth than the bottom 42% of American families combined.

Countless civil rights, immigrant rights, women's rights and religious groups, including Color of Change, National Alliance of Latino, African and Caribbean Communities, Interfaith Worker Justice, and the National Organization of Women, are organizing their members in support of Walmart workers. Online, individuals have been adding support and planning protests on their own, starting new Facebook pages, groups and events. Through the Corporate Action Network, activists are "adopting" stores where they can inform shoppers about the struggles that Walmart workers are facing.

In October, OUR Walmart leaders held the first-ever strikes against the mega-retailer. At that time, workers walked off their jobs in more than 12 cities and with the support of national and local leaders, held protests at more than 200 stores. Since then, workers have walked off the job in Richmond, CA and Dallas, TX, and support for OUR Walmart, the associate organization calling for change, has continued to grow.

Striking warehouse workers, who move billions of dollars of merchandise for Walmart, joined the call to speak about the retaliation they have experienced for speaking out against unsafe working conditions, including extreme temperatures, broken and unsafe equipment and inadequate access to clean drinking water. The workers from the Inland Empire, outside of Los Angeles, held a 15-day strike that included a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage for safe jobs in September.

Energy around the calls for Walmart to change its treatment of workers and communities has been building. In just one year, OUR Walmart, the unique workers' organization founded by Walmart Associates, has grown from a group of 100 Walmart workers to an army of thousands of Associates in hundreds of stores across 43 states. Together, OUR Walmart members have been leading the way in calling for an end to double standards that are hurting workers, communities and our economy.

The alleged Mexican bribery scandal, uncovered by the New York Times, has shined a light on the failure of internal controls within Walmart that extend to significant breaches of compliance in stores and along the company's supply chain. The company is facing yet another gender discrimination lawsuit on behalf of 100,000 women in California and in Tennessee, and a wage theft class action suit in Chicago. In the company's warehousing system, in which Walmart has continually denied responsibility for the working conditions for tens of thousands of people who work for warehouses where they move billions of dollars of goods, workers are facing rampant wage theft and health and safety violations so extreme that they have led to an unprecedented $600,000 in fines. The Department of Labor fined a Walmart seafood supplier for wage and hour violations, and Human Rights Watch has spoken out about the failures of controls in regulating suppliers overseas, including a seafood supplier in Thailand where trafficking and debt bondage were cited.

Financial investors are also joining the call for Walmart to create better checks and balances, transparency and accountability that will protect workers and communities and strengthen the company. At the company's annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, OUR Walmart member Jackie Goebel brought a stadium full of shareholders to their feet applauding her call for an end to the short staffing that's hurting workers and customer service. Goebel was one of four Associate-shareholders who proposed a resolution calling for the reining in of executive pay. The resolution received unprecedented support from major pension funds that voted their shares against Walmart CEO and members of the board this June, amounting to a ten-fold increase and overall 1 in 3 shares not held by the Walton family against the company's leadership.

These widespread problems have also thwarted Walmart's plans for growth, particularly in urban markets. Calling the company a "bad actor," New York City mayoral candidates have all been outspoken in their opposition to Walmart entering the city without addressing labor and community relations' problems. This month, the city's largest developer announced an agreement with a union-grocery store at a site that Walmart had hoped would be its first location in New York. In Los Angeles, mayoral candidates are refusing to accept campaign donations from the deep pockets of Walmart, and in Boston, Walmart was forced to suspend its expansion into the city after facing significant community opposition.

Making Change at Walmart is a campaign challenging Walmart to help rebuild our economy and strengthen working families. Anchored by the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW), we are a coalition of Walmart associates, union members, small business owners, religious leaders, community organizations, women's advocacy groups, multi-ethnic coalitions, elected officials and ordinary citizens who believe that changing Walmart is vital for the future of our country.

SOURCE: Making Change at Walmart

CLICK HERE

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES Organizing Times Online

An occasional email newsletter reporting on the
activities of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES)

Thursday, November 13, 2012

Lobbying Effort Derails Plan for L.A. Tax on Real Estate Sales

Officials who were planning a measure that would tax property transactions to fund key services are now backing a sales tax hike. The switch would hit the working class harder.

By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times

If Los Angeles City Council members vote Tuesday to place a sales tax hike on next year's ballot, they will have delivered a major victory to the real estate industry.

The city's top budget official spent six months laying the groundwork for a March ballot measure that would have increased the tax on real estate sales, saying it would provide much needed revenue to a city in crisis.

But two weeks ago, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana abruptly changed course, working with council President Herb Wesson to abandon the real estate measure and push instead for a tax on retail sales, one that would generate twice as much money but also hit working-class Angelenos harder.

That shift followed furious efforts by the region's real estate lobby to kill the proposed tax on property transactions. Those groups sent mailers to voters attacking the idea. And behind the scenes, they presented city leaders with polling numbers saying voters would reject the real estate measure but handily approve a sales tax hike.

The machinations provide the latest example of special interest clout at City Hall. Last month, Councilman Ed Reyes confirmed that his strategy for developing new regulations for digital billboards was first drafted by an outdoor advertising company that is at risk of losing 79 electronic signs.

Harvey Englander, whose lobbying company represents a coalition of 10 real estate groups, said his clients were in "virtually every meeting and conversation" that his firm had with Santana on the tax plan. Those groups wanted to come up with a solution, he said, and not just be "the party of 'no.'" So they made the case that a general sales tax would do more to address the city's financial crisis while spreading the pain more evenly.

"We don't think Realtors should be the only ones to carry the burden. We think everyone should," Englander added.

Wesson unveiled his sales tax plan Oct. 30, a day before the vote to draft measures for the March 5 ballot. Advocates for working-class residents complained they were not consulted on the proposal, which would add a half-cent tax to every dollar in taxable sales.

"We have the real estate industry funding what is clearly not an unbiased third-party poll to provide cover for elected officials to do their bidding," said Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival. He assailed the proposal as harmful to low-income residents.

Wesson said the sales tax hike, if approved, would provide more than twice as much money as a real estate tax measure - effectively erasing next year's $216 -million budget shortfall. He offered few details about the origins of the proposal, saying he backed it after talking to people in "various political campaigns."

Asked to specifically identify them, Wesson spokesman Ed Johnson responded: "He talks to a lot of people."

Santana said it was "no secret" that he had been talking with Englander and the city's real estate groups over the last two months. But he downplayed their influence, saying the biggest factor in getting the sales tax hike on the ballot will probably be the fact that so many similar measures were approved in other cities in last week's election.

"We welcome a dialogue with anybody that wants to talk about it," he added.

Santana first recommended a real estate sales tax hike to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the council in April, as part of his three-year financial rescue plan. In that 52-page report, he called for two March ballot measures: a doubling of the tax on real estate sales and a hike in the parking tax from 10% to 15%. Together, he said, the measures would generate up to $150 million annually.

Real estate groups opposed the increase, saying it would wreak havoc in a city reeling from foreclosures and declining home values. They formed the nonprofit advocacy group Los Angeles Citizens Against Discriminatory Taxes, with Englander's firm as their representative.

At Santana's urging, the council voted in August to analyze the real estate and parking tax measures. He and Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry Miller discarded the idea of a general sales tax increase, saying such a move could send consumers outside the city.

"People vote with their dollars," Santana told the council at the time. "And ultimately, there would be an argument made that people would simply go to Glendale or to Beverly Hills or to ... another part of the county to purchase their items."

Real estate agents kept up the pressure, sending voters more than 100,000 pieces of mail denouncing the proposal. Laura Olhasso, speaking for three real estate groups, told the council the industry had a poll showing that 70% of voters opposed the real estate tax hike after learning the money would go toward public safety, street repairs, keeping city workers employed and avoiding municipal bankruptcy.

"We'd be happy to meet with you and show it to you so you can see it yourself," she told the council.

Santana again backed the real estate tax on Oct. 17. This time, he reworked it in an attempt to win over the real estate industry, promising that the tax increases would only apply to home sales worth more than $365,000.

Real estate boards oppose that plan too, Englander said. And they responded by offering more polling data.

A second poll commissioned by the industry concluded that a sales tax hike would garner support "in the high 50s" from likely voters - a much better response than the real estate measure, Englander said. A third found 64% of likely voters favored or were leaning toward a half-cent sales tax hike, one pitched as a way to preserve public safety.

Englander said he informed Wesson and Santana of the results. With the sales tax hike now on the verge of reaching the ballot, backers will need to find someone to help run the campaign.

Asked if he would be interested in the job, Englander responded: "Absolutely."

Join CES in Supporting the LA Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) in Efforts to Win an Effective & Fair Trash & Recycling Program That Doesn't Result in Higher Fees That Could Lead to Rent Increases

Sign LAANE's Petition Urging the City Council to
Clean Up Our Waste and Recycling System

For the last three years, LAANE and its environmental, community and labor partners have joined with small businesses, neighborhood councils and everyday Angelenos under the banner "Don't Waste LA" to call for changes in the broken waste and recycling system for our businesses and large apartment buildings. Now we need your help.

Many Angelenos don't even have the option to recycle where they live or in their workplaces and, as a result, we send over three million tons of trash to landfills and incinerators every year.

A majority of our council members have vowed to fix the system and have pledged their support for the solution that's best for Los Angeles - an exclusive franchise system with standards and accountability that will require waste companies to compete to do business in our city.

But waste companies, landlords, big business and their lobbyists are doing everything they can to prevent change. That's because, under an exclusive franchise, they'll have to meet standards that protect workers, communities and our environment, and they'll have to offer recycling service for all Angelenos at fair and transparent rates.

Sixty-two of eighty-eight cities in LA County, thirty one of thirty-four cities in Orange County, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland and countless other California cities operate under exclusive franchise cities. Now, it's up to us to ensure that special interests don't bully our city leaders against moving ahead and doing the right thing.

Please tell City Councilmembers Tom LaBonge, Paul Krekorian, Herb Wesson, Joe Buscaino and Jose Huizar to vote YES on an exclusive franchise for L.A.'s commercial and multifamily waste system.

They need to hear from all of us to ensure that they vote for all Angelenos, and not special interests, tomorrow Wednesday, November 14.

CLICK HERE

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES Organizing Times Online

An occasional email newsletter reporting on the
activities of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES)

(l to r: CES tenant leader Margaret Beaver, CES Organizer Lourdes Soto, CES Exec Dir Larry Gross, CRC Bd Member & Exec Dir Housing Rights Center Chancela Al-Mansour, CES Organizer Valerie Lizarraga, CES Lead Organizer Carlos Aguilar, CES Organizer Joel Montano, CES Organizer Gabriel Varela)

The Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) was a proud recipient of the California Reinvestment Coalition's prestigious community heroes 2012 CRA Panther Award. The award was presented to CES for its outstanding advocacy for tenants in Los Angeles and California on Thursday, November 8, 2012 at the La Serenata de Garibaldi Restaurant in Boyle Heights. Also honored were LA Voice and Montebello Housing Development Corporation. The California Reinvestment Coalition, which has 300 organizational members, advocates for the right of low-income communities and communities of color to have fair and equal access to banking and other financial services.

Friday, November 9, 2012

L.A. Housing Authority Rife with Fiscal Mismanagement, Audit Finds

The agency has done little to make sure money is properly spent and assets are accounted for, the report says. Officials say they will use the findings to guide reforms.

By Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles' housing authority, which runs on about $1 billion a year in taxpayer funds, is plagued by bad financial management that causes "questionable practices and poor decisions," according to an audit released Thursday by City Controller Wendy Greuel.

Greuel launched the audit last year amid an outcry over hefty taxpayer-funded restaurant tabs for agency officials and a $1-million-plus payout for the authority's fired executive director. The agency is responsible for sheltering about 75,000 of the city's neediest households.

A previous audit found instances of questionable spending by some agency officials, including double and triple billing for some travel and meal expenses. This audit, which looked at the agency's fiscal operations, did not uncover wrongdoing. But it did find that despite the authority's hefty budget and history of scandal going back decades, agency officials have done little to make sure money is properly managed.

Financial oversight was so lax, the audit found, that the agency's board of commissioners did not receive any financial statements or budget status reports during much of 2011 or the early part of 2012, except for one oral report last spring and one annual financial report that was presented nine months after the year had ended. A proposed budget presented to the board for 2012 was not balanced and contained contradictory statements.

"All of this suggests an agency that is out of control," said Greuel, a candidate for mayor. "The city cannot afford to continue spending its housing dollars irresponsibly."

One tenant advocate, Larry Gross, executive director of the L.A. Coalition for Economic Survival, said the lack of financial information given to the board and public was baffling.

"Whoever was on that board was clearly asleep at the wheel," he said. Many of the board members have been replaced in recent years.

Housing authority officials said they agreed with many of the audit's conclusions and will use the findings to guide reforms. Under recently hired Chief Executive Doug Guthrie, officials said they have already instituted a number of new practices, including financial training for all board members, stepped up financial reporting to the board and public, and the arrival of a new chief financial officer with expanded powers.

"We asked for this audit, we paid for the audit and we worked closely with the city controller's office" as the audit was underway, Guthrie said. "There's a lot of good stuff in the audit that helps us."

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa released a statement expressing support for Guthrie, who was hired last spring after the previous executive director, Rudolf Montiel, was fired and then paid $1.2 million to settle allegations that he was let go in retaliation for reporting improper spending by board members. Montiel had earlier drawn the ire of city leaders when his agency tried to evict nine tenants who protested the agency's policies outside his home.

"The housing authority has worked diligently to win back the trust of the people," Villaraigosa said.

But some City Council members expressed anger at the latest audit findings.

"There's a lot of problems over there, and obviously, the problems haven't gone away," said Councilman Dennis Zine, a candidate for controller. "Maybe it's time for the grand jury to investigate."

Zine also said he would like the City Council to have more authority over the agency. Under a hybrid governing structure, the mayor appoints the authority's seven board members, but the council lacks the ability to review spending decisions, a power it has over many other city departments.

The audit also found that the agency's list of assets contained at least $100 million worth of property that had been disposed of or no longer had much value, such as refrigerators and stoves that had been purchased in the 1970s. No inventory of its fixed assets had been performed in at least seven years.

In addition, the agency did not always follow its own rules when it came to awarding contracts to vendors, in one case allowing someone to sit on a bid selection panel after he had declared a conflict of interest.

CLICK HERE

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES Organizing Times Online

An occasional email newsletter reporting on the
activities of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES)

CES Support of Labor in the Fight to Protect Workers' Rights
* CES Joins Don't Waste LA & LAANE Entering the LA Waste Hauling Debate
* CES Helps Welcome Walmart Warehouse Workers After 50 Mile WalMarch for Justice
* CES Attends LA County Fed of Labor Delegate Congress & No on 32 Rally
* CES Participates in LA Building & Trades Council Protest of Non-Union Construction Site

CES Exec Dir Larry Gross Speaks at Don't Waste LA Coalition News Conference in Support of Best Plan to Ensure Landlords Are Not Hit With Huge Trash Fee Hikes & Tenants Don't Face Rent Hikes

CES entered the heated debate surrounding whether the City of LA should adopt an exclusive or non-exclusive trash pick-up system for businesses and apartment buildings. CES participated in a Don't Waste LA coalition news conference at LA City Hall on Sept 24, 2012, where a report showing that exclusive waste hauling franchises result in lower trash rates for the cities that have adopted this system was released. CES supports the exclusive franchise plan to ensure landlords are not hit with exorbitant rate hike that could lead to passing this cost on to their tenants in the form of rent increases. It would also ensure trash recycling and safer working conditions. The LA City Council will soon pick a system.

Click here for Don't Waste LA's waste hauling rate report.

Click to View More News Conference Photos

Marching warehouse workers and supporters were welcomed by union and community supporters, including CES, at a rally at LA City Hall on Sept 18, 2012, after walking 50 miles from the Inland Empire protesting for a safer workplace. They called it the "WalMarch," a 50-mile, 6-day walking protest to draw national attention to the deplorable working conditions inside Southern California warehouses that serve major retailers including Walmart. Workers are asking for basic yet critical improvements on the job: fans to combat working in hot weather, functional equipment, clean water, regular work breaks, and an end to unreasonable work quotas and poor safety conditions.

Click Here to View More Photos of Rally

Over 1,000 union workers and community organization allies, like the Coalition for Economic Survival, attended the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's Delegates Congress to kick off the campaign against Proposition 32 at downtown LA's Convention Center on Sept 20, 2012. Unions committed its member to take to the the phones and go door-to-door in hopes of stopping this new anti-worker measure on California's November ballot that would undermine Union's ability to protect workers' rights through the electoral process while it gives special exemptions to corporate special interests and Super PACs.

Click Here to View Union Delegates Congress Photos

Following the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's Delegates Congress on Sept 20, 2012, where over 1,000 union workers & community organization allies, like CES, attended and pledge to join the campaign against Proposition 32 delegates walked across the street to provide support on the picket line to the LA Building and Trades Council protesting a non-union construction site.

Click Here to View More Protest Photos

CLICK HERE

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Bill to Prohibit Landlords From Demanding that Tenants Pay Rent Only Online Passes California Legislature

Tenants in California are on the verge of a tremendous victory in securing important rights.

Earlier this year, after reading the Coalition for Economic Survival's E-Newsletters regarding CES' efforts to organize tenants in 34 apartment complexes owned by Jones and Jones Management Company throughout Los Angeles to oppose their landlords demands for their rent to only be paid online, California State Senator Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) responded by taking decisive action against this abuse.

State Sen. Ted Lieu

Senator Lieu introduced Senate Bill (SB) 1055 that would require landlords to continue to accept rent by check or money order.

Today, SB 1055 passed the California State Senate by a 37 to 0 vote.

On August 9th, the bill passed the State Assembly by a 77 to 0 vote.

"A growing number of landlords are no longer accepting checks or money orders from tenants," Lieu, D-Torrance, said about the bipartisan 38-0 vote in support of Senate Bill 1055. "Instead, they have begun to change rental agreements to require tenants - including the elderly, disabled and poor - to pay their rent online."

SB 1055 has now been sent to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature to allow the bill to be put into law starting in 2013. The Governor has not taken a position on the bill but he has roughly two weeks to sign the measure, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.

We ask that you contact Gov. Brown and urge that he sign SB 1055:

Gov. Jerry Brown

Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916)445-2841
Fax: (916)558-3160
Email: http://gov.ca.gov/m_contact.php

The Coalition for Economic Survival, along with the Western Center on Law & Poverty, are sponsors of the bill.

Last September tenants in the buildings owned by Jones and Jones Property Management were served with notices informing them that a new rent online only policy would begin on December 1, 2011.

The notice stated that the new rent policy was for the purposes of 'going green' to help the planet and save trees by eliminating paper checks and envelopes.

But, CES Executive Director Larry Gross stated, "We believe the only "going green" they're interested in is the going for more green dollar bills, which they believe will increase in the form of higher rents after evicting people for non-payment of rent who are unable to deal with the new online technology. This is more about greed than green."

After receiving the notice tenants sought and received assistance from the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES). CES helped to organize residents to oppose the new policy and contacted Bet Tzedek Legal Services who agreed to represent the tenants in a legal action against Jones and Jones.

Many of these tenants are over the age of 62 and have lived in their homes for a decade or more, and, thus, are paying the lowest rent.

In addition, many of these tenants do not own computers, are not computer literate, and are living on fixed incomes.

Tenant & CES Member Margaret Beavers

"I am 86 years old and I am computer illiterate," said Margaret Beavers, a resident a Crenshaw area Jones and Jones apartment since 1963, and a CES member. "I'd have to buy a computer and learn how to use it; at 86 I want to travel and do other things."

Gross added, "This policy was nothing more than a scheme to target the long-term, low-rent tenants for eviction to obtain higher rents."

Soon after AIMCO, the largest corporate landlord in the country, came up with it's own variation to this scheme. AIMCO started demanding that their tenants provide the corporate real estate giant personal bank information so as to be able to debit their bank accounts each month for their rent.

SB 1055 will prohibit these actions and provide tenants with a choice on how they prefer to pay their rent.

CES Action Helps Obtain Public Utilities Commission Directive to Calif Private Utilities & Their Contractors 'Use Lead-Based Paint Safe Work Practices!'

Calif Public Utilities Comm's Low Income Oversight Board

In January of this year, Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) Executive Director Larry Gross was appointed to the California Public Utilities Commission's (PUC) Low Income Oversight Board (LIOB). The LIOB advises the Commission on low-income electric, gas and water customer issues and to serve as a liaison for the Commission to low-income ratepayers and representatives.

One of the first actions Mr. Gross took in his capacity as a LIOB member was to request a drive along, last February, with Southern California Gas Company representatives to observe their contractors installing free energy saving devices to low income ratepayers. The Energy Savings Assistance Program (ESAP) is a statewide program in which all California investor-owned utilities (IOUs) provide no-cost energy efficient home improvements such as attic insulation, wall heaters, water heaters, weather-stripping and other home repairs to qualified low income households.

While observing a Gas Company contractor installing a wall heater in a South Los Angeles home, Mr. Gross noticed that paint, presumed to be lead-based, was being disturbed while the contractors were not performing the work using state and federally required lead-based paint safe work practices, thus violating the laws and putting workers in harms way. He also noticed that this household had small children living there who would be susceptible to lead poisoning the way the work was being performed.

Mr. Gross was granted his request to place the issue of ensuring that utility ESAP contractors use lead-based paint safe work practices on the next LIOB agenda. Support for this was received from his LIOB colleagues, including PUC Commissioner Timothy Simon, the Commissioner assigned to the LIOB. Board Member Gross was then able to secure a presentation to the LIOB by Linda Kite, Healthy Homes Collaborative Executive Director, a lead paint poison prevention expert. Ms. Kite's presentation was well received and she has since performed trainings for utility ESAP contractors to enable them to obtain Environmental Protection Agency- Repair, and Painting Program (EPA-RRP) certification to perform work safely around lead while improving energy efficiency in homes built before 1978.

More importantly was the fact that the California Public Utilities Commission, on May 10, 2012, in its "Decision Providing Guidance on 2013-2012 Energy Efficiency Portfolios and 2012 Marketing, Education and Outreach" adopted the following:

"The utilities are directed to work with Commission Staff on the workforce education and training taskforce to develop a data request template to be submitted by Staff as needed for periodic updates on the status of the utility's Sector Strategy activities. In their applications, the IOUs shall indicate how they currently address safety concerns regarding energy efficiency installations (e.g., lead paint and asbestos removal and natural gas combustion safety) through training, education, certification, participating contractor requirements, or other appropriate measures, and how they plan to address these issues in 2013-2014."

PUC Commissioner Catherine J.K. Sandoval indicated to Mr. Gross that this PUC directive to monitor and ensure that all California investor-owned utilities (which doesn't include municipal-owned utilities such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) make sure their contractors employ lead-based paint safe work practices was a direct result of Mr. Gross raising this issue with the LIOB. Commissioner Sandoval also stated that this issue was especially meaningful to her having been exposed to lead paint poisoning dangers growing up in an old apartment building in East Los Angeles.

Cost Saving Programs for California's Low-Income Utility Rate Payers

To Find Out More, Click on the Programs Listed Below:

California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) , provides eligible households a 20 percent discount on their electric and natural gas bills.

Energy Savings Assistance Program (ESAP) , provides no-cost weatherization services to low- income households such as attic insulation, energy efficient refrigerators, energy efficient furnaces, weatherstripping, caulking, low-flow showerheads, waterheater blankets, and door and building envelope repairs which reduce air infiltration.

Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA) - Families whose household income slightly exceeds the low-income energy program allowances will qualify to receive FERA discounts, which bills some of their electricity usage at a lower rate.

Federal Low Income Program (LIHEAP), a Federal low-income home energy assistance, energy crisis intervention, and low-income weatherization program.

Massive Numbers Protest
Wal-Mart in L.A.'s Chinatown

Thousands of union members and community organization supporters, including the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES), participated in an Anti-WalMart March and Rally in the Chinatown section of Los Angeles on June 30, 2012.

While the demonstration was protesting WalMart's general longtime anti-union, anti-worker actions, it also focused on the retail giant's intention to build a 33,000-square-foot store at Cesar Chavez and Grand Avenues in Chinatown. The Los Angeles City Council approved a moratorium on big-box stores in March, but WalMart was somehow granted building permits for the store just a day before the vote.

"Wal-Mart's chief product is poverty," said Maria Elena Durazo, executive secretary treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, one of the lead organizers of the event. "WalMart gets rich by keeping their workers poor. WalMart gets rich by taxpayers paying for the health care and well-being of their workers through Medicaid and food stamps."

A 2004 study by UC Berkeley's Labor Center found that WalMart employees cost California taxpayers about $86 million per year in health care and other public assistance costs.

"WalMart over its entire existence has had a history of poor labor employment practices," said UC Berkeley Labor Center Chair Ken Jacobs one of the study's authors. "It pays wage rates significantly below that of the unionized grocery industry."

The March began at Los Angeles State Historic Park and ended under the dragon gates at Broadway and Cesar Chavez Avenue the entrance to Chinatown where a rally took place with speeches from union and community leaders.

Grammy winners Ben Harper and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello also performed for the crowd.

And, while WalMart denies its workers decent wages and benefits such as healthcare insurance, last October, it was reported that three members of the family that owns Wal Mart, David, Christy and Jim Walton, were on the Fortune 400 list of the top 10 richest Americans, clocking in with a combined net worth of $70.4 billion.

Across the country, workers and communities are coming together as one to say enough is enough. It is time for fundamental change at Walmart.

Find out about the campaign to bring justice to WalMart Workers at:
http://makingchangeatwalmart.org

Job Opening - CES is Looking for
Organizers to Assist Tenants in
Preserving Their HUD Affordable Housing

Tenants receiving federal Section 8 rental housing subsidies and living in HUD subsidized buildings face the possible loss of their homes due to the expiration of subsidy contracts. As a result, tens of thousands of low- income seniors and families could be displaced, as well as desperately needed affordable housing lost. The organizer's job is to help establish HUD tenant associations to involve affected residents; to educate and empower them to utilize existing laws to improve living conditions and preserve this affordable housing.

The applicant MUST have the ability to communicate in English and Spanish or Korean, MUST have a valid California driver's license, insurance and a dependable car and MUST be able to maintain accurate records and have the ability to write timely, required reports on work.

Click Here for Background on the Position

Click Here for Details on the Position and How to Apply

CES IN THE NEWS

The Politics of
Parking Tickets -
Renters, the Poor &
Working People Be
Damned!

CES has been fighting a City of LA fine increase for street sweeping parking violations. While this effort was successful in reducing the increase from $10 to $5, CES still believes this is a regressive fine that disproportionately penalizes renters, low income and working people. Sadly, promises by some Council Members to move to delay the street sweeping fine hike pending a study on its impact never materialized. Yet, other Council Members, recognizing CES' charges that the increase is unfair especially since it is higher than ones for parking near a fire hydrant or in a fire lane, pledged to readjust the increases after the city budget was adopted. Now there's a need to ensure they follow through with this pledge. Gale Holland's LA Times article that follows, accurately reports on the politics and impact of these fines.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Swept Up In Parking Ticket Mania

As L.A. boosts fines, renters 'musical cars' bear most of burden.

By Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times

A car with a parking ticket sits on Logan Street just north of Montana Street. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

A bleary-eyed Chui Hom tripped down her apartment stairs at 8 a.m. sharp and started her car.

She didn't get far. The vehicle inched across Riverside Terrace, a narrow one-way lane in Echo Park, and stopped on the other side.

Hom is part of Los Angeles' Great Street-Sweeping Do-Si-Do. Twice a week, residents of Koreatown, Pico-Union and other neighborhoods with more apartments than parking spaces race to their cars, hoping to move them before parking enforcement officers arrive and ticket them for blocking street sweepers.

"It's such an annoying thing," said Hom, a 54-year-old county office worker. As she spoke, several other women in dishabille stumbled down the stairs. "It's really become problematic."

Hom has no choice but to play early morning "musical cars" before the lumbering yellow trucks arrive to clear the gutters. She could move her car to Riverside Drive, but parking there was prohibited from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. to get rid of homeless people sleeping in their vans and trailers.

Thousands of other Angelenos just take their lumps when half their street parking suddenly vanishes. Emilio Driscoll, 23, an Iraq veteran and college student, has gotten five or six street sweeping tickets since he moved to East Hollywood seven months ago, including two he has yet to pay.

"I admit there is a little bit of laziness," he said. "But I get off school late, coming in at 11 p.m, I sometimes have to park three to four blocks away...or wake up at 8 in the morning."

Still others devise elaborate work-arounds. Last week, a private chef and health coach who gave her name as Elizabeth S. spent the better part of an hour parked in East Hollywood, holding down a spot for a friend's family from out of town. When the sweeper swerved around the corner, pushing on his horn, she backed out, then pulled in again when he was gone.

This could be written off as one of the many absurdities of life in the big city: Chicago, for example, has street sweeping every other day. But to close a budget hole, the Los Angeles City Council this week raised the $68 street sweeping parking penalty to $73. That's more than a day's earnings at minimum wage. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had proposed even a steeper hike: $78.

There was nothing subtle about this baldfaced bid to balance the budget on the backs of working people. The fine is almost twice the rate charged by Torrance and El Segundo, my colleague David Zahniser reported. In Chicago, the penalty is $60.

More than a third of the $134 million in parking fine revenues the city collected last year, roughly $42 million, came from street sweeping tickets. The city expects to raise $150 million this year, and the proportion from street sweeping fines should remain about the same.

"The fine amount has nothing to do with the reality of the infraction," said Larry Gross of the Coalition for Economic Survival, which advocates on behalf of low-income renters. "It's totally unfair."

Clearly, renters bear the brunt of the fines. Some of the densest parts of the city were built before garages or carports were necessary. Apartment neighborhoods are often hemmed in by preferential parking districts that benefit affluent homeowners, placing the full onus of parking shortages on renters.

Lest there be any lingering doubt that street sweeping ticketing is low-intensity class warfare, consider the three local cities that Zahniser reported do not issue street sweeping citations: South Pasadena, Malibu and Rancho Palos Verdes. It's a roll call of gold-plated communities dominated by homeowner interests.

"The city's fine is higher than Beverly Hills'," Gross said. "That's pretty blatant there."

Now I can hear the "what part of illegal don't you understand?" crowd saying just park where it's permitted. But the fact is, there is not nearly enough curb space for everybody to park by their homes.

People who return late from jobs or shopping, or, God forbid, work a graveyard shift, are forced to range four, five or six blocks away to find an empty space. Parking in unfamiliar territory raises the risk of car theft, or worse.

Several Los Angeles County residents have been killed in recent years making midnight forays to beat the street sweepers, including Vannaly Tim, 24, and Sareth Em, 25. The Long Beach couple ventured out shortly after midnight New Year's Day 2009 to avoid getting a ticket, authorities said. They were gunned down; Tim's sister found her lying in the street on top of Em, with her hair covering his face.

The city says street sweeping is essential to public health. Jaime de la Vega, who runs the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, told Zahniser that motorists who park illegally on street cleaning day pose a public safety hazard.

"It's a big issue, because we don't want [street sweeper] drivers to rear-end a car that they're not expecting," he said.

Now, if street sweepers can't spot parked cars in their path in broad daylight, the city has a real problem. No one could credibly claim surprise about cars parked on the wrong side of the street on sweeping day. They're almost always there, with the telltale red and white tickets tucked under their windshields.

Residents have complained for years that they are ticketed even when the street sweepers don't show up. Driscoll says his street is rarely clean.

"I never see them sweeping," he said. "It's just a way for the city to collect money. I think it's a racket."

The city claims street officials report equipment breakdowns or other problems that ground the street sweepers, and that parking enforcement officers are told to stand down.

On the other hand, the state Legislature passed a bill in 2006 that would have required cities to prove streets were swept if they wanted to enforce parking citations. Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, saying it was a local issue.

Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis famously said, "Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for the law." Heaping exorbitant fines on those who can least afford or avoid them may not be illegal. But it should be.

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There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

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Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

CES IN THE NEWS

Renters, the Poor
& Working Families
Will Be Hit Hardest
by Huge Parking
Ticket Hike Plan

Los Angeles Times Article

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Villaraigosa Seeks Another Boost in Parking Ticket Fines

L.A. mayor's budget calls for a $10 increase to an array of parking fines. The city would collect about $40 million a year more than during Villaraigosa's first year in office, much of it from street-sweeping violations that leave many residents fuming.

By David Zahniser, Los Angeles Times

A ticket for a street-sweeping violation adorns the windshield of a car parked on Logan Street in Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has proposed a $10 increase to an array of parking infractions. The fine for parking illegally on street-clearning days would rise from $68 to $78, more than in any neighboring city. (Al Seib, LA Times / May 8, 2012)

Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa is pursuing another big boost in parking ticket fines, leaving some of them 70% to 90% more expensive than the year he was elected - and several times the region's inflation rate.

With the latest proposed hikes, the city would collect about $40 million a year more than during Villaraigosa's first year in office, much of it from street-sweeping violations that leave many residents fuming.

The mayor's budget calls for the street-sweeping penalty to reach $78, more than in any neighboring city and, in certain cases, nearly twice the amount charged elsewhere in Los Angeles County.

If the City Council approves the proposed increase, the sixth in the last seven years, the cost of a street-sweeping violation will have risen 73% since 2005, the year Villaraigosa was elected. Other penalties, such as for parking in a fire lane or too close to a fire hydrant, will have grown between 82% and 94% in the Villaraigosa era.

The mayor and City Council have turned time and again to parking infractions to help balance the city's budget, which this year faces a $238-million shortfall. Villaraigosa's office says a proposed $10 increase to an array of parking fines would make a small but important dent in the deficit.

But there is a growing push-back to the ever-increasing fines, particularly from those who argue they are really a regressive tax on those who live in densely populated areas.

Larry Gross, executive director of the Coalition for Economic Survival, an organization that advocates on behalf of low-income renters, said parking tickets - especially those issued on street-sweeping day - disproportionately affect working-class families in Koreatown, Westlake and other neighborhoods packed with apartment buildings and too few parking spaces, he said.

"The burden is felt hardest by those who can least afford to pay," he said.

Villaraigosa spokesman Peter Sanders did not respond to that assertion, saying instead that parking fines make up only 3% of the city's revenue base. He said in a statement that the Department of Transportation, which issues the tickets, needs to reach its financial targets "so that vital city services can be preserved."

The hikes already have far outpaced inflation, which rose in Southern California by less than 18% since 2005, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. Shacola Thompson, who lives in North Hollywood, said the $68 ticket she received last month was painful enough.

"There are a lot of things I could do with that money," said the 23-year-old secretary. "I could pay a phone bill. I could go out and shop. That could be my movie ticket money."

Of the $134 million collected in parking fines last year, more than one-third came from cars illegally parked during street-cleaning hours - when lumbering city trucks swoosh through neighborhoods scooping up accumulated dirt and refuse from gutters.

The dance of car owners, sweepers and parking-enforcement officers plays out hundreds of times each week across the city, when half the parking on a block disappears for a few hours. The next day, the other half disappears.

Motorists frequently gamble that they will remember to race out and move their vehicles before the sweepers - and ticket patrols - arrive.

Sarah Lopez, 23, didn't beat the clock. The Koreatown resident said her late-night job as a cashier ends around midnight at the earliest on street-sweeping days. She gets back so late that parking near her home is taken - forcing her to circle three or four blocks looking for a spot.

Last week, she parked her car in a street-sweeping zone after deciding it was too dangerous to walk four blocks to her apartment so late at night. "I was just tired of looking for parking," she said. "I wanted to go home."

She overslept and found a $68 ticket waiting for her.

As the cost of tickets has climbed, so has the amount of money pouring into city coffers. Parking-ticket revenue was $110 million in 2005. That will reach $150 million this year if the latest increases go into effect, according to the mayor's budget proposal.

Although the city's take is up, the number of tickets has steadily declined, records show. Traffic officers are expected to issue 2.5 million tickets this year, down from 3.2 million six years ago.

Not every city has followed Los Angeles' lead. Torrance and El Segundo have kept their street-sweeping fines at $43. Pasadena charges $46.50. Officials in South Pasadena, Malibu and Rancho Palos Verdes said they do not issue street-sweeping tickets.

Jaime de la Vega, who runs the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, said the violations targeted for increases by Villaraigosa involve public safety, such as blocking a fire hydrant. He said motorists who park illegally on street-cleaning day create hazards for the sweepers.

"It's a big issue, because we don't want [city] drivers to rear- end a car that they're not expecting," he said.

Restaurant server Alex Perez, 29, has a different theory. He says the higher fines are an attempt by city officials to "squeeze all the citizens."

Lauri Meadows, who lives near USC, got a ticket last month and has little sympathy for City Hall's financial woes. "The city claims that they're broke," said Meadows, who is unemployed. "I don't understand how they're broke when they're ticketing everybody all the time."

Not everyone directs their anger at city officials. Joon Park, 55, blamed herself for the ticket she recently received across the street from her day-care business. She wasn't happy to learn of the latest increases, but she had no plans to fight them.

"We are working. We are middle- aged," she said. "We don't have any power."

TAKE ACTION TO OPPOSE THE HUGE PARKING TICKET INCREASE PROPOSAL

Tell the Mayor and Los Angeles City Council Members NO to this attempt to balance the City budget on the back of renters, the poor and workers with this extraordinary parking ticket increase proposal. Contact them today!

Write & Mail to :

LA City Councilmember ______________
LA City Hall - Room ____________
200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Email & Call: the Mayor and L.A. City Council Members:

MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA 213-978-0600 or 213- 978-0721 Email

Dist. 1: ED P. REYES 213-485-3451 Rm 410 Email

Dist. 2: PAUL KREKORIAN 213-473-7002 Rm 425 Email

Dist. 3: DENNIS P. ZINE 213-473-7003 Rm 450 Email

Dist. 4: TOM LABONGE 213-485-3337 Rm 480 Email

Dist. 5: PAUL KORETZ 213-473-7005 Rm 440 Email

Dist. 6: TONY CARDENAS 213-473-7006 Rm 455 Email

Dist. 7: RICHARD ALARCON 213-847-7777 Rm 470 Email

Dist. 8: BERNARD PARKS 213-473-7008 Rm 460 Email

Dist. 9: JAN PERRY 213-473-7009 Rm 420 Email

Dist. 10: HERB WESSON, JR 213-473-7010 Rm 430 Email

Dist. 11: BILL ROSENDAHL 213-473-7011 Rm 415 Email

Dist. 12: MITCHELL ENGLANDER 213-473-7012 Rm 405 Email

Dist. 13: ERIC GARCETTI 213-473-7013 Rm 475 Email

Dist. 14: JOSE HUIZAR 213-473-7014 Rm 465 Email

Dist. 15: JOE BUSCAINO 213-473-7015 Rm 435 Email

CLICK HERE

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here

Support CES' Work When You Shop for Your Groceries
Sign Up for Ralphs/Food-4- Less Community Contribution Program:

Contact CES at (213)252- 4411 or contactces@earthlink.net and we will explain how to register to support CES' work while you shop.

Coalition for Economic Survival
CES Organizing Times Online

An occasional email newsletter reporting on the
activities of the Coalition for Economic Survival (CES)

CES Stories Included Here
* LA City Council Committee Votes to Prohibit Landlord Rent Online Only Policy
* CES on the Radio Regarding Rent Online Only Policy
* Big Day for Tenants in U.S. Supreme Court & California Court of Appeals
* Section 8 Tenants & Rent Control Win Major Court Case
* CES Supports Rally Demanding Justice for Walmart Workers
* CES Participates in Labor, Social & Environmental Justice Fair

Woodlake Manor Apartment Tenants Assoc. testify at L.A. City Council hearing in their ongoing battle to outlaw their landlord's rent online only policy

The L.A. City Council's Housing, Community Economic and Development (HCED) Committee unanimously voted on April 16, 2012 in support of a motion by Councilmember Paul Krekorian and seconded by Council Member Dennis Zine to prohibit landlords from demanding that their tenants pay their rent only online

Click Here To Read About It

Free Speech Radio News (FSRN) reports on CES' campaign to oppose a landlord's attempt to forces their tenants to pay their rent only online. FSRN is an independently produced half hour daily national and international radio news program focusing on peace and social justice issues in the US and around the world...

Click Here to Listen to the Program

On the same day that U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal that would have challenged New York City's rent stabilization laws, and possible threaten rent control laws nationwide, the California Court of Appeals made a significant ruling in regards to providing tenants eviction protections on a case in which CES was an Amicus.

Click Here To Read About It

On April 12, 2012, the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County ruled that Section 8 renters in the City of Los Angeles are protected by just cause eviction protections when landlords attempt to terminate their Section 8 voucher program (Housing Choice Voucher Program) contract.

Click Here To Read About It

Various labor unions and community groups, including CES, demonstrated outside a Walmart store at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza in South Los Angeles to demand higher wages, guaranteed health insurance and Walmart's promise that it will invest profits in communities. The rally, sponsored by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and Warehouse Workers United took place on Thursday, April 19. 2012.

Click Here To Read About It

CES tenant leaders Faviola Ruiz & Saul Ruiz staff a table with information on CES' healthy homes, childhood lead poisoning prevention and tenants' rights work at Cal State University Dominguez Hills 4th Annual Labor, Social and Environment Justice Fair held on April 19, 2012. Over 50 community and labor group participated in the event whose theme was "Together We Are Unstoppable...Another World is Possible."

CLICK HERE

There tenants will be assisted on a one-to-one basis by one of our experienced and knowledgeable volunteer attorneys and counselors. No appointment is needed. It is first come, first serve.

Find Out More Details Here