by Rory P.

Landlords are removing New Jersey ans from their homes at the highest  rate since the pandemic began. In re sponse, the North New Jersey Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (NNJDSA) is organizing a campaign  to pass a “Right to Counsel” (RTC) ordinance in Jersey City.  

RTC refers to government policy that  funds free legal representation for peo ple at risk of losing their homes. Some times that risk is due to eviction filing,  a landlord’s failure to make necessary  repairs, harassment or discrimination  by a landlord, or any circumstance that  may put tenants at risk of being forced  to move.  

The RTC legislation advocated for by  NNJDSA and its coalition partners is  modeled after an ordinance passed  by the New York City Council in 2017  that resulted in a 30% decline in eviction filings. Before the ordinance was  passed, one percent of tenants facing eviction had legal representation  in housing court. Now, 74% have RTC  representation, and 84% of those with  representation stay in their homes.  

“It’s simple. We want to give free lawyers to people at risk of losing their  homes. Anyone who gets served a  notice of eviction, give them a law yer,” said Sarah Levine, an organizer in  NNJDSA’s Jersey City branch. “Moving  is expensive and people don’t have other opportunities. To give them an attorney for free to compel the landlord to  bring the building up to code is a key  way to make sure people don’t become houseless.” 

The RTC ordinance promoted by NNJDSA would be more inclusive and accessible than the RTC implementations in  NYC, Connecticut, the City of Newark  and elsewhere. NNJDSA supports a  version that free of eligibility criteria, as  opposed to means-tested policies that exclude large swaths of people.  

The teeth of the reform will be in its  funding structure. Organizers intend  the ordinance to be funded through a  tax or fee on landlords and development rather than the general budget,  which comes from a property tax levy  or federal grants.  

Finally, a RTC ordinance should allow  for affirmative cases, which means  tenants would be able to use their  RTC-funded lawyer to seek judgment  against a landlord in the event they fail  to provide necessary repairs and services that can render a home uninhabitable. In other RTC programs, tenants receive free representation only as defendants.  

The housing crisis is reaching a fever  pitch as landlords in New Jersey are  raising rents at a higher rate than employers are raising incomes. The $750  million rental and utility assistance pro gram passed in 2021 was designed to  be difficult to obtain for those in most  need and temporary for those who receive it. About 58,000 evictions filings  were made in the first seven months of  2022, double the number is the same  period last year. Meanwhile, those limited rental assistance funds are running dry. Making matters worse, courts  have a backlog of more than 31,000  tenancy cases.  

“It’s so expensive to live here. People  are selling their homes and others are  being evicted,” said Isaac Jimenez, co chair of the NNJDSA Hudson County  branch. “RTC speaks to the moment  we’re in. While there are many crises  stacked on top of one another right  now, the one that allows us to organize for the rest is housing. Keeping  folks where they are is where we start.  Developers are taking advantage by  upscaling and kicking people out. It’s  happening everywhere.” 

“This campaign really important to  working-class people, who are beginning to understand housing as a human right.” said Jimenez. “This is a  form of politics that speaks to the material needs of our lives, unlike what the  Democrats are doing.” 

While a successful RTC campaign  would achieve material gains for working-class people, the journey to that point will build productive and meaningful relationships both within the  chapter and between organizations.  

“RTC has been really great for growing  the chapter. It’s a broad-coalition campaign that we need to put our chapter on the map, especially in off-election cycles,” said Jimenez. “It’s a great way  to build trust.”

The post The Right to Counsel for Tenants first appeared on North NJ DSA.

Last Tuesday New York State held its second primary of the summer and New York City voters are sending another socialist senator to Albany. DSA endorsed candidate Kristen Gonzalez trounced Elizabeth Crowley winning the democratic primary in the newly formed Senate District 59, which includes portions of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan. We were at Kristen’s victory party in Long Island City and will share some sounds from the ground. And we are joined live tonight by former New York City Council candidate and NewsGuild of New York organizer, Brandon West. We’ll talk about the significance of Kristen’s win and the results of two other Brooklyn Senate races - Jabari Brisport’s run for re-election and David Alexis' challenge of Senator Kevin Parker in Flatbush. 

Jack Devine also speaks with Nic, a fellow PSC union member, about the year ahead for thousands of teachers organizing for a more just CUNY. 

On May 4, 2021 Raleigh City Council approved a tax increment grant (TIG) policy which will allow City Council to grant up to 2% of the citywide annual property tax valuation (currently estimated to be $5 million) in tax breaks to private developers. City Council approved this policy on a 7-1 vote (Cox opposed; Baldwin, Stewart, Melton, Knight, Branch, Forte, and Buffkin in favor)(1).

How it works:

The tax increment grant policy will be allocated on a case-by-case basis by Raleigh City Council, like how rezonings must be approved/denied by City Council. When a property is developed, there is typically a corresponding increase in the value of the property, which will subsequently result in an increase of property taxes owed. However, if a specific development is approved for a tax increment grant, the developer will only pay taxes on the valuation of the property prior to development; any increase in property value because of the property being developed is not taxed. So, while there is not a decrease in the net amount of tax revenue, the city government is leaving future tax revenue on the table (2).

Why it matters:

Given that property tax increases typically occur on an annual basis, this policy effectively allows city government to require ordinary residents of all income levels to pay more property taxes, while allowing high income developers to pay less. This policy shifts the tax burden from real estate developers (typically run by very wealthy individuals that make campaign contributions to city council candidates (3)) to the average homeowner. Though homeowners are directly impacted by the annual increase in property taxes, tenants are indirectly impacted as increases in property taxes are passed on to tenants. This means the city government is specifically choosing to take money from working-class people to give handouts to their wealthy developer backers. If the city were to tax the full property valuation of a development instead of granting a tax break via the TIG policy, the need to increase property taxes on average homeowners and tenants would be decreased.

So why is this policy being implemented?

City government claims that this TIG policy is a tool that can help secure more community benefits from private developers which may include affordable housing, upgrades to infrastructure, or park amenities. However, for-profit entities must protect their profit margins, meaning that any community benefits provided will be a fraction of the value that could have been obtained if the full valuation of the property development were taxed. Further, many development projects seek to rezone their piece of property for increased density, meaning City Council can ask that certain conditions (community benefits such as affordable housing, upgrades to infrastructure, or park amenities) be met for the rezoning to be approved. Many members of the current Raleigh City Council claim that they are not allowed to ask for community benefits in exchange for a rezoning approval, but this is terribly misleading as they are under no obligation to approve any rezoning either. We suspect the true reason this policy is being implemented is to further encourage development by subsidizing the profit margins of private developers. At a time when the economic fortunes of ordinary working-class people are being battered, this perverse policy that Raleigh City Council is implementing would increase the difficulties for working-class people in order to make wealthy developers even richer.

Development must address the housing and transportation needs of residents equitably

Development of Raleigh is essential if we are to meet the housing, transportation, and utility needs of residents. However, it is vital that development occurs in an equitable and democratic manner. This TIG policy falls short of that standard because the shifting of the tax burden from wealthy private developers to all other residents of the city is reminiscent of a regressive tax structure in which low-income people pay higher tax rates. A better strategy regarding development would be to tax the full valuation of private developments to fund other public services such as permanent free bus fare (see Fare Free Forever), quality public housing, commuter light rail, and preservation of natural resources like the Neuse River Basin. For the Raleigh City Council to continue along the current path is a clear declaration of which side they stand on: against workers and ordinary Raleigh residents and with the wealthy developers that pay for their campaigns. We deserve better and must come together to fight for municipal governments that actually represent the will of the people, not just the ultra-rich. Learn how you can join in this fight at dsanc.org.

Sources:

1. http://go.boarddocs.com/nc/raleigh/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BWZ3V3822FDD

2. https://raleighnc.gov/zoning-planning-and-development/tax-increment-grant

3. https://indyweek.com/news/wake/everything-you-need-to-know-money-race-raleigh-city-council/

by Kate Q

Who suffers from Roe being overturned? The working class. Who else suffers? Children who are unwanted and the families who can’t adequately feed and care for them. Millions of children were forced back into poverty after the Child Tax Credit expired. With no new stimulus check in sight, families will be forced to continue stretching themselves even further to make ends meet. This is the inhumanity the right-wing wants us living in.

The litany of America’s abandonment of care for our children is long and worsening:

• Historic baby formula shortages due to the greed of
  monopolistic corporations
• The end of the Child Tax credit, which could have alleviated a significant amount of child poverty and hunger had it become permanent
• No paid parental leave
• No national health care system
• Childcare options that are few, far, and expensive
• The impact of Covid and other infectious diseases on young children
• More than 140,000 U.S. children lost a parent or primary caregiver to a pandemic-related cause
• The takeover of school boards by the far-right
• Family separation due to the prison industrial complex and ICE
• Thousands of children, disproportionately black and indigenous stuck in the foster care system
• A child welfare system that is better understood as a “family policing system” that targets Black communities
• More cops in schools than social workers
• The return of corporal punishment in a Missouri school district.
• Continued mass school shootings and the trauma inducing drills that accompany them
• Ensuing climate catastrophe

The overwhelming reason people seek abortion is because they lack the financial and material resources needed to raise children. The majority of people who get abortions are those who already have families and intimately understand what is needed to provide children a safe, healthy, secure and loving environment.

A notable study conducted in the 70s called the “Turnaway Study” details some of the effects on children whose mothers were denied an abortion:

• Women who were denied abortions were more likely to not have enough money to cover basic living expenses like food, housing and transportation and increased the number of their negative public financial records, such as bankruptcies and evictions.
• The children women already had showed worse life outcomes when their mother was denied an abortion
• Children born as a result of abortion denial are more likely to live below the federal poverty level than children born from a planned pregnancy
• Carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term is associated with poorer maternal bonding, such as feeling trapped or resenting the baby, which can cause deep psychological problems for both the parent and child
  

The raising of loving, healthy children is critical to a healthy society. America’s system fails horribly and is the worst of the industrialized nations. How many children’s lives must be sacrificed to the failing conditions of capitalism?

The growing right wing assault on abortion not only harms the rights of women, people of color, and those in the LGBTQ community; it also harms children directly. Do children have the right to safe drinking water, to be born into families that have adequate resources, to a free and high quality education, to schools without mass shootings? Or are they only fodder for ongoing & future wars, for consumerism and to provide the ruling class with a future class of laborers?

Our only hope is to get involved and fight like hell for free abortion on demand, for a future children will want to/be able to live in and breathe.

The post Generations Sacrificing Future Generations first appeared on North NJ DSA.

Earlier this month, voters in the state of Kansas roundly rejected the so-called “Value them Both” measure, a proposed constitutional amendment that would have laid the groundwork for a complete abortion ban in the future. This measure, pushed by extremist anti-abortion lobbies, was defeated in a 59-41% result by the voters of Kansas. Tonight, we’re speaking to Melinda, an organizer with Lawrence DSA and chair of the PAC Vote No Kansas, and Dr. Russell Fox, professor of political science at Friends University in Wichita, on the organizing that successfully defeated this ballot measure. We will also hear from Alyssa, an organizer with Reproductive Justice Collective here in NYC, on the right-wing rise in the courts and the impact of groups like the Federalist Society.

Learn more about Lawrence DSA's successful campaign Vote No Kansas on Monday, August 29: https://actionnetwork.org/events/how-we-beat-kansas-anti-abortion-ballot-measure-a-campaign-debrief-w-lawrence-dsa

Follow Reproductive Justice Collective on Instagram at @reprojusticecollective. 

Milt Tambor, a life-long democratic socialist and trade unionist and the founder of Atlanta DSA, died August 23 in Dunwoody, Georgia at age 84. Born in 1938 to a Jewish family on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Milt was an active trade unionist and democratic socialist for over fifty years. He earned a Hebrew Teachers degree from Yeshiva University in 1957. Milt then went to Wayne State University in the heart of Detroit, Michigan where he completed his BA in Psychology. While working at the Jeffries Housing Project and Dodge Community House, where he fought against school and housing segregation in Detroit, Milt also earned a Master in Social Work degree at Wayne State.

After graduation, he stayed in Detroit to organize youth programming at the local Jewish Community Center. He then became Director of the UAW Retired Workers Center where he became involved in his staff union by volunteering on their local bargaining committee. In 1968 he became President of AFSCME Local 1640, a post he held for 10 years, during which he led a strike of 500 workers. During his years at Michigan AFSCME, Milt became a founding member of the Detroit New American Movement, and later joined DSA during the 1982 merger of NAM with the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee. He then returned to Wayne State University and earned a PhD in Sociology in 1991, with a dissertation on bargaining with non-profit agencies.

After over 35 years with Michigan AFSCME, first as a local president and later as a staff representative and labor educator, Milt retired and moved to Atlanta with his wife Linda Lieberman. In 2006, as part of an effort to organize a fundraiser for Bernie Sanders’ senatorial campaign, Milt brought together local DSA members and progressives to establish the Metro Atlanta DSA. Over the next decade, he served as chair of our chapter through a wide variety of different campaigns and fights for democracy and equality. Whether it was opposing the Iraq War, supporting local labor unions, fighting foreclosures during the Great Recession, or marching for civil rights, Milt was always present and taking up a leading role. He was instrumental in rooting our organization in the workplace and community struggles of poor and working class Atlantans, using tactics from public education, to electoral organizing, to direct action.

Milt Tambor was a long-distance runner for Democratic Socialism. You can read more about Milt’s life and work in his memoir A Democratic Socialist’s Fifty Year Adventure or read the final chapter A History of Atlanta DSA. In addition to his wife, Linda, he is survived by his two sons, Alex and Jonah and a host of grandchildren and extended family. The funeral will be held at 4:30 pm this Friday, August 26th at Temple Sinai at 5645 Dupree Drive, Sandy Springs, GA 30327 if anyone wants to come to pay respects.

August 25, 2022 04:54

By: David Mandel

Originally submitted to the Sacramento Bee, but was rejected.

The latest violence in Gaza [August 5-7] disappeared from headlines in record time, after “only” three days of heavy Israeli bombardment and in response, rocket fire from Gaza toward Israeli territory.

But even in that brief time, the damage wrought was overwhelming horrific. At least 49 Palestinians were killed, including 17 children, and hundreds wounded, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. There were no serious Israeli casualties.

While some of the Gaza casualties were apparently caused by rockets that fell short, they would not have been launched if not for Israel’s self-described “pre-emptive strike,” itself a blatant violation of international law.

Beyond the immediate carnage, anyone who cares about the fate of Israelis, Palestinians and others affected in the region should not let this episode fade into the background, as has happened so many times before.

Since 2008, Israel has now waged five major assaults on the Gaza area, plus frequent additional attacks, killing nearly 4,000 people – one-quarter of them children – and destroying tens of thousands of homes and businesses. They previous ones lasted much longer before cease-fires were arranged, only to be broken again.

Why the outbreak this time, and why only three days? Analysts, citing formal and informal statements by the parties, have proffered several reasons:

• A flexing of military muscle by Israel’s leaders is a common pre-election tactic to solidify support among hawkish Israeli voters. Interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid is gearing up toward a Nov. 1 contest, for the fifth time in four years pitting the loyalists of former premier Binyamin Netanyahu against a diverse, shifting and also mostly hawkish coalition, united only around its opposition to him.
• But Israelis also have a habit of disaffection from the inconveniences posed by lengthier wars. So the quick cease-fire too was likely seen as an electoral asset.
• With fuel supplies cut off by Israel along with other crucial goods, shutting Gaza’s only power plant amid a heat wave and no clean water, failure to stop fighting would have downgraded conditions from hellish to doubly deadly, making Israel look bad.
• At least some elements of the international community may be losing patience with repeated bloody episodes of Israeli attacks on the Gaza fish barrel, so the short “mowing of the lawn,” as Israeli leaders have referred to their periodic initiatives, may have been meant to avoid further alienation, with short memories conveniently taxed by Ukraine, Taiwan and other current global flashpoints as well as domestic situations.
• Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, abstained from joining the fray. Had the exchanges continued, it might have felt obligated to join in. So by halting the assault, Israel maintained political divisions among Palestinians along with its de facto arrangements with Hamas for slight easing of life for Gazans.

Nevertheless, the situation remains dire for Gaza’s 2 million-plus inhabitants, most of them descendants of refugees forced from their homes during Israel’s establishment in 1948. Israel and Egypt continue to impose full closure on the territory, with minimal – and fluctuating – exceptions to head off mass catastrophe. Health, nutrition, livelihood are all precarious.

Meanwhile, in various parts of the occupied West Bank, 2022 has seen a steady uptick in land takeovers with expulsions of Palestinians, city dwellers and rural farmers alike. These are invariably accompanied by brazen settler violence, abetted by the military, and by further crackdowns on any semblance of political resistance. The recent visit by President Biden underscored the utter lack of a diplomatic horizon.

The latest attack’s brevity seems to have been mostly successful in eliciting the desired response in Washington: many senators and representatives (“progressives” among them) had no comment at all, leading some optimists to conclude that they refrained from cheering for Israel when unlike in other rounds, there was no doubt this time about “who started it.” But almost all of those who did speak up mouthed the usual reflexive phrases about Israel’s “right to defend itself,” no matter how hollow it echoed.

It’s a nearly sure bet that the latest round will spawn calls in Congress for additional funding for Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries (of dubious value, according to some experts) and other arms. Suddenly, Ukraine has supplanted Israel as by far the largest “beneficiary” of such transfers of our tax dollars to the U.S. arms industry via the ever-expanding “defense” budget.

When will we conclude that it’s time to devote our scarce resources instead to human needs at home and globally, and to planetary survival?

For starters, let’s stop pretending that the vast majority of us benefit from U.S. support of regimes that occupy their neighbors and repress democracy, including Israel.

Today, in an unprecedented and historic move, Governor Charlie Baker’s MBTA will shut down the entire Orange Line for thirty days of emergency maintenance. This, the severs a vital transit artery for hundreds of thousands of greater Boston residents, and forces riders to pay the price for decades of disinvestment from public transportation by corrupt politicians from both parties. The T closure will snarl traffic, cut people off from whole neighborhoods, make it more difficult to get to work, and take away time that people can spend with their families. 

The Boston chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America condemns the Massachusetts political establishment’s abandonment of the T. We stand in solidarity with our neighbors and fellow commuters, the riders and frontline T workers who will bear the brunt of this crisis.

The T is falling apart. For the past decade, delays, derailments, service cuts, garages collapsing, unstable tunnels, leaking cars, rusted-out stairways, fires in tunnels and across bridges, and tragic and preventable deaths have undermined trust in the political institutions that are tasked with managing it for the public good. This doesn’t have to be the case – the T once stood as a point of pride for the city and its residents, a symbol of progress, and we must work to get there again. 

Yet the collapse of the T was not caused by mere governmental incompetence, or an inevitable failure of public institutions. It’s the result of years of hard work by politicians like Charlie Baker and leaders in the Massachusetts legislature to undermine those public institutions. We condemn the failure of elected leadership and their abandonment of the public good that is mass public transit. We appreciate the legislature’s $400 million appropriation for the T in a recent transportation bond bill, although bond bills still leave a lot of the power in the hands of the Governor whether the money is even spent. We call for this full amount to be appropriated as fast as possible. But this is not enough. The T’s debt exceeds $8 billion, requiring a serious commitment to long-term funding from the state. 

We call:

• For the legislature to come back into session to forgive the T’s unjust, inherited debt and create a dedicated, long-term sustainable source of funding for the T. 
• In solidarity with Senator Markey, Representative Pressley, and others, for Governor Baker to make the MBTA’s entire system free during the Orange and Green Line extension shutdowns. 
• For cities along the Orange and Green Line shuttle routes to install temporary protected bus and bike lanes so that commuters and residents utilizing alternate modes of transportation can travel safely, as we know the streets are not completely safe for non-car uses without these measures. 
• For Maura Healey, the presumptive next Governor of Massachusetts, to resist attempts to privatize the T and undermine its unionized workforce, who work every day to protect commuters and deliver a public good, and to appoint a Secretary of Transportation with experience. 
• For voters to vote yes on 1, the Fair Share amendment, this November to fund the T in a more comprehensive way. 
• For DSA members and interested readers, to join us in canvassing at Haymarket station TODAY at 5 pm to circulate these calls to action with commuters! 

Resist privatization! Fund, Fix, and Free the T! 

Boston DSA is the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America for the Greater Boston area. We are an activist organization — not a political party — that works against oppression in its many forms. DSA’s members are building mass movements for social change while establishing an openly socialist presence in communities and politics in the Greater Boston Area, from the South Shore to the Merrimack Valley

TAMPA, FL — 

The Tampa chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has drafted a City Council resolution outlining support for decriminalizing abortion city-wide. This resolution has been drafted in collaboration with Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak in response to the recent overturning of Roe v Wade, and was presented to the Tampa City Council for a vote at the City Council meeting on August 4th, 2022. The City Council moved to table this vote until the evening City Council meeting on August 18th, 2022, with only Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak voting against delaying a vote. As a non-binding statement of intent, this resolution is the bare minimum that the Tampa City Council can do to show support for our reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. 

This resolution outlines that the City Council of the City of Tampa:

• will not approve funding for actions or activities that would criminalize the rights of Tampa residents to make reproductive health decisions, including abortion, for themselves
• will not approve funding for any organization or entity operating a “crisis pregnancy center” or “pregnancy resource center” established with the purpose of opposing legal abortion and dissuading pregnant people from seeking abortion services
• will do everything in their power to make the criminalization of abortion the absolute lowest priority for city resources and personnel and approve a city budget that reflects as much

See the resolution attached in this email.

This resolution builds off a list of demands Tampa DSA has released for the City of Tampa regarding abortion rights, which has been signed by 223 community members and organizations. You can find and sign onto our list of demands here.

This resolution also mirrors a recent city resolution which passed in Austin, Texas to support decriminalizing abortion – the GRACE Act, or Guarding the Right to Abortion Care for Everyone Act. This resolution passed 10-1.

“This is the bare minimum Tampa’s City Council can do to show they oppose criminalizing our right to abortion care. In this unprecedented moment we need to challenge what’s clearly unsettled law and fight for our basic rights before they’re viciously stripped away. To not pass the full text of the proposed resolution would signal that Tampa’s City Council is unwilling to confront unconstitutional Tallahassee laws and any future abortion restrictions or bans that come our way. I hope they follow Councilwoman Hurtak’s lead and vote to pass this on the 18th.” – Jocelyn Koenig, member of Tampa DSA.

Tampa DSA is an official chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. We believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for the wealthy elite. We are a political and activist organization, not a party. DSA members use a variety of tactics, from legislative to direct action, to fight for reforms that empower working people. We have over 270 dues-paying members of our chapter.

Tampa Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) | Tampa, Florida | healthjustice.tdsa@gmail.com | tampadsa.org | https://www.facebook.com/tampadsa

The post TAMPA CITY COUNCIL TO VOTE ON TDSA’S CITY RESOLUTION ON ABORTION DECRIMINALIZATION appeared first on Tampa DSA.