Voices: River City

Voices: River City

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Voices: River City episodes

  • 85 - Historian William Burg on the Fight to Save Historic New Helvetia (8.25.2020)

    Historian, author and president of Preservation Sacramento, William Burg, joins us to discuss the rich history of a public housing complex that is consistently in the crosshairs of monied developers and city politicians.

    You may have heard about the fight to save Alder Grove and Marina Vista, largest, oldest, and most concentrated public housing sites in Sacramento. For years, housing-insecure residents have heard murmurs of demolition as everything around them swiftly gentrified. But they recently learned of a new plan to renovate their homes, as opposed to tear them down.

    Folks are still nervous (with good reason), and a plan by Sacramento City Council to change the West Broadway Specific Plan--where New Helvetia is located--has housing advocates once again sounding the alarm.

    We discuss how Alder Grove and Marina Vista residents are fighting back, the rise of the Coalition to Save New Helvetia, and how *you* can help (hint: let your councilmember know how you feel, or comment on the item). We also touch on the deeply racist overtones involved in fights like this.

    And at the beginning of the episode, we take a moment for Jacob Blake, the man shot several times in the back this week by Kenosha police in front of his three children.

    Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:
     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 26 min
  • 84 - Sasha Perigo on the California Housing Crisis and Uber/Lyft's Capital Strike (8.21.2020)

    Today we're joined by Sasha Perigo, a San Francisco based writer and all-around wealth of knowledge on California's complex, rough-and-tumble housing battles.

    We start with a discussion on AB 1436, a piece of proposed state legislation that would stave off the avalanche of evictions facing California renters. (If you want to help keep your neighbors housed, sign up here to have a letter sent in your name to your state senator.)

    Sasha then shares with us a very interesting Dem-on-Dem state senatorial race between Scott Wiener and Jackie Fielder. Wiener, the incumbent, is a classic California business-friendly Democrat who likes to fashion himself as a progressive, despite his personal political history. Fielder, an actual progressive who was once considered a long-shot in this race, has caught the attention of a Berniecrat movement searching for places to give its support.

    Finally, we touch on Uber and Lyft's outright refusal to comply with a new state law directing them to give their workers the rights and protections they deserve. Instead, the predatory tech behemoths have amassed $122 million with the help of DoorDash executives to push Prop 22, a ballot initiative that would relieve them of the onus of caring for their employees.

    Thanks for listening, Dick Cheney made money off the Iraq war and, as always:
     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 15 min
  • 83 - Prop 15 (tax the rich), with Sacramento DSA Electoral Committee Co-chairs Micaela Vazquez and Seth Strumwasser (8.18.2020)

    It's never a bad time to talk with your friends about taxing the rich. That's why we're joined by Micaela Vazquez and Seth Strumwasser, co-chairs of Sacramento DSA's Electoral Committee.

    You might not know it, but California has an unfortunate history of austerity measures against the poor and tax breaks for the ultra rich. This is, in large part, why the state finds itself unable to properly fund public schools. Seth and Micaela walk us through an exciting new ballot measure in Prop 15, as well as its relation to Prop 13, a 1978 bill that slashed property taxes for the billionaire and billionaire-adjacent class.

    We also discuss their personal journeys into Democratic Socialists of America, and the cool things in the pipeline for DSA Sac. (For one, Jacobin's Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht will be joining the chapter on Wednesday, August 19 to discuss their new book, Bigger Than Bernie.)

    Finally, we take a moment to remind folks about the dangers facing our neighbors experiencing homelessness during this historic heat wave. Both local governments and community members are opening cooling centers throughout the region. If you can, please do your part to help keep folks cool and safe.

    Thanks for listening, Dick Cheney made money off the Iraq war and, as always:
     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 12 min
  • 82 - Alana Mathews of the Community Justice Collaborative

    This episode we are joined by Alana Mathews, founder of the Community Justice Collaborative and adjunct professor at the McGeorge School of Law. We discuss her work with CJC, as well as her opposition to a startlingly tone-deaf statewide ballot measure.

    Proposition 20 is a "tough-on-crime" attempt to push back on Propositions 47 and 57, which were designed to get nonviolent offenders out of jails/prisons and ease the state's burgeoning prison population. As you might have guessed, friend of the show Anne Marie Schubert is a proponent of the bill. So is Assemblymember Jim Cooper.

    We also take some time to discuss the wild misuse of funds at the county level, and how Sacramento County Executive Nav Gill lied, stone-faced, to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors about why nearly all of the CARES Act funding went to the Sheriff's Department, as opposed to COVID-19 relief efforts (where it should have gone).
     
    Oh, and did we mention that real rent control is back?
     
    One final note: Sam Greenlee of Alchemist CDC is pulling together volunteers and supplies to help our unhoused neighbors get through the upcoming heat wave. Care to help? Reach out.
     
    Thanks for listening, and as always:
     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 23 min
  • 81 - Misusing Pandemic Relief Funds for Killer Cops (8.11.2020)
    In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Sacramento County was given $181 million in CARES Act federal funding that was supposed to go to programs/expenses related to the pandemic, or to pay for new expenses that have come up or were not planned for in their budget. So far, they've spent $148 million.
     
    We'll give you three guesses on where that money went. That's right:
    • $104 million (70.3%) went to pay salaries and benefits to the Sheriff's Office
  • $21.5 million (14.5%) went to payroll for probation officers, and 
  • $1.8 million (1.2%) went to park rangers
    • That's 86% of the total $148 million gone to cops, probation officers and park rangers. Less than 3% went to public health and medical expenses, and a mere $10,000 went to contact-tracing efforts. Keep in mind that 155 people have died in Sacramento County, we've had over 11,000 positive tests, and the pandemic is showing no signs of abating. Think the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors is going to do anything about it?
     
    Officials at all levels appear to be dropping the ball on coronavirus response. And the population in California suffering the most appears to be the Latino community, which makes up 3 in 5 confirmed cases in the state, despite being just 40% of the population. They are also overrepresented in COVID-19 deaths, at 47%.
     
    Out in Marin County, the racist public health outcomes are manifesting in the county's Latino workers. Despite making up just 16% of the county's population, 75% of infected residents are Latinos.
     
    Thanks for listening, eat the rich and, as always:
     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 10 min
  • 80 - The 2020 Homeless Deaths Report (8.7.2020)
    Sacramento County saw yet another increase in deaths in the homeless community in 2019, according to an annual report by the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness.
     
    One marked outlier in these numbers is just how deeply impacted Black county residents are affected by homelessness. Despite making up 13% of the county's population, one in three people experiencing homelessness in 2019 was Black. They made up 28% of last year's recorded homeless deaths.
     
    California may be experiencing the worst of the country's homelessness crisis, but at least we also have the most billionaires! In fact, if we were our own country, we'd rank third in the world behind the US and China for hosting the most billionaires, at 165.
     
    So maybe, given our historic levels of poverty and homelessness, it's about time to make the rich pay closer to their fair share. Enter Assembly Bill 1253, which would bump the rate that the state's richest pay in taxes in the following ways: 1% for taxable incomes over $1 million, 3% for incomes over $2 million and 3.5% for incomes over $5 million.
     
    In our view, the percentages should continue to increase all the way into the billions (remember: every billionaire is a policy failure), but it's a start.
     
    Speaking of struggling, some 15% of Californians are jobless, and relying on unemployment benefits. Over in Washington, DC, the GOP has been trying to cut those benefits at the federal level, but it sounds like there may be talk of reinstating at least a portion of the weekly payments.
     
    Thanks for listening, eat the rich and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 15 min
  • 79 - 'Strong Mayor' and California's Looming Eviction Crisis (8.4.2020)

    We're joined today by two very important guests to discuss two very big issues.

    Sacramento City Council is on track to have its most progressive and representative dais ever with the addition of Councilmember-elect Katie Valenzuela and District 8 candidate Mai Vang this fall. So naturally our white, male mayor is making a power grab.

    Valenzuela joins us to discuss her concerns with Mayor Darrell Steinberg's 'strong mayor' initiative, which both she and Flo have publicly criticized. Among their questions: What, if anything, do the community equity elements in the proposal have to do with a strong-mayor power grab? Shouldn't those be two separate measures? And why on earth does the mayor believe he deserves veto power over city council?

    If state officials don't act fast, California is on the verge of an eviction avalanche brought on by the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. That's why we're also joined by housing advocate Michelle Pariset to discuss two bills that could put some relief on the state's renters:

    - Senate Bill 1410, which would let the state take responsibility the unpaid rent from tenants who’ve struggled to make the payments during the pandemic

    - Assembly Bill 1426, which would make it illegal to evict a renter for nonpayment of rent accrued during the COVID-19 emergency and 90 days afterward.

    Oh, and did we mention that the city of Sacramento is suing Michelle in a jaw-dropping attempt at voter suppression?

    You might remember Sacramento housing advocates gathering over 40,000 signatures to get real rent control protections presented to voters in the November 2020 elections. The city, working on behalf of landlords and developers, wants to silence voters by pulling it from the ballot.

    Talk about bad faith.

    Thanks for listening and, as always:

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 20 min
  • 78 - California Sheriff's Departments are Gangs, California Democrats are Weak (7.31.2020)

    On Tuesday, Sacramento County residents watched District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert partake in active voter suppression by fighting against a common-sense move to add a ballot measure in the November elections to allow voters to decide if they should move countywide elections (DA, sheriff, assessor) to presidential years. The reasoning Schubert gave was that it was being pushed too quickly and deserved public input. But we all know the real reason.

     

    More people vote in presidential years. And when more people vote, monsters like Sheriff Scott Jones (and Schubert) lose. Democrat Don Nottoli, ever the clown, sided with the two Republicans on the board to shelve the proposal.

     
    But Don's not the only Democratic weakling on that dais. Patrick Kennedy sided with his GOP colleagues when people tried to move some BoS meetings to evenings so that more community members could participate. How dare working people get a chance to speak their piece? Oh, and both Nottoli and Kennedy approved of an exorbitant budget for the county sheriff's department, which repeatedly pays tens of millions for its deputies' violent, erratic behavior. 
    But as we all know, bad sheriffing isn't specific to Sacramento County. As Los Angeles Times columnist Erika Smith pointed out recently, the LA County sheriff regularly acts with impunity, sprinkling in sexist language when he can. And two years ago the sheriff of rural Trinity County up and moved to Oregon in the middle of his term, because he didn't like how the board of supervisors wanted him to handle cannabis regulation.
     
    One possible answer for these awful sheriff's is Assemblymember Kevin McCarty's AB 1185, which is designed to provide an oversight apparatus with teeth over sheriff's departments throughout the state.
     
    A stronger message would be to defund these violent, erratic sheriff's departments, but we won't argue against this bill.
     

    Thanks for listening and, as always:

     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

     

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

     

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr
  • 77 - Danger in the Air, Danger in the Streets (7.28.2020)

    Some 4.25 million Americans have come down with confirmed cases of coronavirus, with deaths nearing the 150,000 mark. And California joins Florida and Texas as one of the hot spots. The Golden State is about a week or two away from reaching half a million confirmed cases and 9,000 deaths, just as the school year starts up. In various counties, 1 in 100 people have tested positive for the virus, and down at the border in Imperial County, the number is closer to 1 in 20.

     

    Here in Sacramento County, we're at about the 1 in 200 mark, though we've been surprised by a spike in July. We've crossed the 9,000 case threshold, with 114 deaths--though our curve seems to be evening a bit as well.

     

    Four months into the shutdown, there's a lot we know about COVID-19, and a lot more we don't know. We discuss some of the things we do and don't know about the virus four months in, using a comprehensive write-up from UCSF Magazine as our core reference.

     
    Trump's re-election bid appears to be in serious trouble at the moment thanks to coronavirus, with experts hinting that it is quickly getting out of hand just under 100 days out (Cook Political, FiveThirtyEight, The Economist). Nate Silver did an analysis of the last 13 elections over the weekend, applying his model to each race 100 days out--correctly guessing 11 out of 13. The ones the model got wrong? Dukakis in 1988 (61% chance 100 days out) and Clinton in 2016 (58%). Currently The Economist has Biden at a 90% chance to win.
     
    We then move to the death of Garrett Foster, an Austin protester who was shot and killed at a Black Lives Matter demonstration last weekend. A lot of folks don't yet seem to understand just how dangerous things are out there for protesters. Police using tear gas and weapons capable of killing. Right-wingers showing up to start trouble. People running demonstrators over with their cars.
     
    In recent weeks we saw racists shouting down BLM demonstrators in Placerville, and protesters in Loomis met by aggressive counter-demonstrators. We know folks who have been hit by cars, and who regularly receive threats in their inboxes after demonstrations. Given the violence we've seen around the country, these threats need to be taken seriously.
     

    Thanks for listening and, as always:

     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

     

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

     

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 16 min
  • 76 - Trump Goons Bad, Our Goons Good (7.24.2020)
    Sacramento City Councilmember Jay Schenirer and Mayor Darrell Steinberg have joined a chorus of local electeds throughout the country working to stop the Department of Homeland Security from deploying unidentified goons into their streets. Steinberg joined Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf in a strongly worded letter to the federal government condemning such tactics. Which is good. But a little ironic.
     
    We seem to remember, just last month, mayors Garcetti and Steinberg welcoming the National Guard onto their streets. And just this week Mayor Schaaf shot down a call to defund the cops in her city. (As a thank you, the people of Oakland gave her garage a new paint job.)
     
    Now we've got goons being deployed to Chicago (with Mayor Lori Lightfoot welcoming them!), Kansas City and Albuquerque. Trump continues to threaten to send them to Oakland, but we'll see if he actually follows through. Folks in Oakland don't fuck around.
     
    We can be concerned about all of this. We should be furious.
     
    But we should also remember that this is the United States' foreign policy coming home (quite literally) to roost. Trump is invoking the 2001 Patriot Act as a way to justify the Portland occupation and kidnappings. And let's not forget the bill allowing indefinite detention abroad signed into law by President Obama in 2011. If people in other countries are treated this way by our federal government, why should we deserve basic civil rights such as habeas corpus?
     

    Thanks for listening and, as always:

     

    Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

     

    Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

     

    And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

    1 hr 9 min

About Voices: River City

From the publisher's feed

Voices: River City is an independent, socialist news podcast based out of Sacramento, discussing California politics. Local radio listeners can hear us Tuesdays at 5 pm on KUTZ 103.1, with a second…