Voices: River City

Most northern Californians are nearing their one-month anniversary of sheltering in place, and it's beginning to show. Not just in unkempt hair and lack of pants, but also in how we've come to interact with our new universe.

But some things never change.

This week we discuss how Sacramento police ruthlessly continue to terrorize the homeless community, despite the CDC and other public health experts recommending that law enforcement allow people without housing to shelter in place during the coronavirus pandemic, no matter where they happen to be. This strikes us as a failure in governance, and culpability goes all the way to the top. 

Governor Gavin Newsom may be benefitting from a rally-around-the-flag moment, but his promises to shelter the homeless community remain unfulfilled. The population largely remains unhoused. Meanwhile, Sacramento County's Board of Supervisors has found just 221 motel rooms for the region's homeless community, and won't be getting folks into them until mid-April, which will mark the apex of the state's coronavirus curve. Mayor Darrell Steinberg and city council remain silent on Sac PD's vile behavior against unhoused folks. Same goes for Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn, as well as City Manager Howard Chan, who oversees the police department.

Fed up? Be sure to contact these elected officials and let them know that you don't approve of Sac PD's behavior.

On a brighter note, Californians are doing their part in the fight against COVID-19 and staying at home. This is illustrated in the state's promising patterns in hospital visits and confirmed cases, as well as projection models. Keep staying at home, everyone. You're saving lives!

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.

What a week for awful leadership.

 

Sacramento's Bethany Slavic Missionary Church is now linked with some six-dozen coronavirus cases. In fact, about 1/3 of the county's confirmed cases are linked with church gatherings. Meanwhile, Sacramento golf courses have been deemed "essential" during the pandemic. Not to be outdone, Republican governors out east are doing their part to endanger their constituency, with Georgia's Governor Kemp admitting that he JUST found out that coronavirus can be spread by asymptomatic folks. Not to be outdone, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has waited far too long in ordering his population to shelter in place.

 

Before diving into that, however, the VOICES: crew discusses the crumpling of the region’s print product taking place alongside a global pandemic. We touch on RE Graswich’s piece discussing the fall of McClatchy and the Sacramento Bee, as well as the Sacramento News & Review’s (perhaps short-term) cutting of its print paper. While the industry continues to struggle to find a solid business model, we do note that the nonprofit model has been working for Capital Public Radio. We also discuss an exciting endeavor up north in the Mendocino Voice — a worker-owned news cooperative.

 

Finally, we understand that things are about to get real in the United States. We've all got friends of friends who've contracted coronavirus. Some of us personally know folks who've contracted the illness. There's going to be a whole lot more of this in the coming weeks, so we take a moment to tell our personal experiences, and share some ideas for how people can work to maintain and improve their mental health.

 

On a more positive note, we'd like to congratulate Serious Talk. Seriously. for their temporary return to the podcast universe. Always a pleasure to hear Sacramentans share their stories (even if they can't go outside).

 

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.

This week we have a very special guest in Elliot Stevenson of the Sacramento Tenants Union, a group dedicated to protecting and empowering tenants against their landlords in the Sacramento region. They're working overtime to let renters know their rights during the coronavirus pandemic, and are also offering assistance for tenants looking to organize. Interested in joining the fight? Click here and fill out this form. 

We then discuss the cease and desist letter that California's homeless advocates have sent to Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who continues to allow the police to roust, harass and terrorize the region's homeless community as they seek out ways to protect themselves from the coronavirus pandemic.

Not to be outdone in the press release wars, the city put out a mailer claiming that they are making strides in helping the homeless community during these frightening times. But a step outdoors will prove otherwise.

On Sunday afternoon, Sacramento cops broke into a vacant Land Park house and found three people experiencing homelessness who were seeking refuge from the coronavirus. Did they offer them hotel vouchers? Did they connect them with services? No. They gave them citations and threw them back onto the streets.

Fed up yet? Well, we provide some ideas on how you can channel that energy. Give us a listen! And, as always:

Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

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

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

The nation is beginning to understand just how long this may be our new reality, with the United States now counting the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the world. We see from a breakdown of death rates by region in the Financial Times that coronavirus is rising at a concerning rate in New York City, while there is cause for some cautious optimism in Washington and California.

 

President Trump continues to embarrass himself on the world stage, setting the bar quite low for other leaders in the US. Here in California, Governor Gavin Newsom clears said bar with ease, though he continues to fail the state's homeless community--a population particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus.

 

Have you heard about Sacramento's moratorium on evictions for renters? Well, that's now extended to businesses. Even on the national level, retailers are simply saying 'no' to paying rent. Why shouldn't the rest of us? 

 

We're also seeing mortgage relief for homeowners. But no matter what, both homeowners and renters will find themselves deeper in debt once this is all over. Perhaps it is time to consider a novel approach for Americans: Until this crisis is over, rent and mortgages simply do not exist. What matters to everyone ought not to be capital interests, but staying healthy and staying home.

 

Finally, we take a moment to discuss the $2.2 million set aside for emergency homelessness relief here in Sacramento. Forgive us if we express a little frustration and concern.

 

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.

No, you're not dissociating. It is actually Tuesday. We just thought it'd be nice to give you a special episode this week as a thank-you for staying home and doing your part.

We check in on something that has struck all of us in the early weeks of "shelter in place." People are coming together to help out--from the Sacramento COVID Volunteer Corps to community members stepping up to speak for the folks who our electeds continue to ignore.

This is one of our more casual episodes, but we do take a moment to discuss the city's Donate 4 Sacramento relief fund, as well as the current situation with coronavirus in the United States.

Listening to this one on your podcast app? Well, you might be surprised to learn that we've got video accompanying the episode. You can check that out on our Facebook page. 

Enjoy! And, as always:

Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

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

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

It's official: Sacramento County (and now all of California) residents have been formally ordered to stay at home and only go out for essential activities in response to public health concerns over COVID-19.

 

The VOICES: crew once again has epidemiologist Flojaune Cofer on to discuss the latest coronavirus updates. But this time we're all practicing social distancing. We recorded this episode from our respective homes using a Zoom meeting!

 

We start off with a discussion on what the mandate means not just for all residents, but for those communities who are particularly vulnerable, and who historically have experienced abuse from law enforcement. 

 

The latest numbers of confirmed cases are regularly evolving, but at the time of recording Thursday evening, the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center showed 13,680 confirmed cases in the United States, with 200 deaths (a 1.46% mortality rate). The San Francisco Chronicle showed somewhat different numbers than JHU for California, with 1,008 confirmed cases (463 in the Bay Area), and 19 deaths. That's about a 1.9% mortality rate.

 

We then turn to Shannon to examine Governor Gavin Newsom's call to shelter folks experiencing homelessness. As an emergency service provider for women and children experiencing homelessness, Shannon has seen absolutely no response from city, county or state officials to help shelter her guests. An utter systemic failure.

 

Finally--and we know this one is going to get us in trouble--we discuss the Boomer problem. In a hilarious twist of fate, Millennials now find themselves yelling at Mom and Dad for going out, in the same way their parents did to them two decades ago. We discuss our fears over losing our loved ones, and how to handle the cavalier approach that so many of those over 65 have been approaching the global pandemic.

 

This is a long episode, but we know we have a captive audience. Enjoy! And, as always:

Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

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

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

The VOICES: crew has a very special guest this week in epidemiologist Dr. Flojaune Cofer.Dr. Flo of Public Health Advocates is here to tell us all about how California and Sacramento ought to respond to the coronavirus, which the World Health Organization has now classified as a global pandemic. She schools us on what COVID-19 is, how our various levels of government have responded to the rise of the virus, and how we might want to react to the deluge of news over its spread.

The doctor wears many hats, and we take advantage of the fact that she's in the house. As chair of the Measure U commission, Flo shares about her thoughts on the Sacramento Police Department's purchase of a BearCat, which is effectively an urban assault vehicle. City council signed off on the purchase, which dips into Measure U spending. For those of you who don't remember, Measure U tax dollars were supposed to go toward improving life in Sacramento's underserved communities.

So much for that.

The VOICES: crew also discusses the historic win for Katie Valenzuela, a democratic socialist and Sacramento's newest member of city council.

Thanks for listening, and as always:

Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens

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

What a Super Tuesday. First off, a huge thank you to all who showed up to our watch party at Kupros. We had a blast with you all, and even enjoyed some cross-pollination with a bunch of Democratic organizations who were there for the same reason.

 

This week we touch on the presidential race, in which Joe Biden is currently leading Bernie Sanders. We discuss how moderates coalesced just before Super Tuesday, look at Biden's solid performance, and examine what comes next.

 

We then touch on the good news of election night: Katie Valenzuela is looking extremely solid against Steve Hansen. The VOICES: crew takes a look at some of the potential factors of her success (starting with her wildly successful grassroots game, powered by the likes of renters' rights organizations, Democratic Socialists of America and labor groups). Particularly fun this week has been the Sacramento Bee's response to Katie's strong showing. We had this Marcos Breton tear-jerker, as well as this sneering piece by the Editorial Board, which endorsed Hansen over Valenzuela.

 

Speaking of the Sacramento Bee, did you hear that friend of the show, Master of Crows, Darrell Steinberg, is going to save the Sacramento Bee?! The zaniness here is fairly self explanatory.

 

A huge thank you to our existing patrons, and to our new patrons! The day after Super Tuesday, we saw $80 in new monthly pledges! With listeners like you, who needs billionaire backers?

 

Thanks for listening, and as always:

Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens

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

First things first: a hearty congratulations to Sacramento's Black Lives Matter leadership, who recently won a First Amendment lawsuit against Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones.

This week we discuss a new monstrous law passed unanimously by Sacramento City Council which criminalizes homeless folks for living near levees or "critical public infrastructure." Funny how such controversial votes seem to always take place during the few 2 pm council meetings held throughout the year, when most folks are at work and can't speak out in person against such inhumane laws.

We've also got some good news and bad news on California's housing crisis. The good news is that we're finally seeing the watershed of tax dollars for building new low income housing in the state. Unfortunately, the state's Department of Housing and Community Development (which is tasked to make that happen) is understaffed by about 21 percent. Looking for work? Keep an eye out for an upcoming rapid-hire job fair.

Oh, and did you hear about the journalist who got suspended for saying he's a socialist? We discuss the absurdity of that move by ABC News, and how the journalism industry is a heaving mass of violent contradictions.

Finally we do a little recap of Skyler and Kempa's time in Nevada last week, where they knocked on doors and then acted as observers for the caucuses, which Bernie Sanders won decisively.

Thanks for listening, and as always:

Patreon: patreon.com/voicesrivercity

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens

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

And so begins the Nevada caucus, during which Bernie Sanders volunteers from surrounding states flood in for one final push in the Battle Born State. Kempa is spending the better part of the week helping the campaign in Reno and Sparks, but he did sit down with Skyler to talk about the canvassing experience. The Nevada caucus will be all finished by Saturday, but if listeners want to volunteer for Bernie, they can reach out to his Sacramento office on 8345 Folsom Boulevard, Suite 114 (behind the Jack in the Box).

But Shannon and Skyler need no Kempa to run a damn show. They got together to discuss Wednesday night's spicy Democratic presidential debate, during which Elizabeth Warren committed a cold-blooded murder on racist former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had no response for her pressing him on his dozens of non-disclosure agreements he'd made women sign who had come out with complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct against him. Sanders had a solid showing, relishing his chance to fire at a billionaire on live television. Joe Biden was there, too. Baby mayor Pete Buttigieg and Senator Amy Klobuchar, meanwhile, fought fiercely on the right-most corner of the stage.

Finally, Shannon and Sky bring things a bit more local again, discussing California Governor Gavin Newsom's State of the State address. This year it was all about homelessness. He owns the issue now. So can he deliver?

A reminder: If you are registered as a No Party Preference voter and you received a ballot in the mail that does not include the Democratic primary race, you can contact your county to trade it in for one that has it! You have until the March 3 election day (during which you can go to the polls and switch out your ballot for one that has the Dem race) to get this done. Don't miss your chance to vote!