Voices: River City

Conflict is brewing at the Sacramento City Unified School District, where members of the teacher's union (SCTA) and other school district workers (represented by SEIU 1021) are planning to strike Wednesday, if the school board does not adequately address their concerns. The demands from the unions are a little complicated, but after they were reviewed by a three-person panel that included a representative appointed by the district, a representative appointed by the teachers union and an independent member, the panel found their demands to be more than reasonable.

Signaling that they were fine with the strike moving forward, the district refused to meet with the unions this past weekend. They agreed to meet with teachers on Monday afternoon and, in an astounding snub to the rest of the district's workers, pushed back any negotiations with SEIU 1021 until March 30--a full six school days into the strike.

 

The SCUSD school board appears reluctant to speak with press--they even snubbed the student journalists at CK McClatchy!--curious Sacramentans can always learn their reasoning by looking to the board's mouthpiece: McClatchy's California Opinion Editor, Marcos Breton.

 

(Oh, and just for fun: Here's the superintendent's pay.)

 

Speaking of unions, it appears that SEIU 1000 has finally extricated president Richard Louis Brown from its headquarters after he and a gaggle of supporters took the building two weekends ago, changed the locks, and proceeded to wreak havoc. Not only that, a Sacramento Superior Court judge has ordered him to respect his temporary suspension and to stop exercising his powers as president of the mammoth union.

 

What's next in these two big labor stories? Only time will tell.

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Today we're joined by Sacramento Bee opinion writer Robin Epley, who discusses a recent piece she wrote on the importance of Sacramento County keeping the Project Roomkey motel program for people experiencing homelessness, which is sure to keep hundreds of people under a roof.

 

While it is a good thing that Project Roomkey will continue to serve Sacramentans, it should never have been in danger of closing in the first place.

 

Homelessness is getting to be a bigger issue in the region, as Robin and Yousef Baig noted last week, and it's past time for the county and city to work in tandem on the issue. If they don't, folks in the community will start to take their own initiative. And it won't always be pretty.

 

For instance, some awful folks in McKinley Village are trying to muster up a recall campaign against Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, using their own brand of vile anti-homeless rhetoric. 

 

We're also taking some time to discuss the new participatory budgeting initiative that the city of Sacramento is getting behind, which is a massive win for the People's Budget.

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Putin's attack on Ukraine continues, with refugee numbers soaring as Russian troops work to take the country's major urban centers, including the capital city, Kiev.

In discussing the effects of this war, we focus a bit on how Americans have been responding. One opinion editor has demanded that Republicans take a hard stance on Putin. Republicans are trying to pin the crisis on Democrats with rising gas prices.

Many liberal hawks are hammering the war drums on social media, with the political director of California Young Democrats appearing to suggest that leftists support Putin.

Perhaps this shouldn't come as a surprise in a country like ours, where most people believe that Russia is either a socialist or communist nation. (In fact, just like the United States of America, Russia is a capitalist oligarchy, and has been for three decades.) Oh, and just about everyone jumped in to attack the Democratic Socialists of America's statement condemning the war.

Some other topics we touch on:

 

- Media messaging/censorship both in the US and abroad

- Racism against non-white refugees fleeing the violence

- Racist double-standards with media/public responses to wars in the Middle East or Africa, compared to Ukraine (watch this clip)

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Today we're discussing the lawsuit brought against the Sacramento Police Department from demonstrators who have witnessed, first-hand, the double standard between how police treat them against how they treat white supremacists.

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the t

Sacramento County Supervisor Sue Frost was caught on Telegram planning anti-vaccine protests with far-right groups such as the Freedom Angels, the Mamalitia, and the violent Proud Boys.

After a local activist outed Frost, she claimed to know nothing about the kind of people she was cavorting with on the messaging app that commonly attracts reactionary fringe groups. But folks who pay attention to the supervisor know she has a history of peddling conspiracy theories and standing alongside these kinds of people.

Speaking of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, a grand jury recently called the governing body out for playing shell games with federal CARES Act funding meant to be used for public health purposes at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This is the same county that, today, is planning to close three Project Roomkey locations currently sheltering hundreds of unhoused Sacramentans. Can anything be done?

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

It's an election year in California, and conservative Democrats are working to distance themselves from progressive movements with a renewed vigor for tough-on-crime policies. As a result, they're finding themselves with some far-right bedfellows.

In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed has issued yet another police occupation of the Tenderloin District. After a high-profile looting of high-end retail spaces in Union Square last November, the mayor flooded the space with officers for three weeks, to the tune of $2.4 million in police overtime expenses. As Chronicle columnist Justin Phillips noted, officials didn't respond with anywhere near the same fire just days before, when shootings took place in the city's poor neighborhoods.

 

Rather than fund statistically promising initiatives to curb gun violence--such as Oakland's Operation Ceasefire--conservative Democrats facing reelection throughout the state are bending to the will of affluent donors and working to bolster police forces. This comes after two years of George Floyd demonstrations urging politicians to rethink public safety.

 

These same Democrats find themselves in concert with far-right organizations pushing a national initiative to recall progressive officials (such as San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin) who dare to rethink public safety in the most incarcerated nation on the planet.

 

The result of California Democrats siphoning funds from poor, predominantly Black and brown communities, then using that money to further militarize the police force and incarcerate more impoverished people, is simple:

 

The contradictions of capitalism drive deeper into California, and fascists throughout the state are emboldened to make increasingly audacious plays for power.

 

"Third Way" Republicans like the Lincoln Project's Mike Madrid can write all the op-eds they want about the dangers of the fascist creep in California. But when they push to increase funding for a police force known widely to work alongside white supremacists, they are very much part of the problem.

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Today we discuss the nuances between city and county jurisdictions--using some of our all-time favorites as examples--in a bid to better understand who runs what in our region.

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

On Monday California's Assembly was slated to vote on AB1400, which would have paved the way for the Golden State to become the first in the union to adopt single-payer healthcare. Progressives this week hinted that they weren't messing around on CalCare, and would block any state party endorsement for legislators who vote against it. This meant they would not be able to use state party money in their 2022 campaigns.

But in a devastating turn of events, Assemblymember Ash Kalra, who authored the bill, decided not to bring it to a vote. This devastated advocates such as California's nurses and the state party's progressive caucus, forcing them to ask how they might make the establishment Democrats pay for this horrific about-face on the people of California.

Will this be a much needed moment showing progressives and moderates within the party just how little they have in common?

Speaking of campaigns: Despite the California GOP crowing on Fox 40 about their grand intentions in 2022, last year's failed governor recall election shattered any dreams they may have had for the state's executive office. With that said, we've got two very interesting statewide races to watch. First, a Dem-on-Dem battle for the state's commissioner seat between incumbent Ricardo Lara and challenger Marc Levine.

 

We've also got an interesting race bringing the "tough on crime" issue into view: Attorney General Rob Bonta, considered more progressive than most in the capital as the state's top cop, will be challenged by Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, a Republican-turned-No-Party-Preference candidate known for her draconian measures against Sacramento residents during her reign.

 

Also along the "tough on crime" vein, Democratic mayor of San Francisco, London Breed, has called a state of emergency for her city's Tenderloin District. Is it making a difference? Or is this simply a pivot to the right for a mayor currying favor with her city's millionaires and billionaires who are fed up with progressive approaches to crime?

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Today we'll be discussing the launch of the 2022 election cycle, looking at races local to the Sacramento region.

As a launching point, we'll talk about Yousef Baig's Sacramento Bee piece on the need for fresh faces on the Sacramento City Council. While we disagree with his ongoing cheerleading for a strong mayor form of government, we do agree that the majority of the current council needs to go. Here are the seats that are up for election this year:

 

District 3

On Monday, January 24, Karina Talamantes threw her hat in the ring for this newly drawn district, currently represented by Councilmember Jeff Harris. A former Bernie supporter, Talamantes has the support of council's two most progressive members. She also, however, is the chief of staff of current conservative Democrat CM Angelique Ashby.

 

Also in the running is Michael Lynch, the executive director of Improve Your Tomorrow, who last election cycle put his weight behind Mayor Darrell Steinberg's "strong mayor" ballot initiative.

 

Oh, and have we mentioned Jeff Harris? He likely would have run again, but his neighborhood of East Sacramento has been drawn into Katie Valenzuela's District 4. Will he move to South Natomas to hold onto his seat?

 

District 5

Originally the most interesting race in the region, this election pits homeless advocate and cannabis advocate Caity Maple against Kendra Macias Reed, a city planning commissioner who runs a construction company.

 

[You can take a look at Maple and Macias Reed's Sac Follows the Money spreadsheets here.]

 

A resident of the Z'Berg Park neighborhood, Macias Reed has been drawn outside of District 5. She told the Bee she'll be moving back into the district soon, but rumors are emerging that she may ultimately not.

 

District 1

With Councilmember Angelique Ashby running for the California State Senate, this seat representing the northern suburbs is also wide open. According to the Sacramento Bee, the following folks are considering a run here:

 

"- Lisa Kaplan, Natomas Unified School Board member since 2002, and an attorney, is running for the seat, she said.

-  Alyssa Lozano, a realtor and president of the Natomas Chamber of Commerce, is seriously considering a run, said Andrew Acosta, a political consultant.

- Basim Elkarra, executive director of The Council on American-Islamic Relations and member of the Twin Rivers Unified School District Board, is considering a run, he said."

 

District 7

Currently running unopposed, Rick Jennings may have an easy ticket to another round on the dais.

 

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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

Single-payer advocates in California scored a big win last week when a proposed law passed through the Assembly Health Committee on an 11-3 vote.

Now AB1400, introduced by Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-27), will go to the lower chamber's Appropriations Committee this Thursday. If it passes, the bill will make its way to the Assembly floor for a vote.

Fantastic news, right?

It would be, if Governor Gavin Newsom hadn't started to show signs of buckling under the pressure from his millionaire friends in the insurance industry.

While Newsom ran his 2018 governor's race on a single-payer platform, he suddenly has flip-flopped on the bill, claiming to reporters that he hasn't read it or the accompanying ACA11, which would lay out the funding for single-payer in California.

All of this is happening in the backdrop of the state's private health care system's massive systemic failure to the latest surge in COVID-19. Emergency rooms throughout California are already reaching crisis-level capacity. Here in Sacramento County, positive results are coming back for an incredible 43% of tests.

If Californians learn nothing else from two years of systemic failure in the for-profit medical system, it's that a single-payer future is the best bet for our collective health.

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

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

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity  

Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.

If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to [email protected] and we'll make it happen.

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