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Jan 8, 5 PM: Thanks but No Tanks! Rally in San Leandro

 Jan 8, 5 PM: Thanks but No Tanks! Rally in San Leandro  Event, Police  No Responses »
Jan 062015
 

bearcat

The San Leandro Police Department  wants to acquire a “Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck” like the one above – pretending that it’s some sort of glorified ambulance. The City Council is set to let them do it.

In reality, BearCat vehicles are used for regular law-enforcement purposes, such as serving warrants for minor crimes and collecting fines, and as intimidation tools against peaceful protesters. They are part of a broader project to militarize the police and use it as a potent repression tool against all sorts of political dissent. This particular model is outfitted with medical equipment inside, so they can sell it as a “Medevac tactical armored vehicle” – despite the fact that it’ll be used by the SLPD and not by medical personnel.

California cities like Davis have said NO to the militarization of police and are giving their tanks back – let’s stop San Leandro from becoming a police state!

The show-n-tell on the BearCat vehicle and the Rally will take place on January 8th at 5 PM at the Senior Center (13909 E. 14th Street, SL). There will be an opportunity to ask questions while looking at the vehicle.  You can expect your interactions with police, to follow this model.

At 6 PM there will be a City Council meeting with a sales pitch by the SLPD, followed by a comment period by the general public. As it’s a City Council meeting rather than a community meeting, there will not be an opportunity for questions to be answered.

Please share this invitation!

ACLU to Look at SLPD’s Use of Social Media to Spy on San Leandro Students

 ACLU to Look at SLPD’s Use of Social Media to Spy on San Leandro Students  Civil Liberties, Legal, Police, Schools  No Responses »
Jan 052015
 

aclustudnetsA lawyer from the ACLU has contacted a member of SAFE and explained that they are starting a review process on the tracking of kids’ online activities and the keeping of records on kids through graduation.   At their last City Council meeting, the Council approved a grant that will provide the San Leandro Police Department with resources to spy on students using social media and to maintain a database of any student behavior that could label a child as being “at risk,” this starting in elementary school.

The ACLU is working to determine if the SLPD’s proposed tracking and monitoring operations will be breaking any laws and if the policies and procedures around such tracking can be clarified in a way to build transparency and trust with the community.

The ACLU asked that we send in any additional information that could be helpful to their review.  This would include official documents on the social media monitoring, but also personal accounts of such experiences.  Please e-mail me anything you would like to pass on to the ACLU.

Former Council Member Uses “N” word; Cutter writes him off, Cox does not

 Former Council Member Uses “N” word; Cutter writes him off, Cox does not  Community, People, Politics  No Responses »
Jan 052015
 
Laython "Judge" Landis

Laython “Judge” Landis

Update 2: Campaign finance reports show that Pauline Cutter returned Judge Landis’  contribution.  Deborah Cox did not.  Landis died in November 2015.

Update: Deborah Cox has given in to public pressure, this afternoon she spoke with Brian Copeland and said she’d return the contribution.

San Leandro has a long and tortuous history of racial segregation and discrimination.  The city was almost exclusively white well into the 1990s and stories of police cars guarding the border with Oakland still linger in the memory of many African Americans. Writer and comedian Brian Copeland, who moved to San Leandro as a young child, turned his experiences growing up here into a powerful one-man show, which became the longest running solo play in San Francisco.   The book based on his play, Not a Genuine Black Man: Or, How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily-White Suburbs, has earned 5 stars on Amazon.com.

While San Leandro has changed greatly since then, and we are now one of the most diverse cities in California, too many of the long-term residents who remain have kept their racist and xenophobic attitudes which they express unchallenged.  It was thus  not in the least surprising to hear that Laython “Judge” Landis, a former San Leandro City Council and current director of the Oro Loma Sanitary District Board, made an outright racist remark during a board meeting (which he later repeated thrice during a TV interview).  What was surprising is that someone actually called him on it and tried to hold him accountable for it.

Lands is well known in town for his racist and sexist commentaries; he once described President Obama as “just a monkey with ears” and has made indecent propositions to local female politicians.  But he has been an elected official for over four decades, his name carries weight with the older and white San Leandro population and he can be generous with his financial contributions.  This means that politicos keep inviting him to their events, using their names and taking his checks.

In the last election alone, Landis gave a $1,000 contribution to now Mayor Pauline Cutter and a $2,000 contribution to now Councilmember Deborah Cox.  On his radio show and on Facebook, Brian Copeland called on Cutter and Cox to return such contributions.  Cutter committed to doing so and has already taken Laython Landis off the list of the endorsers for her Mayoral run.  Deborah Cox has not personally addressed Copeland’s request, but the response of Angela Ramirez-Holmes‘s, Cox’ campaign manager, response is telling:  “I have no idea why giving him the money back is helpful. I don’t understand this call to action.”

San Leandro deserves better.

New City Council Set to Start Year by Violating the Brown Act

 New City Council Set to Start Year by Violating the Brown Act  City Hall  No Responses »
Jan 032015
 

splitlogoCity Manager evaluation, new “Hostage Negotiation” vehicle & new Vice Mayor also on agenda

Update: I have heard back from City Attorney Richard Pio Roda.  He says that the City does not believe that the potential plaintiffs in the case that will be discussed in closed session are aware of the facts and circumstances that will enable their lawsuit.  He confirmed that the case in question did not involve “an accident, disaster, incident, or transaction”, for example, a police shooting, where the potential plaintiff is aware that they have been harmed.

—

The first City Council meeting of the year will be this Monday, January 5th.  It will include new Mayor Pauline Cutter and new Councilmembers Deborah Cox (Dist 1), Lee Thomas (Dist 3) and Corina Lopez (Dist 5).  Councilmembers Ursula Reed (Dist 2) and Jim Prola (Dist 6) have two more years to go before being termed out while Councilmember Benny Lee (Dist 4) is two years into his first term.

The Council Agenda for this Monday is very light and includes 2 closed session items (those that are discussed without the public being present).  It also includes this Council’s first Brown Act violation.

The Brown Act allows a City Council to discuss very few issues in closed session.  One of those is pending litigation against the City (CA Gov code 54956.9), including situations where “based on existing facts and circumstances, there is a significant exposure to litigation against the [City]” (54956.9(d)(2)).  However, the Brown Act also requires that if the “facts and circumstances … that might result in litigation against the [City]  … are known to a potential plaintiff … [these] shall be publicly stated on the agenda or announced“ (54956.9(e)(2)).  Under former Mayor Stephen Cassidy, the Council almost invariably broke this section of the law, and the pattern seems to be set to continue under Mayor Pauline Cutter. However, she’s been advised of the potential violation and she could choose to cure the situation by announcing the facts and circumstances of the potential litigation during Monday’s meeting.

The law does not require that the City announce such “facts and circumstances” if these are not known to the plaintiff, but such situations are rare.  For example, the family of the woman who was shot to death by the San Leandro Police Department less than a month ago, is not only aware of the fact that she was killed, but they have retained an attorney.  If the City Council will be discussing this case in closed session – and if they are not, they definitely should be -, there is no legal reason whatsoever for them to not disclose such fact.
According to the Agenda, the City Council will also meet in closed session to conduct the City Manager‘s evaluation, though given that three of the seven members of the Council have never worked with the City Manager before, it’s difficult to see how they’d be able to conduct and independent evaluation of his performance.

Open session items of interest include:

– The vote for a new Vice-Mayor

– Allocation of $71K (up from $60K) for the SLPD to get a new “hostage negotiation” vehicle.  This is in addition to the paramilitary armored vehicle that the SLPD wants the City to acquire.

– Presentation from Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments, a Fremont-based organization that works with victims of domestic violence.

 

 

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