If Amazon Wants New York, Make It Unionize
The Center for Popular Democracy awarded Walgreens its “worst employer” prize because of its treatment of the retail chain’s employees.
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The Center for Popular Democracy awarded Walgreens its “worst employer” prize because of its treatment of the retail chain’s employees.
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New York charter school audits reveal $28 million in questionable expenses
New York State charter schools have made more than $28 million in questionable expenditures since 2002, according to a new review of previous audits of the publicly funded, privately run schools...
New York State charter schools have made more than $28 million in questionable expenditures since 2002, according to a new review of previous audits of the publicly funded, privately run schools.
The Center for Popular Democracy’s analysis charter school audits found investigators uncovered probable financial mismanagement in 95% of the schools they examined.
Kyle Serrette, education director for the progressive group, said the review of previously published audits showed the schools need greater oversight.
“We can’t afford to have a system that fails to cull the fraudulent charter operators from the honest ones,” said Serrette, whose group compiled the report with the non-profit Alliance for Quality Education. “Establishing a charter school oversight system that prevents fraud, waste and mismanagement will attack the root cause of the problem.”
The state controller’s office and state Education Department have audited 62 of New York’s 248 charter schools, according to Serrette’s report. All told, Serrette’s group estimates wasteful spending at charters could cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year.
Eighteen audits targeted charters in New York City, representing about 9% of the 197 charters in the five boroughs. Each audit found issues.
A 2012 audit found Brooklyn Excelsior Charter School was paying $800,000 in excess annual fees to the management company that holds its building’s lease. A 2012 audit of Williamsburg Charter High School revealed school officials overbilled the city for operations and paid contractors for $200,800 in services that should have been provided by the school’s network. A 2007 audit of the Carl C. Icahn Charter School determined the Bronx school spent more than $1,288 on alcohol for staff parties and failed to account for another $102,857 in expenses.The city spends more than $1.29 billion on charters annually.
State Education Department officials and a spokesman for the state controller’s office declined to comment on Serrette’s report.
Northeast Charter School Network CEO Kyle Rosenkrans said the schools already get plenty of oversight because they are subject to audits and must have their charters renewed at least every five years.
“Charter schools are the most accountable public schools there are,” the charter advocate said. “If we don’t perform or we mismanage our finances, we get shut down.
Source: New York Daily News
‘We are not ready’: Arizona voters warn Election Day could be worse than primary fiasco
‘We are not ready’: Arizona voters warn Election Day could be worse than primary fiasco
PHOENIX, ARIZONA — On Arizona’s primary day this April, voters in Maricopa County waited five hours in the hot sun to cast a ballot, because the county slashed the number of polling places from...
PHOENIX, ARIZONA — On Arizona’s primary day this April, voters in Maricopa County waited five hours in the hot sun to cast a ballot, because the county slashed the number of polling places from 200 to 60. Some people gave up and left without voting; some fainted in the desert heat. Polling places ran out of ballots.
After the dust settled, angry voters, candidates, and political parties filed a slew of lawsuits against the state, leading to court settlements and a promise that no voter will have to wait longer than half an hour this fall.
“The primary fiasco was a huge wakeup call,” said Samantha Pstross with the Arizona Advocacy Network.
But elected officials and voting rights advocates fear the situation could be just as bad or worse on Tuesday.
“We are not ready for what I presume will be one of the largest turnouts in Arizona history,” Maricopa County supervisor Steve Gallardo told ThinkProgress. “Everyone is banking on a large number of vote-by-mail ballots. But this is not an ordinary election. We have a record number of new Latino voters. We see lots of excitement out there. We need to be prepared to handle this, but we’re already seeing problems.”
“We are not ready for what I presume will be one of the largest turnouts in Arizona history.”
Gallardo cited troubles that have already plagued the county during early voting, when turnout is usually much lighter than on Election Day itself.
On Friday, the final day of in-person early voting, voters in Tempe waited more than three hours to cast a ballot. Among them was Bob Davis, who arrived around 1:15 p.m. with his four-year-old daughter. Though he was told it would be a two-hour wait, he didn’t cast a ballot until nearly 5 p.m.
“I watched like 20 people leave the line who couldn’t wait,” he told ThinkProgress. “I knew the chance of them coming back and trying again was negligible. I felt really upset.”
Davis noted that there is a ballot measure before Arizona voters this year that would raise the minimum wage from just over 8 dollars an hour to 12 by the year 2020. He said he worries those the measure would impact most will not be able to have a say in its passage.
“If you make only 8.05 an hour, your ability to stand in line for four hours is minimal,” he said. “This is actual voter suppression.”
In Glendale, another Phoenix suburb, an understaffed site with insufficient equipment forced voters to wait more than two hours earlier this week.
“It’s discouraging,” Gallardo said. “No one should have to stand in long lines. It becomes a voting barrier. Some folks don’t have the opportunity to wait. Some are elderly and physically can’t stand that long, others only have a short lunch break from work when they can vote. So if you let long lines occur, you are disenfranchising voters.”
Maricopa County had 724 polling places for the 2012 general election. This year, they will have the exact same number, despite adding more than 90,000 more voters to the rolls. Many of those precincts’ polling places are located in the same building, meaning there will be only 640 separate locations.
“What is scary is what could happen on Election Day,” said Pstross. “If there are long lines, people will be disenfranchised left and right.”
Ever-changing laws fuel voter confusion
Arizona smashed its Latino voter registration record in the final weeks of the 2016 election, adding 150,000 new voters to the rolls. The state also led the nation in Latino early voting. Latino residents cast an unprecedented 13 percent of the votes, up from just 8 percent in 2008. Organizers credit Donald Trump for some of this participation spike, noting that his disparagement of immigrants and promises of mass deportations have mobilized Latinos who previously avoided electoral politics.
But as community advocacy groups like Bazta Arpaio, the Arizona Advocacy Network, LUCHA, and others hit the streets of Phoenix in the campaign’s final days, some fear an avalanche of last-minute court cases and legal changes could confuse and disenfranchise the voters they have worked so hard to engage.
This year alone, Arizona mailed out incorrect information about where to vote and mistranslated one of the ballot propositions on thousands of Spanish-language ballots. The state also allowed the final day of voter registration to fall on a federal holiday, leaving thousands of voters unable to register in time.
Then, on Friday night, a federal appeals court temporarily enjoined Arizona’s new law that made it a felony for anyone other than a relative or caretaker to pick up and mail in a voter’s absentee ballot. On Saturday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision and gave Arizona its blessing to enforce the ballot collection ban.
The back-and-forth left organizers scrambling.
Ben Laughlin, an organizer with the “Bazta Arpaio” campaign to unseat the controversial county sheriff Joe Arpaio, got the news of the ruling just before dispatching a small army of canvassers to knock on doors across the city.
“It causes a lot of confusion,” Laughlin told ThinkProgress. “For months we haven’t been collecting ballots because of the ban. Yesterday, we started collecting ballots. Now we’re not. It was a sweet 24 hour window.”
Bazta Arpaio blasted out this message on Friday night: “This weekend, when a volunteer comes to your door, you can have them turn in your ballot with confidence.” Less than a day later, the group had to abandon those plans.
A mother and her two sons hit the streets of West Phoenix with the Bazta Arpaio campaign. CREDIT: Alice Ollstein
Across the city, Asya Pikovsky with the Center for Popular Democracy scrambled to inform dozens of volunteers about the legal development.
“We got on the phone the second the decision came out and told every single person,” she told ThinkProgress on Saturday. “Our canvassers are following the decision to the letter.”
But other advocates expressed fears that some people could accidentally violate the newly-restored law if they did not get the news in time.
“No one should be considered a felon for helping someone else vote — especially someone who would have no other way to get to the polls,” Pstross said.
She fears even those following the law could face unlawful harassment from poll watchers, who have been instructed to follow and photograph those turning in multiple ballots.
“We’re worried that, say, someone who works at a retirement home could show up with 50 to 100 ballots,” she said. “They’re a legitimate caretaker, but even if they’re totally within the law, a crazy person could challenge and intimidate them.”
Sheriffs and vigilantes
Concerns about intimidation by poll-watchers were elevated Saturday, when a federal court declined to put a halt to plans by Trump’s campaign, the Arizona GOP, and a group run by Trump ally Roger Stone to patrol minority-heavy precincts, film those who they suspect of voter fraud, and question people exiting the polls about which candidate they supported.
“It is Plaintiff’s burden to illustrate that these activities are likely to intimidate, threaten, or coerce voters,” the court ruled. “The evidence…has failed to do so.”
But officials and voting rights advocates in Arizona are not just worried about intimidation from such volunteers — They are also sounding the alarm about the potential presence of the county sheriffs at the polls on Election Day.
The Maricopa County Recorder’s office, which administers the election, plans to call in sheriffs if there are any disputes at the polls, even though the head of the department is currently on trial for criminal contempt and racial profiling. Sheriffs have already been summoned to early voting sites, including one incident this week in which voters were upset about turned away at 4:30 p.m. because the polls were supposed to be open until 5 p.m.
“This should be an exciting time for voters — not a time of anxiety or fear.”
Voting rights advocates and elected officials said that having the same sheriffs who conducted immigration raids patrol the polls will intimidate Latino voters. Some groups have called on the Justice Department to send monitors to oversee the sheriffs’ activities, while others are demanding the County Recorder use a different law enforcement agency on Election Day.
“We have a sheriff that has divided and polarized this county and created distrust between the community and the sheriff’s office,” Gallardo said. “It’s time to distance ourselves from the sheriffs’ office and use other agencies like Phoenix Police that actually have credibility with the public. The sheriffs should not be involved in this election.”
“This should be an exciting time for voters — not a time of anxiety or fear,” added Alex Gomez, Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Empowerment. “On Election Day, the story should be about Arizonans proudly casting their ballots — not voters scared off from the polls.”
By Alice Miranda Ollstein
Source
Más obreros hispanos de la construcción mueren en el trabajo a nivel nacional
Univision National – October 25, 2013 -
Los activista y expertos están poniendo en tela de juicio la seguridad de los trabajadores de la construcción en Nueva York, además, un...
Univision National – October 25, 2013 -
Los activista y expertos están poniendo en tela de juicio la seguridad de los trabajadores de la construcción en Nueva York, además, un estudio revela que los hispanos tienen el mayor porcentaje de accidentes de trabajo en ese sector de la ‘gran manzana’.
¿Qué opinas sobre la situación de los hispanos que se dedican a la construcción?
En Nueva York, anualmente 75 trabajadores de construcción mueren por accidentes, una cifra que a nivel nacional supera los 4 mil, reportó Blanca Rosa Vílchez a Univision.
El 41 por ciento de los trabajadores de construcción en Nueva York son latinos; sin embargo, cuando se habla de accidentes, significan el 74% de los muertos, una estadística que en sí refleja la magnitud del problema.
Líderes comunitarios exigen soluciones
En el mismo lugar en el que un trabajador de construcción fue la última víctima mortal de un accidente, la organización que realizó el estudio y líderes comunitarios discutieron los grandes riesgos a los que se exponen diariamente estos trabajadores.
“Había momentos en que el jefe le decía que tenía que subir a una determinada altura y él no estaba acostumbrado a eso y tenía que hacerlo porque eran órdenes del jefe”, aseguró Elsa Ramos, madre de un trabajador.
Una multa para los contratistas no supera los 2 mil dólares y la muerte de un trabajador los 12 mil, además se presentó un proyecto para eliminar lo que se conoce como la “ley del andamio”.
Muchos casos no se denuncian
“Quieren hacer ese cambio para que los trabajadores no puedan seguir juicio contra una compañía de construcción aunque haya violaciones, nosotros tenemos que seguir previniendo que se haga ese cambio”, mencionó Francisco Moya, asambleísta.
Sin embargo, muchos casos ni siquiera se reportan por temor de los trabajadores.
“Ya me hicieron cirugía de la nuca en 2010 y me hicieron cirugía de la espalda en diciembre de 2012, todavía tengo dolor, ese dolor lo voy a tener toda mi vida”, afirmó Pedro Corchado, trabajador accidentado.
Otro caso es el de Francisco, quien no ha vuelto a trabajar desde que se cayó de una altura de 11 pies, la compañía para la que trabajaba dice que le dio sólo horas de entrenamiento.
Source
My Daughter And I Dressed As Handmaids And Got Arrested To Protest Brett Kavanaugh
My Daughter And I Dressed As Handmaids And Got Arrested To Protest Brett Kavanaugh
The whole time though, we were together with our community of activists and had people waiting for us on the other side. We all sang songs of protest and resistance together, and I could feel the...
The whole time though, we were together with our community of activists and had people waiting for us on the other side. We all sang songs of protest and resistance together, and I could feel the support from everyone around me. It’s hard to explain what an incredible feeling it is to be surrounded by a community that has your back, and I’m especially thankful to organizers and activists from groups like the Center for Popular Democracy and Housing Works for providing action and jail support.
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Citizenship: A Wise Investment for Cities
Citizenship: A Wise Investment for Cities
Metropolitan areas derive much of their vitality from their large immigrant populations. When immigrants become citizens, they make...
Metropolitan areas derive much of their vitality from their large immigrant populations. When immigrants become citizens, they make a deeper investment in their communities, leading to civic, economic and social benefits for all.
Download the report here
Local governments have recognized that investing in helping immigrants naturalize is money well spent. Recent research shows that naturalized immigrants achieve an increase in earnings of 8-11%, nationally, with multiplier effects stimulating the local economy.
Yet roughly one-third of immigrants eligible to naturalize fail to do so because of various obstacles, such as the high cost, lack of English proficiency, and lack of knowledge about the naturalization process.
Although Congress has failed to take comprehensive action on immigration reform, cities can take bold action to integrate more immigrants into their communities. By increasing the number of immigrants who naturalize, cities can benefit their local economies and our entire country.
The Cities for Citizenship Initiative (C4C) is a collaboration co-chaired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York.
The initiative is made possible with generous funding from Citi Community Development, and national campaign support is provided by the National Partnership for New Americans and the Center for Popular Democracy. Launched in September 2014, C4C will promote a large-scale naturalization campaign over the next 5 years, assisting legal permanent resident immigrants who want to go through the challenging process of becoming U.S. citizens. C4C will help mayors and municipal governments initiate and enhance citizenship programs in their cities.
This report represents the first stage in what will be an ongoing research effort by C4C to analyze the social and economic benefits of increased naturalization to immigrant families and local economies. Our initial assessment examines the economic benefits of naturalization for Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, with the understanding that similar benefits are achievable in other metropolitan areas. We conclude that:
The increase in earnings of immigrants who otherwise would not have naturalized is estimated to add between $1.8 and $4.1 billion over ten years to the local economy in the city of New York, between $1.6 and $2.8 billion in Los Angeles, and between $1.0 and $1.6 billion in Chicago.
Taking into account a modest multiplier effect, these increased earnings will lead to additional economic activity—or GDP—over ten years of between $2.2 and $4.8 billion in the city of New York, $1.9 to $3.3 billion in Los Angeles, and between $1.2 and $1.8 billion in Chicago.
The increased income would generate additional local and state tax revenues over ten years (sales, property, and income) of between $270 and $600 million in the city of New York, between $180 and $320 million in Los Angeles, and between $100 and $170 million in Chicago.
Immigrants with disabilities who do not have a five-year work history in the U.S. would become eligible for SSI upon naturalization, bringing more federal dollars into the local economy to support benefits programs.
Helping immigrants to naturalize is an investment that pays off. For the relatively low cost of promoting naturalization, local communities grow the local economy, increase tax revenue, and relieve local assistance programs. The result is stronger communities with members who have made a permanent commitment to stay and who are able to participate more fully in our democracy, through their new right to vote, improved economic condition, and other protections or perceived protections.
Download the report here
Confronting white supremacy: Radicalized white men are on a reign of terror
Confronting white supremacy: Radicalized white men are on a reign of terror
Radicalized white men are on a reign of terror, and I’m not just talking about the tiki-torch terrorists in Charlottesville. I’m talking about the white men who are threatening our health care,...
Radicalized white men are on a reign of terror, and I’m not just talking about the tiki-torch terrorists in Charlottesville. I’m talking about the white men who are threatening our health care, our schools, our communities, our institutions, and our families through their callous and self-serving policies. Hoods have been replaced by pinstripe suits.
Read the full article here.
110,000 Petition Signatures Call for End to HUD “Wall Street Giveaway,” Fundamental Reforms of Mortgage Sale Program
04.19.2016
A petition organized by a national coalition of homeowner advocates and progressive organizations at ...
04.19.2016
A petition organized by a national coalition of homeowner advocates and progressive organizations at DontSellourHomesToWallStreet.org reached 110,000 signatures today, urging Secretary Julián Castro to immediately reform HUD’s distressed mortgage sales program.
Housing advocates are urging improvements to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s delinquent mortgage sales they call a “Wall Street giveaway,” such as principal reduction for homeowners and selling significantly higher percentages of mortgages to nonprofit and other mission-driven entities.
The coalition’s petition launched last Monday to considerable press attention from outlets including the Wall Street Journal and Politico.
Over the past one and a half years the campaign’s call for fundamental reforms have been picked up from quarters as varied as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the New York Times editorial board, and 45 members of Congress who signed a congressional letter to HUD and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) in March of this year.
“It makes no sense to sell these loans back to the same predators responsible for the housing crisis in the first place,” said Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director for CPD Action. “Wall Street speculators have a goal of making as much money as possible from our communities, destroying the wealth and stability of neighborhoods of color in the process. This stands in direct conflict with HUD’s mission to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.”
On Thursday, FHFA announced reforms to its similar sales of non-performing loans, adding greater principal forgiveness and increasing the chances that homeowners will have their loans modified by their new owners. HUD has yet to make these changes to its distressed mortgage sales program.
The petition to HUD Secretary Julián Castro housed at DontSellOurHomesToWallStreet.org reads in part:
We are disappointed to see that under your leadership, 98% of the delinquent mortgages sold in 2015 through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Distressed Asset Stabilization Program went straight to reckless Wall Street banks…
We call on you to immediately cease sales through the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program until the program is fundamentally reformed so that loans are sold to nonprofit and mission-driven organizations and qualified buyers meeting high standards, not just reckless Wall Street banks.
Homeowner advocates who have campaigned for changes to HUD’s sales of distressed mortgages say the response to-date from HUD has been inadequate.
This disconnect was highlighted by Sec. Julián Castro’s comments to NBC News on Thursday that the campaign was “baffling” because “on the policy, what we have done is actually have made the program much better for homeowners. So we’ve done basically a lot of what they are asking for.”
In fact, over half of the mortgages HUD trumpets as avoiding foreclosure end up in short sales or as deeds in lieu, meaning the homeowners end up losing their homes.
“Many of us were sold toxic loans and have been struggling to hold on to our homes and recover,” said Jose Vega, a community leader and struggling homeowner with Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action. “Latinos and African Americans were targeted for predatory loans and have had particularly high rates of foreclosures. It is shameful that, instead of helping us, HUD is helping Wall Street speculators make more money off of the pain and suffering of homeowners and communities.”
In April 2015, HUD pledged to prioritize sales to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). However, since that date, 98 percent of the loans sold – 15,309 out of 15,624 – went to Wall Street speculators such as private equity giant Blackstone. Only one percent was sold to CDFIs.
“Latino communities are still recovering from the predatory subprime mortgage crisis that stole more than two-thirds of our collective wealth,” said Matt Nelson, Managing Director at Presente.org.“Homeowner advocates have urged serious reforms to this HUD program for the past 18 months. Now it's up to Sec. Castro to end HUD's Wall Street giveaway and reorient the program toward its goal of helping homeowners instead of increasing Wall Street profits.”
“Enough is enough – this selling of our neighborhoods wholesale has got to stop,” said Christina Winslow, a New York Communities for Change member and homeowner from Southeast Queens who lost her home to a short sale after Lone Star bought her mortgage. “This is about the people in my community: We had dreams, and when we needed assistance we were pushed to the side and sold off. My family and my business, like so many others in communities of color, suffered greatly when we were uprooted by the same people who first sold us predatory loans. The federal government needs to realize that you don’t put out a fire by calling the arsonist!”
Among the organizations participating in the national coalition are Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) Action, CPD Action, Daily Kos, Democracy for America, MoveOn.org Civic Action, New York Communities for Change, Other 98% Action, Presente.org, RootsAction.org, Rootstrikers, and the Working Families Party.
Some key steps in this effort include:
September 9, 2014: Community groups launch campaign and release report: Vulture Capital Hits Home: How HUD is Helping Wall Street and Hurting Our Communities. June 22, 2015: U.S. Conference of Mayors passes resolution that was co-sponsored by 17 Mayors from across the country. September 30, 2015: Community groups and local elected officials converge in D.C. Rally with Elizabeth Warren and Congressman Capuano, and meetings with senior officials at HUD and FHFA. Covered in Bloomberg and the New York Times. October 6, 2015: The New York Times editorial board says these mortgage sales should be suspended until government agencies put real reforms in place and actually increase the proportion of nonprofit buyers. March 1, 2016: Letter sent to HUD and FHFA signed by 45 Members of Congress. April 7, 2016: Rep. Grijalva's letter to Sec. Castro. April 12, 2016: Coalition of national groups launch petition atDontSellourHomesToWallStreet.org urging immediate changes to HUD’s mortgage sales, focused on Secretary Julián Castro, head of HUD.###
Activists confront Fed leaders to warn against rate hike
The liberal Center for Popular Democracy has launched a "Fed Up" campaign to urge the central bank’s chairwoman, Janet Yellen, and her team of policymakers against raising interest rates.
...
The liberal Center for Popular Democracy has launched a "Fed Up" campaign to urge the central bank’s chairwoman, Janet Yellen, and her team of policymakers against raising interest rates.
Many Fed watchers anticipate Yellen and her team to increase the interest rate, lowered to zero percent following the 2008 economic crisis to spur economic growth as soon as September, citing steady growth.
But the campaign, whose board includes members of the AFL-CIO and Service Employees International Union (SEIU), says that the economy hasn't recovered enough to adopt such a policy.
"The economy remains far too weak to slow it down. We shouldn't mince words — when the Fed raises interest rates, it's doing that to slow the economy down," said Ady Barkan, Fed Up campaign director, on a conference call with reporters.
He called the prospect of the Fed raising interest rates "an insane perspective to take and an insane policy to take at the moment."
The group is sending about 50 activists to the annual Economic Policy Symposium, which includes members of the Federal Reserve, global bankers and top economists. The activists will hold "Teach Ins" that coincide with the annual summit.
Among the planned events is one titled, "Do Black Lives Matter to the Fed?" — a nod to the national movement to highlight policies that disproportionately hurt the African-American community.
Some progressives criticized Yellen’s testimony in the House last month, when she was asked what Fed officials could do to lower the African-American unemployment rate.
At 9.5 percent, the African-American unemployment rate remains significantly above the 5.3 percent national unemployment rate.
"There really isn’t anything directly that the Federal Reserve can do to affect the structure of unemployment across groups," Yellen answered at last month's hearing. "There’s nothing we can do about any particular group.”
Barkan said that Yellen "was wrong to say there's nothing the Fed can do to help African-Americans."
He argued that Fed officials could help African-Americans and minorities by adopting an agenda that focuses less on pricing bubbles in the markets and more on lowering unemployment, a tactic that would mean keeping interest rates low.
Activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement have grabbed headlines in recent months for its aggressive questioning tactics to Democratic presidential candidates.
"We hope very much to engage with Federal Reserve officials into these conversations," Barkan said.
Source: The Hill
LA is Taking On the Fair Workweek Fight - It Could Change Your Life
LA is Taking On the Fair Workweek Fight - It Could Change Your Life
The Center for Popular Democracy did an extensive national study of retail workers in 2017, surveying over 1,000 people working in retail and finding that despite statewide minimum wage gains and...
The Center for Popular Democracy did an extensive national study of retail workers in 2017, surveying over 1,000 people working in retail and finding that despite statewide minimum wage gains and some voluntary reforms by employers, many people struggle to achieve economic stability due to significant income volatility and wage stagnation.
Read the full article here.
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