by Juliana Birnbaum Fox
Mayor Gavin Newsom
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Oakland Mayor RonDellums announced this week that they received $5.7 million from the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant program to streamline communications betweenemergency responders. The scarcity of radio frequencies and the use of incompatible systems have hindered the ability of public safety agencies to communicate with one another, an issue known as interoperability.
“This grant moves us one step closer to our shared goal of fully equippingour first-responders,” said Mayor Newsom. “Having just observed the 6thanniversary of 9/11, the imperative to get this done is all the moreimportant.”
Community calls on City Council to ask for moratorium on foreclosures
Members of the community group ACORN and residents of South San Francisco came together on September 25th for a press conference, pressuring the City Council to pass a resolution on foreclosures. The resolution would ask subprime lenders operating in South San Francisco to voluntarily enact a three month moratorium on foreclosures in in order to give borrowers time to work out a loan modification with their lender so that they can stay in their homes.
Estela Baldovinos, a resident of South San Francisco and ACORN member, says “I am delinquent on my mortgage because I was given an adjustable rate mortgage. I started out paying 6.5%. Now my interest rate is over 12% and I can’t afford the payments.
I need time to work out a loan modification with my lender so that I can stay in my home. We want the South San Francisco City Council to do everything in their power to help people like me stay in our homes.”
Mayor Newsom joins San Francisco kids to break world record in reading
Mayor Gavin Newsom, Superintendent Carlos Garcia and District Attorney Kamala Harris were joined last Thursday by hundreds of children to read the classic children’s book, The Story of Ferdinand, in an effort to break the world record for the largest shared reading experience as part of Jumpstart’s Read for the Record. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the early education gap that exists as a result of socio-economic inequality and to raise at least $1 million for Jumpstart’s work with children from low-income communities.
“There is a direct correlation between nurturing children at an early age and their success and development later on in life,” Superintendent Garcia said.
Judge issues injunction against Social Security “no-match” letters
A Northern California Federal District Court judge has issued a preliminary injunction against the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration in an effort to prevent them from issuing millions of “no-match” letters to employers. The “no-match” letters compel employers to require that workers prove their legal status in the U.S., which would result in illegal discrimination against millions of citizens and lawful permanent residents.
The Legal Aid Society of Santa Clara county is looking for volunteers to act as plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit that are either U.S. citizens, permanent residents or have a work permit who have a discrepancy in their Social Security card, where either the name or number does not match the federal database. For information call (408) 283-1535 ext. 220.
