ACORN updates

[colist-admin at comm-org.utoledo.edu]

[ed:  here is one of the occasional ACORN updates reposted with
permission.]

From: "David Swanson" <acornnews at acorn.org>

ACORN News
Issue 3, April 2, 2001

1. ACORN SAVES FIVE NEW YORK SCHOOLS FROM EDISON TAKEOVER
2. FEDERAL LIVING WAGE BILL INTRODUCED IN HOUSE
3. WASHINGTON ACORN WINS PROTECTION FOR TENANTS
4. MASSACHUSETTS ENACTS ANTI-PREDATORY-LENDING REGS
5. NEW YORK ACORN PUSHES FOR LIVING WAGE
6. SAN JOSE ACORN STRUGGLES FOR TENANTS' RIGHTS
7. CHICAGO ACORN STOPS UTILITY SHUTOFFS
8. SEIU LOCAL 880 RELEASES HEALTHCARE STUDY
9. SACRAMENTO ACORN LEADS DEBATE OVER SUBSIDIZED SPRAWL
10. ARKANSAS ACORN CAMPAIGNS FOR LIVING WAGE IN LITTLE ROCK
11. PHILLY ACORN DEMANDS QUALITY TEACHERS
12. COLORADO ACORN MAKES IT TOUGH FOR PREDATORY LENDERS
13. LOUISIANA ACORN COORDINATES BLIGHTED AREA TOUR
14. ACORN ARRIVES IN SAN YSIDRO
15. DEMOCRATS2000 HONORS ACORN

1. ACORN SAVES FIVE NEW YORK SCHOOLS FROM EDISON TAKEOVER
New York City parents, led by ACORN, have voted a resounding
"No!" on the question of whether a for-profit corporation
should take over five public schools.  The vote totals were as 
follows: CS 66: 481-to-141; PS 161: 495-to-88; IS 111: 347-to-81; MS 
246: 345-to-57; and MS 320: 165-to-86.	Overall, parents voted 80 
percent "No" to Edison, and only 20 percent "Yes."
Asked by the New 
York Times why he hadn't lobbied for the takeover by Edison
Schools Inc., Mayor Rudolph Giuliani "said he did not think the 
largely minority parents at those schools would have listened to him. 
`If they have a [former mayor] David Dinkins or an ACORN making
the 
arguments, they pay more attention to that,' Mr. Giuliani
said."

ACORN led the opposition to this privatization attempt, holding 
public meetings where the proposal could be debated, organizing 
parents to talk to other parents about their concerns, and filing a 
lawsuit complaining that the Board of Education and Chancellor Harold 
O. Levy violated state education law by failing to consult with the 
community school boards about the Edison contract and by setting up a 
voting process susceptible to fraud.  ACORN opposes taking control of 
public schools away from parents and turning them into for-profit 
entities whose primary interest is not the betterment of the local 
community.  ACORN and its allies are now turning their attention to 
working with parents at the five schools on a plan to improve these 
schools without privatization.	For more information, contact Bertha 
Lewis, executive director of New York ACORN, at NYAcornBrk at Acorn.org 
or (718) 246-7900.

2. FEDERAL LIVING WAGE BILL INTRODUCED IN HOUSE
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D., Chicago) has introduced a bill promoted by 
ACORN to create a federal living wage.	This law would raise the 
minimum wage for direct federal employees and employees on major 
federal contracts to the equivalent of the poverty line for a family 
of four (currently $8.50 per hour).  Seventy representatives  have 
already signed on to co-sponsor the bill.  Sen. Paul Wellstone plans 
to introduce a companion Senate federal living wage bill this week.  
To learn more about the Federal Living Wage Campaign -- or to send a 
letter to your members of Congress urging them to sign on to this 
important legislation -- visit www.Acorn.org, or contact Jen Kern at 
NatAcornCam at Acorn.org or (202) 547-2500.

3. WASHINGTON ACORN WINS PROTECTION FOR TENANTS
On March 26, the Seattle City Council passed an ordinance giving 
tenants the right to take landlords to civil court for failure to 
keep a building up to code, or for retaliation for organizing and 
demonstrating.	ACORN members worked with the Seattle Tenants' Union 
on this legislation and lobbied the Council for it.  Seattle now has 
the strongest landlord-tenant legislation on the books in Washington 
State.	For more information, contact Doug Bloch at WaAcorn at Acorn.org 
or (206) 723-5845.

4. MASSACHUSETTS ENACTS ANTI-PREDATORY-LENDING REGS
Responding to ACORN's campaign against predatory loans, and after
our lobbying in particular for strong provisions to protect borrowers 
from credit-insurance abuse, the Division of Banks in Massachusetts 
last week put into effect regulations that improve lending practices 
by prohibiting the financing of single-premium credit insurance and 
the inclusion in loan contracts of mandatory arbitration clauses, 
along with a number of other protections.  Massachusetts is the first 
state to take this kind of action against credit insurance by 
regulation.  Massachusetts ACORN is continuing to press ahead with 
work on State legislation and is in discussions with council members 
in Boston and around the state around city ordinances.	For more 
information, visit www.ACORN.org, or contact Lisa Donner, ACORN's 
director of strategic campaign operations, at AcornCampaign at Acorn.org 
or (718) 246-7900, or Alliea E. Groupp at  MaAcornBo at Acorn.org or 
(617) 436-7100.

5. NEW YORK ACORN PUSHES FOR LIVING WAGE
On March 22, NY ACORN and the Working Families Party held a forum 
attended by more than 1,000 people to discuss legislative proposals, 
including one for a living-wage law in New York City.  All four 
mayoral candidates attended, and three of them, including the clear 
frontrunner, promised to introduce the Living Wage bill within seven 
days of becoming mayor.  Over 200 ACORN members attended and received 
a standing ovation when introduced as the group leading the fight 
against Edison.  For more information, contact Jon Kest at 
NyAcorn at Acorn.org or (718) 246-7900.

6. SAN JOSE ACORN STRUGGLES FOR TENANTS' RIGHTS
On March 17, San Jose members marched to the home of a landlord to 
demand an end to the evictions he was ordering in their building.  
Members of Fruitdale Tenants Union pulled onto the quiet semi-
suburban streets of neighboring Santa Clara and took over the middle 
of a street, walking the long block chanting up to the landlord's 
front door.  After a 30-minute back-and-forth, the members moved the 
landlord from, "I'll look into it Monday" to "Where do I sign to
stop the evictions?"  The story was on Channel 14 all weekend, and on 
Monday he was at their apartments, notifying each tenant that the 
evictions and 30 day notices had been stopped.	

On March 26, ACORN and a coalition of other groups brought 160 people 
to the lobby of Mayor Ron Gonzalez's office to demand that he and
the San Jose City Council enact an ordinance preventing evictions 
without just cause, and a program to help pay unreasonable rent 
increases. San Jose has a rent-control ordinance for apartments built 
before September 1979 that allows 8 percent increases each year. 
Landlords can raise rents more sharply on vacant apartments, however, 
and are evicting tenants in order to do so.  Last Monday's 
demonstration was well covered in the media.  See the Mercury News at 
http://www0.mercurycenter.com.	For more information, contact John 
Eller at CaAcornSJ at Acorn.org or (408) 729-8860.

7. CHICAGO ACORN STOPS UTILITY SHUTOFFS
On March 22, about 100 Chicago ACORN members marched to the house of 
the CEO of People's Energy in a wealthy Chicago suburb.  They 
demanded that there be no shutoffs and that an arrearage program be 
established.  Over 18,000 gas customers have been unable to pay their 
bills.	The event was well covered by the English and Spanish press.  
On the 27th, People's and the City announced a new bill-payment-
assistance program, under which people would have to pay only one-
third of their bills.  On the 28th, the Chicago City Council voted 
unanimously to urge a shutoff moratorium.  On Sunday, a mere 20 hours 
before ACORN members were going to block their streets to prevent 
shutoffs, People's agreed to a two-week moratorium.  For more 
information, contact Ginny Goldman at IlAcornCh at Acorn.org or (773) 
522-7550.

8. SEIU LOCAL 880 RELEASES HEALTHCARE STUDY
The Service Employees International Union's Local 880 in Chicago,
a sister organization of ACORN, has released a study titled
"Healthcare Workers Without Healthcare: Illinois Homecare Workers
in Crisis.  Key findings include: Illinois Homecare Workers are 3.5 
times more likely to be without health insurance than is the general 
population; Of the households where at least one family member has 
insurance 36 percent were insured through public programs; Nearly 75 
percent of Illinois Homecare Workers could afford no more than $50 
per month towards the cost of health insurance.  The release of the 
report was widely covered in the press.  

Local 880 is lobbying in Springfield for two health insurance bills 
that would provide an additional $1.40 per hour for a health care 
fund for homecare workers.  These passed House committees with votes 
of 12-0 after Local 880 members testified.  "Health Care Dollars for 
Health Care Only" legislation, which restricts any state or Federal 
Medicaid money from going to a vendor that fights union organizing 
drives, passed out of the House Labor Committee on a straight party 
line vote -- 10-9.  For more information, contact Keith Kelleher at 
SEIU880 at acorn.org or (312) 939-7490.

9. SACRAMENTO ACORN LEADS DEBATE OVER SUBSIDIZED SPRAWL
ACORN and a coalition of groups opposing the use of high sewer fees 
to pay for sprawl have turned the little-noticed issue of high sewage 
fees into a major debate over land-use planning.  In March, the 
coalition held a press conference and a protest rally, and flooded 
legislators with Emails.  The Sacramento Regional Sanitation District 
Board, nonetheless, voted 5-4 to approve a 46 percent increase in 
sewer connection fees.	But it committed to work with community 
leaders to develop a plan that doesn't force in-fill projects to 
subsidize sprawl. "The good news is that it directed staff to
come back with a revised fee structure," said City Council Member 
Dave Jones.  "…These events show that public input can make a 
difference."  See the Sacramento News and Review story at 
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2001-03-15/enviro.asp.  For 
more information, contact Brian Kettenring at CaAcornSaro at Acorn.org 
or (510) 436-5690.

10. ARKANSAS ACORN CAMPAIGNS FOR LIVING WAGE IN LITTLE ROCK
On March 24, 100 members of ACORN and the Central Arkansas Labor 
Council demonstrated at City Hall and on President Clinton Avenue in 
Little Rock in favor of a living wage of $8.50 an hour, plus 
benefits, to be paid by companies that receive city tax dollars 
through large contracts or tax breaks.	An ordinance is expected to 
be presented to the City Board within the next two months.  ACORN is 
also lobbying for a state living wage law in Arkansas.	See coverage 
in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette at http://library.ardemgaz.com.  For 
more information, contact Neil Sealy at ArAcorn at Acorn.org or (501) 
376-7151.

11. PHILLY ACORN DEMANDS QUALITY TEACHERS
On March 26, Philadelphia ACORN joined Chicago, Denver, Oakland and 
New York as the fifth ACORN office to launch a campaign for quality 
teachers in public schools in low-income neighborhoods.  Sixty 
members of PA ACORN and the Alliance Organizing Project attended a 
School Board meeting to kick off the campaign.	ACORN had created 
press the week before by releasing data on teacher vacancies, and the 
Board President had agreed to a meeting.  At the Board meeting, ACORN 
and AOP leaders presented data showing that schools in the poorest 
neighborhoods of Philadelphia suffer from higher teacher vacancy 
rates and lower teacher experience rates (according to tenure in the 
Philadelphia public schools) than schools in the wealthier parts of 
the city.  For more information, contact Jeff Ordower at 
PaAcorn at Acorn.org or (215) 765-0042.

12. COLORADO ACORN MAKES IT TOUGH FOR PREDATORY LENDERS
As the culmination of a process begun with discussions between ACORN, 
the Mayor, and the City Auditor, the City of Denver last week 
instituted a new contracting policy, which includes anti-predatory-
lending language in the Request for Proposals, which goes out to 
banks seeking the city's business.  The new policy defines
predatory loans as high-cost loans that include abusive features, and 
locks out any banks who make such loans either directly or through 
their affiliates.  It also includes a community-complaint-triggered 
auditing process and the immediate termination of a contract if a 
bank engages in predatory lending.  For more information, contact 
Carolyn Siegel at CoAcorn at Acorn.org or (303) 393-0773.

13. LOUISIANA ACORN COORDINATES BLIGHTED AREA TOUR
ACORN recently conducted a tour for City representatives, the media, 
and others, of some of the most blighted sections of eastern New 
Orleans, pointing out along the way: poor drainage, ruined housing, 
vacant lots, and areas overrun with crime.  Some of the problems 
discussed included: the lack of recreational facilities, poor 
lighting, and abandoned housing.  See photo and story in the Times-
Picayune at www.TimesPicayune.com.  For more information, contact 
Beth Butler at LaAcorn at Acorn.org or (504) 943-0044.

14. ACORN ARRIVES IN SAN YSIDRO
San Diego ACORN has opened a chapter in San Ysidro at the Mexican 
border.  Twenty-two new members demonstrated to win a solution for 
frequent flooding in a neighborhood street.  And the target of the 
demonstration has now become an ally in ACORN's street-safety 
campaign.  For more information, contact Clare Crawford at 
CaAcornSD at Acorn.org or (619) 235-9593.

15. DEMOCRATS2000 HONORS ACORN
Democrats2000, a group working to elect economically progressive 
Democrats in 2001 and 2002, on March 28 presented ACORN with 
its "Voices from the Field" award for ACORN's exemplary
grassroots 
voter mobilization work during the 2000 elections. Accepting the 
award were Jean Wallace, Miami ACORN leader on behalf of Florida 
ACORN; Shada Buyobe-Hammond, board chair of Minnesota ACORN on behalf 
of Minnesota ACORN; and Albuquerque ACORN leader Yolanda Lugo on 
behalf of New Mexico ACORN.  The award was presented by 
Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., a Democrats2000 board member.  
(See Democrats2000 at http://www.dems2000.org/home.htm or contact 
Chris Saffert, ACORN legislative director at LegNatAcorn at Acorn.org or 
(202) 547-2500 for more information.)