NO on MEASURE S – the “Sit/Lie Ordinance” –

This would criminalize sitting on a sidewalk in a business area during certain hours. It would impede free speech by requiring a permit to sit on a folding chair. This targets the homeless as well as activists holding GAs and sit-ins. Despite what the ads say, it would not help the homeless get services.

NO on T – expansion of development in West Berkeley

This would allow further development and gentrification in West Berkeley, increasing rents and driving out the long-term locals.

YES on O & N – for the Berkeley pools

NO on R – redistricting

STATE:

YES on 30 – would increase personal income taxes for seven years on those who earn over $250,000 in annual earnings a year and increase the sales and use tax by a quarter-cent for four years.

NO on 32 – Stop the Special Exemptions Act

While it claims to be about “stopping special interests,” it actually gives special exemptions to corporate special interests and Super PACs.

YES on 37 – Label GMOs

We have the right to know what’s in our food. If you’ve heard all the negative ads from the Monsanto-backed “no” campaign, check here for a helpful summary of the reasons for the “exemptions”: http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/mailbag/proposition-exemptions/article_e31f8db8-20bc-11e2-86f9-0019bb2963f4.html

Also read here for more information to debunk the lies of the “no” campaign:
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_26457.cfm

From the BBQ

Free food — presentations on foreclosure defense and solidarity actions — singing with Occupella — good company and more!

1-5pm at San Pablo Park, Russell Street between Park and Mabel.

— over 6,000 illegal foreclosures (including veterans) — charges customers hidden fees — lobbies against reforms that help consumers — received millions in government bail-out funds

Join us for three May 9 protests in the East Bay, the day of B of A’s annual shareholder meeting in North Carolina. Invite your friends, and protest all day long!

THREE LOCATIONS AND TIMES:

BERKELEY: 2129 Shattuck Ave (downtown), Berkeley, CA 94704 (9am-10:30am)

OAKLAND: 300 Lakeside Dr (@ Harrison/20th intersection), Oakland, CA 94612 (11:30am-1pm)

ALBANY: 1516 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94707 (5-6pm)

We will hand out fact sheets explaining why the Bank of America is Bad 4 America and will provide information about how to “break up with your bankster” and move your money to community banks and credit unions. This will be a Peaceful Protest! Occupella will lead some songs at the Berkeley protest.

If you have had any bad experiences with BoA, please show your dissatisfaction by attending a protest and sharing your story.

Get educated! Read it and weep — Bank of America: Too Crooked to Fail, by Matt Taibbi

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bank-of-america-too-crooked-to-fail-20120314#ixzz1tGfeQoDZ

Occupy Berkeley endorses and will be participating in these actions for the May 1 General Strike.

(One caveat: we are not sure what “autonomous actions” might entail, so be sure to find out before you join one, so you know what you’re signing up for.)

NOON – 1PM: Everyone Converge on Downtown Oakland
Mass rally from noon to 1pm at 14th & Broadway. Should include speakers, food, music activities, etc.

1PM – 3PM: Themed Actions & Marches Around Downtown
After the rally, those in attendance have the opportunity to stay downtown or join one of the autonomous actions that will be departing from 14th & Broadway to continue shutting down various capitalist institutions in the downtown area. These themed actions could include a Reclaim the Streets Party, an FTP march, more pickets, etc.

3PM: March for Dignity and Resistance
All are encouraged to join the march starting at Fruitvale BART station at 3pm.

“From San Jose to San Francisco to Santa Rosa to Sacramento to Stockton, we are inviting all workers – employed and unemployed, paid and unpaid – to join us in a family friendly, community inclusive march. The March for Dignity and Resistance is being organized by a coalition of activists from a wide variety of groups with different politics and organizing backgrounds. Together we will fight for the life we want to live and build the world we want to live in.”

6PM – 7PM: Reconvergence downtown to coincide with the march arrival
Everyone back downtown to rally and celebrate together as the March for Dignity and Resistance arrives.

Here’s a video of their first day:

From their website:
(Albany, Calif.), April 22, 2012 – Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers.

For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. With deliberate disregard for public interest, the University administrators plan to pave over this prime agricultural soil for commercial retail space, a Whole Foods, and a parking lot.

“For ten years people in Albany have tried to turn the Gill Tract into an Urban Farm and a more open space for the community. The people in the Bay Area deserve to use this treasure of land for an urban farm to help secure the future of our children,” explains Jackie Hermes-Fletcher, an Albany resident and public school teacher for 38 years.

Occupy the Farm seeks to address structural problems with health and inequalities in the Bay Area that stem from communities’ lack of access to food and land. Today’s action reclaims the Gill Tract to demonstrate and exercise the peoples’ right to use public space for the public good. This farm will serve as a hub for urban agriculture, a healthy and affordable food source for Bay Area residents and an educational center.

“Every piece of uncontaminated urban land needs to be farmed if we are to reclaim control over how food is grown, where it comes from, and who it goes to,” says Anya Kamenskaya, UC Berkeley alum and educator of urban agriculture. “We can farm underutilized spaces such as these to create alternatives to the corporate control of our food system.”

UC Berkeley has decided to privatize this unique public asset for commercial retail space, and, ironically, a high-end grocery store. This is only the latest in a string of privatization schemes. Over the last several decades, the university has increasingly shifted use of the Gill Tract away from sustainable agriculture and towards biotechnology with funding from corporations such as Novartis and BP.

Frustrated that traditional dialogue has fallen on deaf ears, many of these same local residents, students, and professors have united as Occupy the Farm to Take Back the Gill Tract. This group is working to empower communities to control their own resilient food systems for a stable and just future – a concept and practice known as food sovereignty.

Visit their website:  http://takebackthetract.com/
and visit the land!   the corner of Buchanan Street and San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA