* * * * BOSTON ANTI-DISPLACEMENT HOUSING CAMPAIGN

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BOSTON ANTI-DISPLACEMENT HOUSING CAMPAIGN

“We continue meeting with City officials, including the Mayor, about Plan JP/Rox and we are waiting to hear their new proposals. But as we near a possible vote on December 15, we need your support to sign up to take action! We will be holding a MEETING FOR SUPPORTERS -- please tell us when you are available!

We are also kicking off a long-overdue grassroots fundraising campaign for our work. Please donate and help us reach our goal of $20,000! (More details in a future email.)”

SAVE THE DATE

Thursday, December 15 –

POSSIBLE VOTE on JP/Roxbury Housing Plan (sign up online): 3:30 pm-5:30 pm.
City Hall, 9th Floor. We continue to work hard to negotiate on a strong version of the plan. Even if we reach agreement, we want to make sure we have a strong presence at the BPDA (Boston Planning and Development Agency) vote to make clear the importance of protecting our neighborhood and city's diversity, real affordable housing, and racial justice!

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Calls to City Council Needed to Support “Just Cause Eviction”

We all feel the moment of this 'time and place' and know all to well that the need to ACT is NOW. That's why we are preparing our members for a long December 'City Council Watch for JCE' and continue our pressure to demand that Boston Protect Tenants and Residents and PASS Just Cause Eviction now. 

1.      CALL: YOUR CITY COUNCILOR DEMAND TO PASS JUST CAUSE EVICTION

2.      TESTIFY: HELP US IDENTIFY PEOPLE: expected hearing to come soon

1.      WHO CAN TESTIFY IN PUBLIC HEARING ON JCE

2.      WHO CAN TALK TO MEDIA ABOUT THE NEED FOR JCE NOW

3.      WHO CAN TALK DIRECTLY WITH OUR CITY COUNCIL VISIT TEAM

We can't wait for the 'Biggest' corporate landlord in the country to take office and eliminate and displace our communities.  Make the calls today! Boston residents: Call Boston City Councilors Michelle Wu and Michael Flaherty, and your own City Councilor in support of filing and passing Just-Cause Eviction legislation in the Boston City Council.

Here's the info you need: http://bit.ly/2fmkKkN

Let us know you're in this: https://goo.gl/kP7KPj

‘ALARMING GROWTH OF HOUSING INSECURITY’ IN BOSTON AREA

Despite a strong economy and booming population growth, high costs of living and low rates of housing production in Greater Boston are disproportionately impacting those already living in poverty, according to a Boston Foundation report released Tuesday.  The 2016 “Greater Boston Housing Report Card” highlights an “alarming growth of housing insecurity and homelessness among families with children.” Coupled with soaring rents and stagnant wages, vulnerable populations are likely to continue feeling the brunt of the housing boom… Particularly dire, the report notes, is the increase in people living in poverty. While the official Boston poverty rate is 10.6 percent, the cost of living brings the adjusted poverty rate to 16.2 percent, accounting for about 163,00 residents.   More

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NEW BOSTON RESIDENTS JOBS POLICY

Becky writes:

We just got word tonight that a City Council Hearing has been scheduled for 2pm Thursday, December 8, on the new strengthened and enforceable "Boston Residents Jobs Policy"  which the Boston Jobs Coalition has been working with Marty Walsh for two years to be reworked with better numbers and serious enforceability provisions.  Chuck Turner has been leading this effort, with a lot of cooperation from Walsh, once the city's lawyers found ways to write the enforcement provisions that wouldn't expose the city to lawsuits, and that the jobs coalition was able to show that there were enough construction workers of color locally to meet the higher numbers. A couple of days ago the Mayor announced that he was introducing the new law to City Council and hoping to get it passed soon.  The numbers he announced were:  percentages of workers on construction projects over a certain square footage (50,000?):

51% must be Boston residents
40% must be people of color
12% must be women.

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Saturday, December 3

THE NEXT FOUR YEARS:

Building Our Movements in Dangerous Times

@ 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Simmons College, Paresky Conference Center, 300 the Fenway + Google Map

The Paresky Conference Center is fully reserved. We are now taking reservations for seats in an overflow room. Please register ASAP to ensure a seat! Conference Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Simmons College 300 the Fenway, Boston Paresky Conference Center Keynote Address Bob Wing Social and racial justice organizer; Founder of Color Lines and War Times; Co-author of "Organizing on Shifting Terrain" Issues Panel Paul Robeson Ford Racial and social justice Union Baptist Church, Cambridge Elena Letona Economic justice Neighbor…Find out more »

DPPer Hayat Imam is leading a workshop at 3:15pm:

“COUNTERING ISLAMOPHOBIA: Organizing as a Unified Force” 

The appalling surge of hate crimes since the Trump win requires that we give a strong, coordinated response. We must commit to “power up” in whatever field we find ourselves, so we can become a collective force to reckon with. Our goal is that this workshop will be a crucible for forging ideas and creative actions against all forms of violence and racism, including Islamophobia. We have found that changing attitudes is not always enough, we need to think of ways to make institutional changes. We’ll focus on two approaches for impacting fundamental institutions in our society: increasing civic engagement, and educating ourselves to take power in local government; and building a solid network of advocates and allies to tackle racism, wars that create refugees and suffering, and the rights of vulnerable communities, using settings such as Schools and City Councils.

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From “South of the Border” in Milton. . .

Louis Pierro of Milton for Peace writes (in part):

“I also want to thank you for the Cracking the Codes event that DPP hosted on Nov 2.  It was inspiring…   I would like to encourage you to join us for two events, and to ask others at DPP to do so also on our behalf. So I am asking you and others to​  join us for our next standout and ​also to attend  our next steering committee meeting where we will work to gain consensus about which issues we will focus on and how we will go about it.  The stand out is December 7^th from 7:00 – 8:00 a.m.  at Peace Island under the big copper beach tree on Blue Hills Parkway at the junction of Truman Highway, Blue Hills Ave and Eliot Street;  just a block from Mattapan Square.  We will have signage for everyone expressing a number of messages including peace and social action issues; and addressing the racism and xenophobia that is now rampant. The next Milton for Peace steering committee meeting will be Wednesday January 11^th at 7:30 p.m. at my house - 105 Fuller’s Lane in Milton (red house near the end of Fuller’s Lane). All are welcome.  Please come and share your concerns and ideas for moving forward.  Please invite your family and friends to join all of us at both the standout and the meeting.  Please let me know who might be attending.”