In the Media

By Lindsay Imai

Over 50 students, parents, bus riders, and people representing community and faith organizations gathered at the busiest bus hub in Oakland to spread the word about Measure VV and why it needs to pass in this November’s election. The group held a rally and then gave information out directly to bus riders.

If passed by voters in November, Measure VV will fill the gap in AC Transit’s operating budget – preventing service hikes and major budget cuts. If Measure VV doesn’t pass, then the consequences could be devastating to AC Transit’s over 200,000 daily riders- many of whom have no other transportation option and include youth, seniors, working people, and people with disabilities.

Listen to KPFA Wendall Harper's report on the event click Here or listen to KCBS' Bob Melrose click Here

 AC Transit

OAKLAND, Calif. (KCBS)  -- Voters in Alameda County must decide whether to double and extend a property tax that feeds money into public transportation.

The AC Transit board of directors believes it can avoid raising discounted fares for students and senior citizens if voters pass Measure VV.

The measure would raise a parcel tax that funds the agency from $48 to $96 a year, and extend its life another 6 years to 2019. It needs a two-thirds majority to pass.

Critics complain the transit agency has already squandered much of the money from the original property tax on expensive diesel-powered buses.

Click the link below or to listen to KPFA's Wendall Harper's report click Here:

Listen  KCBS' Bob Melrose Reports

OAKLAND, Calif., July 23, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Alameda County Place Matters Team will host a three-day meeting July 24-26 at the Oakland Marriott to address the social conditions that lead to poor health outcomes in individuals from low-income and communities of color. Over 100 representatives from 24 U.S. cities and counties will attend. Place Matters is a national initiative of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies' Health Policy Institute and is funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.

This Opinion piece appeared in The Independent, a weekly newspaper serving the Pleasanton area. Urban Habitat is a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the city for it's failure to build the amount of affordable housing as required by law. In response to a City Attorney's comments, Executive Director Juliet Ellis wrote the following Letter to the Editor which appeared in the Independent's July 3, 2008 Edition.

Given his statements last week (Affordable Housing Lawsuit Back in Play, June 26, 2008) Pleasanton City Attorney Michael Roush apparently needs to study up on his basic arithmetic.

As stated in the article, the City has reneged on its promise in the last Housing Element to rezone enough land for some 800 units of lower-income housing by June 2004. An additional 3,277 new units were allocated this month for the next planning period. For Mr. Roush’s benefit, that’s more than 4,000 units now needed, significantly more than the 2,755 units remaining under the 29,000-unit Housing Cap according to the City’s own staff report.