Bay Area community & labor groups want to stimulate equality and transparency in Green Jobs Stimulus Package
Diverse alliance wants input in shaping the Bay Area's developing green collar economy
03.20.2009 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA-A broad alliance of community groups and workers centers will testify before Land Use Committee of the Board of Supervisors on Monday, March 23rd, 2PM, calling for greater transparency and community input in shaping the infusion of federal stimulus dollars slated for San Francisco’s developing green color economy.
Community groups are echoing the frustration of City Supervisors and others in City Hall, all of who have not been given concrete and comprehensive information about the specific allocations San Francisco has secured from the Federal Stimulus Package, as well as other specific proposals the city has submitted for future allocations.
“The American people and the President have called for the highest level of transparency and accountability in the use of the stimulus funds, but here in San Francisco we haven’t seen any of the Mayor’s concrete proposals or allocations for public approval,” said Oscar Grande from PODER.
The core areas of concern for community and labor groups are 1) genuine living wage job creation for entry-level workers in communities of color; and 2) truly environmentally sustainable projects that don’t allow corporations to green wash their continued contribution to environmental racism.
Representatives from the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the main department within City Hall managing the City’s stimulus package proposals, will be presenting at the hearing. Department representatives are being asked to provide clear and concrete numbers, including exactly what private corporations and which city departments are slated to receive the green jobs funding.
Monday’s hearing comes on the heels of a new report by the Center for Social Inclusion exposing that communities of color are bearing the brunt of the current economic recession. The report found that nationwide, communities of color continue to be disproportionately deprived of infrastructure spending, job creation and other key government services.
“We have to stimulate equality in order to stimulate the economy,” stated Maya Wiley of the Center for Social Inclusion.
In February 2009, the US Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, allocating $787 billion in federal funds intended to stimulate the economy and alleviate the hardship of millions of displaced workers nation-wide. Green-collar, environmentally sustainable jobs are one of the key priority areas where stimulus money will be invested.
“[The Green Jobs Stimulus] must be about equal access to what’s good and equal protection from what’s bad - it’s two sides of the same coin,” says Alicia Garza of POWER. “We are calling for transparency so that we can know that this money will go to the hands of those hardest hit in the current economy, and not be used for corporate subsidies or to greenwash projects that in fact put the community in harms way.”
The community groups are echoing President Obama’s call for a participatory, open and transparent government. In a Jan. 21 memo on transparency and open government, Obama wrote, “Government should be transparent. Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing... Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government''s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions.”
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- Contact: Alicia Garza, POWER cell: (510) 759-3843 or Charlie Sciammas, PODER cell: (415) 615-2632
- What: Land Use Committee Hearing on Green Jobs Development and the Federal Stimulus Package Allocations
- Where: SF City Hall, 1 Dr. Goodlet Drive, 2nd Floor Hearing Room
- When: Monday, March 23rd—2:00pm. Workers and Community Members will be available for comment.
- Who: The Chinese Progressive Association, PODER (People Organized to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights), POWER (People Organized to Win Employment Rights), and the Filipino Community Center.
- Resource Links
- Land Use and Planning Live Feed 3/23/09 2PM
- Monday, March 23, 2009 Land Use Committee Agenda
- Stimulating Equality
- Chinese Progressive Association
- Filipino Community Center
- PODER
- POWER
- Tags
- Stimulus, San Francisco, Eric Mar, Land Use Committee, Board of Supervisors, Economy, Green Jobs, Obama
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