Author
This essay was authored by members of the LA Tenants Union Media Committee. All photos courtesy of LA Tenants Union.
In 2017, tenants living around the corner from the famous Mariachi Plaza in Los Angeles received a sudden, massive and legally-permitted rent increase. The landlord was attempting to rebrand their building as a hot destination for newcomers, displacing long-term community members some of the very musicians for whom the plaza is named. With the help of organizers from the Los Angeles Tenants Union /
El Sindicato de Inquilinxs de Los Ángeles (LATU), these residents formed the Mariachi Tenants Association and decided to withhold their rent.
24 March 2021: Activists gather in front of Edward Antonio s apartment block in an attempt to prevent his eviction.
It is 10am. Sant Adrià de Besòs, a working-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Barcelona in Spain, slowly wakes up. Around 20 people have gathered in a short and narrow street in front of block number 9 to answer the call from social movements against evictions, including Tenants Union.
Some of those people wear red jumpsuits and sunglasses, others are dressed in black. These are young people and the atmosphere is rebellious. Sant Adrià and Wall Street might be worlds apart, but they are connected by an invisible thread woven by the unregulated globalisation that has taken root in both places.
Rachael Rose described her decision to transition beginning in 2013, joining the Steering Committee as a Transgender Activist in the Stonewall Democratic Club, being elected to the Board of the Rampart Village Neighborhood Council, first meeting with CD13 incumbent and political opponent Mitch O’Farrell, and her decision to run for LA City Council.
Hollis Evans: When you joined the Rampart Village Neighborhood Council in 2017, did you encounter any transphobia or any kind of awkwardness from other Board members?
Rachael Rose Luckey: I did not.
Hollis Evans: You didn’t? Your experience has been one of openness? People have been open to you?
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Solidarity Friday returned to Pliny Park, in Brattleboro, Vt., for the first time in 2021 after stopping in the fall of 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Kristopher Radder Brattleboro Reformer
Solidarity Friday returned to Pliny Park, in Brattleboro, Vt., for the first time in 2021 after stopping in the fall of 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Kristopher Radder Brattleboro Reformer
Solidarity Friday returned to Pliny Park, in Brattleboro, Vt., for the first time in 2021 after stopping in the fall of 2020 because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Kristopher Radder Brattleboro Reformer
Linda Bailey, of Brattleboro, Vt., holds a sign during Solidarity Friday at Pliny Park, in Brattleboro, Vt., on Friday, May 7, 2021.
Ashby, North Berkeley BART housing developments aim for affordability
Ryan Kendrick/Staff
A $53 million housing investment around the Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations was approved by Berkeley City Council. According to Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, Berkeley has a memorandum of understanding with BART to reach “35% affordability at both sites.
Last Updated May 3, 2021
Berkeley City Council approved a $53 million investment in building housing around the Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations to ameliorate the city’s long-standing affordable housing crisis.
BART will leverage this investment to secure greater federal and state funding for the project, Rebecca Saltzman, vice president of the BART Board of Directors added.