Over the weekend board leaders in SEIU Local 1000--one of the most powerful unions in California--took the remarkable steps to strip its controversial president, Richard Louis Brown, of most of his powers. In a meeting called against Brown's wishes (and under fire of threats that he would punish anyone who attended), a majority of the union's board members put new bylaws and rules into place that would disperse power among union leadership and amend the disciplinary process. We're joined by SEIU Local 1000 member leader (and longtime friend of the show) Bobby Roy to discuss the pros and cons rising from this meeting. We also take a moment to discuss the state-sanctioned replacement of colonizer Junipero Serra's statue with a monument celebrating indigenous people in Sacramento's Capitol Park, and why Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert--who is running for state Attorney General--feels the need to press draconian charges against a trans person of color over the statue's much needed removal in the summer of 2020. The removal of all things Serra in California is long overdue. So why is Schubert acting in such a reactionary fashion? This surely won't help in her bid for AG. Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always: Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity   Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.   If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to info@voicesrivercity.com and we'll make it happen.   And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.  

Voices: River City

193 - On SEIU 1000 drama and removing colonizer statues, with Bobby Roy (10.19.2021)

A note to all of our listeners: VOICES: River City is moving back to its weekly format, given that all four hosts are working full-time and the world is becoming a terribly busy place again. We will be providing some patron perks in the future, including meet-ups, so we hope you'll continue to support our work! We also take a moment to mention the alarming rise in far-right groups putting up flyers doxxing members of the Sacramento community, and threatening physical harm. For the meat of the show, we're discussing Governor Gavin Newsom's final bill signings of the year:   The big one that stood out to us was how many huge L's the state's law enforcement lobby took this session, with the following new legislation:   - Cops now cannot legally block journalists from covering protests - The state's Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training can now decertify officers for wrongdoing, effectively kicking them out of the profession - Californians now have increased access to police misconduct records - There are new massive restraints on when cops can shoot protesters with rubber bullets   Newsom only vetoed some 8% of the bills that crossed his desk, but there were a few doozies in that mix. Take, for instance, freshman Assemblymember Alex Lee's bill to keep virtual public comment options for the state's large cities and counties. What the hell, man?

192 - Gavin Hancock (10.12.2021)

[To hear/view the full episode, become a patron today!] Today we're discussing:   - A man fleeing California for Texas because it has grown too "communistic"  - Why Christopher Columbus sucked  - Mark Zuckerberg's platform from Hell  And we also have an important announcement. Enjoy!

PREVIEW: 191 - Spunt! (10.8.2021)

We're joined by friend and sometimes-host Elliot, a member of the Sacramento Tenants Union, to discuss the lifting of California's eviction moratorium, and what that means for our region and the state's most vulnerable communities. Who is at risk of eviction? More people than our electeds would care to admit. We also touch on the various ways that people have won strong renters' protections throughout the world. Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always: Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity   Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.   If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to info@voicesrivercity.com and we'll make it happen.   And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

190 - You can‘t just take our homes away [without us fighting] (10.5.2021)

We're unlocking this episode since Councilmember Valenzuela is joining us to discuss a terribly dangerous action by Caltrans that's putting lives at risk. And they're doing it all at the request of District 3 Councilmember Jeff Harris, who doesn't even represent the constituents around the highways. Want to tell Caltrans you don't approve of their behavior? Contact them here. Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always: Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity   Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.   If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to info@voicesrivercity.com and we'll make it happen.   And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

UNLOCKED: 189 - Et tu, Caltrans? with Councilmember Katie Valenzuela (10.1.2021)

Want to view/hear the full episode? Become a patron today! The lede is buried deep in this episode, but we have a wildly worthwhile conversation on the way to the good stuff.   We're discussing the disturbing trend of unconstitutional city and state demolitions of unhoused communities throughout the Sacramento region.  But which Sacramento City Councilmember is to blame beyond Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol?

PREVIEW: 189 - Et tu, Caltrans? with Councilmember Katie Valenzuela

Today, homelessness expert and cohost Shannon Dominguez-Stevens walks us through this year's homeless deaths report, how to support our unhoused neighbors and how a new Sacramento lawsuit could halt the city's $100 million plan to address homelessness.   We also discuss an absurd push poll leveled against Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela (here's her letter to constituents about it). The poll, which was sent to registered voters in the councilmember's district, called Valenzuela an "avowed Democratic Socialist" and tried to paint her as an ineffective politician.   Whoever wanted this smear campaign done paid Democratic consultant Jonathan Brown of Sextant Strategies to carry it out.   Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always: Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity   Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.   If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to info@voicesrivercity.com and we'll make it happen.   And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.  

188 - Push polls and homelessness plans (9.28.2021)

[Want to view/hear the full episode? Become a patron today!] A quick update in the post-failed-recall era: Governor Newsom in the last week has addressed three bills that needed signing on his desk, to mixed results. The good? He signed a bill targeting Amazon and protecting employees who want to take breaks--you know, like human beings. The bad? He's fucked farm labor unions who wanted to have vote by mail elections (you know, the kind that state Democrats celebrate in our primary and general elections). Now they're marching across the state to French Laundry, in hopes of finding and speaking with the multimillionaire governor. He also signed a bill tinkering with single-family zoning in the state, which is fine but by no means a game-changer for progressives. (See a list of Newsom's potential progressive bill signings here.) As we look forward to the start of the 2022 election cycle, it's profoundly important for socialists and progressives to identify which state Democrats have been disappointing at the Capitol, and to find real progressives to push them out of office. CalMatters's California Legislator Tracker is a good start in the process, and they plan to incorporate even more info in the future: How campaign contributions might influence lawmakers’ decisions How many gifts legislators receive from special interests Whether lawmakers are showing up for important votes This is the kind of thing folks need in a state where the GOP is fully neutered and the term 'Democrat' has become so broad it's lost its meaning. Keep an eye out for lefties like our friends at Dabyreak PAC, who are identifying the right folks to primary all the Democrats who aren't fighting for the people of California. Speaking of Democrats who are nowhere near as progressive as they deign to be, President Joe Biden's goons at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have been caught abusing the 15,000 Haitians at the Texas border. The White House has said that they'll stop using ICE agents on horseback from now on, presumably because you can't whip other human beings from inside a car, but that doesn't mean that the human rights abuses are about to end any time soon.

PREVIEW: 187 - On Democrats and your interests (9.24.2021)

A Natomas Unified School District high school had a college-credit civics teacher so well loved that they advertised a student-made video about him on their website.   Last spring, that same teacher was voted to deliver the commencement speech to the graduating class.   But today?   Today, Superintendent Chris Evans has scrubbed that teacher's video from the website, posting instead a 30-minute interview he held with a far-right agitator who once said that Jews owned the banks.   We're joined by equity educator Sonia Lewis to discuss the ridiculous story of how a Sacramento school district sided with proto-fascist agitators from Project Veritas in smearing one of the district's most well loved teachers.   We also touch on what Sacramento media got wrong in covering this ridiculous story.   Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always: Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity   Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.   If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to info@voicesrivercity.com and we'll make it happen.   And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

186 - Natomas Unified loves fascists (9.21.2021)

[To hear or view the full episode, become a patron today!] Today we do a post-mortem on the absolute drubbing of the California GOP in Governor Gavin Newsom's recall election. Does it mean anything at all for Democrats in 2022? (No.) Is the California GOP beyond repair? (Yes.) Will Governor Newsom make some bold, progressive moves with his new momentum? (Doubtful.) What a way to spend nearly $300 million and nearly a year of our lives.

PREVIEW: 185 - Governor nuisance (9.17.2021)

Today we're joined by Kula Koenig and Andi Bianchi of Social Justice Politicorps to discuss their new political report card. Kula and Andi are asking Sacramento county residents--particularly those from marginalized and underrepresented communities--to grade city and county electeds on their performance this year. Ready to grade your electeds? You can find the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/socialjusticeSac2021 You can also learn more about the region's political arc at SJPC's blog. Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always: Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity   Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.   If you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to info@voicesrivercity.com and we'll make it happen.   And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

184 - A community-driven political report card, with Social Justice Politicorps (9.14.20210)

[Want to get the full episode? Become a patron today!] While Mexico has followed Argentina as the most recent Latin American nation to decriminalize abortion, the United States Supreme Court kicked the can on a new Texas abortion law that poses a serious threat to Roe v. Wade. We discuss what this means for Americans, and how folks can fight back. We also discuss the devastating killing that took place last weekend in Land Park. As a community grieves, right-wing media like the California Globe are already turning tragedy into politics. Did you know that, if California were a country, it would be the third most carceral nation in the world? So then why are right-wingers still trying to pack our jails?

PREVIEW: 183 - On healthcare as politics, and tragedy as politics (9.10.2021)

This episode was originally published for patrons on 4.22.2021. We were joined by Aaron Ziemer of Sunrise Sacramento to discuss the confluence of labor and climate justice. Last spring a bill to end fracking--a practice Governor Gavin Newsom claimed he was against as recently as September 2020, before going silent in the early days of the recall effort--died in the state Senate's Natural Resources and Water Committee, with key Democrats refusing to cast their votes. One of those senators was Bob Hertzberg, who screamed at Sacramento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela last session when she rose in support of a bill to create buffer zones around wells (a provision also included on this fracking bill). Why do these Democrats hate fighting climate change? We know Newsom was responding to the recall effort. But others are fearful of stepping on the toes of building trades labor groups, which formed an unholy alliance with Big Oil in recent years. Then there's the money. The state Democratic Chair Rusty Hicks took $330,000 from fossil fuel interests after pledging that he would not do that very thing. When a young party delegate pressed him on this move, saying he wanted a world that he could live in when he was 80, Hicks derisively responded, "I bet you'll enjoy the lights on in your apartment and the gas in your car along the way." Meanwhile, the entire state is a tinder box, with ongoing drought, unprecedentedly low water levels in our dams, and a promise of increasingly dangerous wildfires in our near future (update: the fires have arrived).  Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always: Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity   Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.   Also, if you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to info@voicesrivercity.com and we'll make it happen.   And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

182 - On labor and climate justice (UNLOCKED, from 4.22.2021)

[Patrons who prefer to view/listen to the full episode can find it here!] Today we cannot help but ask the age-old question: Sacramento or San Francisco?

TEASER: 181 - A city with trees (9.3.2021)

Today we're joined by Jen Abreu, president and CEO of Redemption Row California.   We discuss Friday's hearing for Sirhan Sirhan, who was convicted of killing Senator Bobby Kennedy in 1968. Thanks to the Redemption Row team, Sirhan was recommended for parole by a two-person panel--a hugely important step that may soon result in his release. We discuss two perspectives on his ruling:   - This Los Angeles Times piece in favor of his release by Nicholas Goldberg, and - This Sacramento Bee piece by cartoonist Jack Ohman against his release   The RRC leadership includes a number of high profile inmates, such as Suge Knight, the founder and CEO of Death Row Records who is now serving 28 years after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in a 2015 hit-and-run. He's one of two vice presidents of RRC. The other is Artie Guzman, former leader of the Mexican Mafia prison gang. The COO is a man named Joel Baptiste.   Every person involved in this work has a complex story and is working toward rehabilitation in spite of California's punitive prison system.   Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always: Twitter: @youknowkempa, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune, @guillotine4you Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/voicesrivercity   Sacramentans can hear us on 103.1 KUTZ Tuesdays at 5 pm and again Wednesdays at 8 am.   Also, if you require a transcript of our episodes, please reach out to info@voicesrivercity.com and we'll make it happen.   And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.

180 - Freeing Sirhan Sirhan, with Redemption Row California president Jen Abreu (8.31.2021)

Voices: River City is the independent, Leftist news podcast based out of Sacramento, California.

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Voices: River City

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