Friday, March 6, 2009

3/6: PowerShift Report Back & Sanctuary City Update

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http://www.nerdnetworks.org/pcr/KingsOfSF-20090306.mp3
(Need help figuring out this podcast thing? See our handy guide.)
6 pm: PowerShift Report Back - Last weekend, the SF League joined 12,000 young people in D.C. at PowerShift 09, a conference on clean energy and green jobs, culminating in 350 meetings with our representatives in congress, and a protest that shutdown the coal-fired power plant that powers the Capitol. We were joined by a bunch of folks from the League and Green for All.
Here's what we learned from lobbying our SF representatives and CA senators:
- Speaker Pelosi: We had a positive meeting with her chief of staff who said that our pressure made it easier to push for stronger legislation. She's hopeful that Pelosi will be able to make it to our climate townhall meeting in April.
- Congresswoman Speier: Her climate policy staffer said Speier supports our platform and will push for strong climate legislation.
- Senator Boxer: Her climate policy guy basically lectured at us. Boxer won't push for an outright ban on coal or nuclear plants, and it sounds like she wants to put most of the money from a carbon cap into tax cuts instead of green jobs for disadvantaged communities.
- Senator Feinsten: Her staff strung us along all day and ultimately wouldn't meet with 100 young people from California. Really, Diane? Friggin Oren Hatch met with PowerShift, and you wouldn't? Once again, you're our Asshole of the Week.

7 pm: Our Sanctuary City - Immigrant rights, ICE raids, and racial profiling. Why isn't San Francisco living up to it's sanctuary city status and what needs to be done about it? Our guests included:
- Bobbi Lopez and others from the San Francisco Immigrant Rights Defense Committee
- Several members of Young Workers United
- Supervisor John Avalos called in to tell us about his work on legislation to make it City policy that the police shouldn't turn over youth charged with felonies to ICE.

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