Opinion

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Raise the Minimum Wage to Raise U.S. Economy

Opinion
“Our report on executive compensation will only fuel the outrage over corporate greed,” said Forbes. Most Americans are left out of the nation’s economic growth because 93 percent of the income growth went to the richest 1 percent. The bottom 90 percent of Americans got none.

London Olympics Bring Rent Gouging and Repression

Opinion
The Olympics have intensified the effects of the poisonous cocktail of corporate power and authoritarian government that has been building in Britain and across the world. It began with landlords evicting tenants to make way for Olympic lets, prompting a wider housing crisis and rent increases, followed by evictions.

Homelessness Isn’t Just an Accident—It’s a Plan

Opinion
We know we’re one paycheck away, one injury away from being that homeless person our policymakers wish would leave town if we can’t keep up with exorbitant rents. Why do our political and planning representatives continue to build unaffordable housing instead of addressing the most pressing housing needs?

Mayor Bates Tries to Ram Through Anti-Sitting Law

Opinion
Many Berkeley citizens have come out against this egregious attack on the civil rights of homeless people. Berkeley City Councilmembers Kriss Worthington, Max Anderson and Jesse Arreguin have shown us that not all members of the council have been corrupted by the baleful lure of big-time developers and their filthy lucre.

‘He Is Who I Have to Thank on Father’s Day’

Opinion
J.C. Orton, the new director of the Street Spirit vendor program, received this letter from a female vendor on Father’s Day. It is a testimony to the caring spirit behind Orton’s work with the vendors, and the way he has revitalized the program to better serve the homeless community.

University Student Suffers Due to Unaffordable Dental Care

Opinion
Growing up I didn’t have the privilege of going to a dentist. My parents couldn’t afford it and my parent’s employers would never offer us dental coverage, nor would I ever qualify for help under a public program. Now, my oral hygiene is in poor health because I couldn’t afford dental care.

Berkeley’s Segregation Measure Fails the Test of History

Opinion
In voting to place this discriminatory sitting ban on the November ballot, the Berkeley City Council has betrayed the very concept of equal rights for all. Laws that banish certain groups of people from public spaces — whether based on appearance, economic class, or race — are modern-day segregation decrees, plain and simple.

Lessons of Seattle for Today’s Occupy Movement

Opinion
Violent action will not panic the power-holders, but it will push away the general populace. Power-holders, in fact, love it, because it gives them an excuse to destroy movements. Social change depends not on creating chaos and social disorder, but on mobilizing the power of the people for change.

Federal Voucher Reform Bill Will Harm Poorest Tenants

Opinion
The federal government is about to remove the cap that limits the amount of rent that can be charged to the poorest of the poor. Yet, there are no caps on how much money the executives in the so-called affordable housing industry can grab for their often excessively high salaries and wage compensation.

A Modest Proposal for Building Community in People’s Park

Opinion
After all of these years of police repression in People’s Park, is it not glaringly apparent that the City of Berkeley treats People’s Park like a pariah, and University of California officials would just as soon get out the tear gas and the truncheons?

Bulldozing People’s Park Is Not User Development

Opinion
University of Calfornia officials are trying to erase history. The incursion is a test to see if the People will hold this place as the sacred ground we liberated from the folly of UC officials in 1969 and have held all these years. Bulldozing is not user development.