[act-ma] Occupy Update, Trees, Extinction & Eviction

[Aria Littlhous]

Save the Alewife Silver Maples, STAND UP FOR TREES, 6/28. Fannie Mae Evicts
Activists, see below.

Like lemmings off a cliff, those that believe in endless growth are
building on the corpses of trees, evicting homeless families from empty
homes and herding us all closer to a man made apocalypse. Please be present
either in person or by forwarding this notice wildly.

For the Earth,



A.

1.    Basic Income Guarantee International conference, 6/26-29 Montreal
Canada: http://www.usbig.net/index.php

2.    Renter’s Nation: Housing is a human right, not a commodity:
http://homesforall.org/campaign/reports/renter-nation-summary/

3.    March Against Climate Change, 350.org, NYC, 9/20-21:
http://peoplesclimatemarch.org/

4.    Occupy Wall Street Anniversary: 9/17/14

http://occuevolve.com/calendar-occupy-summerfall-and-s17-schedule-of-actions-meetings-assemblies-and-special-events/

5.    Occupy National Gathering, 7/31-8/3, Sacramention CA,
http://interoccupy.net/natgat2014/



Silver Maples



Friends of Alewife Reservation has been by the news that the 7 acre silver
maple floodplain forest located off Acorn Drive in the Alewife Reservation
may be clear cut by the end of the summer by Brian O'Neill Properties from
Pennsylvania and that a curb cut had been granted. We are asking once again
for you to sponsor  and/or join another activity related to the
preservation of this forest. Please consider signing onto a demonstration
at the Alewife T stop on



Saturday June 28th at 10am for a visibility showing

and a march with giant Earth Mother and Alewife puppets to the silver maple
forest to stand for 30 minutes in silence.
Families are welcome.
We will be handing out and getting post cards signed as well.

There will be many signs to hold from Green Cambridge and Friends of
Alewife Reservation. In the past the following have been supportive of
conservation of this magnificent "small river floodplain forest", deemed so
by the state's Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Department.
*http://friendsofalewifereservation.org/2006_03_riverrestlessspirit_audubon.htm
<http://friendsofalewifereservation.org/2006_03_riverrestlessspirit_audubon.htm>*

We will be inviting other groups who are interested to sign on as well. We
would like your recommendations as to additional endorsers.
Please consider endorsing this event.



Fannie Mae Evicts Protestors


193 NORWELL   STREET DORCHESTER

June 10, 2014

*Community reclaimed home under banner of affordable housing, held rally
and cookout for community, and set up a pirate radio station before
being evicted*

This this past Saturday, City Life/Vida Urbana and a local coalition of
Right to the City Boston groups held a block party and cookout at 193
Norwell St. in Dorchester to celebrate the move-in of a family in need of
stable, affordable, accessible housing after post-foreclosure eviction by
an “investor.” We also celebrated the launch of a new community radio
station broadcasting under the historic 106.1 FM frequency. The community
came together to support the Adamson family’s taking up residence in a
bank-owned home that had been vacant for months.  We had over 150 guests
throughout the day, two local ministers came to bless the family in their
new home, and the district City Councilor paid a visit. The event showed
what the face of homelessness in our city really looks like; how the
neglect that makes empty houses dangerous can be completely reversed with
community effort; and the practical solutions to the housing crisis that we
have at our fingertips.

It saddens us to report that around 2:00 PM on Monday June 9, 2014, the
Boston Police came to193 Norwell St. At the behest of the realtor managing
the property for the bank owner, Fannie Mae, the police emptied out the
home, arresting one volunteer in the process. We urged law enforcement to
tell Fannie Mae to negotiate with the occupants, who were *quoted in the
Boston Globe *publicly offering to pay any reasonable rent. Instead, hours
of police time were spent overseeing a move-out.  City Life/Vida Urbana
condemns this waste of public safety resources.  At a time when family
homelessness is a growing epidemic, our tax dollars shouldn’t go to
enforcement of banks’ policies of keeping properties vacant to speculate on
the price going up in the future.  An offer was put in months ago by a
nonprofit organization to buy the house in order to rehab it and run it as
affordable rental housing. Given its status as a publicly-funded,
government-run bank, Fannie Mae should do its part to stabilize
our communities.

As Mayor Walsh prepares his municipal housing plan and the state considers
an increase in the minimum wage, Boston tenants and community activists
will hold a press conference on the Right to the City “Rise of the Renter
Nation” national report. The conference will be held in front of 193
Norwell St. on June 10, 2014 at noon, with a coalition of housing justice
and low-wage worker groups. In this report, grassroots organizations detail
solutions to the ongoing housing crisis in America. To read a digital copy
online or purchase a printed copy of the national report, go to:
homesforall.org



*FORWARD WILDLY,*



A.


-- 
"Our goal is a society that prioritizes the needs of all before the profits
of the few." passed by Occupy Boston General Assembly 11/29/11


-- 
"Our goal is a society that prioritizes the needs of all before the profits
of the few." passed by Occupy Boston General Assembly 11/29/11