Olivier Sarkozy (half-brother of Nicolas Sarkozy, former President of France) – co-head and managing director of its recently launched global financial services division, since March 2008.[44]
Luis Téllez Kuenzler, Mexican economist, former Secretary of Communications and Transportation under the Felipe Calderón administration and former Secretary of Energy under the Zedillo administration.
*Kind of lackluster, actually. People don’t seem to care as much about this event as much anymore. It’s become more kind of a private-public, corporatist, corporate sell-out these days. Anyway, you can see some of its tents on the left and a few cyclists going past the Ferry Building, if you look hard enough.
Oh, I guess this is why Walk for Life West Coast 2012 isn’t going to happen in or around Justin Herman Plaza this year. It’s because the West Coast Rally for Reproductive Rights will be there instead.
See?
“Activists Respond to Attacks on Women’s Reproductive Rights with January 21st Rally and Banners on Market Street West Coast Rally for Reproductive Rights Commemorates Roe v. Wade and Celebrates San Francisco Truth-in-Advertising Legislation
The 9th Annual Rally for Reproductive Justice takes place January 21st, 2012 at 11 am in Justin Herman Plaza
“San Francisco, January 10, 2012— San Francisco gears up for the West Coast Rally for Reproductive Justice, commemorating the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. The rally will be held on January 21, 2012 at 11 am in Justin Herman Plaza, San Francisco. As banners celebrating a woman’s right to choose fly high on Market Street, the rally will feature speakers from leading women’s rights organizations, like the Silver Ribbon Campaign, NOW, World Can’t Wait, Radical Women, Change.org, The Business of Being Born filmmakers and Slutwalk. Featured political speakers include State Senator Mark Leno and SF Board President David Chiu. The rally will have music by The Raging Grannies and Ziva Hadar. Women’s reproductive rights remain under attack, despite the strength of the Democrats in the Senate and under the Obama Administration’s leadership; Bay Area activists and women’s rights supporters are taking a stand. The rally will be held in the space where in years past, members of the pro-life organization Walk for Life gathered to protest a woman’s right to choose. This year, BACORR hosts an independent rally, free from interaction with the Walk for Life group.
The controversy surrounding the accessibility of Plan B, the morning after pill, is just the latest in a string of attacks on women’s rights. The FDA determined that the Teva Pharmaceutical Industries drug Plan B is safe to be sold without a prescription to women of all ages; however, in an unprecedented move, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overturned the FDA’s decision and blocked over-the-counter access to Plan B for girls under 17 years old. Secretary Sebelius’ decision was based on her concern that 11 year old girls will not understand how to use the drug. The limitations on this drug effectively leaves adolescents, victims of incest and rape in the lurch – subject to the whim of a precarious home environment. A victim is unable to independently carry out reproductive decisions because of a strictly political, not science-based, decision.
San Francisco is a leader in progressive legislation exemplified by a victory this past October. The Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordinance requires accurate advertising from crisis pregnancy centers and was passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in a 10-1 vote.
“We are gathering to celebrate our city’s progressive legislation, and the freedoms women have gained since Roe v. Wade,” says MonaLisa Wallace, President, San Francisco NOW. “But the recent attacks on Planned Parenthood and Plan B, as well as the state by state restrictions on abortion ignore science and the well being of women everywhere.”
“We are at a time in our history where women’s reproductive rights are coming under attack on every level, where the church, state, elected officials, and even our own doctors are having a say in what should be a woman’s control and autonomy over her reproductive life.” says MaryAnn Thomas, organizer, World Can’t Wait. “We stand in solidarity with women across the country who have seen their access to safe, respectful abortioncare disappear along with their access to affordable birth control.”
“BACORR partnered with Trust Women to put up pro-choice banners on Market Street,” said Somer Loen, organizer, BACORR. “I am proud to live in a city that supports women, and the banners are an urgent reminder for San Franciscans that reproductive freedom is an essential human right, currently under assault. Opponents of reproductive rights are creating a public health crisis with legislation like H.R. 358 that allows hospitals to refuse life-saving abortions to women. It’s time to stand together to respect women.”
The rally is being organized by the Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights (BACORR) and the California chapter of National Organization for Women (NOW). BACORR initially partnered in 2004 with Planned Parenthood to stand strong in defense of reproductive rights when Walk for Life first came to San Francisco. There was a broad-based response to their anti-woman presence in our city. In years past, the coalition has effectively countered their rally and march. It also evolved in its scope, tying together the demands of women nationally and internationally. BACORR stands firm in the belief that we must expand, not limit, access to healthcare and abortion care if women are to actualize their full potential. This is in conjunction with the United Nations determination that legal abortion is a human right and that lack of access to it is a violation of international human rights.
About BACORR BACORR first formed in the late 1980s to defend Bay Area clinics from Operation Rescue, who were seeking to block clinic access to patrons and workers. BACORR was a rapid response team that protected the clinics from anti-abortion protesters and participated in clinic escorting and clinic defense. BACORR regrouped in 2004 to counter the Walk for Life and to stand strong in defense of reproductive justice. This year, BACORR supported efforts to pass the Pregnancy Information Disclosure and Protection Ordinance, protested fundraisers for personhood amendment advocates and provided clinic defense to local clinics.
About CA NOW California NOW was formed to take action to bring women into full participation in every aspect of American political, social and economic life and institutions. California NOW embodies and uses an intersectional analysis that enables each of us to recognize the fact that perceived group membership can make people vulnerable to various forms of bias and because we are simultaneously members of many groups our complex identities can shape the specific way we each experience that bias.”
All right, so these 70 banners have gone up on and around Market Street the past couple of weeks. You know, “Fix The Economy, Support My Autonomy” and “U.S. Out Of My Uterus” ’n stuff. Deets here.
Well guess what, the “Life Legal Defense Foundation” doesn’t cotton to that. NOT AT ALL.
So they’ve written a demand letter to San Francisco’s unapologetically corrupt Director of the Department of Public Works, Mr. Unclean Hands, Mayor Ed Lee-approved Mohammed Nuru.
So, will these expensive banners still be up when the huge anti-abortion march heads down Market Street on January 21st, 2012?
I don’t know.
Anyway, the deadline for the City to reply is today at high noon.
All the deets:
“Pro-Abortion Street Banners in San Francisco Called Out as Illegal
Life Legal Defense Foundation Wants Silver Ribbon Campaign Signs Pulled Down Immediately
It goes without saying that “politics happen” – but they should not happen on what appears to be the taxpayer dime on lampposts along Market Street in San Francisco. The Life Legal Defense Foundation has challenged the city of San Francisco with a blatant violation of its own city code. This month, inflammatory political statements promoting a Ms. Magazine initiated pro-abortion campaign now waft over foot and auto traffic, as this municipal local marketing tool is abused, allowing feminist rhetoric to take the place intended for promotion of farmers’ markets and neighborhood festivals.
The city regularly authorizes the display of banners to promote “city-sponsored,” “city-funded,” or “city-wide” events or “series of related events of interest to a significant portion of the residents of San Francisco and/or tourists.” San Francisco does allow some non-event banners to be posted on city-owned utility poles, but they are restricted to “city convention facility banners” and “city neighborhood banners.” A typical non-event banner would be the non-controversial San Francisco State University banners urging San Franciscans to “Support Public Higher Education: The Future Depends On It”
The offending banners, issued by the Trust Women Silver Ribbon Campaign bear blatantly political statements including “U.S. Out of My Uterus,” “Reproductive Rights are Human Rights” and “San Francisco is Pro-Choice,” slogans which are clearly designed to provoke the ire of those who do not share the printed sentiments. The authors of the silver ribbon month website reference a 2011 pro-abortion Ms. Magazine blog as the impetus behind the project, which is actually an event only in the virtual sense.
“The city minions who ‘approved’ these illegal banners might have thought that the public would ignore the challenge, but they are in error.” Said Dana Cody, Executive Director, Life Legal Defense Foundation. “We also believe this puts a stick in the eye of pro-life advocates who will be marching down Market Street on January 21 for the annual March for Life.”
A copy of the letter from the Life Legal Defense Foundation attorneys to San Francisco officials is available here.
“Our Bodies Ourselves is one of 42 partners in the Trust Women/Silver Ribbon campaign, a project to increase the visibility of pro-choice messages.
This week, the campaign has placed banners along Market Street in San Francisco to “spark conversations and to help build momentum and solidarity among supporters of women’s rights, equality and autonomy and access to comprehensive health care, including reproductive health care services.”
The banners display messages like “Reproductive Rights are Human Rights,” “Her Decision, Her Health,” and “U.S. Out of My Uterus,” and include related banners from the Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights, SisterSong/Trust Black Women, Catholics for Choice, NARAL-ProChoice California, and Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific. More photos of the banners in place around San Francisco are online, and more coverage is provided at Our Silver Blog.
Look for more activity later this month – during Trust Women Week, January 20-27, a virtual march will be held with MoveOn to express support for reproductive health, rights, and justice, and to send pro-choice messages to Washington.”
“U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced the recipients of the 2011 Sustainable Communities Grants, totaling nearly $96 million. Twenty-seven communities and organizations will receive Community Challenge grants and 29 regional areas will receive Regional Planning grants. The goal of HUD’s Sustainable Communities grants is to help communities and regions improve their economic competitiveness by connecting housing with good jobs, quality schools and transportation.”
San Francisco Mayor with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi greeting people at the brand new Drs. Julian and Raye Richardson Apartments for the formerly homeless on Fulton near Gough:
Click to expand
Oh, here they are up at the Richardson’s awesome-looking rooftop garden:
Our three-term City AttorneyDennis J. Herrera has just released the news about how San Francisco recently won a little compensation to pay for all the extra work it’s doing to bring poorly-ratedCitiApartments / Skyline Realty* to justice. Keep in mind that these penalties are not to punish (’cause that part will come later). No, no, this $50K is just to pay us back for the extra expenses we recently incurred due to relentless foot-dragging from the infamous Lembi Familyet alia.
Poor Judge Munter had to spend half of the hearing deciding how to divvy up the penalties among all the interrelated defendants. Oh well.
San Francisco’s Happy Warrior: His middle name is Jose, his son speaks Mandarin Chinese and he’s been working on gay legal issues for donkey’s years, at least since the 1990′s - do you think all that might help him if he decides to run for Mayor in 2011?
Pwned:
Herrera wins Court sanctions against CitiApartments for “obfuscation, delay.” Landlords’ defiance in the face of City Attorney’s ‘Herculean efforts’ triggers order to cooperate with discovery, pay $50K sanction
SAN FRANCISCO (Feb. 2, 2010) — City Attorney Dennis Herrera has won Court-ordered sanctions against a labyrinthine web of defendants involved in the operation of CitiApartments and Skyline Realty, the residential property management and investment behemoth Herrera first sued in 2006 for its stunning array of unlawful business practices. The order, which was signed by San Francisco Superior Court Judge John E. Munter last month and obtained this morning, compels each of the two-dozen corporate, trust and individual defendants currently named in the suit to respond to discovery requests in compliance with rules of civil procedure, and to pay sanctions to the City totaling $50,129.50, which reflects San Francisco’s fees and costs to pursue its motion to compel. Munter’s order requires all of the defendants to comply with the order by Feb. 19, 2010.
“CitiApartments deserved to be sanctioned for its continued defiance in this case, and I’m gratified to Judge Munter for calling these tactics exactly what they are — ‘obfuscation, delay and meritless objections,’” said Herrera. “I hope this sanction sends a message to Frank Lembi, Walter Lembi and all of the defendants responsible for CitiApartments’ lawless conduct that there is a limit to judicial patience, and they’ve reached it. This has been a long, difficult case to address what is perhaps the most egregious corruption of San Francisco’s residential housing market in modern history. We remain committed to pursuing this case aggressively, and I hope these sanctions are a tipping point that hastens our progress toward a just outcome.”
All the gritty nitty, after the jump.
*Let me tell you something here, whenever you’re paying your monthly rent to “LSL Property Holdings II DE LLC” or something, don’t be surprised when you have trouble getting your deposit back. This case is a morass. Anywho, your defendants:
“Skyline Realty Inc., Citiapartments Inc., Citi Funding Group Inc., Citisuites LLC, Lembi Group Inc., Lembi Group Partners LLC, Urban Property Management, Inc., Citiwide Rentals, Inc., Frank Lembi, Walter Lembi, David Raynal, Taylor Lembi, Frank Lembi As Trustee Of The Frank E. Lembi Survivor’s Trust Dated February 17, 1984, As Restated On June 2, 1999, Frank Lembi, As Trustee Of The Olga Lembi Residual Trust Created Under The Provisions Of Part Three Of The Lembi Family Trust Dated February 17, 1984, Walter Lembi, As Trustee Of The Walter And Linda Lembi Family Trust Dated June 30, 2004, David Raynal, As Trustee Of The David M. Raynal Revocable Trust Dated May 9, 2002, 737 Pine DE LLC, 737 Pine B10 DE LLC, 737 Pine B10 Mezz DE LLC, 1155 LLC, Gaylord Hotel LLC, LSL Properties B14 DE LLC, LSL Property Holdings II DE LLC, LSL Property Holdings II Mezz LLC, Nob Hill Tower DE LLC, Nob Hill Tower Mezz DE LLC, Prime Apartment Properties LLC, Prime Apartment Properties B10 DE LLC, Prime Apartment Properties B10 Mezz DE LLC, Trophy Properties B10 DE LLC, Trophy Properties IV DE LLC, Trophy Properties IV B8A LLC, Trophy Properties IV Mezz DE LLC, Trophy Properties V LLC, Trophy Properties V DE LLC, Trophy Properties VI LLC, Trophy Properties IV B8A Manager LLC.”
