On Monday, January 23, transit riders across Boston will join in a series of actions to Save the T.  Occupy Boston activists are encouraged to attend these events to say no to massive fare increases, services cuts, and layoffs!

Save the T March and Rally!
Noon-1 PM at the State House

Join the T Rider’s Union on the steps of the state house at 12 noon for a march to the Park Street T station and then to the Boylston Place (the Alley) entrance to the Transportation Building to say no to these cuts!  Details here:  http://on.fb.me/AcTokY

MBTA Hearings on Proposed Fare Increases and Service Cuts
1-3 PM;  4:30 – 6 PM
Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA

Hearings are open to the public, and will outline proposed fare increases and service cuts.  Get there early (or come from the March and Rally), bring your signs, get on stack.  Let the City of Boston know where you stand on cuts and fare increases!

Fight Back against Service Cuts!
6:30 – 8 PM
Transportation Building, 10 Park Plaza, Boston, MA

If you can’t make the noon action, come at 6:30!  Details here:  http://bit.ly/yl5Bvl  and here:  http://on.fb.me/xxZ5Y1.

Why Occupy the T?

In April 2012, the MBTA board will vote on a new round of fare increases and service cuts.  If passed, the MBTA’s proposal will cut over 105 bus routes, double RIDE fares, eliminate all Ferry Routes, eliminate E Branch and Mattapan Trolley weekend service and eliminate Commuter Rail weekend service.

Proposed cuts and fare increases will affect students, seniors, low income riders, T commuters and T workers, and will mean more traffic and air pollution at a time when public policy should be doing everything to encourage more environmentally friendly forms of transportation.

Meanwhile, the MBTA will continue to pay every single penny of its massive debt payments, including on $3.3 billion of Big Dig debt inherited from the state.  Ninety percent of the fares we pay go toward the MBTA’s debt service payments — that’s more than one million dollars per day going from T riders straight to the banks!

Austerity is not the answer – join the T Rider’s Union, Students Against T Cuts, and Occupiers across Boston to say NO to the proposed cuts and increases.

For a full list of hearings, visit:  http://mbta.com/about_the_mbta/public_meetings/.

For an overview of proposed fare and service cuts, visit: http://bit.ly/znwtfu.

For an overview of the MBTA budget crisis, visit: http://mbta.com/uploadedfiles/Documents/Financials/Born_Broke.pdf.

There are two upcoming foreclosure actions that need our support!

Anti-foreclosure canvassing in Everett

Saturday, 10-2 p.m. at Dunkin Donuts, 524 Broadway

This Saturday members from Occupy Boston will join City Life / Vida Urbana (CLVU) to canvass in Everett, going door-to-door of houses up for auction to offer tenants support defending their homes. Canvassing is a crucial step in home defense. The goal is to speak to residents BEFORE the bank attempts to take control of the building – before they can be intimidated and pressured into leaving – to let them know their rights and options, and offer support of they want it. It’s a chance to work directly with tenants and offer support to people who have been targeted by improper banking practices.

We’ll be meeting at the Dunkin Donuts, 524 Broadway in Everett, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you need a ride or if you can provide one or need more information about canvassing, please contact katie@occupyboston.org or call 410-967-5207.

Occupy our Homes: Auction Protest this Tuesday!

1:30pm at 11 Russell Pl, Everett

On Tuesday, OB will join CLVU and the North Side Tenants Association to protest a home auction in Everett. Bring your signs and come prepared to make some noise! Banks hate bad publicity. So when banks show up at a property where owners have brought along a crowd, it’s frequently possible to stop or postpone the sale. Home auction actions are loud, but disciplined – the point is to be visible, to support the homeowners, and to let investors know that they (and we) are not going anywhere!

Last year there were 230 foreclosures in the City of Boston – many of which could have been prevented if banks had been persuaded to negotiate with tenants or sold at real value to a local lender. Let’s go and show our support in numbers!    PLEASE NOTE: Auction protests are a little fluid and details may change at the last minute. Please email Katie Gradowski (katie@occupyboston.org) to be kept up to date on final details.

City Life/Vida Urbana is a 38-year-old bilingual, community organization whose mission is to fight for racial, social and economic justice and gender equality by building working class power through direct action, coalition building, education and advocacy.   Since 2008, they have led a Post-Foreclosure Eviction Defense campaign, which has been successful at keeping hundreds of Boston residents in their homes since the beginning of the foreclosure crisis.  Occupy Boston has supported, and will continue to support City Life’s direct action efforts to help keep Boston residents in their homes For more details about City Life’s amazing work, visit www.clvu.org.

The CUWG addresses a packed house/ Photo by Kendra Moyer

On January 2nd, 2012,  over 100 Occupy Boston activists and supporters met for a vibrant discussion and strategy session about the role of money in politics.  The Community Gathering, organized and hosted by the Citizens United Working Group of Occupy Boston, was an exciting kickoff to the group’s month-long education campaign about corporate influence on public policy.

Group members gave brief presentations on PACs, Lobbying and the Revolving Door, and the Citizens United decision, which critics charge has opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate and special interest spending in federal elections.  Guest speaker Arthur Macewan of Dollars and Sense presented on corporate personhood — the extension, through misguided court decisions,   of rights and protections to corporations that the Founders intended only for people.  State Senator Jamie Elderidge discussed legislative possibilities for campaign finance reform, including proposals currently under consideration in the State House.  One resolution introduced by Senator Elderidge, S772 , would demand that Congress ratify and send to the states a constitutional amendment overturning Citizen’s United to “to restore the First Amendment and fair elections to the people.”

After the presentations, attendees participated in open discussions aimed at developing solutions.  Proposals discussed included: public financing of elections; consumer strategies that would support local economies instead of the  worst corporate offenders; an initiative to get all 351 town meetings to pass resolutions; creating an independent coalition of small businesses; and an Article 5 Constitutional Convention.  Participants also brainstormed ideas for breaking through corporate media outlets that are reluctant to focus on the need for reform (and have a significant financial stake in a system that allows unlimited spending on campaign ads).

Overall, it was great start to the Work Group’s month-long campaign, which will culminate in a two-day summit on January 20 and 21. It was great to see how engaged people were in open discussions and how committed Occupy Boston activists are to changing our current broken system of campaign finance.