(from info AT peopleshousingboard.org)

Hello All, Happy 2107 – The year of the People !

On Wednesday 1/18/17 the BRA will hold what will likely be the final public meeting on PLAN JP/ROX before the BRA board meeting in February and the probable vote to approve the Mayor’s displacement based plan. This plan will have likely have devastating displacement effects over the next decade for the People of Egelston Square and many low and moderate income residents along the Washington St corridor between Jackson Square and Forest Hills.

This plan is the first BRA so called “Master Plan” initiated under Walsh. The plan will set in motion the Mayor’s takeover of the of the outer neighborhoods for higher income residents beyond downtown.

It’s critical for all of us to unite and stand with the People of 100% Egelston, Reclaim Roxbury and the several other groups who will represent at this meeting. Plan JP/ROX is a disaster and Egelston Square is at the epicenter of the fight between the People and Power for the right to continue living in this city.

Please stand together and join us on :

Wednesday 1/18/17 – 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Bromley Heath Public Housing Complex
(AKA, Mildred C Hailey Apartments)

Anna M. Cole Community Center
10 Lamartine Street Extension
Boston, MA 02130

In Unity,

The People’s Housing Board Coalition

Hey Co-op Supporters,

Thank you for RSVPing to the hearing that we’d hoped to have in Dec. We now have a new date for the hearing:

Tuesday, Jan 24th
4pm @ Boston City Hall.

If you’re still able to join us on this new date, please RSVP here on the new form!

And whether you can be there or not, help spread the word by sharing the event on facebook! https://www.facebook.com/events/1630407257264694/>

Thank you for making this big event happen!

More info on the Hearing

We’ll be sharing the stories of worker, consumer, and housing cooperatives
in the Boston area and educating our elected officials about the potential
for building a more just and cooperative economy.

We’ll be asking for support in three areas:

• Technical Assistance: Grants and support for co-op development.
• Financing: Loans and city investments for purchasing businesses, properties, and new startups.
• Policy reform: Changes to zoning code, city contract procurement, city programs, etc.

The number of people that show up on the 24th will send a message to the city about how seriously they should support cooperatives. A big turnout for this one hearing could shape the dynamics of our meetings and advocacy work for years to come.

So join us if you can, invite a friend, and share the event on social media.

This is a rare opportunity to make a dramatic difference in the cooperative economy of our city.

Somerville for Standing Rock!

Hosted by Massachusetts Sierra Club and co-hosted by Cultural Survival, join us in Somerville for an action-inspired concert in solidarity with and support of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and all those standing in opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline project.

Saturday, January 14, 2017 at 12 PM – 4 PM
Aeronaut Brewing Company
14 Tyler St,
Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/180563195749624

Join us at our “11th Annual”, First Night to Stop the Wars.

Live Peace Massachusetts, Stop the Wars and others. To be held in Copely Square, Boston, MA.

NOTE:We will be nearer to the Library main entrance then previous years.

12 Noon to 5:30pm. Dec 31, 2016 Invite your friends, make Boston history. We are fighting the biggest war of all against Washington. Stop the Wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Russia, Iran, WWIII.

Wars against Immigrants, People of Color, Gays and Lesbians (LGBT), Against women and Minorities, Climate Destruction. This list goes on and on so bring your message to Copley as we try to bring in a new year that we can work together to fight these wars. We Stand with Standing Rock #NODAPL and all oil and gas pipelines.

Like us on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/623461181171435

Editorial

Pissed about the presidential elections? Blame the system. As long as  Massachusetts–and every other state in the union except Maine–continues to run “winner take all” elections, all third-party candidates will continue to be shut out of “no new ideas” races between Wall Street backscratchers.

Ranked choice voting, which is widely used in other democracies, many cities and colleges in the US, and by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to award Oscars, can change all that. If you are unfamiliar with ranked choice, check out http://voterchoicema.org/ and while you’re there, take the first step toward revolutionizing government by adding your name to the mailing list.

Voter Choice, MA, is a chapter of FairVote, a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to bringing more voices into the electoral arena. When I go to Voter Choice meetings, I sit in a room full of people from shades of the political spectrum never seen on most ballots. Since the outrageous results of the presidential election, Voter Choice, MA has experienced an exponential surge in membership. The new members are fired up and ready to work hard to make every vote count.

Join us. Don’t let your vote end up in the trash bin of history.

If you are angry enough to hit the streets, you can find information about demonstrations aimed at pressuring the Electoral College not to affirm the latest choice of the moneyed minority, here: http://December19.us . If you are planning on going to Washington DC on January 20, or 21, 2017, I hope you will ask yourself, “What exactly will this show of force accomplish?”

I have been to many marches on Washington DC and I can tell you that the laundry list of progressive, “must haves” has not changed a lot. Unless we can come together around radically changing an electoral system that silences any voice not bought and paid for by Wall Street, you can tell your comrades in arms, “See you again, next time.” I will be in Boston, MA at the anti-inaugural demonstrations, and the Women’s March, at the Voter Choice table, adding names to an effort with a vision and a plan. I hope to see you there.

Forward wildly,

A.

The opinions expressed in this editorial are mine alone.