May 24-30 Oakland Political & Community Events

Tuesday, May 25th – High Hopes for Cannabis Reform

Join the Control & Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign on the lovely back patio of A Cote, and meet Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University and the force behind the campaign. Delicious hors d’oeuvre, wine, and cocktails will be served, and there will be fun door prizes and a raffle. Tickets are $99, with all proceeds benefiting the Tax Cannabis 2010 campaign. The event goes from 6-8pm at A Cote, 5478 College Avenue. Buy tickets online or RSVP on Facebook.

Wednesday, May 26th – AC Transit Public Hearings on Further Service Reductions

AC Transit will sadly be making further service reductions, and Wednesday is the day to tell the Board what lines you can’t live without or to share with them that magical solution you’ve thought of to save the system. The hearings will be held at 2pm and 6pm in the 2nd Floor Board Room, 1600 Franklin Street. You can see the proposed service reductions on AC Transit’s website.

Wednesday, May 26th – Phonebank for Victoria Kolakowski for Judge

Vicky’s campaign for Superior Court Judge continues to gain momentum. Last week she was endorsed by the San Francisco Bay Guardian and was featured in an East Bay Express article. We need to build on the momentum and attention that this race is receiving during the final push to the election on June 8. On Wednesday, May 26 please help Vicky make history by volunteering for her phone bank at 1904 Franklin St., Ste. 609 Oakland, CA 94612, from 6pm to 9pm. RSVP on Facebook or call Andre Charles for further information at (310) 775-0549.

Thursday, May 27th – Walk Oakland Bike Oakland Meeting

The next WOBO Meeting is Thursday, May 27th. WOBO will be slapping address labels on a couple thousand postcards to announce Oakland’s sweetest Car-free Street Party – Oaklavía, June 27th. WOBO could use your help with the mailing, and in exchange for your assistance you’ll get undying gratitude and free snacks! The meeting starts at 6:30pm and will be held at WOBO HQ (436 14th Street) – 2nd floor conference room. For more info, visit WOBO’s website.

Friday, May 28th – 8th Annual Small Business Symposium

The Small Business Symposium is an annual event composed of workshops and panels to inform small business owners and those considering starting a business.  Workshop subjects are focused on what you need to develop a small business, get funds, have a business plan, advertise, use computers, get government contracts, file taxes, do your accounting, and so on. Attend the Restaurant Bootcamp or a Video Production workshop. Learn about Urban Farming or the Green Certification programs. Take a course in Marketing, Finance, or QuickBooks. The symposium takes place from 8am-5pm at the Oakland Marriott City Center located at 1001 Broadway in downtown Oakland. The symposium is free but advance registration is required for all workshops. Each year the symposium is booked to maximum capacity. This is event is presented by the Office of Councilmember Larry Reid and the City of Oakland’s Community and Economic Development Agency.

Saturday, May 29th – Connecting Maya Culture and Astronomy at Chabot

The other day I was talking to V Smoothe about how we both have really want to see Tales of the Maya Skies at Chabot Space and Science Center, but much with other shows that run seemingly forever, we keep putting it off. If you’ve been delaying, Saturday is the time to see it and experience a full day of excitement highlighting the cultural relationship of the Maya with astronomy. Come experience the flavor of the Maya with hands-on activities, performances from Los Angeles-based group Casa de la Cultura Maya, food, music and much more. Tales of the Maya Skies will run all day in English, Spanish, and Mayan. If I wasn’t going out of town this weekend on a much-needed vacation, this is definitely how I’d be spending my Saturday. The festivities run from 10am-6pm, with the last showing of Tales of the Maya Skies at 9:15pm at Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd. See the full day’s schedule and purchase advance tickets on Chabot’s website.

John Russo: “Regulating and controlling marijuana is really a law-and-order measure”

Disclosure: I proudly work for the Control & Tax Cannabis campaign.

Oakland City Attorney John Russo wrote an excellent op-ed about the Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 that I thought was worth sharing. As the City Attorney of the first city in the country to regulate the sales of medical marijuana, Russo has seen first hand that regulation can improve public safety and believes the same can be accomplished statewide and beyond with the passage of the initiative:

As the City Attorney of Oakland — a city where dozens of people are killed in drug-related murders every year — my primary concern is the war on marijuana’s collateral damage to public safety.

Black market marijuana is a main source of fuel powering the vast criminal enterprises that threaten peace on our streets and weaken national security on our borders. According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Mexican drug cartels get more than 60 percent of their revenue from selling marijuana in the United States.

Money is the oxygen of these organizations. For decades, our approach to fighting violent drug gangs has been like trying to put out a house fire with a watering can. Why not try shutting off the fire’s oxygen supply?

Russo’s right. The war on drugs has been an utter failure, not only at curbing the use of illegal drugs but also at ending violence. Cannabis regulation is a way to curb this violence and to stop needless arrests that waste tax payer dollars:

The cost of enforcing prohibition is hard to estimate. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars and countless law enforcement hours arresting people for low-level marijuana crimes, further overburdening courts and prisons. Jail beds needed for marijuana offenders could be “used for other criminals who are now being released early because of a lack of jail space,” the state Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote.

More than 61,000 Californians were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession in 2008. That same year, about 60,000 violent crimes went unsolved statewide. The reality is that resources tied up fighting marijuana would be better spent solving and preventing violent felonies and other major crimes.

Russo’s entire op-ed is worth a read so I encourage you to click through and read the entire piece, but if not, he sums up his points well at the end:

Regulating and controlling marijuana is really a law-and-order measure. It takes marijuana off street corners and out of the hands of children. It cuts off a huge source of revenue to the violent gangsters who now control the market. And it gives law enforcement more capacity to focus on what really matters to Californians — making our communities safer.

It’s time we call marijuana prohibition what it is — an outdated and costly approach that has failed to benefit our society. In November, we will finally have the chance to take a rational course with the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act.

Oaklanders like Russo have seen firsthand that marijuana regulation and taxation works. Now it’s up to us to spread that message to the rest of the state to ensure the passage of this initiative in November.

A simple way to support Oakland bloggers & important causes

You might know that for the last several months I’ve been working on the campaign for the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. If passed in November, this initiative would legalize marijuana in California.

What you probably don’t know is that I’ve been working on marijuana law reform for a decade. I co-founded the UC Berkeley chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and dedicated most of my out of class time in college to drug policy reform. After graduating, I worked for Americans for Safe Access, the nation’s largest medical marijuana advocacy organization, for four and a half years.

It’s so exciting for marijuana legalization to be so close to becoming law. I could have never imagined this would happen so quickly when I first became active in this movement.

We can win, but we need the financial support to reach voters throughout the state. So we’ve started a fundraising campaign in which individuals set up personal fundraising pages. I’ve aimed to raise $500, and I need your help to reach my goal.

Please contribute today to end arrests of marijuana users and to help solve the budget crisis with increased taxes and economic activity.

Please give generously, and remember that every donation counts. Whether you can give $5, $50 or $500, I greatly appreciate your support.

If for some reason you’re unsure about contributing to the cannabis initiative, there’s another way to help out a fellow Oakland blogger. Gene at Our Oakland regularly volunteers his time for Habitat for Humanity. He’s created a fundraising page to help fund their work:

I’m celebrating Earth Day by building green homes for deserving low-income families with Habitat for Humanity East Bay. Please join the effort! I would be grateful for your encouragement and financial support.

The Earth Day build-a-thon is not only a blitz building event, it’s Habitat East Bay’s biggest fundraiser. Any amount you can give is appreciated!

I contributed to his page and hope you will do the same. Please contribute to one of our causes, or if you’re feeling extra generous, give to both!