LOS ANGELES - Wednesday, July 18, 2012, the Venice Beach community showed up to say NO when the Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) agenized a motion meant to criminalize homeless people in Venice. But the motion proposed by Mark Ryavec was denied by the VNC board members.
"This vote was a great victory for the people of Venice." According to Venice Civil Rights Attorney John Raphling, "Our neighborhood council rejected Mr. Ryavec's proposal, whose only purpose was to drive poor people out of our community. The proposal, basically demanding that police arrest homeless people for the crimes of sitting down on the sidewalk and setting their stuff on the ground is a morally wrong." Full Report: Thumbs Up to the VNC for Giving the Thumbs Down to a Motion Criminalizing Homeless by Peggy Lee Kennedy
RIVERSIDE - Wal-Mart's low prices come at a cost. The workers who are part of their supply chain, which includes numerous warehouses in southern California, are subject to insanely low wages, horrid working conditions and abuse. While these people are not directly employed by Wal-Mart, they are an important part of Wal-Mart's corporate strategy to drive American wages down to third-world levels. Last month on June 30th workers took action.
Report: Warehouses, Workers & Wal-Mart by Bob Maschi
LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2012 - Friday night, the LAPD shot not-as-lethal projectiles, either bean bags or rubber bullets, at people chalking on downtown streets and sidewalks. One observer reported a woman sketching a stick figure didn't get to finish her street art before she was beanbagged. Her partner lunged at the responsible cop, and he was beaten to the ground. Another witness told of a young man who was dropped from his skateboard by police guns. Some of the amateur and impromptu artists responded to the assault with rocks and bottles. Reports estimate fourteen arrests, four injured police, and an unknown number of injured chalkers.
Full Story: Art Walkers Occupy Free Speech by Federica
Video: Chalk Riot by dramakidps2
Commentary: Big surprise: Corporate media fucks up chalk walk story by Rockero