Street Spirit Volume 20, No. 9 September 2014 Donation: $1.00 A publication of the American Friends Service Committee JUSTICE NEWS & HOMELESS BLUES IN THE B AY A REA A Quaker’s Ceaseless Quest for a World Without War by Terry Messman uring a long lifetime spent working for peace and social justice, David DHartsough has shown an uncanny instinct for being in the right place at the right time. One can almost trace the mod- ern history of nonviolent movements in America by following the trail of his acts of resistance over the past 60 years. His life has been an unbroken series of sit-ins for civil rights, seagoing blockades of munitions ships sailing for Vietnam, land blockades of trains carrying bombs to El Salvador, arrests at the Diablo nuclear reac- tor and the Livermore nuclear weapons lab, Occupy movement marches, and interna- tional acts of peacemaking in Russia, Nicaragua, Kosovo, Iran and Palestine. It all began at the very dawn of the Freedom Movement when the teenaged Hartsough met Martin Luther King and Ralph David Abernathy at a church in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1956 as the min- isters were organizing the bus boycott at the birth of the civil rights struggle. Next, while at Howard University, Hartsough was involved in some of the first “Where have all the flowers gone?” David Hartsough is arrested by police in San Francisco for blocking Photo credit: sit-ins to integrate restaurants in Arlington, Market Street in an act of civil disobedience in resistance to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Karl Mondon Virginia — white-hot confrontations that were violently attacked by white suprema- that gained international attention after when a munitions train ran over Willson, Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor. When the cists and the American Nazi Party. activists in small boats sailed directly into severing his legs and fracturing his skull. anti-nuclear power movement evolved into Just as Hartsough was present at Dr. the path of the USS Nitro. When seven Two months later, in November 1987, a movement against nuclear weapons, he King’s first campaign in Alabama, he also sailors jumped overboard to join the peace Concord police broke Hartsough’s arm was arrested repeatedly at Livermore Lab. was arrested for taking part in the slain civil flotilla’s resistance to the Vietnam War, it while violently removing him from those During a massive uprising in Kosovo, rights leader’s very last campaign, the Poor made headlines across the country. same tracks where he was blocking a train. he was arrested for conducting nonviolent People’s Campaign in 1968. He was standing right next to his friend Hartsough also was arrested in one of trainings, and the jailing of U.S. activists During the Vietnam War, Hartsough Brian Willson during a blockade of the most momentous anti-nuclear actions in helped organize a seagoing Peace Blockade weapons shipments to Central America, our nation’s history, the blockade of the See Quaker’s Quest for A World page 6 Young Artists Take a Stand for Prisoners’ Rights “Here at Youth Spirit Artworks, I’m trying to incorporate what I think freedom means in my art, as well as trying to spread the awareness of how people are taking others’ freedom away.” — Julia Tello, Youth Spirit Artworks by Lydia Gans cerated, and, when they are released, stig- matizing them with a felony record that his autumn, Californians will have makes them permanently disadvantaged in the opportunity to vote for a ballot seeking a decent living. proposition that promises to bring a T Passage of Proposition 47 can make a degree of fairness to the criminal justice significant difference in their lives. The system. Proposition 47, Reduced Penalties importance of this speaks to at-risk youth for Some Crimes Initiative, would reduce in our own community. Youth Spirit the penalties for most nonviolent crimes Artworks (YSA) is an interfaith art train- from felonies to misdemeanors. ing program dedicated to empowering and Furthermore, the significant amount of providing job training to homeless and money that would be saved by keeping low-income young people, ages 16 to 25. many minor offenders out of prison is YSA is located in a large studio space designated for mental health and sub- on Alcatraz Avenue in Berkeley. Here the stance abuse treatment, for programs to young people create art that they can sell, help young people most at risk of drop- for example the individually designed tote ping out of school, and for services for bags they’re currently selling at Berkeley victims of crime. Bowl. They also create art for the commu- Among the crimes that would be sen- nity, including some beautiful murals. tenced as misdemeanors instead of felonies From time to time, the young artists have are drug possession, shoplifting and petty exhibits in local venues. theft no greater than $950. It is these crimes It is through their art that many of the that are currently keeping inordinately large Young artists Alasia Ayler, Brianna Pierce and Vernon Neely display Lydia Gans numbers of poor and minority people incar- photo See Youth Spirit Artworks page 16 their artistic statement: “You ain't gotta be in jail to be doing time.” 2 S TREET S PIRIT September 2014 West Grand Hotel Sued by City of Oakland “This is the worst housing con- dition I have ever encountered in my practice, and the level of tenant abuse is obscene. I com- mend the City of Oakland for taking this place down.” — Oakland attorney Andrew Wolff by Lynda Carson akland City Attorney Barbara Parker filed a lawsuit against the West Grand Hotel due to O“unsafe, inhumane living con- ditions.” The hotel, located at 641 W. Grand Avenue in Oakland, is a single room occupancy (SRO) hotel, primarily for low-income and disabled tenants The West Grand Hotel is owned by Oakland JMO LLC, a Georgia company not licensed to do business in California, according to the Oakland City Attorney. According to the Oakland City Attorney, the lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court on August 4 asked the court to declare the West Grand Hotel a public nuisance and to shut it down for a one-year period. The suit also seeks damages for years of unpaid Rent Program service fees and asks for substantial civil penalties and The West Grand Hotel has been sued by the Oakland City Attorney for slum conditions and dangerous code violations. damages from the owners. The lawsuit asks the court to appoint a JMO LLC, Omid Razi, Richard Spitler code violations throughout the building. receiver to take control of the hotel, relo- and Mi Hwa Spitler own or manage the Oakland JMO LLC was incorporated I Like Blight cate the tenants and make necessary West Grand Hotel. in Georgia in May 24, 2012, only two by Carol Denney repairs, with the owners responsible for Omid Razi has a personal injury law weeks before the company bought the I like blight all costs. The lawsuit also asks the court office in Beverly Hills called the Razi Law West Grand. However, the principal where the rent is low to order the owners to live at the West Group. Numerous websites list Richard address for the corporation is 8383 where the music’s hot Grand Hotel until the nuisance is abated. Spitler as the manager of the hotel, and Wilshire Blvd, Suite 450, in Beverly and the street’s a show The lawsuit was filed against the West according to Advanced Back Ground Hills. The Razi Law Group’s main office and you can’t predict Grand Hotel and its owners for failing to Checks, Mi Hwa Spitler resides in San is located at 8383 Wilshire Blvd, Suite any page you turn abate building code violations, failure to Leandro, and is also known as Mi Pitler. 610, Beverly Hills, CA 90211. The firm and the shadows cry pay rent program service fees, violation of Also, the lawsuit charges that the com- also has office locations in Carlsbad, and the echoes burn hotel, motel, and rooming house operating pany that owns the West Grand Hotel, Sacramento, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and the kids run wild standards, violation of hotel rates and reg- Oakland JMO LLC, is a corporation orga- San Jose, and in Oakland at 1300 Clay and the trains go by istration requirements. In addition, the nized in the State of Georgia, and is cur- Street, Suite 600. and there is no style City of Oakland charges that the hotel is a rently not in good standing, and is not Attorney Andrew Wolff can be reached at and the papers fly drug nuisance in the neighborhood. licensed to do business in California. 510/834-3300. and you can’t be seen In essence, the City of Oakland is According to the Oakland City Lynda Carson may be reached at ten- ‘cause it’s so intense alleging that the owners of the hotel are Attorney: “For years, the West Grand [email protected] and it’s hard to love slumlords, and some of the residents and Hotel at 641 West Grand Avenue has but it all makes sense their friends at the hotel are involved in been a nuisance to the neighborhood and a The Homeless and the pressure’s fierce drug-related activities. danger to the dozens of people who live by Claire J. Baker ‘cause they want that juice The suit describes extremely hazardous there. The property has long been a center but it’s all on fire and filthy conditions at the hotel and of drug activity, including sales, storage might not slip through and it won’t kick loose “extensive violation of numerous fire and and distribution of cocaine and heroin.