July 20, 2017

Orange County

Support AB 1250: Important information re: contracting/privatizing public services

AB 1250 is a proposed state law that would protect taxpayer dollars and county and city services by ensuring that counties and cities conduct common sense analysis and fair bidding before deciding to hand over public services to private companies. State agencies, school districts and libraries already have these rules in place but counties and cities want to continue outsourcing without these common sense protections. Sign this petition to support AB 1250 and the protections it would enact.

 

Voice of OC: Former Santa Ana police chief alleges wrongdoing by top city officials and officers’ union leader

In a legal claim he filed against the city, Carlos Rojas said he “was forced to involuntarily resign his civil service position as a result of potential illegal activity and/or noncompliance [with rules and/or regulations] among city officials.”

 

OC Register: Emergency shelter for homeless families with children opening in Orange

On Thursday, July 20, the newly christened Family Care Center on Citrus Street will be officially dedicated and ready to begin housing an expected 10 to 15 families at a time who will sleep in semi-private quarters where batting cages once stood.

 

OC Register: Santa Ana River Trail walkers, cyclists fear homeless, give up outdoor ‘jewel’

Rather than returning to residents a once-cherished trail that now resembles a post-apocalyptic strip, law enforcement, the county Health Care Agency, elected officials and nonprofits focus on assisting the homeless population and doing what little they can to curtail crime and tamp down dangerously unsanitary conditions.

 

Daily Pilot: Daily Pilot: Costa Mesa awards $28.7-million construction contract for Lions Park projects

The centerpiece of the Lions Park projects — approved by the council in March — is a new 22,860-square-foot library that will be significantly larger than the 8,740-square-foot Donald Dungan Library branch currently in the park.

 

OC Register: Anaheim starts construction of its first new fire station in 10 years.

The $5.4 million fire station, which department officials said will improve response times, is expected to take some of the pressure off the station that serves the Broadway area.

 

Labor

People’s World: The great awakening of New England labor

With the help of labor unions all over New England, including UNITE HERE locals 33, 34 and 35, Teamsters Local 25, the Harvard Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM) and many other groups, the once seemingly powerless dining hall workers were able to take down Harvard University’s $36 billion Goliath.

 

Publication Date: July 20, 2017