Here are some links I got from http://grandjuryresistance.org

Check them out!

Personal Prisoner Support Pages

Daniel McGowan

http://www.supportdaniel.org

Eric McDavid

http://www.supporteric.org

San Francisco 8

http://freethesf8.org

Dr. Sami Al-Arian

http://freesamialarian.com

Prisoner Resources

ACLU National Prison Project

Anarchist Black Cross

California Prison Focus

CA Prison Moratorium Project

Center for Community Alternatives

Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice

Committee to End the Marion Lockdown

CURE — Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants

(Dis)location and the Ruralization of US Prisons

Families Against Mandatory Minimums

Family and Corrections Network

The Fortune Society

National Center on Institutions and Alternatives

National Council on Crime and Delinquency

The Other Side of the Wall

Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC)

Prison Journal

Prison Moratorium Project

Prisonsucks.com: Research on the prison industrial complex

Prison Zone

The Sentencing Project

Western Prison Project

The Beat Within

Innocence Denied

Journal of Prisoners on Prisons

Prison Legal News Resource Links Page

Check out this super important organizing happenin in Richmond right now around Public Housing:

www.rephrame.blogspot.com

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009

Print & Distribute! RePHRAME Propaganda!

We understand that everyone who cares about any given cause can’t always take to the streets and be directly involved with the many many campaigns going on through out their community, but one quick and easy thing we can all do is print out a couple fliers and place them in strategic locations. ie. the office, coffee shop, bulletin board, or even in their own home. Please print and distribute freely any fliers, posters, pamphlets, leaflets, etc found on this site.

Download Printable [8.5x11] Version:  HERE

Download Printable [11x17] Version: HERE





POSTED BY REPHRAME AT 10:12 AM

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2009

An Unnatural Disaster RTD Op-Ed 03.06.08

An Unnatural Disaster

BY ALEX GULOTTA AND CORA HAYES

We’ve all read the recent headlines indicating families across the country are struggling to keep their homes.  Yet while the nation’s foreclosure crisis looms large, an entirely different crisis threatens housing for Richmond’s poorest families.

These families live in public housing owned by the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which is planning to demolish hundreds of homes without a clearly expressed plan for the many families who will be displaced in the process.  While we in Richmond may long for the day when surrounding counties help meet the community’s housing needs, until this day comes City officials must act responsibly.

Public housing exists because the private market does not provide sufficient housing to accommodate the elderly, poor and disabled who survive on fixed incomes and low wages.  Today Richmond has roughly 4,100 public housing units, nearly 60% of the 7,064 considered “affordable” for families earning less than a third of the area’s median income (less than $13,624 per year).  According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), more than 18,000 such families reside in Richmond—meaning that nearly 11,000 families must live in housing they cannot afford.

Clearly, public housing fills a critical need. In fact, a 2007 report by the City stated that the “major housing demand … is for public and assisted housing.”

While recognizing that the greatest housing shortage occurs among our poorest residents is a key first step toward developing sound public policy, unfortunately for Richmond’s poorest residents RRHA has actually reduced public housing options in recent years.  Starting in 1999, RRHA razed 440 units in the Blackwell community.  Only 75 of the 540 replacement units were affordable to the families whose homes were destroyed.  Delays, strict re-qualification restrictions, and other complications contributed to only 27 of the original families returning, while the rest were scattered across the evaporating pool of assisted housing.  For hundreds of displaced families, Blackwell was an unnatural disaster.

Nearly 10 years later, another such disaster looms.  RRHA recently gained HUD’s approval to sell 120 single-family homes sheltering poor families—with no plans for replacement.  RRHA also plans to demolish the 60-unit Dove Court community to make way for mixed-income development, with no commitment regarding the number of public housing units included in the new development.  And RRHA has indicated that Gilpin Court in Jackson Ward, home to 783 families, will be its next major redevelopment project.  We cannot afford to let Gilpin Court become another Blackwell.

Housing advocates recommend de-concentrating poor families and instead creating mixed-income communities on the theory that families living among others from diverse backgrounds learn from one another, break down barriers, and gain opportunities.  Indeed, these arguments often justify the demolition of public housing.  But these benefits accrue only to the select few lucky enough to live in the redeveloped communities.  Without careful planning, mixed-income communities are a hollow promise for the many families who are not allowed to return after their homes are destroyed.

RRHA may argue that public housing replacement options include “housing choice” vouchers.  In theory, these vouchers allow a family to secure housing on the open market using a combination of their own income and a rental subsidy.  In reality, vouchers are a poor solution.  Private landlords do not have to accept the vouchers.  Most do not.  In fact, within the last 10 years the City has returned millions of dollars in vouchers to HUD simply because needy families in Richmond were unable to use them.

We must recognize that for all its challenges, public housing satisfies a crucial need for which there is no feasible substitute.  Public housing is not perfect, but displacing hundreds of poor families, including the elderly and disabled, who call public housing home is no solution.  Before we start bulldozing, we need a workable plan to build affordable replacement housing for the families whose homes will be destroyed.

RRHA has not clearly enumerated how many public housing units will replace those tagged for demolition.  Engaging the community in theoretical conversations about the benefits of mixed-income living while ignoring the hard realities is at best an honest mistake, and at worst a travesty.

The City of Richmond and RRHA should commit to at least one-for-one replacement of any public housing units lost—and to a redevelopment planning process that is open and transparent.  Richmond’s poorest families must have a seat at the table.  Only by taking these steps can our community address Richmond’s most urgent housing needs.

This Op-Ed was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on March 6, 2008.  Alex Gulotta is executive director of the Legal Aid Justice Center, and may be contacted at alex@justice4all.org.  Cora Hayes is a public housing resident and serves on the Client Advisory Council of the Legal Aid Justice Center.

POSTED BY REPHRAME AT 9:04 AM SECTIONS: ALEX GULOTTA, CORA HAYES, RRHA

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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009

Residents’ Bill of Rights for Redevelopment

We, the following residents of Richmond, call upon RRHA and the City of Richmond to commit to the following principles to govern the process of redeveloping public housing:

1. A meaningful and enforceable resident participation process will guide all substantive decisions about      redevelopment;
2. There will be at least one-for-one replacement of all affected units with newly-built or renovated public housing units (“replacement units”);
3. Replacement units will be of like kind (1 bedroom for 1 bedroom, 5 bedroom for 5 bedroom, elderly for elderly, family for family, etc.), subject to an analysis of needs of current and future public housing-eligible residents;
4. Those replacement units will be reserved for very low-income and extremely low-income households, as under current public housing admissions rules;
5. The opportunity to live in the replacement units will be offered firstto those households living in RRHA units, without having to re-apply or re-qualify;
6. Residents who are displaced by redevelopment, and who wish to stay in public housing, will be guaranteed replacement housing in the following order of preference:
   1. Replacement units at their current site.
   2. Replacement units in another area that has equal or greater advantages as their current site.
   3. As a last resort, and only when required by space or necessity, temporary housing of an equal or greater quality to their existing housing, with a duration not to exceed 12 months.

1. Each displaced household will have the right to choose to return to the redeveloped site or to relocate permanently to another replacement unit;
2. The redevelopment process will support a system of economic justice in which residents have priority access to jobs, homeownership and contracting opportunities created by redevelopment, and in which the redeveloped communities feature improved amenities and enhanced access to services, employment and transportation for residents.

POSTED BY REPHRAME AT 6:00 PM SECTIONS: RESIDENTS BOR

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RESPONSE: 7th District City Council Person Candidate Deanna Lewis

Dear Andrew,

Thanks for the opportunity to address your concerns. Much appreciated. My response below:

1.     There should be 1-for-1 replacement of any public housing units lost through public housing redevelopment.  In other words, there should be no net loss of public housing units.  In addition, location of newly created public housing units, and other aspects of the redevelopment process, should increase the employment, education, and other opportunities of public housing residents.

I agree.

The 7th District is home to a large number of the family housing developments in the city. I’ll also work hard to insure that the need for PH is shared equally by all of Richmond’s 9 districts if not physically, then financially to create a better environment for all of the residents.

2.     Current residents should have the right to return to newly developed public housing without any additional screening or requalification process.  In the past, additional credit checks and other screenings (above and beyond those to which public housing residents are routinely subjected) have been used to effectively prevent previous residents from coming back to the newly developed housing.  We believe redevelopment should not be used to get rid of residents who have done nothing to warrant eviction.

I agree. A good tenant is a good tenant regardless and should be welcomed back. Such action should also warrant an investigation as to why those practices were adopted and permitted.

3.     Public housing residents should have a meaningful voice in decisions regarding their housing and communities.  Currently only 1 out of 7 RRHA commissioners is a public housing resident.  RePHRAME proposes adding 2 additional seats to the RRHA Board of Commissioners which would be filled with RRHA residents.

I agree.

As a private citizen I was engaged in my community long before I considered running for CIty Council.  I’ve attended all of the major association/civic and tenant meetings in all parts of the 7th several times over. Each area they represent has needs specific to those areas. What is a concern in Fulton Hills may not apply to Whitcomb Court, Union Hill, Chimborazo etc. As Council Woman, I will continue to be on the ground and maintain an active part if these meetings. I will be encouraging them to appoint one member from each group to a new 7th District Council Community Task Force to give a greater voice to their neighborhoods and speak to the varied needs of the 7th. My intent is to be connected, available and present. It’s my neighborhood, I live here and I intend for it to flourish.

Best regards,

Deanna

www.DeannaLewis4Council.com

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of Earth.
- Abraham LincolnPOSTED BY REPHRAME AT 10:15 AM SECTIONS: DEANNA LEWIS

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Request for City Council Candidates of the 7th District Council Person’s Response to RePHRAMES Three Major Concerns

Dear Candidates for the 7th District:

RePHRAME requests your responses to our three major concerns regarding public housing redevelopment (explained in detail below).

RePHRAME is an alliance of public housing residents, partner organizations, and individual allies committed to housing justice for all in Richmond.  Our partner organizations include the following:

Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and Economic Development (CNEED)
Fay Towers Tenant Council
Legal Aid Client Advisory Council
Legal Aid Justice Center
Richmond Crusade for Voters
Richmond Jobs With Justice
Richmond NAACP
Richmond Peace Education Center (RPEC)
Richmond Tenant Organization (RTO)
Virginia Organizing Project (VOP)

RePHRAME recently held our 2nd Annual Community Forum on Public Housing Redevelopment, held at Fay Towers and attended by 175 RePHRAME members and supporters.  Five members of City Council and Mayor Jones attended as well.  Over the summer RePHRAME members met with all nine members of Council individually to discuss our major concerns regarding public housing redevelopment.  These concerns are as follows:

1. There should be 1-for-1 replacement of any public housing units lost through public housing redevelopment.  In other words, there should be no net loss of public housing units.  In addition, location of newly created public housing units, and other aspects of the redevelopment process, should increase the employment, education, and other opportunities of public housing residents.

2. Current residents should have the right to return to newly developed public housing without any additional screening or requalification process.  In the past, additional credit checks and other screenings (above and beyond those to which public housing residents are routinely subjected) have been used to effectively prevent previous residents from coming back to the newly developed housing.  We believe redevelopment should not be used to get rid of residents who have done nothing to warrant eviction.

3. Public housing residents should have a meaningful voice in decisions regarding their housing and communities.  Currently only 1 out of 7 RRHA commissioners is a public housing resident.  RePHRAME proposes adding 2 additional seats to the RRHA Board of Commissioners which would be filled with RRHA residents.

Please reply to this message with your responses to the above three concerns.  We ask that your responses include a clear “yes” or “no” for each of the three issues.  Additional explanation is welcome as well.

RePHRAME will circulate any responses received before next week’s election.

Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Andrew Schoeneman (on behalf of RePHRAME)POSTED BY REPHRAME AT 10:08 AM SECTIONS: ANDREW SCHOENEMAN, CLARENCE KENNEY, CYNTHIA I NEWBILLE,DEANNA LEWIS, GARRY F POWELL AND ROBIN D ROBINSON, RONALD L BOND

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RePHRAME: 2nd Annual Community Forum on Public Housing in Richmond Sempter 15th, 2009

RePHRAME – 2nd Annual Community Forum on Public Housing – September 15, 2009 from Silver Persinger on Vimeo.POSTED BY REPHRAME AT 9:40 AM SECTIONS: 2ND ANNUAL COMMUNITY FORUM ON PUBLIC HOUSING IN RICHMOND, SILVER PERSINGER

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RRHA Freezes Rent Subsidy Program

By David Ress
Published: September 5, 2009

Richmond’s housing authority is freezing its rent-subsidy program because of a financial jam.

The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s move means that 130 families who received vouchers for subsidies within the past two months won’t be able to get the help.

“We’re telling them, unfortunately, we don’t have the funding,” said Shawn Williams, director of the authority’s federally funded rent-subsidy program.

“It just wouldn’t be right. Their name would be on the lease. If we didn’t have the money to pay the subsidy, the landlord could ask them for the full amount,” she said.

But the freeze caught Shellette Williams, who uses a wheelchair, just as she thought she and her four children finally had come to the end of a five-year wait for the rent subsidy that would allow her family to move from her mother’s house.

There had been some back and forth over the rent, but she negotiated a reduction and tried for days to get word to the RRHA.

The authority “finally calls me back today . . . and guess what?” Williams said. “I have been packing for over two weeks. . . . Now we have nowhere to go.”

The subsidies, often known as Section 8, or the Housing Choice Voucher Program, involve a three-way agreement. Once a low-income family qualifies for the program and finds an apartment, they sign a lease with the landlord and pay 30 percent of their income as rent. The authority then pays the landlord any difference between the family’s payment and the actual rent for the apartment.

Because of its new financial squeeze, the authority is asking the city for nearly $420,000 of funding in December.

RRHA needs the money to cover rent subsidies for 84 families, separate from the 130. This group already had found a place to live and, unlike Williams, either have moved or are about to move.
“The mayor didn’t hesitate for a minute,” said Anthony Scott, RRHA’s chief executive officer. “We felt it was wrong to disrupt people’s lives by canceling those.”

But paying those vouchers will leave the authority walking a financial tightrope for a while — a tightrope that other housing authorities, including those in Winston-Salem, N.C., Boise, Idaho, and Birmingham, Ala., have managed by stopping subsidy payments to some families who already were receiving them.

“Everybody’s being affected,” said Virginia Supportive Housing spokeswoman Candice Streett. “In the program, you’re supposed to contribute 30 percent of your income towards rent. As people lose their jobs, the amount housing authorities have to subsidize is going up . . . but there’s only so many dollars coming out of the federal spigot.”

At RRHA, for instance, the monthly cost of rent subsidies has climbed from about $1.4 million or $1.5 million earlier this year to $1.9 million for September, Scott said. The money all comes from the federal government.
Scott is hoping that Congress will approve funding increases for rent subsidies when it considers the issue next month, and that U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials will increase the department’s payments to RRHA when they next review the authority’s program, in January.

Those payments reflect the amount of use by an authority. In the past, that was a problem for RRHA, which was blasted by federal auditors last year because it managed its waiting list so poorly that nearly 675 families didn’t get housing even though funds were available.

Since then, RRHA has ramped up the rent-subsidy program, spending about $1 million a month out of a $7 million surplus that it had built up over years of mismanaging the waiting list.

The result is that it has cut the waiting list from several thousand to 1,200, and that nearly 3,000 Richmond families now receive rent subsidies, up from fewer than 2,500 two years ago.

Now, the authority has to wait for HUD’s review to recognize its stepped-up activity.

If HUD does not increase payments to RRHA, the authority could end up with a $6 million deficit by next September. It would have to cut more than 1,000 families from the program to break even financially, according to internal RRHA financial projections.

“This is serious,” said Richmond City Councilman E. Martin Jewell, a longtime housing activist. “It sounds like they’ve gotten into financial trouble again . . . but for many people, RRHA is housing of last resort.”
HUD Richmond office spokeswoman Toni Schmiegelow said it is up to agencies such as RRHA to take steps to stay within the budgets HUD sets for them.

“The authority appears to have made an assessment that it needs to manage its program differently in order to control and reduce expenses to otherwise operate within the budget,” she said.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/RRHA05_20090904-215807/290822/POSTED BY REPHRAME AT 9:22 AM SECTIONS: ANTHONY SCOTT, DAVID RESS, MARTIN JEWELL, MAYOR DWIGHT C JONES, RICHMOND TIMES DISPATCH, RRHA

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Write Your City Officials!

Please take a moment and write your city officials and declare your support for the three concerns and demands as presented by RePHRAME (Residents of Public Housing in Richmond Against Mass Eviction.  Contact information is below, and the three concerns and demands are:

1. There should be 1-for-1 replacement of any public housing units lost through public housing redevelopment.  In other words, there should be no net loss of public housing units.  In addition, location of newly created public housing units, and other aspects of the redevelopment process, should increase the employment, education, and other opportunities of public housing residents.

2. Current residents should have the right to return to newly developed public housing without any additional screening or requalification process.  In the past, additional credit checks and other screenings (above and beyond those to which public housing residents are routinely subjected) have been used to effectively prevent previous residents from coming back to the newly developed housing.  We believe redevelopment should not be used to get rid of residents who have done nothing to warrant eviction.

3. Public housing residents should have a meaningful voice in decisions regarding their housing and communities.  Currently only 1 out of 7 RRHA commissioners is a public housing resident.  RePHRAME proposes adding 2 additional seats to the RRHA Board of Commissioners which would be filled with RRHA residents.

:::: Richmond City Council

Kathy C. Graziano (President) – 4^th District,
kathy.graziano@richmondgov.com
Ellen F. Robertson (VP) – 6^th Dist.,
Ellen.robertson@richmondgov.com
Bruce W. Tyler – 1st Dist.,
bruce.tyler@richmondgov.com
Charles R. Samuels – 2nd Dist.,
Charles.samuels@richmondgov.com
Chris A. Hilbert – 3rd Dist.,
chris.hilbert@richmondgov.com
E. Martin Jewell – 5th Dist.,
marty.jewell@richmondgov.com
Betty L. Squire – 7th Dist.,
betty.squire@richmondgov.com
Reva M. Trammell – 8th Dist.,
reva.trammell@richmondgov.com
Doug G. Conner – 9th Dist.,
doug.conner@richmondgov.com

City Hall, 3^rd Floor
900 East Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23219

:::: Mayor of Richmond

Dwight C. Jones,
askthemayor@richmondgov.com

City Hall, Suite 201
900 East Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23219

:::: Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority (RRHA)

Anthony Scott (CEO),
dpjackso@rrha.state.va.us (recipent: Asst. Doris Jackson-Crocker)

Richmond Redevelopment & Housing Authority
901 Chamberlayne Parkway
Richmond, VA 23220

POSTED BY REPHRAME AT 9:03 AM SECTIONS: ANTHONY SCOTT, BETTY L SQUIRE, BRUCE W TYLER, CHARLES R SAMUELS, CHRIS A HILBERT, DOUG G CONNER, ELLEN F ROBERTSON, KATHY C GRAZIANO, LETTER, MARTIN JEWELL, MAYOR DWIGHT C JONES, REVA M TRAMMELL

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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2009

Evicting the Poor

Evicting the Poor

We agree that doing something to help improve the lives of Gilpin Court and Fay Tower residents is a moral imperative.

by Thad Williamson and Adria Scharf

Concentrated poverty and crime — those are the words most Richmonders instinctively think of when they hear the phrase “Gilpin Court.”

It’s not difficult to find data to support the popular image of Richmond’s oldest and largest public housing development as a distressing exhibit of the city’s racial and economic segregation. Census data from 2000 shows the Gilpin Court area has a median household income of just $8,429, and a poverty rate of 73 percent. Ninety-seven percent of neighborhood residents are black. The neighborhood is widely regarded as unsafe.

Consequently, it’s not difficult to find well-meaning Richmonders who say “We really ought to do something about Gilpin Court.”  We agree that doing something to help improve the lives of Gilpin Court and Fay Tower residents is a moral imperative. But the first thing we as a community must do in considering the neighborhood’s future is assure that future redevelopment leaves no public housing residents worse off than they are now. Second, we must recognize public housing residents as fellow citizens who have a right to play an active role in shaping the area’s future.

During the 1990s the idea of breaking up concentrated poverty in urban centers came to dominate federal housing policy. The federal government instituted what became known as the HOPE VI program, which actively supported demolishing older housing projects and replacing them with mixed-income neighborhoods with newer, more attractive public housing options. The catch is that in city after city where HOPE VI redevelopment was implemented, the total number of public housing units declined. In the rush to redevelop, the federal government dropped its longstanding one-for-one replacement rule requiring local public authorities to replace any units demolished with the same number of newly built housing units.

A decade later, evidence suggests that while the HOPE VI developments often did succeed in creating more attractive communities, their impact on poverty reduction was minimal. Some residents were displaced by the program and ended up in other high poverty neighborhoods. Those who were able to move back into the new developments didn’t automatically see improvements in their economic prospects.

Simply put, deconcentrating poverty isn’t the same thing as ending poverty. You cannot end poverty by reshuffling low-income households around like pieces on a chess board. The way to end poverty is to expand the economic opportunities — jobs, training and education — available to poor people.

If a redevelopment plan truly expands the economic opportunities available to public-housing residents then it might make for a morally justifiable policy. But removing people from their homes without their consent and without a clear plan about where they should go does little to end poverty. It’s possible to make Gilpin Court a nicer place without actually helping the people who live there.

That’s why it’s worrisome that the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority has not guaranteed one-for-one unit replacement as part of its ambitious plans to redevelop the area. The authority’s plan, unveiled last winter, calls for transforming the area into a mixed-income neighborhood to be renamed North Jackson Ward. While the plan calls for increasing the number of housing units in the neighborhood, at most 30 percent would be set aside for public-housing residents. That means a maximum of 600 public housing units will be part of the new development, compared with 983 units today — and the housing authority plans to rescreen current residents, which advocates argue will serve to prevent many households from returning.

Where will the other people go? That’s the essential question the housing authority must answer before plans go any further. The relevant moral principle in this case is that no public housing resident should be made worse off by a redevelopment plan; and the only way to guarantee that outcome is to commit to one-for-one replacement.

The housing authority plans to offer housing vouchers to those residents who won’t be able to return to the redeveloped North Jackson Ward. The problem with that idea is that not all landlords accept vouchers; those that do are also usually in high-poverty neighborhoods and vouchers do not provide housing security. Moreover, such vouchers are contingent on funding from the federal government. The housing authority’s recent recall of 163 vouchers it had promised to families underscores that such promises are not a reliable lifeline.

To be sure, Anthony Scott, the housing authority’s director, has pledged that there will not be another Blackwell — the now infamous redevelopment of the Blackwell housing project in Manchester that kicked out hundreds of families. The agency has repeatedly said that all displaced residents will end up with a safe and affordable place to live, although there is no specific plan about how this will be accomplished. The agency’s Web site promises that displaced residents will receive assistance from a relocation specialist.

Based on the history of housing redevelopment in Richmond and across the country, Gilpin Court residents can be excused for being skeptical of such promises.

At a Sept. 15 community housing forum sponsored by Residents of Public Housing in Richmond Against Mass Eviction (RePHRAME), 175 residents from Gilpin and Fay Towers called on the housing authority to adhere to the following principles: one-for-one housing replacement, giving residents the right to return without having to be rescreened, and greater involvement in the planning, including increased resident representation on the housing authority’s board.

Mayor Dwight Jones attended the meeting and says he supports the principle of one-to-one replacement. Five members of City Council were also present. Unfortunately, neither Scott nor any other decision-maker from the housing authority attended. Scott did meet with RePHRAME on Sept. 28, as this article was going to press.

Our city has a history of displacing low-income black communities in the name of redevelopment. We continue to live with the legacies, and the trauma, of previous planning decisions that did just that. Given this history, we as a city have an obligation to learn from our past and to make sure that we do things differently this time. S

Thad Williamson is an assistant professor of leadership studies at the University of Richmond. Adria Scharf is executive director of the Richmond Peace Education Center.



Evicting the Poor | Articles/Archives | Style Weekly Richmond’s alternative for news, arts, culture and opinionPOSTED BY REPHRAME AT 8:18 PM SECTIONS: ADRIA SCHARF, RICHMOND PEACE EDUCATION CENTER, STYLE WEEKLY, THAD WILLIAMSON

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RVA ABC Presents: Prisoner Letter Writing Party

Causes - Rally
Network:	Global

Date:	Monday, December 21, 2009
Time:	7:00pm – 10:00pm
Location:	The Wingnut House
Street:	2005 Barton Avenue

Come hang out at the Wingnut and learn about writing letters to political prisoners!
Talk about experiences writing to prisoners.
Then we can all write letters together.
Learn what a political prisoner is, and what is up with political repression these days.

We need prisoner support for folks who are locked up. You know you would want letters if you were in prison!

We will provide: paper, envelopes, pens, addresses of prisoners, tea and vegan snacks!

Please bring: Friends, money for stamps or stamps!

The Richmond Anarchist Black Cross is an autonomous Collective committed to prison abolition and prisoner support. As anarchists we are oppossed to all systems of oppression and repression and have concluded that prisons serve no positive function in society. We actively seek to abolish the institutionalized slavery of the Prison Industrial Complex. We are dedicated to working in solidarity with prisoners and drawing connections between a multitude of struggles.

The Richmond Anarchist Black Cross was started early in the Summer of 2008 by one older Richmond activist and one younger Richmond activist. While the collective has essentially remained 2 strong so far, we have been able to participate in some important activities in Richmond. We only see our collective becoming stronger and more effective as our organizing continues to expand. Richmond is fertile ground for anarchist work in general, and Virginia is definitely a state where the prison issue is relevant. While earlier in the year the state had proposed the construction of more prisons, the recent economic downturn has caused the Governor to decided to close 5 different correctional facilities within the state. This is a mixed blessing, because while it is most excellent that more prisons are not being built, there is also the concern that budget cuts will mean even worse conditions for those locked up. Our situation in Virginia will only get worse until folks realize that locking people up is not a solution to crime, and that we need to address the oppression and inequality of society in order to prevent behavior that is perceived as “jailable”. Currently, more people are being sent to prison, for longer periods of time, with fewer programs and resources available to them.
['Smaller budget cuts, shorter prison sentences' just doesn't roll off the tongue like burn all prisons now does it?]

We had a public meeting to try and attract more members, unfortunately the attendees lost interest. We attempted to arrange tutoring at the Richmond City Jail, but were turned down by the Sheriff’s Office (not surprising). We have held 3 letter writing potluck events, where we introduced the idea of the Prison Industrial Complex to folks, gave them some advice on writing to prisoners, and actually sent out 15-20 letters from each event. We screened the film Up The Ridge to expose people to the prisons system as it happens in their own backyard (Virginia). In July we participated in two protests against death penalty cases outside of the Governor’s office, and attended one death penalty vigil outside of the correctional facility and site of state sanctioned murder in Jarrett, Virginia. In August we had a benefit show to raise money for the stamps/copies/ envelopes we need to spread the good word. Recently, we have been distributing literature about prison abolition, our organization, and political prisoners. At the Richmond Zine Fest on October 11th we distributed a lot of free literature and held a workshop titled “Fuck the Prison Industrial Complex”.
Our fliering and pamphleting efforts will hopefully pay off in the near future as well, bringing us more interested people and more opportunities to educate folks. We are looking for the opportunity to lend our support to a specific political prisoner, with the hopes of finding one in Virginia.

Any advice, support, copies of informational fliers, letters etc. can be directed to our P.O. Box 6025 Richmond, Virginia 23222. Since our person power is currently limited it is hard to come up with original literature, having some information to photocopy would be really great. We also have an email, rvaabc@gmail.com and a myspace www.myspace.com/richmondabc.

Directions:
Here are a couple different routes to 2005 Barton Avenue, RVA 23222:

From Boulevard- Take Boulevard North, past the baseball diamond. After you go under the highway bridge, turn right at the stop light onto Brookland Park Boulevard. Follow Brookland PArk until there is a post office on your left, turn right at that stoplight onto NORTH Ave. Follow North Ave, until you hit a patch of cobblestones, here, turn left onto Poe. Take your first left onto Barton Avenue. The house is on the right, on the corner, it is brick.

From Meadow- Take Meadow North, across, broad street. Follow over railroad tracks, then when the Ambulance place is on your left, turn right onto Overbrook. Follow Overbrook until it dead ends onto North Ave. Follow North Ave, until you hit a patch of cobblestones, here, turn left onto Poe. Take your first left onto Barton Avenue. The house is on the right, on the corner, it is brick.

From Lombardy- Take Lombardy North, Past the Kroger and Lowes and super sweet black panther statue at VUU. Turn right onto Overbrook. Follow overbrook until it dead ends onto North Ave. Follow North Ave, until you hit a patch of cobblestones, here, turn left onto Poe. Take your first left onto Barton Avenue. The house is on the right, on the corner, it is brick.

From Chamberlayne/Belvidere- Take Chamberlayne north over the highway. Turn right onto Overbrook. Follow Overbrook until you hit North ave. Follow North Ave, until you hit a patch of cobblestones, here, turn left onto Poe. Take your first left onto Barton Avenue. The house is on the right, on the corner, it is brick.

From Jackson Ward- Get to Second street. Take second street north , it turns sharp to the left and then there is a stop sign at 1st street. Turn right onto first, crossing the bridge that goes over the highway. Follow 1st, through Gilpin Court, and over the nect Bridge. Then its called Monteiro. There is a downhill and sharp left turn up hill. At the top of the hill, turn right onto Barton Avenue. The house is on the right, on the corner, it is brick.

If you want an issue of Cuddle Puddles and Hot Pants # 4, please send 3 dollars to
Mo Karnage
PO Box 6025
Richmond, VA 23222

It is a super long issue, about Richmond activism, about my life, about silly stuff. Includes book and movie reviews, funny pictures etc. Definitely worth checking out!

I also still have back issues #1 and #3. Issue 3 is 2 bucks and Issue 1 is 1 buck.
Thanks for your support!
Mo

I just ordered Food Not Bombs Stickers, so hopefully they will come in the next two weeks and we can hand them out, get some donations for them, and help promote Richmond Food Not Bombs this way. The stickers will look like this:

If anyone wants one, well they should come to Food Not Bombs once we have them OR you can get one from us at the Tim Barry Show in Richmond on October 15th:

Description

Food Not Bombs will be tabling at the Revival Tour Tim Barry Show at the Canal Club.

Huge thanks to Tim Barry for letting us table at his show.
Please come out to support Tim and Richmond Food Not Bombs.
We will have a table and hopefully pamphlets, fliers, buttons, stickers, shirts, and maybe patches.
Donations definitely accepted!

www.timbarryrva.com

I bought a house.

Weird, right.

Using my good credit and with the help of my parent’s good credit (thanks class privilege), I bought a house in Richmond.

It is a big house, but needs work before I am allowed to live there.

Things which have to be done include:

New Electric

New Plumbing

Install Bathroom and Kitchen Floors

Build Bathroom Wall

Pass Lead paint inspection.

When done though, The Big Dixie will be home to Richmond Food Not Bombs and other epic projects.

If you wanna help paint or clean, holla

I’m currently in Ann Arbor, MI, because I had to come here to get a fine fellow name of Joe, to help me convert my F250 diesel to vegetable oil. I have a turbo diesel, which requires an adjustment different from a non turbo diesel conversion. I’m really excited to have a veggie truck!!! I’m going to have to start collecting and filtering vegetable oil when I get back to Richmond. Any advice/help on that wanted. But once I have it all down this should be epic. I’ll be so much more capable of dumpstering and food not bombs trips without so much money spent. GIVE ME ALL YOUR OILZ

Anarchist Picnic

Food and Friends

Host: Richmond Anarchists

Date: Saturday, August 29, 2009

Time: 12:00pm – 3:00pm

Location: Monroe Park Street: Main and Laurel City/Town: Richmond, VA

Phone: 8043000023 Email: xveganarchistrvax@gmail.com

Description Join other Richmond Anarchists in Monroe Park on Saturday August 29th at noon for an Anarchist Picnic! We will meet at the corner of Main and Laurel.

Things to bring: Fliers for awesome events you are organizing Vegan or vegetarian food to share A blanket or sheet to sit on Non-alcoholic beverages Acoustic instruments to play Donations for the Really Really Free Market which is happening at the same time Zines to trade? Anything you think will be fun and positive!

Host:	RICHMOND
Type:	Causes – Rally
Network:	Global

Date:	Saturday, August 29, 2009
Time:	12:00pm – 6:00pm
Location:	Monroe Park
Street:	Main and Laurel
City/Town:	Richmond, VA
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Phone:	8043000023
Email:	xveganarchistrvax@gmail.com

Description

Join members of the Richmond community for the August Really Really Free Market from noon until 6 on Saturday August 29th in Monroe Park at the corner of Main and LAurel.
look at all those prepositional phrases!!!

But really, bring stuff you don’t want to give away.

Come get free stuff.

Bring games to play with others.

Bring balls, frisbees etc. for pickup games.

Bring acoustic instruments to play for each other.

Design workshops about stuff you are good at and advertise them so people can come learn from you or have awesome discussions.