Don't let Palmer Legare go to jail! Stand up for tenants!

Palmer Legare, longtime Central American solidarity activist, friend of Arise and housing organizer for the Alliance to Develop Power, was arrested a few weeks ago in Westfield. I received this email forwarded by Palmer and will let it speak for itself except to urge everyone to take action!

Friends,

Three weeks ago I was illegally arrested for “walking while supporting democracy” in Westfield, Massachusetts. I have been threatened with arrest numerous other times and face arrest any day for organizing tenants to create affordable housing cooperatives. But this is nothing compared to what tenants have faced, from cops dragging them out of the shower and pointing guns at small kids before saying “oops sorry, we thought you were someone else” to police charging domestic violence victims for “having been in a relationship with a violent person and therefore putting their neighbors at risk.” The only thing that these people are guilty of is organizing the tenant coop. Please take a couple minutes now to make the call detailed below. EVERY CALL WILL HELP ME STAY OUT OF JAIL!!! PLEASE CALL!!!

In solidarity,

palmer

Take action now to defend organizing in Westfield! Tell Mass Housing to stand with the people, not the corporations! No more repression of tenant organizing!

Last month Alliance to Develop Power Lead Organizer Palmer Legare was illegally arrested at Powdermill Village in Westfield, Ma. The arrest was part of a systematic campaign of repression directed by Peabody Properties, a Boston-based corporation that is trying to wrestle control of the property from the tenants. They will not win! Powdermill Village will become a tenant owned cooperatively controlled permanently affordable housing complex! We need you to take action to stop the repression of tenant leaders and community organizers:

Please call Henry Mukasa, Director of Rental Management for Mass Housing, at 617.854.1000, extension 1161

Sample message:

It has come to my attention that Mass Housing has not been enforcing regulations at Powdermill Village in Westfield. I know that tenant leaders and community organizers have been arrested, threatened and intimidated based on their involvement with community organizing. Now that we have a former community organizer as President, we can not criminalize community organizing. I will continue to monitor the situation.

Please let us know that you have taken action so that we can track the effectiveness of this effort! Email ADP organizer Palmer Legare at palmer@a-dp. org or call 413-218-1313

Photo from the Global Justice Ecology Project (Pamler in the middle)

Shelter numbers still high, Worker Center opens

I talked to the Open Pantry director, Kevin Noonan, today, and talked to a Warming Place staff member last night-- 101 people stayed at the Warming Place Sunday night, 92 in beds and 9 sitting up in the common area because there were no beds left.

So far, none of the necessary pieces have come together to make sure no one goes unsheltered after June 30-- the city is still working to get the voucher program in place, the state Department of Transitional Assistance hasn'r decided who will get the contract to shelter 85 people (it's between the Open Pantry and the Friends of the Homeless) and the churches haven't made up their minds about whether the Warming Place can stay in the churches after the wrecking ball hits the old York St. jail, where the Warming Place is currently housed.
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Today I went to the grand opening of Casa Obrera/Worker Center at 130 Union St. This is a project begun by the Anti-Displacement Project, ADP, whose new name is now the Alliance to Develop Power, and which is now in partnership with the Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO-- the first workers center in the country to be dues-paying members of a Central Labor Council.

One of the many people from organized labor who spoke-- sorry, I forget who-- said that at one point, he was very anti-immigrant, especially against the undocumented, but he has educated by other members to remember the old labor adage: An injury to one is an injury to all. The villain is not the low-wage worker but the exploitative business willing to take advantage of a worker's uncertain citizen status.

Sometimes it seems like there are two kind of people in this world: those who think you can protect some people's rights by taking away the rights of others, and those who know the best way to protect our rights is to fight for the rights of all. More on this later.