Over the course of the last couple weeks, under the claims of violence and unsanitary conditions, the city governments in Oakland, Portland and other US cities have made efforts to shut down the Occupy camps. However, this morning's resignation of Oakland’s Dan Siegel, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan’s Chief Legal Advisor, was evidence that there is a controversy even within city governments themselves.
In May of this year, the US Supreme Court deemed California’s prisons to be dangerously overcrowded. Concern about inhumane conditions that violate the eighth amendment led to the mandate that California reduce its prison population by up to forty thousand by the year 2014.
Governor Jerry Brown’s response, AB 109, also known as “realignment”, went into effect on October 1st. It diverts low-level offenders and parole violators from state prisons to county jails.
At a time when dozens of states are passing anti-immigrant laws, Gov. Jerry Brown has just signed a series of bills that sends a clear signal that California isn't about to punish them.
On Saturday, he signed a bill that will allow thousands of undocumented students in California to receive state financial aid to attend public colleges. AB131, which still faces approval by UC Regents, is set to take effect in 2013.
It's one of the city's most persistent problems: despite the nationwide crash in housing prices, San Francisco's “for sale” and rental housing markets remain among the most expensive in the country, and all but out of reach for many segments of the city's workforce.
