Refinery Town
Page 28
4. Eric Alterman, “The Real Democratic Battle,” Nation, August 3/10, 2015, 6–7. See also Eric Alterman, Inequality and One City: Bill de Blasio and the New York Experiment, Year One (New York: Nation Books, 2015).
5. “Mayor de Blasio Unloads,” editorial, New York Times, July 2, 2015.
6. Michael Grynbaum and Matt Flegenheimer, “Messes Pile Up for de Blasio in 2nd Year,” New York Times, August 16, 2015. By year three of his first term, de Blasio also faced messes of his own making in the form of local or federal investigations of his “big-money political supporters and fund-raising efforts more broadly.” See J. David Goodman and William Neuman, “Inquiries Upend de Blasio’s Bid to Reboot for ’17,” New York Times, April 16, 2016.
7. New York Times, August 16, 2015.
8. Richmond’s innovative public safety programs have received supportive funding from Sacramento. For example, the state’s FY 2016-17 budget included $2,798,000 for the Richmond Police Department, Office of Neighborhood Safety, Project Safe Neighborhood grants, Family Justice Center, and the RYSE Youth Center.
9. Anthony Weiner, “Albany, Get Your Boot off New York City’s Neck,” New York Times, August 27, 2015.
10. That sorry Sacramento budget cutting deal is recalled by Steven Tavares in “Leaning Left: The Race for State Senate District 9 Pits Liberal Against Liberal,” East Bay Express, April 27–May 3, 2016.
11. California developers impatient with construction delays resulting from state-mandated environmental reviews and local planning commission decisions are also putting their new projects directly before the voters for their approval instead. In Richmond, a controversial ballot measure like this, proposed by waterfront property owner Richard Poe, was defeated by a large margin in June 2016. For more on the developers’ new strategy, see Ian Lovett, “Builders Pierce California’s Environmental Shield: Speeding Developments and Sidestepping Laws Through Initiative System,” New York Times, June 8, 2016.
12. Tom Butt E-Forum, “Moody’s Throws Richmond into Debtor’s Prison,” October 8, 2015.
13. To raise additional revenue in the future and to reduce blight, the council considered raising city fees and possibly imposing a litter tax on local fast food outlets, liquor stores, and gas station mini-markets, an idea borrowed from badly littered Oakland.
14. Robert Reich in “Why California Should Close a Dangerous Corporate Tax Loophole,” August 14, 2015, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICWx3I26An8.
15. Michael Bornstein, “Jerry Brown and Prop 13,” e-mail message to Evolve members, October 10, 2015. Document in possession of the author.
16. For more on the big-name California multimillionaires and billionaires who spent heavily—and, in some cases, illegally—on Proposition 30, see Melody Gutierrez, “Campaign to ID Wealthy Who Donate Dark Money,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 28, 2016.
17. Jerry Brown quotes are from Bornstein, “Jerry Brown and Prop 13.”
18. “Governor Brown Wrong on Split Roll,” news release, California Calls, October 8, 2015.
19. California Calls, “Next Steps in the Movement to Reform Prop. 13,” e-mail message to members, October 19, 2015. Document in possession of author.
20. Jessica Calefati, “Down to Wire for Climate Bills,” Contra Costa Times, August 30, 2015.
21. Robert Gammon, “California’s Missing Climate Hawk,” East Bay Express, September 2–8, 2015.
22. Jessica Calefati and Tracy Seipel, “Brown’s Priorities Defeated,” Contra Costa Times, September 10, 2015.
23. Justin Gillis, “Hotter Planet Fuels Drought, Scientists Find,” New York Times, August 21, 2015.
24. See “How Long Will This Blue State Let Oil Remain King?,” editorial, Sacramento Bee, September 11, 2015. Brown did better a year later when he overcame industry opposition to the legislature’s enactment of a new timetable for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. See Jennifer Medina and Matt Richtel, “Carbon Goal in California Is ‘Milestone’ on Climate, New York Times, August 26, 2016.
25. Daniel Gonzales, Timothy Gulden, Aaron Strong, and William Hoyle, “Cost-Benefit Analysis of Proposed California Oil and Gas Refinery Regulations,” RAND Corporation report, March, 2016, http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1400/RR1421/RAND_RR1421.pdf.
26. Letter from USW Local 5 Secretary-Treasurer Jim Payne to BAAQMD, April 8, 2015.
27. Denis Cuff, “Bay Area Air Regulators Urged to Cap Oil Refinery Emissions,” San Jose Mercury News, June 15, 2016.
28. Among those following in Mazzocchi’s footsteps is Jeremy Brecher, author of “A Superfund for Workers: How to Promote a Just Transition and Break Out of the Jobs vs. Environment Trap,” Dollars & Sense, November/December 2015. Brecher and Todd Vachon take heart from survey data indicating that labor’s rank-and-file favors environmental regulation even more than the general public. See Brecher and Vachon, “Union Members Don’t Oppose Environmental Protections: They’re Actually More Likely To Support Them,” Portside, May 23, 2016.
29. Nicolas Haeringer, “The Ones We Have Been Waiting For,” 350.org, http://350.org/the-ones-we-have-been-waiting-for.
30. “The Hottest Year Ever,” e-mail appeal to 350.org supporters. For full text, see http://350.org/the-time-for-feeling-powerless-in-the-face-of-climate-change-is-over/.
31. See Naomi Klein, “The Problem with Hillary Clinton Isn’t Just Her Corporate Cash,” Nation, April 6, 2016.
32. Nicholas Confessore and Megan Thee-Benan, “Poll Shows Americans Favor an Overhaul of Campaign Financing,” New York Times, June 3, 2015.
33. Bernie Sanders, “Sanders Proposes Public Funding of Campaigns,” press release, August 4, 2015, https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-proposes-public-funding-of-campaigns/.
34. Nicholas Confessore, “Jeb Bush Outstrips Rivals in Fund-Raising as ‘Super PACs’ Swell Candidates’ Coffers,” New York Times, July 10, 2015.
35. Rebecca Ballhaus, Beth Reinhard, and Christopher Stewart, “Billionaires Put Their Stamp on 2016 Presidential Campaigns,” Wall Street Journal, July 31, 2015.
36. Quoted in Amy Chozick and Eric Lichtblau, “Facing Money Gap, Hillary Clinton Warms to ‘Super PAC’ Gifts,” New York Times, August 18, 2015.
37. Columbia University law professor Robert Jackson, quoted in Amy Chozick and Nicholas Confessore, “With Issue Galvanizing Voters, Clinton Proposes Campaign Finance Reforms,” New York Times, September 9, 2015.
38. Bernie Sanders fund-raising e-mail, June 26, 2015.
39. “Bernie Sanders’ Army of Small Donors,” editorial, New York Times, October 4, 2015.
40. Edward Sadlowski, “A Key Victory for New Politics in Chicago’s 10th Ward,” Social Policy 45, no. 2 (Summer 2015): 36–37.
41. Quoted by Paul Biasco, “Bernie Sanders Chooses Chicago’s Youngest Alderman to Fire Up Crowd,” DNAinfo, August 18, 2015, https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150818/lincoln-park/bernie-sanders-calls-on-chicagos-youngest-alderman-fire-up-crowd.
42. Bernie Sanders, “Bernie 2016” e-mail blasts: “Make Them Pay,” June 26, 2015; “Overturn Citizens United,” June 27, 2015.
43. Laurel Rosenthal, “Money Talks: Candidates Get Schooled in Finances,” San Francisco Chronicle, November 9, 2015. Despite the shortcomings of campaign finance reporting rules in California, they provide more information about independent expenditure makers than voters are able to access in other states, now awash in “dark money.” Experts such as Chisun Lee and Lawrence Norden have hailed the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission as “a model for much of what a strong disclosure regime should do.” See “The Secret Power Behind Local Elections,” New York Times, June 26, 2016.
44. Quoted by Jesse McKinley, “Cuomo Seeks Fixes to ‘Rampant’ Problems in New York’s Campaign Contribution System,” New York Times, June 8, 2016. Campaign finance reform advocates welcomed the governor’s unexpected critique of Citizens United but wondered how long his zealousness on the subject would last, given his personal fund-raising history a
nd heavy reliance on corporate donors.
45. Richmond CA Community Livability Report, 2015, National Citizen Survey (Boulder, CO: National Research Center, 2105), http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/31307.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
STEVE EARLY has been an organizer, lawyer, union representative, and labor activist for the past forty-five years. He is the author of three other books, including Save Our Unions: Dispatches from a Movement in Distress. He lives in Richmond, California, with his wife.
BEACON PRESS
Boston, Massachusetts
www.beacon.org
Beacon Press books
are published under the auspices of
the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.
© 2017 by Steve Early
Foreword © 2017 by Bernie Sanders
All rights reserved
Text design and composition by Kim Arney
Jacket design: Bob Kosturko
Jacket photograph: Phil McGrew
Author photograph: Robert Gumpert
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Early, Steve, author.
Title: Refinery town : big oil, big money, and the remaking of an American city / Steve Early.
Description: Boston : Beacon Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016021632 (print) | LCCN 2016034085 (ebook) | ISBN 9780807094266 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780807094273 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Richmond (Calif.)—Politics and government—21st century. | Municipal government—California—Richmond—History. | Business and politics—California—Richmond—History. | Company towns—California—Richmond—History. | Petroleum industry and trade—Political aspects—
California—Richmond—History. | Community development—California—Richmond—History.
Classification: LCC JS1351.R25 E27 2017 (print) | LCC JS1351.R25 (ebook) | DDC 979.4/63—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016021632