Richmond | Be a Seed for Change

Richmond, CA 2 – Wall Street 0.

Richmond, CA struggling families 2 – Wall Street criminals 0! With your help, we did it! We beat back the Wall Street-led campaign of threats, litigation, and a full-scale election-style campaign to end Richmond, CA’s program to help underwater homeowners in that city, using eminent domain if necessary.

On Tuesday night (well, really Wednesday morning), the City Council voted 4-3 to move forward with the Richmond CARES program despite the huge attacks from Wall Street bankers against it. That was the first victory this week and it is a really big deal.
The importance of this victory cannot be overstated. If the lies and fear mongering of Wall Street bankers had been allowed to intimidate Richmond’s City Council into backing down, the entire Local Principal Reduction idea would have collapsed. Instead, the movement is spreading. This week, San Francisco Supervisor Campos announced a resolution standing in solidarity with Richmond and exploring a similar program there. And in Seattle, more than 30 groups came together in the Reset Seattle Coalition and packed the Seattle City Council to launch an LPR campaign there, too.
For the first time since they destroyed our economy, Wall Street bankers have had a significant defeat and more cities are gearing up to join in. The Home Defenders League has set up a page to raise funds for these fights. Can you chip in $20 to help us take this fight to new cities around the country?

The second big victory from this week came on Thursday, when US District Court Judge Charles Breyer declined to grant an injunction – filed by Well Fargo and Deutsche Bank – to stop Richmond CARES before it even got started.
Your help in this fight has been critical. Nearly 25,000 of you signed petitions supporting LPR and Richmond and over 250 of you called Wells Fargo’s CEO to tell him to drop his lawsuit against the city. 300 people showed up at the vote on Tuesday, including over 150 from Action for the Common Good and HDL partner the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), and the vast majority of them praised the Council for taking this bold step and urged them to move forward with the program.
Can you chip in $20 so we can work with other cities ready to stand up for their struggling families as well?
We’re really proud of how you, the Home Defenders League and ACCE were able to beat back the bankers’ attack and ensure that Richmond did the right thing. Thank you for standing up to Wall Street and being a part of this historic week of victories.
In Solidarity,

Brian Kettenring, Executive Director, Action for the Common Good

PS. Here’s a great description of the City Council vote and victory from Prof. Peter Drier writing in the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/california-defies-wall-st_b_3909022.html
And here’s the Los Angeles Times on the court case: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-eminent-domain-20130912,0,5887953.story
http://www.campaignforfairsettlement.org/

Campaign for a Fair Settlement a project of Action for the Common Good

Take Action

Get more people involved in fighting back against Wall Street bullies by sharing this image or sharing the petition to Stand with Richmond.

Impressive.
We’re getting reports from our partners in California that this is how the people fighting for Local Principal Reduction (LPR) in Richmond are describing all the support and media attention that’s been focused on them since that city started using that policy to move towards helping struggling families stay in their homes.

Thanks to the efforts of supporters like you, 20,000 people have signed on to support Local Principal Reduction and over 6500 have signed on to support Richmond, CA, efforts in particular. Activists at the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and the Home Defenders League delivered those signatures directly to Wells Fargo branches the same week the Wells CEO, John Stumpf led the charge of the Wall Street criminals in trying to stop Richmond’s efforts by suing the city the week after Richmond announced its policy. Just last week over 200 of you also called Stumpf’s office to tell him to stop suing and start negotiating.
Another thing that’s impressive is how important this support is in fighting back against Wall Street’s bullying of cities like Richmond. The lawsuit isn’t just about stopping Richmond, it’s about stopping ANY city from trying this common sense solution to fixing what Wall Street broke. The more people standing up the more likely we are to win! Can you help find more fighters by forwarding the Stand with Richmond petition with 5 friends? http://www.homedefendersleague.org/stand_with_richmond_ca You can also share it on Facebook here or on Twitter here.

You can also share this great Facebook graphic that the Home Defenders League created about the LPR fight between Richmond and the criminal bankers led by Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf (it’s the one in the picture at the top of the email).
This campaign is really heating up because there’s finally a way to fix what Wall Street broke and it doesn’t have anything to do with coddling Wall Street criminals; its main priority is keeping struggling families in their homes. Naturally, Wall Street bankers are desperate to stop it. If you want to stay up-to-date on these fights, the HDL has set up a special section of their website with information, updates, and ways to take action: http://www.homedefendersleague.org/local_principal_reduction
Thanks for standing up and fighting back in support of Local Principal Reduction!

In Solidarity,
Brian Kettenring, Executive Director, Action for the Common Good