In the Media

Connie Gallambos chairs the California Citizens Redistricting Commission press conference on July 29th. Watch video here.

The California Redistricting Commission is set to release its completed political district maps on Friday. Commissioners Cynthia Dai, of San Francisco, and Connie Galambos Malloy, of Oakland, talk with Belva Davis about the process and challenges of drawing new district lines for California.

By Tanya Rose

After a year of meetings, meetings and more meetings, city officials have finally come up with an affordable housing blueprint that, fingers crossed, will satisfy state rules about providing homes for low-income families.

The City Council unanimously approved a plan Tuesday night that will yield 2,000 affordable units throughout Pleasanton, hopefully putting an end to a legal battle and scoldings from the state.

A look at the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, charged with redrawing the maps for State Senate, State Assembly, State Board of Equalization and Congressional districts.

By David Mills

It's 14 people.

Five of them are Democrats. Five of them are Republicans. And four of them belong to other political parties or "decline to state" their party registration.

Together, they are making decisions this summer that will affect California politics for the next 10 years.

By Aug. 15, the California Citizens Redistricting Commission will have approved new districts in California for Congress, the state Senate, the state Assembly and the state Board of Equalization.

They are scheduled to post more detailed maps for the proposed new districts on their website this week. The final proposed maps will be released on July 28.

"It's a pretty revolutionary concept in California. It's history in the making," said Connie Galambos Malloy, the only commission member from the East Bay.

The roots of the commission were planted in November 2008 when California voters approved a ballot initiative that took redistricting out of the hands of politicians and put it into the hands of this new commission.

An original pool of 60 applicants was considered for the 14 commission seats. Members of the state Legislature were allowed to eliminate 24 applicants they found objectionable.

The black population of Oakland has declined nearly 25 percent in the past decade, and for children the rate is even higher. The decline of African-Americans in cities is a national trend. Why are African-Americans leaving, and what does it mean for Oakland?

As part of Forum's "Our Changing Communities" series on the results of the 2010 census, we take a close look at Oakland.

Lindsay Imai at 38 minutes speaking on transportation justice issues and SB 375.

OAKLAND--California’s landmark climate change law, AB 32, would reduce polluting greenhouse gases from a range of sources—car and truck emissions, industrial sources, electricity producers and other sources—with each source slashed by a certain percentage. For example, 36 percent of the greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions will come from transportation—24 percent from cars that produce lower emissions, 9 percent from cleaner-burning fuels, an 3 percent from smart-growth development that decreases dependency on cars and encourages public transit.

By Rebecca Greenberg
California Labor Federation

When was the last time you saw a labor advocate, a government representative and a corporate CEO still down and hash out ways they can work together towards a common goal of renewing our workforce and reviving our economy? If you’re thinking, “that would never happen,” you’ve obviously never been to the California Labor Federation’s “Building Workforce Partnerships” conference.

Sponsored by the Workforce and Economic Development (WED) Program, this unique and groundbreaking conference has exploded in popularity in recent years, drawing the best and brightest economists, labor activists, environmentalists, workforce experts, business leaders, government representatives and others from all across the state and country. Even though the participants came from a wide variety of backgrounds, they all share a common goal – to build a new, sustainable economy fueled by advanced manufacturing and renewable energy jobs.

By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporters

Connie Galambos Malloy, an appointee to the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, will speak Saturday at a forum on redistricting hosted by the League of Women Voters in Benicia.

Malloy was one of the first eight chosen to sit on the commission, which is charged with redrawing the state’s political boundaries. Once the first eight were randomly selected and appointed to the commission from a pool maintained by the California State Auditor, those eight selected the remaining six to form a complete panel of 14.

Of the 14, Malloy is one of three from the Bay Area.

She is director of programs at Urban Habitat, an environmental, economic and social justice nonprofit based in Oakland.

Also scheduled to speak Saturday are Lindsey McWilliams, Solano County assistant registrar of voters, and Helen Hutchison, League of Women Voters vice president.

By Christopher Connelly

In a complex and dynamic world where scientific certainty is hard to come by and new technologies, chemicals and industrial processes are being introduced into the world, Richmond’s City Council decided that it is best to take a cautious approach to making policies and city planning. At least, that’s the aim of a resolution passed at last night’s city council meeting.

The idea behind the resolution is that the city should use the precautionary principle, which holds that if there is a possibility that a policy or plan will have potentially dangerous health or environmental impact—even if there is no scientific consensus—it is better to err on the side of caution. This resolution will put the burden of proof on companies proposing new developments and businesses within city limits to show that there is little chance that a local group will be negatively impacted.  Although the resolution is symbolic, it is a statement that the council will consider health impacts for any decisions they make—like new buildings or industrial and manufacturing developments—and will ask the organization proposing a new action to prove that it is unlikely to cause harm.