Dear Friends,

It has been a long, rough road that has finally started to smooth out. It all started when I went to ask for an endorsement for my run for the People’s District 3 school board seat that has turned into a direct action. The months of planning and preparation became my sole focus. Though there has been a frequent difference of opinions, I believe I see truth in both sides and have never backed away from calling it as “I see it”. The action ended poorly despite having the success of holding the space with such minimal support from the actual community, and showing that “Occupy Oakland” is a movement not an organization. The action proved that you have to actually find information yourself (most of the local public did) and not trust the corporate media idea that “Occupy Oakland” is a group of unruly youths. It did that and more in my thoughts. We also had a wakeup call, realizing how far we have to go just among ourselves. I have concluded that we need to change the way we engage because the type of action that occurred at Lakeview is the kind that wins struggle, but only if it can be staffed fully. One flaw was that we had minimal support and needed to communicate better with those that do support.

 

After the action, a decision was made to move having been a few signatures short to get on the ballot and the drama around a bank mistake with rent, The recent month it took to move out was the toughest time I have ever gone through with the added mistake of lying costing me the obvious pain to my LPP, the separation of a dearest family member, and the realization Ihad lost another long before. So the main reason we had to over stay our lease was because of the loss of twins which I directly connect to the constant harassment by a house hold member. After repeated discussions about the difficulty with the pregnancy, he targeted my partner everytime I was away. All the way up to threatening to change the locks while we were at the hospital during the miscarriage. In direct result, we were not able to move on the 7^th because in panic I paid for September to be safe. I am in a court case with him right now. It was the most difficult thing not to become my mother and take violent retribution for his direct attack on a person that had nothing to do with what was going on. I thank two of my brothers for being there to listen to me and help deflect the anger.

Now we are moved into a nice place in East Oakland, and I will get to run for the 2014 election for school board. This is better for me since the district I live and will run in now is the same district where I taught at Parker Elementary School in the OUSD. I know the struggle is not over, still living in the poverty line but I am looking into getting my class A license for driving tour busses as well as moving forward with looking for grants to start T.I.O. sports complex. We will be really on track after next August with the driving gigs to Monterey, but until then we will play economic juggling. Hopefully with a blessing, positive energy, and getting out to the people, we will win this November and we will be the loud people’s voice from inside city hall.

It feels good to be back

From love Peace Vicente

Response email to the Occupy Oakland Education Committee on Mike Hutchinson email

Hi All, I also was not there to hear and see what was said but I will say this.....My personal opinion Mike about being a "member" of an organization that you are asking for the endorsement is right out of the status quo play book. Being on the sub-committee that is planing a candidate forum I feel the same. It is a conflict of interest. Which is why and other reasons why I did not become an official member and did not participate in the candidate forum committee.

Fact: I came to a OOEC meeting 2 months before the action seeking an endorsement for my run as well. Then was so pleased that I stayed to help with the action. You were not at any of those meetings, you would not take an official safety shift all though your company when you did come down was needed and helpful. Please stop using the action for your political career which could be why folks are triggered by your switch of political parties. As The Oakland Green Party has mentioned to you, your politics have all ready changed once you make statements like and I quote. "I have access to funds with the democratic party that I do not have as a green", you have told people you wanted to distance yourself from me and made an attempt to with hold NAACP knowledge. All fair in politics? Well having no staff I did not qualify but have no fear I will do it all on my own next time too and will get on and will win.

I still want to work with you but I will be speaking truth to power with no shame as I always have, I look forward to your thoughts as well. Please trust that this is written with no malice or anger. Peace V

Voter pamhlet statement first draft

Vicente Cruz wants change, now. Cruz is your next OUSDBoard Candidate for People's District 3.Vicente desires that all OUSD students,regardless of poor socioeconomic status, be provided with the sameopportunities as any other child. He isvowing to fight tooth-and-nail against truancy and school closures, whilepassionately fighting to reinstate adult education and reinvent Oakland’sbudgeting techniques. Cruz knows that the current education funding needsto be radically redistributed in order to better benefit Oakland students. Heis vying for multilingual education programs, healthier eating, more frequentexercise programs, heavier emphasis on art and music, and more post-gradsupport for Oakland high school seniors. Vicente hasworked in education for 16 years in the Bay Area. Let Cruz fight for your students!

Window sign Take two

Window sign! what do you think?

New web site

http://oaklandgreens.org/cruz/

http://oaklandgreens.org/



I will be learning how to edit the site tomorrow with Don Macleay, but stay up on the campaign and it is time to think about fund raising please pass this along. I believe I can win this election with no more than $5,000 of the $77,000 allowed for the oakland school board election. I need $600 of that in two weeks. Maximum donation is $99.99 please help.

People's School Rally

                                                                           

The People's School and Lakeview Sit-In Presents:

The People's Concert and Rally

Feat. Boots Riley, Jabari Shaw, Digital Martyrs, and more to come.

Sunday, July 15th @ 5PM @ Lakeview Elementary

(746 Grand Ave.)
Rally with us to Celebrate the People's School and
Plan How We Can Move Forward...

 For more info email saveoaklandschools@gmail.com

 or check out our blog: saveoaklandschools.org and education4the99.wordpress.com

OOEC post-raid statement of the Lakeview Sit-In

At 4 am this morning Oakland Unified School District police supported by the Oakland Police Department (around 40 cops and 20 squad cars) raided the Lakeview Sit-in and People's School for Public Education. The school district planned to start moving administrative offices into the school building, having displaced over 200 Lakeview students and over a thousand studentsacross the district from the five school closure. Everyone present were forced toevacuate the site. Two arrests were made, a Lakeview parent and aformer Lakeview student. The final dispersal order was given by Sergeant Barhin Bhatt. This is the same Sgt. Bhatt who murdered anunarmed young black man, Rahiem Brown, two years ago, outside of a dance at Skyline High.

OUSD spokesperson Troy Flint was on the scene defending the police raid to the media, saying, "There's nothing to negotiate. They want a highly successful superintendent to resign, and they want to keep open five schools that must be closed. "But OUSD Superintendent Tony Smith's success has been solely inc losing schools and cutting essential programs. He has destabilized the high schools. And now he's destabilizing elementary schools, which will assure more dropouts at an even younger age. Smith has succeeded in a number of things, including: driving the dropout rate to over 48%, driving up class sizes, degrading the teachers union contract, driving away teachers, shutting the adult education program, cutting the early childhood education program, eliminating over $2.1 million in transportation funds for Special Education, and increasing the proliferation of charter schools in the district.

In contrast, the “People's School”symbolizes the opposite side of the spectrum to what Tony Smith and the School Board have been doing. The school, in its third week of instruction, has provided a free program to students, focused on their empowerment and creative growth. The students in attendance at the people's school include students from the 5 closed schools,those hardest hit by Smith's discriminatory practices. Tony Smith has targeted these schools, all within low-income communities of color, as well as cut essential programs that service these communities. Those participating in the People's School condemn the actions of Tony Smith.

The fight for quality Public Education will continue. The People's School will continue to operate, its classes now held directly across the street from Lakeview Elementary. Parents, teachers and community members that have participated in theLakeview action will continue to fight to stop administrative offices from being moved into Lakeview Elementary.

The Alameda Labor Council has been called upon to sanction a community labor picket line at Lakeview Elementary. We call on Oakland residents, educators, parents, youth and broader community to come support the fight for public education. We demand the reopening of the 5 closed elementary schools.

Today (Tuesday, July 3) at 5PM we will assemble in front of Lakeview Elementary for a mass rally and march to continue the fight to keep those five elementary schools open and to fully fund quality public education.

This Sunday (July 8) at 6PM, we will host a mass convergence and open mic featuring speakers and musical performances by Boots Riley and others at Splash Pad Park (directly across from the school).

We will continue to organize within our communities in Oakland to keep neighborhood schools open, and further to have fully funded quality public education. In the fall, we will support candidates that oppose the trajectory of current members—as parents, teachers, educators and community members we refuse to support austerity programs and cuts to social programming. We demand a school board that will fight to fully fund public education, oppose the State Debt, and re-open neighborhood schools. This fight is far from over, we will continue to support our most vulnerable communities, young black and brown students, and their parents.

Information updated frequently at ourblog:  saveoaklandschools.org

My thoughts on a direct action social justice school

Let me start by giving my personal experience organizing
direct actions that have lasted more than one day.
 

DASW - Logistics committee 3 day shutdown of the SF federal building
2000

NLG - Legal Team week long action against FTAA Miami 2004

NLG - Legal Team SOA Action 2005

I will answer each question individually with my views but let me
summarize that in my experience to attempt this with what we have
right now for any date in June is not feasible.

Hope this is what you were thinking of.

Peace V

*How many people, and which people, need to be involved to:*

- get considerable media coverage in the first day? Ten total 3 - 5
full time media team with tasks and responsibilities delegating to the
other members of the team. (FTAA all teams reported back progress
weekly, media team worked for two months and like the legal it was
full time)

- make it politically unwise to evict us immediately? All of the
answers for this question are theory;

forcing them to do two things first arrest numbers to great to
reasonably hold (such as the political debacle using the ports as
jails in the early 2k rallies), second having to arrest families and
the teachers live on media.

Another scenario that might fit would be having enough numbers that
the only option for the city would result in serious injury to a
family or teacher live on the media.

- *How much time and how many people will it take to get the
following
in place before the re-opening?*

- the* NLG *on board as legal observers and attorneys

Fifteen person legal team 5 directors working tasks and delegating
tasks to the other ten.

Requests for observers can be done in two weeks. Attorneys anywhere
from four to six weeks. (that is a team working on finding the lawyers
from NLG data base or other avenues)

- a *training *team which can do know your rights and direct
action 101 trainings, and any other trainings that participants need
5 - 7 teams of two facilitating all trainings. you can get
facilitation training from Berkeley CopWatch on a two week schedule.

- a *safety* team to facilitate safety at the school, be trained
in
de-escalation, have a solid plan for evacuation of those who
need it when a raid happens, have a plan for how to relate to OPD,
etc.

This is huge and should have a 10 - 15 (I feel 15 - 25) member team
organizers recruiting and training people on site with evac plans and
safety requirements.

- a *media* team which can run spokesperson trainings, put
together talking points, produce press releases, etc.

Ten total 3 - 5 full time media team with tasks and responsibilities
delegating to the other members of the team. (FTAA all teams reported
back progress weekly, media team worked for two months and like the
legal it was full time)

- a *tactical* team that has a set of multiple contingency
plans, and a deep level of trust from all participants so they can
make on the spot calls when necessary

Refer to safety team.

- an *art *team that can create banners and other visual images
for media and inspiration
5 - 7 members 3 facilitators to organize the group.

- a *logistics* team that can organize food, sleeping spaces,
cleaning, bathrooms, etc.
5 - 7 facilitators organizing 10 - 15 staff

- a *children's/freedom school *team that can put together a
curriculum, recruit teachers, create a positive and safe space for
kids, think about an overall program, etc.

1 director for each subject with 2 members for each director.

- a *program *team that can organize all other events,
workshops, speakers, activities, open-mikes, etc.

5 - 7 member team.

- an *outreach* team that can build a base of people committed to
participating in the re-opening, continue to build relationships
with these folks throughout the occupation, and do additional outreach
once it starts to get more people involved

3 - 5 member team

- *In order to accomplish the goal of stopping the closure of
Lakeview:*
- How long would the occupation need to go on? until the first
day of the OUSD school year
- How many people would need to be involved? 90
- Who would need to be involved? one spokes person from each
team/committee
- What kind/level of media would we need to get? ALL mostly our
own. (indybay/ustream/mother jones ect.)
- Who are the decision makers we need to win over to stop the
closure? cannot win them we would have to force them or have
more of us run for office. ( I suggest Perry and beck off the top of
my head)
- How do we target them? invite them to the school once its
running, board meetings, letters, email ect.
- What other tactics we need to be employed to pressure the
school board and other targets? I do not feel any current elected
member of the board will work for the masses of Oakland just the few.
- *If we are not able to get the numbers, media or sustain the
occupation long enough to stop the closure:*
- how is this tactic part of a longer term strategy to stop the
school closures? how will it build our campaign against future
school closures? As with the encampments that were at Oscar Grant
Plaza it will show how the peoples work can be done without the
resources of the city forcing us to ask what it would be like with
those resources given for the uplifting of all Oakland.
- what other goals can we accomplish? Take over the elections!

Can a convicted felon vote in California?

Answer:

In California, some criminal convictions have no impact on your voting rights at all. Other kinds of convictions may temporarily take away your right to vote. The only time you are not eligible to vote is if you have a felony conviction and you are still in state prison or on parole.If you have a felony conviction, you CAN vote if:

• you are on probation, or
• you have completed your probation, or
• you have completed your parole.

For all the answers on California Felon Voting Rights, the California Felon Party Website has all the laws, regulations and answers as to who in California that is a felon needs to
know about felon's voting rights.

Go to: www.californiafelonparty.org

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_a_convicted_felon_vote_in_California#ixzz1v60voWGr

http://donmacleay.blogspot.com/2012/05/it-is-time-for-measure-y-to-go.html

http://donmacleay.blogspot.com/2012/05/it-is-time-for-measure-y-to-go.html

I write today to give comments on a meeting I attended with Alex Miller-Cole, Oakland City Council Candidate Peoples District 3. I would over all say he is someone I will work with, but l he gave some trigger words that  would cause me to not give my full endorsement at this time. I want to talk with him more, attend more events, and hear more specific policies. Even with that said, I agreed to hand out some of his material which seems to be well-funded. With most people running for office, it seems very difficult to get direct policy answers and he did not seem interested in our policies. Although he did mention he saw my endorsement interview from Go Public Schools. One positive is I liked what he had to say about not being a career politician. I do encourage everyone to look at his information and talk with him personally if you get the chance.

Vicente R. Cruz II
OUSD Candidate
Peoples District 3

In my opinion, the measure Y committee is not strong enough, and the solution needed is to get every bit of information out to the public. I have heard members say that attempts to get key people involved in this purpose has failed for quite sometime. It should be kept in mind that we actually have the power to subpoena if necessary. This would show how disconnected and dysfunctional we truly are, and shows how we need more practical solution-minded community members to run for city office. Overall, I hope a subpoena will not be necessary and that instead city unity members when asked will keep their commitments to appear.

Thank you for your time
Vicente Cruz II
Measure Y Community
Representative District 3
Letter for the PSC meeting Oakland city hall may 22nd

Improving Oakland Schools

Green Party candidate for School Board Vicente Cruz wants to focus specifically on improving schools in order to avoid the frequent criminalization of students in the Oakland Unified School District. A majority of students are living in an urban environment coupled with the common setbacks of welfare, homelessness, the prevalence of drugs, and general lack of resources, resulting in the consistent jailing and incarceration of Oakland youth. The current setup of the OUSD education system does nothing to avoid this, and in fact, is supporting the prison industrial complex by cycling Oakland youth continuously through the prison system. The loss of potential here to Oakland’s economy, community, and values is gargantuan. One of the direct changes that must be made is the removal of armed and uniformed police officers on Oakland school campuses. The officers intimidate students and foster the belief that the adults in their lives feel that they will inevitably commit a criminal activity. Another task that will be completed is the definite removal of military recruiters on OUSD campuses, as they purposefully target poor and underprivileged children in a type of “poverty draft.” There is a fundamental problem in having these recruiters convince poor students that the armed forces is their only alternative to jail. These young adults are not receiving the support needed to persuade them to further their education in junior college or university. The Oakland education system is in dire need of an overall renovation in order to protect our youth for the future.

OUSD Board Candidate People's District 3

Vicente Cruz II

Written by Amani Liggett

Edited by Vicente Cruz II

OUSD Employee Changes

Green Party candidate for OUSD Board people's district 3 Vicente Cruz is demanding swift and drastic change within the Oakland Unified School District and the treatment of its employees. Those employed by the OUSD are doing noble work for their community and deserve benefits packages that include their immediate family members. These benefits should not cost the employees any type of fees out of their own pocket. Green Party Candidate Vicente Cruz will aggressively pursue the best possible rates to cover all OUSD employees in their benefits. In addition, there is an essential need for renegotiations to take place within each OUSD school, in order to release those teachers who are reported as consistently having a negative impact on students. Furthermore, we must promote those teachers willing to create more advanced and specific curriculum designed to better fit the diversity found in Oakland. The city of Oakland houses peoples of multiple backgrounds, ethnicities, languages, and beliefs. The OUSD must be reworked in order to properly reflect this. Representing the few rather than the many is not how Oakland wants to be presented to the world.

OUSD Candidate Peoples District 3 Vicente Cruz II

Written by Amani Liggett

Edited by Vicente Cruz II

Equal Education Solutions

The lack of equal and quality education is a fundamental problem in the Oakland Unified School Districts education system. OUSD Board Candidate People's District 3 Vicente Cruz desires that all OUSD students, regardless of poor socioeconomic status, be provided with the same opportunities as any other child. The current education funding needs to be radically redistributed in order to better benefit Oakland students. We need multilingual education programs that will not only make our students stronger in a global world but also provide the essential need for ESL students. The mental and physical health of students is also a great and immediate concern. OUSD students deserve to go to school and be offered fresh and healthy food in their cafeterias every day. Green Party Candidate People's District 3 Vicente Cruz also aims so instate physical education programs that setup district funded youth sports leagues. Healthy eating and frequent exercise often starts in school, and the citizens of Oakland owe it to their children to foster this type of environment. Furthermore, Oakland schools are severely lacking in classes for art and music, making it even harder for those students who graduate to compete in an ever-growing world of creativity and innovation. Oakland high school seniors also need to be offered more post-grad support, especially in guiding them to trade schools relevant to their interests. The adults of Oakland seeking further education also deserve to have Adult Education classes reinstated. With the election of the Oakland Green Party Candidate Vicente Cruz to the Oakland School Board, these changes can be expedited; the main goal is to use the funding provided to make better education choices for Oakland.

Vicente Cruz II OUSD Candidate People's District 3

Written by Amani Liggett

Edited by Vicente Cruz II

Platform Edit Comment

I had a bit of writers block so I posted a paragraph I needed a re-write on for community support. My Uncle replied back that we should consider a welfare to work program and switch to a hemp base for fiber fuel and such. This was my response.

Welfare to work is slave labor and does not work and causes the impoverishment of POC Raza included. We should rather offer education on whatever level is needed, treatment rather then jail, trade schools to provide high tech training so folks can get jobs. We could adopt a public works policy that when the economy is bad we use them to boost the economy. What Ron Paul and I am not sure about Pat are saying is not legalization. Rather regulation like alcohol and cigarettes. They are talking about ending the drug war I am for getting rid of legislation that attempts to regulate what anyone can do with their own body. Hemp is a great resource but at the moment we are still in the affects of the hearst corp so long way from that. The best way is for people from the community run for office take control of the economics in your hood, police ourselves attack crime from a medical perspective with treatment of addictions as focus. Vicente Cruz II OUSD Candidate Peoples District 3

Randy Reynaldo Menjivar

 I know one day, the youth and the children will be able to walk without having that subconscious fear of being brutalized by the police or being harassed for walking through a neighborhood they aren't from. It'll be possible for our younger G'z to go to college and come back to take ownership of their neighborhoods and cities, if we believe in them and do our part. In my eyes Oakland has always been beautiful and it's my love for my community that convinces me that one day we'll finally live in peace and be rid of the hate that destroys our lives daily.

That’s Right OGP Candidate Randy Reynaldo Menjivar Peoples District 7 Endorsed/supported by Vicente Cruz II OUSD Candidate Peoples district 3

A Green Vision for Oakland

A Green Vision for Oakland City Politics
In Oakland we need to face some facts.  The facts are that we have many crisis to face in our city.

There is as three prong crisis facing our youth of education, crime and employment. 
We need schools up, crime down and jobs in. 

There is a crisis that is our city budget.  We need to hold a budget convention and issue a new, comprehensive budget. On the one hand we need to deal with the pension’s entitlement problems and have a stable, reliable budget for basic operations from parks to police stations and on the other hand we need to incorporate all the measures, such as Measure Y (or BB) into the body of our budget and law.  We need a budget that has a clear plan for up and down times in the economy. 

There is a crisin our democracy.   Council districts should look like neighborhoods, (not gerrymandered districts that cut them up)  All Oaklanders need to be represented in our government. We need the money out of our local election process and; we need to formalize the relationship with our grass roots neighborhood groups devolving part of the city authority and budget to the local communities.

We propose to make these and other changes only with the citizens of Oakland stepping up and becoming producers, not consumers,  of the politics in our own communities. That means we have to get involved with voting, even when we all know the system is rigged in favor of paid political advertizing and the status quo. 

The public is the solution.  The running of money free grass roots campaigns, the energy behind a reform of the City Charter and budget, the will to deal with our most intractable social problems all can find their solution in an active public.  There are thousands of local registered Greens on the Oakland Voter roles.  It is time for us to say NO MORE.  We need to say NO to money politics by not voting for it, helping spread the work without the media and paid advertizing and VOTING FOR REAL ALTERNATIVES. 

Now in the Oakland Green Party,  a group of known local progressives with a long track record dedicated to real change, are putting together a slate of candidates to be your voice for your and the cities real needs such as:  Schools with vocational training. Schools with arts and sports a top priority, with healthy food for our children a top priority. Safe public services.  Community Policing. Restorative Justice. Local employment.  Stable economic environment.  Environmental retrofitting. And many, many other basic practical things that our city should be doing, but is currently only doing for show, if at all. 

We signatories are stepping forward to be three of those candidates, committed to a reform of our city from top to bottom, from police practices to budget policies with our faith in democracy that includes all of us. 

Please help us by registering to vote those who have rightly been put off by the voting process.
We encourage other progressives to put up candidates and join us.  We plan a public forum in February.  

Don Macleay,                    Dist 1, planning to run for City Council,
Randy Menjivar                 Dist 7, planning to run for City Council,
Vicente Cruz II                   Dist 3, planning to run for school board

Oakland Green Party
contact@oaklandgreens.org (510) 866-7488  P.O. Box 20299, Oakland, CA 94620

OPA Press Statement

         Friends, Family, Brothers and sisters, today we are here to discuss 2012, and in greater detail the forthcoming elections. Oakland is currently at a crux, mass unemployment, increase in violence and crime, home foreclosures, and poverty which is strangling the life out of the working-class communities. meanwhile, the simultaneous tyrannical oppressive regimes that continue unleashing militarized police in our communities to implement and ensure that the gap between the rich and the poor continues to exist and expand. Our schools and libraries are being shutdown at alarming rates, increasing the disparity in education for people of color – yet when these same people protest they are incarcerated or gunned-down.

This year 2012, seems to be a decisive year, where we have to re-consider the ballot or the bullet. We as people can no longer support Democrats and Republicans; they consistently continue to make false promises to the populace, also believing that it is alright to lie to our communities. These politicians blame each other, falsely portraying the image that they are not at fault for any of the wrong-doing of the crimes that have been perpetrated upon the residents of Oakland. We have unmasked these hypocrites and recognized that ‘Progressive, Democrat and Republican’ leasers serve as an arm for the ruling elite.

We have attentively witnessed the masses of people awaken to social, economic, and political injustices committed by many of the nation’s leaders. Singing, ‘We Shall Overcome,’ in 2012 is outdated and will no longer suffice. Begging and pleading for just wages, better education, and equality, has reached its limits. Today we are here to continue on our quest of building a better, more promising future for our elders and the children.

If you believe in our plan of action, please stand with us in solidarity, align yourself as our allies in pursuing freedom and liberation from the oligarchs and capitalistic structures that have devastated our lives for far too long.

Don Macleay,                    Dist 1, planning to run for City Council,
Randy Menjivar                 Dist 7, planning to run for City Council,
Vicente Cruz II                   Dist 3, planning to run for school board

Theresa Anderson            At Large Council Seat

Oakland Green Party
contact@oaklandgreens.org (510) 866-7488  P.O. Box 20299, Oakland, CA 94620

Vicente R. Cruz II Candidate Bio

Vicente R. Cruz II
Candidate for OUSD Board
District 3

BIOGRAPHY

Vicente Rafael Cruz II was born Vicente Rafael Cruz Junior at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital February 4 1964. Rose in his early years by a working single mother with the United Airlines Employees union Vicente comes from a long labor history even back to the civil war. 

Vicente received his education from books on/from teachers such as John Brown, W.E.B. Dubois, Malcolm X, Harriet Tubman, Sister Souljah, Rosa Clemente, and many others.

He received his formal GED from the OUSD Adult Program as well as completing theatrical lighting programs from Diablo Valley College and Santa Rosa junior College. Vicente has a desire to retrieve the Spanish he lost from childhood and will be attending college to read, write and speak the language.

Vicente has worked in education for 16 years first as Youth/Adult Sports Program Director for the Pleasant Hill/Concord Clayton YMCA and 4 years in the Oakland Unified School District with Playworks formerly Sports 4 Kids. He is well known for connecting social justice education into his lesson plans. Also in Vicente’s background is 10 years with Kinko’s where starting as the overnight Shift Supervisor finished being a Production Manager, leaving the company after a severe back injury leaving him disabled.

Vicente has no biological children but has assisted in parenting of five children. Daughters aged 30, and 29 from Maryland, two aged 28 and a son aged 21 from the bay area. Vicente has lived in Oakland since 2006 but has been a bay area resident since 1979.

Since 2000 Vicente has taken a Speak UP Speak Out attitude in the social political community. Doing Legal Observing, Agitator/De-escalate, citizen journalist he has experience with a broad spectrum of the community and has always believed that folks that get elected have to be the people’s voice as well as their own.

Oakland Greens propose an Oakland Progressive Alliance

The Oakland Greens propose an Oakland Progressive Alliance
to offer our communities an alternative in the November 2012 local elections

We invite the public to come and discuss our city’s future in open forum on Friday February 24, 2012
6-8 PM forum discussion, 8-9 Pot luck dinner at Humanist Hall, 411 28^th Street, Oakland, CA, 94609

Oakland is in crisis in our youth, in our schools, in our government. We need active, progressive leadership. 

We are proposing a platform based on personal ethics and independence of the individual candidates coupled with a commitment to reform of our institutions, especially our budget, our council and our law enforcement. 

The panel will consist of Don Macleay City Council Candidate Dist. 1, Randy Menjivar City Council Candidate Dist. 7, Theresa Anderson – Downs At Large Candidate, Vicente Cruz OUSD Board candidate Dist. 3, Andrea Pritchett CopWatch, Wilson Riles OCAN, Laura Wells, California Greens Party, Larry Shoup, Shawn McDougal CDP.

We offer our efforts to the community and we make this proposal to the community.  It is the strongly held view of the Oakland Greens that full slate of candidates, a program that covers the issues well and a political alternative that can guide our city in a much needed new direction will come from the whole community. 

This is an invitation to join, to lead, to mold and to run for office.  All individuals and organizations welcome.

Oakland Green Party contact@oaklandgreens.org (510) 866-7488  P.O. Box 20299, Oakland, CA 94620

(If you would like to have a speaker and/or want to set up a table, please RSVP, also let us know if you can help with the pot-luck food)