Richmond California stands up to Corporations

SAN JOSE, CA—The People’s Tribune, Sandy Perry interviewed Mayor Gayle McLaughlin of Richmond, California. Richmond is the largest US city with a Green Party mayor and has been the scene of epic battles against Chevron Corporation and Wall Street banks in 2013.
People’s Tribune: What was the significance of the Aug. 3 Richmond Summer Heat Mobilization?
Mayor McLaughlin: This was a great gathering of nearly 3,000 people coming together to remember the Chevron Richmond refinery fire of 2012, to support environmental justice for Richmond residents, and the protection of the planet a whole.  In Richmond, this mobilization tied in with all our environmental health and renewable energy initiatives.  We were number one in the Bay Area in 2010 for solar installed per capita; we have a solar installation cooperative (called “Pamaja”); and we joined up with Marin Clean Energy, a community choice aggregation.
In Richmond, we understand and welcome mobilizing efforts for important causes like environmental justice and climate justice.  A coalition of local progressive and environmental groups organized to make it happen: 350.org, 350 Bay Area, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Communities for a Better Environment, Gathering Tribes, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Urban Tilth, and labor unions.
PT: Comment on the role of Chevron in city politics, how you have been able to combat it, and what are the next steps.
MM: The grassroots movement in Richmond has put forward great pressure on Chevron to pay their fair share of taxes, and some important victories have been achieved.  However, we know that this multi-billion dollar corporation should be paying more to the people of Richmond who have suffered their pollution and explosions for over 100 years.  Chevron may be our largest employer but only about 5-10 percent of their workforce lives here, so we expose Chevron’s hypocrisy and we work to create clean energy and other healthy jobs for our residents.
Chevron has thrown millions of dollars into our local elections over and over again. We see them as polluting our democracy.  We continue to expose this fact, organize on a grassroots level, and call on the people of Richmond to elect progressive candidates and not Chevron-friendly candidates.
PT: Explain what is going on in the eminent domain battle over underwater homes in Richmond.
MM: Richmond has had thousands of foreclosures since 2007 and many more are in the pipeline. We cannot afford to wait for the next wave of foreclosures to impact our hard-working families.  So we are moving forward with the Local Principal Reduction Program, to purchase severely underwater mortgages from the banks and refinance them on behalf of our homeowners at affordable rates in line with current home values.  We have called on the banks to voluntarily sell us these mortgages at their fair market value.  If they won’t do it voluntarily, we will consider using the city’s eminent domain authority to purchase the loans.  The banks sold my community bad loans with their predatory lending practices and now they want to stop the city from providing a much-needed fix to the problem that they have caused.   But we are not taking this sitting down.  We are standing up to Wall Street and standing up for our community.