Amend Prop 13: It can protect seniors and return California to educational excellence while more fairly collecting the State's taxes and restoring fair markets to the portion of our real estate that is not inhabited by seniors. Prior to Prop 13, California had the highest-quality public education system in the country which was the envy of all. Now, California is ranked dead LAST among the states for educational spending (where is the 'fat' in that?) and the public education that is provided is mere shell (no PE, no music, no libraries, no computer labs, no art, deteriorating campuses, large class sizes, etc) Prop 13 was conceived to protect seniors from being driven from their homes by rising property values once they were on a fixed income (presumably over 65). Instead, not only are seniors given the benefit of Prop 13 tax reductions, corporations, heirs, and many, many people of tremendous wealth also are sheltered from paying market value property taxes that used to support our school systems. Here is an example of Prop 13's unfairness: Younger generations can inherit the Prop 13 valuation of their parent's or grandparent's property, thus contributing a pittance in taxes while still being eligible to utilize all of the public resources of their neighbors who are paying market value property taxes. Even worse, the heir does not even have to occupy the inherited property. S/he can rent it, thereby giving this income property an unfair advantage in competition vs. other landlords. There are many ways that Prop 13 deforms the fair and competitive markets for real estate. In this way, Prop 13 has created a 'landed class' of preferential tax treatment similar to the colonial 'land grants' that were preferentially distributed by the King of Spain to his nobles. Moreover, Prop 13 tax benefits/reductions are provided to Corporations as well--WHY? Who does this benefit? This was not the intent of Prop 13 and should never have been a part of the law. It was a clever Bait-and-Switch by monied interests to defraud California citizens of their public educational system brick by brick, year after year. Warren Buffet recommended to a former CA governor that Prop 13 be amended but instead that governor stuck his head in the sand and called Prop 13 'the 3rd rail'. After 33 years, it is clear that Prop 13 has created an unfair tax system, preferentially benefitting the wealthy, and while it protects seniors (as it should), it has stripped California residents of one of their most valuable and worthy public institutions. Prop 13 should be re-written to protect seniors and seniors only. Market-value property taxes should be returned to corporations, non-original owners of property (i.e. heirs), and to income properties. Of course, Prop 13 has created so much market distortion in its 33 years that this would have to be phased-in over some years but I'm certain that California, as a whole, will benefit in the long-run and cheer that some sanity was finally returned to our tax system and some investment returned to educating the next generation.

The City Commission is being asked to convert a section of our neighborhood from residential to commercial zoning. Traffic and speeding off of Thomasville Road are already a problem, and allowing commercial uses beyond what already exists would make matters worse. The commissioners have an opportunity to allow existing businesses to keep thriving, while protecting our families from increased traffic and speeding. Commissioners Miller and Mustian are meeting with City staff on November 30, 2011 at 9am (at City Hall, Room 4F), so 1) please sign the petition, 2) call the commissioners at 891-8181 to reiterate your concerns (because nothing beats a real live person calling), and 3) attend the meeting if you can - we need a strong showing of support for the staff recommendation to keep our neighborhood residential! For more information, visit www.midtown-neighbors.org.

We are calling on the New Orleans City Council and Mayor Landrieu to permit the City Cycle to operate in New Orleans.

At&T rips people off and takes advantage by over charging and having horrible reception and terrible customer service. They have had a monopoly on Iphone for too long and are hiring people that are rude and in the business of lies and deception. Just this year alone I've had to call At&T several times to clear incorrect phone charges and received rude service, was hung up on, and misleading information. Enough is enough, this phone company has taken advantage of its customers long enough. We pay high rates and are mislead to change plans and penalized each month with more money and more time wasted talking to a representative on the phone for hours, or placed on hold for minutes at a time. AT&T Wireless NEEDS TO HAVE FAIR AND COMPETITIVE PRICING, HIGHER CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARDS, AND BETTER COVERAGE. ANTI-deceitful.

stop paychecks and benefits to Congress and Senators until they star listening and representing us. They need to earn their pay. No more free lunch

Slick-water high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) is a process by which oil and gas are extracted from underground reserves. It’s known as, hydrofracking or fracking, the process begins by Injecting fluid (a mixture of water, sand, and highly toxic chemicals) under high pressure into oil and gas wells. We are requesting that this moratorium be in place until the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is able to finish its current study on the environmental risks of hydrofracking. Town meeting is on December 8th. Please email this petition to your friends and family.

With a 39% poverty rate, Athens-Clarke County cannot afford the longstanding NIMBY tactics practiced by a tiny coterie of political extremists. Signing this petition acknowledges the Constitutional establishment of private property and free enterprise under our democratic republic. We call on our elected officials to help businesses bring jobs to those who desperately need them, which will help take them out of public housing and off welfare.

Tri-Valley University (TVU), Pleasanton, CA, was shut down by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on January 18, 2011, and the TVU President, Susan Su, was taken into custody for fraud against the students and the U.S. government. However, in the aftermath, over 1500 foreign students, mainly from India, lost their F-1 visa status and deportation proceedings were initiated against many students. TVU was a Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified school, and students relied upon this designation in selecting this school. DHS gave these students the option to either return home or file to reinstate their F-1 visa status. Approximately one thousand students filed for reinstatement, re-enrolled at new schools, are diligently pursuing their studies, and have paid thousands of dollars in tuition fees. So many of them have used their parents’ life savings to start the process all over again of pursuing their graduate studies. Despite assurances from US officials, including Secretary Hillary Clinton, that students who played no role in the immigration fraud would be treated fairly and expeditiously, DHS recently issued Notices of Intent to Deny (NOIDs) reinstatement to a large number of these students, based on criteria that are known by DHS to be impossible to meet. The applications for reinstatement submitted by the students appear to have been arbitrarily evaluated and unreasonably slated for denial en masse. These notices were even issued to students who enrolled for Spring 2011 and thus never even attended TVU before it was shut down. Several students are young women and men who are the first in their families to seek higher education in another country. Denial of reinstatement will not only impact the rest of the students’ careers but it will also directly impact their families, and thereby affect thousands.

Lives are at stake. The closure of San Leandro hospital will have a drastic effect on wait times in nearby hospital emergency rooms, longer distances to travel for acute heart attacks and strokes. 400+ people will lose their jobs, and doctors will relocate their offices elsewhere. Sutter Health maintains they are losing money at this hospital, at the same time moving more profitable procedures to nearby Eden Medical Center- which they own. California State records show that Eden Hospital earned in excess of $30 million a year. St. Rose Hospital, in nearby Hayward CA has offered to take over San Leandro Hospital, and has provided financial statements to corroborate this.

Please sign this petition which will be sent to President Obama, Congress, as well as state and local committees asking them to publicly address the issue of police brutality towards citizens. This is a huge problem that must be stopped now! As citizens participating in Occupy movements all over the country practice their right to peacefully assemble and act in Civil Disobedience they are pepper sprayed, shot at with rubber bullets and bean bags, beaten, and treated violently in many other ways. We call on the president, congress, state and local committees to deal with this matter and hold officers who abuse citizens accountable for their criminal actions towards civilians.

Banks have been ignoring their own mistakes for too long. They blame their customers, twist the facts and charge what they want. As seen recently the public are on to them. Sign this petition to show them we need fairness and honesty from the people we trust with our money.

Whether our country moves toward adopting wind, solar, geo-thermal, or other ways of heating, cooling, or providing electricity for our homes and businesses , energy efficiency is key in reducing the demand for power while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs right off the batt. Homes, institutions and business account for the majority of our energy use. We need to provide incentives to businesses, public buildings, and private homes to install comprehensive energy saving measures.