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Crosscurrents

Daily news roundup for May 14th, 2015

San Francisco Contemporary Music Players
A Soundvoice participant

Here's what's happening in the Bay Area, as curated by KALW news:

Oakland puts off acting on controversial surveillance system // SF GATE

"Activists are keeping an eye on Oakland as city officials grapple with new proposed restrictions for the Domain Awareness Center, a controversial surveillance system at the city’s port.

But people will have to wait awhile for the city to act on the new policy, drafted over the course of a year by an ad hoc committee of lawyers, techies, and privacy buffs. City Council public safety committee Chair Desley Brooks postponed a planned Tuesday vote on the policy, saying it needs to be reformatted."

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Residents Meet Proposed Medical Neighbors and Say, Move Elsewhere // Mission Local 

"The appropriateness of Sutter Health’s plan to open an affiliate medical center on the corner of 20th and Valencia streets was the subject of a lengthy and at times tense meeting on Monday night.

The talk, hosted by the Liberty Hill Neighborhood Association, brought together 25 concerned Mission District residents and three employees of Sutter Health’s Pacific Medical Foundation, which seeks to locate its latest facility on the ground floor of the new V20 condo complex. Neighbors questioned everything from the center’s attractiveness to its size and location."

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Sex Worker Festival Redefines the Oldest Profession // East Bay Express 

"Gold's recollection of the empowering nature of exotic dancing provides a fitting narrative for the launch of the festival, which showcases a diverse range of artistic projects rooted in celebrating, supporting, and accurately portraying people involved in the sex work industry. The goal is to push back against the ongoing criminalization and stigmatization of sex work — by providing a platform for marginalized workers in a highly misunderstood profession to share their stories and show audiences they aren't helpless victims.

The festival (which the Express is co-sponsoring) comes at a time when sex-worker-advocacy groups in the Bay Area and beyond are increasingly speaking out against anti-prostitution laws, discriminatory police practices, and conservative views about sex work — all of which can force workers further underground. A lawsuit challenging California's prostitution ban is heading to federal court in Oakland this summer. And over the past year, Bay Area activists have repeatedly protested discriminatory state regulations that block sex workers from receiving financial aid when they become victims of violence."

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S.F. judges to open themselves up for questions // SF Gate 

"San Franciscans have a chance to question local legal authorities in a friendlier setting than the courtroom Thursday when theSuperior Court holds its first “Meet the Judges” session in more than a decade.

The forum, scheduled from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at UC Hastings College of the Law, will include judges who hear cases on housing, traffic, family law and restraining orders, areas in which individuals commonly represent themselves without lawyers, said the court’s presiding judge, John Stewart. A judge will also be present from small-claims court, in which all litigants represent themselves. Staff members will field questions about jury service and the court’s self-help center"

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Tenderloin residents turn city noise into contemporary music // Hoodline

"When deafening sirens blaze by or dumpsters slam to the ground, do you close your eyes and bask in the glory of their reverberations? Probably not. But with a little training, you could turn those daily annoyances into a welcome soundtrack. A recent collaboration between the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Hospitality House did just that, helping Central City residents harness the rhythm of their everyday environments to tell their stories in a new way.

The project, called Soundvoice, gathered 18 participants of Hospitality House programs for weekly learning sessions where they explored concepts like the foundations of new music and how to tell a compelling story, then put their training to work by capturing the various sounds of their communities to create audio collages." 

 

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