Dozens of activists blocked the entrances to PG&E’s corporate headquarters in downtown San Francisco on Monday morning, demanding that the utility company do more to protect people from power shutdowns.
Starting around 7 a.m., activists with the Power to Live Coalition blocked entrances at the PG&E headquarters at 77 Beale St. Many of the activists, made up of members of several Bay Area organizations, included
disabled people and racial justice advocates.
The action was later followed by a noon rally outside the utility’s headquarters.
In wake of several fires that have devastated parts of Northern California in recent years, followed by subsequent Public Safety Power Shutoffs, the coalition is demanding that PG&E reinvest its money to ensure life-saving power for the basic needs of communities of color and disabled people.
“People with disabilities, young people who have survived fires in Sonoma County, and black and brown folks have locked down the building, demanding that PG&E can’t go about business as usual. Business as usual has
meant people’s lungs, people’s lives, people’s homes being taken,” coalition member Pete Woiwode said.
“We’re demanding that they grab back all the corporate profit that they’ve put in the pockets of corporate hedge funds and put that into protecting and reimbursing people who have lost their livelihoods and their
homes, and protecting people with disabilities and communities of color from the coming climate disasters,” Woiwode said.
“Disabled people depend on electrical power for breathing equipment like oxygen tanks and CPAPs; people depend on refrigerators for medication that have to be cold to work,” said Jessica Lehman, a coalition member. “People like myself, I use a powered-wheelchair, so I have to be able to plug it in to be able to get around.”
“It’s not OK that PG&E told people that they should make plans, instead of actually working with people to make plans. They did not provide generators, or hotel vouchers, or make sure people had places to go or keep the power on,” she said.
In addition to demanding that PG&E give back shareholder profits and reinvest them in communities affected by the fires and shutoffs, the coalition is also demanding that Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Public Utilities Commission take action.
“All of that has to change. We need the state, the California Public Utilities Commission to step in and to takeover PG&E to put PG&E back into the hands of the people,” Lehman said.
Bolsheviks.
Exactly. The usual left wing 🍉 suspects: green on the outside and red on the inside.
Why do they have to make this a race issue? Everyone has been affected by PG&E’s greed, not just the disabled and “people of color.”
Because they are the ones who are listened to, remember we now destroy a Nativity scene if TWO people complain.
If you’re the wrong color……everything you complain about is ignored because “you’re upset because you’re losing your place as the majority and are unable to handle it”.
Gaslighting 101
Meantime, who is committing the largest percentage of crime in California?
Why stop with these modest demands?They should require that every share holder be imprisoned. That will teach people to invest in utilities!
That’s what we want a utility run like the Department of Motor Vehicles. I can see it all now.
I too, have enjoyed a long life of absolute disgust at the DMV, but it’s still a cherry picked example of the merits of private vs public sectors. Why not, “we wouldn’t want a utility run by the same people that defeated the Nazis, the Soviet Union, electrified the Tennessee Valley, put a man on the moon, and created the internet.”?
I would actually feel better (though not much) if the Federal government took over PG&E than I would feel if California did. I know if Gavin were in charge, we’d have a bunch of “clean energy mandates” (100% organic, renewable solar from free-range sunbeams, anybody?) that we couldn’t afford, just so he could pretend to be doing something to stop climate change.
isn’t Gavin running California like PG&E? Takes our money for one thing, spends it on another and everything is falling apart. Why wouod anyone want him to take it.
California is well on its way to becoming Baja Venezuela
Who’s paying them?
Too bad the public utilities commission is probably just as much if not more at fault, PG&E needs to be broken up, not taken over by inept politicians.
Bunch of vacuum heads!!
I abhor and dislike referencing this “people of color” crap!!
When the Black Panthers coined that phrase to justify their actions it became a nauseous reference!
Protect communities of color by seizing all the profits.
Sounds like a winner to me….
Not.
Not even squirrelly Bernie goes this far.
If we could just harness that stupidity………and they are talking about hedge funds? These people are clearly not well informed.
Take a look at Mr. Newsom’s several Plumpjack business’s and you will see he is everything (A blatant capitalist) you are complaining about. Mr. Newsom has shown us he is really good at milking his elite relationships, and other people’s wives. Is that really who you want representing the huddled masses?
You think things are bad now, NewScum and his government morons will double the costs and destroy PG&E in the process. Socialism does not work! And how does race figure into this discussion? California has way too many stupid people living here.
I worked for sf during newscums run as mayor.
Electricians on treasure island had a back room to bring in hookers.
One was buying parts for his side business on the city account.
One of the IT people changed the password to get into city computers and shut other employees out.
And lets not forget his little fling with one of his campaign peoples wife think that one was in city hall. He is such a good manager.
That’s hilarious. A better and more realistic description of the activists would be “clueless”. The inept California government couldn’t even successfully run a sidewalk kiddie lemonade stand. Look at their track record.
The communists had a name for these folks: “Useful idiots.”
The capitalists have a similar, wholly accurate, name for them, but don’t include the word “useful.”
Last night on the news they showed these protesters sitting in front of PG&E doors that they had chained door handle to door handle. They showed them in the street supposedly with their arms chain together inside tubes blocking traffic. That is not freedom of speech that is insurrection. Everyone of them should have been in jail in a New York second. Why are they allowed to do this?
This is the next step to socialism in this state
These people need to take a strong look at the socialist countries and how their people are treated
CHINA AND RUSSIA should be great examples of how demifornia wants you to to live
Let’s we forget China has camps to retrain people into the socialism way
Russia just beats you and throws you into jail for how ever long they deem fit
Socialism’s main goal is to have one seating power with goal control
As well as everyone has to work
No bums or so called anti gov or rules people living under a bridge
Every one works or is beat down or jailed if they don’t
Everyone has to work so they can be allotted food and medical and housing all from the government boob
Is this state wants to establish total control through socialism to use it to spread to other states and divide demifornia into 2-3 controlled state to further control over the countries potus elections
The politicians are manipulating these goals as we speak
Placing people in the right positions to preach and spread the socialist agenda and how it will free everyone to all free healthcare and power and water and food
Downside is you are under and
Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.
That sounds like demifornia to a T
great job everyone you children will be great cogs in the socialist despair machine marching to control freedoms and ultimately take them away
The people there so called protesting are the media and politicians planted payed fake news lemmings
Trying to further the socialist march and fashism