fornia aust, i'm spinning to stop big tech companies driving low income people out of the area i'm number such as well from all of us here in portland. thank you so much for being with us. the we are all set and we are watching close to the, to bring you the story behind the new, the will on about. i'm biased information for free might say due to me in the

that's actually my dog is this is basically a walking ma are they want to set a new mission to do people a power to build community to bring the world closer together and the different enough of us work to build community and bring people together as we just might change the world, the changing the world, the fever for everyone. we own the promises made by the big tech bosses and we'd be only too happy to believe them. but for east palo alto, his residence, who's pledges ring hollow when i go to fly a here, certainly you know me. i'm now are rubio. and this is antonio. he's on the city

council. we'd like to talk to you today about kamisha l. get on with. we've got to protect our city and prevent higher prices and rents from driving us out. so all the people can come and live here. they've got very different interests and we do this when measure l comes into effect of funds will be set up for supporting residents paying rent to ensure we can keep living here, find one of the new gold rushes hit for a long time. nobody outside east palo alto was very interested in the city, but know the last bits of cheap real estate in the region are for sale. and that's drawing the tech companies and realtors like the best areas of the city is what's going to be the ravens when business district. and this is

such a huge piece, the city, that's why it matters so much whatever they've built, they're going to have impacts for generations to come. so it's an i city council, east calls the city council. the folks we voted in to be to representatives are going to be talking about what, how much they want to build, what they want to build, how much of it they want to build in this area of the city. and it's going to be and again, whole lot of office faces that none of us really use or visit just after my arrival, i encountered the youth organization, yukon, use united for community action. in 2007, they managed to close down a factory that was during waste and polluting residential areas. the, the enemy isn't just one factory. instead, they're challenging multinational corporations with inexhaustible resources. we're up against truly up against the giants, like facebook,

like amazon. if we let these tech companies swallow up our community and swallow up our, our history and our legacy without having and told we run the risk of having a race. and we know we know what happens when, when that histories erased. it's like we weren't over here with love to welcome everybody to today's stay sessions, to see what we can see very easily the direction that is going, which is office is the hallmark movie. i mean, typically by the we worried about how many square feet of new office space will be built on because they put 6 stream pressure on both the housing market and the environment guide. you in new offices also really increase traffic. i mean, we need to build new housing and figuring out where this can be done, your knowledge out loud. thank you. say that you

silicon valley success story hasn't helped laura rubio, that she isn't alone. but voices like hers usually go unheard. many workers here undocumented. so they remain silent just few or if getting fired or deported or booth. but laura says it's important to stand up to protect themselves. of all means the i pay $1200.00 in randy's in the meantime you come as pay $2200.00 for a studio for k. my weight is a just enough for rent and gas like a game . and i came to east palo alto with my children in 2002 meaning added those sign my door to was to and to my son was 8 years old to begin with. and i couldn't even afford to buy them up the for a dollar. it to make it on the one that on my don't us of

the is complex. i mean, did you say, didn't that useful? right. it's really different here in east palo alto we, the space to build every with us is part of it. so banks with of spent with so small, so last time it can you the, it's almost like a bad comedy sketch. these 2 worlds that are so close to each other. it doesn't make it in hollywood. it doesn't make it in tv shows up in the matter of a couple exits. you can see completely different neighborhoods, different stories, the i'm going to say, hi, this is crazy. and the biggest trouble that we have as the people who grew up here, all their life is try and so forth to stay the i never

envisioned being a politician and part of city leadership. i came back from studying abroad at oxford for 2 years. and i see the level of poverty, i see the level of displacement. i think it just woke me up at the age of 28 and tony lopez was elected to the east palo alto city council. during the day he was studying at stanford university. police popular with young people headed for the tech industry in the evening and tony will put on a suit and defended his neighbors against his fellow students. it's rare for someone to be familiar with both worlds because i'm a son of mexican americans, but also someone who has lived in breed the city for all my life. it is my job to defend the people who can advocate for themselves a page and uh, and also grab drinks for a fundraiser if you want. oh,

i don't know if you have so. okay. i mean, you're missing kids, e, tom because we've got lots of work ahead of us that will have come on board funding . who wants to be the city 0? me them here and you. what can you do? well, we need to hand out flyers to protect your neighborhood the sooner then you'll be us to see hero to come up. so who knows how to glue paper together? we've done this before. so how we really lucky to have you helping pressed tightly . east palo alto has a long history of the kind of fighting spirit people like laura. and then when you are imbued with in fact, it was thanks to the civil rights and black power movements. the city was incorporated in the 1st place in the black power is the black man in control of a key

figure in the cities creation. bob hoover is still a pillar of the community and 89 years old. and i've been in east palo alto since 1959. when i got here at the old place, you could buy a property on the peninsula. was here in east menlo park. and so that created a community that was very much like the premier that i would raise and in the south where everybody black and they live in the same location as probably the only picks i have were near tuck. cedar with a suit for 5 or 6 months after i had moved here, a gentleman named ed backs was recruiting people to join him to try to fight the surrounding cities. the city of palo alto had taken van that belonged to east palo

alto, so it backs realized that you were losing a valuable land. and it said we need to become a city so we can control our own destiny, not depend on somebody else to make decisions about what your quality of life was going to be. we've got to build a power so strong and so powerful that nobody will ever mess with a black man again and the way in the world. it took us 20 years from the time that we started until we actually became a city the even though we are a very small community, we did become a major player as far as the struggle of black people. and those lessons that we learned in the sixty's are still applicable to date. the new mission, baby here are come. east palo alto is protest, movement cheat g t for raji to as

a child he felt a long sight his mother to create the city of east palo alto. to day he and his daughter are fighting for autonomy from the big tech corporations. growing up here, this call to primarily was suburban, but also very rural. it was very common to see black and brown course, people riding through the streets of east palo alto. and it's still not density that we hold onto, but with justification, you see a lot less than you used to. remember, it was a different kind of relationship that we hi with each other. even on the other side of the frame, it was much more of a community feeling. but now on the other side of the freeway, where mark zuckerberg live, i watched it go from a very chip,

b. s. love your neighbor, kind of a place to a place that was much more oppressive. you know, as silicon valley boomed, the racial disparities increased the wealth gaps increased. the tech industry doesn't hire a lot of black people. so it changed a lot. after my 1st visit to east palo alto, m, as in moved into a large space here, genuinely traumatizing the residence. residence chanted outside amazon's new office space in east co, all to j. t for raj. she is upset. amazon won't give a shot. why won't you let us come to the place and swing at the bar even before us arrived, amazon rejected a municipal government order requiring the corporation to recruit

a 3rd of the employees locally, the cities, administrators. and then for the last gift the project to green light, the company's neighbors felt betrayed. there is no question in my mind that amazon came in, and if i can be frank treated this almost like a colony. if you don't actually integrate and incorporate our perspectives, our voices are talent into these corporations to me or colonial power. antonio was elected to see new but that turned out to be difficult. of the city needs money. and building contractors are a primary source of it. could realistic projects, city planning, and protecting the citizens all work together. until you look for answers as a kid, my mom and i always say, oh, let's go see the houses up here. there was always something for us to look at. and

marvel at it. you know, really be impressed by it makes you understand why we could, we were going to meet up with a counsel member named ray mueller. the counsel member for the city of menlo park has been there for quite some time. menlo park is next door to east palo alto metro's company headquarters are located here, the even call it facebook city. the company just keeps on growing. it buys up land and builds the necessary infrastructure, paying for it themselves. yeah, deep pockets for local infrastructure. antonio's interest was pete weird. like i feel like i'm being reared in the, in a political environment that is so divided and i think there's a way you can meet people in the middle. especially with the counseling needs to be honest, when i try to, i try to be like i like let me try to find my dish and instrumental apartment and

you have just because of the economic breadth of the city like that by and they're buying it. so how do you have that buying from a community? and i know you guys had the, the, the, the meta, then i met a groundbreaking ceremony for the community center and they'll haven, that was huge. couple. so a couple saturdays ago. huh. yeah. as awesome. it was really big. yeah. mid a. there are really fortunate to partner with meta, they're building with us a new community campus there and it's gonna have a full service aquatic center. right. and so i mean, you can see that there are benefits to working, to working with. uh, yeah, start talking to people about issues that matter to them. that's right. and how that and how this can actually affect that in a positive way. and then people will say, okay, this is something that's going to make sense for my family, for my kids. it's not that i'm advocating for an enormous development, but just to say some silver fact. this is a new era and we've never dreamed of this and haven't met with medical

representatives, but to me a kind of gives these boomers a whole. yeah, yeah, absolutely. i have to get facebook credit. we told them that we needed a plan that really works for menlo park. you know what? they listened and now the plans good. it's really good the, the spook, the greek benefactor of menlo park. that sounds nice, but of course there's also a dark side, one public institution after another is being privatized. sports fields, schools, libraries, like many other companies in the region. facebook, the lies, and it's non profit organizations to finance countless projects outside of any democratic decision making process. these big tech is now everywhere here.

you guys have levels, oppressive features and the presence of systems. facebook is funding menlo park, police department, which you know, a stones throw away our borders touch. and now it is very common to see. menlo park police sliding through our neighborhoods. the the cops rationally profiling people, planning evidence on people falsely arresting people, abusing people. it's a strategy on gaining control over this, this area, the,

the tech companies need housing for their continually expanding staff. real estate companies are in a selling frenzy and waking in profits as quickly as they can. laura's neighborhood has been affected to an older complex with moderate rents is to be rebuilt, renovated and expanded. soon. wealthy or tenants will be living there. good evening are quite improvement park project. whether or not you go see you. good evening. my name is miguel hernandez. you want me to go by. what worries me is that the new apartment buildings will certainly be nice, but to live there apparently, you will have to prove a certain income there kindly because i'm a gardener. i are in $20.00 to $22.00 an hour at most. nobody is telling us how high the rents will be. no, so i won't qualified to rent one of those apartments in a little while,

but if i'm in school and can't afford to rent 5 minutes. okay, you don't know where you are currently because on the way across the city should consider that when they make their decision, you know, can i see that domain quint process? which is you, margaret? the fear just just for the community. you know, i understand that there is a lot of grounds with, you know, by a developer and yet there's, there's a dressing, trust fact. and i think we can talk about the pros and cons all day. and i think there's pros here, it's antonio, support the project, the next a scandal. even with the and really has to get we think support said try. yeah. beginning pizza pro. yes. yep. the reason, find a way of you to find and building a bridge between that the building trust is easier said than done. not least because the con demik showed the

tech giant's true colors in the 8 months since my last meeting with laura corbett 19 struck, leaving residents in even greater need them previously junior. junior, you do? number one, who will do to get their dream has never seemed to more remote, or even just show up. at the end of the dual, working from home during the pandemic, wasn't an option for many east palo alto resident, many became ill or lost. their jobs were more and more resident spelled behind on their rents and risk losing their apartments. when the tech companies closed their offices during the last day, they promise not to eliminate the jobs of cleaners and cooks. but in the end, those workers were fired by the thousands this is the most dangerous neighborhood of america at washington, d. c, or detroit. but

a small california to colorado. to this d east, palo alto has a troubled reputation. the in the 1990s, the city had the highest murder rate in the us. it was thanks to the coverage of residents, late fall approver and bill times the cycle of violence stopped. 9 back then, the men took to the front lines. it is not comfort to see. a young man remained just lying in the street. young man that you spoke with the day before the

these children live in a city so dangerous. the superintendent of schools made a shopping proposal by burial insurance for every child in town. it was like a funeral damn near every other week and those community, it was, it was just, it was killing us. the police were not able to give us any really, but we were not going to be deterred from taking back. i said there was a group of us. there were about 20 men and we decided we needed to do something called i said i was just us and we said, you know, and we're gonna say, well, community is, it has to be a source just to us and we started going out on the streets where these kids were selling drugs, so we'd see a drug sale and we'd call the police for us,

it was a matter of who runs this. a young person is at a misguided or the minute of the city. by the end of the ninety's, we were beginning to get control. we learned that no matter how difficult the situation is at the present time, so you can change it. the citizens of east palo alto to back their city. unfortunately, the dealers from back then were replaced by real estate agents. gentrification had begun. past lieutenants started pushing a lower income residence i would probably be gone for next year. is these 1? $40.00 for do in this place you on for you. boys in the,

in the 35 isn't go, this is when you go to the 4030 to see us up in the d. understood, i'm 10, but i say barton, there me whole if you new thank you to on your my son is 28 and he has 5 children with me. and he lived in palo alto too out of both. but his price is rose and he had to move his family to another city. but i see that to be taken to significant simple corporate. i'm worried because he's barely making ends need to discuss that with you and i'll be in and i need money for the rents you know by is located hi. hello. hi. and so would you be interested in supporting a quote i've been up with? you have nothing to send me that way. no. i've heard stories late, laura's sons,

austin and just families and mothers who had to move away and lost their jobs. well, the cost for how to drive hundreds of miles to keep working here that silicon valley to for people who aren't the winters, the you said you moved from, what did you do is the soon as i went to a weekend in volta not, i know already freeze, i'm only pressing a little. i'm so setting up consuming tompkins of my good. i've got to deceive them. otherwise they don't loosen up. like all 9 somebody the a few days later. and tony, who has a meeting with mark diamond's this name had been turning a lot lately. antonio garcia, thanks for mark diamond is

a local tech entrepreneur. he's running for city kinds, so it has big plans for east palo alto. i invite folks to learn when i was 28. i was looking at a community where i could walk to a cafe. i could go out for a bar to be live music, a local establishment, and you'd have to leave, you've called so as to do all that stuff right now. that's that right? a lot of positive perceptions. yeah. and part of the change making that we have to do is bringing people to understand the limited resources we have. i think one of the reasons why i'm running is we need leadership that's looking forward now looking backwards, trying to freeze these palo alto in time. and also, you know, working with developers to bring things that the community needs and wants into the city. that's how you meet the moment you know, on or the past, right. but also adapt to the new i, you know, change is hard but it's not changes happening anywhere. it's just as if, if we build more housing, we're going to have less displacement. because if you don't build housing for that facebook engineer, they're going to buy a house and the gardens and just place everybody that yeah,

a good mark to me as somebody who i and you understand is the infrastructure. you understand the konami development. but also with a heart for the city cannot yeah. everything. okay. cool. is the trade show isn't the yes, we helped him and he's betraying us. you know, as the he says he believes we have onto here chat, but then he goes, enjoyed this with people. he's only been living in east palo alto for sure. tons, a journal said look, let's click on okay again. and you just moved here and have a very different priority and priority. that is the fed exactly comment. they don't the, i understand that as a politician, he wants to hear your thoughts, subtract all as well. so what is his value on what a antonio lucas is priority or love is you don't end up walking a lot back here unless you live here and look at the conditions of the road. i'm so

obvious of this hasn't been re paved sophie that's hard to insert paved. what about the level of chaos and these pulses, impressive. so you might have some of that. i'm in as mark diamond's that i'm just gonna have to spend the money. so ok. see, and those are some i'm currently running for city council. i started getting involved when there was a homeless and coming over my back fence is pretty outragious what was going on because we weren't enforcing the law. and so the campaign is working to bring positive change to use colorado. so there is a flyer for us, there's a lot of road, safer streets, parks, all the quality of life issues. good and election was coming up in a few weeks in east palo alto. mark diamond's name is on everyone's lips. having an entrepreneur on the city council would be a for,

for this stance is clear. he wants to open the city to big corporations. i definitely represent a threat to a lot of the people who live here. i think we need to work with developers, make sure that they check all the boxes of not just placing people, but if i do that, let's get out of the way i want to build. and you have readers in east palo alto that are lying to the people and making them scared. that's all they have. and antonio is a very, very smart guy. i mean, we see things similarly. you know, i'm, i'm thrilled to have his endorsement. we can actually get stuff done to move the community forward. reuben, up rica. see things differently. he's been defending residents for 30 years. i know the, i am the power response or you cancel. caught in the frustrated counsel. see whether it will guide or for no sir him to come up and say okay,

that's it. proven a break is over 70 and the opposite of big tech. he doesn't use social media and it's only budgeted some $2000.00 for his campaign. he's one of the last people in the region defending the values of democracy in the publicly elected administration, against the power of the tech giants. i run a lot of campaigns, maybe about 10. the biggest change that i've seen is the fact that so much money has been put into campaigns recently. it means that is going to be that people with big money that will control the city. like we were looking at development size. one of the candidates who said, do it all 5000000 square feet, like 6 big towers, 10 floors, and then for

a small community that's monster development. i call it without any thinking about the impact they would have in how even if they gave a lot of benefits, it would displace a lot of people. they would be like another facebook anyway, the victory for mark dining would be a wind for big tech. i would push the city onto the same path taken by the rest of the region. companies as far as the i can see, the computer specialist moving into offices and apartments, and the divide between the haves and the have nots screwing ever wider. the. that's what the silicon valley system brings, fractured society of hyper individualists who no longer have a sense of community, the

getting the use of living. i'm sure i take care of people with developmental disabilities, mental disabilities, some physical disabilities. i'm blessed to still be out here still be in a still be alive. i grew up in a time where we wouldn't even expect it to make 21 years old. you know, the beside poverty died of great childhood. you know, say i have friends, i have part of the, you know, i was able to live my life. i was able to run the streets and learn, you know, check it and go potter left for raising this to be. because they, you know,

this is about the debt policy of the world test. a deep blast deal with a 2 bedroom. so of the call of back to coon is a legend is banned totally insane. started making music about the daily life in east palo alto decades ago. missing the know my last words for all you all, then i'll be back. i came back with you a take the invited to use the created energy of the city. an energy that today is threatening to disappear. ok, we offer on a small hill cemetery board is the 4 black and avenue know enough to be $2.00. thousands of us out. you can't do that. you're going to say, nowadays everything is designed to keep you in the house video games. you got 200 channels. they designed the world for people to get off the street. back in it was the last cycle. do some right now, miles work. we're looking at, we go out of the way. we're getting

a little france while we're hold environment change, you know, city change once a facebook in amazon moved in city council was the facebook was on his way. it just popped up like a grey. oh yeah, by the way, facebook and basically goodbye. these are 2 biggest companies in the world. when they come, they bring in the whole way of life. we do the job mart the laura and people in her neighborhood are outraged at antonio's political shift . real estate companies are paying the pressure. they could lose everything. woodlands, woodlands driven away minutes. families already with its 372 families have left

hope because they wanted to know because they lied to the book. and they were told that the project had low be a dumb deal movie somebody, philip or drank maricella, says so for families were driven out. and so we have to show solidarity with the media to find them and get them to come back to that big of a sudden usually, but america ended up doing fun for me. i was the 1st of my family to come here. my wife and i have 4 children. fortunately, all of them are going to school in college. but we've been living here in this apartment for 35 years now. they want to build a 7 story building here. that's usually ridiculous. they want to tear down all the buildings and move us off someplace else, and then nobody knows where the series got to stop that. i beg you that is for follow. i should make it clear guys. i don't set the agendas like i just get what i received from, from, from the very vice mayor. i don't, i don't call the shots in terms of, i want this to be on that date. uh, yeah,

i get to vote. it's hard to see whether antonio understands his support of mark diamond's fuels, like a betrayal to his voters, the a maxime out of both of that. and then i've thought about living someplace else a few times and will save you a little because it wouldn't be the same. and the people in other cities don't stick together like we do have next, you know, the community, that's a list of it. but as they were not complete, if you sent too low in front of a screen and see you grow dealt with time, people lose the connections to each other. you know, one of the, as the election approaches, it looks possible that ruben, up,

because for to on the city kind. so it will be replaced by mark diamond's years. 7 candidates for the city with faith, strange, available and sidewalks should not take 4 years to approve the strongly conduct the notions that development on the display. so i, i'd ask you to start over vote for a better use also marked on it for city council. thank you so much. so i think i went big time is up in the details and concern. a and just held just the building here for the building. they are at amazon building that itself and they go to building on another one across the street. okay. uh, moving from, do you have something to say on this?

uh, i want to remind you all of us know some statistics. 60 percent of our residents are renters. 20 percent are protected as a result of the rest of the sessions, all which protects people from being arbitrarily evicted and from increases of rent . it is a 20 percent or so that i think need are compassionate and constructive approach to protect them. thank you. laura. and then to and you haven't seen each other for months. they've drifted apart. this is their 1st meeting in a long time. it's somewhat simple, so this have sooner a bit disappointed because you're supporting people who we don't agree with best on us. give us some of the more difficult other ideas and have described us as criminals and treat us like not to do that for you. i supported you in your campaign, or it hurts me that you're working together with these people. i'm telling you

because i want to be honest, so they say less goal setting. so they are always differences of opinion and politics survive this stuff. well, we must defend ourselves as in b o n a. yes, of course, i'll always respect the people here above all the tenants. most of the day i'm looking to get them and want you and the city council, so you can represent the reality we would experiencing a daily that the people are already being driven out, get it. the injustice has already been done. you have to understand how bad it is and stand by as soon as they get those who have in the see look and thank you very much that you've taken the time to come and share your feelings and lived realities with me. there was so many reports i could read, but this concrete feedback from citizens like you is a 1000 times more valuable. but looking at it, you know, i feel the fear of these projects spring and how much it's affecting you. you can count on my help really with the plan. i thank you. thank. thank you. oh no,

no, i'm keeping my eye on you. i'm telling you i love you can step on my foot if i say something wrong or from your rope. the police think of you, i used to view politicians differently before some of the companies when i sold the candidates back, then i thought, wow, what personalities we'd like to have my picture taken with them. but since i've been committed to helping the city and i've learned to really wants to help us society's disadvantage to ask to dozens festival in the yeah, yeah, it's wonderful. yeah. when i see the list of candidates today, i think hell do it myself next to the fridge for the

florida review mirror of east palo alto. it'd be nice. i have to admit that as i shut the documentary, i'd have the same thought myself. when i left the city, the threats hadn't been eliminated. for the time being the residents at a cheap several goals. measure l design to support the needs renters came into effect. reuben of rico was once again booted into city hall and continues to fight for the less fortunate december 2023. antonio lopez was named mirror of east palo alto, and in november 2024. mark diamond was elected to the city council on his 2nd attempt east palo alto is still the exception in silicon valley. is the last past in the last time to defy the tech giants. the,

the, the, the books view will tell you who we are happy that we are boxing the story. we have a getting a visa is more difficult than finding gold hosted to use the sales force and for the future in the stories and issues that are being discussed across the country. news africa. in 30 minutes on the w, the

discovery stories change your mind. just a click away, find the best document trees on you to see the world, the subscribe. now to dw talking entry, think the code is twice, think ahead or with outside the box on your but always remember to sing for yourself.

we all have to sign was incredibly like, this is the driving you with free information. these are made for mine. the this is do you got your news and these are the top stories? does the co have packed as opposed to us and express all the data to you with all those survivors? the effects of violence, quoted cool stories remain until it is with a french court, found fairly close ex husband and 49 other men can see of raping her while she was unconscious. in a series of abuses over the ticket. bought many of the men to see what her prison sentences then saw by prosecutors german john flo.