Join the Lake Balboa Park Clean-Up

Lake Balboa Park Clean-Up Hosted by the Democratic National Committee

Come join the California Democratic Party and SFVYD on July 28 in support of our National Community Service Day! We are encouraging volunteers and community members to come together for a park clean up (10am-12pm), followed by a picnic for the rest of the gathering.

Click here to RSVP

Sign-in will be availiable near the entrance to Lake Balboa (accessible from Balboa Blvd.)

For the location of the picnic area, refer to the link below:

http://www.laparks.org/dos/aquatic/balboa/parking_permit.htm

Saturday, July 28 at 10:00 AM
Duration: 4 hours
Contact Phone: 818-645-0143

Lake Balboa Park
6300 Balboa Blvd
Encino, CA 91406

View Map:
Google Maps

Directions: Park patrons must enter through the Balboa Boulevard entrance and park in designated parking slots. Overflow parking on the dirt field to the northwest of the park is available during periods of heavy usage.

Save Student Financial Aid - Act Right Now

For the first time in a decade, we have a real chance in Congress to make college more affordable and accessible. But special interests are threatening to halt this progress.

We need your help right now. Please call your Senator today!

Tomorrow, we anticipate that the Senate will vote on S.1762, The Higher Education Access Act of 2007, which increases grant aid for low income students and helps make student loan debt more manageable by cutting $16 billion dollars from subsidies to lenders. Unfortunately, Sen. Ben Nelson and Sen. Richard Burr are planning an amendment that would let lenders keep billions of dollars that should be going to students.

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY AND URGE THEM TO VOTE YES FOR S. 1762, AND NO ON THE NELSON-BURR AMENDMENT.

Senator Dianne Feinstein: (202) 224-3841 or email.
Senator Barbara Boxer: (202) 224-3553 or email.

Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed HR 2339, the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, 273 to 143. This bill delivers a similar set of higher education reforms for college students and their families struggling to pay for a college degree.

A college degree is more necessary than ever these days. But over 100,000 college eligible students drop out of applying to college due to cost. And more and more students graduate with deep debt to pay for it. In the early nineties, less than one third of college graduates had loan debt to repay; now, over two thirds do. This debt squeezes graduates out of going into lower paying, but socially valuable degrees like social work and teaching.

To find out more information, go to the Debt Hits Hard campaign run by the organization Campus Progress, as well as the Campaign to Make College Affordable. Also check out Young Democrats for America for further information on how to get involved.

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATOR RIGHT NOW!!!!!

Act Now to Make Sure the Valley Counts

We know that the San Fernando Valley has something 'special' we all love. Don't let the Census Bureau take our uniqueness away - call the number below to ensure that the Valley is counted as a separate region. Show some Valley pride!

Read this editorial by the LA Daily News to find out why they might dump the Valley from the Census. Take action by contacting Census Bureau Director Charles Kincannon. His information is at the bottom of the post.

Up until last year, the U.S. Census Bureau never treated the Valley as its own region, but dumped it in with the rest of L.A. when crunching data. So when the feds doled out money, the Valley's portion was based on L.A.'s needs, not its own.

And that's a big part of why the Valley has historically been so shortchanged.

Finally, after five years of intense local lobbying, Washington gave the Valley its own Census County Division, or CCD.

But now we stand to lose it. Citing a lack of interest, the U.S. Census Bureau wants to stop breaking down data by CCDs - which means the Valley would again be lumped with the rest of L.A., and short-changed all the more.

Kincannon needs to hear from the rest of us, to let him know how much is at stake for our region on what might otherwise seem like a boring, wonky decision.

Let him know how you feel.

Give him a call at (301) 763-2135. Send him an e-mail at charles.louis.kincannon@census.gov. Or, if you're using snail mail, drop a note to his office, in care of the U.S. Census Bureau, Room 8H001, Mail Stop 0100, Washington, D.C. 20233-0001.

Want the Democratic Presidential Candidates to Come to You? Vote on It!

Tired of watching the Presidential candidates on TV as they hold rallies in Iowa or New Hampshire? Don't want to drive downtown to see Senator Obama or Senator Clinton?

It is very easy to get the Presidential candidates come to you - here in the San Fernando Valley.

Last month, Senator John Edwards, one of the Democratic Presidential candidate (if you didn't already know he was running since 2004!) did something no presidential candidate has ever done -- commit to visit the city or town that creates the most demand on Eventful.com. Senator Edwards will also answer at least ten questions from the "demanders" in the winning city.

The competition ends on July 18th so you only have a few days left to place your demand. Go to Eventful.com/johnedwards to cast your vote.

And if Edwards is not your candidate, you can join the groups for the other candidates to start getting involved with their campaign.

For Senator Barak Obama, go here.
For Senator Hillary Clinton, go here.

To see all the political candidates and political events across the country, click here.

Big Weekend for SFVYD

Thanks to everyone who joined SFVYD this weekend for our Circuit City Protest on Saturday morning, and/or our softball game vs. LACYD on Sunday. Both events were a big success and it was great to see everyone.

It's a bit of an understatement to say that the Northridge Circuit City was *not* happy to see us. As soon as we showed up in their parking lot and started passing out flyers, the manager demanded to know what we were doing and called security. After a prolonged discussion with some mall cops about our first amendment rights we agreed to take our protest to the mall's sidewalk entrance. Amusingly, the security guards seemed quite sympathetic to our protest - when I asked one how he would feel if he lost his job because he was paid to much, he replied, "pissed off."

Our sidewalk rally got plenty of attention as well. Cars honked horns and drivers yelled their support as they drove by. Many drivers pulled over to request flyers and more information, and promised to tell their friends to stay away from Circuit City. In fact, we had so much fun that we've decided to target Northridge again... come out on July 7 for a second helping of Circuit City consumer education.

Although protesting was a blast, Sunday's BBQ and softball game were definitely the weekend's highlight. SFVYD took on our sister club LACYD in a second annual softball faceoff. Although SFVYD put on a valiant effort, we were once again narrowly defeated, this time by a mere 13-8. (Sheesh.) Bottom line: next year's club activities will be *entirely dedicated to softball practice!* Well, perhaps not entirely but if you know any Valley YD's who can make a double play, tell them to sign up!

A huge thank-you is in order to Becca Doten and Eli Lipmen, who did a great job organizing the softball game and BBQ. I'm also pleased to thank the many elected officials and candidates who attended the event, including Assemblymembers Feuer, Fuentes, and Levine, former Assemblymember Paul Koretz, San Fernando Councilmember Steve Veres and 40th AD Candidate Stuart Waldman. We appreciate your support for Young Democrats and look forward to seeing you at future events!

Next Circuit City Protest June 23

Our next Circuit City Protest will happen Saturday, June 23, 10am at the Northridge Location - 19330 Plummer Street. Please attend and bring a friend!

View more details and RSVP by clicking here:



In other news:

• Some of the remaining Circuit City employees are reaching out to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. This is a promising sign that will hopefully lead to some action. Retail stores are notoriously difficult to unionize, although card check legislation would make it easier to do so.
• Apparently Circuit City's firings do not extend to their Canadian stores.
• I'm happy to report that Stonewall Democratic Club has officially joined our boycott!

I'll see all of you in a couple weeks - in the meantime keep spreading the word and stay tuned.

More Firings at Circuit City

Many of you sent me articles today about Circuit City's latest wave of firings, this time involving mostly jobs in middle management.

Circuit City said 654 of the [eliminated] positions will come from management as it adopts a policy of assigning managers based on sales volume, spokesman Bill Cimino said. Until now, each store had five managers regardless of revenue, he said. Now, stores will have from three to five managers each, based on revenue. The cuts will come from a combination of attrition, transfers and dismissals, he said.

Unlike the previous firings, it does not appear Circuit City will be replacing these employees with lower-paid hires - they're just victims of old-fashioned "downsizing." It also is unclear whether these firings were based strictly on workers' salary level, like the last ones.

Still, it suggests that the company's first round of firings was not enough to raise profits - surprise, surprise! Maybe if they fire everyone but CEO Philip Schoonover he can sell all the TV's himself.