"What would Joe would think of the people who have succeeded him in the center chair since his death from cancer in November of 1999? Today, he's thought of as a "strong mayor" even though he had no more power under the city charter than Heather Fargo or Kevin Johnson. I'm sure there's much he would be disappointed about. The deterioration of K Street over the last decade is one obvious example. The lack of progress on the issue of homelessness in the last ten years would surprise and trouble him." The late Joe Serna was mayor of Sacramento, California and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala.
Happy Birthday Joe Serna, and all apologies
Happy Birthday Joe Serna, and all apologies
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Somebody just told me that today is former Sacramento mayor Joe Serna's birthday. He would have been 70 years old today.
What would Joe would think of the people who have succeeded him in the center chair since his death from cancer in November of 1999? Today, he's thought of as a "strong mayor" even though he had no more power under the city charter than Heather Fargo or Kevin Johnson. I'm sure there's much he would be disappointed about. The deterioration of K Street over the last decade is one obvious example. The lack of progress on the issue of homelessness in the last ten years would surprise and trouble him.
I also bet Serna, who cut his political teeth organizing with the United Farm Workers in 1960s and 70s, would be pretty bummed Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Labor Day-eve "fuck you" to California workers.
Schwarzenegger yesterday vetoed SB 789, the farm workers "card check" bill which would have made it easier for the UFW and other ag worker unions to sign up new members. "Card check," which would give us regular folks the same organizing rights that government workers have, was major goal for congressional Democrats this year. Federal card check legislation, called the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is on life support in Congress. Now it's DOA for California farm workers.
The California bill was authored by Darrell Steinberg, the California Senate President Pro Tem, and Serna's former city council colleague. For his efforts, Steinberg recently received special recognition from the UFW, it's called the "Serna Civic Participation Award.
As John Howard over at Capitol Weekly points out, the Governor's veto came one day after UFW plowed a bunch of money into a union-backed campaign to fight Arnold's water agenda. That's a whole other story, but think of it as kind a reverse quid pro quo, apparently totally legal.
Anyway, happy Birthday Joe. Sorry about the way everything turned out.
