Saturday, March 5th was our first Rent Control Action Hour, where 12 comrades gathered on Zoom.
We first grounded ourselves in the fights for rent control happening in St. Paul and Minneapolis, and acknowledging our well-funded opposition in the capitalist real estate lobby with their ties to police and right-wing politicians on “both sides of the aisle.” With the help of some pre-written templates and talking points, we then took some time to send emails to our city councilmembers and mayors to encourage them to support strong rent stabilization policies.
To keep the pressure on, we also scheduled times to call them during the upcoming week and partnered up with accountability buddies to check in with for support and encouragement of our outreach. A smaller group stuck around after the session for a brief evaluation and to kick around ideas for future action hours.
The next Rent Control Action Hour is tentatively scheduled for Saturday afternoon, March 26, and will be added to the TCDSA calendar.
By Jamie M.