April 26, 2018
On the day of Bank of America’s shareholder meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, an alliance of 14 organizations including Public Bank SF, Divest SF, Friends of Public Bank of Oakland, Mazaska Talks, California Nurses Association, Code Pink, SEIU and more rallied at a Bank of America financial center in San Francisco and marched to City Hall to call on the SF Municipal Task Force to create a fully functioning Public Bank within the next five years.
From the group’s press release:
“Our organizations represent San Franciscans who want a greener, more LGBTQ friendly, anti-racist, decarcerated, pro-indigenous, and more affordable city. … The organizations cosponsoring today’s protest are concerned that public bank task force members may follow Santa Fe and Los Angeles officials in using exorbitant start-up and operational costs of a public bank as an excuse to continue the city’s relationship with Bank of America and other Big Banks. … [Startup costs] would pay off in the long-run as a public bank can provide lower interest rates than the ones offered by Wall Street banks for public infrastructure projects …”