Operation Gulf Coast (www.OperationGulfCoast.net), a media coalition of labor unions, community- and faith-based organizations, and the Pacifica Radio network announced they will broadcast a Town Hall meeting to discuss the upcoming evictions of Katrina survivors from hotel rooms in the greater Houston area. 

“The tragic aftermath of hurricane Katrina has laid bare the race and class disparities in this country like no other event in recent history. For FEMA to put survivors into the street is the moral equivalent of a Katrina re-run” says Paul E. Almeida, President, Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, adding, “Labor has been involved in hurricane relief efforts since day one collecting funds for hurricane survivors, distributing goods, transporting survivors and providing unprecedented outreach during the nation's worst natural disaster. The vast devastation affects the people who live there and those who provide the necessary services for them.” 

The Town Hall meeting will take place on Saturday, February 18, 2006 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the S.H.A.P.E. Center, 3815 Live Oak, Houston, TX 77004.  The broadcast will air on KPFT, 90.1 fm, Houston’s Pacifica station and on KPFK, 90.7, its Los Angeles sister station; internet listeners can stream the broadcast via pacifica@network.org. 

Further Town Hall broadcasts are planned by the Pacifica network for March, April and May, these will be carried by Pacifica stations KPFA (94.1 fm) in Berkeley, CA, WBAI (99.5 fm) in New York City and WPFW (89.3 fm) in Washington, D.C.  Operation Gulf Coast is seeking broadcast partners for Town Hall meetings in Gulf Coast communities and, nationwide, wherever survivors are living. 

Spearheading this project are labor organizations including the American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the United Steelworkers International Union, Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, and the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and community and environmental organizations, including Exodus Ministries; Ministers for Racial, Social, and Economic Justice; Wider Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ; the Pacifica Foundation; Advocates for Environmental Human Rights; Community Coalition for Justice and Peace; Hip Hop Caucus; Reach 2010: At the Heart of New Orleans. Outreach to labor and community organizations continues.

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