Hundreds Pack City Council Hearing to Demand Banks End Toxic Financial Deals Costing Taxpayers $10 Million, Act to Prevent Foreclosures, Increase Lending to Small Businesses

Photos, Video Available at www.SEIU.org

Los Angeles, CA--Hundreds of SEIU members, community allies and Los Angeles families packed a hearing room in City Hall today to speak out in support of legislation setting new standards for banks the city does business with. Following the hearing, community members marched on local Wall Street banks to demand banks take immediate action to help solve the city's budget crisis and end toxic derivative deals that cost the city millions each year.

"Banks' actions are hurting our communities and directly standing in the way of a recovery. Instead of slashing parks and neighborhood services, it's time to talk about what really caused this crisis and how we can fix it," said SEIU 721 President Bob Schoonover, a longtime LA City employee.

With Los Angeles facing a $212 million budget gap and Angelenos facing cuts to parks, public safety and neighborhood services, taxpayers demanded that city money only be invested in banks that step up efforts to help fix the financial crisis they created. The action could save the city $10 million immediately and help break the cycle of home foreclosure, small-business failure and record unemployment that has drained city revenue for services.

"In our communities, half the homes are empty, hundreds of thousands of us are out of work," said Rosie Martinez, a nurse and member of SEIU Local 721. "We need to make our communities vibrant again. As taxpayers, we need to hold big banks accountable for crashing our economy."

Los Angeles families demanded that any bank receiving taxpayer money:

• Save the city approximately $10 million each year by renegotiating or canceling toxic derivative deals to protect services from being cut. Los Angeles would be the largest city to act against so-called 'interest rate swaps' that have cost American taxpayers $28 billion in fees and excessive interest;
• Stop all home foreclosures and meet a minimum number of permanent mortgage modifications;
• Provide the city with the same low-interest loans banks receive from the federal government to prevent cuts to critical public services; and
• Restore small business lending to pre-crisis levels to jumpstart job creation.
• The standards community members called for could move billions of dollars in assets into banks that demonstrate their commitment to helping Los Angeles families recover and set a precedent for other cities across the country.

In addition to the Angelenos present at the hearing, more than 3,000 Americans from across the country wrote the City Council in support of these new banking standards.

More at SEIU.org/bigbanks.

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