Take That, BofA!

The downtown San Mateo Bank of America branch is called the A.P. Giannini branch in his honor. Today protesters demanding that B of A pay its fair share of taxes asked, "What would A.P. Giannini think of his bank today?"

Demonstrators stood in front of the bank on El Camino and lined 3rd Ave and across the street.  Due to construction on El Camino, they had a captive audience...cars were stalled in traffic in front of the line of protesters for minutes at a time, affording the demonstrators the opportunity to hand out fliers.

"Billionaires for Big Banks" (also known as Billionaires for Wealthcare) posed in front of the bank's tiled mural. The mural says "Bank of the Little Fellow", and indeed the original Bank of Italy that became Bank of America was known as such. In 1904, A. P. Giannini, a resident of San Mateo, founded his bank as a financial institution for the working man rather than the wealthy. He proudly offered saving accounts and loans to immigrants that other banks refused to do business with.

Participating in today's action were members of the Raging Grannies, San Mateo Peace Action, the Coffee Party, and Common Cause. The protest was spearheaded by Take Back Democracy of San Mateo. Nearly 50 people turned out for this Day-Before-Tax-Day event.