Waggoner, editor of the feisty street paper Mating Change, told Street Spirit about the protest: "We participate in group meals. We try to make a meal every night. A local union is organizing workers at the Radisson Hotel. They had a large march which ended up at City Hall. As union leaders spoke, they acknowledged the struggle of the homeless protesters who greeted them, that our struggle was their struggle, and that if we had fair labor practices, there wouldn't be any home-
The logic is clear. Since tourist dollars fund homeless services, we must ban the homeless in order to save them.
less. They totally understood our plight."
The Santa Monica City Council has criminalized protest at City Hall by closing it at night between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.
"We've had some particularly hard nights," Waggoner.said. "On the night of May llth, it was pouring down rain outside. We were on the sidewalk, which at that time was the only legal place we could be. We were pushed to the curb, like the recyclables and the trash that the city thinks we are. As we were sitting there it started raining. So we went back on City Hall property under the overhang next to the building to get out of the rain. And the police came at 4 a.m. and forced us back into the pouring rain. We were really shocked by that."
Feinstein, who supported Waggoner
See Scapegoat City page 14