Tim's remarks were originally published as a comment under my story "More Police Punishing the Poor in the Pogonip" on January 9th. at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/09/ 18345207.phpshow_comments=1#18347013 .

Since then, Parks and Recreation Dept. boss Shoemaker has refused my Public Records Act request to release the specific citations showing the "illegal activity" that justifies throwing $700,000 and a quadrupled police force at survival homeless campers.

HUFF, the Human Rights Organization, and Tim's Humanity for Homeless are all working through the 265 anti-homeless camping tickets issued by Ranger John Wallace over the last half year. We paid $75 to get copies of all these tickets. Hopefully we can issue a report on them soon. Wallace maliciously or carelessly gave many of the tickets for times when the activity cited (covering up with blankets, a kind of "camping" under MC 6.36.010b) was completely legal, even under the bigoted and abusive language of the law he was supposedly enforcing.

Local ACLU attorney Don Zimmerman, though still tracking the matter and writing letters to the larger northern California ACLU organization, has not to our knowledge acted on our request to speak out publicly and mobilize support for poor people facing a direct denial of their 8th Amendment rights (the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment).

As has been mentioned before, more than 45 homeless people died in 2006--some of them could have been saved, we believe, if they had been living in communal camps where they could help each other.

Attorneys in San Francisco and Washington D.C. have expressed sympathy and interest in advising and/or assisting in a lawsuit to bring a renegade city attorney and city council back under the constitution and restore survival camping rights to vulnerable homeless people.

HRO activists Bob Patton and Bernard Klitzner met with Mayor Emily Reilly last Thursday. She indicated the City would continue to ticket and arrest homeless people in spite of the historic Jones decision in Los Angeles, which has stopped such arrests in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Richmond. Listen to the interview at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb.html under 07-01-18--January 18, 2007.

We also hope to return to City Attorney Barisone's office on Church St. and Vice-Mayor Coonerty's Bookshop Santa Cruz store downtown to demand these public officials follow the law and the Constitution. These are possible sites for a sleep-out or camp-in, as well.

Tim's remarks below, he tells us, represent a first draft of a more specific plan and call to action.

He can be reached through his blog at http://www.humanityforhomeless.blogspot.com, at the meal he distributes every Monday night 6-8 PM in front of New Leaf Market in downtown Santa Cruz on Pacific Avenue, or at the HUFF (Wednesdays 9:30 AM- 11:30 AM, American Cafe at 701 Ocean St. in the basement of the County Building) or the HRO (Saturdays 1:45-2:45 PM at the Dining Bay of the Homeless Services Center at 115 Coral St.) meetings.



MAYBE IT'S TIME TO STAND UP

I know its easy to say and hard to do, but I really feel its time for some real direct action with the homeless and concerned activists and people to get involved. Its hard to get anyone to take such action and with the homeless its even more difficult, they are busy surviving or may have warrants -- there are many issues that make convincing the homeless to stand up against the war on poverty, which is what it is.

I do not believe that ending the sleeping ban or changing ordinances will happen through using the system, its a war. It does help to fight it anyway you can but its been long enough. I do believe the homeless can stand up and what we need to is something like this, please bare with this, it is an idea and not a perfectly thought out one I use it to make a point.

1) Organize a camp out at Pogonip; we make a camp in plane sight. We name it and have clear goals with a mission statement. It will be a protest camp and as large as possible. We have clear goals, a posted mission statement.

2) We fill it with activists and homeless with cheap disposable cameras for all. Some will bring better cameras and video.

3) We post signs to make it clear we are protesting. We have things there of value… Eventually we will get kicked out but we stick it out until they force us, we all take the tickets or go to jail so we can fight them. If they destroy property we take pictures. If we have to go to jail we do - unless during organizing we find it would benefit us more to use sleeping ban tickets better then resisting arrest.

4) We watch Ranger Wallace who has given out more sleeping ban tickets then all the city cops combined, mostly in the Pogonip while were camping. We document and get evidence of property abuse and civil and human rights abuse as they did in Fresno, which Robert and Mike Rhodes have written about here on Indybay.

5) We camp responsibly and help and teach / promote others to do the same. We have teach ins on camping responsibly and campers forming there own clean up crews who become sort of stewards of this beautiful area.

6) We clean up trash while we're there.

7) We get as much media as we possible can.

8) We use tactics such as handcuffing yourself to a tree or whatever your willing to do.

Getting the homeless to do this is hard but I have faith and have talked to many who are willing to take such an action. It will take allot of willing people.

I am willing are you?

TIM RUMFORD

http://humanityforhomeless.blogspot.com/