Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Calling on Vice-Mayor Coonerty at the Bookshop Sunday 2 PM 9-9-07--the Protest Continues
We press on with the campaign to contact the inaccessible Vice-Mayor Ryan Coonerty, manager/worker at the Bookshop. We'll urge shoppers to talk with Coonerty, suggesting their dollars will go elsewhere if he continues to back laws that criminalize the poor, like the City's Sleeping Ban. We'll also be signing up volunteers, seeking donations for the lawsuit against the Sleeping Ban, looking for plaintiffs, and encouraging folks to attend City Council meeting this coming Tuesday at 7 PM. 1520 Pacific Ave in downtown Santa Cruz
Also Featured: Guerrilla theater involving panhandling plumbers and justice-seeking janitors, who are volunteering to clean-up the mess at City Hall and at Coonerty's bookstore. Coonerty has accused the protesters of "creating a climate" where his bathrooms are vandalized. Coonerty, in his three years as Councilmember, has still not opened up a 24-hour bathroom.
We will also be discussing and preparing for a potential Sleep-Out at City Hall either at the first Council meeting of the year on Tuesday, September 11th. or at the 2nd Council meeting on Spetember 25th. The Sleep-Out will coincide with anti-war protest as Congress ducks its obligation to stop funding for the war in HUFF"s Vigil Against Two Wars (the War on the Poor and the War Against Iraq).
See http://indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/01/18445294.php for more details of the ongoing Coonerty protest.
This item was originally posted as a calendar item but never appeared on the indybay calendar.
We will also be discussing and preparing for a potential Sleep-Out at City Hall either at the first Council meeting of the year on Tuesday, September 11th. or at the 2nd Council meeting on Spetember 25th. The Sleep-Out will coincide with anti-war protest as Congress ducks its obligation to stop funding for the war in HUFF"s Vigil Against Two Wars (the War on the Poor and the War Against Iraq).
See http://indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/01/18445294.php for more details of the ongoing Coonerty protest.
This item was originally posted as a calendar item but never appeared on the indybay calendar.
Add Your Comments
Comments (Hide Comments)
"This item was originally posted as a calendar item but never appeared on the indybay calendar."
Do you think this might be it?
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/08/18446324.php
Do you think this might be it?
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/09/08/18446324.php
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: clytia fuller
> To: huffsantacruz [at] yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 5:38 PM
> Subject: [huffsantacruz] Bathroom vandalism
>
> Again, today, the men's bathroom at Bookshop Santa Cruz has been vandalized with smeared excrement. I'm guessing this was not done by actual customers. Please do your best to pass the word, and let's all work to get this stopped. We'd really like to keep the bathrooms open to the public. thx for yr help.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com
> To: clytia [at] cruzio.com, huffsantacruz [at] yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 10:33 PM
> Subject: [huffsantacruz] Bathroom vandalism
Thanks, Clytia, for keeping us updated. We spoke today at the table in front of the Bookshop.
For the info of HUFF activists, Clytia advised us that there was a significant increase in bathroom vandalism--specifically three incidents of feces smearing--in the last few months (presumably during the same period of time our protest has been going on--for the last 7-8 weeks or so).
Clytia made it clear, as the tone of her e-mail indicates, that she doesn't blame us for the bathroom-vandalizing behavior of a few. I appreciate this and explained to her that we don't blame the employees for the Coonerty ban of activists for political speech on the public sidewalk.
It would be nice, of course, if the staff could persuade Ryan to publicly come out for 24-hour public bathrooms to be opened up---as have been needed for decades--and advocate forcefully for that position. (The costly round-the-clock self-cleaning bathroom/kiosk is stalled at City Council because other merchants don't want it located near their store) Ryan doesn seem to have taken much interest in this issue.
And while we are all pleased that Ryan and Neal have generally kept the bookshop's bathrooms open (through vandalism and misuse, both now and in the past), it's both unfair to them and inappropriate to have no public bathrooms open for this purpose.
As Councilmember and Supervisor respectively, their responsibility is to act on this matter, rather than focusing on more police harassment in the Pogonip, higher salaries for politicians, etc.
We don't blame Clytia or other Bookshop Santa Cruz staff for Ryan and Neal Coonerty's abusive political positions criminalizing homeless people at night or failing to address public sanitation problems.
In fact, I would argue to other HUFFsters that if the staff of the Bookshop Santa Cruz voted for and posted in their window a statement that they disagree with their boss and oppose the oppressive Sleeping Ban law, we might act to suspend the boycott. The purpose of this informational picketing is not to hurt employees but to challenge the politicians whose positions hurt poor people each night.
I would also suggest the best way to address these issues is not to ban critics and arrest people for sleeping at night, but to engage in open dialogue, invite people into the Bookshop to discuss these issues, and genuinely move to take action on them.
Raising the issue of vandalized bathrooms in isolation (without looking to open public bathrooms or recognizing that Coonerty's intransigence on this issue adds to the climate of hostility) is strangely reminiscent of SCPD Officer Zack Friend's smears of the homeless campers at City Hall in the Sunday Sentinel.
In that story [http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/August/19/ local/stories/03local.htm], the SCPD nor the Sentinel smear the homeless with bathroom vandalism accusations ignoring the fact that Mayor Reilly, Vice-Mayor Coonerty, and City Manager Dick Wilson refused to open the city bathroom at night, though the homeless protesters agreed to monitor and clean it.
I urge HUFFsters to respect those who open their bathrooms to the public--as the Bookshop Santa Cruz does--and encourage them to continue to do so.
And thanks to Clytia for coming out to talk to us and sending us her e-mail.
Robert Norse
(423-4833)
---------- Original Message -----------
From: "Becky Johnson"
To: "clytia fuller"
Sent: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 14:39:05 -0700
Subject: Re: [huffsantacruz] Bathroom vandalism
> I had nothing to do with the vandalism. I oppose vandalism.
> I have always praised BSSC for keeping its bathrooms open
> to the public. Why I am "banned permanently" for this problem
> and falsely connected to it is an injustice.
>
> ---Becky Johnson of HUFF
From: Clytia Fuller
To: Becky Johnson
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 3:10 PM
Subject: Re: [huffsantacruz] Bathroom vandalism
I don't think your being "banned" has anything to do with our current problem. but you'll have to take that up with Ryan.
--clytia
> From: clytia fuller
> To: huffsantacruz [at] yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 5:38 PM
> Subject: [huffsantacruz] Bathroom vandalism
>
> Again, today, the men's bathroom at Bookshop Santa Cruz has been vandalized with smeared excrement. I'm guessing this was not done by actual customers. Please do your best to pass the word, and let's all work to get this stopped. We'd really like to keep the bathrooms open to the public. thx for yr help.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com
> To: clytia [at] cruzio.com, huffsantacruz [at] yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 10:33 PM
> Subject: [huffsantacruz] Bathroom vandalism
Thanks, Clytia, for keeping us updated. We spoke today at the table in front of the Bookshop.
For the info of HUFF activists, Clytia advised us that there was a significant increase in bathroom vandalism--specifically three incidents of feces smearing--in the last few months (presumably during the same period of time our protest has been going on--for the last 7-8 weeks or so).
Clytia made it clear, as the tone of her e-mail indicates, that she doesn't blame us for the bathroom-vandalizing behavior of a few. I appreciate this and explained to her that we don't blame the employees for the Coonerty ban of activists for political speech on the public sidewalk.
It would be nice, of course, if the staff could persuade Ryan to publicly come out for 24-hour public bathrooms to be opened up---as have been needed for decades--and advocate forcefully for that position. (The costly round-the-clock self-cleaning bathroom/kiosk is stalled at City Council because other merchants don't want it located near their store) Ryan doesn seem to have taken much interest in this issue.
And while we are all pleased that Ryan and Neal have generally kept the bookshop's bathrooms open (through vandalism and misuse, both now and in the past), it's both unfair to them and inappropriate to have no public bathrooms open for this purpose.
As Councilmember and Supervisor respectively, their responsibility is to act on this matter, rather than focusing on more police harassment in the Pogonip, higher salaries for politicians, etc.
We don't blame Clytia or other Bookshop Santa Cruz staff for Ryan and Neal Coonerty's abusive political positions criminalizing homeless people at night or failing to address public sanitation problems.
In fact, I would argue to other HUFFsters that if the staff of the Bookshop Santa Cruz voted for and posted in their window a statement that they disagree with their boss and oppose the oppressive Sleeping Ban law, we might act to suspend the boycott. The purpose of this informational picketing is not to hurt employees but to challenge the politicians whose positions hurt poor people each night.
I would also suggest the best way to address these issues is not to ban critics and arrest people for sleeping at night, but to engage in open dialogue, invite people into the Bookshop to discuss these issues, and genuinely move to take action on them.
Raising the issue of vandalized bathrooms in isolation (without looking to open public bathrooms or recognizing that Coonerty's intransigence on this issue adds to the climate of hostility) is strangely reminiscent of SCPD Officer Zack Friend's smears of the homeless campers at City Hall in the Sunday Sentinel.
In that story [http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/August/19/ local/stories/03local.htm], the SCPD nor the Sentinel smear the homeless with bathroom vandalism accusations ignoring the fact that Mayor Reilly, Vice-Mayor Coonerty, and City Manager Dick Wilson refused to open the city bathroom at night, though the homeless protesters agreed to monitor and clean it.
I urge HUFFsters to respect those who open their bathrooms to the public--as the Bookshop Santa Cruz does--and encourage them to continue to do so.
And thanks to Clytia for coming out to talk to us and sending us her e-mail.
Robert Norse
(423-4833)
---------- Original Message -----------
From: "Becky Johnson"
To: "clytia fuller"
Sent: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 14:39:05 -0700
Subject: Re: [huffsantacruz] Bathroom vandalism
> I had nothing to do with the vandalism. I oppose vandalism.
> I have always praised BSSC for keeping its bathrooms open
> to the public. Why I am "banned permanently" for this problem
> and falsely connected to it is an injustice.
>
> ---Becky Johnson of HUFF
From: Clytia Fuller
To: Becky Johnson
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 3:10 PM
Subject: Re: [huffsantacruz] Bathroom vandalism
I don't think your being "banned" has anything to do with our current problem. but you'll have to take that up with Ryan.
--clytia
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$ 117.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network