Council's Repressive Eviction of a Critic Hits the 9th Circuit Court Again

My object is to try the City Council publicly in court to hold them accountable for their misconduct and deter future repression. The situation has actually gotten worse over the last 8 years with shorter public comment periods, far fewer evening sessions, ignoring or shortcircuiting city commissions, and unique gag rules for the important Consent Agenda period. On the streets, the effect of this kind of closed government by staff is more cops, more repressive laws, more gentrification, and more harassment of the homeless and poor.

The case has been up the court ladder twice already, with Judge White refusing to have a trial, and the Court of Appeals initially reversing him, then--on the second occasion--supporting him. Now a larger panel has thrown out the higher court's decision and will decide itself if I get a trial to hold city officials, the SCPD, and the City accountable for its bad behavior.

Attorneys David Beauvais and Kate Wells will be speaking to the panel on Tuesday morning. It'll be covered live--but only broadcast to three federal court viewing rooms. Afterwards, however, the audio should be available on line.

The court may then take anywhere from a month to a year to decide these rare cases. It's then likely that either we or the City will appeal a decision to the U.S. Supreme Court--which, I'm told, has a good shot of getting there.

After that, if we win, it's back to Judge's White court for the long-delayed civil jury trial of Mayors Krohn, Mayor Fitzmaurice, and Sgt. Baker.

I did a radio interview with Thomas Leavitt on Free Radio about the case with attorney David Beauvais discussing the case in detail. That should be archived by 6-21 at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb100620.mp3

Audio of the earlier 9th Circuit Court Hearing finding against me, links to the video, and general discussion of the issue can be found at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/16/18608384.php .

A fairly decent interview with A.P. report Paul Elias resulted in the following story: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_15333443 . It actually gets to the point--that the City Council's concern is silencing criticism about the homeless issue.

The Santa Cruz City Council is continuing its crackdown on homeless people as well

See "Nasty new ordinance making Sleeping Ban Tickets misdemeanors Tuesday 3 PM at City Council" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/19/18651270.php

and "City Attorney Barisone's Attack on 2 Homeless: Sentinel Smear and Activist Response" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/06/17/18651014.php