Appeal Denied; Peace Camp 2010 Back at the Courthouse

Frey informed Free Radio Santa Cruz of the Camp's relocation by phone around 7:40 PM last night during my regular "Bathrobespierre's Broadsides" broadcast. That decision and the discussion it provoked with City Council candidate Steve Pleight and former camp stalwart Curbhugger Chris Doyon is archived at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb100923.mp3 .

PC2010 sleeper Gary Johnson was jailed last night around 3 AM after receiving two tickets for "continued sleeping" on the sidewalk in front of City Hall. The City Hall grounds have been barred to protesters at night, as has the library grounds across the street--though there were no reports of vandalism or any other crimes there. Johnson was arrested, caught a nap on a bench in the jail, and was released two hours later, at which point, he says, he returned to the City Hall sidewalk to resume his night's rest.

This may indicate a new strategy by the SCPD, to arrest sleepers protesting the City's anti-homeless Sleeping Ban, if they continue to sleep after having been wakened by police. Since shelters are full, police have no place to send sleepers, and some have called the wake-up's a direct violation of the right to privacy, a form of torture banned by international law, and a transparent "drive the poor out of sight" tactic designed to reassure merchants searching for convenient scapegoats in the current depression.

Gary was also arraigned earlier yesterday on charges of "illegal lodging", the state penal code (647e) being used to harass and criminalize the Sleeping Ban protesters. Art F., who had been held in jail on bail for "chronic sleeping" was able to get the judge to modify his OR condition, which for a month had banned him from protesting at City Hall and the Courthouse along with other PC2010 because of his "criminal" nighttime sleeping there. Ed Frey now has 5 "illegal lodger" cases including Gary, Chris, Collette, Art, and himself. Public defenders are also reportedly extremely interested in the cases.

PC2010 supporters have held hour-long discussions with Councilmembers Beiers and Lane in the last two days, to be aired Sunday on FRSC (Beiers at 8:30 AM, Lane at 10:30 AM, or possibily on a later broadcast). Neither Councilmember has given a commitment to expose and correct police and city staff abuses such as closing down public spaces illegally, seizing homeless property, confiscating political signs and tables, and setting up sleep-destroying klieg lights at night. Both Councilmembers voted for harsher penalties for the homeless for repeated violations of the Sleeping Ban and refused to reverse those votes--which essentially make the Sleeping Ban a misdemeanor offense if 3 tickets have been sent to "Failure to Pay" status.

A new "dismissing tickets only for those on the shelter waiting list" amendment to the Camping Ordinance is coming up for a final vote at City Council on Tuesday.
Lane and Beiers indicated they wouldn't support Frey's demand that police be required to contact the HSC each night to see if there are actually beds available (which the HSC has acknowledged is infrequently the case) and then not issue citations if there are no beds. The rationale here is that tickets would be that the court dismisses ticket under the "necessity defenses" anyway because of the ongoing lack of shelter, so the issuance of those tickets in the first place is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. Such was determined to be the case in the Jones case in Los Angeles in 2007. The city is under court order not to enforce its Sleeping Ban, as is San Diego. Santa Cruz's City Attorney, City Council, and new City Manager have refused to change the City's law to stop police harassment of the homeless community at night.

In an extended phone conversation yesterday, Homeless Services Center Executive Director Monica Martinez said she would take a number of concerns back to her staff and Board--including the proposal that the HSC issue receipts indicating that a person was on their waiting list, a clarification of what excludes you from the waiting list and how many are excluded, as well as other concerns.

Martinez did not acknowledge that the HSC's new requirement to be on a waiting list was added after the establishment of PC 2010 as an apparent anti-protest response. She said she would confer with her staff and Board of Directors regarding restoring the old policy (though she said she'd thought that had always been the policy). The Board of Directors regular monthly meeting was last night. Martinez asked that I not distort or misstate her position, though she provided no specifics as to where this had been done in the past. I suggested that I'd be happy to correct any errors if they were brought to my attention.

The HSC has so far refused to provide a broader letter--requested by PC2010 supporters at the HSC Board meeting in August. The letter would acknowledge that from April 15 to November 15, there are generally no beds available for "walk-in"'s The waiting list, according to Martinez is 2-6 weeks and 40-60 people long. There may be 2-3 walk-in's beds available each week if staff can't find people at the Center to take them. That makes an average of 60 beds over the 4-15 to 11-15 period (each available only for a period of three months total for any person during that time) fpr an estimated 1500-2000 homeless population in Santa Cruz, all of whom face potential ticketing under the 11 PM to 8:30 AM Sleeping Ban (MC 6.36.010a).

In response to the Facer appeal and perhaps to increase their visibility, PC2010sters have relocated back to area in front of the Courthouse, where they had previously slept and protested for a month. The downtown's only all-night portapotty moved with them and will be available there. The City staff closed the portapotties set up by Bathroom Task Force in 1999 (affectionately known as the Krohn Krapper Kommission) and never established public bathrooms as proposed by the City Council a decade ago.

Claims by Mayor Rotkin and others that vandalism, drug use, and prostitution stop the city from providing adequate sanitation facilities seems to be belied by PC2010's experience. I've never heard of any of those problems there (though the thing does get so much use it becomes quite funky in the 24 hours before it's emptied each week).

Frey also announced that the protest would be a nighttime only affair. An 8 PM to 8 AM protest that would be gone by dawn (or soon thereafter). As of 4:40 AM, I'd received no reports of sheriff or police harassment. Prior the sheriff crackdown at PC2010 in early August, the area provided a safe sleeping spot for dozens of homeless people with no legal place to go.

More info may be available at http://www.peacecamp2010.blogspot.com . Those seeking to restore the right to sleep legally in Santa Cruz can also be contacted directly at PC2010 at 701 Ocean St. in front of the courthouse from 8 PM to 8 AM.