Picket CruzioWorks Friday August 16 at 1 PM in Santa Cruz

PICKET LINE AT CRUZIOWORKS

Homeless people are rousted where they sleep or sit, verbally abused in public places, stolen from by police, & officially criminalized by Mayor Bryant bogus “Public Safety” Task Force.

Now CruzioWorks, pandering to the bigoted fears of another Cruzio tenant, cuts off service for a 24 hour workspace,to Dan Madison, a paying peaceful homeless person.

1 PM FRIDAY AUGUST 16

CEDAR & CHURCH STREETS

Music Poetry Sweets Petitions Strong Words Stout Hearts

Speak Out Say No to the Fog of Fear Suffocating Santa Cruz

More Information; https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/08/18741236.php

COMMENTS

From: Brent Adams

This is a very unacceptable situation that Dan Madison has experienced.
I wonder if picketing is the best first step here.

Have you considered visiting Cruzio to facilitate a mediated conversation about what happened,  what went wrong and how to

fix the situation and create understanding?
This “picket” will only make “wrong” a company of longstanding in the community.  I assert that nothing good will come of this
picket for the general needs of homeless people and the community in general.   A protest like this would be a consideration following
the failed attempts at finding a workable understanding of what happened and ensure access to Mr. Madison and all others.
I encourage HUFF faciltate a conversation with Cruzio to get to the bottom of what happened and to see if understanding
can be created before an attack on this business happens.  I’d hate to see another homeless person be used by Robert Norse and HUFF
to attack a local business,  the community at large and all hopes of grassroots activism around homeless issues.
Brent Adams

Homeless-aphobia at CruzioWorks in Santa Cruz

NOTE BY NORSE:   The toxic impact of targeting homeless people as a Public Safety Menace seems to have invaded CruzioWorks.  The management apparently cut off service to a homeless man and his son  several hours after he had paid $300+ for a 24-hour workspace to do computer work.  Apparently the cause was some paranoid worker in the building called the police, alarmed at the son’s standing next to the two pack-laden bicycles they had with them.

When HUFF members confronted the Cruzio management, they were unable or unwilling to give any description of a rule violated, of the “incident” they were concerned about, and had nothing to justify their position except that a worker had felt “uncomfortable” (this elevated to a “public safety” concern).

Given the kind of hysteria mounted by Take Back Santa Cruz, Mayor Bryant’s Public Hysteria Citizens Task Farce,  the Library’s new Security Guards/Sleeping Ban/No Signs policies, it’s not surprising, but deeply disturbing nonetheless.  The mere presence of homeless people in public (and now private spaces even for services paid for) is being viewed with prejudice and suspicion.

I urge people to come up and demand immediate end to this apparent groundless discrimination, prompted by anonymous complaint, or boycott the CruzioWorks.  We will be circulating a petition and literature there 1 PM to 3 PM.

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/08/18741236.php

Title: Cruzio Works Bans Homeless Customer: Protest and Informational Picket
START DATE: Friday August 09
TIME: 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Location Details:
In front of Cruzio Works HQ in Downtown Santa Cruz at Church and Cedar Streets
Event Type: Other
Contact Name Robert Norse
Email Address rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com
Phone Number 831-423-4833
Address 309 Cedar PMB #14B Santa Cruz, CA 95060
The following is Dan Madison’s account of discrimination and contract breach at Cruzio Works.

Dan describes himself as a computer graphics designer with a 19-year old son. Both have disabilities and are homeless.

On Monday August 5, Dan Mattison reports he and his son Gryphon paid around $300 for a Cruzio sign-up and a Cruzio Works 24-hour workspace. He advised them that he was homeless and was told there would be no problem.

As Dan made financial arrangements, Gryphon watched the bikes, which also held their possessions, as they were temporarily parked in the storage area in the back of the Cruzio building.

At some point a woman who later turned out to be someone who worked in the building but not for Cruzio, demanded to know what they were doing there. Dan, went out to speak with her. He explained they were paying customers who had rented a 24-hour space but would be moving the bikes to a city bike storage locker (which he did shortly thereafter).

The woman said she’d already called the police and was concerned with “homeless junkies” being attracted to the area and that she had some issues with their being there at all. But her fears were apparently allayed by the fact that Dan was a paying patron of the business.

However later when Dan returned to get his key, a Cruzio employee (who refused to give her name or her superior’s name) told Dan that his membership was being revoked because of the woman’s apprehensions which she had read in an e-mail. She would not specify what particular behavior was of concern.

This is Dan’s account.

He came to a HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) meeting the next day and told us his story. We joined him in going to Cruzio to ask their side of the story.
I was present for this meeting and an audio was made.

Another woman and an escort again refused to give any specific reason why his membership had been terminated (though she said they would allow him a daytime membership on a “trial basis”). She did mention that they had a “community” there whose “safety” and “comfort” was of primary concern. She would not give any policy or act that suggested there was any violation of a rule that justified either calling the police or terminating his 24-hour membership.

HUFF members conferred outside and decided it sounded like anti-homeless discrimination. We will be setting up Cafe HUFF–an informational table with coffee to seek further information and to inform the community of what appears to be a rather sinister kind of backroom bigotry which is impacting a work-seeking homeless person, who has paid his bill.

We will be demanding that Cruzio Works restore Dan’s contract, issue a non-discrimination pledge, and further survey folks about their experiences with Cruzio Works.

Some HUFF members are pressing for a boycott of Cruzio Works (though not necessarily of Cruzio, the internet service).

The recorded interchange between Dan and the Cruzio rep on 8-7 is difficult to hear but somewhat illuminating in that Cruzio refuses to specify what rule was broken, what the complaint by a third party was, and what the “incident” consisted of.

INTERVIEW WITH DAN AND HIS SON GRYPHON ON FREE RADIO SANTA CRUZ: http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb130808.mp3

COME CHECK OUT THE PROTEST AND SHARE A CUP OF COFFEE ON FRIDAY TO FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF !

HUFF opposes passage of Palo Alto’s Living in Vehicles ordinance

FROM: Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom

309 Cedar St. PMB 14B

Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060

TO: Palo Alto City Council
250 Hamilton Avenue
Palo Alto, CA

re: Item # 17 on Action Agenda for Aug 5 2013 meeting

MC 9.06.010 “Living in Vehicles” ordinance proposal Continue reading