Upcoming City Council Debris, An Update from Sanctuary Santa Cruz 6 PM tonight 8-31-17 on 101.3 FM

Sanctuary Santa Cruz activist Jim Weller updates us on the continuing crackdown on the undocumented in Santa Cruz….a new law on the horizon for “Unreasonably Disturbing Noise”…the 2nd Reading and Final Nail in the Coffee of the Anti-Homeless Stay Away Law at the Tuesday noon meeting of the Santa Cruz City Council…and more

Current street reports and messages can be left at 831-423-4833.

The show streams on freakradio.org and archives at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb170907.mp3

For info on how to act and not just listen while gentrification galooses take over the City and drive out the poor, go to the Food Not Bombs and  Freedom Sleeper facebook pages.  Or directly to the Main Post Office, or where ever the struggle is raging.

Freedom SleepOut #113 reportedly received soup and coffee–but no report on sleepers

Volunteer to support the Homeless struggling against Dehumanization at 575-330-3377 or by meeting with folks on the street.

 

HUFF Back Wednesday 11 AM at the Sub Rosa Cafe or on the sidewalk nearby 9-6

In what may be a short small meeting, HUFFsters will gather at or near the Sub Rosa Cafe at 703 Pacific tomorrow (Wednesday September 6) at 11 AM.  On our minds:  the final vote coming up at City Council on 7-12 enlarging the cop-created Stay-Away edicts, new SCPD police chief Andy Mills–Eureka Record and Santa Cruz Direction, restarting the Vigil Against Two Wars–War on the Poor and Wars Abroad (with particular focus on Nuclear Threats against North Korea), the MHCAN question, and hopefully a spot of coffee.
If you abhor meetings and wish to work on Public Records, Help compile accounts of Police/Ranger abuses, Monitor the new Library Rules, and/or Assist in getting interviews for Free Radio broadcasts or You-Tube Postings, contact Bathrobespierre Robert at 831-423-4833.  Activists around Food Not Bombs and the Freedom Sleepers are also looking for help gathering volunteers for the support meals on Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday as well as folks who want to help homeless harassed with citations for Being Visibly Homeless.  Contact them at 575-770-3377

Recommendations for Action in the MHCAN Crisis

Recommendations for Action in the MHCAN Crisis
by Robert Norse (rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com)
Sunday Sep 3rd, 2017 6:06 PM

MHCAN has faced a crisis for the last several years with police and city agencies breathing down its neck. The management of MHCAN and its Board of Directors has chosen to pursue, largely a low-profile work-behind-the-scenes approach. There’s been little publicity about the upcoming Special Use Permit meeting of the Planning Commission which Board Chair Steve Pleich says is slated for 9-28. A month ago, I wrote the following suggestions to the community.
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Download PDF (592.5kb)


Text of the Flyer
AN APPEAL TO THE COMMUNITY TO SUPPORT MHCAN
By Robert Norse

HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) has many current and past members who have used MHCAN (Mental Health Clients Action Network) but are upset with current attacks, threats, and restrictions burdening its mission and its operation:

Demand City & County Agencies Take the Following Actions:

+++ End police collusion and surveillance with right-wing community organizations and unreasonably anxious neighbors and businesses trying to cook up “evidence” of a crime wave or public nuisance. The surveillance and heavy police presence has been frightening to clients and is an abuse of the police department’s funding and mission. We want assurances that this abusive behavior, supposedly either lessened or discontinued, will be definitely stopped and not resumed.

+++ Drop all proposed restrictive demands on MHCAN and hold public hearings on any new attempts to impose such conditions as restrictive hours, limiting daily client numbers, security guards, meeting bans, and other destructive restrictions that interfere with or work in direct opposition to its traditionally effective mission. This approach has created a hostile prison-like atmosphere at the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center and treats unhoused and disabled people like convicts.

+++ Restore autonomy to MHCAN, originally an effective client-run organization with an impressive track record for helping those in psychological distress, whatever their housing or financial status. MHCAN can and should determine its own policies and limits within normal city guidelines.

+++ Create a legal and firm policy of nondiscrimination against low-income people as well as establishing a protected class punishing violence against the unhoused as a hate crime here.

+++ Acknowledge the sidewalks, city benches, and other areas around MHCAN are public areas and restore the right of all community members to use them without fear of harassment–not subject to restriction or control by private interests, whatever their fears. Cite and prosecute real crimes. The campaign to remove visibly poor from the public domain is both unworthy and unconstitutional.

+++ Disentangle city and county funding from restrictive covenants and restore traditional practices at MHCAN generally or require public hearings to justify attempts to shrink its services.

+++ Establish in local law and policy of respecingt the rights of the disabled—whether the disability be physical or mental to include such obvious needs as the right to sleep, to use public spaces, to be secure in their persons and property, to be free from harassment by authorities and private vigilantes.

This letter reflects the views of Robert Norse and some HUFF members—and hopefully a large chunk of the informed community.

Flier by Norse of HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) 831-423-4833 http://www.huffsantacruz.org 309 Cedar 9-3-17

9:30 AM Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides Covers Lapis Road Residents Wirefire and Amber, Salinas Update from Wes White and a Flashback to June 9, 2013–Tune in at 101.3 FM or freakradio.org

Today’s Updates include Part 2 of the Amber/Wildfire Interviews of 8-31–the Deportation Day  in Lapis Road,  Part 2 of Wes White’s Salinas Update, Threats Against Poor Folks’ Pets–Report from local RV dwellers Pat and John Colby, and a lookback on Lapis Road from Displaced Activists Amber and Wildfire.

Today’s June 9, 2013 Flashback features Katenzjammer Keith McHenry on the Santa Cruz Aftermath of the Occupy Movement, Bathrobespierre Robert Norse on the Anti-Homeless Hit Parade of 2013 Laws, an Analysis of Take Back Santa Cruz, & Steve Schnaar on the SCPD Blockade of the Bike Church’s Bike Distribution to Poor Folks.   Ignore all phone numbers and meeting times except 831-423-4833.

Contact 575-770-3377 to volunteer different kinds of support for the Survival Sleepers now dispersed to the Post Office and points along Pacific Avenue  and support Food Not Bombs locally and those whose only resting place is an illegal piece of sidewalk.

Leave your comments and questions at the same number.   Still a $500 reward for any info leading to Free Radio’s finding a 10′ X 10′  studio space for Free Radio Santa Cruz to rent in Santa Cruz.

The complete original version of the June 9, 2013 flashback can be found at  http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb130609.mp3   It is considerably longer and includes more detail on Take Back Santa Cruz and further remarks by Keith McHenry.

Later in the day after the show has aired, the Sunday 9-3 show archives at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb170903.mp3.

Lapis Road Partial Victory and Assorted Updates 6 PM tonight 8-31-17 on 101.3 FM

RV dwellers in north Monterey County won an apparent stay of execution down South; interviews with Wes White, Amber Viever, and Wildfire; MHCAN updates, and obscure Phil Ochs songs.

Current street reports and messages can be left at 831-423-4833.

The show streams on freakradio.org and archives at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb170831.mp3

For info on how to act and not just listen while gentrification galooses take over the City and drive out the poor, go to the Food Not Bombs and  Freedom Sleeper facebook pages.  Or directly to the Main Post Office, or where ever the struggle is raging.

Freedom SleepOut #112 reportedly received soup and coffee–but no report on sleepers

Volunteer to support the Homeless struggling against Dehumanization at 575-330-3377 or by meeting with folks on the street.