Coming up will be interviews with Homeless Action and Advocacy Coalition activist Toby Nixon about Freedom SleepOut #28 last Tuesday, Alexis on bad conditions at Page Smith Community House, Louise Drummond and Phil Posner on Upcoming Trials for Being Outside City Hall “After Hours”, “Mad Mike the Wonder Dog” Balderos fresh out of prison, and Steve Pleich with the latest on Don Lane’s Sleeping Ban Repeal organizing. Broadcasts at 101.1 FM, streams at www.freakradio.org , archives at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/
Author Archives: huffsantacruz
HUFF will puff tomorrow as usual, Sub Rosa, 11 AM come rain or shine.
I’ll be making the HUFF meet tomorrow (1-20) with a review of the Homeless Names of the Dead from the last decade, a look-in at the Eureka situation, a HUFF take on the proposed partial elimination of the survival sleeping ban, the latest iteration of the Homeless Bill of Rights…and more…plus coffee and clamor, as well as the latest from the restless Freedom Sleepers, fresh from their Sleep #28 !
Another Storm–Another Sleep-Out! The 28th Tuesday Sidewalk Protest Outside Santa Cruz City Hall
| Title: | Storms Over Santa Cruz: Freedom SleepOut #28 at City Hall |
| START DATE: | Tuesday January 19 |
| TIME: | 5:00 PM – 5:00 AM |
| Location Details: | |
| 809 Center St.–in front of City Hall and the cover of the porches of adjacent buildings in the wake of a heavy rainstorm. Some will be spending the night on the cold concrete of the nearby sidewalks supporting survival rights for homeless people on the streets of Santa Cruz. over the harassment of First Alarm Security thugs and other “law and order” homeless-o-phobes. |
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| Event Type: | Protest |
| Private Warming Center activists, using the shelter of churches, try to do the job that City authorities refuse to do–ensure basic survival shelter for unhoused folks. Meanwhile, the Freedom Sleepers begin their 28th Tuesday of Sleeping Out, outside City Hall.
Long-time local activist Steve Schnaar hit the hammer on the head when he wrote ” the [City] Council unanimously voted for the City to collaborate with the Warming Center program…. [T]his decision by the Council is really a very small offer: the use of a City building only if no church spaces are available, and only for a maximum of five nights this winter….” “[T]he same Council also voted to increase punishments for sleeping in parks, as well as making it illegal to sleep in large vehicles.” “…[T]he City kicks them while they’re down, sending police to raid their camps, increasing penalties for the “crime” of sleeping outside, and outlawing large vehicles that many people use for shelter.” “Even with respect to daytime, waking life, the City continually restricts the use of public space by homeless people downtown, and has even condoned brazen police violence against the homeless (i.e. the inaction by the City after a SCPD officer was caught on film slamming a hand-cuffed Richard Hardy face-first into the curb).” See “MLK Day Challenge to City Council to End Homeless Repression” at http://www.indybay.org/ There will also reportedly be a Warming Center offered Tuesday night with pick-up’s at the Pearl Alley area behind Joe’s Pizza from 7 – 10 PM, spearheaded by Brent Adams and Steve Pleich. Organizers “Tussle with Terror” Toby Nixon and “Push Back” Pat Colby haven’t advised me what kind of midnight refreshments will survive the storm at the Sleep-Out. But Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz is likely to come through with something hot and life-giving. Pleich also passes on word from Eureka of an Emergency Shelter Declaration (http://eureka.granicus.com/ For more photos and homeless info go to: http://www.facebook.com/ For background and some initial links see “Freedom SleepOut #27 To Follow First 2016 Council Meeting”http://www.indybay. |
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Interviews and LookBacks on Free Radio Around Homeless Struggles 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM Sunday 1-17-16
Recent interviews with Berkeley activist Cornerstone Carol Denney, Santa Barbara’s ‘Nuff Said Nancy McCradie, and Downtown Dirtdemolisher Danny on the likely death of the 24-hour bathroom on Soquel Ave, a look back at Freedom Sleepout #12 on September 30 last year, & and a far flash-back to June 1996 when Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides was broadcast “from jail”. I spent a month in lock-up for feeding folks food in San Francisco with Food Not Bombs.
The show will air at 9:30 AM Sunday 1-17 at 101.3 FM and stream at freakradio.org . You can also catch it later archived at
http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/Flashback to 1999 on the 1-14 Free Radio edition of Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides 6-8 PM
Tune in Thursday, 6-8 PM at 101.3 FM or go to www.freakradio.org. for the mix of new and old.
http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/
An update on the Tuesday 1-12-16 City Council meeting and a flash back to March 28, 1999. We’ll be replaying: Interview with a Miami ACLU attorney on the Pottinger decision in Florida that set up Safe Sleeping Zones for unhoused folks in Miami, Florida, activist David Silva struggling to change the Sleeping Ban with “Don’t Sleep Tonight Night” and other protests–in the aftermath of the failure of a drive to end the Sleeping Ban in the Winter of 1998-99.
The show will archive at
http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/
New Year, Old Story: HUFF meets to document and challenge the usual anti-homeless harassment 11 AM 1-13 Sub Rosa
Huddling together after another mid-night rain at Freedom SleepOut #27, harried HUFFsters will huddle together sipping Sub Rosa Coffee and….
- reviewing City Council’s latest,
- continue prep for exposing First Alarm thuggery,
- reviewing former Mayor Lane’s latest Sleeping Ban reform proposal (at the same time as he votes to make parking “oversized” RV’s a crime),
- considering HUFF support for a proposed expansion of the Warming Center program at the Red Church,
- checking the latest responses from the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center,
- seeking out new allies
- among whatever else floats by!
Back Again for #27, Freedom SleepOut to Follow First Council Meeting of the Year
| Title: | Freedom SleepOut #27 To Follow First 2016 Council Meeting |
| START DATE: | Tuesday January 12 |
| TIME: | 5:00 PM – 5:00 AM |
| Location Details: | |
| With light rain predicted, Freedom Sleepers and their allies will congregate and crash in front of City Hall, on the adjacent sidewalks, and under the eaves of nearby closed buildings (like the Civic Auditorium and the Library) until dawn. | |
| Event Type: | Protest |
| Contact Name | Toby Nixon (posted by Norse) |
| Email Address | tobynixon [at] gms.com |
| HOMELESS-HOSTILE CITY COUNCIL RETURNS City Council chairwarmers return well-rested from a Xmas vacation while the homeless community continues to face rain, wind, cold, vigilante and police harassment, and the loss of property that comes with being vulnerable outside. FREEDOM SLEEPER GOALS Unofficial accounts suggest that former Mayor Don Lane will be following up on his October facebook intention to move that City Council strike all mention of “sleeping” from the City’s Camping Ordinance. While still providing no legal places on public property for the 1500-2000 City homeless to sleep at night. This preliminary change has long been sought by homeless activists–from HUFF and other organizations making up the Freedom Sleepers including Food Not Bombs, Homeless Advocacy and Action Coalition, Homeless Depot, and the Homeless Persons Health Project. GLOOMY AGENDA FOR THE HOMELESS The report proposes no support for such survival centers (even to the limited extent of opening up unused vacant buildings) unless the County and private sources move first. The reactionary staff reaction is no secret & holds no surprises. The staff and their captive City Council have refused to open vacant buildings throughout the wet cold winter. The two items are expected to come up between 3 and 4 PM, with the usual “we ain’t listening, but talk for two minutes if you’d like” Oral Communications around 5 PM SECURITY THUGS HARASS HOMELESS IN STORM Around 4 AM Toby reports being accosted and awakened by a sadistic First Alarm Security Guard, apparently eager to assert his authority. See “Sleepouts at Santa Cruz City Hall Advance to 2016” at http://www.indybay.org/ 24-HOUR BATHROOM SHUT RED CHURCH PASTOR LEAVING TOP POST
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Long Show–Half New, Half 2002 Flashback–for Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides on Free Radio 9:30 AM 1-10-16
Recent Interviews with Eugene’s “Dangerous John” Thielking, Psych Prisoner Rebekah Mills, a review of some of Tuesday’s first-of-the-year City Council meetings with its “no parking for big RV’s if the big Traffic Engineer sez”, little hope for Warming Centers, etc., and a replay of the August 7, 2002 show in the midst of the fight against the Downtown Ordinances with Street Spirit editor Terry Messman on “With the Homeless Behind Bars in Sacramento” and SF Coalition on Homelessness activist L.S. Wilson on the “Care Not Cash” scam backed by Gavin Newsom.
The show will air at 9:30 AM today at 101.3 FM and stream at www.freakradio.org . You can also catch it later archived at
http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/Looking Back on Freedom Sleepout #26 in Santa Cruz Last Tuesday
Sleepouts at Santa Cruz City Hall Advance to 2016
by Alex Darocy ( alex [at] alexdarocy.com )
Friday Jan 8th, 2016 6:00 PM
Friday Jan 8th, 2016 6:00 PM
Homeless individuals returned to sleep at Santa Cruz City Hall on January 5 for the twenty-sixth community sleepout. Facing intermittent downpours of rain, some slept in a large tent on the sidewalk in front of the city hall courtyard. Signs attached to the tent read, “No Sleep Til Justice.” Some individuals successfully slept under the eaves of the city offices building itself, which is a no-trespassing zone at night. One person slept directly on city hall’s brick walkway with out a blanket. Regardless of the sleep location, it is illegal to sleep in Santa Cruz anywhere in public between the hours of 11 pm and 8:30 am.
Since July 4, community members, many of them calling themselves “Freedom Sleepers,” have been organizing the sleepouts one night a week at City Hall to protest laws that criminalize homelessness and the simple act of sleeping.
Initially they attempted to sleep on the lawn in the courtyard area of city hall, which is also a no trespassing zone at night. In response, police conducted raids at nearly every one of their sleepouts. After many were cited and or arrested in the courtyard, the sleepers moved the location of their sleep-protest to the sidewalk in front of city hall. Eventually the police raids subsided.
To keep the courtyard free of sleepers, the city has instead chosen to hire all night security patrols, who often stand watch over the sleepers for hours at a time. Staying up all night has weighed heavy on some of the guards, who are employed by First Alarm Security Services. Several guards have been caught sleeping in their cars (see: http://www.indybay.org/
According to reports from the Freedom Sleepers, there were transgressions from the guards at the last sleepout as well.
Toby Nixon, of the Homeless Advocacy & Action Coalition, said that at about 4 am on January 6, a First Alarm security guard began to shine a bright light on the activists’ tent and attempted to initiate a “conversation” with the individuals inside it. After exiting the tent, Nixon says he insisted the security guard stop harassing them as they attempted to sleep. He claims the guard responded that he was working there and that it was his right to do whatever he wished.
According to Nixon the First Alarm guard left after some coaxing, and the sleepers inside made it through another night at Santa Cruz City Hall.
For more information about the Homeless Advocacy & Action Coalition, see:
http://www.facebook.com/
For more information about the Freedom Sleepers, see:
Freedom Sleepers
http://freedomsleepers.org/
http://www.facebook.com/
Alex Darocy
http://alexdarocy.blogspot.
§Two sleepers under the eaves of city hall during the January 5 protest
by Alex Darocy Friday Jan 8th, 2016 6:00 PM
Comments (Hide Comments)
Again, a tip of the hat to the dedication of phorographer/journalist Alex Darocy, whose photos involve braving wind and weather at early hours of the morning when most of us are in bed under a roof, myself included.
Sleeping on the sidewalk, as Alex points out, is itself illegal after 11 PM under the City’s Sleeping Ban (MC 6.36.010a) with a $158 fine (when court fees are tacked on). Virtually no tickets have been given out for late-night sleeping–even when folks were sleeping on what was once the grassy City Hall lawn (now torn up and taped off by vigilant city authorities).
Instead, the vast majority of the tickets were for “being in a closed area’, which was, conveniently enough, the City Hall grounds. The City Hall grounds were declared “closed” 10 PM – 6 AM in response to a peaceful but persistent (nightly) protest against the very same Sleeping Ban back in 2010 (“Challenging the Darkness: Peacecamp2010 goes on as the Repression Deepens” at http://www.indybay.org/
The decree closing City Hall grounds at night by Parks and Recreation Director Dannettee Shoemaker will come under court scrutiny in demurrers filed by activists ticketed under MC 13.04.011c (being in a closed area) in court. One such argument was already rejected by BasementLevel Baskett, the balefully biased bailiff of Courtroom 10 in the case of Monterey Max. Other cases will be appearing Departments 1 and 2 (Call HUFF–Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom–for more info at 831-423-4833).
In my recent cases, junior City Attorney Reed Gallogly has refused to dismiss two such charges, even though I’ve pointed out that the City implicitly acknowledged the accuracy of the “agenda” defense. That defense affects any and all Freedom Sleepers and their supporters who were ticketed for “being on the city hall grounds after 10 PM: whether sleeping or not. The defense involves the fact that the City’s “closed” City Council area up to two weeks ago included the only spot in the City where its 24-hour agendas were posted, making the closing a violation of the Brown (Open and Accessible Public Meetings) Act. This is true since there’s nowhere else in the City that the agendas can be viewed physically for a 72-hour period before the agendaized meetings 24 hours a day as required by law.
Gallogly’s refusal to dismiss the charges seems to be part of a hard-liner strategy designed to punish the protesters’ use of their First Amendment rights to embarrass a City which makes sleeping and survival camping a crime after 11 PM, while providing no shelter to its 1500-2000 homeless folks. The 100-cot Winter Armory shelter hardly fills the bill. Gallogly has also declined to agree to a delay in trial for one activist undergoing heart surgery, insisting he “tell it to the judge”.
TO ADD YOUR OWN COMMENTS, GO TO https://www.indybay.org/
Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides Today at 6 PM features a FLASHBACK show to January 2003
As well as stirring memories of yesteryear, the show features a long interview with the last (and well-intended) chair–Mark Halfmoon–of the Santa Cruz Citizen’s Police Review Board right after it was decapitated by the Mathews-Rotkin City Council.
This destruction of the CPRB was done, I’m thinking, to eliminate any public discussion of the Selective Enforcement issue involving harassment of poor people and musicians on Pacific Avenue under the newly-expanded Downtown Ordinances (making almost all the space illegal to table or play or vend in). The matter excited significant public anger and had passed the Board. It was supposed to reach the City Council agenda, but that was frustrated by then-Mayor Emily Reilly who improperly blocked it. Reilly is the same woman who now runs Emily’s Good Things to Eat, a bakery at Laurel and Mission. She was elected as a “progressive” and progressed to destroy even the weak board overseeing the SCPD.
The show will air at 6 PM today at 101.3 FM and stream at freakradio.org . You can also catch it later archived at
http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/