Author Archives: huffsantacruz

HUFFing In Stormy Weather: 11 AM Sub Rosa 703 Pacific Wednesday April 27th

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HUFFsters shaking off sleep from Freedom SleepOut #42 will be looking into the anti-homeless Bathroom Lockdown, the ongoing Salinas City Hall SleepOut nightly at their City Hall against the “set down your bag during the day and lose it” law, the soon-to-surface Vanish the Vendors law coming back to City Council, the new front of resistance opened up by artists Alex and Joff on Pacific Avenue, as well as whatever we can cram in that doesn’t get in the way of some concrete action.  

Come early at 10 AM to work on Freedom SleepOut #43 with Toby Nixon.

 

Sleepers and Gardeners Unite? Freedom SleepOut #42 on April 26th at City Hall.

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Support Beach Flats Garden Defenders Then Defend the Right to Sleep– Freedom SleepOut #42
Date Tuesday April 26
Time 5:00 PM – 5:00 AM
Location Details
Outside, Inside, and Outside City Council at Church and Center across from the Main Library in Downtown Santa Cruz
Event Type Protest
Contact Name Toby Nixon (post by Norse)
Email Address tobynixon [at] gms.com

BEACH FLATS GARDEN FIGHT-BACK?
The 7 PM Session of the City Council will “consider” a Beach Flats Garden Update and Recommendations with a motion to accept the staff’s sell-out of 1/3rd of the Garden and direct them to continue to “work on” a long-term plan—as they’ve colluded in bulldozing 1/3rd of the garden in collusion with the Seaside Company.

An earlier meeting at 1:30 at closed session involving negotiating the lease for the Garden with the Seaside Company smooth-and-slippery City Manager Martin Bernal is a more likely plae where the real action will happen. The main part of the session is closed to the public (go figure!). However, there is an “open interval” at 1:30 for public comment which can be attended, though it’s not clear whether advocates for the garden will be there in any numbers.

At prior meetings Beach Flats supporters have rolled in in record numbers and then rolled out—letting Council and the slimy staff proceed along its sell-out path.
Councilmember Posner has circulated a constituent letter [relevant parts of which are attached below] noting he plans an eminent domain motion with the City forcing the Seaside Company to sell the Garden (over the recommendation of the City’s staff, of course).

Those interested in Metro cutbacks and hiway widening giveaways might also be interested in checking out item #21 on the afternoon agenda.

IGNORING HOMELESS ISSUES BY “STUDYING” THEM
Unmentioned by Posner is item #20 the “Homeless Coordinated Non-Response” (actually titled “Response”—but that’s false advertising).

This is a phony face-saving proposal to “study” a Homeless Task Force proposal and to shift responsibility for the City’s punitive laws to the County. It’s the latest non-action taken in response to the crisis faced by the unhoused community (and so to the trembling NIMBY and merchant communities fearful of their visible presence).

The crisis: the Winter Armory Shelter closed earlier this month and with it the end of all walk-up emergency shelter for the spring, summer, and fall for the City’s 1000-2000 folks outside. Instead of putting on the agenda proposals for safe places to sleep proposed by Phil Posner and Steve Pleich (a very limited proposal), the staff is doing cosmetic cover by proposing more “direction” and consideration of a joint City-County Task Force to restudy the obvious.

EARLIER RELEVANT PROPOSALS IGNORED
See the clear proposals of the former Homeless Issues Task Force at http://sccounty01.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/bds/Govstream/BDSvData/non_legacy/agendas/2000/20000502/PDF/020.pdf which include, of course, ending the Camping Ban.

HUFF described that Task Force as a “farce” 16 years ago because its intent and effect was to divert then-powerful activist energy. Its ultimate proposals, though, were good ones—largely ignored by City Councils since in favor of punitive police funding. Such diverting is actually unnecessary now that Don Lane’s “troops” have all disappeared over the hills or into focus groups and Posner has remained silent.

Still the 2000 Homeless Issues Task Force report contains many relevant and powerful suggestions which need to be actively advanced, not ignored with the same ground being “studied” again.

DEFENDING THE ARTISTS AND RECLAIMING PUBLIC SPACE ON PACIFIC
Meanwhile downtown HUFF set up its protest table right next to artists Alex Skelton and Joff Jones—who continue to refuse to be “blue boxed” on Pacific Avenue and refuse to “move along”. Their court cases come up in May. See “Pacific Avenue Santa Cruz: The Joff Jones and Alex Skelton Report on Freedom in the USA” at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/25/18785582.php

 City Council’s “Vaporize the Vendors” law will not be coming up until the first meeting in May. Will the courageous action of Alex and Joff and others like them make the Council’s threats a laughing stock?

ESTABLISHING SLEEP SPACE ON THE SIDEWALK AND THE BRICKS
Freedom Sleepers #42 will continue to have Troublemaker Toby livestreaming any untoward police and security thug behavior Tuesday night. Limited quantities of food and drink are likely.

Toby will meet with interested activists at 10 AM Wednesday morning at the Sub Rosa to review the night’s events and strategize for the night ahead. The regular HUFF meeting will be at 11 AM there as usual.

Though citations have reportedly been given in the last week around the library building, Freedom Sleepers on Tuesday have been pointedly ignored by the armed Ticketeers.

Contact HUFF at 831-423-4833 if you wish to join, organize, or support protests.

For more info on the Freedom Sleepers, go to: http://www.facebook.com/groups/freedomsleepers/ and/or http://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=AAA%20Freedom%20Sleepers

LEAVE COMMENTS AT https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/25/18785621.php 

408-582-4152

 

 

 

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Salinas City Hall SleepOut, Supes Constrict-Cannabis-Cultivating, Joff and Alex Solidarity protests–on Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides 9:30 AM today Sunday 4-24-16

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A show with no flashbacks !  Pacific Avenue Protest Solidarity with Arrested Freedom Artists Joff Jones and Alex Skelton..Street Interviews with Gary Currey, racially harassed for sleeping…Thursday interview on Alex & Joff’s recent arrest..Earlier Joff interview on their August 2015 arrest…Nick Bulaich’s Danger Report from Cannabis Negative Board of Supervisors …Red Church Interviews…Freedom SleepOut #41 Interviews…Wes White’s Extensive Salinas Update on the Month-long Sleepout outside their City Hall…and more!

The show broadcasts at 101.3 FM and streams on the internet at freakradio.org at 9:30 AM – 2:00 PM (April 24).  It will archive at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb160424.mp3.

FRSC’s Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides Flashes Back to June 22, 2000: Heated Debates and Angry Analysis

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Tonight’s show returns to June 20, 2000.  We follow City Council’s retreat from its previous endorsement of the Safe Sleeping Zones in the industrial areas, jewelry seizure by the SCPD, Robert Steffan–the Pink Guy who previously lived in a garbage bag outside Bunny’s Shoes, a lengthy analysis of City Council treachery against the homeless by Chamber of Commerce CEO Mike Schmidt and insider Activist David Silva, as well as a dialogue on the Nueva Vista “oust the Latinos” project then called the Dolphin-Lee project.

The show broadcasts at 101.3 FM and streams on the internet at freakradio.org at 6-8 PM (April 21).  It will archive at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb160421.mp3.

HUFF Back on Pacific Avenue In Support of Artists, Performers, and Other Riff Raff 1 PM Thursday 4-21

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HUFF Tabling Against Police Repression Downtown
Date Thursday April 21
Time 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Location Details
Pacific Avenue near Soquel next to Forever 21 or nearby
Event Type Protest
To protest the heavy police (SCPD, 1st Alarm, Host) harassment of the poor, the artists, the vendors, the performers, and the activists on Pacific Avenue.

The “Vanish the Vendors” ordinance is due to return May 10th to City Council. This law will freeze into law police power to continue and increase the threats, citations, and arrests police have already introduced for the last few weeks downtown. See “…Vanish the Vendors Law…” at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/11/18785162.php

 Most notorious was the arrest of Alex Skelton and Joff Jones (See “Pigs Repress Free Speech on Pacific” at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/16/18785295.php ) last Saturday. The two have returned–again reportedly outside the performance pens or blue boxes in defiance of the “free speech an hour at a time and only in the blue boxes” Decree of the city staff and Downtown Association.

HUFF will be tabling to demand an end to the restrictive boxes, forbidden zones, and move-every-hour law to return to the peaceful and success Voluntary Downtown Performance Guidelines. It voted at its weekly meeting to support those guidelines and expand them more broadly to vendors, tabler, and others engaging in extended non-commercial speech. See”Santa Cruz, California Street Performing Voluntary Guidelines” at http://www.buskersadvocates.org/saalegalSantaCruzGuide.html).

Other HUFF concerns include its Give A Shit! campaign: restoration and opening of 24-hour bathrooms, including Soquel garage bathroom (closed for three weeks for “vandalism”); end harassment of poor people with no legal shelter the right to sleep at night and cover up with blankets; and the broad restoration of public space in parks and public walkways (heavily monopolized by commercial interests downtown).

Bring signs, friends, video, and high spirits!
Iced tea and brownies likely available for early arrivals.

For more event information:
http://huffsantacruz.org


TO LEAVE COMMENTS AND VIDEO:  https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/20/18785423.php

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HUFF meets 11 AM Wednesday 4-20 at the Sub Rosa; Freedom Sleepers an Hour Earlier at the same spot

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Freedom Sleeper Sidewalk Snoozer Toby Nixon says 10 AM is meeting time for those who want to scheme for next week’s Freedom SleepOut.

HUFF will roll out its agenda as soon after 11 as it can seat the restless coffee sippers.   Prospects: Bathroom Bullshit–How Can “Vandalism” Close Down the Soquel Garage Bathroom Day and Night for Three Weeks? …   Vanishing Vendors–Strategy for the next Council “Crap on the Street Folks” Session and Beyond…  Questions for Commisar Collins–the Man Behind the Vanishing Vendors Law…  and more.

FREEDOM SLEEPOUT #41 TODAY AT CITY HALL

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As Cops Handcuff Artists on Pacific, Freedom SleepOut #41 Raises Its Sleepy Head
Date Tuesday April 19
Time 5:00 PM – 9:00 AM
Location Details
Bricked area next to the sidewalk in front of City Hall Courtyard across from the main library. The event begins around 5 PM with a prior flyer-and-feed prologue from Food Not Bombs. Keith McHenry will be reminding City Hall that “we’re still here” and “the abuses have not gone away.”
Event Type Protest
Contact Name Toby Nixon (posted by Norse)
Email Address tobynixon [at] gms.com
Phone Number 408-582-4152
Address
BACK TO THE BRICKS
In spite of internal disputes, activists will return to City Hall today (Tuesday 4-19) to challenge impervious and abusive City Hall authority backing the endless low-intensity War Against the Homeless.

Instead the homeless remain outside–the target of police, security guards, and NIMBY’s who use them. They are free, even encouraged, to harass those without shelter under the City’s Sleeping Ban (MC 6.36.010a), the “Closed Spaces” ordinance (MC 13.04.011), and other laws designed to make Santa Cruz a “less welcoming place” to the poor.

More info at http://freedomsleepers.org/index.php/actionsevents/ .With the closing of the Winter Armory Shelter earlier this month, there is no walk-in emergency shelter whatsoever and getting on the River St. Shelter waiting list is the only option. To do that, call 831-459-6644. Ask to be put on the waiting list (even if you only reach a recording).

Even if you have no intention of ever going in the shelter, signing up is a good idea (and has to be renewed ever three days by phone). Citations given under MC 6.36 must be automatically dismissed by the City Attorney short of court according to MC 6.36.055. Section A of that law also states ” A person shall not be in violation of this chapter if, at the time of his or her citation for a violation of this chapter, either: the winter shelter at the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory is filled to capacity; or the person is currently on the waiting list for shelter service through one of the shelter programs offered by the Homeless Services Center or the River Street Shelter in Santa Cruz.”


EARLIER READ AND FEED
Food and flyers will be available earlier in the afternoon with Food Not Bombs organizer Keith McHenry and local FNBers. There’s no regular City Council meeting until April 26th when the Vanish the Vendors ordinance will reappear [See http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/11/18785162.php] . McHenry feels it’s important to maintain a persistent presence at City Hall to remind the community that it’s the people not the politicians who are the legitimate authority.

Scott Collins, Assistant City Manager and one of the movers and shakers of the proposed VtV law, has not yet responded to questions about the law or agreed to meet.


BUMRUSHING BLUE BRACKET ARTISTS
Meanwhile last Saturday, two street artists were arrested and hauled away in handcuffs after refusing to sign their citations, as they had previously done in the past. [See “Pigs Repress Free Speech on Pacific” at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/16/18785295.php]. It was unclear whether the initial charge was “refusing to move along after an hour” or “displaying outside the blue boxes”–the small segregated segments of the sidewalk set aside for public use, with the rest reserved for commercial activity. In violation, of course, of the public right to use the sidewalk for a broad range of purposes.

Alex Skeleton and Joff had previously won a trial against being “outside the blue boxes” [the bracketed and/or dotted areas on Pacific Ave. that “allow” artist activity]. They have been displaying and selling their artwork downtown for the last 9 months with no threats of citation recently. For more extensive background: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/04/16/18785295.php?show_comments=1#18785363 .

More info at http://freedomsleepers.org/index.php/actionsevents/ .

SUPPORT THE RIGHT TO SLEEP, THE RIGHT TO USE PUBLIC SPACE, AND THE RIGHT TO BASIC DIGNITY FOR EVERYONE.

KEEP THE PRESSURE ON CITY HALL.

THE RIGHT TO SLEEP IS THE RIGHT TO LIVE.

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Cannabis Crackdown at the Supes Tuesday?, Artists Arrested on Pacific Ave., A Lawyer Dissects the Anti-Lodging Law–all on Free Radio today

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Preliminary news of the arrest of “Art is Free” painter Alex and fellow painter Joff on Pacific Avenue Saturday afternoon.   Special C-4 Committee set up by the Board of Supervisors to propose marijuana cultivation restrictions.  Two members weigh in with a report on what will be coming up at the Tuesday April 19 meeting of the Board of Superisors:  Extended interviews with C-4 members Nick Bulach and Colin Disheron.  A lookback at Freedom Sleep-Out #40 and look forward to upcoming Tuesday Freedom Sleep-Out #41 on April 19.  Berkeley activist and attorney Osha Neuman will discuss PC 647e, the infamous “no lodging” law used by Santa Cruz authorities against protesters and homeless folks


The show broadcasts at 101.3 FM and streams on the internet at freakradio.org at 9:30 AM – 2:30 PM (April 17).  It will archive at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb160417.mp3.

FRSC’s Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides Reviews the Vicious Anti-Vending Law, McHenry’s Arrest, and the Cannabis Clampdown Coming Up at the Board of Supes

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Tonight’s show continues the discussion of the “Vanish the Vendors” law introduced at City Council last Tuesday and due to come back April 26th for a 1st reading.  “Katenzjammer” Keith McHenry’s latest stint in jail, and the upcoming “Coral the (Marijuana) Cultivators” ordinance coming back to the Board of Supes on April 19th. 

The show broadcasts at 101.3 FM and streams on the internet at freakradio.org at 6-8 PM (April 14).  It will archive at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb160414.mp3.

HUFF does its Wednesday Stuff 11 AM Sub Rosa 703 Pacific; Come Early to Scheme with Freedom Sleepers at 10 AM

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Possible elements on the HUFF agenda:  “Give a shit!” Follow-up on the campaign to open up the Council bathrooms 24 hours; Marijuana cultivation restrictions coming back to the Supes from the C-4 Committee–relevant to the poor?;  homeless property in police lock-up–monitoring the madness;  Amy Goodman at the Rio Theater–another voice against homeless persecution in Santa Cruz?;  the Keith McHenry arrest and the April 12 Council Lookback; Organizing Against the New “Vanish the Vendors” Law;  plus coffee and questionable edibles.