Author Archives: huffsantacruz

Hernandez not Azua Drew a Gun on Jasmine Thanksgiving 2013

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Correcting An Error: Hernandez not Azua Drew a Gun on Jasmine Thanksgiving 2013

A prior flyer I posted on Santa Cruz Indymedia & the HUFF e-mail list, and distributed at two rallies erroneously identified Officer Frank Azua as the SCPD off-duty officer who drew a gun on Jasmine Byron and her family at the Salvation Army Thanksgiving meal in 2013.  They reported Hernandez was menacing them for “taking a plate of food outside” as others were doing.  I apologize for any confusion caused by this error and further discuss it below.  I also include the corrected flyer for those who want to read and/or distribute it.    –Robert Norse

Officer Frank Azua has been accused of racial profiling downtown. (See “Santa Cruz Police Racism by Officer Azua and Unidentified PO ” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYa65BTWrHU&feature=youtu.be and “Selective Enforcement of Smoking Ban, Obstruction of Video Reporting–Report to the Chief!” at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/08/02/18759451.php ).

He has also been identified in numerous incidents in radio interviews with those who reported abuse: (search for “Azua” at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html ). However, my apologies for a mistaken reference to him in this incident.

Officer Joe Hernandez was identified by Jasmine Byron, her partner, and her mom as the man who drew a gun on her for taking a plate of food out of the Salvation Army Thanksgiving meal last year. In radio interviews on November 28, 2013 and December 8, 2013, Hernandez was described as the gun-pointing and subsequently taunting individual. (See http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html and search for “Hernandez”).

The flyer included with this comment is a corrected version with the proper information.

 

 

 

 

Confront Local Bigotry in Santa Cruz With Names, Dates, and Actions

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I’ll be distributing the following flyer today and in the days ahead at the Stand Up/Speak Out Rally demanding Justice in Ferguson (and Santa Cruz). See http://www.facebook.com/events/309072619289447/?pnref=story

 


grand_jury_protest.pdf
download PDF (103.6 KB)

Test of the Flyer:No Ferguson in Santa Cruz!
STOP LOCAL RACIAL AND CLASS PROFILING !

ATTACKS ON THE POOR & HOMELESS
+++ Police abuse against poor and homeless persons is a widespread reality, empowered by laws that criminalize basic human needs and rights—like sleeping at night & public assembly.
+++ New laws coming to City Council will criminalize homeless with cop-initiated Stay-Away orders & ban RV parking city-wide. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/11/24/18764553.php
+++ Recycling centers and needle exchange have already been removed from Santa Cruz City Limits as the new “brand the homeless as criminals” campaign has taken hold.
+++ Nearly three of every four of Officer Bradly Barnett’s citations made downtown were issued to homeless people for essentially victimless crimes, such as sitting, smoking, and skateboarding. http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/10/21/barnett_cites_–homeless.pdf
+++ Officer Bill Azua confronted Jasmine Byron & her mother at last year’s Thanksgiving Salvation Army meal with a drawn gun for “taking a plate of food outside”. No response from Chief Kevin Vogel of the SCPD. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/11/29/18746999.php
+++ Officer Arnold Vasquez dropped a handcuffed Richard Hardy to the sidewalk face-first on Pacific Avenue in a video picked up by the Sentinel (http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_23185274/use-force-investigation-not-complete-videotaped-arrest-santa) http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/04/23/18735710.php )

ATTACKS ON AFRICAN-AMERICANS
+++ Additionally, nearly 10% of the citations Barnett issued were to African-Americans, in a county where 1.4% of the population is black according to a recent census. http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2014/10/21/barnett_cites_including_race.pdf
+++ Yannidies Brown reports her brother and cousin were brutalized and jailed in another “no smoking or else” Barnett incident. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/08/21/18760436.php
+++ Officer Azua has been videoed harassing blacks for “smoking on Pacific” while ignoring whites doing the same thing. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/08/02/18759451.php

REAL SOLUTIONS AND VAIN HOPES
+++ The local ACLU, NAACP, and SCCCCR have named no names, nor acted on any specific complaints in the last decade in spite of the widespread awareness among the black community that racial profiling is a humiliating reality here.
+++ Police-partial “review” boards, co-opted city council committees, & “law and order” neighborhood organizations will do nothing but support more “tools” for cops.
+++ Frequent Street Protest, Sit-in’s, & Occupations may help deter police violence-as-usual.

Real tools are the camera, the internet, the press, and our own voices !
Video, audio, and post incidents on line when you see them!
Stop and make time to hold police accountable. No one else will.

Flier by Norse, HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) 831-423-4833 http://www.huffsantacruz.org 309 Cedar St. #14B 11-25-14
HUFF meet Wednesdays 11 AM-1 PM at Sub Rosa 703 Pacific. Contact Norse at HUFF or on the air at Free Radio Santa Cruz [FRSC]
FRSC: 101.1 FM & freakradio.org Sundays 9:30 AM – 1 PM, Thursdays 6 PM-8 PM 831-427-3772. Archives: http://radiolibre.org/brb/
Contact HUFF to fight back in Small Claims Court; Write for the Street Shit Sheet. Back issues: http://huffsantacruz.org/ssarchives.html

COMMENTS CAN BE LEFT AT: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/11/25/18764594.php

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HUFF Recovers From Latest Council Assault 11 AM Today 11-19 Sub Rosa

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Huddling together against the growing cold, HUFF will attempt to light a warming fire as nights grow colder and the chance of rain increases.
Some possible topics:  Responses to the new Performance Pens and Stay Away Orders.  Another look at the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center.  One-Day Charity Meet Returns to the Veteran’s Hall on Thanksgiving.  Response to the RV Threat.   Nasty Santa Cruz Neighbors Meet Tonight.
And Whatever Else Wanders In…  Come one, come all.

HUFF Toddles On! Wednesday 11-12 11AM Sub Rosa Cafe

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HUFF discusses picking up the cudgels for Small Claims Court action to end the Sleeping Ban and restore basic Human Rights for Homeless Folks; plots a return to the City Attorney’s Office to demand disability allowances for those crippled by the Move Along law; considers another go-around with City Council on 11-18 when Stay-Away orders and Performer Pens get a final vote.   Among cups of coffee and dropping temperatures outside.   If you can’t come, give us a call to help!  423-4833.

No City Council Meeting 11-11; Protests Moved Ahead to 11-18

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https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/11/07/18763917.php

November 11th City Council Events Cancelled–Rescheduled to November 18th
by Robert Norse ( rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com )
Friday Nov 7th, 2014 5:21 PM

The Tuesday November 11th events mentioned at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/11/07/18763899.php [Four Homeless Civil Rights Events (rescheduled)] have been pushed to Tuesday November 18th. November 11th is Veteran’s Day and there will be no City Council meeting that day.

Sorry for the confusion. The KSCO Saturday 11-8 radio show and the Meet-the-Attorney Monday 11-10 get together are still a go.

 

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Four Homeless Civil Rights Events

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Four Homeless Civil Rights Events (rescheduled)
by Robert Norse
Friday Nov 7th, 2014 11:00 AM

 A disabled activist will seek a long-refused written disability dispensation so that she can show her crafts on
Pacific Ave. without being driven away by Santa Cruz’s noxious ‘Move ‘Em Along” law on Friday November 7- 2 PM at the City Attorney’s Office 333 Church.

NOTE: (The trip to the City Attorney’s office has been rescheduled and moved to City Council 5 PM Tuesday 11-11)

4 PM 11-8 Saturday KSCO (AM 1080) Restoration of Human Rights for the Homeless advocates versus StabSantaCruz anti-homeless blogger Helbard Alkhassadeh. 5 PM 11-10 on the sidewalk near Calvalry Episcopal at Church and Cedar. out-of-town attorney Paul Cook will advise homeless people losing property and rights how to reclaim them or their cash equivalent in Small Claims Court. 3 PM Cafe HUFF and Joe Schultz will provide food for the 11-11 Tuesday City Council meeting fighting colored dot “performer pens” on Pacific Avenue and “Stay-Away” laws. 5 PM on the same day disabled activist Pat Colby will seek a long-refused written disability dispensation at City Council so that she can show her crafts on Pacific Ave. without being driven away by Santa Cruz’s noxious ‘Move ‘Em Along” law.

Santa Cruz is experiencing a crackdown on homeless people, travelers, street artists, and just those seeking to use public spaces without police harassment.

Paranoia around the Drug War is being used to futile a thinly-concealed “Scare ‘Em Out of Town” agenda against homeless people–long a target of city laws, police, and rangers.

Restoration of rights and restitution for damages is likely to come only when tenants, students, minorities, the elderly, working folks, and homeless join in a broad coalition to refocus on the white collar crimes of the 1% and the complicity of the 30%.

Steve Pleich, attorney Judy Bari, and MHCAN activist Sarah Leonard are working on filing a class action lawsuit that may stop the regular conflscation and/or destruction of homeless survival gear and personal items.

In a grim and little-noticed follow-up to NIMBY attacks on homeless recyclers, first one and then the only remaining recycling center in city limits has reportedly closed down without public hearing or notice. I am told the nearest one is now in Capitola.

We are seeing food programs driven or pressured indoors to avoid the community seeing visible poverty, prison-like conditions developing at the Homeless Services Center, harsh library regulations to step up the pressure on homeless people there, churches cutting back their programs, and massive over-policing downtown, in the parks, and at the Beach.

Against this ugly darkening picture, activists are working to document the financial and human cost of new Jim Crow laws against the poor, to speak out against them, and to mobilize legal resources to fight back.

4 PM SATURDAY 11-8 ON KSCO Folks can listen in to KSCO at AM 1080 or do so on line. The call-in number is 479-1080. We will be seeking support for strategies legal and streetside to restore basic civil rights to homeless people suffering from the massive increase in ticketing and harassment.

5 PM MONDAY 11-10 on the sidewalk outside THE RED CHURCH (Calvary Episcopal Cedar and Lincoln) Attorney Paul Cook has successfully beat back attempts to shut him down in Baldwin Park in southern California (http://alchemistcook.blogspot.com/, interview at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb130919.mp3 –29 minutes into the audio file). He will advise people how to file claims against the city and small claims court papers to recover stolen property and rights and expose official abuses.

3 PM TUESDAY 11-11 outside CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS Protest demanding an end to Stay-Away Orders, Performance Pens, Forbidden Zones, and other repressive restrictions on public space in Santa Cruz–particularly those impacting the poor and homeless. Cafe HUFF will serve coffee and brownies. Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz will provide savory hot vegan soup.

5 PM TUESDAY 11-11 at CITY COUNCIL (809 Center St.) Disabled activists will confront City Council and the City Attorney to demand written authorization so they can vend, perform, sit, and sparechange downtown without suffering hundreds of dollars in fines under tghe “Move every hour for 100” and begone for 24 hours” law [MC 5.43.020(2)].

Bring friends.

TO COMMENT:  https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/11/07/18763899.php

 

Drown Your Post Election Sorrows in HUFFland 11 AM 11-5 Sub Rosa 703 Pacific

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With simultaneous events going on at UCSC (Volunteer Fair) and Watsonville (Project Homeless Connect) where HUFF is tabling in search of volunteers and contacts, I predict a scaled down meeting.   Still, Baldwin Park attorney Paul Cook will be rolling through town next Monday and offering to help train people in filing Small Claims Court claims.   We’ll be following up on the “Performance Pens” coming up at City Council next Tuesday, sending out symbolic support to homeless activists and foodservers being harassed in For Lauderdale, FL, and planning a HUFF-in at the City Attorney’s office to get a written “yes” or “no” to “Push Back” Pat Colby’s request for a disability dispensation to the Move Along law on the mall.  Make it if you can.  We’ll supply the coffee and the cranky.