Title: | Fighting the Power: Freedom SleepOut 18 Coincides with Key Council Meeting |
START DATE: | Tuesday November 10 |
TIME: | 3:00 PM – 3:00 AM |
Location Details: | |
809 Center St.–In and outside City Hall and ultimately–if peaceful protesters are driven there–to the edges of the sidewalk under high-intensity klieg lights with First Alarm Security Guards patrolling. The protest officially begins at dusk, and goes through the night, but some activists will be at City Council to support Beach Flats Garden and tenant activists. | |
Event Type: | Protest |
Contact Name | Robert Norse |
Email Address | rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com |
Phone Number | 831-423-4833 |
Address | 309 Cedar PMB 14B S.C. CA 95060 |
POSSIBLE FUND CUTOFF AND LAWSUITS IGNORED Mayor Lane and his City Council continue to ignore the looming shadow of the Department of Justice and HUD with likely federal court attacks on the Sleeping Ban and federal fund cutoff’s for criminalization of the homeless. Other Council members have declined to support and Lane has as yet not agendized his proposed modification of the Sleep Deprivation Ordinance revealed in a lengthy facebook lament at http://www.facebook.com/Don. My reaction to Lane’s piece is at http://www.indybay.org/ Freedom Sleepers continue their Tuesday night Sidewalk Safe Sleeping Zone — “safe” apparently from sleeping tickets, which continue to be given out regularly elsewhere in the City. The next one is November 10th, beginning in and around City Council’s afternoon meeting. Agenda Items ##16, 17, and 18 concern HUD funding for housing, the Beach Flats Garden project, and the airbnb Summer Rentals issues–all of which impact unhoused folks and their allies A LOOK BACK TO LAST WEEK Inside, the Council heard a three hour police panhandling and PR session celebrating their follow-up on the blatantly anti-homeless 2013 Citizens Public Safety Task Force recommendations. What are the costs, consequences,and effects of the anti-homeless laws spurred by this Task Force “public safety” concerns? Who knows? Police didn’t tell us. There were no citations at the Sidewalk Safe Slumber Zone that followed, though the night was colder and the number of sleepers fewer. For an account of the night see “Temperatures drop at the 17th Freedom Sleepers Community Sleepout” at http://www.indybay.org/ More background: http://www.indybay.org/ COMING UP THIS TIME AT CITY COUNCIL #16 covers some HUD funding–which may be impacted by Santa Cruz’s anti-homeless laws and HUD’s supposed new “end criminalization” requirements. #17 involves the latest sell-out to the Seaside Company, offering a 3-year lease proposal that would only cover 2/3 of the Community Garden–in spite of the pleas and demands of hundreds of people two weeks ago. #18 involves real estate owners moves to okay airbnb summer rentals § Granny Units (ADUs) or vacation rentals: 2:30 pm (?) Item 18. Introducing an ordinance amending portions of the Santa Cruz Municipal Code to limit short term/vacation rental use of Accessory Dwelling Units [ADU’s]. Tenant activists note that allowing ADU summer rental use: Freedom Sleepers hope that some Beach Flats Garden supporters will join the Sleep-Out in solidarity. ON THE HORIZON Coming Up December 13th–a special Freedom Sleepers Presents event featuring attorney Tristia Bauman from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, survivors from last year’s “disperse and destroy” raid on the San Jose homeless Jungle, and more! Scheduled for the Resource Center for Non-Violence at 6:30 PM. PORTAPOTTY POLITICS Meanwhile the Freedom Sleepers continue to provide a portapotty each Tuesday night, given the City’s refusal to either open the promised Locust St. facility or keep the City Hall bathrooms open at night. A festive Portapotty Parade is in the works for 6 PM after the afternoon Council meeting. The mobile comfort station has been with the Freedom Sleepers for 18 weeks now. The usual coffee and crunchables will be available at times during the night and for breakfast in the morning. The Right To Sleep is the Right to Live. |