The following notes are from a thread on what I term the Visible Sleepers protest which happened in front of the post office last night.
by Robert Norse
Thursday Apr 18th, 2013 8:26 AM
According to Sonny in a phone conversation, the group spent the night peacefully, moved from the steps so they could be swept by a postal official, and had a polite encounter with three cops who neither ticketed them nor asked them to move from their new spot on the sidewalk. Reportedly, they plan to continue their protest through the day with signs educating the community about the Sleeping Ban.
Brent Adams has created a great video (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBWhgjXrKaY) pressing for a Sanctuary Camp. My own conversations with local homeless people on Pacific Avenue last night indicated that they were generally supportive of the Visible Sleepers, though not willing to risk harassment, citation, or arrest themselves.
I was also glad to see Food Not Bombs activists there supporting the Sleepers. The issues involved are basic and important ones in a city with no shelter for 95% of its homeless.
I’ll be playing interviews tonight on Free Radio Santa Cruz from 6-8 PM at 101.3 FM (streams at http://tunein.com/radio/FRSC-s47254/). Feel free to call in with your thoughts at 831-427-3772.
I encourage all homeless people to sign up for the Waiting List at the Paul Lee Loft at 115 Coral St. so that their camping tickets will be dismissed under MC 6.36.055.
MC 6.36.055 reads
(a) A person shall not be in violation of this chapter [the Camping Ordinance] 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.
(b) Any citation issued for a violation of this chapter shall be dismissed by the city attorney in the interest of justice if, at the time of citation issuance, the winter shelter at the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory is filled to capacity or the recipient of the citation demonstrates that on the date of the citation he or she was 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.
A discussion of the California Homeless Bill of Rights will be held at 2 PM Saturday at the Sub Rosa Cafe with Keith McHenry a featured speaker. See http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2013/04/15/arm_the_homeless.pdf.
I encourage folks to support the protesters with blankets, food, dialogue, and calls to City Hall demanding lifting the police harassment and Sleeping Ban citations and/or providing a safe place to sleep as an emergency measure whether in a parking garage, a campground, or somewhere else. Call 831-420-5020. E-mail them at citycouncil [at] cityofsantacruz.com . But don’t hold your breath.
The following entry is from Gary Johnson, whom I term “Ground Zero” Gary, sentenced to two years suspended sentence for sleeping three nights on a bench in front of the County building with a “sleep is not a crime” sign. His point was the First Amendment right to be present in peaceful protest outside the County Building after the County had declared a “protesters-and-homeless-begone” 7 PM – 7 AM curfew (which is still in effect).
Conflicted.
by G
Thursday Apr 18th, 2013 12:26 PM
It’s sad to hear that HUFF isn’t active in Oakland, or some other #TentCity (although that initiative seems to have fallen flat, maybe the AdBusters crowd ain’t what it used to be), and is using others to make legal challenges. Can’t help but wonder about yet more hug trolling.
It is nice to hear about the sanctuary camp. I think that is desperately needed. When sound governance doesn’t exist, replace it, at all scales. Hopefully the sanctuary will be inclusive, although their ‘taint’ framing in the other article here makes me wonder about their agenda, smells kinda like TBSC.
It is nice to hear that this sleep protest has a legal strategy. Getting paperwork from the ‘shelter’ could be effective in court, neutering yet another bogus ‘coulda shoulda’ persecutorial attack on the necessity defense. I wonder if making officers aware, daily, via photocopies of the ‘shelter is full’ notes would help others that might be ticketed on any given evening. If officers won’t receive the paperwork, as is often the case (they seem to be afraid of the legal implications of being given written notice), perhaps a trip to their office would help.
I wish I could be there. If I was there, I would be sleeping there. Sadly, until the existing cases are resolved, ANY accusations (real or made up) could reactivate my 2 years suspended sentence (for peacefully protesting the criminalization of sleep and the criminalization of protest itself). Not that I am afraid of doing the time (the next time around I would try to emulate @rabite’s media presence); it just seems wasteful, at least until redress has been exhausted.
Some advice. Record every encounter with law enforcement, document everything immediately (multiple online sources), avoid a 24 hour presence (neuter yet another time/place/manner persecutorial attack), keep the area clean, don’t antagonize pedestrians or postal staff, expect a rapid response (if I recall correctly, there was an 8 month protest there until the Postmaster signed over enforcement to non-federal gangsters), have relocation plans ready, be prepared to do jail support, avoid hugging Norse.
http://PeaceCamp2010insider.blogspot.com/
Since the Homeless (Lack of) Services doesn’t have them…
by Robert Norse
Thursday Apr 18th, 2013 3:05 PM
…here’s the HUFF receipt! We thoughtfully provided it to HLOSC yesterday to document the fact that the group we brought over to Coral St. to register was on the Waiting List. Hence their camping tickets, if they were given any, would be dismissed prior to court (even without having to mount a Necessity Defense).
Activists and homeless sleepers should note that police can still charge people under PC 647e, the state “anti-lodging”” law (actually being used by sheriff and police as an anti-protest or anti-loitering law in the last few years). However, the documentation that one is on the Waiting List is also a good basis for mounting an affirmative Necessity Defense if D.A. Bob Lee wants to take any such charges through to jury trial.
Hopefully such trials would have a better outcome than those of the Peace Camp 2010 activists, who got screwed thanks to testimony from Executive Director Monica Martinez and others that there were a few spare beds (for the 1000+ homeless outside). The Jones decision–which I’m told by San Luis Obispo attorney Stu Jenkins is still federal legal precedent in spite of being depublished–held in L.A. that one doesn’t have to establish there were no beds that night or that one even tried to get one, if it was common knowledge that finding such a bed was highly unlikely given the chronic shelter emergency.
I should add I don’t recommend these programs or shelters, as Razor Ray seems to imply. Rather I suggest this Waiting List approach as both a protest strategy and to protect yourself legally as a homeless person who has to sleep at night who’s completely uninvolved in protest. Given the legal system the way it is, this approach is my suggestion.
I suggest bringing a copy of the receipt template with you to the HLOSC, and then making a second copy for yourself (so that you can give one to the cop). The cop may not (and probably will not) initially stop ticketing, but in future legal action it will become clear that police ticketing in the face of these receipts is a form of harassment since tickets are to be automatically dismissed under MC 6.36.055.
More of this thread (some of it contentious) can be found at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/04/17/18735380.php?show_comments=1#18735440 .
