Category Archives: Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides Radio Show

Flash Dance and Feed Tonight 12-20 9 PM in front of New Leaf Market, Downtown Santa Cruz

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20 Dec 2012

Repeating last week’s  “Dance the Frost Away” boogie in front of New Leaf Market,  HUFF merrymakers and others will be gathering against the cold for joyful dance-ish calesthenics along with some hot tasty soup from JumboGumbo Joe Schultz at 9 PM tonight.   Come one, come all.  Dress warmly.  Bring cameras and other documentary equipment to  celebrate and keep a clear record of any official transgressions!

Tasty Survival Soup

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Chow Down with Tasty Survival Soup

Compliments of Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz of India Joze Restaurant

Tuesday 7 PM December 11th

Outside City Council Chambers 809 Center St.

Last Council Meeting of the Year Ignores Winter Shelter Emergency

Wander inside as the Old City Council pats itself on the back and the New City Council makes speeches and takes office. The Councilthen adjournsto warm beds until January 8th, leaving 90% of the homeless community without shelter and illegal if they make it themselves.

Pamela Comstock, Cynthia Mathews, and Micah Posner take office replacing Katherine Beiers, Tony Madrigal, and Ryan Coonerty during the evening session of City Council.

8-8:30 PM (time uncertain)

Civic Auditorium 307 Church St.

Schmooze with shady politicians & mangling media

Share coffee & snacks across the street in the Civic

Fight the Crackdown, Ticketing, & Property Seizures

Demand A Ceasefire in the Winter War Against the Homeless Community

Demand ACTION to increase shelter this winter, let homeless people legally shelter themselves somewhere, provide legal overnight park-and-sleep places for those in vehicles, and rein in abusive police officers and vigilante attacks.

When the Council takes NO ACTION…

Organize independently for survival and self-defense.

Don’t roll over for brutality and bigotry!

Bring Sleeping Bags, Blankets, Cameras, and Friends.

BRING BACK SANTA CRUZ

Flier by Norse of HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) 423-4833 www.huffsantacruz.org 309 Cedar PMB #14B S.C. 12-6-12




See also “Taste the Tedium & Terror Tuesday” at




http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/12/07/18727411.php?show_comments=1#18727412

Reflections on “Smart Solutions”

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Reflections on “Smart Solutions” link to original post

December 7th, 2012The following was written by a HUFF activist, one of several who went to a Conference organized by Mayor Don Lane and others as described below.   This was originally published on the Occupy Santa Cruz website.

 

After attending Saturday’s big show, “Smart Solutions to Homelessness: A Countywide Community Engagement Summit,” I gathered a smattering of feedback from “Occupy Folks” on how they felt about the event.  Consensus seems to be, “It was not very useful.”  We (tongue-in-cheek, but seriously) KNOW TOO MUCH.
I understand the need for governmental and non-profit entities to communicate with the public regarding their needs.  WE KNOW that volunteers are needed for the befriending, mentoring, and support of people in distress.  WE KNOW that material resources are needed to feed, shelter, and house people who are hungry and have nowhere safe to stay.  WE KNOW that there is no “one size fits all solution to homelessness.”  It is unfortunate that those who design the agendas of large meetings like this one are unable to withstand conflicting viewpoints about public policy priorities.
Here are a few “Smart Solutions” — my public policy priorities:

  1. Decriminalization of “survival behaviors” such as sleeping at night, camping in your car, or using a blanket to keep warm
  2. Legalization of drugs, and, hand-in-hand, helping people to learn ways of coping with the emotional pain that can result in addictive behaviors
  3. Creating safe places to camp
  4. Subsidizing low-cost permanent housing
  5. Providing resources to mutual aid and self-help networks for material and emotional support of all people
  6. Supporting families so there will be fewer children put into foster care
  7. Transforming the economy so that there will be safe, environmentally sustainable, and meaningful work for everyone at a living wage
     I despair over the lack of compassion actually expressed at the meeting, which seemed scant, aside from a “before and after” set of pictures of one homeless man who became permanently housed in Los Angeles. The “problem” that the “smart solutions” seem to be set to solve is “inefficient allocation of public resources.”  So the work being done “to end homelessness” is framed in terms of money to be saved instead of lives to be saved.
          At Saturday’s meeting I summarized a small exchange of perspectives between of five or six persons on the question, “What will the future look like without homelessness?”  I said that there would be personal dignity, care for each other in community, and good feelings about everyone.  I’m afraid that was the wrong question to ask.  My question to you is, “What are you going to do about the reality of homelessness in our community right now?”

2 Responses to “Reflections on “Smart Solutions””

  1. Sylvia on December 7th, 2012 at 1:54 pm #
    I’m glad for the opportunity to exchange about this. My reflections:
    All the people I engaged with wanted to talk, a lot, not particularly about the issue that brought us all together. So I think the high attendance, because of or in spite of the rain, met a need for community, cooperation, acting together. I think the issue was arguably secondary, which doesn’t make the result any less valuable.
    I heard much particularity, and little, maybe no, grand vision five years out. I heard a lot of buzz words and favorite themes, affordable housing, public spaces, safety, services … more of what we know (and what isn’t really working).
    The simplification and harmonization suggested by the successful LA business model is compelling. I began to wonder about the strings that come with federal funding (I’d just learned about ALEC) and the consequences of public/private partnerships and how liberty and privatization mesh.
    Occupy Sandy has done positive things. Here’s an idea for a local positive project – Occupy the Central Branch Public Library. HUFF had a flier about the Dec 3 library board meeting. Saturday I sat next to a Santa Cruz Public Library staff person – there are a lot of people who use the library as a daytime shelter, warmth, bathrooms, … Some of those people have trouble with rules and regulation and the library has hired a security person to patrol and be available. And is considering more limitations on behavior and appearance. I see an opportunity for Occupy Santa Cruz to organize itself, be visible, be available in shifts, reach out, provide personal support, find out what’s lacking in the available supports.

  2. Sylvia on December 8th, 2012 at 9:45 am #
    TBSC members testified at 12/3 Board of Supervisors public comment, emphasizing the needles they found on the tracks and at the beach, and a couple of bodies, and noting they will be at the 12/17 city safety meeting. The group is focusing on drugs and needles. This could lead to demonizing many, painting all deviance with a broad ‘substance abuse’ brush. There are noisy federal initiatives about stopping abuse of prescription drugs, limiting the availability of pain relief medication … It seems a very harsh world, a world insistent on suffering.

Norse comment:

TBSC stands for Take Back Santa Cruz a group co-founded by newly elected Councilmember Pamela Constock, with a focus on community vigilante and police action against “illegal” behavior, particularly public drug use, “sketchy” characters in public places doing things like camping or panhandling, and random violence.

The Proposed California Homeless Bill of Rights and Santa Cruz–Preliminary Thoughts

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Robert Norse

The California Homeless Bill of Rights, modeled after the Rhode Island bill which passed this summer, is being heralded as a strong step towards ending selective enforcement, anti-homeless laws, and institutionalized Hate Crime. Since Santa Cruz has been a leader in these fields (that is, in laws the pioneer harassing the homeless), will the Bill of Rights impact homeless people on the ground here. The answer is unclear but activists in other cities are hopeful…

cont. at   http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/12/14/18728066.php