Title: | 17th Sleep Out Supports Safe Sidewalk Sleeping |
START DATE: | Tuesday November 03 |
TIME: | 6:00 PM – 6:00 AM |
Location Details: | |
In the forbidden zone outside City Council in the supposedly “public space” around City Hall in the “Courtyard” area near the sidewalk across from the Main Library at 807 Center St.
The event begins around 6 PM and goes until 7 AM or 8 AM the following Wednesday. |
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Event Type: | Other |
Contact Name | Keith McHenry (posting by Norse) |
Email Address | rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com |
Phone Number | 575-770-3377 |
Address | |
TO MAKE SLEEP LEGAL FOR THE POOR Jumping off from last week’s successful Sidewalk Safe Zone Sleep-Out, Freedom Sleepers will resume their “make Santa Cruz a safe and legal place for poor people who have no legal place to sleep” campaign against the City’s anti-homeless Sleeping and Blanket Bans. LESS TICKETS, MORE SLEEPING 20-30 folks slept through the night on the sidewalk or in vehicles nearby without getting MC 6.36. citations. Cops harass sleepers outside with these $149 tickets elsewhere in the City. Nearby other groups of sleepers also apparently slept without incident. The Safe Sleeping Zone seems to be expanding. Modest peanut butter and jelly mini-sandwiches will be available later in the night and coffee the next morning (and in limited quantities during the night). EXPANDING THE PROTEST Also provoking both hope and skepticism–Mayor Lane’s lengthy facebook lament which includes a specific offer to Amend the current camping ordinance to remove references to “sleep” and “sleeping” and “covering up with blankets.” at http://www.facebook.com/Don. LEGAL UPDATE Steve Pleich, who has also received such a ticket will be challenging the constitutionality of the law in a hearing in early December. Others will face court (no jury) trial in November. Tristia Bowman of the National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty may be calling in at the Tuesday protest from Washington, D.C. in search of prospective plaintiffs for a lawsuit against the City’s anti-homeless laws. And southern California Paul Cook may be on hand to consider distant legal support for the Sleepers as well. Cook was an adviser to an earlier project to sue the city for sleep deprivation in Small Claims Court. IN OTHER NEWS Winter shelter services this year are less than last year, thanks to City Council’s “fund the cops and freeze out the poor” policies. They have declined to restore meals, laundry, and bathroom services out at the HLOSC unless you have a “pathway to housing”. Waiting list sign-up’s by phone for the adjacent River St. Shelter are still reportedly available. Call 831-459-6644 to get subsequent camping tickets automatically dismissed short of court (but call every three days to renew your place on the list). A LOOK BACK For a list of earlier Freedom Slumbers, Scroll down to find “Community Sleepouts Advance to 13th Week” at http://www.indybay.org/ |