Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides archived & netcast 9:30 AM-3 PM today October 4, 2020 Resisting the Food Not Bombs Removal and Lessons from the Struggle; Flashback to December 19, 2004 –Winter Woes

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WE REPEAT!  WE STILL WANT TO GET BACK ON THE AIR AND RESTORE OUR PHONE LINE.  Phone in (423-4833) or e-mail us (rnorse3@hotmail.com) tips on where we might find a studio space and a place to put our antenna.  $300 reward for finding us the studio space.   Eternal gratitude for finding an antenna location.   Free Radio is ever-more important during the COVID crisis.

The show streams at www.freakradio.org   and archives at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html .  At that archive, click on the date of the show to hear it at any time.

Summary descriptions of current and earlier shows after mid-November 2017 are posted at http://huffsantacruz.org/wordpress/ .  Earlier descriptions (back to 2005) are often available at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html .  A listing of where flashbacks to earlier times can be found will soon be available.



City Council continues to ignore the voices and needs of the Community regarding police defunding to curb police violence, discrimination, homeless harassment, and overspending.  All power, instead, to City Manager Martin Bernal with his latest focus on uprooting and harassing Food Not Bombs to drive away nearby survival encampments around lot #27.  Addition pressure and ticketing on City Council candidate and SC Homeless Union organizer Alicia Kuhl after the bigotry-based veto of her group’s right to park safely on Olive St.
Repeated harassment arrest-and-release of Ben–the man whose vehicle was seized months ago in violation of CDC “shelter-in-place” guidelines.  The latest legal bullying was done as the police swept lot #27.

Two-night motel vouchers for those ejected from lot #27 by Assistant City Mangler Susie O’Hara and her loyal confederate Megan Bunch are the City’s cover story for ignoring CDC guidelines and the Martin v. Boise decision.   While a small number have finally gotten some longer-term motel shelter, for most of the “sheltered”, there are still the unhealthy group shelters–and even those with waiting lists.  No reports of restored food services to those cutback in the few hotels made available.

There are no protected areas set aside for the toxic air quality alerts, the smoke danger, and cooling functions–particularly impactful of those outside, and of the broader community–given the COVID-19 pandemic.–Large publicly funded buildings like the Civic and the Stadium stand empty while encampments multiply outside the “lack of services” Housing Smidgeons Poverty Palace at 115 Coral St..  Dangerous COVID-19 vulnerable group shelters at the Vet’s Hall, Armory, “Housing Smatters” Paul Lee Loft, and Laurel St. continue to be the main “go to” for police” as a warehousing “alternative” when they threaten the visually “undesirable” outdoor camps being destroyed in the Pogonip and along the levee.

Those camps continue to be starved of resources like portapotties, wash stations, and trash pick-up’s and are now under threat of removal.  City Mangler Martin Bernal’s Bumbuster Police, Rangers, and Public Works crews seem to be removing or reducing previous COVID-19 “emergency” accommodations in defiance of public health needs.   Encampments along the San Lorenzo pathway near the Broadway bridge and along Hiway 1 at River St.  multiplied exponentially after the City and County created more refugees by displacing the larger Benchlands encampment with their own show County-run encampment there. 

No indication that “banned”vendors on Beach St. have been invited to resume their family-sustaining sidewalk businesses down near the Boardwalk, while tourists continue to be invited to crowd beaches and sidewalks there.

ON TODAY’S BATHROBESPIERRE’S BROADSIDES SHOW:
​    ***  Friday’s Eviction Report from Carrotchopper Keith McHenry: Uprooting the “Ugly”.

***  Chris Hedges at the People’s Convention:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmVqGeUHZiI  https://peoplesconvention.org/ 

***  McHenry’s Musings–the Alarming Update from the Vicar of Vegetables: City EvictionMasters at Work

***  Brief Burps from Establishment Papers: Cop Craziness Continues Across the Country
***  Plotting Peaceful Resistance: Housed and Unhoused Gather to Gab Tuesday Morning
***  “Whip the Wicked” Wes White Updates on Salinas Sweeps
***  Greg Bengston’s Plea from the County Containment Camp: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/10/02/18837234.php
***  More Grassroots Strategies for Survival to Defend the Camps and the Food Services***  Aaron Hosmer’s Lonely Battle To Recover Property from Tow Company and Cops  https://www.facebook.com/aaron.hosmer.5  ***  Holding off the Housing Hijackers at Lot #27 (10-30):  Interviews with Sachillia, “e”, & others
***  Michelle:  a Positive Report on the Armory Shelter

FLASHBACK TO December 19 Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides Radio Show
***  Phone Interview with Barbara Tyger, Clearview Court resident, on the City’s rent control betrayal***  River Dane on San Mateo police search van***  Hour-long interview with “Beggarbacker” Becky Johnson grilling Mayor Mike Rotkin [from 12-14]
***  Dan Hemingway on Borders trash can removal, skateboarding tickets, police draw guns on stolen car occupants, hackeysacker’s police chase, and more***  Fred Gardner’s Medical Marijuana articles on the Raich v. Ashcroft case***  Phone interview with Tad from Arcata’s Houseless Coalition
Note:  Time limitations may cut some of these items; for the full show go to the archives at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html  or directly to the original show at  http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb041219.mp3


SHOW ARCHIVES AND DESCRIPTIONS

Recent Past Shows are Described at http://huffsantacruz.org/wordpress/Recent Past Shows are Archived separately at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html
Many Pre-2017 Shows are Described at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html
Many Pre-2017 Shows are Archived at http://radiolibre.org/brb/
Archives prior to 2004 are at http://huffsantacruz.org/archivemain.html
For Flashbacks before 1995, go to http://huffsantacruz.org/radio.html and search for “Flashback”

Act Locally or Regret Later

  • Vote (if you choose) for local candidates who oppose the dominant anti-homeless narrative (Alicia Kuhl was recently endorsed by HUFF), but don’t expect them to take real action which, as ever, will be coming from those outside and those who support them on the streets.
  • Stand with Food Not Bombs at its restored Town Clock location they resist the latest City Manager-initiated removal of their vital COVID-19 Survival Station  from Lot #27 at Laurel and Front.
  • Demand NO SWEEPS OF THE HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS without real alternatives.  Help defend!
  • Support Survival Camp Resisters demanding police respect CDC guidelines and Martin v. Boise
  • Full resources for ALL homeless whether inside or outside the County’s Containment Camp !
  • Check out HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) now meeting Wednesday 11 AM in the courtyard of the Sub Rosa Cafe at 703 Pacific next to the Bike Church.
  • Support Tenant Resistance to the Unjust and Unconscionable Evictions on the September Horizon
  • Be on the lookout for City Mangler Martin Bernal’s County-funded Raids against Pogonip Campsites “to protect against fire danger” with Hiway 9 paths now taped off and 24 hour “No Parking” signs posted.
  • Join FenceWatch to monitor SCPD attempts to close off Public Space as they’ve three times done near the Post Office in their relentless anti-homeless campaign in violation of CDC Shelter-in-Place guidelines.  Remove the Fences on Coral St.   Protect and Provide Resources for the Survival Tents Along Hiway 1 at River St.
  • Document police pressure against many campsites citywide: Information is Power!  
  • JOIN MASS PROTESTS THAT ACTUALLY ACT RATHER THAN TALK if you can find any.
  • Call in street reports to HUFF and the Free Radio Santa Cruz netshow back at 831-423-4833; Post your video on facebook and you-tube.  Pass on protest times and places via Instagram and  www.indybay.org/santacruz
  • Join Food Not Bombs [FNB], HUFF, and other local groups at the Daily Meal at the Town Clock seeking volunteers to pass on information and provide support. 
  • Eat and organize at FNB meals 1:30-5:30 weekdays, 4-6 Sat & Sun.
  • Demand City Council Legislative Rubberstampers of City Manager Martin Bernal and County Potentates Restore Actual Public Meetings instead of Closed Door On-Line Charades.
  • Call City Hall (420-5020) and the Board of Supervisors (454-2200) or Rattle the Windows of these Toxic Pretenders where They Work & Live to demand Defunding Police Agencies to secure safety & services.
  • Hit the streets to Insist that City Manager Bernal and Chief Mills stop the sweeps of homeless encampments–violating the CDC directive and halt $$ for these and other police terror sweeps.
  • Prepare for peaceful urgent Direct Action to enact these health & safety measures if City Manager Bernal, Mayor Cummings, and Chief Mills continue to Stall.
  • Resist Business and Corporate Pressure to Restore Massive Tourist “Business as Usual” in the midst of a Pandemic of Unknown Dimensions 
  • Prepare for the likely return of explicit anti-homeless police, business, and vigilante activity as “business-as-usual” resumes.
  • Demand “Bad News” Bernal Order His Cops to Stand off and Allow Homeless Activists to Reopen Camp Phoenix, let other survival campers remain where they are without molestation (stop the sweeps!), and/or allow for self-run triage zones (as at the Ross Camp site) now that Governor Newsom has declared that area surplus space to be designated for homeless use. Provide decent facilities for trash pick-up, washing, drinkable water, and bathroom access.
  • Pressure the City to provide support for vehicular residents, water for those outside, portapotties for those in the Pogonip and the Levee, and decent survival services citywide.
  • Denounce the latest cosmetic “See, We Have Shelter” lie with the pathetic and all-in-the-same-room response of the Vet’s Hall, the Armory, and Laurel St instead of the needed and promised motel rooms.  These need to be provided BEFORE symptoms develop, BEFORE testing, TARGETING the most vulnerable but providing for all as the crisis escalates nation-wide.
  • Demand immediate transfer of money to shelter the many rather than provide an illusion by unsafely sheltering a few, while really providing protective cover to the City Council and Board of Supervisors for essentially doing nothing for the great majority and allowing Mills’ police-and-rangers to threaten campsites with seizure and arrest at will as police are the only large gang allowed to publicly assemble.
  • Contact Chief Mills at amills@cityofsantacruz.com  to demand fundamental changes such as that seized survival gear be available for reclaiming during regular business hours, not just 6 hours as week.  See https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2019/12/18/police_protest_flyer_12-18-19.pdf
  • Hold accountable City Hall NIMBY whenever they show up in public:  Mayor Justin Cummings, City Manager-for-Life Martin Bernal, His Wrecking Crew of Abuse Enablers Susie O’Hara and Megan Bunch, Police Chief Andy Mills, & City Attorney Tony Condotti  for Inciting the Ross Camp Destruction,  Subsequent Deaths, & the Friday Nov 15th Demolition of Camp Phoenix (the renewed Deseire Memorial Survival Encampment in back of Ross) with a campaign of lies to the community regarding “adequate shelter options”.
  • Remember Deseire Quintero–Killed by City Indifference, Negligence, and Malice in Closing the First Ross Camp Without Any Adequate Shelter!  Support Survival Campgrounds, Empty Building Takeovers This Plague Season Wherever They Happen.  Provide them with supplies.
  • Take peaceful action to open up buildings for Emergency Shelter as well as an end to harassment citation of folks surviving outside under “trespass on public property”, “closed area”, “public nuisance” and “blocking the sidewalk” pretexts.
  • Witness, oppose, and document police and ranger harassment using “closed areas”, “blocking the sidewalk”, “public nuisance”, “public trespass”, and “illegal lodging” to get around the Boise v. Martin “No shelter? No tickets!” decision.
  • Demand City Manager “Mangler” Martin Bernal and SCPD Police Chief  “Ambushmaster” Andy Mills account for their destruction of Camp Phoenix ignoring City Council’s required Standard Operating Procedures for closing encampments and violating their own admission that “trespass” could not be properly applied to the survival sleepers.  Remember the bad history so it’s not repeated!

·  Contact Alicia Kuhl  to find more direct and effective ways to support the next shelter-in-place encampments, legal challenges, and fundamental police change  throughout the City starved of food and survival gear at 831-431-7766.   DONATE SURVIVAL GEAR  & VOLUNTEER DURING THE CRISIS EVERY DAY AT FOOD NOT BOMBS Laurel & Front St. MEAL.

·  Document Homeless Discrimination & Sign Up for Direct Action to “Open the Bathrooms Now!” Action by contacting the SC Union, HUFF,  Conscience & Action, or the Give-A-Shit Campaign

·  Provide Direct Support to Survival Camps & Squats as City Council Ignores the Emergency; Skip the Poverty Pimp Entrepreneurs to give directly to Food Not Bombs, the Felker St. Footbridge Services, the SC Homeless Union and other real providers.

·  Post Your Documentation of Police and Ranger “Move Along” Mischief or Pass it on to BadAss Mama at 831-431-7766

·  Donate to Existing Homeless Encampments, NOT Poverty-Pimp Posturers– Survival Demands Blankets, Water, Tarps, Portapotties & Trash Pick-Up’s–and Deter Police Harassment by being On Call to Document It.

·  Additional Needs for Community Samaritans!–More Needs: Potable Water for Drinking, Laundry Access so Clothes Don’t Mildew, Electrical Phone-Charging Hook-up’s and More Space in Additional Spots, Monitor and Expose Cop Crackdowns

·  Support Food Not Bombs,  the Warming Center’s Day/Night Storage Program, HUFF, and independent homeless activists bydocumenting, providing resources, & publicizing the situation.

  •  Check out The Santa Cruz Community, Santa Cruz Homeless Advocates & Homeless Outside in Santa Cruz, Monterey County Homeless Advocates, SNAIL, HEART Disabled Homeless People,  Power Surge Tenants Rights, Bay Area Landless People’s Alliance, and more on Facebook. Then go out and do something!
  •   Read Updates and Post Them on Santa Cruz Indymedia at https://www.indybay.org/santa-cruz/
  •   Exchange information with other supporters there to generate more communication and better solutions in the future.
  •   Listen in to Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides at freakradio.org Thursdays 6-8 PM, Sundays 9:30 AM- 3 PM
  •   Hear archived shows at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html .  Call in with anytime with street reports: 831-423-4833
  •   If you must, expropriate items from corporate & chain stores.  Don’t steal from vulnerable fellow homeless or local businesses!

Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides netcast streams tonight 10-1-20 at 6 PM at freakradio.org. & archived at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html Reports from the Food Not Bombs/Unhoused Community Resistance at Laurel and Front Sts.

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ON TODAY’S SHOW

xxx  Update from Food Not Bombs under siege at Laurel and Front St. earlier this morning–by Katzenjammer Keith and Dreadeye.


xxx  More Barricade Background Reports (9-28) from Castaway Cooper & Cathreen S.

xxx  Commentary & Interviews from Tuesday Morning’s Standoff (9-29) Sequoia et. al.
xxx  Afternoon Success-So-Far Report from Keith
xxx  Tickets on the Beach report from Marty Mirabel (“Pirate”)

INDYBAY STORIES-

Santa Cruz City Officials to evict Food Not Bombs, the Homeless Union COVID -19 Relief Center at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/27/18837088.php
Growing Resistance to City Manager’s Camp & FNB Sweep Threats at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/30/18837186.php

HUFF meets today (Wednesday 9-30) in support of the growing resistance to the threatened uprooting of Food Not Bombs and the demolition of nearby survival camps

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​HUFF will be doing its weekly coffee-and-combustion get together today at 11 AM in the Sub Rosa Courtyard with the following likely top topics:

  • Defense of FNB and the Adjacent Camps (see “Growing Resistance to City Manager’s Camp & FNB Sweep Threats” at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/30/18837186.php
  • Defending RV’s under attack: the fallout from City Council’s latest surrender to Bigotry in its attack on Alica Kuhl’s vehicular community.
  • Reports on the reduction or shutoff of resources to Motel COVID-threatened residents, the proposed County Camp closing, & other camp removals throughout the City

City to Move on Food Not Bombs Tuesday 9-29 Pre-Empting 200th Day of COVID support and Evicting Nearby Campsites

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Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs activist Keith McHenry has called for Community support tomorrow when the City has threatened to move on Food Not Bombs, trying to force it into a more constricted space as well as evict without alternatives nearby tent and ground-sleeper residents. 

He also posted an extensive update in the comments following https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/27/18837088.php (“Santa Cruz City Officials to evict Food Not Bombs, the Homeless Union COVID -19 Relief Center“). 

He is urging folks to show up with friends and video capability tomorrow morning at 8 AM and then later in the day at the 200th day celebration at 1-6 PM. Check the indybay story for more details, a downloadable flyer, and a place to leave comments.

Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides archived & netcast 9:30 AM-3 PM today September 27, 2020 Food Not Bombs Again Under Attack, City Council Delays Library Burial, Ousts RV Parking, Seaside’s RV dweller Anton Hunger…-Flashbacks to January 1992

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WE STILL WANT TO GET BACK ON THE AIR AND RESTORE OUR PHONE LINE.  Phone in (423-4833) or e-mail us (rnorse3@hotmail.com) tips on where we might find a studio space and a place to put our antenna.  $300 reward for finding us the studio space.   Eternal gratitude for finding an antenna location.

My show streams at www.freakradio.org   and archives at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html .  At that archive, click on the date of the show to hear it at any time.

Summary descriptions of current and earlier shows after mid-November 2017 are posted at http://huffsantacruz.org/wordpress/ .  Earlier descriptions (back to 2005) are often available at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html .  A listing of where flashbacks to earlier times can be found will soon be available.



City Council continues to defy the demands of the Community regarding police defunding to curb police violence, discrimination, homeless harassment, and overspending.  It had NOTHING on its agenda regarding shifting funds to non-violent alternatives and has no scheduled budget hearings on the bloated police budget or anything else–things being left in the hands of the City Manager and staff.  While the library scam was delayed for several weeks thanks to community pressure, the Transportation and Public Works Commission’s 5-2 vote supporting Alicia Kuhl’s independent safe RV parking group was overturned by a 6-1 vote after a bigoted narrative in an organized well-spoken hate-the-homeless Take Back Santa Cruz-themed campaign without any statistical substantiation from police or discussion of the Commission’s vote.

The D.A. and the SCPD have still not dropped inflated and groundless charges against MARTY MIRABEL (“PIRATE”) for defending his friend Ben’s vehicular home from a massive police raid in violation of CDC “shelter-in-place” guidelines.   After a gang of nearly a dozen officers surrounded him and slammed Marty to the ground, police continue to cite and harass Ben in spite of the CDC requirements and the Martin v. Boise decision prohibiting such official terrorism.  No new news on this situation
Expanded motel access for some of the vulnerable homelessness hasn’t stopped Assistant City Mangler Susie O’Hara and her loyal confederate Megan Bunch from spreading their standard stories about “shelter alternatives” that do not either meaningfully or physically exist for folks being displaced.  Rather there are waiting lists and unhealthy group shelters (for some).  Food to those in the few hotels made available is reportedly being cut back.  There are no protected areas set aside for the toxic air quality alerts, the smoke danger, and cooling functions–particularly impactful of those outside, and of the broader community–given the COVID-19 pandemic.  Dangerous COVID-19 vulnerable group shelters at the Vet’s Hall, Armory, “Housing Smatters” Paul Lee Loft, and Laurel St. continue to be the main “go to” for police”  as a warehousing “alternative” when they threaten the visually “undesireable” outdoor camps. 

Those camps–in the Pogonip, along and under Hiway 1, along the levee, continue to be starved of resources like porapotties, wash stations, and trash pick-up’s and are now under threat of removal.  City Mangler Martin Bernal’s Bumbuster Police, Rangers, and Public Works crews seem to be removing or reducing previous COVID-19 “emergency” accommodations in defiance of public health needs.   Encampments along the San Lorenzo pathway near the Broadway bridge and along Hiway 1 at River St.  which multiplied exponentially after the City and County created more refugees by displacing the larger Benchlands encampment with their own show County-run encampment there. 

No indication that vendors on Beach St. have been invited to resume their family-sustaining sidewalk businesses down near the Boardwalk.

ON TODAY’S BATHROBESPIERRE’S BROADSIDES SHOW:
​    ***  Black Day: The Breonna Taylor Cover-Up: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/24/correcting-misinformation-about-breonna-taylor/

***  ReImagine Santa Cruz video:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/SantaCruzFoodNotBombs/permalink/3420081474680522

***  McHenry’s Musings–the Alarming Update from the Vicar of Vegetables: City EvictionMasters at Work

***  City Clowncil Antics: Public Scorn Fends Off the Library Burial; Alicia Kuhl’s RV Fenced Out
***  Anton Hunter of the Seaside “Robert’s Beach” Refugees–a Sharp Update



FLASHBACK TO January 10, 1992 at Berkeley’s People’s Park where workers chopping paths there
***  Linda “the Lark” Edwards and “Bathrobespierre” Robert grill People’s Park gentrifiers.
***  Videojournalist William and street vendor “Jackhammer” John Vance correct the official narrative.
***  Tom, former 1985 Santa Cruz activists, describes why some fall away from street homeless activism***  Alicia of East Bay Food Not Bombs on the trials of trying to build a user-developed bathroom in many prior attempts & other University attacks on community-created structures in the Park.
***  Don, Manager Community Services, and Steve Paskowitz, Poverty Pimp (i.e. Program Manager of $1 million+) on the Berkeley Health & Human  “services” (200 beds for 400 homeless) on “improving” the park
***  Andrea Prichard of Copwatch on being attacked by police clubs while trying to complain to then-Police Chief Dash Butler, few complaints sustained by Police Review Commission
FLASHBACK TO January 28, 1992 Harry Lee Curtis interviewing Bathrobespierre Robert Norse on HUFF &
SPAN (Stop Police Abuse Now!)

SHOW ARCHIVES AND DESCRIPTIONSRecent Past Shows are Described at http://huffsantacruz.org/wordpress/Recent Past Shows are Archived separately at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html
Many Pre-2017 Shows are Described at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html
Many Pre-2017 Shows are Archived at http://radiolibre.org/brb/
Archives prior to 2004 are at http://huffsantacruz.org/archivemain.html
For Flashbacks before 1995, go to http://huffsantacruz.org/radio.html and search for “Flashback”

Act Locally or Regret Later–

  • Vote (if you choose) for local candidates who oppose the dominant anti-homeless narrative (Alicia Kuhl was recently endorsed by HUFF), but don’t expect them to take real action which, as ever, will be coming from those outside and those who support them on the streets.
  • Stand with Food Not Bombs as they resist the latest City Manager-initiated attack on their vital COVID-19 Survival Station at Laurel and Front.
  • Demand NO SWEEPS OF THE HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS without real alternatives.
  • Support Survival Camp Resisters demanding police respect CDC guidelines and Martin v. Boise
  • Full resources for ALL homeless whether inside or outside the County’s Containment Camp !
  • Check out HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) now meeting Wednesday 11 AM in the courtyard of the Sub Rosa Cafe at 703 Pacific next to the Bike Church.

Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides netcast streams tonight 9-24-20 at 6 PM at freakradio.org. & archived at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html Long Interviews with Berkeley’s Carol Denney and Marysville longtimer Bryan Brown

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ON TODAY’S SHOW

xxx  “Cornerstone” Carol Denney reveals and ridicules the latest homeless-removal scheme of the Berkeley Downtown Association.  Associated article:  https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/09/24/some-of-berkeleys-downtown-ambassadors-now-carry-batons-and-pepper-spray


xxx  “Brightheart” Bryan Brown of Marysville Discusses Attorney Antics as the Homeless There Attempt to Recover their $333,000 settlement.

More Punches at the Poor on Today’s Council Agenda

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HUFFsters might be interested in some commentary on today’s City Council agenda.  The meeting starts extremely early at 9:30 AM (for the Closed Session) and then 10:30 AM (for the Regular Open Session).
The article expands on a recent letter I sent to Mayor Justin Cummings concerning continued City misconduct towards unhoused folks as well as the Council’s general obliviousness and what appears to be the usual stacked agenda, rife for rubberstamping.   Any budget discussions or public debate on the pressing issue of the day–defunding police violence–is not on the agenda, of course.
Today’s agenda for the “public” meeting is largely a ratification of the City Manager’s latest decrees and the unelected city staff’s priorities.

For details on a few of the items, go to:  https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/22/18836851.php

Or here is the article:

More Punches at the Poor on Today’s Council Agenda by Robert Norse (rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com)
Tuesday Sep 22nd, 2020 8:42 AM A recent letter I sent to Mayor Justin Cummings remains largely unanswered. I include some selections as well as a few additional comments bearing on today’s agenda at the “public” meeting–largely a rubberstamp of the City Manager’s latest decrees and the unelected city staff’s priorities. Several items caught my attention in today’s agenda.

MAINTAINING THE EMERGENCY CITY MANAGER POWERS
Item 7 simply extends the COVID-19 emergency. Some oppose this based on disagreement as to the proper way to find the COVID-19 pandemic, some dispute its toxicity. My concern is rather the extension of fundamentally unaccountable dicatatorial powers given to City Manager Martin Bernal, city employees, and the police/rangers. As a member of HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom), I focus on the impact of those outside, but, establishing a defacto dictatorship with only token public input, fundamentally alters the whole political process.

LIBRARY BURIAL
The first was the library burial rubberstamping (Item 12 on the Consent Agenda), covered by Erica Aitken at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/21/18836813.php (“The library/parking garage project is a litmus test for the future of Santa Cruz”) with more information at https://www.reimaginesantacruz.com/ . Since the library–when it’s open–in spite of increasing restrictions in recent years–has been something of a resting place for homeless folks, many have been concerned that relocating it under a parking garage may make it less friendly, healthy, and accessible.

EXISTING INDOOR SHELTERS HAZARDOUS
Noticeable by their absence were any stat updates on the availability of safe sheltering (i.e. motel rooms) during the Coronavirus pandemic situation for unhoused folks. City Manager Bernal and his faithful rubberstampers on the City Council have failed to follow CDC guidelines to prevent the outbreak of COVID-19 in the congregate shelters such as the Vet’s Hall, the Armory, Laurel St., and the Paul Lee Loft.

TESTING GAP & NO FUNDING ACCOUNTABILITY
As more tourists flock to the City without adequate testing, contact tracing, vaccine prevention, treatment, etc, the danger for all of us–both the unhoused and the housed remains very real. How much Roomkey and Housekey money was spent? How much remains? How many are still unsheltered? How many were tested? Are tests available to those who ask for them?

Given Cummings’ supposed close collaboration with the County, he has access to direct answers: how much was spent, how it was spent, how many vulnerable folks are actually being housed in safer motel rooms away from congregate settings, how many are not. County health worker Jessica Scheinert declined to follow up with any specifics on the questions several months back.–the amount of money received and spent, how many vulnerable homeless people are being turned away, how many are still in the dangerous congregate shelters, and so forth. Nor has Cummings.offered any accounting.

DOUBLE-FACED AND DOUBLE-CROSSING
Last spring Cummings voted not to disperse Ross Camp until there was adequate alternative shelter. Weeks later, under the toxic wing of Councilmember Mathews and Supervisor Coonerty, Cummings ignored his commitment and authorized police to drive hundreds into the bushes, the streets, the downtown, and the neighborhoods. His pretext was a concern to keep County money flowing to the smaller token 1220 River St. shelter which warehoused a fraction of the Ross group.

CREATING REFUGEES VIOLATING LAW & DECENCY
In my letter to him, I pointed out that he now has a chance to rectify that cruel mistake. The issue is back on the table again as the number of visible camps skyrockets along hiway 1 (see https://www.facebook.com/HomelessOutsideSantaCruz/videos/1551108471759675). The SCPD continues its abusive and unhealthy homeless displacement raids (see https://www.facebook.com/HomelessOutsideSantaCruz/photos/pcb.2522456464726074/2522448391393548/).. And in spite of momentarily expanded shelter, there simply is no plan for legal and accessible shelter for those displaced, nor any protection for their property.

In the Pogonip and along the levee as well many many survival sleepers face demands to leave with what they can carry or face fines and jail (an unconstitutional threat under Boise v. Martin) . I asked Cummings to direct the City Manager to secure an accounting from the County of how many are being displaced, and what kind of facilities are actually open and available for them–given their vulnerabilities and disabilities.
Cummings has made no reply.

ATTACKING THOSE WHOSE HOMES ARE THEIR VEHICLES
Item #20 ignores and attempts to reverse the 5-2 decision of the Public Works Commission in upholding a challenge by Santa Cruz Union of the Homeless President Alicia Kuhl. She and other vehicle-dwellers have parked along Olive St. for a year lawfully and respectfully in spite of hostility from some groups in the City. In violation of the CDC stay-in-place guidelines and legal “no tickets without a shelter option”, city staff have moved to appease reactionary critics with a culture-war agenda. In an attempt to gentrify the area and strip it of poor people so it will have a better “look”, staff proposed shrinking parking spaces so as to functionally exclude Kuhl’s vehicle and that of others there.

My letter to Cummings expressed frustration and disappointment that he even put this item on the agenda. The Mayor (in conference with the City Manager) controls the agenda. This is something Progressives last year learned too well when former Mayor Wakins repeatedly used her power to exclude, weaken, or delay items protecting renters and the poor. When two Councilmembers objected to this process and struggled to change it, they were subject to a recall,

As Mayor,, not unexpectedly, Cummings has declined to use his power to advance Progressive interests. After Cummings’ failure to strongly oppose the decimation of the Progressive majority through the recall, he now tamely proceeds to allow the Mathews majority an easy path to rubberstamping. He had the option to delay such harassment of vehicle dwellers at least until such time as the staff presented actual stats showing a crime problem, or answered the concerns of the Commission which rejected its recommendations.

PECULIAR MAYORAL/MANAGER POWERS
It seems particularly strange that the City Council agenda has no documents I can find that record the Commission’s debate on the issue or give the Council and the public any insight into why they rejected the staff’s “move ’em along” agenda. The answers: inadequate alternate shelter, important shelter-in-place health concerns, a rental crisis, don’t make the staff report.

Former Mayor Watkins repeated exercised Agenda-setting authority to keep Progressive items out of City Council last year. She even maneuvered to move the Council Meeting Calendar section, used in desperation by the Progressive majority last year to override Mayoral censorship, to the top of the agenda so new issues revealed in the meeting wouldn’t be used to require her to agendize Progressive items.

I believe agenda setting should be a public or at least an open process. I don’t believe behind-doors Mayoral-Manager dictating is a good precedent or regular go-to, but Cummings’ failure to use it to protect a vulnerable part of the process is telling in this case.

MORE CRITIQUE OF THE AGENDA ON NET-RADIO
Some of the meeting is gloomily predicted on my Sunday show at https://www1.huffsantacruz.org/lost/1%20FRSC%209-20-20.MP3 (1 hr, 1 minute into the file).

The threatened sweeps defy the CDC’s COVID-19 shelter-in-place advisories as well as the Martin v Boise court requirements banning camping citations and other abusive citations for survival behavior outside.

REAL COMMUNITY ACTION
Some folks look to the November election and the “Progressive” slate of Kuhl, Kumar, Hill, and Brown as a respite from the reactionaries now on the Council. None of them (except perhaps Kuhl) has come out for the firing of the City Manager and the City Attorney–the necessary first step in a fundamental change.

The community must mobilize to keep up pressure on the real power in the community–the staff and those who lead it–as well as the compliant Council. “Progressive”-sounding words historically degrade into complicity. Folks must continue to hit the streets, organize independently, and recognize that the current system is immune and indifferent to rational argument, but understands little other than power.

It takes direct action–whether to remove fences walling off the homeless (and the public), provide daily meals and clothing (as Food Not Bombs does) or to effectuate justice as authorities continue their bad-business-as-usual.

Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides archived & netcast 9:30 AM-3 PM today September 20,2020 Cooper’s Clarion Call, a Gloomy Look at the 9-22 City Council, Ben: Build Your Own Bathrooms, Alicia in Candidateland–Flashback to 9-18-03..and more

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My show streams at www.freakradio.org   and archives at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html .  At that archive, click on the date of the show to hear it at any time.

Summary descriptions of current and earlier shows after mid-November 2017 are posted at http://huffsantacruz.org/wordpress/ .  Earlier descriptions (back to 2005) are often available at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html



City Council continues to defy the demands of the Community regarding police defunding to curb police violence, discrimination, homeless harassment, and overspending.  It has NOTHING on its agenda regarding shifting funds to non-violent alternatives.  Item #20 attempts to veto its own Commission report defending the shelter-in-place needs of van-dwellers on Olive St. 

The D.A. and the SCPD have still not dropped inflated and groundless charges against MARTY MIRABEL (“PIRATE”) for defending his friend Ben’s vehicular home from a massive police raid in violation of CDC “shelter-in-place” guidelines.   After a gang of nearly a dozen officers surrounded him and slammed Marty to the ground, police continue to cite and harass Ben in spite of the CDC requirements and the Martin v. Boise decision prohibiting such official terrorism.

While six motels have reportedly  been funded to assist some of the vulnerable houseless, many more remain half-empty.  There are no indoor areas set aside for the toxic air quality alerts, the smoke danger, and cooling functions–particularly impactful of those outside, and of the broader community–given the COVID-19 pandemic.  Dangerous COVID-19 vulnerable group shelters at the Vet’s Hall, Armory, “Housing Mumblings” Paul Lee Loft, and Laurel St. continue to be the main “go to” for police”  as a warehousing “alternative” when they threaten the visually “undesireable” outdoor camps. 

Those camps–in the Pogonip, along and under Hiway 1, along the levee, continue to be starved of resources like porapotties, wash stations, and trash pick-up’s.  City Manager Martin Bernal’s Bumbuster Police, Rangers, and Public Works crews seem to be removing or reducing previous COVID-19 “emergency” accommodations in defiance of public health needs.   Encampments along the San Lorenzo pathway near the Broadway bridge and along Hiway 1 at River St. have multiplied exponentially after the City and County created more refugees with their show-encampment in the Benchlands, running off the larger camp that was there in a repetition of earlier homeless dispersals.  Food to those in the few hotels made available is reportedly being cut back.

No indication that vendors on Beach St. have been invited to resume their family-sustaining sidewalk businesses down near the Boardwalk.
SHOCKING VIDEO OF THE EXPANSION OF UNSUPPORTED SURVIVAL ENCAMPMENTS ALONG HIWAY 1 on 9-17: https://www.facebook.com/HomelessOutsideSantaCruz/videos/1551108471759675

VIDEOS OF AN SCPD GANG SURROUNDING A TACKLED AND TASERED BLACK MAN just outside the Westside Farmer’s Market at 12:40 PM 9-12-20 yesterday at https://twitter.com/gardengorl/status/1304894730698764290?s=12&fbclid=IwAR0k0z8qdkPJUWAeHAdT91f6CSbrqe71bpIs_vT7Mc9_YaLzu5m5CX7C3AA

EARLIER VIDEO OF THE POLICE MOBBING MARTY AT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP_IS4fR2JM&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR31gdenzugCVMc_TnLhFJwK_P-jgh-nLUzoTe250Wa0fnza5usMZPwHQKA   As Marty’s case in court reveals more police videos, more evidence may emerge of local “peacekeeping”.


ON TODAY’S BATHROBESPIERRE’S BROADSIDES SHOW:
​    ***  “Cry of Hope” Cooper D’Angelo’s Lengthy Update from her Latest Camp above the Benchlands
***  Upchuck at the upcoming City Council meeting Tuesday 9-22 with Mayor Cummings “zone ’em away” compliance (item #20) with Take-Back-Santa-Cruz bigots eager to run off low-income RV residents from the City including Cumming’s excuses to the Grand Jury for homeless resource negligence.  Cummings’ dodge-em report: https://ecm.cityofsantacruz.com/OnBaseAgendaOnline/Documents/ViewDocument/HOMELESSNESS%20%20BIG%20PROBLEM%2C%20LITTLE%20PROGRESS%20-%20CITY%20COUNCIL%20OF%20SANTA%20CRUZ%20-.pdf?meetingId=1535&documentType=Agenda&itemId=7888&publishId=7150&isSection=false .
***  Alicia Kuhl–on site at the Homeless (FNB) Survival Center–and on KZSC with John Malkin (full interview: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/09/19/18836765.php )

***  Marty Mirabel (“Pirate”) & Noel Review the Cops’ Case Against Him for Speaking Up Against A Van Seizure
***  “Katzenjammer” Keith McHenry Gives the Weekend Round-Up on Life in the Survival Zone



FLASHBACK TO SEPTEMBER 18, 2003
***  Sylvia and friends: police harassment
***  Mikuriya Hearing against a Doc assisting patients in getting medical marijuana: report

***  Pat Riles, De Anza Trailer Park Homeowner, on the City’s cowardly retreat from promised rent control***  Paul Marcelin-Sampson struggles to restore the right to distribute flyers at the Metro Center***  Bill of Rights Defense Committee looks local withdrawal from the Patriot Act***  John Shrim–Travelin’ Poet Heading for Venice***  Jolly Roger Comedy Troupe: Berkeley City Council Bemoans a Recent Court Decision OKing Panhandling



SHOW ARCHIVES AND DESCRIPTIONS

Recent Past Shows are Described at http://huffsantacruz.org/wordpress/Recent Past Shows are Archived separtely at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html
Many Pre-2017 Shows are Described at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html
Many Pre-2017 Shows are Archived at http://radiolibre.org/brb/
Archives prior to 2004 are at http://huffsantacruz.org/archivemain.html
For Flashbacks before 1995, go to http://huffsantacruz.org/radio.html and search for “Flashback”

Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides netcast streams tonight 9-17-20 at 6 PM at freakradio.org. & archived at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html Updates from Troy, Russell, Cooper, and a listen-in on Pleich’s Interviews with Kumar, Kelsey, and Brown

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ON TODAY’S SHOW

xxx  Troy reports on the Start of Sweeps Along the San Lorenzo Levee with no Shelter Options

xxx  “Progressive” candidates Kayla Kumar, Kelsey Hill, and Sandy Brown Make their Pitch to
Steve Pleich on Voices from the Village September  (full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P1mf21LAcM&feature=youtu.be)
xxx  Mayor Opposes, San Jose Council, Supports Rubber Bullet Use on Crowds: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/15/san-jose-stands-by-police-use-of-rubber-bullets-in-some-crowd-situations/
xxx  “Homekey” housing funding goes to a few: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/16/san-jose-pittsburg-housing-projects-among-first-to-win-coveted-state-homekey-funds/

California awards coveted ‘Homekey’ homeless housing funds San Jose and Contra Costa County landed state funding to turn two motels into long-term homeless housing Wednesday — making them among the first in California to score the highly competitive aid … www.mercurynews.com

xxx Troy, Russell, and Cooper Report from Their San Lorenzo Roost on City Camp Demolitions