Excellent speaker: Paul Boden
Western regional director
R.A.P.
San francisco, CA.INVITATION TO ATTEND A COMMUNITY DISCUSSION
Western regional director
R.A.P.
San francisco, CA.INVITATION TO ATTEND A COMMUNITY DISCUSSION
As long as the government continues to willfully abdicate its moral responsibility to house the homeless, it has no business enacting oppressive ordinances to hound, harass, and criminalize them. Instead
of attacking the homeless, as people of conscience we have an obligation to join together with them to end the polarization of rich and poor and build a society with true liberty and justice for all.
COMMUNITY DISCUSSION ON THE HOMELESS BILL OF RIGHTS
TIME: 2 PM
SATURDAY, JULY 13
PLACE: UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, 505 E CHARLESTON RD, PALO ALTO
Those who refuse to be involved, simply deserve whatever comes to them
Making Mountains Out Of Mole Hills
by Tony Ciampi • July 12, 2013
http://paloaltofreepress.com/
When it comes to vehicle dwellers, the City of Palo Alto appears to be making mountains out of mole hills.
At the May 14, 2013 and June 25, 2013 Policy and Services Committee Meetings Police Chief Dennis Burns and Assistant Police Chief Bob Beacom presented statistics on calls for service related to vehicle dwellers to the Committee as justification for a Vehicle Habitation Ordinance.
City staff and the police department appeared to be claiming the number of incidents related to vehicle dwellers were significant and therefore require a Vehicle Habitation Ordinance to resolve those problems. These numbers have been widely disseminated to the community in an effort to generate support of an ordinance.
However, what has been brought to light or discovered through a California Public Records Request is that on average, over the last three and half years calls related to vehicle dwellers was only 0.000667% of all calls for service. Based upon these facts, the calls and problems caused by vehicle dwellers when compared to the total number of calls for service and problems caused by all other residents are inconsequential.
These statistics prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Vehicle Habitation is not a problem and that an ordinance is not necessary.
We don’t even know if the calls were legitimate or what the final outcome produced.
The City of Palo Alto and the Police Department has refused to provide the details of the 159 calls for service related to vehicle dwellers even though the city has the information available and provides similar information to the media and public on a regular basis.
A second request has been submitted to the city for the details of the 159 calls for service related to vehicle dwellers. It remains to be seen if the City will comply with the request or perpetuate its secrecy.
Public Records Request and City Stats:
Service Call Data
At the May 14, 2013 and June 25, 2013 Policy and Services Committee Meetings Police Chief Dennis Burns and Assistant Police Chief Bob Beacom presented statistics on calls for service related to vehicle dwellers to the Committee as justification for a Vehicle Habitation Ordinance.
City staff and the police department appeared to be claiming the number of incidents related to vehicle dwellers were significant and therefore require a Vehicle Habitation Ordinance to resolve those problems. These numbers have been widely disseminated to the community in an effort to generate support of an ordinance.
However, what has been brought to light or discovered through a California Public Records Request is that on average, over the last three and half years calls related to vehicle dwellers was only 0.000667% of all calls for service. Based upon these facts, the calls and problems caused by vehicle dwellers when compared to the total number of calls for service and problems caused by all other residents are inconsequential.
These statistics prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Vehicle Habitation is not a problem and that an ordinance is not necessary.
We don’t even know if the calls were legitimate or what the final outcome produced.
The City of Palo Alto and the Police Department has refused to provide the details of the 159 calls for service related to vehicle dwellers even though the city has the information available and provides similar information to the media and public on a regular basis.
A second request has been submitted to the city for the details of the 159 calls for service related to vehicle dwellers. It remains to be seen if the City will comply with the request or perpetuate its secrecy.
Public Records Request and City Stats:
Service Call Data