This is the group that calls itself “the Public Safety Citizens Task Force”, personally selected by Mayor Bryant, and headed by
the Public Relations officer of the Seaside Company Kris Reyes and a former civilrights-hostile police officer Jim Howes. The group’s make-up as described in the minutes of their first meeting (
http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=32263) is
a. Jeff Cole, Fire Captain, City of Mountain View
b. Carolyn Coleman, Executive Director, Santa Cruz CommunityCounseling Center
c. Renee Golder, Teacher, Santa Cruz City Schools
d. Jim Howes, Asst. Director Regional Occupational Program, Santa Cruz County Office of Education, (retired Santa Cruz Police Officer)
e. Rod Libbey, Executive Director , Janus of Santa Cruz
f. Danielle Long, Social Work er, Santa Cruz County
g. Kristin Long, Family Attorney (retired Asst. District Attorney)
h. Kris Reyes, Director of General Services & External Relations, Santa Cruz Seaside Company
i. Reyna Ruiz, Commission member, Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women
j. Steve Schlicht, Marketing Director, Ezonthei
k. Dennis Smith, Commission member, Santa Cruz Port District Commission, (retired Santa CruzCounty Sheriff’s Lieutenant)
l. Kim Stoner, Real Estate Appraiser and Consultant
m. Bernie Tershy, Professor, Univers ity of California, Santa Cruz
n. Deborah Tracy-Proulx, School Board Trustee, Santa Cruz City Schools
o. Patty Zoccoli, Business Co-Owner, Zoccoli’s DeliNary a left activist, homeless person, or low-income resident to be seen (please correct me if I’m wrong).
Nothing about the real health and safety problem if not crisis left by the City Council’s behind-closed-doors surrender to Take Back Santa Cruz in January closing the only Needle Exchange in the City proper. And this next session is about “the Drug problem”.
The real purpose of the group, or so I fear, is to give fiber and filler to the NIMBY “disappear the homeless” mentality that has become ever-more explicit in a Council that has long been anti-homeless in its laws, policies, and appointments–even in the best of times.
The staff materials are included as an attachment, and can be found on-line at http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=33257 . A tip of the hat to City Clerk/Administrator Bren Lehr and Staff Worker Scott Collins for putting them up on the Task Farce webpage (http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/index.aspx?page=1924 ). However, until I called them several days ago, there was neither notice, minutes, nor report for the next meeting, nor minutes for most of the other meetings. I’m still waiting for them to post the audio.
It’s not that I necessarily recommend that people take seriously the content of these meetings (other than protesting the anti-homeless mission and make-up and exposing the “Public Safety” mythology behind the group’s formation), but one should always know what new abuses are being planned.
We need, of course, a group concerned with Public Justice Citizens Task Force, which concerns itself with restoring rights to the entire community stolen in the ongoing political repression–particularly for the poor and homeless, but impacting the entire community (curfews, closed spaces, massive police and security thug presence, opaque Council actions without meaningful public debate, etc.).
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