Tag Archives: Vehicle Dwelling

7-15-18 9:30 AM-3 PM Berkeley’s Amber and Santa Cruz’s Brent Plus Street Scowling and a Long Flashback from April 18, 2010 with HUFF and Travelin’ Tom Noddy on resisting the Street Performer Crackdown

Posted on by

Streams at freakradio.org and broadcasts at 101.3 FM

RECENT EVENTS
  • Voices Sunny and Shady from Food Not Bombs Chowdown
  • Battlehardened Brent on Storage, Shelter, and Sleepstruggle
  • Vehicular Voice Amber on the roadweary RV Residents
FLASHBACK FROM April 18, 2010
  • Aftermath of Beggarbacker Becky Johnson’s Sinister Sidewalk Singalong Trial
  • Travelin’ Tom Noddy Chronicles the History of Street Performer Resistance to Official Crackdowns

ALERTS FROM JUBILATION JULIE & BATHROBESPIERRE ROBERT

This show archives in the near future at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html

Leave your comments and questions at 831-423-4833. 

NO HUFF MEETING BUT CONSCIENCE-IN-ACTION WILL MEET 11 AM WEDNESDAY AT THE SUB ROSA CAFE

Posted on by

Conscience-in-Action, the Coalition of groups and individuals who demanded reopening of the Louden Nelson and San Lorenzo Park bathrooms will meet again Weds. at 11 AM at the Sub Rosa Cafe (703 Pacific next to the Bike Church). 

On the agenda is a proposed action from Ed Frey demanding documented accountability from politicians local and national. 

Up for discussion is a speak-out on Pacific Avenue, possible while standing on vehicles.  We may also be considering follow-up actions to restore decency, public sanitation, and fair access to toilet facilities for everyone in Santa Cruz. 

Other possibilities HUFFsters may present include Direct Action to Block the New Library-in-a-Parking-Garage proposal.  


HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) meets again June 27th 11 AM at the Sub Rosa.  HUFF reps will be at tomorrow’s Conscience-in-Action meeting on June 20th.

The 20th Annual Homelessness Marathon, for those who missed it, is archived at http://ku.audioport.org.  Just scroll down to June 12th, and
you’ll find it.  Unfortunately, the hours from 3-5 p.m., EST didn’t . 


The Schedule

all times Pacific Daylight Time, add three hours for EST)

Hour 1 – 9 a.m.– 10- a.m. . – Live from the Poor People’s March on Washington. Guest Host, Rev. Bruce Wright.

Hour 2 – 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. – Paul Boden, field director for the Western Regional Advocacy Project on the “Right To Rest” and “Housekeys Not Handcuffs” movements; Amanda Brown-Hunter, head of an Amarillo homeless camp that is in hiding,

Hour 3* – 11:00 – noon – “Homelessness, Housing and Human Rights in DC” – Guest Host, Parissa Nourouzi

Hour 4 – noon – 1:00 p.m.– TBA

Hour 5* – 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. – “Homelessness and the Indigenous Peoples of North America.” Guest Host, Derrick Toledo

Hour 6 – 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. – Helena Liikanen-Renger, Press Counselor for the Embassy of Finland will discuss how it happens that Finland is housing all of its rough sleepers, while the rest of Europe is in a homelessness crisis.

Hour 7* – 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. – “We Got The Power: Lessons in the Fight Against Poverty for Women and Girls” – Guest Host, Carmen Berkley

Hour 8 – 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. – Attorney Jason Flores, who is suing Denver on behalf of the homeless. Then journalist and activist Mike Rhodes with an update on homelessness in Fresno.

Hour 9 – 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. – A conversation with Bill Higgins, a former submarine officer who became homeless (right before Trump took office, he told us how happy he was that Ben Carson was to be HUD Secretary, but that’s not what he says today). Then, attorney Judith Berkan, will speak from Puerto Rico on hurricane recovery.

Hour 10* – 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. – Homeless Faculty and Students in Higher Education. Guest hosts, Corrine Ruff and Shalina Chatlani.

Hour 11 – 7:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. – Kent Anderson, Chief High Risk Services Officer, Waikiki Health, will report some facts on just how young kids there are when they become homeless and what happens to them. Then a look at homelessness in Portland, ME.

Hour 8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. – “A DC Street Poet, His Reflections and His Lawsuit.” Then Richard Tripp’s Taxi to Heaven, a memorial for homeless advocates who have died since our last broadcast, Richard Tripp among them.

Crackdown on Vehicles on Downtown Santa Cruz at 1:30 PM 4-24 City Council Meeting

Posted on by
Vehicular Profiteering Downtown Will Punish the Poor and Drive Away Customers
by Robert Norse (rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com)
Monday Apr 23rd, 2018 11:40 PM

Santa Cruz City Council is set to rubberstamp increased parking fees, new parking meters, a two-hour “Move Along” vehicular law, “no vending from vehicles”, and a “no vehicles above 6′ in height” requirement along Pacific Ave. and adjacent streets at its 1:30 PM session tomorrow. It’s item #18 on the so-called “Consent Public Hearings” section of the agenda.
For the staff report, go to http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/cache/2/ysbt3j4rzksz10hyeh2erdma/470568104232018113012455.PDF .

For the text of the ordinances, go to http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/cache/2/ysbt3j4rzksz10hyeh2erdma/470568204232018112944812.PDF .

As of 11:30 PM Monday night, the only correspondence posted was critical at
http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/cache/2/ysbt3j4rzksz10hyeh2erdma/470568504232018113111829.PDF .

My own thoughts were sent to Mayor Terrazas earlier tonight. I reprint them below:

The proposed ordinance changes seriously impact downtown vehicle accessibility for the general public, for those who are disabled and required to use vehicles higher than 6′, and for artists like Alex Skelton and Joff Jones. These two were driven off Pacific Ave. by the “performance pens” “no art to be displayed for more than 1 hour” ordinances. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1024756190933863&set=a.132189966857161.31378.100001984741385&type=3&theater
Joff Lee Jones
www.facebook.com
In contrast with recent claims in local media from Senior Ranger Jeremy Matthews (Ranger pictured on left) that “We’ve already racked up quite a few citations,” (via KION news) We have not seen…
In contrast with recent claims in local media from Senior Ranger Jeremy Matthews (Ranger pictured on left) that “We’ve already racked up quite a few citations,” (via KION news) We have not seen…

They returned and were showing their work on the side of their vehicles–which would now potentially be banned under the “no vending” provision. Curtis Reliford–who has already suffered racial and class discrimination–would now find his musical offerings and charity work excluded from Pacific Avenue view.

There is also an obvious economic impact, encouraging folks with vehicles to patronize other nearby cities and businesses where they won’t face jacked-up meter costs and likely parking tickets for parking longer than 2 hours.

For a city government supposedly concerned with carbon impact, encouraging folks to drive their cars to more distant cities, aggravates a growing crisis.

The prior intensified anti-homeless Downtown ordinances have also crowded and diminished musical performers, political tablers, and social gatherings on the Pacific Avenue sidewalk. Vendors of arts and crafts have been outright banned.

Plus, of course, accomplishing their main unstated purpose–to drive away visible poor people under the guise of “problematic street behavior”. Homeless folks report being driven out into the rain by SCPD and P&R rangers in spite of the more liberal nighttime policy regarding Sleeping Ban enforcement by Chief Mills.

The recent division of the City into 5 policing districts has apparently intensified “move along” directives by police officials like Bill Azua on public sidewalks where homeless folks have the right to congregate, whatever the aesthetic affectations of Taco Bell, Staff of Life, and other NIMBY businesses.

The proposed increased parking meter costs not only seem to negatively impact businesses, but also puts a particular burden on poor people. Especially those whose vehicles are their homes. Were the vehicularly housed and disabled part of the so-called “Stakeholder” group consulted in creating the staff recommendations? If so, please provide their testimony–when, where, and what was presented.

Have city staff has reportedly posted areas under bridges as “no sleeping/camping/assembling” areas–as activist Brent Adams has claimed? Are they still using shrill high-pitched “mosquito” noise devices to discourage public assembly in different places around the city? Is the City still enforcing its unique “no public allowed on City Hall grounds at night and during the weekends”?

The combined impact of these misguided laws is clearly to Yuppify the City and drive the visible poor out of town.

Please delay any discussion of these laws until the stakeholders who are most impacted by these laws–not just some hand-picked businesses–are able to provide relevant information on the impacts. Particularly the disabled, the poor, the artists, and the general public.


Sunday 3-4-18 9:30 AM-2:30 PM Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides at 101.3 FM & freakradio.org: Flashback Free! All Current Calamaties with special focus on the Destruction of the San Lorenzo Benchlands Campground and the new Barbed-Wire Boneyard

Posted on by

Current Stuff:

  • Interviews aplenty from City Manager-created refugees on the last days of the San Lorenzo Campground
  • Big Drum Brent Adams on the Boneyard River St. Campground with additional remarks by employees there
  • First They Came For the Homeless self-run encampment activist Stacy on the Berkeley Alternative
  • “Push Back”  Pat Colby on the Santa Cruz Street Scene
  • L.A.’s Peggy Lee Kennedy on the Fight Against the Beach Curfew
  • Gloomy gobs of grim from the last City Council meeting
  • On-going updates and looks back from Food Not Bombs activist Keith McHenry

This show archives tomorrow or perhaps later today at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/Lostshows.html

Leave your comments and questions at 831-423-4833.

Contact 575-770-3377 to volunteer to help Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs locally through Facebook. Donate blankets tents, and tarps to folks directly on the street (80% of the homeless population) either directly or through the Warming Center Project  at 831-234-9848.

Check out Homeless Outside in Santa Cruz  on Facebook for grim details of the Boneyard River St. Campground.
HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) meets Wednesday 3-7-11 AM at the Sub Rosa Cafe (next to the Bike Church at 703 Pacific).  Coffee on the house.

Call 423-4833 to volunteer for or learn more about civil rights work on homeless civil rights issues.

9:30 AM Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides Covers Updates on Marijuana, Syringes, and “Unreasonably Disturbing Noise” at City Council, Lapis Road Latest, A Taste of the Mime Troupe and More!–Tune in at 101.3 FM or freakradio.org

Posted on by

Today’s show includes Carol Denny on Pepperspray Politics in Berkeley, Tenant Activist Organizing in Santa Cruz, and Caustic Commentary by Bathrobespierre on Everything.

Contact 575-770-3377 to volunteer different kinds of support for the Survival Sleepers now dispersed to the Post Office and points along Pacific Avenue  and support Food Not Bombs locally and those whose only resting place is an illegal piece of sidewalk.

Leave your comments and questions at the same number.   Still a $500 reward for any info leading to Free Radio’s finding a 10′ X 10′  studio space for Free Radio Santa Cruz to rent in Santa Cruz.

Later in the day after the show has aired, the Sunday 9-17 show archives at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb170917.mp3.

Partial RV Residents Victory in Marina; HUFF Punts Again: NO 11 AM Meeting Wednesday– But There’s Still Stuff You Can Do to Fight City Council’s Home Grown Fascism Here

Posted on by

Though skipping another Wednesday meeting, HUFF members and sympathizers are still focused on our own local struggle against the long-term fascist wave against the homeless.

I’m still waiting for clarification from staff mouthpiece and Assistant City Manager Scott Collins just how far the new 72-hour police power extends.  It currently allows cops and rangers to issue Stay-Away orders from areas when they give out an infraction ticket.  The area seems to include Arana Gulch, Moore Creek, and the Pogonip as well as some smaller parks.

Go to http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=848&doctype=AGENDA and click on Item #20, then on  “School Safety Enhancement Zones Ordinance (CN) – Map” on the right side of the screen.    More details, hopefully from “Scapegoater” Scott when I get them.

This is a direct attack on poor people who try to sleep in the Pogonip at night–since there is no alternate shelter (and even when it is available to a few is often described as wretched, bug-ridden, unsafe, and dehumanizing).  I mistakenly wrote last week that this proposed banning-without-court-process power extended to all parks, which apparently it does not–only those within 300′ of a school  (again, see the map above).    Also while the law outrageously triples lengths of time that thugs in uniform can ban you from areas without a court conviction or trial, it does not triple the fines.

Final vote from the rubberstamping body comes in two weeks, but e-mail to the City Council can still be sent to them putting opposition on record at citycouncil@cityofsantacruz.com .  To read the detailed horrors of the original law, whose bans will triple in length, go to http://www.codepublishing.com/CA/SantaCruz/  and review 13.08.090 and 13.08.100–both anti-homeless laws passed in 2013, expanded in 2015, and now back for a final blow at the poor outside.

+++ write a letter to the Sentinel, Good Times, facebook friends, or other on-line media denouncing the ordinance.  See my story at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/08/22/18802084.php (“Toxic Expansion of Stay-Away Ordinance Hits Council Agenda Today”) for description and discussion.

+++ Sign up to support homeless resistance by using the “appeal process” hastily added on to the Stay-Away law which requires the City Manager’s office to hear an appeal before the Stay-Away is implemented.  Contact Food Not Bombs at its Saturday and Sunday meals at the Post Office and Tuesday night outside City Hall.  Or go to their facebook page at Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs.  Leave a message there for HUFF or contact HUFF by phone at 831-423-4833.  Bring citations, reports of stay-away orders, and other street info to the Food Not Bombs literature table.
OTHER STRUGGLES

+++  Ongoing crackdown on MHCAN at a Public Hearing to “revoke and replace” their special unit permit according to Board of Director mouthpiece Steve Pleich.  He and his Board, after many months of hush-hush secrecy and “don’t rock the boat” tactics are calling for public letters and calls to the Planning Department in advance of their September 7th hearing.  Attention: Mike Ferry, City of Santa Cruz, Dept. of Planning and Community Development, 809 Center St., Room 206, S.C. 95060  or e-mail at mferry@cityofsantacruz.com Let us know of any new police or vigilante actions against MHCAN or their clients, as well as any internal “crackdown” regs within MHCAN itself.

 

+++ Monterey County Homeless Activists who a partial victory at the Monterey Board of Supervisors today getting a 90-day nighttime extension for the dozens of vehicular residents out on Lapis Road north of Marina.  Implicitly acknowledging they have no “resources”  (i.e. housing or a safe place to park their RV’s). the Board responded to the organizing effort of Becky Johnson and Wes White, signing up folks to show they weren’t “service-resistant”.  However the resolution passed, supposedly binding on the sheriffs, still requires residents to vacate between 10 AM and 6:30 AM.  Many of the vehicular homes have very poor gas mileage, their owners are poor, and half are not drivable.   Residents Amber and Wildfire are reportedly inventorying and helping mobilize people for the 8 a.m. Thursday deadline.  Support the Lapis Road RV Residents by contacting the Supervisors Luis Alejo and Jane Parker for a more reasonable settlement at  jane.parker@co.monterey.ca.us   luis.alejo@co.monterey.ca.us

 

+++ If you wish to work on Public Records, or learn about other HUFF projects, contact Bathrobespierre Robert of HUFF at 831-423-4833.  

Freedom SleepOut #77: Sanctuary for the Local Homeless?

Posted on by
Date Tuesday December 27
Time 4:00 PM Tuesday – 9 AM Wednesday
Location Details At the edges of City Hall downtown along Center Street mostly between Locust and Church
Event Type Protest
Organizer/Author Keith McHenry (story by Norse)
Email keith [at] foodnotbombs.net
Phone 575-770–3377

LIBERALS ORGANIZE AGAINST ANTI-IMMIGRANT ATTACKS, IGNORE HATE AGAINST HOMELESS
While “mainstream activists” in the City and County gear up to resist Trump’s “deport the undocumented” (building on Obama’s record of 2 million+ deported during his two years), our own local refugees (perhaps you’ve heard of them–the homeless folks?) are demanding respect for their rights, health, and safety from marauding police, rangers, and security thugs in Freedom SleepOut #77. These displaced urban residents will be out on the sidewalk Tuesday night at the height of winter while those denouncing Trump (but implicitly supporting local Trumpism against the homeless) are away on vacation or snug at home in their beds.

The resistance meeting to defend the non-homeless undocumented locals happened last week (See “Santa Cruz Sanctuary Assembly” at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/12/21/18794892.php?show_comments=1#18794944). So far none of these militant liberals have shown up on the sidewalk in front of City Hall at night.

WILL LAST WEEK’S PRE-DAWN RAIDS BE REPEATED?
Last week at SleepOut #76, activists John and Pat Colby reported heavy police harassment and ticketing shortly before 6 AM in the morning followed by ranger threats to seize “unattended gear” a few hours later with the intent of driving away those resting near City Hall. Homeless residents Lawrence, Sonny, and Eagle confirmed the raids. Monterey Max was also reportedly handcuffed but then released with a $200 “trespass” citation.

THE CHRISTMASTIME SHOW OF CARING MUST GO ON!
Meanwhile the community gives itself an annual pat on the back for the twice-a-year charity feeds for the festive Xmas season [See http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/lifestyle/20161225/santa-cruz-county-volunteers-share-their-bounty-on-christmas-day]

And, of course, there is the ritual annual commemoration the homeless dead [See http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/social-affairs/20161220/annual-homeless-memorial-highlights-continued-need-in-santa-cruz-county] behind the locked gates of the grant-magnet Homeless (Lack of) Services Center.

GOOD NEWS
Julie Shaul of RV Fulltimers [https://www.facebook.com/groups/santacruzfulltimers/] reports she has received no reports of RV ticketing in the North County since the local Coastal Commission staff sent a letter to County staff in October.

That letter advised Sheriff Hart that the nighttime RV ban required clearance through the Coastal Commission, which had not even been notified back in March when the law was passed. Neither the Sheriff, the County Counsel, or the courts have offered to provide restitution to folks in RV’s who were unlawfully cited. The Sheriff also refused to release their names.

Earlier the local Coastal Commission staff unsuccessfully rubberstamped the City’s RV ban–a rubberstamp that was reversed by the full Coastal Commission in August on appeal from a constituent (Norse). Both the City and County bans are currently in limbo but not dead. It appears the CC staff may be huddling with the City and County staff to cook up new language to ban RV’s in the dead of night by limiting the hours of the ban.

FIGHTING BACK
Report harassment citations and actions to Norse of HUFF at rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com. Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom will be meeting 11 AM Wednesday December 28th at the Sub Rosa Cafe. HUFF and Liberation News plan a Saturday protest demanding justice for the killings of Sean Arlt and Luke Smith on Saturday 1:30 PM at the Town Clock.

COUNCILMEMBER ON THE FREE RADIO STREAM THURSDAY
City Councilmember and Former Mayor Chris Krohn will be on Free Radio Santa Cruz sometime between 6 and 8 PM on Thursday December 29th. The show will stream at freakradio.org and archive at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb161229.mp3 . Krohn spoke out against the Sleeping Ban in his “coronation” speech on December 13th, but has not been involved in any direct actions or resistance in the past. Freedom Sleepers invite him to pull up a sleeping bag and a blanket to join the cold but unbowed veterans on the sidewalk.

For more event information: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/12/26/18794966.php

Sleep Protectors Gather for Freedom SleepOut #74

Posted on by

Sleep Protectors Gather for Freedom SleepOuit #74

Date Tuesday December 06 Time 4:00 PM Tuesday – 9:00 AM Wednesday

Location Details On the sidewalks near City Hall, barred from taking shelter under the eaves in the rain, protesters will spend the night outside, under tarps, perhaps with a tent or two, and in nearby vehicles.  For nearly a year and a half, a small community of housed and homeless have demanded an end to laws criminalizing survival sleeping and other life-sustaining activities. Watchers, well-wishers, blankets, and visitors welcome!

Event Type Protest

Organizer/Author Keith McHenry (story by Norse)

Email keith [at] foodnotbombs.net

Phone 575-770–3377

SHELTER SHUFFLE FOR THE FEW; WIND, RAIN, AND TICKETS FOR THE MANY
As temperatures dive below 40 and winter approaches in earnest, city and county authorities are providing $360,000 worth of nightly shelter for 50-75 people at VFW Post No. 7263 at 2259 7th Ave. in Live Oak. The mini-program (considering there are 3000+ unsheltered in the County) will expand to 100-125 in January with the opening of the Salvation Army building downtown at 721 Laurel St. –unavailable during a cold December because it’s being used for “fund-raising” activities.The usual NIMBY (Not-in-My-Back-Yard) approach is evident. The pick-up site is several miles from the 7th Ave. shelter. Clients are banned from walking or driving to the shelter. In-take worker Steve Pleich notes folks will have to go through an initial questioning process (5-10 minutes), presumably to satisfy the Take Back Santa Cruz-minded folks as well as provide data for more grant-grabbing activity.

Old-timers remembered when you got sheltered if you showed up. Not any more.
Meals will be provided for the few that get into the program, but the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center (a “supporter” of the Winter Shelter program) has made no move to restore the open meals that were its historic responsibility abandoned in June of 2015.

Run by the Association of Faith Communities, the AFC bosses may not require users to be present every night or be kicked out of the program–which they do regularly at their year-round 20-person shelter program that moves from church to church. Boss Debbi Bates reportedly excluded several women from the smaller program because they took Tuesday nights out to join the Freedom Sleeper protests. Bates now heads the far more costly $360 grand Winter Shelter.

Read the Sentinel’s sunny shelter spin at http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/20161205/editorial-dec-6-2016-providing-shelter-in-the-cold-holiday-season & http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/social-affairs/20161129/new-santa-cruz-winter-shelter-site-opens-thursday?source=topstoriesrot

Also due to open at least for a night or two later this week is the Warming Center with downtown pick-up’s at Pearl Alley. Call 211 or (831) 234-9848 for more info.

Continue reading →

Santa Barbara Activists Fight RV Ban

Posted on by

NORSE’S NOTES:  Santa Cruz, under the Mathews City Council, has faced a severe attack on those whose “affordable housing” is an RV with the passage last year and again this year of the city-wide nighttime RV parking ban.  This is another in a series of anti-homeless measures based on the false and vicious mythology that a large proportion of homeless folks are criminals, threats to children, etc.  It’s a fantasy pushed by influential economically distressed middle-class residents along with police, real estate speculators, and downtown business interests which has resulted in a string of repressive laws–in addition to the City’s traditional and routine Sleeping Ban–which makes any  sleep 11 PM to 8:30 AM, even in one’s own legally parked vehicle, a crime.

                    A successful appeal to the Coastal Commission heard last summer has delayed the implementation of Santa Cruz’s “no parking midnight to 5 AM” law now on the books but supposedly not being enforced  [See http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20160810/coastal-commission-votes-against-santa-cruzs-rv-ban and ” Unexpected Victory at Coastal Commission” https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/08/11/18790030.php .   There are however mixed reports of police reportedly “cracking down” and driving vehicularly housed residents out of town into the County.  Meanwhile, the County has passed an even more repressive RV ban in March, which impacts five times as many people (since the County’s population is five times larger than the City’s).  Their ban [County Code 9.70.620] lasts all night and, like the City’s stalled ban, requires a permit connected to a resident or hotel.  It also requires parking near the residence or hotel.   Tickets so far have been very limited, but I have raised the issue with any enforcement at all with the apparently unsympathetic staff of the Coastal Commission–so far without results.

                     The “liberal” Sheriff Jim Hart reportedly has a “Flashlights at the Park” program which invites private hate groups and eager vigilantes to join deputies in stalking the parks at night in search of “illicit” behavior.  Since survival sleeping and camping is probably the most prevalent crime, the target and impact this policy seems pretty obvious. [See https://www.facebook.com/SantaCruzSheriffsOffice/?fref=ts September 17]

                      In San Rafael as well, RV residents are fighting back.   See http://www.marinij.com/opinion/20160908/marin-ij-editorial-san-rafael-should-take-another-look-at-rv-ban.  For a lengthy discussion of the Santa Barbara situation from activist Peter Marin, listen to Free Radio Santa Cruz archive at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb160918.mp3 [37 minutes into the audio file].

                      So far in the Santa Cruz City Council forums, I’m not aware that the issue of the harassment of RV dwellers and potential eviction of poor families has been made a high priority issue–or an issue at all for the would-be chairwarmers.    (See article below)

Continue reading →

Support Freedom SleepOut #59; Fight Back Against City and County RV Repression!

Posted on by
Freedom SleepOut #59 as RV Rights Struggle Continues-
Date Tuesday August 23 Time 2:00 PM – 2:00 AM
Location Details City Hall sidewalk across from the Main Library as well as in the City Hall Courtyard. Food Not Bombs will serve vegan food along with literature and good cheer throughout the afternoon until early evening. The protest disperses on Wednesday morning around 8 or 9 after coffee.
Event Type Protest
Organizer/AuthorKeith McHenry (story by Norse)
The Tuesday night weekly protest moves towards its 14th month and 59th consecutive week. At issue is the City’s low-intensity war on the homeless community marked by social service cutoffs, vehicular bans, severe restrictions on public space usage, and increased “policing” downtown, in the parks, and elsewhere.

An 11 PM to 8:30 AM ban on the act of sleeping outside or in a vehicle on public property has created a nonsensical, costly, and cruel conflict forcing unhoused vulnerable people to hide in unsafe areas, avoid well-lighted spots, and disperse from larger (safer) groups.

Without formal organization, unhoused folks have gathered every Tuesday scrunched on the sidewalk in front of City Hall (as the City has made it illegal to be in the Council “park” after 10 PM). They share company, security, and food compliments of “Jumbogumbo” Joe Schultz of India Joze. Join them to share your blankets, watching eyes, documenting cellphone recordings, and support.

COUNCIL DELAYS CITY RV BAN APPEAL

After the Coastal Commission’s defeat of Councilwoman Richelle Niroyan’s anti-homeless midnight-to-5 AM ban on RV’s in the city, the City Council last Thursday placed the item on its agenda for today’s 12:30 PM Closed Session. By Monday (perhaps earlier) it had been struck out. When asked why, Councilmember Posner neither offered a reason, nor expressed any interest in finding out.

Assistant City Manager Scott Collins has been e-mailed with the same questions. Collins is the same staffer who declined to verify the Freedom Sleepers’ claims that they were regularly cleaning up the protest area after use last fall. Instead, McHenry reports, Collins leveled criminal charges against Freedom Sleeper and Food Not Bombs co-founder after McHenry yelled at him as Collins fled the scene. In a deal to protect another Freedom Sleeper, McHenry pled to a lesser charge in the Shouting Incident as City officials went after him last winter for restoring and expanding the “blue boxes” on Pacific Avenue with do-it-yourself paint and stencils. Collins and his associate Julie Hendee are regular presenters of anti-homeless measures to City Council.

COUNTY RV BAN STRUGGLE CONTINUES

The new crackdown on poor folks in RV’s in the broader County area was reviewed last week in “Freedom Sleep #58 In the Midst of Struggle Over RV Rights: COUNTY RV BAN ENFORCEMENT IN PROGRESS? ” at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/08/15/18790168.php .

On August 12 the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office wrote on this thread: “No Overnight Parking zones will remain No Overnight Parking Zones with or without a permit. As for obtaining the permit, you must have permission from your friend or family who lives directly adjacent from your RV.” A rather straightforward interpretation here is that ALL overnight parking on ALL County roads are currently technically “illegal” under the County’s Ordinance Section 9.70.620 passed in March. There has been no discussion on this thread dated later than August 12.

However, Santa Cruz Fulltimers founder Julie Schaul–an activist concerned with the rights of poor families living in RV’s in the City–reports no citations have been given out since the Sheriff’s Department announced it began enforcing the ban on August 1st. Schaul has a facebook page that covers the RV struggle.

County staff and Coastal Commission staff, though questioned about the legality of the County’s ordinance and the Sheriff’s enforcement announcement, have declined to apply the Commission’s August 10th ruling against the City ban. They have also declined to clarify an appropriate appeal procedure on the issue. E-mail and phone exchanges continue. If you wish to express your concern, contact Sharif Traylor, staffer at the Coastal Commission, at 427-4863 or sharif.traylor [at] coastal.ca.gov or Paia Levine, planner, at County Planning at paia.levine [at] santacruzcounty.us 454-5317.

Though Sharif has noted he reply by e-mail, it’s still useful to create a paper trail. The issue is whether the County March law violates the Coastal Commission’s clear statements on August 10th that there must be real public access for folks of all incomes. Neither Santa Cruz County nor the City provides places for poor people to park their RV’s, nor have they shown a real “crime” problem.

Please cc all such inquiries and responses to rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com .

DEMAND THE CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES SPEAK UP AGAINST THE SLEEPING BAN AND ANTI-HOMELESS LAWS

Contact the 9 Council candidates running by e-mail or phone to insist they raise the issues of Sleeping Ban Repeal, Access to public spaces at night, security for homeless persons and property, as well as restore the meager social services. These were some of the original demands of the Freedom Sleep-Out. The protests began as a Community Sleep-Out under the “Homeless Lives Matter” slogan last summer as services closed down at the Homeless Lack-of Services Center.

The candidates are J.M. Brown, Steven Pleich, Nathanael A. Kennedy, Drew “Dru” S. Glover, Martine Watkins, Cynthia Mathews, Steve Schnaar, James (Jim) P. Davis, Robert Singleton, Sandra (Sandy) L. Brown, and Chris Krohn. Their contact information is available at http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/departments/city-clerk/elections-2382 under “List of Prospective 2016 Candidates”.

Only Steve Pleich has spent an overnight with the Freedom Sleepers and not recently.

To discuss RV pushback and electoral antics, check out the HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) meeting at 11 AM at the Sub Rosa Cafe Wednesday August 24.