Category Archives: HOT ISSUES

The Vandwellers Meet the Police Chief: Sad Lesson–Protection Lies in Your Community not the Cops

Posted on by
The Vandwellers Meet the Police Chief: Relearning Sad Facts
by Robert Norse (rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com)
Wednesday Jan 16th, 2019 8:22 PM
Alice Kuhl, a mother of 3 who lives in her RV in Santa Cruz, asked SCPD Chief of police Andy Mills some hard questions last week. Kuhl challenged what she termed harassment by hostile homeowners and SCPD’s vehicle abatement enforcer Joe Haebe. She noted lack of support from Mills SCPD complaints line and sought assurance from Mills. She got none.
sm_scan_20190116.jpg
WHY THE PRESS CONFERENCE?
Some weeks ago, Kuhl came to a HUFF meeting with a flyer. One side of it was a hostile and inaccurate flyer urging her to move her vehicle. The other was her response. After meeting with HUFF and Conscience and Action, she agreed to speak publicly with Chief Mills–this happened on Thursday January 10th.

We met to encourage RV dwellers to meet, share stories, and gain solidarity with each other. And at the same time to invite Mills to address real concerns–if he so chose. See
“Clarifying RV Dwellers’ Rights in Santa Cruz ” at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/01/07/18820149.php .

Most of the meeting was videoed by Salinas Union of the Homeless activist Wes White and is posted at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOMxmjPs40Y&feature=youtu.be .

Several RV dwellers and numerous reporters videoing covered the exchange in front of the SCPD police station.

BACKGROUND
Particularly at issue for Alicia Kuhl and other houseless folks was harassment actions by enforcement officers like Joe Haebe ignoring their right to park on public streets for 72 hours unmolested. She asked Mills to instruct his officers to respect that 72-hour window, which, she and other vandwellers said, they took care to not overstay.

Mills insisted he had a responsibility to investigate all complaints and praised Haebe’s work in “tagging and towing”.

See https://www.facebook.com/santacruzpolice/ January 9th “Officer of the Month Awarded to Joe Haebe” ” Over the past year, Joe has fielded hundreds of calls, tagged more than 2,000 vehicles for abatement, and towed 291 vehicles.”

MILLS UNRESPONSIVE
Mills did not respond to requests that he instruct officers not to “take the side” of the homeowner, and to view repeated “get this vehicle out of my neighborhood” style calls, skeptically.

The general brunt of the questioning was a futile effort to persuade Mills to direct his officers to respect the 72-hour law. Not to seek out minor violations (like cracked windshield, bald tire) as a “spur” to getting vehicles to immediately move to placate housed vigilantes nearby short of the 72-hour period allowed.

WHAT’S NEEDED?
Mills needs to require officers to limit themselves to determining if a vehicle has overstayed 72-hours (which he said police can do through an undisclosed system).

Kuhl claimed earlier that she was obstructed in her attempt to determine the identity of those complaining about her vehicle and the specifics of their complaints. She also suggested that her vehicle was being targeted. She questioned Haebe’s enthusiasm in threatening vehicles with ticketing and suggested earlier it seemed to indicate an anti-homeless bias.

OTHER QUESTIONS
Vandweller Veronica Crow noted the appearance all over town of “permit parking only” signs that ban parking at night without a permit–a specifically anti-homeless provision.

Is Mills explicitly advising callers complaining that vehicles have a right to be there for 72 hours? Are his cops notifying them that filing a false police report is a misdemeanor? Is he looking into the claims that his “go to” guy Haebe is engaging in “hunting expeditions”?

THE FINAL RESULT
Mills sympathized that those in vehicles are only going to face street homelessness if his cops vigorously persecute vehicles at the instigation of neighbors. However he explicitly refused to offer a change in any policies, some of which are discretionary.

He may agree that police have higher priorities that removing them because of the aesthetic preferences or unfounded fears of residents. But if he refuses to act to rein in those abuses, the buck stops with him.

OTHER ISSUES
Other issues raised were the crying need for a carpark. Mills sympathized but declined to offer any public advocacy. He also suggested folks leave town and go to campgrounds (costly) and ask churches and businesses for parking space (largely unsuccessful in the past).

His general response was “our job is to enforce the law” and “take your concerns to the City Council.”

MEDIA HERE AND GONE
Numerous reporters were at the conference taking notes, audioing, and videoing.

Jessica York of the Sentinel was there for some time but the Sentinel wrote nothing. She told Kuhl she’d contact her for follow-up…but never did.

I did comment at length as I played the full audio of the encounter on my Sunday radio show at http://huffsantacruz.org/lost/1%20FRSC%201-13-19.mp3 (25 minutes into the audio).

MILLS AS PR PROFESSONAL
Last Sunday Mills wrote an editorial for the Sentinel, apologizing for other abusive police departments, but ignoring concerns about his own.
He also announced joint sponsorship of a Martin Luther King day march with the NAACP on Monday the 21st.

See https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2019/01/13/andrew-g-mills-santa-cruz-police-naacp-chapter-co-host-mlk-march/

While Mills has commendably backed down somewhat in issuing citations for survival sleeping, rangers under his direction do seem to have increased citations for “being in a closed area’, a fancy name for “trespass on public property” in parks at night. He has also declined to answer numerous outstanding questions about his department’s use of tasers, baton strikes, guns, etc.

See “Demands of the New Police Chief and His Initial Response” at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2017/12/30/18805570.php

FOLLOWING UP
Mills has said he holds meetings on Monday mornings. Contact the SCPD at 831-420-5810 to make an appointment. If you think it’s worth the time and breath.

HUFF and Conscience and Action members met today to discuss further steps in documenting and challenging abuses targeting those whose homes are in vehicles. Volunteers interested in assisting this project, call HUFF at 423-4833.

RV and Surivival Sleepers in Vehicles: Air Concerns with Each Other and the Police Chief

Posted on by

SURVIVING IN YOUR VEHICLE…-BUT HAVING HARASSMENT PROBLEMS?

Rally and Press Conference at the Santa Cruz Police Station Fountain Area Thursday January 10th 1:30 PM 155 Center St.  at corner of Laurel St.

  • Are you being pressured or threatened to move your vehicle more frequently than the legal resting period of 72 hours?  Are strange chalk marks appearing on your tires?
  • Are hostile housed locals suggesting you have no right to park on the public streets?
  • Are you awakened by rude pounding, shouting, and banging in the dead of night?
  • Is your family or loved one being made to feel unwelcome in a neighborhood in which you’ve parked for less than 72 hours?

    +++ Come and tell the community what’s been happening to you and your family. +++ Share suggestions and advice on “smart survival tactics”, “diplomatic camping”, and an appreciation of your rights and responsibilities as a car camper.

    +++ Demand the new City Council and Police Chief Andy Mills direct officers to follow the law Chief Mills has agreed to be present to answer questions and concerns.

    More info; report violations  :  Contact Vehicular Tenants Hotline at 234-2067

Without Emergency Action at Council Today, Tenants Face Evictions and Homelessness This Winter

Posted on by
Last Council Meeting of 2018 What’s Missing? Freeze/Just Eviction Protection Extension !
In the last regular scheduled Council meeting of the year outgoing Mayor Terrazas won’t put on the agenda an item to extend the Rent Freeze/Just Eviction Protection that the Council passed overwhelmingly in February. That measure expires on today December 11th once the election results are accepted by the Council. It leaves tenants vulnerable to exorbitant rental increases. I have written several letters demanding the “progressive” Council members (who constitute a majority in the middle of the evening session) act to raise awareness and muster public pressure to stop this.

Vote for the Best Spot to Camp as City Council Abandons the Homeless Camp November 15th

Posted on by
Polling Folks Outside for November 15th
by Robert Norse (rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com)
Tuesday Nov 6th, 2018 9:06 AM
This poll was distributed yesterday at the Red Church meal and will be made available to unhoused (and housed) folks throughout the City to provide input for the march on November 15th to begin at the Town Clock and lead to a Campsite.
campground_poll__updated_again.pdf_600_.jpg

Download PDF (663.7kb)

Download and Distribute

You may also e-mail your vote to rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com or leave it at the Food Not Bombs literature table Sat/Sun 4-6 PM just outside the main Post Office fence or at the Sub Rosa Cafe at 703 Pacific Ave. when it’s open.

More info at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/11/01/18818652.php (“More Fences, More Tickets, Less Winter Shelter, More Cruelty”)

Even more info: https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/10/24/18818475.php (“Campground Crisis As Winter Approaches”)

§History of the Campground Controversy

by Robert Norse Tuesday Nov 6th, 2018 9:06 AM
campground_carousel_flyer.pdf_600_.jpg

Download PDF (227.4kb)

A detailed account of the last year’s slitherings of the City Council and staff to present the illusion of shelter which actually covers only a small fraction of those outside in Santa Cruz. And even less this winter than last winter.
TO DOWNLOAD THESE FLYERS AND MAKE COMMENTS,

More Fences, More Tickets, Less Winter Shelter, More Cruelty

Posted on by

More Fences, More Tickets, Less Winter Shelter, More Cruelty

Make your voice heard at City Council – Tuesday, October 23, 2018
4:00PM - Santa Cruz City Hall – 809 Center St, Santa Cruz
Free meal provided

Santa Cruz awarded $3.3 million for homeless…Closes the River Street Camp and pubic parks?

On October 17th, Sentinel journalist, Jessica York, reported that the River Street Campground will be shut down in November, with some of its members relocated into a scaled down Winter Shelter program at the VFW Hall on 7th Avenue. The VFW site will sleep  60 people and open only during evening hours, with a first-come, first-served model that does not allow pets and has limited possession storage.

On the same day that the Sentinel announced the closing of the River Street Campground city officials fenced off San Lorenzo and Grant Street Parks, closed its bathrooms and posted signs saying “PARK CLOSED Until further notice for – Focused Maintenance – Public Safety”. Workers started to replace the fence at the Post Office with a permanent iron fence  on Monday, October 22, 2018.

Private security guards were busy rousting homeless people from the San Lorenzo telling them to cross the river into downtown. The city has already fenced off Garfield, Star of the Sea, and Laurel Parks, closed the Louden Nelson bathrooms  and is stepping up harassment of those without housing seeking a place to rest downtown.

Santa Cruz currently has no walk-in shelter with long waiting lists for programs at the Homeless Services Center.  Police and rangers are also violating the Martin v. City of Boise – Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling against ticketing and arresting people who have no place to sleep subjecting local homeless community members to what the court says is cruel and unusual punishment. The waiting list at the River Street Shelter is closed.

The County of Santa Cruz was just awarded  $3.3 million in State and federal grants to help house homeless individuals and families yet few are being housed and instead they are being fenced out of public space.

Join us and speak out at City Council.  – Call 1-800-884-1136 to get involved

Attachments area

Fences not Services–the New Santa Cruz Solution?

Posted on by

NOTE FROM NORSE:   The flyer is self-explanatory.

                                        Yesterday River St Campground Commandante Susie O’Hara broke the City Council’s commitment and announced its closing next month.  Some if not all of the homeless workers have reportedly have been laid off.  The Council’s commitment to a storage and shelter area for even the small number in the campground (60-70 at max) was unceremoniously abandoned.

                                        Meanwhile no Winter Shelter, other than a partial distant AFC-run, nighttime-only no-storage facility with half the capacity of last year’s limited program will be stacked with River St. Campground refugees for the first week according to the Sentinel story (https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2018/10/16/santa-cruz-to-shutter-city-run-homeless-encampment-by-nov-30/).

                                         Yesterday HUFF decided to mobilize public support for an alternative encampment, perhaps at City Hall, perhaps at the Post Office, perhaps–as last year–at San Lorenzo Park. Others have proposed a mobile “Camp Dignity” solution such as prompted Portland, OR authorities to finally authorize a small distant campground space for some of the homeless in that city.  (https://dignityvillage.org/).  There has also been talk of establishing a campground in the Greenbelt areas, or setting up a protest camp in front of City Manager Martin Bernal‘s home or possibly that of City Council Mayor David Terrazas.

                                          Yesterday city agencies fenced off the grassy areas and the bathrooms at San Lorenzo park.  Armed uniformed thugs were stalking the park, driving away the poor and the public there.  15 hours ago Food Not Bombs activist Keith McHenry wrote “Fencing off the parks from the homeless before the city of Santa Cruz shuts down the Boneyard Camp where some of those without housing had been living under city supervision for the past several months. Shelter space also cut just before the cold rains come. Total war against the poor. Maybe we should retake City Hall.”

                                            Meanwhile harassment, citation, camp demolition, and vehicle towing continues against the vast majority of the homeless who are not and have never been offered shelter–or even the right to create their own protection against the cold.

                              

                                            Come to the 5 PM Saturday October 20th meeting at the Food Not Bombs meal near the main Post Office…or start your own encampment.  

                                             The Martin v. Boise federal appeals court ruling applies to California and other western states. (https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2018/09/04/15-35845.pdf).

                                             However, that won’t stop police from harassing you–they’re doing so now under “trespass” and “public area closed” laws.   At Monday’s Public Safety Committee meeting, Mills documented a surge in such citations this even as he claimed his uniformed gunmen had stopped Sleeping Ban harassment.   (https://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub_PSCom/cache/2/amhktxussfn4fg1u35mud5t4/476782010182018095532533.PDF)

                                              Last year, Andy Mills’ police and rangers shut down public protest against the City’s unconstitutional “no sleep at night for the poor” policies.  They falsely rousted the Freedom Sleepers there by falsely using “blocking the sidewalk” laws.

                                              Be prepared to deal with intensified police harassment.

                                              Note:  I also include a note from City Manager Martin Bernal for his “side of the story” following the flyer below.

Attachment(s) from Robert Norse | View attachments on the web

1 of 1 File(s)

FENCING OUT THOSE WITH OUT HOMES IS CRUEL.pdf

Silence in the Santa Cruz Police Department in the Wake of the Boise “No Shelter For All Means No Sleeping Ban For Any” Decision

Posted on by

Police Chief Andy Mills announced at the City Council’s August 20th Public Safety Committee meeting that though Sleeping Ban citations have dropped over the winter, citations for “trespass”–in essence, falling asleep in parks, the Pogonip, and on public property declared “closed” at night (such as City Hall) have increased.  

See Jessica York’s Sentinel story at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20180821/crime-declines-despite-safety-concerns-in-santa-cruz

More recently, she collaborated in a story on the Boise 9th Circuit Court decision–which directly impacts Santa Cruz: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/social-affairs/20180910/santa-cruz-may-update-homeless-no-camping-law-in-wake-of-federal-ruling .  

To hear the audio of Chief Mills testimony before the Public Safety Committee, go to http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub_PSCom/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=1124&doctype=AGENDA  (about an hour into the audio file).


There is currently no  walk-in homeless emergency shelter.  I’ve been told that even the River St. mini-shelter’s waiting list at Coral St. is closed.  Even when open, beds available to those not sent by County Mental Health are a grand total of 3.  So the so-called “safety valve” that allows people to sign up for the River St. or Paul Lee loft shelters and then get sleeping ban tickets dismissed if ticketed on nights when on the list no longer operates.


And the City has no Winter Shelter program planned at the scale of last year, simply an expansion of current Paul Lee and River St. Campground’s programs which require a “pathway to housing”, have full waiting lists, or both.


So what’s up, Chief Mills.   Feel free to e-mail Andy with your own inquiry at amills@cityofsantacruz.com .


I and Freedom Sleeper activist Abbi Samuels asked Mills about this continued harassment and ticketing of homeless folks.   Particularly now that the City’s police are legally vulnerable to lawsuit because of the Boise decision.

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/09/16/18817548.php

Santa Cruz Must Fight the Redding’s Anti-Homeless Reactionary Riptide

Posted on by

NOTES BY NORSE:  The cautionary tale of Redding’s attack on the homeless is a strong reason why HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) and Conscience & Action are putting so much energy into the demand that the Louden Nelson bathrooms be reopened.  Their closing in March by Iseth Rae, the Louden Nelson Community Center [LNCC] Supervisor is only one of a variety of anti-homeless actions taken at Louden, many without public discussion or notice, including the costly wrong-iron fence around adjacent Laurel Park, the sudden designation of LNCC as a de facto privatized “cafe”, the presence of a taser-armed Parks and Recreation heavy “patrolling” the area, new rules threatening “unattended property”, and, of course, the placement of a lock on the bathrooms and the restriction of use to “patrons of scheduled activities” (not including those using the park except children). Star of the Sea park has also been fenced.

                                    In spite of contrary claims by some misinformed or homeless-hostile community members, an ordinary community member can no longer get bathroom access.    One older woman tried to do so last week and was turned away.  Her experience was audioed and is available at http://huffsantacruz.org/lost/1%20FRSC%208-30-18.mp3 [6 minutes into the audio file].   Even if disabled, sick, or elderly, unless they are attending a scheduled function, according to local activist Phil Posner.  Even Seniors who regularly use the Senior meal have complained–to no avail–of difficulties using the facility (which is not available to them unless they arrive outside the lunchtime period.

                                     HUFF  and Conscience in Action  activists will be tabling downtown this Sunday and planning a City Hall event in September to mobilize support to reopen the bathrooms and speak out against the other anti-homeless measures being taken–most notoriously, the shutdown of all walk-in emergency Winter Shelter voted by City Council at the August 28 Council meeting.  (Instead the Council voted to add 20 tents to the River St. Campground, a number of beds to the Paul Lee loft, and support a vehicular resident “gone by dawn” parking program at the edge of the City.)  This at the same time as the City announces it expect to receive a significant chunk of the $30 million being appropriated by Sacramento for homeless needs.

                                      Meanwhile Brent Adams free and “come one, come all” Day/Night Storage program is proceeding without any city help, funding, or alternatives.  And, as usual, the vast majority of homeless people remain outside, illegal, and under regular threat of harassment, ticketing, arrest, and property confiscation by SCPD, Parks and Rec, and the various “security” thugs hired by business groups and their government enablers.

                                       Food Not Bombs activist Keith McHenry is still being denied every a permit process for setting up a privately funded portapotty, which is organization has agreed to sponsor–as has the ACLU and the UN Association, according to Homeless Persons Legal Assistance project worker Steve Pleich.

                                      

Continue reading →