Endless Warfare: Santa Cruz Eleven Attorneys Face More Legal Battles Monday 8 AM in Dept 6.. 6

Posted on by
Attorneys for 4 of the Santa Cruz 11 go to Status & Sanctions Hearing Monday
by Robert Norse
Friday Apr 5th, 2013 4:41 PM

The persecution and prosecution of Gabriella Ripply-Phipps, Brent Adams, Angel Alcantara, and Cameron Laurendeau grinds on Monday 8 AM in Department 6 in Santa Cruz Superior Court. The status hearing will schedule pre-trial motions and the trial itself, now slated for early May, but likely to be postponed because of one of the attorneys has a conflict. Meanwhile attorneys for the four have appealed to a higher court for a Writ to stop the proceedings and throw out the cases in a challenge to Judge Volkman’s dismissal of a 995 Motion last month that itself challenged the forwarding of felony vandalism charges against the 4 to trial. If the trial proceeds, it’s expected to take 2 weeks.

These four defendants are the last of the Santa Cruz Eleven.

INCOMPETENT AND MENDACIOUS D.A. REBEKAH YOUNG–FIRED OR RESIGNED?
Several weeks ago, Bob Lee’s District Attorney’s office revealed that assistant D.A. Rebekah Young, who earned the dubious distinction of being the only D.A. in memory to be sanctioned by the court for misconduct in repeatedly failing to turn over police video and records to attorneys for the eleven defendants. Rumor had it that Young was headed for Texas to resume her career as a reporter in Austin or Dallas.

Some wondered why such a young and inexperienced lawyer was assigned to face eleven attorneys in court in such a high-profile case Considering defendants–if found guilty and given the maximum–could have faced seven years in prison–each. Defendants and their allies expressed both a sense of vindication that Young was gone from the department and apprehension that a more experienced team was likely to be taking over the prosecution.

EVEN TOKEN SANCTION IMPOSITION STALLED BY COLLUSIVE JUDICIARY?
The unprecedented $500 “slap on the wrist” fine leveled against the prosecution for misconduct had neither been paid nor formally appealed after the 60 day period ran out in March. The D.A.’s Office (or Young herself) reportedly asked the Court whether the fine was against her personally or the office of D.A. Bob Lee. No answer was forthcoming, and the time to appeal the sanction ran out after that 60 day period expired.

Scuttlebutt around the Superior Court Clerk’s office had it that the issue might come up at this April 8th hearing. The actual costs to at least two of the attorneys involved ran into the tens of thousands of dollars for the dozen or so hearings and multiple motions and ignored discovery demands. These were disallowed by Judge Burdick in his token fine of Young. He also refused to dismiss the cases as a sanction for the abusive prosecution that has repeatedly concealed or failed to present evidence demanded by the defense (and ordered by the Burdick himself).

NO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE WITCH HUNTERS, NO VINDICATION FOR THE VICTIMS.
In spite of the fact that seven of the defendants after months of ordeal had their cases dismissed for lack of evidence, though none have yet demanded a factual innocence hearing (which reportedly is nearly impossible to win).

None have filed complaints of misconduct and malfeasance with the Bar Association and/or the Commission on Judicial Performance for the political prosecution and failure to turn over documents in repeated contempt of court orders to do so.

CASES DISMISSED BUT THE CARNIVAL OF CRUELTY CONTINUES:
The Final Four defendants face a possible four year sentence and a “restitution fine” to Wells Fargo Bank of $23,000 or more. There has been no evidence presented in the many hours of hearings that any of the four destroyed or vandalized any property. Rather the tangled theory of the discredited Young was that the mere presence of the four in the building was sufficient evidence of their vandalism under an “aiding and abetting” theory.

FANCIFUL VANDALISM CHARGE
Critics pointed out that though Young had presented some evidence that some were in the building (though no clear evidence that they had refused to leave after being warned), there was no testimony that they “aided and abetted” the trespass action–a requirement for the finding that they were also responsible for the “probable consequence” of felony vandalism by parties unknown.

CRIME OR CLARION CALL TO THE COMMUNITY?
The “trespass” is described by others as a First Amendment activity shared by hundreds as well as a form of direct action whistle-blowing against the acknowledged criminal bankster Wells Fargo, who leased the vacant building for the last 3 1/2 years prior to the occupation and continue to lease the vacant structure.

That building like other vacant banks downtown has become a squat refuge for some of the more desperate or audacious of the city’s homeless population. Santa Cruz has legal shelter for less than 5% of its homeless population two-thirds of the year and a perpetual waiting list. One of the stated objectives of those who actively occupied the building and announced their intentions (none of whom are on trial) was to create a Community Center that might also serve to shelter those in need.

GRIM HISTORY IN DETAIL
For recent history of the case, see “Four Individuals to Stand Trial for 75 River Street Bank Occupation” at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/12/18733496.php .

For more of the legal documents involved, see “Santa Cruz Eleven–The Final Four Demand Dismissal of Charges” at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/07/18733298.php

For a transcript of the March 11th Hearing which sent the cases forward to trial and the legal papers challenging that misuse of legal power see below.

For a broader perspective of the occupation and subsequent legal history see http://www.thestreetspirit.org/the-santa-cruz-eleven-are-political-scapegoats/ .

A benefit for Food not Bombs August 14th at India Joze 3:30 – 6 PM will also feature speakers from this case.

To view the appeal briefs and transcript of the March 11th Hearing go to
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/04/05/18734749.php

San Rafael Provides “Helpful” Guide for the Homeless on How to Please Merchants & Residents

Posted on by

Notes by Norse: Service-providers are now urging the homeless not to dumpster dive (stealing from stores does provide a larger and more sanitary selection), drink in public (bars may be more expensive but they’re so much more fashionable), or urinate in public (public restrooms, anyone?  anywhere?).  More helpful manner tips from those who just need a little less reality therapy and a little more Disneyland North.  After all, we are in a recession–remember to support your local business owner!

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/north_bay&id=9049190

San Rafael asking homeless to help reduce complaints

Monday, April 01, 2013    by John Alston

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (KGO) — In Marin County, the city of San Rafael is reaching out to a certain group of people, hoping to convince them to behave better in public. A map was created featuring trouble spots and suggestions for what they should and should not do.

The paper map was developed by the police department and St. Vincent de Paul where hundreds of homeless people eat every day. It will be used as a tray liner. It also contains a list of things not to do.

As a man picked through trash containers along Fourth Street in Downtown San Rafael, another homeless person walked a bike with his belongings at an intersection. Those things are mild in comparison to what some homeless people have done at some places.

“Yeah, you get people who come and want to do drugs in the bathroom. They really kind of have an independent attitude out here. They kind of do what they want to do,” said Louis Murillo, a coffee shop barista.

So now after complaints from residents and businesses, San Rafael has developed a map with so called “hot zones” — areas near Fourth Street and Lincoln Avenue where police answered hundreds of calls over the past year. The city is asking homeless people to stop dumpster diving, avoid using sidewalks as a bathroom and to stop drinking alcohol in public, suggesting they go to a bar instead.

“Here’s a couple of spots where we’re having some issues right now. It could change. Next month, maybe it could be one of the parks where there is some more increased illegal activity or negative behaviors and to encourage people to take personal responsibility,” said Margo Rohrbacher, the San Rafael Police Department spokesperson.

The hot zone maps are being used as tray liners at the St. Vincent de Paul dining hall which serves about 700 meals every day to homeless men and women, a number of whom struggle with alcohol and mental issues.

“Whether it works in terms of people not being at those locations is questionable, but the success around it is starting the conversations about what is appropriate behavior in public,” said Suzanne Walker, from St. Vincent De Paul.

Residents are hoping for positive results.

“I think it is a step in the right direction cleaning up the streets. I don’t know if it’s going to make a great impact, but I think that if it gets in even just a little bit, then it’s doing to do something,” said San Rafael resident Felix Conde.

The associate director of St. Vincent de Paul says most homeless people are not causing the problems, but it’s just a couple of dozen, many of whom are young and new to the area.

(Copyright ©2013 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Notes by Norse: Poverty is such an unpleasant and dispiriting reminder of foreclosures, income inequality, shrinking real wages, and spiraling health care costs.  Let’s all work together to help our middle-class neighbors to keep up with those mortgage payments, work harder at those disappearing jobs, and continue to sip those ever-popular lattes.   Along with the niggers, kikes, and spiks, we should all be aware of how sensitive property-owners are and how important it is to avoid the better side of town and stick to our side of the tracks.  We must eliminate behaviors that may be offensive to them and their children and remember our place.


http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_22917250/san-rafael-gives-homeless-maps-places-they-arent

San Rafael gives homeless maps of places they aren’t welcome

By Megan Hansen, Marin Independent Journal
Posted:   04/01/2013 01:56:09 PM PDT
Complaints from downtown San Rafael businesses and visitors have led to creation of a map that lists “hot zones” homeless residents are being asked to avoid.

The new map was developed by San Rafael police Lt. Ralph Pata and copies of it are now lining the tables of the St. Vincent de Paul Free Dining Room on B Street. Areas of concern include Fourth and B streets, Fourth and A streets and the Hospice by the Bay thrift store at 910 Lincoln Ave.

San Rafael police Chief Diana Bishop said the fliers are a gentle way of asking people to act appropriately in the city, especially in the areas circled in red on the map.

“It’s just a reminder to everyone that there are certain expectations in society,” Bishop said.

She said most of the complaints the city receives about homeless residents are in regards to people defecating or urinating in public, drinking or being intoxicated, leaving their personal items strewn about or having dogs off-leash.

The fliers are meant to be a positive thing, encouraging the police department and homeless residents to work together, Pata said.

“It’s very possible folks are just hanging out in that area and do not know that their behavior is offensive to people walking by,” Pata said.

Suzanne Walker, associate director at St. Vincent de Paul, said the dining hall is cooperating with the police department’s request in an effort to open the lines of communication between police and homeless

people.

She said most of the people they serve are typically receptive to the police department’s requests and respect Pata.

“Most of the people really understand and don’t want to be a problem,” Walker said. “They don’t like be painted with the same brush as those people who are making it difficult for our residents and businesses.”
St. Vincent de Paul makes about 700 meals a day, serving about 300 people. Officers are hoping enough people will see the fliers to spread the word.

In addition to listing the “hot zones,” the flier asks people to “be a good neighbor” by doing the following: no Dumpster diving behind any business — especially Hospice by the Bay’s store — use a toilet, don’t steal power from businesses or the city, clean up after oneself, don’t store property in the city flower boxes, don’t drink alcohol in public — go to a bar if a drink is wanted — and don’t camp at the Elks Club or in the San Rafael Hills.

Pata said homeless residents are encouraged to take part in making the city a better place for everyone.

“We really would like people to start taking more ownership in their neighborhood,” Pata said.

Neglected Aspect of Homeless Activism? Or Hopeless Patch-Up Protests Against Fundamentally Futile “Shelter” Programs?

Posted on by

Activists: Official Suppression of Peer Advocacy Worsens TB, Flu

by Teach Everywhere ABout Community Health Saturday, Mar. 23, 2013 at 1:40 AM
thefluguru@hotmail.com

Tuberculosis and influenza spreading in Southern California houseless blamed on official disruption of peer education in cough hygiene.Advocating for information that will allow shelter operators to contact persons who may have been exposed to infections.

Advent of the LA-tuberculosis situation problematizes the lack of training in good habits of hygiene amongst the homeless. Programs in WASH (water sanitation and hygiene) have been proven to reduce the incidence of disease in programs on a global level, but in the developed nations many vulnerable populations lack the kind of outreach and training that prevent disease in WHO programs around the world.

Homeless emergency shelter operators came under fire at the Santa Barbara Board of for failure to respond to well established internationally recognized disease control imperatives. In 2012, homelessness organizers were criticized on the basis that people were quartered on grounds of a local Episcopal Church without access to sanitation of any kind: no water and not even portable sanitation units.Subsequent peer advocacy training in Cough Hygiene were initially well received, but later led to bitter factionalization as warming center shelter operators, spurred by religious missionaries, rejected such measures as criticism contrary to staff morale.

TEACH Cough Hygiene Initiative project coordinator Geof Bard spoke to the county board about the problems exacerbated by Freedom Warming Center’s “foot dragging and obfuscation” with regard to infectious disease, citing the outbreak of tuberculosis in Los Angeles hot on the heels of an unusually active national influenza season.

Speaking to the bipartisan panel, he pointed out how [Community Development Block Grant] funding of the warming centers could lead to increased costs when otherwise-healthy homeless people are crammed one hundred to a room and end up with higher incidence of disease. “Everything I am advocating [is based on guidelines] from the Center for Disease Control” and the County Health Department.

With the SBCDPH Director Takahashi Wada, M.D., M.P.H. in the audience, he pointed out tension between the Department and the warming center staff, underscoring that their resistance to implementing any kind of infection control plan places them at odds with established health authority. Elsewhere, it had been noted that a Public Health employee had complained of an epidemic of “deafness” amongs homeless careeer specialists. Mr. Bard pointed out that lack of appropriate response led to more preventable “influenza, and now tuberculosis”, as reported widely with regard to the LA TB situation currently under investigation by the CDC.

In an earlier email, he had called for additional disease control protocols to include contact tracing information for homeless persons. Under current warming center policy, names, or nicknames, are taken only occasionally and sporadically, and no cellphone, address or email addresses are written down. Thus, if it were determined that one of the warming center guests or staff had been disseminating bacterial, viral or other type of infection, there would be no way to implement the standard contact tracing by which health professionals alert possible victims and direct them to diagnostic and therapeutic resources.

In separate communications, TEACH had advocated for confidential contact trace methods based upon STF testing, advocating for information that will allow shelter operators to contact persons who may have been exposed to infections.

Church as Shelter of Last Resort in Hawaii

Posted on by
NOTES BY NORSE:  Attempts by churches in Santa Cruz to protect and shelter homeless people have been mixed.  The Interfaith Satellite Shelter Program–which operated from 1988 through 2010 (or thereabouts) involved busing homeless people to  different churches every  night and its height served 40-80 people.  Since Santa Cruz has a homeless population of 1500-2000 and a law that makes homeless people  criminal who sleep either outside or in a vehicle in the city limits–this had limited effect in combatting the fear and insecurity homeless people felt at night.   The ISSP  ended because of “transportation costs”, as I understand it.
A new program spearheaded by Calvary Episcopal Church is housing about 20 people each night in a variety of churches.  A Sanctuary Campground proposal is being hammered out by Brent Adams and others at the same time as there is rising hysteria against homeless people in a political “anti-crime” wave mounted by Take Back Santa Cruz, The Clean Team, and other “clean up our town” groups.
The Coral St. Open Air Shelter (1993-5)–a tolerated campground at River St. and Highway 1–was shut down by pressure from the Citizens Committee for the Homeless, and then-Mayor Mike Rotkin.  Rotkin also moved against Father Mike Marini’s Holy Cross Shelter subsequently in the summer of 1996 by (according to the recollection of Becky Johnson) inciting the neighbors against the shelter.  Under his leadership (with Cynthia Mathews a loyal second), the Sherry Conable/Barbara Riverwomon State Parks Sanctuary proposal for the homeless-under which homeless would be bused to state parks to  camp–was
vetoed.
Religious leaders, who were otherwise reactionary, have also played a role in standing up for homeless people by sheltering them in their church.  See, for instance, http://www.huffsantacruz.org/StreetSpiritSantaCruz/066.Rev.%2520Drake%2520Wins%2520A%2520Moral%2520Victory=10-97.pdf .

Kalihi church puts faith in action to help homeless

Posted: Feb 25, 2013 7:22 PM PST Updated: Feb 25, 2013 10:57 PM PST

By Jim Mendoza – bio | email
 http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/21348165/kalihi-church-houses-homeless

KALIHI, OAHU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Kaleo and Russell Pakele and their two-year-old daughter live in one of the tents alongside the sanctuary of Hawaii Cedar Church in Kalihi.

“God brought us to this place,” Kaleo said.

Since December, the Pakeles have been staying on the church’s property, along with about 40 other homeless people.

“I believe everybody needs a second chance. That’s why I call this program that we’re running, ‘A Second Time Around,'” pastor Henry Baxter said.

The church feeds them, and lets them use the showers and bathrooms. There are rules to follow. You either have an outside job or do church chores.

“The rules are very important in our lives. Discipline and rules,” said Antonio Hernandez, who lives with his wife and young child in the tent next door to the Pakele’s.

“Their labor is working in the parking area, the grounds, in the kitchen, the dining room, in the church itself,” Baxter said.

The church offers some job training. Adults pay about $100 a month per person to cover utilities. Pakele said that teaches them responsibility.

“It is a stepping stone for me from here to transition out,” Kaleo Pakele said.

In March, the church starts a new program. Some of the homeless will plant and harvest vegetables at the church’s farm in Waianae.

“We’ll actually be paying them $8 an hour, more than the minimum wage. They’ll only be working four hours a day, but that will be something to get them started,” Baxter said.

Most of the homeless living at the church were on drugs. Baxter said there is counseling and consequences.

“We have drug testing,” he said. “We have zero tolerance on drugs and alcohol.”

Violators are evicted.

Baxter estimates 120 families have been helped in three years, and half are now in housing.

Texas Judge Rules: Feeding the Homeless in Public Not a Crime

Posted on by

Guests of Big Heart Ministries’ annual Christmas meal dug into hot food on a cold afternoon outside a church on Second Avenue near Fair Park in December 2011. (Rex C. Curry/Special contributor)

For six years the city of Dallas and two ministries have been locked in a legal battle over their right to feed the homeless and hungry wherever and whenever they find them. But at long last, U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis ended that tussle today — for now, at least — by siding with Rip Parker Memorial Homeless Ministry and Big Heart Ministries.

In the final judgment you’ll find below, Solis calls the city’s Food Ordinance a violation of the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. And, the judge writes, “The City of Dallas is permanently enjoined from enforcing Ordinance 26023 against plaintiffs,” who have also been awarded attorneys fees and costs.

It was Solis who, in 2011, denied the city’s attempts to get the case thrown out in the first place.

The judge’s ruling comes nine months after the city attorneys and Scott Barnard, who represented the ministries, squared off in his courtroom over the ordinance, which the ministries claimed violated their biblical duty to feed and comfort the hungry while spreading the gospel. The city, on the other hand, contended that by feeding the homeless, the ministries were enabling them to remain on the streets.

Solis, though, didn’t agree with the city’s argument.

“The Court does not make a judgment about whether the City has an interest in regulating the operations of homeless feeders,” he writes in his 39-page findings of fact and conclusions of law that also follows below. “However, in this case, the homeless feeders are religiously motivated institutions that are afforded statutory protection to practice their religions without being substantially burdened by government regulation. The Ordinance’s Homeless Feeder Defense requirements were instituted based on speculation and assumptions. The City did not establish that any of its interests have been harmed by Plaintiffs’ conduct.

“What the City did establish is that it wants to provide as many homeless people as possible with food, social services, showers, safety, job counseling, and beds in an effort to get them off the streets. The City believes that organizations that that feed the homeless on the street are thwarting the City’s efforts to get the homeless off the streets. The City has not established that its interest in regulating Plaintiffs in this way justifies the substantial burden on Plaintiffs’ free exercise — in other words, it has not established the balance weighs in its favor.”

Barnard says the judge’s ruling is “particularly moving coming as it does on the eve of Good Friday and Easter.” And he says his clients are “excited about getting back to sharing food with the homeless.”

The ministries never stopped during the course of the litigation, but did curtain their activities — in part, says attorney Lizzy Scott, because Dallas police kept cracking down on their efforts to feed the homeless.

“As recently as last Sunday one of our clients was out sharing food with the homeless near downtown, and he was told he wasn’t allowed to do it in the Central Business District,” she says. “Now he’s very excited to get back to the ministry.”

The city has no response save for these few words: “The City Attorney’s Office is studying the decision and evaluating the city’s options.” It has 30 days to appeal the judge’s ruling or file for a new trial.

As Barnard notes, Solis threw in attorneys’ fees, even though he, Scott and Andrew Newman at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld took the case pro bono. They say the money will go to charity.

Says Barnard, the ruling means “relief organizations throughout the city can continue to provide critical services to its most vulnerable residents.”

Reports of Attacks on the Homeless in Santa Cruz

Posted on by
The following comment is part of a larger thread on Santa Cruz Indymedia at  https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/22/18734073.php?show_comments=1#18734215  which criticizes the tepid and vague response of establishment liberals and “progressives” to the attacks on needle exchange, homeless services, homeless people, the counterculture, and the right to use public spaces.


http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/22/18734073.php?show_comments=1#18734254

by Robert Norse

Tuesday Mar 26th, 2013 9:47 AM

Yesterday at the Red Church’s Monday evening meal, I did my usual interviewing of folks.

A number of neural reports (i.e. police haven’t been harassing as much as usual).

HIGH-TAIL IT TO THE HIGHWAY YOU HOMELESS HACKEYSACKERS!
However a major report involves an incident at the City Parking Lot across from the Elm St. Mission and the Cafe Pergolesi last week when somewhewre between 6 and 10 squad cars reportedly corralled and ticketed a dozen or so people (I have the impression they were counterculture/traveller/homeless-looking or just perhaps economic underclass folks). And ticketed them to stop a hackeysack game some of them were playing. The charge: the old Parking Lot Panic law–MC 9.64.020 (“Trespass” on a public parking lot–the law that makes it illegal to be in a parking lot unless you’re walking directly through or parking or retrieving your vehicle). I received at least three independent angry reports on this.

ASSAULTS WITH SKATEBOARD AND SPITTLE
Another report was of Sam-I-Am (both directly from him and from upset companions earlier) being assaulted by four men who seemed in the troll-busting mode because what they said was “I want your hat” (a humiliation ritual) and they refused to give it to them. He was assaulted with a skateboard, and hospitalized with a fractured spine–or so he said as he stood in line at the meal in some apparent pain (but without, he said, adequate pain medication from Dominican).

A third report was of a man (who wished to remain anonymous) flying a sign out at the Mission St. Safeway. First three youths spat on him as they drove by. Then a guy stopped. He went over thinking it was perhaps a food donation or somesuch. The guy reportedly ostentatiously got out of his car, took out his cell phone and loudly announce he was calling the police and reporting that the homeless man was kicking his car. He then demanded the homeless man leave (or “leave town”, not sure which) according to this report.

Two women lying on the beach during the day were told by a security guard that they had been there “too long” and “had to leave” by their report or he would “call the police”. Or so they said.

PHONY JAYWALKING TICKET
And then there was the incident I witnessed on Friday night right outside Andy’s Auto on Pacific: The daughter of Shalom Compst and Marilyn Dreampeace, a woman in her 40’s, walked across Pacific Avenue from the Metro bus side to near where I was standing. A police officer came up to her and demanded to know why she’d done that.

It is not illegal to cross Pacific Avenue anywhere between Laurel St. and the Town Clock unless (a) you are obstructing a vehicle, or (b) the police have set up a traffic-controlled intersection with a stoplight or traffic cop. Such has been my undertanding as a person who has weathered jaywalking tickets in the past.

He gave her a $100-200 jaywalking ticket anyway in spite of her pleas.

Had I known this was a jaywalking ticket as it was being written, I would have so announced it to each passerby and asked them to stop and wait as witnesses (though it was dark and around 8:30 at night). One can write this off to nubie officer ignorance or over-zealotry (I didn’t recognize the cop, whose name I was told was Clauer or something like that).

GRANT STREET PUBLIC MEETING: NO HOMELESS ALLOWED?
I also received a report from Billy Q that a recent Grant Street park public meeting had homeless people driven away by police last week. The TBSC website describes the homeless-free event favorably at http://takebacksantacruz.com/city-leaders-and-neighbors-rally-for-grant-street-park-public-safety/ /. This abusive exclusionary process replicates what happened at the Sharon Collins memorial last summer at San Lorenzo Park. And if the account is accurate, the SCPD or officers of same, are direct agents.

It could be I’m getting lifted by the hysteria of the times around these incidents, but they seem to be growing more serious and more numerous: vigilante, security guard, and police harassment and actual threats and assaults.

MARCH OF THE HOMELESS-APHOBES
There’s a “Families First” march today from Harvey West to City Hall for 5 PM according to the TBSC website.[See http://takebacksantacruz.com/ ]. Since there’s no evening City Council meeting (only one at 3 PM and supposedly one at 5 PM for Oral Communication), it appears Families First–which I’m assuming is a TBSC-front group–is planning to ignore the politicians, who surf the waves of the moment, and mobilize homeless-haters, fearful-neighbors, frustrated workers, and gentrification gurus from all around the town to create an even more powerful lobbying group.

I’ll be at the 5 PM City Council Oral Communications (2 minutes and shut up)–which may be held significantly earlier since there doesn’t seem to be that much on the afternoon agenda. And then covering the TBSC (which I’ve taken to calling Take Over Santa Cruz) march for FRSC and to voice my own views.

KEEP WATCH AND FIGHT BACK AGAINST RISING FASCISM
Please post reports of any incidents you experience or witness. Video and audio are particularly helpful (sorry I don’t have much). I did play the Jaywalking incident on Free Radio on Sunday. It’s archived on the HUFF website if you search through the 3-24 show towards the end, but I’ll post its location more clearly on the descriptions section soon.

Include time, place, names and descriptions, dialogue overheard, step-by-step account, etc. if you have any of these details. The more specific the better.

Appealing An An Abusive Sleepcrime Sentence 4 PM Thursday 3-21 Dept. 5 Santa Cruz

Posted on by

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/03/20/18733930.php

View other events for the week of 3/21/2013

Title: Two Years for Sleeping on a Courthouse Bench? The Appeal
START DATE: Thursday March 21
TIME: 4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Location Details:
701 Ocean St. Dept. Dept. 5
Event Type: Court Date
Contact Name Robert Norse
Email Address rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com
Phone Number 831-423-4833
Address 309 Cedar PMB #14B Santa Cruz, CA 95060
“Ground Zero” Gary Johnson, sentenced to two years by Judge GrimGavel Gallagher, last year, was “guilty” of four counts of sleeping on the bench in front of the courthouse with a sign “Sleep is Not a Crime”.

He was protesting the 6 PM to 6 AM curfew unilaterally imposed by Susan Mauriello to kill the Occupy Santa Cruz demonstrations.

Gary’s blog is http://peacecamp2010insider.blogspot.com/ where you can find links to attorney Ed Frey’s brief on the case.

A three judge panel is expected to rubberstamp Gallagher’s decision, however members of the public are welcome to come and be witnesses to this travesty.

As a tangential but not entirely irrelevant sidenote, the incompetent and relentless prosecutor of the Santa Cruz Eleven, Rebekah Young has left the D.A.’s office as of last Friday and reportedly is going to work as a reporter in Texas.

Apparently exposing abuses may have an impact.

Flower Felony: 18 Days in Jail, Thanks to a Take Back Santa Cruz Mob

Posted on by

Charges dismissed against man accused of stealing flowers from memorial to fallen Santa Cruz police officers

By Cathy Kelly
Posted:   03/21/2013 04:42:31 PM PDT
Click photo to enlarge

Ken Maffei ( SCS )
SANTA CRUZ — Charges were dropped Thursday against a Santa Cruz man accused of stealing flowers from a memorial to fallen police detectives Sgt. Loran “Butch” Baker and Elizabeth Butler.

As attorneys said in court, Kenneth Eugene Maffei, 53, bought the flowers March 1 and had been leaving a box of Allbright’s doughnuts at the North Branciforte Avenue memorial to the fallen officers. He lingered there for about 45 minutes when a woman spotted him picking the flowers up and walking off.

The woman called police, who stopped him. Maffei was too intoxicated to explain and made inconsistent statements, defense and prosecution lawyers said. He was arrested and charged with theft and public intoxication.

Maffei had been on his way to a motel with the flowers “for a lady friend,” defense attorneys said. They said he wrote “R.I.P.” on the $1 box of doughnuts.

His arraignment hearing March 5 drew more than a dozen Take Back Santa Cruz members as Judge John Gallagher kept him in County Jail with bail set at $5,000. Maffei was in custody for 18 days, said Larry Biggam of Biggam, Christensen & Minsloff, the primary public defender firm in the county.

“This case was a classic ‘rush to judgment’ — from the arrest, to the high bail (at arrest), to the harsh judgments in the media,” Biggam said. “Mr. Maffei has been demonized and has served 18 days in jail for a crime he did not do.

“Yes, these are difficult and sensitive times in our

community, and I understand people’s concerns.

But we need to address those concerns with facts, not fear, and with fairness, not prejudgments.”

Maffei was nearby when Baker and Butler were killed by a suspect Feb. 26. He went to the street-side memorial to pay his respects, Biggam said.

Another defense attorney, Jack Lamar Jr., came to court with a letter from Erika Hearon of the Davenport Resource Service Center stating Maffei had been a “valuable volunteer” for several years.

Biggam said Maffei was not a “transient,” as police stated, but has lived in Santa Cruz for 31 years.

The defense found a receipt for the flowers among Maffei’s belongings in County Jail, Lamar said.

District Attorney Bob Lee said follow-up investigation raised doubts as to Maffei’s guilt and that his office was “doing its due diligence to determine what had happened.” He said once prosecutors got the new evidence from the defense, it prompted a thorough investigation by inspectors who concluded the flowers belonged to Maffei.

Prosecutor Jennifer Hutchinson requested both misdemeanor charges against Maffei be dismissed. She said searching Maffei’s personal belongings in jail “is something we can’t do.”

“From the DA’s Office, this is a pursuit of truth,” she said.

Judge John Salazar said the District Attorney’s Office could have waited until the eve of the trial to drop the charges, and he said he thought it “was not an unreasonable conclusion” to believe Maffei had stolen the flowers given the circumstances and initial evidence.

“It’s a good reminder that sometimes people charged did not commit the crime,” Salazar said. “And we have a system that finds that out, at least eventually.”

Maffei attended the hearing, as a free man. When questioned outside court, he smiled and said he “probably shouldn’t say anything.”

Follow Sentinel reporter Cathy Kelly on Twitter
COMMENTS:
Brent Adams  · Video Journalist, Filmmaker at Subcommondante Films comments:
tbsc has their priorities wrong. They are creating and harvesting pain and fear and using it for a political agenda that hurts our community instead of helps it.
More than a dozen tbsc were in court for this?? Is this a “public safety issue”??
I think not. Where are they when homeless people are being cited for just sleeping? Where are they when people’s personal belongings are being trashed??
There is no place for 90% of homeless people to sleep tonight. Census stats show that 70% of local homeless are from here. And yet, they go after basic sustenance food programs at the Homeless Services Center.. is that about Public Safety?
Santa Cruz Sanctuary Camp. Join the conversation.
A special salute to Judge John Salazar for wisely reminding us of the generosity of the D.A.’s office in allowing this flower-filcher to be released after only 18 days when he could (and surely should) have been held until trial.
And to Judge John (“Justice is my Middle Name”) Gallagher for standing firm against any hysterical or hasty action and wisely putting Maffei, the petunia pincher, behind bars on $5000 bail.
Another to the D.A.’s office which has shown in other cases—like my own Santa Cruz Eleven prosecution—that money is no object in Keeping Santa Cruz Safe from marijuana smokers, homeless campers, and political protesters. Though it may cost tens of thousands more in the upcoming trials of the remaining 4 and caused one D.A. To flee town—Rebekah Young left for Texas last Friday– D.A. Bob Lee has assured us that the more trivial cases of murder, assault, and burglary aren’t being stalled because of his focus on ending the “culture of tolerance”.
We can’t be sure, but let’s give the benefit of the doubt to the Sheriff’s office for holding this rhododendron robber in stir where he belonged instead of embarrassing everyone by revealing the receipt (probably forged anyway).
And a shout-out to the Public Defenders who took only 18 days to find the receipt that showed the apparent innocence of this geranium-grabbing Maffei. These hard-working attorneys were plenty busy saving the County money by squeezing guilty pleas out of the riffraff cluttering up the court docket.
Not to mention the deep research done by the Sentinel in its even-handed investigation of this case (as shown by its wise commentary on the Menace of Illegal Campsites, the Dangers of Needle Exchange, and, of course, the Perils of Keeping Santa Cruz Weird)!
Let’s not forget the ever-vigilant SCPD who saw through Maffei’s clever act in concealing his obvious drunkenness from a crowd of mourners for 45 minutes and had him arrested for being unable to take care of himself (the legal definition of drunk in public). Puzzling, of course, is the disappearance of the surely-justified Drunk-in-Public charge. Perhaps this is another example of our soft-heated drug-tolerating, homeless-enabling community! We know the SCPD would never have labeled a person drunk and unable to take care of themselves without justification!
Finally, a slap on the back to the patriots at Take Back Santa Cruz who roused the crowd at court to demand the judicious Judge Gallagher hold this rose-loving rogue in a safe place. I understand they’ll be advancing the Keep Santa Cruz Straight campaign at City Council, making our community safe from needle-strewing homeless junkie-loving flower thieves and the bureaucrats who protect them.
One can’t but marvel at their broader many-pronged strategy to slash away the homeless cluttering the Santa Cruz landscape like so many toxic weeds: “starve ’em out” by cutting the funding of homeless services; “slap ’em awake” with more police sweeps; culminating in the “strip ’em naked” plan—with Parks and Rec crews confiscating their criminal clothing.
But while I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those who want to Keep Santa Cruz Safe, I must insist that we show our own tolerance and good sense: Keep TBSC, the D.A., the Sentinel, the Courts, the Sheriffs, and the Public Defender’s Office Weird!

Let’s join TBSC’s march with COLOR, signs of positivity and compassion, costumes etc. [1 Attachment]

Posted on by

[Attachment(s)from Robert Norse included below]

NOTE BY NORSE:  Brent Adams is a musician, community activist, and for the last year, target of the SCPD and D.A. Bob Lee as a member of the Santa Cruz Eleven.  He has led protests seeking an end to the harassment of the homeless in the past, and is currently working on a Sanctuary Camp project (see his facebook page).  Below he calls for joining a march with the Banish-the-Homeless group Take Back Santa Cruz in a dialogue strategy.   He also has a radio show on Free Radio Santa Cruz at 101.3 FM every Tuesday night from 9 PM to 11 PM.

Hi friends,

As you know,
   over the past few years and especially recently, Take Back Santa Cruz has been repeatedly using news stories about violence and drug abuse to
focus attacks on our homeless population and Homeless Services.  Recently they’ve begun to lobby for a removal of the sustenance food program
at HSC that feeds hundreds of people daily.  They also want drug and background checks as a requirement for basic homeless services.
They are having a march from Harvey West Park to City Hall to parade their hatred of homeless people past the Homeless Services Center HSC.
The march will be at 5pm Tuesday March 26
I invite you to join me in this march as we engage in colorful, compassionate community.  Bring signs of compassion and love.  Costumes are
highly encouraged.  Let’s begin to transmute this negative energy into something beautiful.
—    —-    —-    —
This community group has had a large roll in the removal of a long-time needle exchange program, the virtual clear-cutting of the river levee and
a 3 month long homeless sweep of the woods.   At city council meetings they use “compassion” as a negative trait and they blame former
liberal politicians for the violent climate only to harvest the pain and fears to base proposed anti-homeless policies on.  The net effect is
an increasingly fearful and knee-jerk environment where fair practices and justice are at risk.
TBSC just filled the court room to protest the defense of a man who was held in jail for 18 days even though he had direct evidence of his
innocence in his pocket.  He had been detained for stealing a bouquet of flowers that he had just purchased.  Charges were dropped but with no
apology to the man who spent 18 days in jail before seeing a judge.
Let’s have fun out there,
Brent Adams
332-9040
Santa Cruz Sanctuary Camp
__._,_.___
Attachment(s) from Robert Norse
1 of 1 Photo(s)

Bad Times In Berkeley–A Lesson for Santa Cruz

Posted on by

Berkeley singer, performer, and activist Carol Denney, regular author of the hilarious Pepper Spray Times (to be found on-line at http://www.caroldenney.com/backissu.htm ) is a long-time fighter for the rights of those outside as well as those who are likely to find themselves outside next month.  Her story below was published in the on-line Berkeley Daily Planet, to be found at http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2013-03-22 .   She lays out the roots, background, symptoms, and causes of the homelessness/housing crisis that has been an ignored emergency for the last 30 years.  And talks about her own personal experience to boot.

–R. Norse

Berkeley Central – You Can’t Afford It

By Carol Denney
Friday March 22, 2013 – 02:39:00 PM

Carol Denney

Carol Denney

Carol Denney
It’s safe to say to 95% of the Bay Area goes to sleep every night with the secure knowledge that easily between 100 to 1,000 people within a five to ten mile radius are asleep nearby behind dumpsters and under bushes.

It’s safe to say that by now most of them have realized that every trip to the grocery store and the BART Station will necessitate walking past between two and twenty people with outstretched hands, shadowed by at least twice that number in severe, specific, and immediate need.

This isn’t the full picture. This is just their picture, the picture that colors their neighborhood, their day, their sense of community and fairness, and whether or not the world is a good place to be.

It’s safe to say most of them have hit the breaking point and can no longer imagine that handing out dollars and dimes represents any kind of solution to poverty. It’s safe to say that most of them recognize that a radical change in housing policy is not just a civic, but also a moral obligation.

None of them were protesting the policy of building housing specifically for the out-of-town Prada/Lexus crowd in front of the opening of Berkeley Central’s new luxury apartments on Thursday, March 21, 2013. They don’t believe homelessness can happen to them, or that squandering scarce square footage on pied-a-terre techies plays any role in the housing crisis.

On Berkeley Central’s ribbon-cutting Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle ran a cover page story about the 264 homeless families hoping for shelter in San Francisco. The East Bay Express and the Oakland Tribune ran stories on the nine percent increase in rents in one year as Berkeley renters engaged in bidding wars over a limited supply of housing.

The crowd at the opening was full of wry comments about the few who could manage both the cost of the penthouse, one and two-bedroom apartments and studios currently available for lease and the lack of space for the stuff which would make actually living in them feasible.

Nobody was allowed to see the studio apartments. Both the public and the media tour excluded the studios, presumably because they are even more shockingly space-resistant than the one-bedrooms. The one-bedrooms are perfect for people who have no books, no instruments, no hobbies, and fervently wish to have no friends or parties ever in their lives.

Perhaps I am being harsh. But I live in a very small place. And I don’t really play the banjo, at least not very well.

And I have four banjos. My CD collection alone would barrel out the door of these space-free units with their special staged-home beds, bedswhich knowledgeable eyes know would accommodate only part of a sleeping human being but help give the impression of more space in a staged home for sale. “Don’t worry,” said one of the women on the tour. “The people who’ll be living here are on their second homes.

I’m not saying that to embarrass the hard-working, friendly, gorgeous crowd of young, mostly white women who shepherded the crowd through the tour with casual authority and aplomb. They were smart, responsive, engaging, and very patient with a crowd that grew more raucous with each of at least three alcohol stops.

There is no question that something is wrong with a hiring policy that manifests such racial and gender singularity, but those whom I met were talented, dedicated, and sincerely capable of both fielding critical questions and guiding drunks out of the shrubbery.

The officials, planners, and developers who pushed for the project are only partially at fault for plucking the ripe cherry that is – surprise – another luxury housing development in Berkeley, the city with the largest gap between rich and poor in the entire Bay Area.

Councilmember Jesse Arreguin, representative for downtown Berkeley’s district four, was there beaming along with Downtown Berkeley Association members, Chamber of Commerce representatives, and of course the Mayor Tom Bates for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

I’m noting the second home theory to honor the theme represented by nearly every speaker at the ribbon-cutting ceremony and most of the literature as well. The 143 units at Berkeley Central were specifically designed to attract people from out of town.

I would have no problem with this if we weren’t in a housing crisis. Build for the rich, I would say. Build crazy stuff with gold-plated toilets and let them buy it.

But we are in a housing crisis. The Downtown Berkeley Association tried to outlaw sitting down on the sidewalk, for Christ’s sake. The money spent on that campaign would have funded a drop-in homeless center for at least three years.

It’s safe to say that using Berkeley’s precious square footage to accommodate the needs of the uber-class: the high-end tech workers priced out of San Francisco who can afford as many storage units as it takes to make sure they don’t have to live with their boxes of Christmas decorations or their old Occupy banners next to their beds is – dare I say it — unfair.

They may be making up apps by the thousands over in Silicon Valley, but ain’t nobody making any new land. We either build with an eye toward addressing the obvious need for low-income housing, or we sidestep acknowledging a housing crisis so obvious that perfectly sane, arguably intelligent people sit around board room tables discussing which of the array of attributes describing homeless or nomadic people would be best to criminalize next.

We, the taxpayers of Berkeley, pay for the City Council’s and the planners’ salaries. Why aren’t they building housing to accommodate our existing housing needs? Rich people, lovely though they may be, are just not at a loss for housing options. You should have seen the high-end bicycle in the bike rack in one of the staged rooms at Berkeley Central. This is not your father’s IT worker.

But oh, how well this policy works for politicians whose larger agenda is to simply eliminate poverty by eliminating poor people from the community entirely. Polly Armstrong of the Chamber of Commerce said it, Mayor Tom Bates said it, Councilmember Jesse Arreguin said it, and even the official literature echoes the obvious policy of addressing Berkeley’s income gap by tilting housing in the direction of rich techie youngsters who hopefully will never know that homes used to, as a practical matter of course, have pantries, linen closets, attics, basements, parlors, porches, etc.

Developers win when mini apartments get fondled and crowed over as “green” for having no place to put the basketball. But then, developers always win.

You’ll want to know, so I’ll tell you; $2,575 to $3,000 for a one bedroom, 3,775 to 3,900 for a two-bedroom, $5,350 to $6,300 for the penthouses. Door to door trash service (a mandatory $30 fee) and proximity to the BART Station.

Entirely smokefree, except that somebody was smoking on the penthouse floor.

But those two and twenty people with outstretched hands are right outside wondering how long they have to wait until we can have a ribbon cutting ceremony for the majority, the poor, who have somehow become wallpaper to the people who wandered through Berkeley Central’s luxury apartments sipping wine.