NOTES BY NORSE
CORRECTIONS TO AN EARLIER STORY
I reported on a Monterey City Council meeting that turned back 1 of 3 anti-homeless measures being proposed for study several days ago. There were several significant typos in the story (“11 AM” should have read Continue reading
| Title: | Sip Soup as you Gag at City Council’s Study Session on Homelessness |
| START DATE: | Tuesday April 30 |
| TIME: | 6:45 PM – 8:45 PM |
| Location Details: | |
| 809 Center St. Santa Cruz City Council Chambers | |
| Event Type: | Meeting |
| Contact Name | Robert Norse |
| Email Address | rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com |
| Phone Number | 831-423-4833 |
| Address | 309 Cedar PMB #14B Santa Cruz, CA 95060 |
| The Santa Cruz City Council has scheduled a Special “Study” Session on Homelessness.THE COUNCIL’S RECENT RECORD Hey, April Fool’s day came and went nearly a month ago! This is the Council that recently voted an Continue reading |
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COPS VIOLATING THE LAW?
He said several police arrived around 6 AM and did ask them if they had Homeless (Lack of) Service Center receipts, but ticketed them anyway with the Camping Ordinance MC 6.36. (subsection 6.36.010).
A key paragraph of 6.36.055(a), a key subsection of MC 6.36, reads
(a) A person shall not be in violation of this chapter [the Camping Ordinance] if, at the time of his or her citation for a violation of this chapter, either: the winter shelter at the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory is filled to capacity; or the person is currently on the waiting list for shelter service through one of the shelter programs offered by the Homeless Services Center or the River Street Shelter in Santa Cruz.”
The officers gave citations anyway in apparent violation of the law. They suggested the citations “might be dismissed in court.” Zack said the group explained they had nowhere to go, were told the shelters were full, were given a receipt by Christine Younger of the HLOSC so asserting (that is, they were put on the Waiting List), and had no legal place to sleep. Police then left, and they went back to sleep, Zack continued.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
Some of the signs they were displaying read, according to Zack, “If every life has value, then why is our life illegal?”
“If safety is a priority in this community, why do we have to fight for a safe place to sleep?” “When you privatize public space, you silence the voice of the very community it was designed for.” “Any law against sleep is unjust.” And other signs as well. They can be viewed again tonight, presumably, when the protest is slated to resume.
Some locals suggested that to avoid tickets they could leave early in the morning, but Zack noted he told them that the point is we shouldn’t have to move since there is no legal place and we’re not doing anything illegal. First Alarm “security” thugs arrived after 8 AM and told them they’d have to lie outside their sleeping bags or be ticketed. Freedom initially declined, saying it was cold, but when another woman came up with a problem for First Alarm, she complied in order to facilitate First Alarm’s helping with that other problem.
DEFENDING FIRST ALARM THUGS
A police officer advised the group that First Alarm was “just doing their job; they are the middle men between business and the people.”
Zack concluded, “We’re not trying to incite any anger against us by the police. They spent a lot of time trying to justify what they were doing. They could have been out arresting violent criminals instead of explaining…cause we’re peaceful, and we need a place to sleep.”
Camping citations carry a potential fine of $100-200. As mentioned in a prior posting, interviews from last night’s Free Radio Santa Cruz show with Freedom, Andrew, and Cody are archived at http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/
There will be a workshop tomorrow led by Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry around broader issues of homeless civil rights (the California Homeless Bill of Rights) and deeper issues of housing (foreclosures and occupying vacant buildings as Homes Not Jails does). At the Sub Rosa Cafe at 703 Pacific Ave. as mentioned above and described at http://www.indybay.org/
According to Sonny in a phone conversation, the group spent the night peacefully, moved from the steps so they could be swept by a postal official, and had a polite encounter with three cops who neither ticketed them nor asked them to move from their new spot on the sidewalk. Reportedly, they plan to continue their protest through the day with signs educating the community about the Sleeping Ban.
Brent Adams has created a great video (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?
I was also glad to see Food Not Bombs activists there supporting the Sleepers. The issues involved are basic and important ones in a city with no shelter for 95% of its homeless.
I’ll be playing interviews tonight on Free Radio Santa Cruz from 6-8 PM at 101.3 FM (streams at http://tunein.com/radio/FRSC-
I encourage all homeless people to sign up for the Waiting List at the Paul Lee Loft at 115 Coral St. so that their camping tickets will be dismissed under MC 6.36.055.
MC 6.36.055 reads
(a) A person shall not be in violation of this chapter [the Camping Ordinance] if, at the time of his or her citation for a violation of this chapter, either: the winter shelter at the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory is filled to capacity; or the person is currently on the waiting list for shelter service through one of the shelter programs offered by the Homeless Services Center or the River Street Shelter in Santa Cruz.
(b) Any citation issued for a violation of this chapter shall be dismissed by the city attorney in the interest of justice if, at the time of citation issuance, the winter shelter at the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory is filled to capacity or the recipient of the citation demonstrates that on the date of the citation he or she was currently on the waiting list for shelter service through one of the shelter programs offered by the Homeless Services Center or the River Street Shelter in Santa Cruz.
A discussion of the California Homeless Bill of Rights will be held at 2 PM Saturday at the Sub Rosa Cafe with Keith McHenry a featured speaker. See http://www.indybay.org/
I encourage folks to support the protesters with blankets, food, dialogue, and calls to City Hall demanding lifting the police harassment and Sleeping Ban citations and/or providing a safe place to sleep as an emergency measure whether in a parking garage, a campground, or somewhere else. Call 831-420-5020. E-mail them at citycouncil [at] cityofsantacruz.com . But don’t hold your breath.
The following entry is from Gary Johnson, whom I term “Ground Zero” Gary, sentenced to two years suspended sentence for sleeping three nights on a bench in front of the County building with a “sleep is not a crime” sign. His point was the First Amendment right to be present in peaceful protest outside the County Building after the County had declared a “protesters-and-homeless-
Thursday Apr 18th, 2013 12:26 PM
It is nice to hear about the sanctuary camp. I think that is desperately needed. When sound governance doesn’t exist, replace it, at all scales. Hopefully the sanctuary will be inclusive, although their ‘taint’ framing in the other article here makes me wonder about their agenda, smells kinda like TBSC.
It is nice to hear that this sleep protest has a legal strategy. Getting paperwork from the ‘shelter’ could be effective in court, neutering yet another bogus ‘coulda shoulda’ persecutorial attack on the necessity defense. I wonder if making officers aware, daily, via photocopies of the ‘shelter is full’ notes would help others that might be ticketed on any given evening. If officers won’t receive the paperwork, as is often the case (they seem to be afraid of the legal implications of being given written notice), perhaps a trip to their office would help.
I wish I could be there. If I was there, I would be sleeping there. Sadly, until the existing cases are resolved, ANY accusations (real or made up) could reactivate my 2 years suspended sentence (for peacefully protesting the criminalization of sleep and the criminalization of protest itself). Not that I am afraid of doing the time (the next time around I would try to emulate @rabite’s media presence); it just seems wasteful, at least until redress has been exhausted.
Some advice. Record every encounter with law enforcement, document everything immediately (multiple online sources), avoid a 24 hour presence (neuter yet another time/place/manner persecutorial attack), keep the area clean, don’t antagonize pedestrians or postal staff, expect a rapid response (if I recall correctly, there was an 8 month protest there until the Postmaster signed over enforcement to non-federal gangsters), have relocation plans ready, be prepared to do jail support, avoid hugging Norse.
Since the Homeless (Lack of) Services doesn’t have them…
Thursday Apr 18th, 2013 3:05 PM
Activists and homeless sleepers should note that police can still charge people under PC 647e, the state “anti-lodging”” law (actually being used by sheriff and police as an anti-protest or anti-loitering law in the last few years). However, the documentation that one is on the Waiting List is also a good basis for mounting an affirmative Necessity Defense if D.A. Bob Lee wants to take any such charges through to jury trial.
Hopefully such trials would have a better outcome than those of the Peace Camp 2010 activists, who got screwed thanks to testimony from Executive Director Monica Martinez and others that there were a few spare beds (for the 1000+ homeless outside). The Jones decision–which I’m told by San Luis Obispo attorney Stu Jenkins is still federal legal precedent in spite of being depublished–held in L.A. that one doesn’t have to establish there were no beds that night or that one even tried to get one, if it was common knowledge that finding such a bed was highly unlikely given the chronic shelter emergency.
I should add I don’t recommend these programs or shelters, as Razor Ray seems to imply. Rather I suggest this Waiting List approach as both a protest strategy and to protect yourself legally as a homeless person who has to sleep at night who’s completely uninvolved in protest. Given the legal system the way it is, this approach is my suggestion.
I suggest bringing a copy of the receipt template with you to the HLOSC, and then making a second copy for yourself (so that you can give one to the cop). The cop may not (and probably will not) initially stop ticketing, but in future legal action it will become clear that police ticketing in the face of these receipts is a form of harassment since tickets are to be automatically dismissed under MC 6.36.055.
More of this thread (some of it contentious) can be found at http://www.indybay.org/
According to Sonny in a phone conversation, the group spent the night peacefully, moved from the steps so they could be swept by a postal official, and had a polite encounter with three cops who neither ticketed them nor asked them to move from their new spot on the sidewalk. Reportedly, they plan to continue their protest through the day with signs educating the community about the Sleeping Ban.
Brent Adams has created a great video (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?
I was also glad to see Food Not Bombs activists there supporting the Sleepers. The issues involved are basic and important ones in a city with no shelter for 95% of its homeless.
I’ll be playing interviews tonight on Free Radio Santa Cruz from 6-8 PM at 101.3 FM (streams at http://tunein.com/radio/FRSC-
I encourage all homeless people to sign up for the Waiting List at the Paul Lee Loft at 115 Coral St. so that their camping tickets will be dismissed under MC 6.36.055.
MC 6.36.055 reads
(a) A person shall not be in violation of this chapter [the Camping Ordinance] if, at the time of his or her citation for a violation of this chapter, either: the winter shelter at the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory is filled to capacity; or the person is currently on the waiting list for shelter service through one of the shelter programs offered by the Homeless Services Center or the River Street Shelter in Santa Cruz.
(b) Any citation issued for a violation of this chapter shall be dismissed by the city attorney in the interest of justice if, at the time of citation issuance, the winter shelter at the Santa Cruz National Guard Armory is filled to capacity or the recipient of the citation demonstrates that on the date of the citation he or she was currently on the waiting list for shelter service through one of the shelter programs offered by the Homeless Services Center or the River Street Shelter in Santa Cruz.
A discussion of the California Homeless Bill of Rights will be held at 2 PM Saturday at the Sub Rosa Cafe with Keith McHenry a featured speaker. See http://www.indybay.org/
I encourage folks to support the protesters with blankets, food, dialogue, and calls to City Hall demanding lifting the police harassment and Sleeping Ban citations and/or providing a safe place to sleep as an emergency measure whether in a parking garage, a campground, or somewhere else. Call 831-420-5020. E-mail them at citycouncil [at] cityofsantacruz.com . But don’t hold your breath.
PILGRIMAGE TO CORAL STREET
As planned a week before, the group of people went to the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center at 115 Coral St. earlier this afternoon and requested to be put on the Waiting List for the Paul Lee Loft. They were advised by Charles, a worker there, that the shelters were full but that they’d be put on the Waiting List after filling out an application. When asked if they could get a receipt or some documentation for their Waiting List status, Charles said no, nor would he give them any written statement about the shelter being full.
Other asked Charles the same question and told him that Executive Director Monica Martinez had publicly stated that on request, the HLOSC would provide receipts that one was on the Waiting List. Christine, another worker, and he then agreed to do so. He acknowledged he’d not done so before in the last year.
Since they had no receipts available, HUFF workers provided their own version of a receipt which they’d created, anticipating that the HLOSC wouldn’t have any handy. Christine and the HLOSC staff helpfully copied, filled out, and signed them for the 8 or so clients applying, documenting that each person was on the Waiting List for the Paul Lee Loft.
THE IMPORTANCE OF WAITING LIST STATUS
Waiting List status means that camping tickets will automatically be dismissed by the City Attorney’s office prior to court, as stipulated by MC 6.36.055. It might also persuade the police of the futility and even impropriety of giving out camping tickets at all, since all such tickets are supposed to be automatically dismissed.
We also interviewed a few workers out there who confirmed that there were no spaces available on the Paul Lee Loft–suggesting that anyone cited for the more serious offense of “illegal lodging” (PC 647e) would have a “necessity” defense in court.
I hope this procedure will be followed by every homeless person so that they can more safely sleep in groups, well-lighted areas, and closer to police protection–given the increased risks homeless people face outside from violence. The procedure again is to go to the HLOSC M-F around noon, sign up for the Paul Lee Loft Waiting List, and get a receipt indicating you are on the list. You then have to check in once a week or your name will be removed from the list.
TONIGHT OUTSIDE ON THE SIDEWALK NEAR THE MAIN POST OFFICE
This group of homeless people claims to have repeatedly been harassed by police and/or rangers for simply being on public property, to say nothing of sleeping. In response, it is my understanding they intend to exercise their right to be on the sidewalk (perhaps another group might call it “Positive Loitering”), even to sleep there, since they have no legal place to sleep.
Two of those involved–Freedom and Andrew–were arrested yesterday and apparently face misdemeanor charges involving something like “disobeying an officer”. (See “ALERT: Two Arrested For “Being” in the Pogonip” at http://www.indybay.org/
[Attachment(s)from Robert Norse included below]
Chow Down with Tasty Survival Soup
Compliments of Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz of India Joze Restaurant
Tuesday 7 PM December 11th
Outside City Council Chambers 809 Center St.
Last Council Meeting of the Year Ignores Winter Shelter Emergency
Wander inside as the Old City Council pats itself on the back and the New City Council makes speeches and takes office. The Councilthen adjournsto warm beds until January 8th, leaving 90% of the homeless community without shelter and illegal if they make it themselves.
Pamela Comstock, Cynthia Mathews, and Micah Posner take office replacing Katherine Beiers, Tony Madrigal, and Ryan Coonerty during the evening session of City Council.
8-8:30 PM (time uncertain)
Civic Auditorium 307 Church St.
Schmooze with shady politicians & mangling media
Share coffee & snacks across the street in the Civic
Fight the Crackdown, Ticketing, & Property Seizures
Demand A Ceasefire in the Winter War Against the Homeless Community
Demand ACTION to increase shelter this winter, let homeless people legally shelter themselves somewhere, provide legal overnight park-and-sleep places for those in vehicles, and rein in abusive police officers and vigilante attacks.
When the Council takes NO ACTION…
Organize independently for survival and self-defense.
Don’t roll over for brutality and bigotry!
Bring Sleeping Bags, Blankets, Cameras, and Friends.
BRING BACK SANTA CRUZ
Flier by Norse of HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) 423-4833 www.huffsantacruz.org 309 Cedar PMB #14B S.C. 12-6-12
See also “Taste the Tedium & Terror Tuesday” at
http://www.indybay.org/
