Tag Archives: Protests

Taste the Tedium and Terror Tuesday at City Council’s Coronations and Chowdown

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Title: Taste the Tedium and Terror Tuesday at City Council’s Coronations and Chowdown
START DATE: Tuesday December 11
TIME: 7:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Location Details:
Outside City Council Chambers 809 Center St.
Event Type: Protest
City Council’s last meeting of the year traditionally features a series of speeches by outgoing Councilmembers and a second series by incoming ones. After that, the Council in the past has retired across the street to sample deserts and drinks. They have to invite the public because the Brown Act requires that when a majority of the Council gathers, the public needs to be there as well. In order to provide more dietary backbone to the frilly deserts usually offered at the Civic afterwards (also free traditionally), Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz has generously agreed to provide some hot sustaining soup.

The “Oral Communications” doghouse period will be at or near 5 PM, though presumably there’ll be opportunities to buttonhole Councilmembers while they munch at the Civic after the speeches sometime between 7:30 and 8:30. The flyer attached describes some of the issues the Council is ignoring throughout the winter while its police dutifully continue their Homeless Cleansing Campaign downtown.

Additional Note: Consent Agenda Item #15 Locust Parking Garage Restroom Improvement plan intends to transform the current public restrooms there to semi-open ones similar to those at the Soquel Parking Garage across from New Leaf. Does anyone like the”police peep while you pee” bathrooms better? I sure don’t. This item is on the 3 PM Agenda for those interested. See the staff report at http://www3.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/cache/2/etwy1a55ylysjamcluwvj145/36691731207201208164690.PDF .

Added to the calendar on Friday Dec 7th, 2012 8:18 AM

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§Text of the Flyer

by Robert Norse Friday Dec 7th, 2012 8:20 AM
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 Council then adjourns to 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 http://www.huffsantacruz.org 309 Cedar PMB #14B S.C. 12-6-12

Comments  (Hide Comments)

by Gemma Wolf

Sunday Dec 9th, 2012 4:07 PM

This sounds unbelievably boring. Are you really going to it? Are you really going to stage a protest? Sounds like a crazy waste of time, but good luck. Hopefully, you’ll have more than two attendees to support you and carry signs, so you don’t look like the lone silly lunatic in the place.

by Robert Norse

Monday Dec 10th, 2012 11:43 AM

Folks on Pacific Avenue, the levee, and in the Pogonip have been suffering from property seizures, move-alongs, harassment tickets, and “get out of town” style bullying, according to reports I’m getting

I’m planning to bring complaint forms to document the harassment and create at least paper consequences for some of the cops involved (and indirectly for the policies).

I’m also suggesting people use the time to speak out to each other, share contact information, and organize.

No guarantees anything will happen—but at least there’ll be food. It’s not really about the City Council at all, except it’s also true it’s their last meeting of the year, and they’re doing nothing, other than maintaining the same bad laws, policies, and personnel they’ve always had.

Plus, of course, the (outgoing) Mayor (Lane) had a “smart solution Summit” that made no mention of immediate emergency shelter, campgrounds, or safe parking spaces nor a let-up in the criminalization of the homeless for the overwhelming majority of homeless people in Santa Cruz. And there’ll be a 5 PM Public Safety (sic) Committee meeting on Monday the 17th to consider further harassment of the homeless in response to the needles-and-feces crowd. Oh, and the incoming Mayor (Bryant) hasn’t moved to press for any restoration of the SCPD discarded bikes being given to the Bike Church instead of the more upscale Bryant-spouse connected for-profit Bike Dojo. Or so I am reliably informed. (Bryant still refuses to make her Council e-mails public).

These are all matters than be discussed face-to-face with the Council gang as they munch out at the Civic.

I’ve confirmed with Lane that the feed in the Civic will be happening; incoming Councilman Micah Posner has extended a hearty welcome to homeless people and anyone else who wants to come.

by Robert Norse

Monday Dec 10th, 2012 2:50 PM

To file an Internal Affairs Complaint (or at least get the form to do so), go to http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=9334 . You then download it, fill it out, and go into the copshop M-Th 9 AM – 4 PM. I’d advise asking for a stamped dated copy to prove you’ve filed it. I’m not clear if they require ID.

I don’t advise people to file these complaints with any expectation of having one sustained. Rather they establish a record of what has happened (not available to the public unless you publicize your copy) and are available to defense attorneys in court cases that challenge the credibility or violence of officers. Last I heard, they remain in the files for 5 years.

Property owners for securing property seized by police have been expanded, according to Sara at 420-5800 X3. The hours are now Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM.

by Robert Norse

Wednesday Dec 12th, 2012 10:51 PM

Tomorrow on Free Radio Santa Cruz, I’ll be playing a bit of audio, including an angry interview with the owner of the Bike Dojo between 6 and 6:30 PM at 101.3 FM, streams at http://tunein.com/radio/FRSC-s47254/. To catch archives of the show (and others) go to http://www.huffsantacruz.org and look under “Bathrobespierre’s Broadsides”. Call in at 427-3772 if you have any thoughts.

Aptos Safeway pretends to care

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SC Sentinel – As you see it – 9-04-2012

To read of the Aptos Safeway meeting on Aug. 22 where residents voiced opposition to the Safeway developers’ massive plans, I conjured up the image of an idling D9 Dozer impatiently waiting for the token community nonsense to end so it may drop the blade and lay track.

After the meeting concluded, I could see the Safeway reps smiling, shaking their heads and saying, “We gotta seem like we care, don’t we?” This “caring” was so eloquently spoken by Safeway architect Robert Lyman: “I’m trying to capture what Aptos is all about.”

Utter compatibility, no?

Sort of how the out-of-town developers in 1974 wanted to capture what Lighthouse Field was all about with their massive conference center proposal.

THEODORE E. MEYER III, Santa Cruz

Occupy protester guilty of vandalism

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by Henry K. Lee
S.F. Chronicle Wednesday, August 15, 2012

An Occupy protester has been convicted of felony vandalism for throwing a chair and smashing the windows of an Oakland police building near City Hall.

Cesar Aguirre, 24, of Elk Grove (Sacramento County) was convicted Monday by an Alameda County jury and could face up to three years in state prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 10.

Testimony showed he was dressed in black clothing and was wearing goggles and a dust mask in the early morning hours of Nov. 1 when he used a metal folding chair to break the windows of the Oakland police internal affairs and recruiting office on Frank Ogawa Plaza about 1 a.m. Nov. 3.

A police officer witnessed the incident from a parking structure. Aguirre had glass shards on his sleeves when he was arrested.

Authorities said he broke six windows and a door, causing $6,654 in damage. The city has sued Aguirre to recover the cost of repairs.

The incident happened amid rioting in downtown Oakland following a peaceful demonstration on Nov. 2.

Day laborers fill a need

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SC Sentinel “As You See It” 08-07-12

I must disagree with Julia Hansen’s recent letter protesting the day labor center. I’ve worked in construction for 25 years, and the jobs the day labor center will connect workers to are mainly jobs most other folks wouldn’t do. These are low-paying hard jobs with no benefits other than some hard earned cash in your pocket [not much]. If I thought these jobs were being given to undocumented workers at the expense of those here legally I would agree with you, Julia, but that’s not been my experience.

Mike Anderson, Aptos

Protesters damage Obama Oakland office

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Demian Bulwa – S. F. Chronicle
Saturday, August 4, 2012

Protesters smashed a large window at President Obama’s re-election campaign office in downtown Oakland late Friday night, tore down a nearby fence and vandalized cars, according to police, witnesses and video footage.

Staffers and volunteers were inside the Organizing for America office at 1714 Telegraph Ave. when it was vandalized after 9 p.m., but no one was hurt, said a staffer who declined to be identified. The office is a joint effort of the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

When the window was broken, well over 100 people had joined what began as a rally against the city’s handling of growing crowds at the first-Friday-of-the-month event called Art Murmur, a gallery crawl centered in the Uptown arts district from 6 to 9 p.m.

Protesters – who included Occupy Oakland activists – said the city was cracking down on vendors and performers who came into the neighborhood during the gallery crawl without permits. Until June, the galleries had closed down a block of 23rd Street, but the approach got too expensive and hectic.

Danielle Fox, who directs Art Murmur and owns a gallery called Slate Contemporary, said of the vandalism: “It’s very unfortunate and we’re very concerned, because our commitment is that when people come to visit the galleries, they should have a safe and positive cultural experience.”

City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente said the frequency of vandalism at downtown protests was “unacceptable” and hurt restaurants and other businesses.

“It’s continuing to be bad publicity for us and the merchants trying to revitalize downtown,” he said. “Art Murmur is something that is getting bigger and becoming a destination for people. Obviously, this is something that is not good for the city.”

The vandalism happened a little more than a day after someone damaged two Oakland police cars near City Hall and attempted to break a window at a police station early Thursday.

A group calling itself the East Bay Uncontrollables said it was responsible for the attack and called it a reaction to a federal investigation into anarchist activity.

Lauren Smith, a 30-year-old activist, said the goal of Friday’s demonstration was to “create a space where people could have their social gatherings without asking permission from the city and the police department.”

She said she was not at the rally but watched it live online. She said she did not agree with vandalizing cars, but that the window-smashing at the campaign office was justified.

“People feel betrayed by Obama. … I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before now,” she said. “Oakland is a place where people are really struggling. When the pressure is released just a little bit, you see people go after those things that they see as responsible for the conditions.”

Hundreds decrying police violence march in Anaheim

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by Eddie Perez
Associated Press Jul. 30 2012

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of protesters denounced recent fatal police shootings and issued a call for peace in the community even as police arrested at least nine people in separate marches Sunday.

Some 200 vocal protesters rallied in front of police headquarters, while a separate group of about 100 people marched silently along a two-mile stretch of a main thoroughfare, The Orange County Register reported (http://bit.ly/MNpcWX ).

Chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!,” the vocal group started marching toward Disneyland, but a police line stopped the group a half-mile away. The blockade, which temporarily closed several traffic intersections, caused the demonstrators to head away from the resort.

“What’s going on here in Orange County is symbolic of a problem with the system,” Eduardo Perez, a 21-year-old student, told the Register. “This wouldn’t happen to white people. This is racism, simple as that.”

The other group was dressed in white and remained silent as part of their call for peace. They walked five-people across, shoulder to shoulder, some carrying messages such as “We are Anaheim” and “Peace begins with us.” City Councilwoman Kris Murray and state Sen. Lou Correa, a Democrat who represents Anaheim, were among the marchers.

At least nine people were arrested, Police Sgt. Bob Dunn said. Most face minor charges including failure to disperse and blocking traffic, but one woman is accused of attacking a clerk at a mini market.

She was held on suspicion of assault and battery, Dunn said.

It was the ninth consecutive day of protests against police. The demonstrations occurred hours before an evening memorial service for Manuel Diaz, a 25-year-old man who was shot dead July 21.

Some marchers attempted to join the service but were turned away by organizers, who had hired their own security team, Dunn said. The evening vigil was peaceful, he said.

Police said Diaz, who had a criminal record, failed to heed orders and threw something as he fled police. He was unarmed.

The night after Diaz was killed, police shot to death Joel Acevedo, a suspected gang member they say fired at officers following a pursuit.

The shootings ignited four days of violent protests, culminating Tuesday night in hundreds of demonstrators surging through downtown. Police said some in the crowd smashed the windows of 20 businesses, set trash can fires, threw rocks and bottles at police and damaged City Hall and police headquarters. Two dozen people were arrested.

The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating, and the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI agreed to review the shootings to determine if civil rights investigations are warranted.

A group of demonstrators rallied peacefully in front of Disneyland on Saturday.

Anaheim Cracks Down as Police Shootings Set Off Protests

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by Jennifer Medina
NY Times, July 25, 2012

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Violent protests have stretched on through the week here after unrelated police shootings over the weekend left two men dead, including one who was apparently unarmed.

Even before the shootings, there were tensions between residents and the police. On Tuesday, the crowds that gathered near City Hall grew to nearly 1,000 people, and were dispersed by officers in riot gear.

As the City Council prepared to hear from angry residents on Tuesday, the fourth night of protest, the crowd swelled to nearly 1,000, and there were two dozen arrests, officials said Wednesday.

On Wednesday night, with an increased police presence, there were no immediate reports of arrests, and there were few protesters.

The protests have shaken up this Orange County city, most famous as the home of Disneyland. Tensions between the police and residents, which have simmered for years, broke out shortly after Manuel Diaz, 25, was shot and killed by the police on Saturday.

On Tuesday, as hundreds of people packed City Hall for a City Council meeting, a crowd outside grew in size and became violent, throwing rocks and bottles at police cars. One man reportedly had a handgun and was later arrested.

A short while later, the demonstrators moved through downtown, taking over an intersection, setting fires and damaging 20 businesses, officials said. Looters broke several storefront windows, and in at least one incident a fight broke out when an older resident tried to stop a young woman stealing from a store window.

The police declared the gathering an unlawful assembly around 9 p.m., and some 300 officers in riot gear used batons, pepper balls and beanbag bullets to disperse the crowd.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Mayor Tom Tait, who has asked for state and federal investigations into the shootings, said he was pleased with the police response.

“The first step is to get to the truth,” Mr. Tait said. “That takes some time and patience, and that’s what I’m asking for.”

“Violence and vandalism have no place in the conversation,” he added.

Chief John Welter of the Anaheim Police Department said it would review videos posted on the Internet to find “lawbreakers in the crowd.”

“We will not allow riotous, dangerous violations of the law by anyone,” Mr. Welter said. “We will protect innocent people from being injured and property from being damaged.”

Officials said they had contingency plans in place for the rest of the week in case of more violent protests, but they would not elaborate.

Six people, including one police officer said to have been hit with a rock, were reported injured, although none seriously. The charges against those arrested included assault with a deadly weapon, battery and resisting arrest.

The police said they believed roughly two-thirds of the protesters were from outside Anaheim. But the majority of those arrested were city residents, they said.

Mr. Tait said he would meet with federal officials, who have agreed to review Saturday’s shooting to see whether a civil rights inquiry is needed. The district attorney and state attorney general are also investigating the shootings.

The family of Mr. Diaz, the first of the two men killed by the police, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, asserting that he was unarmed when he was shot, fell to his knees and then was shot again, in the back of the head.

“In a poor brown neighborhood, the kids, especially the boys, know to avoid the police, because it never ends well,” said Dana Douglas, a lawyer for the Diaz family.

Genevieve Huizar, Mr. Diaz’s mother, broke down after a news conference. She spoke of her son’s devoted care for his 14 nieces and nephews and his dreams of making his own family. When he told her he wanted to join the military, she strongly objected, she said.

“I didn’t want him to go over there and die,” she said, choking back tears. “Maybe I should have let him and everything would be different. Only God knows.”

Both the mayor and police chief have declined to offer any public explanation of the shooting, but Kerry Condon, the president of the Anaheim Police Association, has said that Mr. Diaz appeared to be carrying a “concealed object in his front waistband with both hands,” and that he ran off, pulled the object out of his waistband and turned to the officers.

“Feeling that Diaz was drawing a weapon, the officer opened fire on Diaz to stop the threat,” Mr. Condon said. No gun has been recovered from the site.

The other man killed by the police, Joel Mathew Acevedo, 21, was shot after officers tried to stop his car on Sunday. The police say that he tried to flee on foot and that he then opened fire on them. The police said that both Mr. Acevedo and Mr. Diaz were gang members with criminal records.

There have been six shootings by Anaheim police officers so far this year, all but one fatal.

Occupy Oakland: focusing or fading away?

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Matthai Kuruvila and Demian Bulwa
S.F. Chronicle, Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Occupy activists have assailed a federal government they say colludes with the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. But on Monday when the president came to raise money in downtown Oakland – home of the nation’s most militant Occupy movement – the protesters did little to respond.

President Obama, who attended a big fundraiser at the Fox Theater, was met primarily by a group of medical marijuana advocates. Some Occupy protesters joined them and later marched, but their actions were a stark contrast to events in the past that drew thousands.

Whether it’s a sign of a movement that’s lost steam – or is merely evolving – is still unclear.

“We don’t know where it goes, but we’re in the early stages,” said Matt Smaldone, 38, a West Oakland resident who has been involved in Occupy Oakland since the beginning. “I don’t think we’re at a risk of things stopping, because the economy is not improving.”

More than nine months after setting up an elaborate tent city outside City Hall, leading to infamous clashes with the police, Occupy Oakland is again trying to reinvent itself without the unifying force of the encampment and in the face of critics who question their aggressive tactics.

Thinking smaller

Large-scale actions – like shutdowns of the Port of Oakland in November and December – don’t appear to be the future. Instead, the movement has fragmented into smaller groups focused on issues like school closures, foreclosure prevention and a fatal police shooting in May.

That means doing things that often involve neighborhood organizing, which happens far from downtown. For some, that’s a sign of progress.

“It’s a good thing people are focused less on spectacles and doing more community organizing work,” said Steven Angell, 23, an Occupy Oakland activist since January. “Those are much more important, particularly for Oakland.”

But some critics of Occupy Oakland said the group had lost much of the support it had last year, in part because some members put so much energy into confronting police.

‘Mayhem’ criticized

“They would get support if they would fight for a cause, not just cause mayhem,” said Nancy Sidebotham, 67, who helped organize Stand for Oakland, a group of citizens and merchants that spoke out against Occupy Oakland. “They need to go after the banks or the economy. Pick something and go after it. Don’t try to go all over the map because you can’t get it together.”

Members acknowledge that their numbers have shrunk, and not just at public actions. General assemblies, held twice a week, have drawn fewer and fewer people, prompting moves to reduce from 100 the size of the quorum needed for a vote. In Occupy Oakland’s heyday, some meetings attracted more than 1,000 people.

Wendy Kenin, a 40-year-old Berkeley resident who is on Berkeley’s Peace and Justice Commission, said a core group at the assemblies is “holding the space for the continuation of the movement. It might not look like the massive uprising of last year, but it’s still active. There are going to be ebbs and flows.”

Several people, though, said that frustration and burnout had chipped away at the movement and that divides had opened due to violence and infighting – sometimes, ironically, over how to spend donated money.

Some people who participated in Occupy Oakland felt it was important to rally against the police, particularly after they arrested protesters. But others saw a useless series of skirmishes that could have been largely avoided, and that distracted from the core message of economic inequality.

On Monday, Spencer Mills – who helped pioneer live, online broadcasts of Occupy Oakland events – criticized protesters for past tactics like throwing rocks at police.

“Please, come off that high horse & tell me what you have accomplished with violence & property destruction in Oakland,” he wrote on Twitter. “Actually, it has accomplished things. #OPD can better justify its budget,@JeanQuan gets the high moral ground & (Occupy Oakland) drifts in obscurity.”

Blaming the establishment

Many Occupy activists said tension is inevitable in a big social movement. They said the internal discord has been heightened by outside forces, particularly police and the press.

“The establishment did such a great job demonizing the Occupy movement that a lot of people who are unhappy with the economy are too afraid to show up,” said David Meany, 32, of Pleasant Hill, a self-described pacifist who has been coming to Occupy Oakland since nearly the beginning.

Rachel Dorney, 24, of Oakland, who moved into the original City Hall encampment, said she had been less involved in recent months, in part because of internal strife. But she, too, believed Occupy would not fade away.

“I don’t think it’s dead,” she said. “I hope it’s not. Whatever happens, we can’t go back to how it was (in America). Things have definitely changed. It’s an idea, and I think a lot of times people forget that. Whatever happens, we haven’t failed.”

Family seeks reports in police shooting

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Henry K. Lee
SF Chronicle, July 20, 2012

Relatives of a man shot and killed by Oakland police lashed out at the department Thursday, saying they have been unable to obtain a full accounting of what led to his death.

Alan Blueford, 18, was shot after witnesses said he pointed a gun at an officer early May 6 during a chase near 92nd Avenue and Birch Street in East Oakland, according to police.

But Blueford’s relatives reiterated Thursday that they didn’t believe the police version of events. They said they want to see the police report to learn more about the circumstances of the slaying, including why the officer opened fire and whether Blueford received medical care after being shot.

“I cannot begin to tell you what this has done to my life and my family,” said Blueford’s mother, Jeralynn Blueford, 46, of Tracy, at a news conference outside the coroner’s office in downtown Oakland. “I, as his mother – we, as parents – deserve to know what happened to our baby.”

Adam Blueford, the dead man’s father, said, “We want the truth. We’re not going to stand for anything but the truth.”

Representatives of police and the district attorney’s office said they have not turned over their findings to the family because the investigations are still open.

“We established lines of communication with the family early on, and we have continued to share information as it becomes available for release,” said Sgt. Chris Bolton, chief of staff for Chief Howard Jordan.

The incident began when an officer, identified by sources as Miguel Masso, and his partner saw Blueford and two companions on the 1900 block of 90th Avenue shortly after midnight. Blueford appeared to be hiding a gun, police said.

Blueford ran and twice pointed a gun at Masso, who responded with four shots, according to Masso’s attorney, Harry Stern.

Three shots hit Blueford, and the fourth hit the officer in the leg, police said.

Several independent witnesses said they had seen Blueford point the gun, Bolton said.

A gun was recovered at the scene, police said. Investigators do not believe it was fired.

Blueford was on the verge of graduating from Skyline High School in Oakland. He was on felony probation for a burglary conviction from San Joaquin County, Bolton said.

Dan Siegel, an attorney who previously served as legal adviser for Mayor Jean Quan, said at the news conference that authorities’ disclosure of Blueford’s criminal history and their reluctance to release information was “absolutely contemptible” and “slander.”

Oakland school cops halt protest at closed Lakeview

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Will Kane
SF Chronicle, Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Oakland school police officers cleared out a dozen protesters early Tuesday who were camping in a closed elementary school.

The group of parents and activists had been sleeping at Lakeview Elementary School at 746 Grand Ave. since June 15 to protest the district’s decision to close the school.

District police officers entered the school across from the Grand Lake Theater about 4 a.m. and told the activists they would be arrested if they did not leave, said Troy Flint, a school district spokesman. All but two protesters packed up their belongings and departed.

The remaining two asked to be arrested, Flint said. They were cited and released.

Citing budget problems and declining enrollment, the school board voted in October to close five elementary schools in Oakland: Lakeview, Santa Fe, Marshall, Maxwell Park and Lazear. Parents have been fighting to save the schools ever since.

Flint said school officials had been unable to reason with the protesters.

“We didn’t act immediately because we didn’t want it to turn into a law enforcement event,” he said. “We do have to get prepared for the next school year, and there are plans for that facility.”

Flint said the school will house the district’s family services unit.

Jack Gerson, a retired Oakland teacher who was involved with the protest, said the group would continue to fight the proposed closure. Closing schools will hurt Oakland students, Gerson said.

Activists had held group discussions on their vision of the school’s future, Gerson said.

“We’re going to continue across the street for at least the next week,” he said. “We think (the community) stands for what is needed – not closing down schools.”