{"id":1273,"date":"2013-08-25T05:43:16","date_gmt":"2013-08-25T05:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=1273"},"modified":"2013-09-08T05:48:15","modified_gmt":"2013-09-08T05:48:15","slug":"legal-eagles-gather-to-defend-palo-alto-vehicle-dwellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/legal-eagles-gather-to-defend-palo-alto-vehicle-dwellers\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Eagles Gather to Defend Palo Alto Vehicle Dwellers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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NOTE BY NORSE:\u00a0 I’m passing on some of the e-mail I received today.\u00a0 I had Aram James–former public defender in Palo Alto and now a strong advocate for homeless rights–on my\u00a0 Sunday radio show discuss next steps activists there are planning to fight back against the gentrification-NIMBY crowd that is trying to get police to drive homeless people out of town.
\nLinda Jolly is a Redwood City activist who lives in her vehicle.\u00a0 I’d like to hear more details from her on her own successful appeals of vehicular habitation cites.
\nSanta Cruz has an ordinance banning sleeping in one’s vehicle from 11 PM to 8:30 AM which is frequently enforced.
\nIf any folks have information to add about successful challenges or activist response to this attack on people whose only homes are their vehicles, please let us know (at rnorse3@hotmail.com<\/a> ).<\/p>\n

See http:\/\/radiolibre.org\/brb\/<\/a>\u00a0 for my latest shows, and http:\/\/www.huffsantacruz.org\/brb-descriptions.html<\/wbr><\/a> for descriptions of some of the shows.<\/p>\n

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Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 15:56:07 -0700
\nFrom: lindajolley9@yahoo.com<\/a>
\nSubject: did u tell listeners about legal help for car-dwellers??
\nTo: rnorse3@hotmail.com<\/a>
\nCC: carrie.leroy@skadden.com<\/a>; stoptheban13@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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If you aint done it yet, Robert, let them know what Carrie Leroy, below, is doing.\u00a0\u00a0 And that her team will be looking for particular types of victims to help, as described below.<\/div>\n
\u00a0Carrie’s actions are so wonderful that all legal business in this area should go to her and her firm, Skadden.<\/div>\n
You can also remind folks that certain cases have already been won, so there is a lot of hope.\u00a0\u00a0 A friend of mine beat the City of Palo and got a hundred citations dismissed, that he got for parking his motor home there.\u00a0\u00a0 And I beat the City of Redwood City in 2008, on appeal, in a charge of “living” in my truck.<\/div>\n
Several things helped:<\/div>\n
\u00a0 [1] I went to the local newspaper and got page-1 coverage.<\/div>\n
\u00a0 [2]\u00a0 My appeal stressed “Equal Protection”\u00a0 — truckers everywhere eat-sleep, etc. in their trucks.\u00a0 They are not cited, but I was cited while napping in my truck.\u00a0\u00a0 This was so egregious that a friend suggested I go into court with a crowd waving signs saying “Let the mother-trucker go free!”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If it happened today I would also insist on the\u00a0TRADITIONAL RIGHT of the people to live in vehicles and boats, and to camp on unused land.\u00a0\u00a0 People did this freely throughout history until snooty city councils copied each other in an effort to exterminate the poor.\u00a0\u00a0 This traditional right should be protected by the 9th Amendment:\u00a0 “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
Living where you have to live\u00a0 is an inherent, self-evident right that goes along with Right to Life.<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n
Government has arrogated unto itself the alleged “right” to confiscate a huge check of people’s incomes as “social security” and then\u00a0 returns to us, in our old age, not even enough money to rent a small room.<\/div>\n
This calls for a broad uprising of the people.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Linda Jolley\u00a0\u00a0 650-630-3021<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 email:\u00a0 lindajolley9@yahoo.com<\/a><\/div>\n
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—- Forwarded Message —–
\nFrom:<\/strong> Stop the Ban <stoptheban13@gmail.com<\/a>>
\nTo:<\/strong>
\nSent:<\/strong> Wednesday, August 14, 2013 10:43 AM
\nSubject:<\/strong> Fwd: Stop the Ban – Plaintiffs
\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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Dear All –<\/p>\n
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\nOur friend Carrie LeRoy (with St. Marks Episcopal) is building a pro bono legal team to represent plaintiffs in vehicle-dwelling disputes with the City of Palo Alto.\u00a0 Please see below.\u00a0 She works with the prestigious home town law firm Skadden, and she’s one serious dude and a beautiful soul!<\/p>\n

I recommend her highly to all.<\/p>\n

Best,
\nMary<\/p>\n

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———- Forwarded message ———-
\nFrom: Carrie LeRoy<\/strong>
\nDate: Tue, Aug 13, 2013 at 12:36 PM
\nSubject: Plaintiffs
\nTo: Mary Klein<\/p>\n
Hi Mary,<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Could you please let the leaders of the Stop the Ban\u00a0coalition know that a group of attorneys (think I’ve rounded most of them up) is looking for vehicle-dweller plaintiffs to represent on a pro bono basis?\u00a0\u00a0If there are\u00a0parents with children who attend the PAUSD, elderly folks or folks with medical conditions or disabilities, we’d be particularly interested in\u00a0hearing from them.\u00a0 Also, anyone who is on a waiting list for a homeless shelter might be helpful to us (to show that sleeping in a car is not a lifestyle choice, but a necessity).<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Re: kids in the PAUSD, federal law requires that homeless children in our district be admitted to our public schools:<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The McKinney-Vento Definition of Homeless<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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Subtitle B of Title VII of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (Title X, Part C, of the No Child Left Behind Act) defines “homeless” as follows:<\/strong> The term “homeless children and youths”– <\/span><\/div>\n
(A) means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 103(a)(1)); and (B) includes– <\/span><\/div>\n
(i) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;<\/p>\n

(ii) children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C));<\/p>\n

(iii) children and youths who are living in cars<\/strong>, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and<\/p>\n

(iv) migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii). <\/span><\/div>\n

View the <\/span>full text<\/span><\/a> of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Among the other issues with the VHO, it is preempted by this federal law\u00a0as to children who attend the PAUSD (because in order to attend, the child needs to be homeless and residing in our district–the VHO would make this impossible for vehicle dwellers).\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Thanks, <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Carrie<\/span><\/div>\n
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(650) 470-3144<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
carrie.leroy@skadden.com<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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\n—
\nMary Colleen Klein<\/strong><\/p>\n

c: 650-421-1881<\/a><\/p>\n

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\n—<\/p>\n

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Stop the Ban is a coalition of individuals and organizations that oppose Palo Alto’s ordinance that would ban vehicle dwelling.\u00a0 We think the city can address this issue in a more humane and creative way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Organizations participating in the coalition include:<\/p><\/div>\n

Action Council of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto
\nPalo Alto Friends Meeting<\/p><\/div>\n

First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto<\/div>\n

Community Cooperation Team
\nGreen Party of Santa Clara County
\nMidtown Neighbors & Friends
\nNeighbors Helping Neighbors
\nOccupy Redwood City
\nOccupy San Jose
\nPeninsula Direct Action
\nPeninsula Peace and Justice Center
\nSanta Clara County Single Payer Healthcare Coalition
\nWomen’s International League for Peace and Freedom<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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NOTE BY NORSE:\u00a0 I’m passing on some of the e-mail I received today.\u00a0 I had Aram James–former public defender in Palo Alto and now a strong advocate for homeless rights–on my\u00a0 Sunday radio show discuss next<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,56],"tags":[100,3,70],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1274,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273\/revisions\/1274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}