> Hi Robert and Huff folks,
\n>
\n> Sorry it took me a little less than a week to get these responses back to
\n> you. Thanks for your interest in this process.
\n>
\n> Thanks for the opportunity to engage in dialogue about these issues.
\n> Leonie
\n>
\n> ➊ Will You demand an end to the after-dark curfews in Santa Cruz?
\n> To make parks and greenbelt areas inhospitable to homeless people with no
\n> other places to sleep at night, NIMBY lawmakers have made all parks, the
\n> levee, and Cowell’s Beach \u201cforbidden zones.\u201d In response to peaceful
\n> protest, being on the City Hall or library grounds was also made a
\n> \u201ctrespass\u201d crime. Using Drug War \u201cneedlemania\u201d hysteria & inflated police
\n> stats that label camping a crime, a costly and phony \u201cPublic Safety\u201d scare
\n> campaign has increased fear and hatred of the poor.
\n>
\n> I will not demand changes when I serve on City Council, I will work
\n> carefully with other Council members to achieve the majority needed to
\n> bring about meaningful change. While I recognize the need for a safe and
\n> secure sleeping place, I do not support widespread camping in our
\n> greenbelts areas. I have seen too much damage to fragile ecosystems and
\n> too much garbage in our parks. I support changes which address the
\n> underlying causes of homelessness.
\n>
\n> ➋ Will You support a moratorium on laws that punish sleeping
\n> outside or in vehicles at night as proposed by the Santa Cruz American
\n> Civil Liberties Union?
\n> Instead of acknowledging the emergency need for shelter, sleeping space,
\n> or housing for several thousand homeless outside, media mudslingers have
\n> turned facts on their head redefining survival sleeping as a crime.
\n>
\n> Insofar as a moratorium on laws that punish sleeping outside has any
\n> chance of gaining traction and enactment in the City of Santa Cruz I will
\n> work towards that. Again, let me stress that my goal in dealing with our
\n> chronic problem of homelessness in Santa Cruz is to address the underlying
\n> causes and bring an end to homelessness. Last year several people died of
\n> exposure sleeping outside; that should never happen in our City. We need
\n> to work towards getting people safe and secure places to sleep at night.
\n> Sleeping outside, as I have learned from many of my students, is not safe,
\n> particularly for women.
\n>
\n> ➌ Will You act to defend the few possessions homeless people have
\n> in their makeshift campsites at night and on their persons during the day?
\n> Cities like Fresno have been the successful target of lawsuits against
\n> their police for seizing and destroying homeless property\u2014something that
\n> is routinely done here targeting blankets, bedding and other survival
\n> gear.
\n>
\n> If elected I will work with police officers to make sure they are not
\n> targeting homeless people and their possessions. I do not support the
\n> establishment of camp-sites in our greenbelt areas as they degrade the
\n> natural environment that people have worked so hard to preserve.
\n>
\n>
\n>
\n> ➍ Will You restore the public space to the community by eliminating
\n> \u201cforbidden zones\u201d &\u201cmove-along\u201d laws downtown and elsewhere ?
\n> The City Council last year eliminated all but 1% of the downtown sidewalks
\n> for traditional Free Speech activities such as vending, performing,
\n> sitting, sparechanging, & political tabling with police the new judges.
\n>
\n> If elected to City Council I will work to change the downtown ordinances
\n> that restrict street artists downtown.
\n>
\n> ➎ Will You help reestablish police priorities to focus on real
\n> crime instead of having the act as a quasi-military auxiliary with intense
\n> focus on \u201ccrimes\u201d such as \u201csitting\u201d, \u201csleeping\u201d, and \u201csmoking\u201d?
\n> Police, security guards, and yellow-jacketed \u201chosts\u201d now patrol Pacific
\n> Avenue in record numbers, swarming to mob \u201cundesirable\u201d poor people in a
\n> concerted effort to effect economic anti-homeless \u201ccleansing\u201d downtown.
\n>
\n> If elected to City Council I will work with police to ensure they
\n> prioritize the most dangerous violent criminals and property theft.
\n>
\n> ➏ Will You support immediate renter protection, stabilization,
\n> and\/or rent control laws as well as penalties for vacant property
\n> speculation here?
\n> Rent profiteering against residents and businesses alike has become second
\n> nature in Santa Cruz. Living here has become prohibitive for those who
\n> work here. For the poor, affordable housing is a vehicle\u2014which is illegal.
\n>
\n> If I am elected to City Council I will work hard to establish affordable
\n> and low income housing options in town.
\n>
\n> ➐ Will You take time out of your day to document police overkill
\n> and support regular community street presence to stop Ferguson-style
\n> police barbarity here?
\n> Community control of police is an ever more important issue as police
\n> departments across the country, including ours become more militarized and
\n> insulated from public input and transparency.
\n>
\n> If I am elected I will work hard to ensure that Police are accountable to
\n> citizens.
\n>
\n> ➑ Will You stand up for unpopular positions and be a whistleblower
\n> even at the cost of alienating the established political and economic
\n> powers?
\n> The political structure resists real change. In the end it’s principled
\n> individuals in the community & dissenters inside the power structure like
\n> Snowden, Assange and Manning that provide the passion and tools for
\n> change. Those hoping to \u201cinfiltrate\u201d the power structure usually find it
\n> infiltrates them.
\n>
\n> My goal an an elected official will be to bring the voice of the people to
\n> the people in power. I will listen carefully to a wide range of people and
\n> work towards finding solutions that benefit the wider community.
\n> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
> Hi Robert and Huff folks, > > Sorry it took me a little less than a week to get these responses back to > you. Thanks for your interest in this process. > > Thanks for the opportunity to … Continue reading