{"id":4478,"date":"2020-03-19T18:25:49","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T18:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/?p=4478"},"modified":"2020-03-19T18:25:49","modified_gmt":"2020-03-19T18:25:49","slug":"dated-updates-on-the-current-homeless-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/dated-updates-on-the-current-homeless-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Dated Updates on the Current Homeless Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Robert Norse (rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com<\/a>)\n
Thursday Mar 19th, 2020 9:26 AM
\n<\/em>https:\/\/www.indybay.org\/newsitems\/2020\/03\/19\/18831665.php<\/a>
\n<\/em>
\n\n\nSome things are changing quickly. Others (sadly) not at all–such \nas the City’s failure to provide the most elementary sanitary services \nsuch as porapotties, washing stations, and bathrooms (many of them now \nshutting down). The following e-mail I sent\n out as a replacement for my usual Wednesday HUFF meeting yesterday. \nAudio updates will be posted between times at\nhttp:\/\/www.huffsantacruz.org\/Lostshows.html<\/a> .\n\nSince Sunday evening March 15th , Food Not Bombs, HUFF, the Santa \nCruz Homeless Union and others have supplied volunteers, food, and \nsupplies for distribution to the community–particularly folks outside \nwithout safe reliable shelter. Hats off to Lucero\n Luna, Keith, Kevin, Elise, Fish, and many others who have sustained \nthis effort.\n

\nWe’ll be gathering, some of us by phone, at the Town Clock at noon today to assist the on-going survival supplies center.\n

\nPlease observe 6′ separation. Gloves and masks will be available for food distribution workers.\n

\nACTIONS, RESOURCES, & CONSIDERATIONS from a HUFFster’s perspective

\n*** Check at \nhttp:\/\/www.huffsantacruz.org\/Lostshows.html<\/a> to hear a series of\n phoned-in reports from different activists and workers–which should be\n posted shortly and will be updated daily if possible.\n
\n*** City Manager Martin Bernal has not yet met concerns the City has \nclosed and ordered closed places supplying toilet and hand-washing \naccess in spite of the emergency situation and repeated calls and \ne-mails. Nor has the County acted to provide basic sanitary\n facilities for the poorest outside, though it has financial and \norganization resources to do so.\n
\n*** City agencies have thwarted or denied Food Not Bombs, the Depot \nProject, Bagels on Bikes, HUFF, and other organizations their attempts \nto establish such vital resources.\n
\n*** Recent shutdowns at the Library, Louden Nelson, the Metro, the \npublicly sponsored Bookshop Santa Cruz, closed restaurants and \nbusinesses make this situation ever more dangerous both for folks \noutside and the broader community.\n
\n*** No motel or hotel rooms are yet available for the 1000-2000 homeless\n outside who want and may need them to shelter more safely and securely \nin spite of government directives and financial grants.\n
\n*** The inadequate “normal” charitable activities of those working with \nchurches, social services, etc. have been cut back or closed–many of \nthe staff of these organizations are over 60 and particularly vulnerable\n to the corona virus.\n
\n*** Normal donations to those directly seeking survival money through \n“panhandling” have been discouraged or criminalized under the new \nemergency regs, enacted without public discussion or vote.\n
\n*** Public transportation options have been restricted or shut down, \nmaking access to what limited resources there are even more problematic.\n
\n*** Mayor Cummings has issued no calls for an emergency Council meeting \nto pass elementary measures already done in other cities like a \nmoratorium on evictions and rents.\n
\n*** City Manager Martin Bernal & the City Council majority have a \nlong history of resisting the expansion of basic services for the less \nprivileged in town.\n
\n*** Supervisor Coonerty and the Board of Supervisors have declined to \nprovide county-wide resources in an equitable and sensible fashion.\n
\n*** The health of the community depends on our community action through a direct and united response.\n
\n*** Up to now we have seen how “concerned” and “effective” local \nauthorities have been in meeting the needs of renters and those outside.\n
\n*** Meekly following the dictates of authority in this crisis has not in\n the past, nor likely in the future, to be a wise, health-providing, and\n productive course.\n
\n*** We must confront directly, clearly, persistently, loudly and \nimmediately to secure the basic survival needs of the community in the \ncurrent crisis.\n
\n*** With washed hands and care to keep physical distance, bring food and\n yourselves to the noon food serving to sustain the survival effort and \ntake the necessary future steps.\n

\nContact Food Not Bombs (575-770-3377), HUFF (831-423-4833), or the Santa\n Cruz Homeless Union (831-431-7766) if unable to come for health or \nother reasons. (454-2200) and you wish to help.\n

\nCheck http:\/\/www.huffsantacruz.org\/Lostshows.html<\/a> for recent audio interviews and reports from the street under Plague Reports.\n

\nThe twice-weekly Bathrebespierre’s Broadsides show also archived at \nhttp:\/\/www.huffsantacruz.org\/Lostshows.html<\/a> will feature \nongoing commentary and news-ish updates Thursdays 6-8 PM and Sundays \n9:30 AM to 3 PM on the stream of Free Radio Santa Cruz at freakradio.org<\/a> .\n

http:\/\/www.huffsantacruz.org.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Robert Norse (rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com) Thursday Mar 19th, 2020 9:26 AM https:\/\/www.indybay.org\/newsitems\/2020\/03\/19\/18831665.php Some things are changing quickly. Others (sadly) not at all–such as the City’s failure to provide the most elementary sanitary services such as porapotties, washing stations, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[4],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478"}],"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=4478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4479,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4478\/revisions\/4479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huffsantacruz.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}