Radio Roundalay with Newly Elected Councilmember Krohn

The show will also archive at http://radiolibre.org/brb/brb161229.mp3 -- typically available some hours after the broadcast

Newly-elected Councilman Chris Krohn will be interrogated around issues of Council transparency and accountability, restoring public spaces, immediate cessation of the raids on homeless encampments and individuals, and his own proposed programs.

Krohn was Mayor in 2002, ran unsuccessfully for Supervisor and has written occasionally on political and activist subjects. I and other homeless activists wrote about his administration and its refusal in the main to advocate for human rights for those outside. See the 2002 Street Spirit stories at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/StreetSpiritSantaCruz/StreetSpirit-main.html .

Has the former Councilmember grown a new set of wings and balls?

This year Krohn has kept up with the "politically acceptable" liberal positions of the day such as former Mayor Lane's belated, partial, and failed Sleeping Ban repeal proposal of last March. He has also jumped on the bandwagon of those betrayed by Bernie last summer.

Krohn did speak about ending the Sleeping Ban in his opening Council speech on December 13th. And the After-Burn Coalition (the "New City Council" group) did also raise that issue as a rallying point.

Since Krohn does not have the potential majority he had and didn't use in 2002, it remains too be seen whether in 2017 his rhetoric can be turned into concrete action. Such actions might be facilitating public records act requests, raising issues on which he will lose in the short run, but educate in the longer haul, and using the prerogatives of office to spotlight rather than rubbersgtamp staff abuses. However, there's often a yawning gap between campaign promises (or statements made on the radio) and their fulfillment.

We often find to our chagrin that those in power don't need to act on their rhetoric since they can't be held accountable for it.

I may be adding my own additions to call in questions to sharpen the discussion.