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UID:Indybay-18741236
SEQUENCE:18847184
CREATED:20130809T053900Z
DESCRIPTION:The following is Dan Madison's account of discrimination and contract 
 breach at Cruzio Works.  \n\nDan describes himself as a computer graphics 
 designer with a 19-year old son.  Both have disabilities and are 
 homeless.\n\nOn Monday August 5, Dan Mattison reports he and his son 
 Gryphon paid around $300 for a Cruzio sign-up and a Cruzio Works 24-hour 
 workspace.  He advised them that he was homeless and was told there would 
 be no problem.\n\nAs Dan made financial arrangements, Gryphon watched the 
 bikes, which also held their possessions, as they were temporarily parked 
 in the storage area in the back of the Cruzio building.\n\nAt some point a 
 woman who later turned out to be someone who worked in the building but not 
 for Cruzio, demanded to know what they were doing there.  Dan, went out to 
 speak with her.  He explained they were paying customers who had rented a 
 24-hour space but would be moving the bikes to a city bike storage locker 
 (which he did shortly thereafter).\n\nThe woman said she'd already called 
 the police and was concerned with "homeless junkies" being attracted to the 
 area and that she had some issues with their being there at all.  But her 
 fears were apparently allayed by the fact that Dan was a paying patron of 
 the business.\n\nHowever later when Dan returned to get his key, a Cruzio 
 employee (who refused to give her name or her superior's name) told Dan 
 that his membership was being revoked because of the woman's apprehensions 
 which she had read in an e-mail.  She would not specify what particular 
 behavior was of concern.\n\nThis is Dan's account.\n\nHe came to a HUFF 
 (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom) meeting the next day and told us 
 his story.  We joined him in going to Cruzio to ask their side of the 
 story.\nI was present for this meeting and an audio was made.\n\nAnother 
 woman and an escort again refused to give any specific reason why his 
 membership had been terminated (though she said they would allow him a 
 daytime membership on a "trial basis").  She did mention that they had a 
 "community" there whose "safety" and "comfort" was of primary concern.  She 
 would not give any policy or act that suggested there was any violation of 
 a rule that justified either calling the police or terminating his 24-hour 
 membership.\n\nHUFF members conferred outside and decided it sounded like 
 anti-homeless discrimination.   We will be setting up Cafe HUFF--an 
 informational table with coffee to seek further information and to inform 
 the community of what appears to be a rather sinister kind of backroom 
 bigotry which is impacting a work-seeking homeless person, who has paid his 
 bill.  \n\nWe will be demanding that Cruzio Works restore Dan's contract, 
 issue a non-discrimination pledge, and further survey folks about their 
 experiences with Cruzio Works.\n\nSome HUFF members are pressing for a 
 boycott of Cruzio Works (though not necessarily of Cruzio, the internet 
 service).\n\nThe recorded interchange between Dan and the Cruzio rep on 8-7 
 is difficult to hear but somewhat illuminating in that Cruzio refuses to 
 specify what rule was broken, what the complaint by a third party was, and 
 what the "incident" consisted of.\n\n\nINTERVIEW WITH DAN AND HIS SON 
 GRYPHON ON FREE RADIO SANTA CRUZ:  
 http://www.radiolibre.org/brb/brb130808.mp3   \n\n\nCOME CHECK OUT THE 
 PROTEST AND SHARE A CUP OF COFFEE ON FRIDAY TO FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF !\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/08/18741236.php
SUMMARY:Cruzio Works Bans Homeless Customer: Protest and Informational Picket
LOCATION:In front of Cruzio Works HQ in Downtown Santa Cruz at Church and Cedar 
 Streets
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/08/08/18741236.php
DTSTART:20130809T200000Z
DTEND:20130809T220000Z
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