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DESCRIPTION:WHY FREEDOM SLEEPOUT #14\nFor more than 3 months, Freedom Sleepers have 
 held weekly food-sharing and sleeper protection to mobilize the community 
 to end the City's institutional hate crime of criminalizing homeless people 
 if they fall asleep at night or seek to protect themselves with camping 
 gear.\n\nIn a City with 1000-2000 homeless (and a County with far more), 
 the Comstock-Mathews Santa Cruz City Council majority has declined to 
 reopen closed shelter space and kept sleeping for the poor at night a 
 crime--in vehicles or outside.\n\nRepression against protesters and 
 city-wide citations and stay-away orders against homeless sleepers 
 continues in spite of Department of Justice statements that such behavior 
 is unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment (Bell v. Boise Statement 
 of Interest).  \n\nThe threat of HUD funding cut off for cities that don't 
 decriminalize homelessness may have some impact, but even liberal 
 Councilmembers have remained silent instead of inspiring support to end 
 Santa Cruz's Legacy of Shame.\n\nWE URGE COUNCIL TO OFFICIALLY DECLARE THE 
 SIDEWALKS AROUND CITY HALL A SAFE SLEEPING ZONE\n\nIT'S ALREADY 
 HAPPENING\nThe 14th Weekly Freedom Sleep-Out will invite the community and 
 City Council to declare the sidewalks around and near City Hall "Safe 
 Sleeping Zones".   \n\nPerhaps to avoid a blatant record of repression 
 around the specific MC 6.36 which criminalizes homeless survival sleeping 
 at night, police have notably given out no citations for camping or 
 sleeping at the protest.  \n\nThey have ticketed for "being in a park after 
 closing hours', 'jaywalking', "failure to sign a ticket", and other such 
 harassment "crimes".  But almost without exception folks sleeping on the 
 sidewalk have not been cited.\n\nThis has led Freedom Sleepers to invite 
 the Community and City Council to officially declare the sidewalks around 
 City Hall a "Safe (from Citations) Sleeping Area"--since no such area 
 currently exists for hundreds and hundreds of people.\n\nWe invite housed 
 (and unhoused) folks to join us Tuesday night in solidarity, to witness, 
 and to document the proposed Safe Sleeping Zone.\n\nCITY COUNCIL'S 
 ABOMINABLE AFTERNOON AGENDA\nCity Council's afternoon agenda impacting 
 folks outside includes Preparation for the Winter Storm Event--El Nino 
 (Item #11); Banning RV's From Parking in Any Spots the City Engineer Cares 
 to Designate (#12), & Endorsing Rental Profiteering in the Summer 
 (#13).\n\nAround 5 PM those who oppose discrimination against the houseless 
 outside are invited to bring sleeping bags and signs and speak about the 
 issue during the Oral Communications session.\n\nDRIVING THE POOR FROM THE 
 PARKS\nDuring the evening session,the City's Parks Master Plan Study 
 Session is up.   It includes reference to "illegal" activities (i.e. the 
 visible presence of poor people at night, homeless gathering day or night, 
 smoking, drinking, yelling)  See "Safety and Illegal Activities" at 
 http://scsire.cityofsantacruz.com/sirepub/cache/2/ls4iafvlsinbqldrspddipdc/428205310122015120017953.PDF 
  (p. 4) .\n\nHere the apprehensions and prejudices of middle-class NIMBY's 
 are being raised as a new "public safety" standard, as done by the 
 hand-picked Citizens Public Safety Task Force of 2013.  There Deputy-Chief 
 Steve Clark portrayed citations given to homeless people for sleeping, 
 being in a park after dark, and smoking as constituting a "crime wave".  
 \n\nDannettee Shoemaker, Parks and Recreation boss, used similar scare 
 tactics to push through the first-in-the-state No-Court-Necessary Stay-Away 
 laws in 2013 and 2014, which ban poor people from the parks without court 
 appeal, trial, or even formal charge.  These unprecedented powers are 
 proposed to remain permanent.\n\n\nMORE SCARE STORIES TO BOOST PROPERTY 
 VALUES\nBuilding on the Needlemania hysteria of those years, the report 
 validates the Hyper-Drug Warrior mindset that prompted City Council to 
 destroy the City's Needle Exchange program behind closed doors in 
 2013--providing real estate agents and property owners dramatic pretexts to 
 clear away the poor and gentrify the area.\n\nRecent fencing and locks at 
 Grant Avenue Park (not to mention the Homeless Lack of Services Center 
 itself)  as "security measures" are an ominous sign of the growing class 
 war being waged against those outside.  Increased appropriations for First 
 Alarm and P&R patrols funds and fuels the advancing police state.  More 
 policing means more citations justifies a bigger threat justifies more 
 appropriations...and so on.\n\nThere is no reference to using any of the 
 Pogonip as vitally needed campground area for those outside.\n\nWhile there 
 is no specific proposal, the staff report suggests (p. 4.) that one of the 
 "community concerns" which it apparently takes seriously is to "limit food 
 giveaways".  Since Parks and Recreation has city-wide authority as far as 
 the City manager may designate not just in parks, this may mean renewed 
 attacks on Food not Bombs-style operations. \n\nLAST WEEK\nLast week, 
 police gave out no citations by my reckoning (though there were fewer 
 sleepers), came only once, and made no arrests.\n\nOn Saturday, Freedom 
 Sleepers held a dusk Portapotty Parade through the downtown lasting half an 
 hour.  It drew active supporters and encouragement from the evening crowds 
 (as well as the occasional heckle).   Cries of "Stop arresting the 
 homeless!  Sleep is not a crime" were met with smiles, thumbs up, and an 
 occasional new marcher. \n\nIN THE WORKS\nAt a time to be announced--a 
 showing of the Exodus from the Jungle film documenting the resistance of 
 San Jose urban poor (i.e. unhoused) to the displacement of the largest 
 encampment in the country last fall....along with a KNOW YOUR RIGHTS 
 training for those seeking legal tips to beat back the Sleeping 
 Ban.\n\n\nJOIN US TUESDAY SHARING FOOD, PRINCIPLES, AND SOLIDARITY TO 
 RESTORE JUSTICE TO SANTA CRUZ !\n\nEditorial Note:  The views expressed 
 here are mine and in my view likely shared by many of the Freedom Sleepers. 
  It is not an official statement however.\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/10/12/18778731.php
SUMMARY:Safe Sleeping Zone at Freedom SleepOut #14? Why not make it official!
LOCATION:809 Center St.--In and Around City Hall During and After the Tuesday City 
 Council Meeting\n\nThe actual time will be Tuesday afternoon, evening, and 
 Wednesday morning--with coffee to be available in the morning.
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2015/10/12/18778731.php
DTSTART:20151013T220000Z
DTEND:20151014T100000Z
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