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UID:Indybay-18786456
SEQUENCE:18915183
CREATED:20160516T161100Z
DESCRIPTION:BACK IN SWELLING NUMBERS?\nWith last week's expanded numbers (See "Freedom 
 Sleepers Continue to Sleep at Santa Cruz City Hall" at 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/05/15/18786432.php) the weekly 
 challenge to the City's unconstitutional 11 PM to 8:30 AM Sleeping Ban 
 against the homeless approaches its eleventh month.  City Council has taken 
 no action to establish any emergency shelter, establish safe sleeping 
 zones, or decriminalize the 1000-2000 homeless people sleeping 
 outside.\n\nLocal Food Not Bombs workers have added regular afternoon vegan 
 food (with a few side providers supplying more meaty sustenance).  Last 
 week's police contacts there included some harassment, but no tickets.  
 \n\nSEALING OFF THE CENTER OF GOVERNMENT\nThe center of City government, 
 traditionally a constitutionally protected area for peaceful protest 
 24-hours a day, remained a "forbidden zone" after 10 PM at night with 
 police and security guards patrolling the area and driving homeless people 
 from under the eaves of the buildings where they go for protection from 
 rain and wind.  The once spacious grassy lawns have been roped off and 
 replaced with cement and ornamental flowers.\n\nTWO CITATIONS GO TO 
 COURT\nTwo citations from last year, one from the first night of the 
 SleepOut on July 4-5 last year will come to court 8:30 AM on Friday May 
 20th in a preliminary attempt to have them dismissed before arraignment and 
 trial in a demurrer hearing.   Robert "Bathrobespierre" Norse was a regular 
 in the early nights of the Sleep-Out.  He often wears a bathrobe at 
 protests and in court to dramatize and satirize the City's attack on the 
 right of the poor to sleep at night. Conviction at trial before a judge 
 typically results in $198 fines.\n\nAlmost all citations against the 
 Freedom Sleepers--of which there have been at least a dozen--were issued as 
 violations of MC 13.04.011.  This law bans being in "closed area", which 
 are designated behind closed doors and without public input by the head of 
 the Parks and Recreation [P & R] department. \n\nIn 2010 the P & R boss, in 
 private consultation with the police chief and other city bigwigs created 
 made the entire City Hall courtyard and grounds a "No Go" closed zone.  The 
 point was to drive away an earlier protest called PeaceCamp 2010, similarly 
 protest the treatment of the unhoused.   See "Bad Law Rises Up to Bite the 
 Homeless Again--Parks Boss Steals More Public Space" at 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/23/18656639.php .\n\nLEGAL 
 LEAPFROG\nThe Friday 5-20 hearing will challenge MC 13.04.011 on three 
 grounds: that peaceful protest at City Hall at night is constitutionally 
 protected, that MC 13.04.011 itself provides the right to be on a path 
 directly through the area, and that the state's Public Records ("Brown") 
 Act requires 24-hour access to City agendas during the period Norse and the 
 other protesters were there.  The agendas, then posted only inside the 
 "forbidden" zone, have now been moved to the sidewalk in a belated City 
 move to "fix" the problem and shore up its position in court.\n\nNorse is 
 looking for a lawyer, but will likely speak for himself.  The City has 
 refused to drop the charges and declined to provide full audio and video of 
 the police actions.  It has already lost one case at trial (though it's won 
 others) when activist Zav Herschfield argued the posted "do not enter after 
 10 PM" signs were not visible from the sidewalk.\n\nHomeless Legal Persons 
 Assistance founder and Freedom Sleeper supporter Steve Pleich has assisted 
 Norse in preparing the case.\n\nIf Norse loses the demurrer hearing, he'll 
 likely continue the struggle with a second demurrer hearing, an 
 arraignment, a pre-trial conference, and finally a trial before the judge 
 (juries are not allowed in infraction cases).  \n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/05/16/18786456.php
SUMMARY:Growing Numbers At Freedom SleepOut #45? Challenge of Police Citations in Court 5-20
LOCATION:Around City Hall at 809 Center St. on the bricks and sidewalk of along the 
 Center St. corridor
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/05/16/18786456.php
DTSTART:20160518T000000Z
DTEND:20160518T120000Z
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