Richmond homeless decriminalization coalition

Hi folks,

They may be running already...or in fact they may
have some valid reasons, however last night
at the end of the Richmond City Council meeting Mindel Penn,
the chair of the Public Safety Standing
Committee, announced the cancellation of
this committee's meeting on Thursday 1/24,
and stated that the very first meeting the
committee will have will take place on 2/14.

Again, I don't know what it means. They
knew we were going to be there in force,
and we will still be there in force on 2/14th.

So : There is NO meeting on Thursday 24.
I'll be around city hall at 8:30 for a little
while because I told some homeless people
to show up and they might, and I have no
way of tell them in advance, the least I can
do is to buy them some breakfast and hear
more about their stories. Perhaps one
would want to follow a legal route against
this, as Susan has suggested.

If the case is that they are not running from
the heat now, the truth is that they WILL
END UP RUNNING away and so fast
from this...because they know they did "bad",
and because we are going to be there
"everywhere" to remind them, until they
repeal the criminalization of the homeless.

Let's each of us start thinking COALITION
building. Who do we know that we could
ask to work with us in this very concrete
goal : The abolition of the Criminalization of
Homeless in Richmond. (From the energy
created around this very concrete and
reachable goal, actual solutions for the
homeless issues could/should emerge, but
the focus of the coalition must be
HOMELESSNESS IS NOT A CRIME)

Let's start talking to people and asking
for their support for the first coalition
meeting.

Let's also bring in the homeless as much as
it is possible.

> "Homeless people have the right to full
> acknowledgement of their human dignity
> and a voice in the decisions that affect them"
> (CA Green Party platform, page 30
which also urges us to:
> "Repeal all laws that criminalize any facet
> of homelessness or helping the homeless.
> Abolish anti-sleeping laws")


ps. You don't have to be a registered Green
Party member to be in the Richmond Greens;
just be a decent human been standing for
a better world (social justice & environment)

======
Let's

1. Keep the pressure up with the letters.

2. Sign up to speak against the criminalization of
homeless at ONE Tuesday night at the City Council
during the Public Forum ( 2 minutes)

3. Commit to show up to our next demonstration for
the homeless :

This Sunday 1/27 from 1- to 2 pm
Civic Center Auditorium.
Let's leaflet the people going to the concert

4. Call, meet with, talk to mayor and city council members.

5. Start lining people up for a "homelessness is not a crime
coalition". Send the information forward.

6. Send Letters to the editor to the WCC Times
http://www.ContraCostaTimes.com/contact_us/letters.htm
or sen it to dscardina [at] cctimes.com (200 words max)

7. A letter to WCCTimes editors and reporters to
cover this issue can generate some attention as well

Scott Corey, Editor WCCTimes
scorey [at] cctimes.com

Peter Felsenfeld, Richmond reporter
pfelsenfeld [at] cctimes.com

Jack Tucker, Editorial
jtucker [at] cctimes.com

Jack Chang, Social Service Reporter WCCTimes
jchang [at] cctimes.com

Karen Hershenson, columnist WCC Times
khershen [at] cctimes.com


8. Sign up to do phone calls to voters to ask
for their support (name-no money ) to repeal
this ordinance:

=================================

The next meeting of the Richmond Greens
is Monday FEBRUARY 18 at 8:00 pm
Community Room next to the
at the Richmond Civic Center Public Library

In the mean time:
Let's rock the boat to change the vote!

===============================
Abrazos
Juan

"I don't know but I was told...
homelessness is against the law...

I don' t see and don't hear
I want this to be repeal...

repeal
repeal
===============================



richmondgreens [at] richmondgreens.com