top
Santa Cruz IMC
Santa Cruz IMC
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Freedom Sleepers confront city council at el Palomar

by zh
The Freedom Sleepers held a protest in front of the Palomar Inn in downtown Santa Cruz, where the city council planned to eat a celebratory dinner in honor of the appointment of the new mayor, Cynthia Matthews.
800_dsc_0005.jpg
As the city council met in the Palomar Inn’s banquet room last night to celebrate the tenure of new mayor Cynthia Matthews, Freedom Sleepers held a protest on the sidewalk with free coffee, soup, and PB&J sandwiches. They set up signs, handed out flyers advertising an upcoming event at the Resource Center for Non-Violence on December 13, chanted, and sang with busking musicians that had set up right next door.

A small group of protestors also entered the banquet room during the council’s meal with a sign reading “A Ban on Sleep is a Ban on Life.” They stayed in the room for several minutes and exchanged some conversation with council members, then returned to the sidewalk to continue serving food and coffee. The group attempted to enter the banquet room a second time, but were halted by Santa Cruz police officers and told they would not be entering the room. An argument ensued between the protestors, police, and the managers of both el Palomar Restaurant and the Palomar Inn Building. Protestors maintained they had a legal right to access a meeting of city council members, while the managers insisted that they were on private property and had to leave under threat of arrest for trespassing. After a several minute stand-off, the protestors again returned to the sidewalk until the city council left the building.

The table, signs, and food were then relocated to city hall for the regular weekly sleepout. The Freedom Sleepers have been sleeping out in front of city hall once a week for the past 22 weeks to protest the Santa Cruz sleeping/camping ban law, which makes it illegal for anyone to sleep in public between certain hours of the night and morning. The Freedom Sleepers maintain that this law is inhumane and punishes people for existing while houseless, having no other option than to sleep outdoors.
§Councilmember Micah Posner waves to protestors
by zh
800_dsc_0007.jpg
§Protest inside city council meal
by zh
800_dsc_0016.jpg
§Buskers outside Palomar Inn
by zh
800_dsc_0033.jpg
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Not a meetimg.
Sun, Dec 20, 2015 12:27AM
I Can
Tue, Dec 15, 2015 5:02PM
Robert Norse
Mon, Dec 14, 2015 9:14PM
Razer Ray
Sun, Dec 13, 2015 1:14PM
Pat Colby
Sun, Dec 13, 2015 4:51AM
John Cohen-Colby
Thu, Dec 10, 2015 9:03PM
... Wait For It
Thu, Dec 10, 2015 7:32PM
John Cohen-Colby
Thu, Dec 10, 2015 3:37PM
G
Thu, Dec 10, 2015 12:37PM
John Cohen-Colby
Wed, Dec 9, 2015 10:34PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network