On March 8, the Santa Cruz city council voted 5-2 to oppose an amendment to municipal code 6.36.010, also known as the camping ban. The proposed amendment would have removed references to sleeping and covering up with a blanket from the text of the law, as well as removing references to sleeping in cars. Effectively, these changes would have made it legal for people sleeping outdoors to do so without fear of citation by police.

Supporters of the "Right to Rest" had hoped the city council would remove references to the word "sleep" from the ordinance, but the majority of council members voted to keep the law exactly as it is presently written. Shortly after the vote concluded, it was business as usual for the Santa Cruz Police Department, whose officers spent the evening issuing citations and targeting homeless people sleeping downtown.

Robert Norse writes: Turning sleeping into a crime permanently hurts the poor. It is fiscally stupid. It does not serve the community's interests. It embitters/divides us. It also deepens the police state, maintaining (and this is nothing new) a pariah underclass, denied the rights everyone else takes for granted. Nice incentive to keep working shit jobs and paying rent, of course. If you're not a part of the gentry, move out or get busted for sleeping.

Read More: Santa Cruz City Council Votes Down Change to Sleeping Ban Law | Business as Usual: SCPD Targets Homeless after City Council Re-Affirms Camping Ban | Rumblings of Resistance After the Council Crushes Reform? | A Response to City Council on the Sleeping Ban Vote | Shame On the City Council of Santa Cruz for Maintaining the Sleeping Ban!!! | Take Back Santa Cruz : Home | Sleeping Ban at City Council; Freedom Sleepers in 35th SleepOut | Proposed Camping Ban Amendment Set for March 8 Council Hearing

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