Freedom SleepOut #55 To Follow Pacific Avenue Protests

Freedom Sleepers will again claim sidewalk sleeping space in front of City Hall Tuesday night. The activists will defy the Mathews' Council's anti-homeless 11 PM- 8:30 AM Sleeping Ban still being used throughout the City to harass, cite, and "move along" unhoused people in the dead of night.

Food Not Bombs may be providing food support and Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz coffee and soup.

VIVID COVERAGE OF PRIOR FREEDOM SLEEP-OUT'S
Alex Darocy's vivid photographic and narrative coverage of the last several sleepouts can be found at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/07/25/18789435.php ("Tuesday is Still the Night to Sleep at Santa Cruz City Hall"). Darocy provides regular coverage of the sleep-out's, which can be seen through searching for "Darocy" on the indybay.org/santacruz website.

ENOUGH TREATING THE UNHOUSED AS GARBAGE!
Outspoken activist Lucero Luna was twice arrested last week for a dramatic, theatrical, and vocal protest on Pacific Avenue exposing and castigating the treatment of homeless people as trash in Santa Cruz. See "Houseless activist protests sleeping ban, public space restrictions in Santa Cruz" at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/07/24/18789390.php . Luna reports repeated harassment in the van she lives in and has frequently urged fight-back marches downtown.

APPEAL OF NIGHTTIME RV BAN COMING UP AUGUST 10TH
Santa Cruz City Council accepted misleading anecdotal testimony last fall without any specific statistics around complaints of dumping, view-blocking, the presence of "suspicious" vandwellers, and other more hysterical claims (meth labs on wheels).

They passed two ordinances banning RV parking from 8 PM to 8 AM, denying homeless people the right to get permits, and empowering the city engineer to begin eliminating 'oversized" parking spaces and criminalizing vehicles that use more than one space.

The Coastal Commission will hear activist Robert Norse's appeal on the more limited midnight to 5 PM RV ban, intended mainly--testimony from neighborhood NIMBY's made clear at the time--to drive away homeless folks. The commission will meet Wednesday, August 10 at 9 AM at the Hilton Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley at 6001 La Madrona Drive.


UPCOMING COURT TRIALS FOR ARTISTS ALEX SKELTON AND JOFF JONES
Jones and Skelton have been arrested repeatedly for displaying their art work outside the small and sparce "exempt zones", designated by small brass discs and blue dots on the Pacific Avenue sidewalk.

The two were unexpectedly acquitted last year by police powerpuffer Kim Baskett, Commissioner of Dept. 10. Now the two face four new charges of violating MC SC 5.81(A)-1 (displaying art outside the blue box and/or not moving every hour). Two of these charges go to trial at 1:30 PM in the basement of the County Building, adjacent to the courthouse on August 30th.

This will be the first challenge to the City's recent "Vanish the Vendors" law. This ban on handicraft creation, display, and sale along Pacific Avenue and side streets reiterates and reinforces the reduction of art/performance/tabling space which went into high great in 2013, created the "blue boxes" in 2014, and then cut their number down by half in 2016. Commissioner Basket will hear the case without a jury. The two artists don't have a court appointed lawyer and haven't mentioned that any local legal eagle has volunteered to help.


More info on the Freedom Sleepers is frequently available at https://www.facebook.com/groups/freedomsleepers/ . Donations of food, blankets, sleeping bags, and energy are always welcome.

This calendar event description was written by Robert Norse, who is alone responsible for its content.