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Free Speech is Under Attack As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech....
Posted: Fri Jan 8, 2021 9:13PM
Educating the City Manager (and his Neighbors) On December 20th and 21st, Santa Cruz Union activists demonstrated and spoke in front of City Manager Martin Bernal's suburban house at 96 Brookwood Drive. Bernal's police have begun demolition of the San Lorenzo survival campgrounds destroying tents, gear, and other property. In winter weather, with no winter shelter, defying a shelter-in-place CDC order--Bernal's decree raised much outrage....
Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 4:24PM
Next Steps in Fighting the Anti-Homeless Sweeps? An outreach demonstration today on Pacific Avenue seeks to gather perspectives and supporters for a sane and fair solution to the Winter Shelter crisis. The crisis has been provoked and intensified by City Manager Bernal's Sweeps, the overboard powers granted him by Myers' City Council, the lack of any walk-in shelter, and the police destruction of homeless gear in violation of the Boise v. Martin "no tickets without shelter" decision....
Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 5:11PM
Stimulus Deal Ups Food Aid for Puerto Rico Congress passed additional Nutrition Assistance Program food benefits for Puerto Rico as part of its $900 billion COVID stimulus plan....
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:43PM
Missing Documentation on San Lorenzo Camp Extermination to Remain Missing I sent the following Public Records demand to the City Administrator/Clerk on 12-17 regarding the abrupt and toxic shutdown of the San Lorenzo Campground displacing 150-200 people. I received a reply that City offices would be "closed for the holidays" until January 4th -but City Mangler Bernal has set January 6th as the date for completion of the destruction of the shelter-in-place camp....
Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2020 9:56AM
Much-Needed Federal Protection for America’s Beloved Monarch Butterfly Warranted, but Precluded U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agrees that monarchs are threatened with extinction, but does not yet provide the protection that monarchs need to recover....
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 1:26PM
Biden Should Call for Emergency G20 Leaders Meeting, Says Religious Development Group A religious development group urges President-elect Biden to convene an emergency G20 meeting upon inauguration into the high office....
Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2020 5:26AM
Brown Act Demand to Santa Cruz City Council: ReDo Meetings You've Illegally Closed Letter to Mayor Justin Cummings demanding his City Council follow the law and reconsider all actions taken at the 10-27-20 City Council meeting given their lack of public access....
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:30AM
A Plea for Help from the County's Benchland Containment Camp I received the following letter earlier this week immediately before our Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom (Greg's a member). I'm forwarding it for community info and in response to his wishes....
Posted: Fri Oct 2, 2020 11:11AM
More Punches at the Poor on Today's Council Agenda A recent letter I sent to Mayor Justin Cummings remains largely unanswered. I include some selections as well as a few additional comments bearing on today's agenda at the "public" meeting--largely a rubberstamp of the City Manager's latest decrees and the unelected city staff's priorities....
Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 8:42AM
Abbi Samuels Letter to City Attorney Condotti Re: Police Harassment of Cooper D'Angelo Activist and ACLU Board member Abbi Samuels posted the following letter asking telling questions about the harassment of Cooper D'Angelo and her partner Russell on the sidewalk outside the Main Post Office last week....
Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2020 4:48AM
Yet Another Tightening of the Noose: City Council "Meets" Again Tuesday City Council is slated to rubberstamp more power in City Mangler Martin Bernal's hands, a slamdown of Beach St vendors, a rise in fines for "being in a park after dark", the ability to hire more enforcement personnel, no discussion of the police (or any other part of the) budget, gentrification of Front St., and authorization of the Mayor to "respond to" the Grand Jury's critical report on homelessness....
Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2020 9:10AM
Another Toxic S.C. City Council Meeting Today I wrote a letter to Justin Cummings last week about the upcoming "public" City Council meeting. On the agenda are the usual rubberstamping of City Manager Bernal's diktats, new police funding, denying claims against the police, the zombie resurrection of an anti-Vending law, inadequate "controls" on facial technology use, and a sell-out CACH homeless report....
Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2020 12:09PM
Shark vs. Human: Who Is More Dangerous? Washington, DC, August 10, 2020 — As Shark Week kicks off this week, more than 200 restaurants across the United States and Canada are exacerbating the rapid decline in shark species by continuing to serve an expensive soup made from their butchered fins....
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 2:33PM
Santa Barbara County to Vote on ExxonMobil Plan to Restart Offshore Platforms, Truck Oil in California Final Environmental Study Released, Project Approval Hearings Announced...
Posted: Mon Aug 10, 2020 2:13PM
Questions Still Unanswered In late May, I wrote SCPD boss Andy Mills a lengthy letter reiterating questions asked him around three years ago that have largely been unanswered with any specificity. He responded ("An Updated Letter to SCPD Police Chief Mills in the Wake of the George Floyd Murder" at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/05/29/18833367.php). This is my follow-up to his response written in mid-June. I received no answer to any of the follow-up questions...
Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2020 12:33PM
Monterey Zoo Faces Scrutiny Over Elephant Deaths Salinas, Calif. [June 30, 2020] – PETA has just obtained necropsies for two elephants, Paula and Kristy, who died at the Monterey Zoo in 2019—and the reports raise serious questions about the level of care that the animals received prior to their deaths....
Posted: Thu Jul 2, 2020 9:01PM
Chatting with a Conscience-Lacking Council The 'No Public, Please" City Council meeting today again has call-in access only, and likely Oral Communications limited to one minute and cut off at the whim of Mayor "I Kneel with the Police Chief" Cummings. I pass on suggested talking points. However, deaf politicians and staffers need large numbers showing up at workplace and home to be convinced. Obediently following do-nothing guidelines will...do nothing....
Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2020 7:12AM
The Questions Grow More Pressing I've been persistently raising issues of police abuse with the SCPD. Most recently, I sent a letter to Chief Andy Mills with a variety of questions, following up on issues raised months (and often years) ago. He roplied. I responded to his reply a few days ago. So far no reply....
Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2020 1:14PM
Some Questions for Sandy Brown and the City Council An e-mail sent to Councilmember Sandy Brown will likely result in no action at City Council. More seriously, the Council, which has ultimately control of the police through the City Manager, needs to be forced to confront long-standing SCPD issues that are of a piece with demands on departments across the nation....
Posted: Tue Jun 9, 2020 11:57AM