...And finally, in Santa Cruz California, also known as "Silicon Beach" due to it's vacation-ready location just 'over the hill' from the Silicon Valley and San Jose, the LEGAL homeless camp-in at the county courthouse, known as "Peace Camp 2010" enters it's 24th night of legal sleep for travellers and the displaced workers of the city after a march to city hall the day before.
The city government, whom the sleep-in is targeting due to unconstitutional laws such as a total prohibition, (a "blanket ban" if you would) on sleeping outside at night, is sweating it out in an election cycle full of nightmare publicity aimed at showing the so-called 'progressive' city's government seamy authoritarian underbelly.
In a currently headlining desperate attempt, the city says the County courthouse steps are under the jurisdiction of the City's Parks and Recreation department, giving them jurisdiction to break up the camp-in. But at this point, and to their credit, the Santa Cruz Police Department is not impressed with the dual-jurisdiction interpretation:
SANTA CRUZ -- The legal loophole that has allowed dozens of protesters to camp in front of the county courthouse for more than three weeks closed Wednesday when city and county officials determined the city's camping ban applied to the county property because it falls within city limits. However, it remained unclear how the ordinance would be enforced. "I think what they're going to do is notify all the folks and encourage them to move along," said county spokeswoman Dinah Phillips, who issued a statement Wednesday saying the city's no-camping ordinance would be enforced. But sheriff's deputies were still formulating a response and city police said it's not their call. "Why would we go? It's the county's property," Deputy Santa Cruz Police Chief Rick Martinez said. "We're not going to take action on our own on their property." [In Full]Visit Peace Camp 2010's blog, and see this IndyMedia article for more information.
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