Peace Camp 2010 co-founder, Ed Frey arrives on July 4th, 2010 at the County Courthouse steps with a porto-potty in tow to launch a night-time safe sleeping zone in protest of the City's Sleeping Ban. Photo by Becky Johnson NOTE TO READER: Peace Camp 2010, which ended it's protest phase on October 2nd, was to demonstrate against the portions of Santa Cruz' Camping Ban which outlaws sleeping at night between the hours of 11PM and 8:30AM anywhere out of doors or in a vehicle within the City Limits on both public and private property. Use of a blanket is banned as well during those hours. Frey and other advocates claim that citing and arresting homeless people for sleeping and for staying warm with a blanket in a City with annual shelter for 8% of its homeless population constitutes a human rights abuse. With the SENTINEL continually calling the Sleeping Ban, the "camping ban" as though it didn't exist, the public remains unaware of the scope of the abuse. ---Becky Johnson, Editor
FROM: HITS AND MISSES SEPTEMBER 28TH 2010
Santa Cruz Sentinel
Santa Cruz, Ca.
Misses
Moveable protest:
found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/ci_16192152
The activists protesting Santa Cruz's camping ban uprooted again last week and returned to the county courthouse, where their poorly conceived protest began on July Fourth. They say they will remain at the courthouse until the city changes its policy outlawing "camping" on public property in the city. We continue to support the ban, which aims to eliminate some of the problems associated with homeless campers -- noise, trash, waste and crime -- and would ask the activists to consider why there is a lack of public support for their cause.
The public remains plenty aware of the ridiculous escapades of this "protest." From the onset, Becky, Robert, and Ed Frey vowed to sleep with the protest every night until the ban was lifted. While neither one of them spent close to every night at the "protest," they did spend a vast majority of nights in their bed. Ultimately, at the end of this, none of the stated objectives were achieved and here we stand with a ever growing number of the populous having disdain for anything that Robert and Becky seem to attach their name to. As Becky has noted on numerous Topix forums, circumstances surrounding the homeless populations in SC County have continued to grow worse. At what point will Becky and Robert realize they're a rather large part of the problem as opposed to being any close to the solution?
ReplyDelete-Joe, Ben Lomond
Bad editorial in Sentinel. worse comment. all this blustering in ignorance -- reminds me of carp in a dirty pool.
ReplyDeleteSo, Linda, you mean to tell me that the circumstances surrounding the homeless have improved with the three marry band of misfits (Ed, Robert, and Becky) leading a charge? By Becky's own admission on various Topix threads, circumstances surrounding the homeless continue to grow worse. Open your eyes and see the problems for what they really are. If you want to stop spending time living in a delusional fantasy land, you'll be able to see Becky and Robert for what they truly are.
ReplyDelete-Joe, Ben Lomond.