Weathering the Police Storm at City Hall

A homeless man falls asleep on the plaza in front of City Hall illuminated by police-rented
Klieg lights August 20, 2010 Photo by Becky Johnson

Article found online at: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/08/29/18657054.php

by Robert Norse

The SCPD appears to be using a new harassment strategy at Peacecamp2010. The protest movement in its struggle to maintain a nightly presence at or across from City Hall, has faced repeated seizure of property, ticketing for new "offenses", and the changing agreed-upon standards of behavior at the protest. Political signs, their table, and the chairs they sit on--earlier reclaimed by the protesters with difficulty is now being seized again, eliminating their visible presence.

A small but persistent band of Peacecamp2010 [PC2010] demonstrators has gathered each night at City Hall, under near-blinding klieg lights powered by a smelly noisy generator, to defy the City's anti-homeless 11 PM - 8:30 AM Sleeping Ban.

In response, City police have escalated from harassment wake-up's and ticketing threats.

They moved beyond infraction citations under MC 6.36 (the Camping Ordinance which includes the Sleeping, Blanket, and Camping Bans) and threats to arrest if the protesters dare to sleep, cover up, or "encamp" a second successive night. They've tried the enforcement "strategy" used at the County Building last month-- misdemeanor tickets and arrests under the sweeping and selectively enforced "anti-lodging" state penal code 647e.

They've set up glaring lights on a platform installed in a parking spot in front of the City Hall entrance, complete with a generator, noisily spewing toxic fumes and making ordinary conversation problematic. They've rushed through without public comment an administrative edict by Parks and Rec boss, Dannette Shoemaker, making any protest or presence at City Hall after 10 PM a "trespass" offense--even though City Hall is public property, and has been open to the public 24/7 for over 150 years.


New signs posted at City Hall close access
to the grounds for the first time in 150 years.
Photo by Becky Johnson August 21, 2010

They've confiscated political signs, tables, chairs, and personal survival gear without any citations, making the retrieval of property difficult and the retriever liable to an "unattended property" citation, even though the property itself was claimed--and the claim ignored by harassing police. They closed down the police lobby on Tuesday and shut down property claim times, stonewalling those who had marched to the station on August 24 in attempt to reclaim their stolen blankets and sleeping bags.

Those who returned the following Thursday, looking for their confiscated possessions, were told that "since they weren't causing a hubub, they COULD process the return of their possessions." Clearly any homeless person associated with the protest is being punished by the denial of due process.

Protesters have moved from the City Hall grass, to the red bricks, to the front area of City Hall, to the library frontage across the street, then to the sidewalk--all under pressure from police to vacate a new area, suddenly declared "illegal".

Two days after some protest property was successfully reclaimed by "Castaway" Crow, the police confiscated and removed their chairs, table, signs, and blankets.Everything had been moved to the sidewalk to get them out of the "No Trespassing" zone, and were carefully arrayed to leave a passage free on the sidewalk. Still "Get it Done" Gary received a new category of ticket-- "blocking the sidewalk".

"The Officer told me 'You shouldn't have to swerve to walk past them,' " Gary reported.

The next night, apparently dazzled by rhetorical points made by the ever-loquacious "Ocean" police skipped citing him, only to return the following night to ticket him for "trespass" because one of his signs impinged on the red brick "closed after 10 PM" area. "Looks like my citation collection is almost complete," noted Gary. "I seem to be collecting at least one of each."

Last night Gary, one of the first protesters arrested and one of those there the longest, placed his sleeping bag in a well-lighted parking spot In front of Gary was the sputtering portable generator fueling the Klieg lights; behind him, attorney-activist Ed Frey's white pick-up truck used to haul, park, and service the only bathroom facility open after midnight in Santa Cruz--the Protest Portapotty. "What about the toxic fumes from the generator three feet away?" I asked. "Got to," he replied, "It's the only safe spot in the where approaching cars won't inadvertently park on top of you."

Gary Johnson falls asleep in the gutter to protest the Sleeping Ban without violating the new, trespassing laws. Photo by Becky Johnson August 27 2010

Will protesters get the same right to occupy space as vehicles? Not the case in public parking lots down town where Vice-Mayor Coonerty's Parking Lot Panic law made it illegal to assemble, socialize, or even sit in your vehicle. Watch this site for updates.

City Manager Martin Bernal may have trotted out a new illegitimate City strategy that ignores and crushes First Amendment rights because simple ticketing under the Camping Ordinance and the state Lodging law may not pass muster because of the acknowledged absence of walk-in emergency shelter from April 15 to November 15. Hence we we see new "trespassing" and "blocking the sidewalk" citations, abusive and repeated seizures of unmistakably First Amendment protected signs as well as vital homeless survival gear, and false inflammatory charges of criminal behavior at the site ("child molesting") without any factual back-up.

Meanwhile "Nuff Said" Nancy McCradie, a decades-long Sleeping Ban survivor and fighter from Santa Barbara, suggests fighting 647e by sleeping on top of bedding since that law specifies "in" not "on" in its wording.

Judith Scherr of Free Speech Radio News came down to Santa Cruz last week and created a radio segment being broadcast nationally about Peacecamp2010 and broadcast on KPFA radio. Hear it archived at http://www.fsrn.org/audio/protest-over-homeless-rights-brings-issue-santa-cruz%E2%80%99s-city-hall/7391 .

Locally Bathrobespierre's Broadsides, the Free Radio Santa Cruz twice-weekly show, continues to archive developments at Peacecamp2010 at http://www.huffsantacruz.org/brb-descriptions.html . I've answered a local hit piece against Ed Frey in the Santa Cruz Weekly at http://news.santacruz.com/2010/08/24/santa_cruz_attorney_takes_up_plight_of_the_homeless .

And the Sentinel has moved from inflammatory SCPD press releases to complete silence as police ramp up the pressure against poor people fighting an unjust law in a very hard economic time.

Becky Johnson contributed to this article. All photos by Becky Johnson.

Peace Camp demonstration ready to 'bring on the battle'

By Jennifer Squires - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Posted: 08/05/2010 07:39:13 PM PDT

SENTINEL photo: Robert Norse works quietly while other campers clean up shortly after 8AM Thursday morning. --- Dan Coyro



found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_15687212?source=most_viewed

SANTA CRUZ - Tensions surrounding a month-long homeless protest in front of the county courthouse are rising, but so far no action has been taken to enforce the city's camping ban.

For the second time this week, sheriff's deputies went to Peace Camp 2010 late Wednesday to shoot photos, talk with demonstrators and advise them they are violating the city ordinance, according to Sgt. Dan Campos.

"We've got some plans to resist the next time they come too," Christopher Doyon, 45, a homeless man who is the spokesman for the camp. "They're not going to get this easy."

Most of the 40 people camping on the lawn and stairs in front of the Santa Cruz County Superior Courthouse were cooperative and no citations were issued, Campos said

Peace Camp participants had a different take on the night. They termed the incident a "raid" and said they thought deputies invaded their camp and harassed sleeping people.

"They came in last night and they met some pretty stiff resistance," said Doyon. "We're not going to take this laying down anymore."

Wednesday, participants also argued with deputies, telling them they were violating campers' civil rights by waking people. Deputies also had come to the camp early Sunday morning, a calm visit that campers had expected.

The demonstrators are calling for the Santa Cruz City Council to rescind a city ordinance that prohibits camping in Santa Cruz between 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m., as well as forgiveness for all camping tickets ever issued in the city.

Peace Camp participants have vowed to stay on the lawn until their demands are met and if police try to remove them, several have said they will not go voluntarily.

But some think the protest has lost its focus and should be moved.

Court employees are frustrated by the trash, human waste and bad behavior associated with Peace Camp 2010, according to Linda Sepulveda, the SEIU court employees president and a supervisor in the local court system. County employees, who are a part of another union, also may take action, she said.

Some employees are keeping daily diaries documenting issues with the encampment and plan to file complaints with the Sheriff's Office and the county Board of Supervisors, she said.

"What's upsetting to us is it's almost like they're spitting in our faces," Sepulveda said. "This is a place of law and justice and they're breaking the law left and right out here. Every day they push it a little further."

A maintenance worker, who is member of her union, told her Monday he picked up 450 pounds of trash that had accumulated during the weekend and that he regularly cleans up human waste, as well as feces from the dogs tethered to trees on short leashes. Also, people wash their hair in sinks in public restrooms and a panhandler cussed out an employee who declined to give him change.

"I understand that they have a valid point that they want a place to sleep, however it's gone beyond that and now this is just a loitering place. We've seen drug deals happen out front. We just saw a guy walking around drinking beer," Sepulveda said. "The originating issue has been lost now."

Doyon said many county workers support the Peace Camp cause. Demonstrators support deputies arresting people drinking or fighting and do what they can to minimize bad behavior.

"Nobody defecates in the bushes and there is no garbage, no rotting food," Doyon said. It's an encampment of homeless people, it looks messy."

Homeless "tent cities" have cropped up in Santa Cruz County in the past, such as Camp Paradise and a later encampment, dubbed "Camp Paradise II," behind a church near Cabrillo College. A flood washed out the original Camp Paradise, along the San Lorenzo River bridge near Highway 1 where about 50 people made homes for 10 months. The county red-tagged its successor.

But Peace Camp 2010 is a unique situation because it's a protest camp.

Seattle public officials dealt with a similar set of circumstances last year when a large group of disenfranchised people set up a tent city with the goal of providing safe and sanitary shelter for up to 1,000 people. The homeless camp, named Nickelsville after then-Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, moved seven times before it landed in Port of Seattle park in July.

Campers were evicted about 90 days later, during which several people were arrested for criminal trespassing, according to port spokesman Peter McGraw.

"We had given them several chances," McGraw said. "I think it was just finally the fact that permitting them to be there was not legal for them to be there."

But with Peace Camp 2010, it wasn't clear until last week if the city's camping ban applied to the demonstration, which is occurring on a county-owned swath of lawn.

Once city and county leaders determined the ordinance was enforceable, it became a question of which police agency would handle the situation and the Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction over county property and provides court security, eventually took charge of supervising the Peace Camp.

The Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the demonstration, but Campos declined to say if or when deputies plan to enforce the city ordinance.

"We want to give every opportunity for these participants to consider their actions before any enforcement is carried out," Campos said.

Doyon has said they will welcome camping citations, which they plan to paste onto a piece of cardboard under the title "Mike Rotkin's Wall of Shame," a challenge to the Santa Cruz mayor.

"We've got some plans to resist the next time they come too," Doyon said. "They're not going to get this easy. ... It's definitely reaching a new phase. I think people are stoked for it, they're excited to bring on the battle."

"Troublesome and Unpleasant" Protest may face crackdown....or not

Santa Cruz camping law applies to demonstration at county courthouse, officials say

By Jennifer Squires

Posted: 07/29/2010 01:30:57 AM PDT

found online at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_15628303

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."

Demonstrators called the announcement a "scare tactic."

"It's not going to work," camp spokesman Christopher Doyon said. "We're not going. We're not afraid."

The demonstration, which protesters call Peace Camp 2010 and which is led by homeless advocates Robert Norse, Ed Frey and Becky Johnson, kicked off July Fourth and has continued unabated on the county-owned swath of land in front of the courthouse.

Sheriff's deputies enforce laws on county property, and there is no county ordinance that prohibits camping on that lawn. City law bans sleeping in public places from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.,

but the initial thought was that Santa Cruz ordinances didn't apply to the county's territory. So the camp has grown from an overnight sleep-in to a 24-hour hangout while government officials, law enforcement officers and legal experts sort out what rules apply to the property.

Santa Cruz Mayor Mike Rotkin said that city laws apply to county property that falls within Santa Cruz city limits, and there has been a long-standing agreement that sheriff's deputies would provide law enforcement outside the courthouse and county building.

After several meetings with county and city officials, "all parties now agree" that county authorities can enforce city codes on their property, Rotkin said. In fact, he said sheriff's deputies always have had the right, as does the California Highway Patrol or any other police agency, to enforce city laws.

Rotkin was clear, however, that the push to enforce the camping ban now -- 24 days after the camp was established -- didn't come from the city.

"Nobody from the city is putting pressure on anybody about this," Rotkin said. "We have enough on our plate."

The atmosphere at the camp-in was calm Wednesday afternoon. Someone brought the protesters burritos, doughnuts and coffee, and the "traditional Santa Cruz Wednesday drum circle" was under way, according to tweets from the so-called Peace Camp 2010.

Word that they might be ousted from their camp didn't surprise demonstrators.

"There were several of us who figured that, that the laws are applicable here and they can cite us," said Doyon, 45, who is homeless. "We were prepared for that."

But, he said, sheriff's deputies have told him they have no intention of breaking up the camp, a place that Doyon said has given some homeless people the first safe night's sleep they've had in months.

On Tuesday, sleep-in participants marched to City Hall to demand the City Council revoke the city's no-camping law. The arguments were presented during oral communications, which allows comments on any topic, and the council took no action.

"I saw the fear of God in Mike Rotkin and Ryan Coonerty," Doyon said. "We definitely made our presence known. I think we're getting a lot of traction on this, and we're going to keep up the pressure."

Doyon said demonstrators will not leave voluntarily.

But court employees think it's time for the demonstration to go.

Labor unions are considering filing complaints about employees' work environments because of the camp-in. Employees working late or on weekends have reported more people inside the county building and courthouse who don't have authorization to be there.

Tim Newman, spokesman for the local court branch, said the protest has gotten more troublesome and unpleasant. While it hasn't blocked access to the courthouse or the adjacent county building, Newman said the demonstration seems to be beyond the control of the peaceful activists who launched it.

"It's seeming to attract a different element," he said. "We've had fights out there between campers."

Someone urinated on a trash can and one camper was arrested for public intoxication. The demonstration also accumulates a lot of trash, there's been some drug use and, on Tuesday, someone brandished a lead pipe, Newman said.

"People have the right to represent their views," Newman said, "but at some point I think some order needs to be restored out there."

Sheriff's deputies and city police are working on a plan to address the problems created by the camp, according to a prepared statement by sheriff's Lt. Craig Wilson. He said the area isn't designed for camping and lacks appropriate facilities, which creates health and safety concerns. Also, people are complaining about the demonstrators.

"We understand their rights," Sgt. Dan Campos of the Sheriff's Office said. "We also have some responsibility to the community."

City attorney John Barisone has agreed to help prosecute campers, should they be ticketed and taken to court, said Martinez with the Santa Cruz Police Department.

However, there is no time line to take action, according to the Sheriff's Office.

"Hopefully we can get this thing resolved sooner or later," Martinez said. "It's really going to come down to us working together."

13 Sleep for Justice on the Santa Cruz County Courthouse steps to End the Sleeping Ban

by HUFF Photo: SENTINEL Dan Coyro "Orbit settles in"

July 6, 2010

Santa Cruz, CA. -- At 8PM on July 5th, Congressional candidate, ED FREY, pulled up his white, pick-up truck pulling a small trailer with a porto-pottie attached for the second night in a row of a nightly protest/sleep in before the Santa Cruz County Courthouse. The first night, nine homeless people slept out of doors in plain public view in direct violation of MC 6.36.010 section "a", also known as the Sleeping Ban.

On July 5th, 13 slept out, 4 more than the night before. Lying beside homeless advocate, ROBERT NORSE, read out loud from a book about the history of free speech in the US courts. One woman, who had slept the night before, expressed gratitude at having a safe place to sleep. "I really didn't want to be out there by myself last night," she told HUFF activist, BECKY JOHNSON. On this night, she placed her sleeping bag under the eaves as a steady drizzle rained down from above. "And can you give me a large, black plastic bag too? The one I was using broke."

Further down near the lower steps, two homeless men carried on an animated conversation on the existence of God. One man, a devout Christian promoted God while another man, an atheist, assured him that there is no God, and that the suffering they were currently experiencing proved it. Both shared a single cigarette they had "recycled" from the ashtray.

On the HUFF table, a petition to end the Sleeping Ban sat, along with voter registration forms and ED FREY's signature gathering petition to qualify for the November ballot. But it was too dark to read them or sign anything. And as the drizzle became heavier, NORSE packed everything up and stowed it beneath the table. Considerably less useless was the delicious tomato bisque soup there courtesy of JOE SCHULTZ which, as more people wandered in throughout the night, was gratefully supped along with tortilla chips. From unknown donors, tubs of cottage cheese and bags of cheese popcorn appeared on the table, offered to anyone who wanted them.

Well after midnight, a drunken homeless man staggered in. He was helped up the steps by the Christian and the aetheist who sat him in a chair (for his own safety) and fed him some hot soup. He quieted down, and minutes later, he looked visibly relaxed. A Santa Cruz Police car rolled through the parking lot slowly around 2 AM. Many bodies were silent, wrapped in blankets and sleeping bags ---some under tarps out in the open mist, and others sheltered under the eaves. The police car flashed its lights on the sleepers but rolled past slowly without stopping. It did not return.

As morning dawned, BECKY JOHNSON stumbled sleepily out of her car, where she had slept, and was greeted by ROBERT NORSE with a copy of the Santa Cruz SENTINEL. On the front page was a story by SENTINEL writer, KIMBERLY WHITE in which VICE-MAYOR RYAN COONERTY said that the City Attorney automatically dismisses any citations handed out for illegal camping, provided there is proof that all available beds at all available shelters around the City are full.

NORSE asked why the police don't just check each night before they go out on patrol to see if any beds are still available before waking people up, doing a warrant check, moving them along, or issuing them a citation. The answer was obvious. They are being punished PRIOR to trial, as a matter of policy, and quite intentionally.

HUFF plans to set up again tonight at 8PM, and every night until the City suspends ticketing under the Sleeping Ban. In a sop to the recent damage from a fire set in a recycling barrel in front of City Attorney John Barisone's office, HUFF will be accepting donations tonight to pay for BARISONE's $50,000.00 front door.

HOMELESS UNITED FOR FRIENDSHIP & FREEDOM

309 Cedar St. PMB 14B -- Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060

(831) 423-HUFF

www.huffsantacruz.org

Local attorney and Congressional candidate, Ed Frey can be contacted at (831) 479-8911

Peace Camp at Santa Cruz County Courthouse beginning July 4th

July 2, 2010

PEACE CAMP at SANTA CRUZ COUNTY COURTHOUSE beginning July 4th

Santa Cruz, Ca. -- HUFF has voted to endorse a "Peace Camp" on the courthouse lawn beginning at 8PM on July 4th. In a City where the government has declared war on poor and homeless people using police to harass them for sitting down, begging, or for sleeping at night, and where shelter space available for homeless people is limited to 8% of the population.

In this atmosphere of oppression and criminality, local attorney and candidate for Congress, Ed Frey, who is defending homeless defendant, Robert "Blindbear" Facer against two sleeping ban tickets, with his appeal to be heard this coming September, announced "Homeless people can't wait until September to sleep!" Frey told HUFF "We need to act pro-actively. Peoples' very lives are at stake." The Peace Camp will be held nightly from 8PM to 8AM until the City of Santa Cruz suspends the Sleeping Ban or creates sufficient safe and legal shelter for those who are in need.

LOCATION: 701 Ocean St. Santa Cruz, Ca. 95060

For more information call: ED FREY --- 831 479 8911

or call Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF) at 831 423-HUFF

or e-mail Becky Johnson at becky_johnson222@hotmail.com

The SENTINEL's Misguided Mission --editorial

NOTE TO READER: Tonight, July 8, 2010, there are exactly 46 shelter spaces (32 for men, 14 for women) available for temporary, emergency shelter for a homeless person walking in off the street. The estimate of 1500 homeless people, while fluctuating on a day to day basis, is generally agreed upon by the City, Service providers, and activists. A study which "proves" shelters are "only 84% full" misrepresents the reality of the situation. Only families in remission from drugs and alcohol can use the family shelter. Only working single adults with income can use the Page Smith Transitional housing program. Only battered women can use the battered womens' shelter. Others have difficult requirements such as the Jesus, Mary, and Joseph shelter, where clients are expected to maintain a vow of silence.

Claiming that there are "400 shelter beds" in the City of Santa Cruz is either due to gross neglect during the research phase for this editorial or it's meant to purposely mislead the public. And coming from the "newspaper of record" for Santa Cruz County, it is shameful. ---- Becky Johnson of HUFF

As We See It: Misguided mission

-

Posted: 07/08/2010 01:30:37 AM PDT

found at: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/ci_15463624

Homeless advocates have set up camp at the County Government Center for four days now. They argue the so-called sleeping ban in the city of Santa Cruz, which outlaws camping in the city, in cars or under the stars, between 11 p.m. and 8:30 a.m., criminalizes homelessness and denies those on society's margins the most basic of human rights.

It's a tired argument we've heard before, especially in Santa Cruz, where city leaders are hardly down on the downtrodden.

It's a nice picture the activists paint, that those struggling to put a shelter over their heads should be able to pitch a tent in some out-of-the-way spot, spend the night and move along. But it's not reality.

There are problems inherent with homeless campers: the human waste left in the neighborhoods and parks, the trash.

That protesters have a portable toilet on hand and stress they are picking up litter seems a tacit admission that the complaints that invariably accompany homeless campers are valid. Are organizers planning to haul a toilet to every illegal camp site in the city?

The city of Santa Cruz, and this community as a whole, is as compassionate as any when it comes to dealing with the homeless.

There are hundreds of beds and numerous programs aimed at helping the homeless. City officials estimate that through city programs and a partnership with area churches, there are at least 400 beds available each night, and a recent report found the shelters averaged about 84 percent capacity.

The city attorney, meanwhile, will dismiss any citation handed out for illegal camping provided all available beds at the various shelters around the city were full at the time.

So what do the activists want? They say they will remain until the city scraps the sleeping ban or creates a safe and expanded shelter.

That's simply not going to happen.

Protests are by their very nature publicity grabs. We traffic in them and understand they can serve a valuable purpose -- to shine light on an underreported issue. It's just that this one seems especially poorly thought out.

Protesters wanted a showdown with city officials, but in setting up on county property, they chose one of the few spots around the city where the county Sheriff's Office holds jurisdiction. That means the roughly one dozen campers are actually not in violation at all, at least of a camping ordinance.

Activists might want to move this one along.