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POPSCivil Rights Struggle Continues for the Homeless On Saturday, Dec. 6, HUFF and supporters will host a “sleep-out” in symbolic protest of the ordinances and unfair treatment of homeless residents at the Human Rights Fair at the Louden Nelson Community Center. “The problem is you have a bunch of people who are a part of the Democratic Party who persuade themselves they are very liberal,” Norse said. “They vote for Obama, they are in favor of getting out of Iraq, they are members of the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), but when it comes to the local issue of poverty and poor people, they are as bad as the Republicans.”
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POPSBrenden Foster Dies after inspiring the world "His dying wish was to help the homeless. "They're probably starving, so give 'em a chance, food and water." It has become a national movement." This child was more comassionate than most adults I meet. When asked what the best thing about life was, he answered "Having one." In over five states and world wide people responded, food and other programs to help the homless came in response. In his final moments, he had one last wish, to save the bees. A pilot called his flying friends and they are droppong flower seeds worldwide.
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POPSGovernator Bail out plan: Rob the poor & give to the rich We cannot allow our government to put the burden of it's failed policies on the backs of our seniors, poor, disabled and immigrants. How arnold sleeps at night I don't know. I refuse to capitalize this mans name. He refuses to enact a 1% tax increase on the most wealthy, (something even Ronald Reagan did during a recession. ) while proposing tax increases on the poor during a recession. It's immoral and insulting when the blind and disabled will not get a cost of living increase this year while politicians like Carole Migden get six-figure salaries for serving on the Integrated Waste Management Board, whom Beyond the Chron says is a known patronage slush fund.
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POPSPlainclothes Police at the March for Our Lives in St. Paul (Theyt even had a pemit)
"There was nothing subtle about the undercovers. The guy on the right in the black with glasses approached my black-clad comrade and asked, "hey can I get a quick pictures". The response, "hell no." Then he asked me, "well can you please do me a favor?" To which I responded some of the same and we both pointed our fingers at him to call it out. Also to note, there was at least one person dressed in all black (hood and bandanna too) who was definitely wearing an ear piece. There was a woman not in your photos who was wearing black clothing (not bloc style but more plainclothes like, maybe sunglasses too, can't quite remember) who was walking by me, not looking directly but I could tell she had me in the peripheral vision. Camera was held down by her waist as if she were 'just carrying it', but I noticed that the lens was pointed near my face as she was nonchalantly walking. I definitely saw her click the shutter at this point. Did anyone else notice the "window washers" on the
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POPSSanta Cruz Police Bring Violence to Peacful Protest Santa Cruz Police Bring Violence to Peaceful Protest. Main Stream Media Smeared what really occurred. Here is another view. I was there. The arrested protester was released, after a day in jail and the threat of 50,000 in bail, no charges. He was injured and never touched an officer. He was using a passive restive tactic to do what he thought was right. He took a stand.
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POPSRaging Grannies and Trash Orchestra to Defend Drummers from SCPD The Fences have been erected this a.m hours before the protest. "This is merely the newest battle of a war in Santa Cruz. A war against dissent, against the poor, against the homeless, and now against people making music. We challenge these laws and the police crackdown on undesirables -- an effort to "clean up" the streets of Santa Cruz of the young, the very old, immigrants, the unemployed, homeless, the insane, and anyone who resists."
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POPSOrganization reiterates plan for homeless during DNC Poverty must be seen. This is disgusting! If Obama truly wants change, he will address this issue along with the concentration looking prison cages being set up for protesters. Remember the Boston Massacre? That was a protest and we would not be here as Americans without that act of protest. We taunted the British into violence and even into killing to garner support for the cause. Now you get arrested for holding a sign. If the DNC had any balls they would invite the homeless in and ask them what there "American Dream" is.
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POPSA Santa Cruz Jib Jab Satirical Video including Police Infiltrator Lt. Rudy Escalante, Council Member Mike Rotkin, Mayor Ryan Connerty, Council Member Ed Porter, Annoyer Tim Rumford. Go to source, sa
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POPSExtreme cuts to vital health services for Santa Cruz residents planned At first glance the complicated 13 page budget cut document seems to deal with mostly mental health cuts, which are important. However, it goes far beyond that, impacting all aspects of health care from HIV/AIDS prevention and care to elimination and reduction of Health care for poor and/ or homeless families. dental care, Planed Parenthood and much more, including 106 job losses. A rally is planned by many impacted agencies and citizens. I do encourage people to go, if only to make contact with others concerned and to plan for more direct action at the June 20th meeting. Eliminating a flawed system with no plan for the backlash is ridicules. Emergency rooms will flood, jails will fill, and Ryan Coonerty will continue to say we have the best care for the poor than any City within 100 miles. His mileage changes speech to speech. Although I support this rally in the sense that it brings together the community surrounding the issue. Email and phone call campaigns followed by a rally
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POPSFresno Mayor Admits City’s Homeless Plan is a Failure This article and video are worthy of reading and watching. You can stream it at the source. This is the first Mayor I have ever heard speak this way about the issue of homelessness. Good Work by Mike Rhodes who has been fighting for the rights of the poor in Fresno with great success for a long time. want to here a politician speak different, check this out.
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POPSThe Stories of Homeless This is a site where they have a audio forum where they allow you to hear people stories in 5 minute clips. The audio clips cannot be... clipped. Go to source. Everyone has a story. I think that listening to peoples stories helps stop the thinking that all homeless are bums, or that those in poverty are there due to their own irresponsibility and hurting everyones pocket books. That they are all the same in this regard. These stories show that people are diverse , and that is true with every class, and every human being. We are all different.
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POPSSanta Cruz Sleeping Ban Lawsuit Near Here is a new website dedicated to the lawsuit being formed against the City to end this immoral, unconstitutional and unethical law. This site will be a focal point for information on the status of the lawsuit. We need your help from funds to making phone calls and writing letters. Even the act of making making a comment helps.
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POPSEnd the 15 min Panic Law - Restore Public Space - Petition It only takes a few moments to sign, and you do not have to live here to sign, as you may wish to park here. There are only two other cities with this unconstitutional law. We need your help by telling our City Council this is wrong. It takes only a moment of your time, comments are greatly appreciated, but not required. This law affects the disabled, poor and everyone if it is not selectively enforced.
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POPSState Plans to Spray LBAM Pesticide from Northern Bay Area to Santa Cruz and Monterey I think using a " State of emergency" to force people to be sprayed with chemicals is simply a test to see how much opposition they get. This has been tried in Australia and was a complete failure. There are very few light brown apple moths here. Maybe its the conspiracy side of me that thinks spraying the most liberal cities in the US is test to see how much they can get away with. The City Council here is suing to try and halt the spraying, yet they are offering no shelter for the homeless on nights when they spray. Instead they are using it is a political tool to gain support. If they truly cared for the health of the people, they would protect the most vulnerable first, but they wont. Spraying under a "state of emergency" is ridicules, as an emergency is Katrina, not the loss of crops that can be protected using slightly more expensive methods. This is about money, fear, and what the government can do under a "state of emergency" -- which is anything they want.
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POPSSign the petition and help us restore a consitutional right! This may not be your City, but as more cities enact such laws. The more our Constitution slowly means less and less. This law limits the time you can spend, even in your own car, in a public parking lot. You get a whole 15 minutes to park and retrieve your car or bike. No resting in your car, no reading, sleeping off too much to drink. There is no crime wave in the lots. The biggest thing the City is against is a peaceful drum circle and Food Not Bombs feeding as they have for years without violence or incident. This new law is selectively enforced. These kinds of laws lead to Free Speech Zones" which sadly, we already have. You need not live here to sign. People from all over come and park here. Please take a moment and sign this petition. It takes just a few moments.
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POPSPublic parking paranoia law used to disperse drummers and Food Not Bombs The Drum circle they speak of has been going on for over 10 years in the same place. Its where Food Not Bombs was feeding. They were drove away on two occasions, so were not present at this particular incident. Basically the Santa Cruz PD was successful in running of a peaceful group that was feeding the hungry on public property. This law means I cant wait in my car as a friend shops, even know I am disabled and often need to rest in my car. This law is aimed at the poor who often use the overhangs to get out of the rain. There has been no horrible acts of violence to spawn this law, which the local ACLU is against, but doing nothing about. It is another loss of our commons, that have been traditionally used hroughout history by the poor and homeless.
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POPSTaser time on America's public lands With taser deaths on the rise. Its important to note that the forest service often are in charge of taking down homeless encampments and citing the homeless for camping or sleeping at night. Here in Santa Cruz, Ranger john Wallace has given more Sleep Crime tickets then all the City police officers combined. He now has a force of officers. They do not need Taser guns to do their job. The Police have killed people in jails, on the street and recently in the airport in Canada using a taser gun on a tired polish immigrant after he waited 10 hours with no translator after a 15 hour flight. These are OUR public lands, and OUR money being used to police them.
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POPSFun Questions to ask the Cops when being harrased for sleeping. These questions come from the time tested "Know Your Rights" role playing format, pioneered by Rico Thunder and Jason, who often teach Free School classes on your rights and how to use them. They role play in uniform. Free School is a concept used in Santa Cruz for everything from learning a foreign language, to knowing how to face the cops with the knowledge of your rights. The "ask to be taken to the Magistrate" is a great tool, just not on a Friday, or you may wait in jail until Monday. Start a free School in your town.
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POPSEnd the Sleeping Ban - open letter to council We are moving to bring a lawsuit against the City of Santa Cruz to end the Sleeping Ban. The Human Rights Organization along with HUFF(Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom) and volunteers have been collecting data on tickets and destruction of property and gathering plaintiffs.
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POPSActivists Ask ACLU to Help End Sleeping Ban The Sleeping Ban makes it illegal to sit, lie or sleep on ANY public property at night between the hours of 11:00pm to 8:00am. This applies to people in vehicles as well. You cannot even sleep on private property with permission in view , or out of view for more then three days. These are vets, kids, families, and human beings. We ask for the right not to sleep anywhere and everywhere, but somewhere. Safe Sleeping Zones for people sleeping in their cars with a code of conduct is cheaper to police and provides a safer environment. The Same can be used for people with no where to sleep. Again with strict rules about trash etc. Santa Cruz has been out of its affordable housing element for decades. People in wheel chairs cannot get into the armory, if there was a bed even available for them, We have 2000 homeless and only 160 beds on any given night. So the homeless are to stay awake all night and sleep in the day. We are loosing our humanity. 25% are vets.
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