Today (Tuesday, July 23rd) is the day the Santa Cruz City Council plans to pass the most draconian set of ordinances against homeless and poor people they have ever considered since 1978 when they passed the Sleeping Ban.

I was chatting with a young man on Pacific Ave. yesterday. I told him the ordinances would force all street musicians, street performers, political tables, beggers, and those who want to sit down on the sidewalk into tiny, free speech “ghettos.”

All such activities would banned fourteen feet from a building, fourteen feet from a crosswalk, fourteen feet from a bench, fourteen feet from a telephone, fourteen feet from a monument, fourteen feet from the wrought iron fence railing of an outdoor eatery, and FIFTY feet from an ATM. Leaning against a building would now become a crime.

He asked me who on the council was supporting these ordinances. When I told him Vicemayor Emily Reilly and Councilmember Ed Porter, he looked incredulous. “Ed Porter was my teacher,” he told me. “He seemed like a nice guy.” I guess he never really knew him. As I blew bubbles, not joyfully but mournfully, I announced to a well dressed man that bubble-blowing would become illegal the next day. He scoffed at me and told me I was “crazy.” I wish it was me who was crazy.

One woman stopped by to tell me she had had it with the scene downtown. “I saw a young person snorting cocaine right on a bench on Pacific Ave. the other day!” These new ordinances will not affect this activity in any way.

Cocaine is already illegal. I wonder if she was offended by people snorting cocaine in the privacy of their homes? Homeless people have no homes by definition.

On Sunday, I took my tape measure and identified where the “Free Speech Ghettos” will go. As I chalked the areas to demonstrate to the public just how little space will be left for creative expression such as music, or public education on issues such as political tabling, SCPD Officer Phelps and CSO Gray (chief instigators in the Bread Crumb Terrorist case where a homeless man was beaten by police after feeding the birds) came over and wrote me a $162 citation for ‘chalk-writing on the sidewalk’ although Officer Phelps could not tell me for sure that chalking a sidewalk is illegal. “You’ve been ticketed before so you know its illegal,” he told me.

Guilty until proven innocent in Santa Cruz.

On Monday I came out with my tape measure and a roll of masking tape. I was not ticketed, but there is no distinction in MC 9.20.010 ‘Defacing a Sidewalk’ ordinance between chalk and masking tape. It really is just up to the police to interpret the ordinance differently on a dayby- day basis and on a case-by-case basis.

A demonstration to oppose passage of the ordinances is planned today for 3PM at City Hall, 809 Center St. behind the Main Library. The ordinances will be discussed (and yes passed) on a second reading tonight as the first item on the 7 PM agenda. While Mayor Christopher Krohn voted against the ordinances a week ago by saying the process “had been rushed” who can believe him? He is the mayor and he is the one who scheduled the special meeting just so the process could be rushed and so this will be a done deal before most folks come back from vacation and the students return in the fall.

Please call the City Council at (831) 420-5017 and leave a message about what you think of these ordinances.

The fight for justice for poor and homeless people, street musicians and entertainers will be a long and hard one. The downtown merchants, the police, and the City Council are pushing ahead with this most egregious agenda. But our fight against this injustice is the good fight. We have an uphill battle. But never despair, for we are right and they are wrong. We support the right of the people to peacably assemble. We support freedom of speech. We support a community that is for all the people, rich and poor, not just for the rich.

For more info, contact HUFF Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom (831) 423- HUFF to contact Becky Johnson by e-mail becky_johnson@sbcglobal.net

Becky

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 1st, 2002 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.