No American would dare to suggest that, in the name of society, everything was permitted.

Alexis de Toqueville Co-opting Todd Beamer from the doomed United Airlines Flight 93, President Bush after September 11 announced what he called a new national ethics: “Let’s Roll!” And true to his words, Roll the U.S. did: we have detained suspects, identified targets, and waged war on the Taliban; now, with our army still engaged in Afghanistan, we are preparing for war in Iraq, while a future threat arises in North Korea.

We are rolling so hard, I’m getting dizzy.

(more…)

The vigil began Monday January 13th, 2003 ar 8 a.m. It started with four people, and swelled to as many as 50 at one time. The overwhelming response was positive, with only a few passersby disagreeing with us, one saying “Get a job!” Apparently, he hasn’t seen the statistics for unemployment recently.

Two people told us they voted for Prop N. Many, many more had opposed it.

The Sheriff’s Deputies insisted we get a permit. I refuse to get permits on principle since we have the right to peaceably assemble. But most of the others at the vigil wanted to get one, so I stood aside on the issue saying we didn’t need one.

(more…)

This past year the American public solidified its collective denial while the American juggernaut lurched ever closer to war with a frequently re-defined Axis of Evil, meaning very few local stories that didn’t involve crimes, scandals, or violence managed to penetrate the national news sources’ seasonal “white out” of feel-good holiday articles contrived to spotlight some high-profile charitable institution.

(more…)

There is no food available for the children and it’s hard, the economy and all… with no work available,” stated Daniel King, 29, standing with his two year-old daughter Carolyn and partner Evette Blankenship in front of The Sunnydale housing projects with several other homeless families. There, they joined a coalition of community based organizations to confront the Housing Authority and HUD on their atrocities against low income families with dependent children who are being kept homeless because of HUD/SF Housing Authority holding vacant units hostage from the people who need it most.

Mr. King and his family were removed from the Hamilton Shelter on Friday due to a severe bug infestation problem. He and his family were sent to another facility on a lottery basis. This has been his nightmare since Friday.

(more…)

Después de 13 Años de una tenaz lucha los Jornaleros de San Francisco lograron, en encendida Audiencia pública ante la comisión de planificación del City Hall, la autorización par que funcione el Day Labor Program en el local situado en la calle Cesar Chavez del Barrio de la Misión.

Para poder lograr esta autorización fue necesario un largo proceso que comprendió gestiones, marchas, conferencias de prensa y protestas, sucesivas postergaciones de audiencias publicas convocadas para este fin , y hasta una audiencia pública inconclusa para exigir caprichos estudios técnicos de diversa naturaleza así como varias convocatorias para elegir una nueva institución que administrara los fondos que otorgaba la Ciudad para su financiamiento. Es decir, toda una larga secuencia de acontecimientos que nunca antes se había visto para una simple autorización que finalmente fue conseguida.

(more…)

I recently took a trip in my motor home to San Jose, and about half an hour after I returned, I saw a DPT worker “red-tagging” my vehicle. When I asked him why he was doing that, he replied, “This vehicle has been here for more than 72 hours.”

A few months ago I parked my motor home on Folsom Street in a one hour parking zone. About five minutes later a meter-reader came up to me and, smirking, asked “Do you know the penalty for erasing those marks we put on your tires?” I asked him what he was talking about, and he said he knew for a fact that I had been there for four hours.

(more…)

I remember living in an old International Harvester Moving Van. It was a 1948 that had been painted purple and converted into a RV.

It had wooden planks for the floor and the walls were made of plywood. We had a sink, cutting board/counter adjacent to it, there was an old claw-foot bathtub and a wood burning stove. There were little porthole windows that had been salvaged from old washing machines, and a stained glass window. Even the roof above the bed opened up as a bed-sized skylight, a window to the heavens. No one, who lived and traveled in the truck was on any kind of assistance; we worked and bartered for everything we needed. Anyone could live in the truck, there was only one catch: you could not use money. I considered it a great learning experience… to live without using money and survive. Since then I have lived in my van , cars, and trucks through various times that I haven’t had housing. I have lost all of my possessions because of being towed: all of the things I had left that were truly important to me… and things that could not be replaced. Unfortunately, there are folks out there right now, still trying to survive that are being harassed, having their homes ransacked and towed by the police for being homeless and accused of bogus charges that supposedly justify the means of the officers actions.

(more…)

Managers and owners of single room occupancy hotels (SRO) know that their rooms are a step from and a step to homelessness in San Francisco. For years they have gotten away with violating San Francisco codes. That’s why Paul Hogarth, a code enforcement monitor for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (THC), was telling a dozen residents at the Central City SRO Collaborative (CCC), about what avenues they can take.

It’s the SRO residents that must take the first step. “If no one complains that the managers of an SRO have nailed shut a bathroom or shower door because something isn’t working, then nothing will get fixed,” he said.

Hogarth and the SRO tenants were brainstorming about what code violations City departments and the City Attorney’s office need to address. “There are four steps to code enforcement: inspection; re-inspection; director’s hearing; and then the City Attorney takes action.

(more…)

On January 14th, the Santa Cruz City Council passed 7-0 on a 2nd reading an ordinance which greatly limits free expression in Santa Cruz. Although it is technically a softening of an even more oppressive and limiting ordinance passed on July 23rd, 2002—- the truth is, this too is a law too far.

ONE-HOUR MOVE-ALONG LAW PASSES

On a motion from Councilmember Cynthia Matthews, the council also added a “move along” provision which ostensibly forces street musicians, jugglers, and artists as well as political tablers to “move along” if an officer or host approaches them and tells them they have been there for over an hour. The penalty for not obeying: a $162 citation for the first offense and up to $1000 fine and a year in jail for the second. “What idiot wouldn’t move along when told to do so by an officer?” Councilmember Mike Rotkin asked.

(more…)