Street Sheet seeks & reports Homeless Civil Rights UPDATES fwd

Tom Boland (wgcp@earthlink.net)
Mon, 26 Oct 1998 06:30:53 -0400 

FWD 23 Oct 1998

California Homeless Civil Rights Home Page is
http://www.cruzio.com/~chhc/hcr.html
Use free computer services, if available at your local library and let the
rest of us know what's happening in your town or neighborhood.  E-mail
Bathrobespierre Robert at wmnofstl@cruzio.com to fatten up next month's
update in Street Sheet.

CALIFORNIA CIVIL RIGHTS ROUNDUP FOR NOVEMBER STREET SHEET

Santa Cruz
        A year ago SCPD Officer Connor Carey shot "Happy" John Dine dead
after he said "fuck you" and allegedly "reached"  for a toy gun in a stop
prompted by Carey's friend, a nightclub bouncer.  In spite of strong
protest, the City and its Citizens Police Review Board held no independent
investigation and rubberstamped Carey's killing.  Dine, a homeless activist
and developmentally disabled man,  will be remembered in a vigil and panel
against police violence on the anniversary of Dine's slaying 11/12.  For
info and to report police brutality call Ben at 831-335-8069.
        In both the Sheriff's Department and the Santa Cruz Police
Department, the heads of the Hate Crimes Units are men that homeless
advocates claim are themselves perpetrators of hate crimes against the
homeless.  To assisting removing these foxes from the chicken coop, contact
HUFF (Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom)  831-423-HUFF).

San Jose
        Black homeless activist and street community matriarch "Mama Fay",
the Mother of the St. James Park urban nomads made it back to the park
after being held for six months on an extended and bogus "5150" psych hold,
according to Mob Rule writer "Check It Out" Charles.  Within a month she
was re-arrested for littering at a bus stop, beaten by police while in
custody,  held in lockdown, but is back on the streets again.  Right-wing
Council candidates are talking about putting a police substation in the
park, prompting "eye in the park" videoing by Copwatch volunteers.
        Meanwhile CHAM (Community Homeless Alliance Ministry) has squeezed
a pilot program out of San Jose covering 14 previously homeless families
that pays rent (up to 2/3 of their income)  for two years.  CHAM activist
Nancy Nichols also reports several of their homeless families have indeed
been "dumped" in Modesto [see story below].
        Charles is with San Jose Food Not Bombs at 408-257-9424; call CHAM
at 408-345-2353.  SJFNB feeds Saturday at 1 p.m. in St. James Park; CHAM
feeds at noon Sunday at 1st Christian Church at 80 S. 5th St.

Modesto
        Local Paradise  housing project slumlord and San Jose povertycrats
have been colluding to lure San Jose homeless families to substandard
rat-ridden housing in Modesto in a growing scandal.
Urine-soaked carpets and plentiful cockroaches, broken promises to fund
rent deposits, and shootings and burglaries have all combined to produce
"unbearable living conditions" according to some clients quoted in the
Modesto Bee  [10/19]   Homeless dumping is not only vicious social policy,
it's illegal and was under investigation by a number of organizations at
press time.
        In a crazy campaign supposedly modeled after one in San Mateo, City
Council also spent $15,000 on a media blitz to publicize the perils of
"shopping cart theft" to be followed by a January round-up of all
suspicious strays to eliminate eyesores in  the city of  200,000.   By a
strange coincidence,the night before Pittsburg's City Council in nearby
Contra Costa County was also ragging on homeless recyclers for using chain
store shopping carts.  In Modesto without cart or cover?   Call Barbara at
the Union Gospel Mission (209-531-2825) for info or help.

Eugene, OR
        Merchant pressure ended legalized sleeping in vehicles on August
10th, sun setting a landmark  liberal law which decriminalized industrial
zones for homeless sleeping.   The homeless community retained the right to
sleep in vehicles on private property with owner permission, gained 14
city-mandated (and Portapotty equipped) parking/sleeping spaces on public
property, and successfully appealed to merchants and charities to offer
enough spaces to peacefully relocate urban nomads in vans in the industrial
zone.   Eugene has also funded a "facilitator" to act as buffer between
campers and complainants.  The bad news: $500, 10 days in jail,  and an
impounded vehicle are the new harsher penalties for "unlawful sleeping."
Fight back and find out how.  Contact  Homeless Action Coalition activist
Tom Musselwhite, who also edits 'Oikos--the Eugene street paper--at
541-687-2438.

Portland, OR
        In early September the Campaign for Legal Places to Sleep presented
support from seven churches and 8200 resident signatures in support of the
CLPS proposal to suspend or repeal the City's anti-camping law [Ordinance
#14.08.250], which bars sleeping in one's own car, a tent in a friend's
backyard, a public park, or a sidewalk.  CLPS  also proposed on a one year
trial basis--five camps for homeless people, serving different populations,
utilizing vacant lots, and maintained by the campers themselves.
        Mayor Katz rather brusquely rejected the proposal, prompting CLPS
to announce a campaign of civil disobedience to begin in November.  For
more info contact Sharon Pearson, who formerly edited the homeless-run,
written, edited, and distributed Burnside Cadillac, at 503-224-3212.

END FORWARD


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