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Clean Team Harassing Homeless
by Robert Norse
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/15/18736901.php

Interview with Clean Team founder TJ Magallanes
by Jeremy Leonard
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/05/22/18737249.php

Use Comments to add on-topic links to local and other developments focused on sleeping, shelter …

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Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government
Gavin Newsom

Who has read this? Ideas we could begin to implement locally? I heard him speak (TV), agree with his analysis, …

I have editor WordPress permission on this site (OccupySantaCruz.org) but not administrator authority. There were a number of administrators – I don’t know who is still available and has those privileges. I cannot change themes and plugins. I can approve postings. I can manage the calendar.

I have been making choices that are perhaps management and perhaps policy – I removed from the calendar most of the non-local (Monterey, … ) and recurring events (SubRosa open mic … ) and have been including events about non-recurring food and housing as well as economics and River St. Sometimes I’ve added an event which might be an opportunity for visibility, leafleting (local government, court, … ).

Leslie and others have been uploading minutes of GA’s and work groups and I have been approving those.

One of the features of Facebook that I like is that it expands a web link into a part of the underlying page, an image, a headline. Can I do that here? What’s the underlying coding? Or in emails?

Sylvia

Perusing the very local newspaper produced in Boulder Creek, my ire was aroused by a top of the page headline on the trash produced by “the homeless” in the community.  I am moved to ask, “What kind of community do we have here in the San Lorenzo Valley?  Does it only care about trash, or does it care about people?”

I want to try to tell my homeless neighbors up in the redwood forest here that they are not alone.  Not everyone wants them to disappear without a trace.  In my small circle of acquaintances in town, one had a family living in a motor home in their back yard, and another was helping his son “get back on his feet” after a car accident by having him live on his property in a small outbuilding.  We have folks who need a little help, and we have compassionate community members helping them by offering them a place to sleep at night.  We have church and community programs helping in organized programs as well.

Providers of homeless services have been promoting a new vision of service for the people that need the most help: permanent supportive housing for those chronic homeless, many of whom have untreated mental health issues or substance dependencies or both.  Many people support this model of providing help, but it is more expensive than another model that homeless advocates are now discussing.  If there were enough community support, either through charities, government, or private entrepreneurship, this community could house people in a campground where trash could be collected, sanitary facilities provided, and a sense of interdependency could be created, with peers helping peers.  Other communities have found that this helps people “get back on their feet.”

Currently, we have many paths leading nowhere.  People sleep in their cars.  People sleep in the woods.  Those who have drawn attention to the problem in creative non-violent political protest have been sent to jail or fined.  A fraction of the homeless population are sheltered at night in the city of Santa Cruz, another fraction in spare bedrooms and backyards all over the county.  The community can do better by coming together, finding those that agree with our project, creating new partnerships amongst those that are already caring for people in need, listening to our critical rivals, and finally by taking action.

Occupy Santa Cruz will be discussing a “Sanctuary Camp” this Saturday in front of the downtown Santa Cruz Post Office.  You may meet at 4 PM for a vegan meal shared by Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs, and stay for the General Assembly at 5:30 PM.  Decisions are made through a consensus process open to all.  I look forward to seeing you there.

After attending Saturday’s big show, “Smart Solutions to Homelessness: A Countywide Community Engagement Summit,” I gathered a smattering of feedback from “Occupy Folks” on how they felt about the event.  Consensus seems to be, “It was not very useful.”  We (tongue-in-cheek, but seriously) KNOW TOO MUCH.

I understand the need for governmental and non-profit entities to communicate with the public regarding their needs.  WE KNOW that volunteers are needed for the befriending, mentoring, and support of people in distress.  WE KNOW that material resources are needed to feed, shelter, and house people who are hungry and have nowhere safe to stay.  WE KNOW that there is no “one size fits all solution to homelessness.”  It is unfortunate that those who design the agendas of large meetings like this one are unable to withstand conflicting viewpoints about public policy priorities.

Here are a few “Smart Solutions” — my public policy priorities:

1. Decriminalization of “survival behaviors” such as sleeping at night, camping in your car, or using a blanket to keep warm
2. Legalization of drugs, and, hand-in-hand, helping people to learn ways of coping with the emotional pain that can result in addictive behaviors
3. Creating safe places to camp
4. Subsidizing low-cost permanent housing
5. Providing resources to mutual aid and self-help networks for material and emotional support of all people
6. Supporting families so there will be fewer children put into foster care
7. Transforming the economy so that there will be safe, environmentally sustainable, and meaningful work for everyone at a living wage

The Occupy Santa Cruz banner in San Francisco on September 17, 2012, the one year anniversary of the Occupy Movement.

Look for the Occupy Santa Cruz banner in this video.

Occupy Santa Cruz members gathered on Oct. 4 and 5 to reminisce on the movement’s progress over the past year.