For those interested in speaking out about or listening to discussion of the issue, tune in to Free Radio Santa Cruz at 101.1 FM or www.freakradio.org today at 6 PM where I'll be discussing the issue and inviting phone calls (427-3772).

I spoke twice with Bob Fitch yesterday, inviting him to come on the air and discuss the situation. In the first call, he said he would consider it, but only if the leaseholder, Joe King, would also come on.

Fitch insisted there was a confidentiality concern before he could discuss the issue, though apparently he spoke with Dan White the same afternoon (see article above).

When he called me back around 5, Fitch said he wouldn't appear on the show today with me because I had been "abusive" or "overly aggressive' with his staff.

While I can be strident before City Council or in publicly challenging police misconduct, I was intentinally quite low-key at the RCNV yesterday. Thomas Leavitt was present and confirmed in the e-mail (mentioned above that he sent to Fitch) that my behavior was quite appropriate. (I asked if they knew anything, asked for Fitch's phone number, and asked if I could use their phone. The two there were quite helpful and courteous)

Fitch claim that I was "abusive" sounded like a thin excuse for not going on the air and I told him that. He declined to give any other reasons, though he said he had them.

I shall be calling him one final time to extend an invitation for him to come on and clear the air.


I've summed up some of my concerns below, and have more which I will air on the show tonight.


1. The community has an interest in how a group like the Info Shop is treated since it provides public resources such as a library, a meeting space for groups like Copwatch, and computer access to poor people who otherwise find this difficult.

2. Potential tenants and supporters of the RCNV need to know if the RCNV is treating tenants unfairly or prejudicially. If the RCNV represents itself as a progressive organization (vis a vis its tenants), but declines to contact tenants about concerns until it announces an eviction decision--reached at a closed-door meeting, shouldn't future groups be warned about this?

3. I am concerned about whether this is yet another instance of liberal hypocrisy where power ignores justice and whitewashes the situation with excuses about "avoiding damaging fratricidal fights within the left".

The RCNV commendably supports the human rights of Palestinians and Guatemalans abroad, and draft resisters, but then turns around and disregards basic fairness for its own tenants in Santa Cruz? I've been concerned about the RCNV's failure to address local issues of peace and justice (specifically around civil rights for the homeless and local police abuses). Yet at the same time I like to acknowledge their support of some international and national peace and justice causes.

4. Fitch did not deny he'd told the tenants through Joe King that if they engaged in CD to block the de-facto eviction, he would charge them legal fees via the signed lease. Such a position for the RCNV is ironic, at the very least.