"Truthlover" doesn't bother to detail exactly what "lies" he accuses me of. Personal attacks that have nothing to do with the issue, of course, don't get as any closer to any kind of unity. The Sleeping Ban issue was resolved years ago in the minds of Progressive people (ranging from Page Smith and Paul Lee to SCAN to CAB to the Green Party, etc. etc.)

No new arguments are being advanced in this latest wave of criminalizing homeless people--simply attacks against me personally, which ignore the issue.

I don't think Truthlover is really aware of the history of this issue: how it has been fought out in other cities, how it has been thorougly researched by the City Council's own Homeless Issues Task Force. What's standing in the way is naked political power, some loud bigotry, and nervous political expediency. And, of course, lack of organization, time, skill, money and resources on our side.

I really don't think this is an issue on which there is another side that is reasonable: everyone must sleep at night, rich or poor. Santa Cruz has legal space for less than 50 people and has a houseless population of 1000-2000.
I know you enjoy walking by the "Merry Monday" Downtown For All forums at the Cinema 9, shouting "Go Home". Whatever you may think of me, the issue is much broader and deeper and has been continually ignored by the Progressives (and sidelined by well-intentioned philanthropists like Paul Lee and Page Smith).

The Green Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, Community Action Board, Santa Cruz Action Network, Cal-Pirg, Womens International League for Peace and Freedom, Paul Lee, Page Smith--all have come out against the Sleeping Ban. "Truthlover" needs to address these issues before he has any credibility. We need to find ways to generate community power to restore basic human rights in our town.

The Downtown Ordinances have nothing to do with solving problems and everything to do with sanctifying police force to socially cleanse the streets.

Tuesday's City Council meeting will propose a postponement of the "non-commercial display/activity" ordinance until January and a second small change that will allow havingf an open guitar case, an unlabeled spare change cup, and/or an unlabeled donation can on a political table. But even these "patch-up"s will not even postpone police harassment of musicians and political tablers.

Why? The older Downtown Ordinances now on the books criminalize performers and politicos 6' from a building entrance, fence, kiosk, mid-block crosswalk, or vending cart, 4' of a drinking fountain or telephone, 10' of a street corner, or a sidewalk cafe. Previously they weren't enforced in favor of the far-superior voluntary Street Performers Guidelines, but cops unilaterally threw out those guidelines earlier this year in their spring crackdown.

Porter and Reilly really don't know what they're doing. But the street pressure is clarifying the issues and making it clear that the cost of repression will not be inconsiderable.

Now we need to make sure that musicians and activists aren't split off from the broader homeless and street community that has been targeted with the 14' forbidden zones, had their "unattended backpacks" criminalized, been banned from playing hackeysack or any kind of "ball" sports, and told that silently holding up a sign seeking money after dark is a criminal offense all over the City.

SCAN and the other organizations' endorsement tonight of Fitzmaurice is not a good sign, but not really a surprise either. Protest and alternative power gathering must go on until we put together the coalitions we need to move forward into a freer future.