Becky's response to n5667 jumps to some major conclusions. Let's look at this again:
"Maybe if morons hadn't vandalized border's bathrooms, they'd still be open".

This is a true statement. He didn't say that homeless people did it, he said that morons did it, and I think we can all agree that anyone who gets kicks out of vandalizing and destroying bathrooms is a moron, be they homeless or rich.

"Maybe if so many of the loiterers on pacific weren't such jerks, it wouldn't be such a problem." This is also a true statement. If everyone on Pacific avenue were respectful of others there wouldn't be movement among residents and businesses in Santa Cruz to change anything. Again, notice he didn't say "homeless". He said "loiterers". In my observations, most of the people who hang out at that corner are youth who probably do have a home, but just are congregating as we all did in our youths. BUT, and this is the point, they can be very nasty to passerbyes, abusive, abrasive, disrespectful, etc. THIS is when problems start, and when residents and businesses want to see changes.

In fact, if you look through the entire posting by n5667, nowhere does he blame homeless people for anything. He doesn't assume those people are homeless. It is those that have taken on the role of advocating for them that see this, and read this where it does not exist. So who is the bigot? The person that is upset about jerks, or the person who assumes those jerks are homeless?

I agree with the response to an earlier post that stated that the majority of homeless people in Santa Cruz County are local people, to an extent. However, in my experience the vast majority of homeless people in the county don't congregate on Pacific Avenue and cause problems (there aren't 2000 "undesirables" every day down there). We are all of us talking about a minority of people. However, it is that minority that causes the problem for the rest of the homeless or otherwise "undesirable" population and, for that matter, everyone else.

I think that a lot of us who live in Santa Cruz don't want to see the walled-off community that sometimes we are accused of when we voice our opinions about the behavior of people downtown. Many of us are working and donating money to help build the new family shelter over on River Street, or to fund the interfaith shelter service, or the Salvation Army transitional housing in Watsonville, or Pajaro Valley Shelter Services, or other groups and organizations that help those who are homeless. Simply bringing out the labels of "bigots", "nazis", "fascists", etc isn't fair and does nothing to help the cause.

In relation to the original posting:

Many of the people who find themselves at odds with the police or city residents downtown or at other places have helped bring themselves to a "dehumanizing" level. Again, I'm not talking about all homeless people here, or even homeless people specifically, but it's hard to argue that people who deal drugs, solicit prostitution and get massivley drunk next to a children's playground (San Lorenzo Park) are living up to accepted human behavior. It's hard to argue that people who prepare and take heroin in the public bathroom at the garage next to Borders are living up to accepted human behavior. Those that park their cars or campers in neighborhoods and then get drunk and rowdy at three in the morning every night are not living up to normal human behavior. These are the actions that many of us are talking about as being unacceptable, and they are the types of situations we witness all the time. Drug and alcohol addiction as well as mental illness requires treatment; as you know from working with people with these problems, they don't always want to seek treatment, and continue with their destructive behaviors. When these people then act out under their various influences, it is the police who respond. They are doing their job. Of course there are cases that you can cite, and have cited here and other places, of overzealousness in dealing with individuals. But rather than just blame the city (I wonder if there is every a city council that will not be called "fascist" by Mr. Norse? Ever?) why not put part of the blame on those individuals whose actions have brought about this response?

And in anticipating the response, no, I'm not blaming all homeless people for all arrests or citations they've ever received. But similarly, you need to stop using language in advocating for them as if none of them have ever done a thing wrong in their entire lives, and were sitting there chanting kumbaya while the big bad police came by and hit them with their batons. There's a middle ground for both sides to take, and to understand that there is frustration among city residents with problems downtown and in other places. This doesn't make us bad people, just because we disagree with you.

And to add to the part about Villalobos, I'm not defending this man but it is interesting to note that Mr. Norse left out the reasoning for his decision. His daughter has a chronic illness, spina bifida, that requires full time assistance from the family, both financial and otherwise. I personally feel that he should have had SOME jail time at least, but this is a sin of omission that I believe is a pattern with Mr. Norse's advocacy so I wanted to point it out. I'm sure he doesn't want to see a little girl in chronic pain go without medical care because her father made a tragic mistake.