Street Spirit Volume 16, No
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Street Spirit Volume 16, No. 04 April 2010 $1.00 A publication of the American Friends Service Committee JUSTICE NEWS & HOMELESS BLUES IN THE B AY A REA Reclaiming Public Spaces, Resisting Sit/Lie Laws by Carol Harvey n Saturday, March 27, the flowering pink and cerulean- blue spring weather was absolutely glorious. To mark Othe passage into spring, Andy Blue and Nate Miller organized “Sidewalks Are For People,” a celebration of First Amendment rights of assembly in every San Francisco neighborhood. They urged citizens to help their neigh- bors reclaim public space on sunny San Francisco sidewalks. “In a few weeks, this may be something you’re not going to be able to do legally,” Blue cautioned. The citywide protests were organized in response to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s proposal to ban the acts of sitting or lying on public sidewalks anywhere in the city between the hours of 7:00 a.m, to 11:00 p.m. A friend bounced us in his big blue van from hill to hill. I videoed the bustling activity at four of 46 pre-arranged sites around the city where small groups of activists spoke out for the rights of poor and homeless people to be on city streets without fear of police repression. First site, 18th & Castro. Event orga- This homeless man is committing a crime under Mayor Newsom’s proposed sit/lie ordinance. The sit/lie law Robert L. Terrell nizers promised, “NO SIT/LIE Banner would ban homeless people from sitting or lying anywhere in San Francisco from early morning to late at night. photo Making, diagonal corner from Walgreens! NO SIT/LIE banner to hang outside your They combined forces with the Chamber home window or where ever! Friendly of Commerce, Committee on Jobs, Police queers here will provide paint, brushes, Chief George Gascón, and Mayor Newsom, sheets/banners and light snacks!” who, while walking with his infant daugh- Second site, 16th & Capp outside POOR ter through the Haight, allegedly spotted Magazine’s building, 12-2 p.m. Bring someone smoking crack. crayons, paint, markers to “Art Back the The sit/lie ordinance would enforce Land.” This event welcomed children, “public safety” by outlawing lying and elders, animals, and all beings known to sit sitting on city sidewalks with a series of or lie down at least once in their lives. escalating penalties: first a citation, next a Third site, 21st and Florida, Pirate Cat $400 to $500 fine and community service, Radio, broadcasting 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and finally, 30 days in jail. from the sidewalk in front of the cafe. Homeless advocates point out that Fourth site, wrap-up event at Castro blocking sidewalks, harassing passers-by, and Market. and harming others are acts already cov- ered by existing laws. The sit/lie measure GENESIS OF SIT/LIE PROPOSAL has become an exercise in overkill, yet Mayor Newsom rode into power eight another layer of redundant repression. Jewnbug, Poor Magazine poet, paints a banner in red, blue and yellow Carol Harvey years ago by stirring up a wave of anti- The sit/lie law would give police broad on a day of resistance to Newsom’s plan to criminalize homeless people. photo homeless repression. In March 2002, discretionary powers to use their “common Newsom first learned how to attack the sense” to differentiate between innocent and lie outside — biological necessities has been enacted,” he said, “it has basically poorest of the poor for political gain when people and criminals, and remove them without criminal intent. Sit/Lie laws from legalized discrimination against the most he championed twin anti-homeless mea- from public spaces. In an Orwellian maneu- 7:00 a.m, to 11:00 p.m. would harm already heavily marginalized members of sures — Care Not Cash, which drastically ver that Jennifer Friedenbach, director of homeless women who will be chased off our society,” like gay people, and black cut off General Assistance benefits to the the Coalition on Homelessness, calls “pre- by police simply because they attempt to people trying to integrate. poor and homeless, and a mean-spirited crime,” police could arrest at will those they sleep safely in the daylight. The proposed ordinance could also tar- anti-panhandling initiative. merely suspect of illegal acts. VIOLATION OF FIRST AMENDMENT get other marginalized groups, including disabled or elderly people who might Eight years later, Newsom is once At a hearing on March 10, San The sit/lie ordinance would render all need to sit and rest. again attempting to further his quest for Francisco Youth Commissioner San Franciscans potential criminals for Even though Mayor Newsom says the higher office by backing an aggressive De’Anthony Jones said that enabling police the passive, nonviolent act of sitting or sit/lie ordinance doesn’t target homeless new crackdown on homeless people, the to use their “discretion” in this way among lying on sidewalks. During the protest people, it was proposed directly in sit/lie proposal, which would make it a a community’s low-income and homeless events on March 27, San Franciscans response to complaints about homeless crime for homeless people to sit down or citizens makes him “cringe inside.” expressed through music, art, and speech people, and will be enforced solely rest or relax on a city sidewalk. The proposed sit/lie ordinance would their awareness of their constitutionally against people living on the street. A group of Haight-Ashbury residents, violate the First Amendment rights of free guaranteed right to assemble. It is nothing short of Orwellian double- characterizing themselves as grass-roots expression and assembly, and the 14th Many newspapers that covered the speak to deny that the sit/lie law is aimed activists, began complaining about Haight Amendment right to equal protection. The protest quoted citizens insisting that sit/lie at homeless people when it was carefully Street “thugs.” Abetted by the bitter constitutional rights of homeless people laws would undermine San Francisco’s and deliberately designed to give police attacks on homeless people by San would be disproportionately impacted. values and tradition of compassion. the power to criminalize homeless people. Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Our legal system is structured so one On March 15, “Lonnie” of the Homeless Even without an “oppressive” sit/lie Nevius, they alleged that “gutter punks” cannot accidentally commit a crime. A Youth Alliance, addressed a hearing on the law, Kyle, a homeless street youth, said were terrorizing business owners who disorganized shelter allocation system sit/lie law held by the Youth feared retaliation. forces unhoused San Franciscans to sit Commissioners. “Every time a law like this See Reclaiming the Public Spaces page 8 2 S TREET S PIRIT April 2010 Berkeley Officials Act to Terminate Public Housing once they are privatized. “I, for one, would encourage Based on a BHA timeline schedule to more organization among dispose of Berkeley’s public housing, it’s expected that the BHA will execute a dis- Berkeley’s tenant popula- position and development agreement tion to strongly oppose these (DDA) between BHA and one or more selected affordable housing developers, draconian measures.” sometime in July 2010. — Eleanor Walden, former Commissioner According to the timeline, the DDA is of Berkeley’s Rent Stabilization Board expected to take place directly after all the public housing residents are displaced by Lynda Carson from their longtime public housing. n April 2009, the Berkeley Housing Officials hope that the 90 Day Notices Authority (BHA) hired a consulting expected to be served in April will have firm, EJP/Praxis, to develop a strate- the desired effect and frighten the elderly, gic plan to assess options for what to poor and disabled residents out of their Ido with the BHA’s public housing units. longtime housing, on behalf of those The possibilities under study included the interested in grabbing Berkeley’s public option to dispose of the BHA’s 75 public housing units from the poor. housing units through the Housing and In May 2007, Berkeley Mayor Tom Urban Development (HUD) disposition Bates appointed ICF International (ICFI) process; the option to continue with its Vice President Carole Norris to a four-year public housing program; or to seek other term as the chairperson of the BHA Board options to meet the goals of the BHA. of Commissioners. She remains as BHA These proposals were outlined in a July Art by Christa Occhiogrosso chairperson today, despite the fact that she 3, 2009, report titled, “Berkeley Housing is still a vice president and consultant with Authority LIPH/RHCP Strategic Plan,” ICFI, providing consultations and services prepared by EJP Consulting Group LLC, “The objectives of the BHA are to run poor black people to city governments interested in disposing for the BHA. out of Berkeley under the thinly veiled guise of urban of their public housing programs. Out of these options, the Berkeley ICFI offers consultations on how to Housing Authority chose to strike a death- renewal. This is nothing short of ethnic and economic conduct urban renewal projects in Bay blow against public housing in Berkeley. cleansing.” — Berkeley public housing tenant Keith Carlisle Area low-income communities, displacing The BHA has chosen to dispose of its thousands of the poor from their homes public housing units, and dislocate the units, and the families have been there for The nearly $1,000,000 in inflated fig- and communities in the process. Norris public housing residents, who are over- a very long time, according to BHA staff, ures being used in the public relations cam- directed the BHA through the whole whelmingly poor and African-American.