LOCAL ACTIVISTS HALT HOMELESS EVICTION
'Stop the Sweeps' movement faces off with law enforcement
SANTA CRUZ >> In marked contrast to a similar effort a week earlier, Santa Cruz police officers arriving early Monday at San Lorenzo Park were turned away from plans to further shrink a homeless encampment there.
The more than 75 activists and homeless individuals gathered along the park’s Dakota Avenue entrance facing off against some two dozen Santa Cruz Police Department personnel were, at least in the short-term, successful in their mission to “Stop the Sweeps,” as organizers’ social media announcements urged.
Santa Cruz city spokeswoman Elizabeth Smith said authorities could not pinpoint a time when they would return to clear the camp next, but those staying there had already been given sufficient notice of the city’s intentions.
“They’re trying to balance people’s right to express their First Amendment rights with a calm scene and ensuring that it is safe for everybody involved,” Smith said.
City officials had announced Dec. 17 that a homeless encampment that has ebbed and flowed in size at the park during much of the coronavirus pandemic would be cleared out in three phases, through Jan. 6. Monday’s sweep, on the heels of a night of rain, was scheduled to target the space around the park’s duck pond as the second stage, with about 100 tents remaining. The order, issued by City Manager Martín Bernal under special pandemic state- ofemergency powers, has yet to be codified by a vote of the Santa Cruz City Council.
Eye of the storm
Amidst shouts from activists who were recording and closely following officers around the park, Tanya Dorton was packing up her belongings. When approached by officers, she said she was awaiting mov ing assistance. Later, she explained that Brent Adams of Footbridge Services was helping her move to what he is calling an “agreement camp” — a new grassroots-organized space near Harvey West Park where participants are asked to sign “community agreements” of shared values before joining. Adams worked to establish similar good-neighbor ground rules for those sleeping outside near his Footbridge Services office and the river levee .
he 42-year- old Dorton said she had been living in San Lorenzo Park for a couple of months and was thankful to have a small stove to help keep her warm at night, as it had started to get “fricken cold” recently. She said she was leaving Monday not because she thought it was right, but because she was not a trouble
maker.
“They’re taking people to another park, out of the city area, out by Costco. Just somewhere where people don’t have to look at us. But then we’re farther away from food and the city. Then it’s ‘ like camping,’” Dorton said. “I don’t particularly care to be in the public eye, I’d rather be home, but I don’t have that. If I have to live outside, I’d rather not have neighbors. We can’t fight, we can’t have sex, we can’t do anything without having somebody standing right here at the garbage can.”
‘E6dless cycle’
The San Lorenzo Park closure is the latest in a series of homeless encampment sweeps throughout the city of Santa Cruz in recent weeks. Larger camps at Sycamore Grove, in the Pogonip, along the railroad tracks, near the Tannery Arts Center and at the end of Felker Street are among those recently cleared. A swelling camp at the corner of the busy River Street and Highway 1 intersection, beneath the Housing Matters sign touting number of people housed through its programming, sits on stateowned Caltrans property and has been allowed to remain to date.
Councilwoman Sandy Brown posted to Facebook in what she said was an unusual use of the social media, to share concerns about the park sweeps.
“I’m disappointed and alarmed about the actions being taken at San Lorenzo Park today,” Brown wrote shortly before 8:30 a.m. “Until we identify safe spaces for people who are living outside and provide basic waste management, hygiene and support services to existing encampments, we will just repeat this endless cycle of displacement that is costly to local government, cruel to our fellow citizens, frustrating to neighbors, and dismaying to public health professionals.”
In late March, city officials first recommended Santa Cruz Food Not Bombs leader Keith McHenry relocate his daily free meal distribution to the park. Previously, people without shelter have moved their tents into the areas of the free meals for easier access. In July, Santa Cruz County officials set up a managed fenced-in camp with 24-hour staffing and hosting about 60 people on 12- foot- by-12- foot sites, leaving numerous existing park dwellers on the outs from the new services. The county-run program, near the river overflow area known as the San Lorenzo Park Benchlands, was relocated outside the National Guard Armory in November as a precautionary measure for pending winter rains.
O6 the .rou6d
Monday, activists joined in chants such as “CDC states ‘do not displace.’” At one point shortly after 8 a.m., protesters were met with a shout of “Shut up for Christ’s sake,” from a person standing on a Dakota Avenue apartment building balcony across the street. Neighbor nuisanceissue complaints to the city about the encampment are included among reasons the city is working to empty the park. Other reasons cited by city officials included the large camp size increase; police calls for theft, vandalism and trespassing; health and safety issues; drug use, human waste and needle litter; and city staffing shortages.
Harm Reduction Coalition organizer Denise Elerick, on-site Monday, took issue with the city’s concerns about discarded syringe litter. She said her organization’s members regularly collect full sharps safe- disposal containers and rarely sees them littered about in common areas. Given more time and coordination with city officials, Elerick said her group would have undertaken proactive cleanup at the site. Smith said she was told that Parks and Recreation Department workers reported picking up about 10 to 30 discarded syringes on a daily basis at the camp.
Activists Monday tried several tactics, some shouting at or alternately pleading with officers and city Park s and Recreation workers pulling down cityerected chain-link fencing around the parks’ perimeter. Several, staring down silent officers, told their personal stories of homelessness and struggle through megaphones. At one point, demonstrators penned in several officers on a short footbridge within the park, shoving in from both sides and refusing to let the officers pass for several minutes.