tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-290794022024-03-14T06:32:36.006-07:00Joe Anybody Homeless Blog******* www.joeanybody.com *******Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-51714059959943917992018-10-29T09:42:00.002-07:002018-10-29T09:44:50.584-07:00<h2>
<b><span style="color: #990000;">House Keys Not Handcuffs</span></b> </h2>
A (sticker) and a good idea<br />
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- Portland 2018<br />
- WRAP<br />
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<br />Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-71998008589542337912015-10-18T18:22:00.001-07:002015-10-18T20:30:00.341-07:00Homeless Crime Victim Harassed by the Portland Cops 9.28.15<h2>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;">On 9/28/15 in Portland Oregon I filmed this interview in North Portland.</span></h2>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">I was with Film The Police Bob (FTP) around Overlook park around 9am when we seen a cop car pull into the park, we walked over to see what they were up to. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">The homeless lady we approach in the park said that the cops left when they seen us two walking up, she also told us about a lot of crappy things that were going on and how mistreated she felt over a variety of failing systems and services. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">The police hassling folks like her is not warranted nor needed.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>WATCH --> </b></span> <a href="https://youtu.be/XeBAVGD0Gcc" spfieldtype="null" target="_blank">VIDEO LINK: Homeless Crime Victim Harassed by the Portland Cops 9.28.15 </a> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black; color: #f3f3f3; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"><span style="font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif;">[15 minute video]</span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://youtu.be/XeBAVGD0Gcc" spfieldtype="null" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/XeBAVGD0Gcc</a></div>
Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-90514540710857080032015-10-18T17:39:00.002-07:002015-10-18T17:41:16.166-07:00No Home in Portland - Its a Housing Crisis in 2015 <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Around the city of Portland, scenes like in this picture are sadly becoming common place.<br />
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Lack of housing and services has slid into a crisis in the inner city and all through the outer city as well.<br />
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Bodies on sidewalks and curbs, many in need of health care and a safe, clean living environment.<br />
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Women and men and even children are all victims of this social class warfare.<br />
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This picture was taken around NE 102 and Halsey in October 2015.<br />
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<br />Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-41831983089029954222014-02-23T17:57:00.003-08:002014-02-23T17:57:33.407-08:00Sleep is a Human Right - Metal at City Hall Homeless Vigil 1.5.12. <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/yr3YXBjGNng" width="480"></iframe><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr3YXBjGNng">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr3YXBjGNng</a><br />
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In 2012 I interviewed "Metal" who was at the Homeless Prayer Vigil at City Hall in Portland Oregon. <br />
Occupy Portland had ended just weeks prior to this interview<br />
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Sleep is a Human Right - Metal at City Hall Homeless Vigil 1.5.12. <br />
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I stop by the vigil for house less folks that is going on 24-7 in front of Portland City Hall.<br />This was around noon on Thursday 1.5.11.<br />Metal tells me what is happening with regards to this vigil outside of city halls front doors.<br />He tells me about his involvement the vigil, which began after Occupy Portland protesters was evicted from the parks across the street.Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-212789487737688132014-02-23T15:25:00.000-08:002014-02-23T15:25:01.261-08:00Stop The Sweeps in Portland Oregon - Police Sweep Houseless - Community is Irate <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/lonevet2008/?ref=ts&fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/groups/lonevet2008/?ref=ts&fref=ts</a> <br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;">"Stop The Sweeps"</span></strong><br />
Portland Community Fed Up With Police Sweeps Of Houseless Folks Camps <br />
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City Hall Protest 2014 Portland Oregon<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXuIGpx7KgY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXuIGpx7KgY</a><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/eXuIGpx7KgY" width="640"></iframe>
Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-2519251618865494812014-02-23T15:24:00.000-08:002014-02-23T15:24:51.653-08:00Interviews with Occupy Portland And Food Not Bombs Prayer Vigil To Lift The Camping Ban Summer 2013 - Portland Oregon <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/HWgS1ZHo8pY" width="640"></iframe>
<b></b><br />
<b></b><br />
<b>Interviews with Occupy Portland </b><br />
<b>and Food Not Bombs Prayer Vigil </b><br />
<b>To Lift The Camping Ban Summer 2013</b><br />
<b></b><br />
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</b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWgS1ZHo8pY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWgS1ZHo8pY</a>
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Video is by: <span class="qualified-channel-title-text" dir="ltr"><a class="spf-link branded-page-header-title-link yt-uix-sessionlink" data-sessionlink="ei=94AKU-yTFM65-gOAyYDgDg" dir="ltr" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/jordanelliottmcclure" title="Jordan Elliott McClure">Jordan Elliott McClure</a></span>
Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-608001946626095892013-11-24T16:24:00.001-08:002013-11-24T16:26:43.193-08:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h3>
Homeless {House Less} ness is unacceptable</h3>
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Lets work to change the disgrace </h3>
<em>~joe anybody 2013</em>Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-16592387933868161732013-01-22T20:18:00.004-08:002013-01-22T20:18:55.184-08:00<h2>
<b>outfitting protesters - Portland Oregon November 2012</b></h2>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wmRMYm3m_5k" width="560"></iframe>
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<a href="http://youtu.be/wmRMYm3m_5k">http://youtu.be/wmRMYm3m_5k</a>
Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-65996416762634296252012-12-19T13:21:00.000-08:002012-12-19T13:26:05.433-08:00R2DToo serves lawsuit complaint to City Hall [videos]<h4>
12.10.12
R2DToo ... serves lawsuit complaint to Portland Oregon City Hall.</h4>
<h4>
[ http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2012/12/420871.shtml ]
Article with addition video footage.</h4>
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<strong>Out-take video</strong>:
<a href="http://youtu.be/Suu4caTMK5U"><span style="color: orange;">http://youtu.be/Suu4caTMK5U</span></a> [7 min]
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<strong>Full Video:</strong> <a href="http://youtu.be/Q9PbU90Sam0"><span style="color: orange;">http://youtu.be/Q9PbU90Sam0</span></a> [58 min]
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Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-18488423689563075172012-04-09T09:04:00.003-07:002012-04-09T10:33:19.930-07:00We Wont Get Fooled Again Right 2 Dream 2 - ProtestApril Fools Day in Portland Oregon<br />Shame on Portland for the treatment of the housless and those who are peacefully staying on an empty dirt lot on Burnside Ave.<br /><br />A four part video set : <br />"We Wont Get Fooled Again - R2D2 protest and rally at Pioneer Square 4-1-12"<br />http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2012/04/414888.shtml<br /><br />author: <br />Joe Anybody <br />e-mail: <br />iam@joeanybody.com<br /><br />The demands for justice and human rights was on display at Pioneer Square on April Fools Day. The foolish law to fine a peaceful camp of houseless citizens who are staying in an empty lot on Burnside is exposed and challenged in the public square. The fines of over 2,000$ levied against this homeless group [and the land owner] shows the callous insensitive criminal intentions of our http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifchttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifity leaders to those who are living without a home in our city.<br />http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif<br />======<br />======<br />We Wont Get Fooled Again 4 part video set<br />Right 2 Dream 2 -Protest / Rally<br /> <br />Part 1. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXWCmzxPDTI">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXWCmzxPDTI</a><br />Part 2. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5qS7Xipfck">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5qS7Xipfck</a><br />Part 3. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbmW8OtLPUA">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbmW8OtLPUA</a><br />Part 4. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHMYcfg_Q4o">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHMYcfg_Q4o</a><br /><br />======<br />======<br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nXWCmzxPDTI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-86349751109150481682012-04-06T08:30:00.001-07:002012-04-06T08:32:52.494-07:0010 Unbelievably Shitty Things America Does to Homeless People<span style="font-weight:bold;">The following post was copied from AlterNet</span><br /><br /><blockquote>http://www.alternet.org/rights/154830/10_unbelievably_sh**ty_things_america_does_to_homeless_people/</blockquote><br /><br />10 Unbelievably Sh**ty Things America Does to Homeless People<br />By Tana Ganeva, AlterNet<br />Posted on April 5, 2012, Printed on April 6, 2012<br /><br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/154830/10_unbelievably_sh**ty_things_america_does_to_homeless_people/">http://www.alternet.org/story/154830/10_unbelievably_sh%2A%2Aty_things_america_does_to_homeless_people</a><br /><br />For decades, cities all over the country have worked to essentially criminalize homelessness, instituting measures that outlaw holding a sign, sleeping, sitting, lying (or weirdly, telling a lie in Orlando) if you live on the street. <br /><br />Where the law does not mandate outright harassment, police come up with clever work-arounds, like destroying or confiscating tents, blankets and other property in raids of camps. A veteran I talked to, his eye bloody from when some teenagers beat him up to steal 60 cents, said police routinely extracted the poles from his tent and kept them so he couldn't rebuild it. (Where are all the pissed-off libertarians and conservatives at such flagrant disrespect for private property?)<br /><br />In the heady '80s, Reagan slashed federal housing subsidies even as a tough economy threw more and more people out on the street. Instead of resolving itself through the magic of the markets, the homelessness problem increasingly fell to local governments. <br /><br />"When the federal government created the homelessness crisis, local governments did not have the means of addressing the issue. So they use the police to manage homeless people's presence," Jennifer Fredienrich told AlterNet last year. At about the same time, the arrest-happy "broken windows theory," which encourages law enforcement to bust people for "quality of life" crimes, offered ideological support for finding novel ways to legally harass people on the street. <br /><br />Many of the policies end up being wildly counterproductive: a criminal record bars people from the very programs designed to get them off the street, while defending unconstitutional measures in court ends up costing cities money that could be used to fund homeless services. <br /><br />Here is an incomplete list of laws, ordinances and law enforcement and government tactics that violate homeless people's civil liberties.<br /><br />1. Outlawing sitting down. People are allowed to exist in public, but sometimes the homeless make that civic rule inconvenient, like when their presence perturbs tourists or slows the spread of gentrification. One solution to this problem is the "sit-lie" law, a bizarrely authoritarian measure that bans sitting or resting in a public space. The law is clearly designed to empower police to chase homeless people out of nice neighborhoods, rather than protect cities from the blight of public sidewalk-sitting.<br /><br />Cities around the country have passed ordinances of varying awfulness: some limit resting in certain areas during certain times of the day, while progressive bastion San Francisco voted in November 2010 to outlaw sitting or laying down on any city sidewalk. The measure was bankrolled by some of the richest people in the city, who poured so much money into the campaign that homelessness advocates were outmatched $280,000 to $7,802, reported SF Gate. (After the measure passed, Chris Roberts of the SF Appeal found that support for the law was strongest in the richer parts of the city with the fewest homeless.)<br /><br />Supporters of sit-lie claim the law helps police deal with disruptive behavior like harassment and public drunkenness, and that getting people off the street will get them into shelters. Homelessness advocates counter that the disruptive behaviors associated with some homeless people are already against the law. <br /><br />2. Denying people access to shelters. In November the Bloomberg administration tried to institute new rules that would force shelters to deny applicants who failed to prove they had no other housing options, like staying with relatives or friends (NYC's overcrowded shelters being so appealing that people with access to housing are desperate to sneak in).<br /><br />A State Supreme Court judge struck down the new measure in February, admonishing the mayor's office for rushing through the plan without adequate public vetting. (Critics also argued the new rules would conflict with a New York consent decree that guarantees shelter to all homeless adults who ask for it.) Not easily discouraged from making the lives of poor people harder, Bloomberg fumed, "We’re going to do everything we can to have the ability to do it ... Or let the judges explain to the public why they think that you should just have a right to walk in and say, 'Whether I need services or not, you give it to me.' I don’t think that’s what this country’s all about."<br /><br />Homeless families are not covered under the 1981 decree that guarantees shelter space to homeless single adults, so they've had to prove need to get a space at a shelter for years. The results have not been great. A report prepared by the New York city council cited a study showing that many homeless families who are turned away often end up reapplying, suggesting that their needs were not accurately assessed -- and that they likely ended up sleeping on the street or in subways. NBC New York recently profiled a mother and two kids (6 and 10), who were sleeping in Penn Station after being turned away from the shelter three times. <br /><br />In 2010 Bloomberg also tried to institute a policy charging homeless families rent if at least one member worked, at a rate that would have forced a family making $25,000 to pay $946 a month. (After major protest by homelessness advocates the policy changed so instead of flowing to the city the money would be funneled into savings accounts used to help families find housing.) <br /><br />Patrick Markee, senior analyst for Coalition for the Homeless, tells AlterNet that the bigger problem is the Bloomberg administration's ideologically driven policy to limit access to federal housing programs. In 2005 Bloomberg replaced federal housing subsidies with temporary assistance programs like Advantage, which subsidized housing temporarily and only if at least one member of a family is employed. Rocky from the start, Advantage was killed in 2011 when the state withdrew funds. <br /><br />A 2011 study by the Coalition for the Homeless found that the rate of homeless families in New York had exploded to a record 113, 533 people -- 42,888 of them children -- sleeping in shelters.<br /><br />3. Making it illegal to give people food. Two weeks ago, Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter announced a citywide ban on giving food to the hungry in public parks. Amidst outcry by homelessness advocates and religious and charity groups, Nutter insisted the policy is meant to draw unhoused people to indoor facilities where they might benefit from medical care and mental health services. Critics pointed out that the policy -- rushed to go into effect in 29 days -- may have more to do with planned renovation of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway and the construction of a new museum, as Isaiah Thompson reported in the Philadelphia City Paper.<br /><br />Public feeding bans are not new, and they continue to crop up despite being routinely overturned by the courts. The city of Orlando, for one, has committed itself to wiping out the scourge of public food donation, embroiling itself in a five-year battle with Food Not Bombs that has cost the city more than $150,000.<br /><br />A 2006 statute forced charity groups in Orlando to obtain special permits, only two of which were issued per year, and punished feeding more than 25 people with 60 days in jail or a $500 fine. A federal judge overturned the law in 2010, citing a litany of constitutional rights breached by the measure: freedom of speech, freedom of religion (one of the plaintiffs was a religious organization), freedom of assembly, and freedom of association. "Rather than address the problem of homelessness in these downtown neighborhoods directly, the City has instead decided to limit the expressive activity which attracts the homeless to these neighborhoods," the judge said in his ruling.<br /><br />Orlando officials took up the case again, pushing it further and further up the courts, until a panel of judges finally voted in favor of the city in 2010. The law got worldwide attention when Food Not Bombs activists continued to feed the hungry. Twelve people were arrested and Orlando's mayor unhelpfully deemed the group "food terrorists," reported the Florida Independent. "Why is it that in certain US cities feeding pigeons is OK, but giving a homeless child a handout is a $2,000 fine," the National Coalition for the Homeless asked in a 2010 report on food bans (Dallas can fine churches $2,000 for distributing food in certain areas). <br /><br /> <br /><br />4. Installing obstacles to prevent sleeping or sitting. Many cities have invested in their homeless torture infrastructure, spending thousands to install obstacles preventing the homeless from sleeping, standing, or sitting in parks, under bridges and next to public transportation.<br /><br />The city of Minneapolis installed "bridge rods" -- pyramid structures meant to keep the homeless from sleeping under bridges. It hasn't worked -- apparently it helps people store their stuff -- but the effort costs the city $10,000 a year. Benches in Honolulu bus stops were swapped out for round, concrete stools, according to a roundup of anti-homeless laws by Coalition for the Homeless. <br /><br />Sarasota, Florida just got rid of all the benches in its city parks. The city also instituted a smoking ban in conjunction with the bench removal, citing it as another way to repel the homeless who gathered in the area. The city later expanded the ban to public spaces throughout the city, but an exception was eventually carved out for a city-owned golf course (for totally mysterious reasons). <br /><br />Manteca, California changed the sprinkler schedule from day to night in order to water any homeless who tried to sleep in a local park. <br /><br /> <br /><br />5. Anti-panhandling laws. Standing on the street and saying something like, "Occupy Wall Street!" or "Do you have a dollar?" -- clearly falls under constitutionally protected free speech. Still, cities all over the country enforce strict anti-panhandling laws that make it illegal to ask for money, food or anything else of value around tourist attractions, and in some cases city-wide. A 2009 report by the National Coalition for the Homeless found that 47 percent of cities surveyed had some form of measure prohibiting begging in some public spaces, while 23 percent forbid it anywhere in the city. <br /><br />There are already laws on the books against aggressive panhandling -- Rudy Giuliani deftly exploited them to purge homeless people from Manhattan in the 1990s -- so arguments that panhandling laws are required to protect tourists from mistreatment at the hands of the city's homeless fall flat. Many panhandling laws protect against such threatening behavior as asking for money next to a bus stop, public bathroom, train station, taxi stand, on public transportation, or after dark. In Orlando, a city ordinance forbids telling a lie or "misleading" when asking for money. A St. Petersburg ordinance proposed in 2011 -- that ended up being shelved -- would have banned misleading signs.<br /><br />Fines for panhandling can go into the hundreds of dollars and months of jail time. <br /><br />6. Anti-panhandling laws to punish people who give. Some cities are so eager to spare their citizens the horrors of panhandling they've instituted laws protecting them from themselves. In 2010 Oakland Park, Florida, made it illegal to give money to panhandlers. The Los Angeles Times reported: <br /><br /> Under the ordinance initially passed last month, anyone who responds to a beggar with money or any "article of value" or buys flowers or a newspaper from someone on the street would face a fine of $50 to $100 and as many as 90 days in jail. "You're going to put someone in jail for giving someone a coat when it's cold or a hamburger if they're hungry?" City Commissioner Suzanne Boisvenue said Wednesday. "For me, it's so wrong." She cast the only "no" vote at the March meeting.<br /><br />7. Feeding panhandling meters instead of panhandlers. Cities across the country have launched programs that encourage people to feed "panhandling meters" with change rather than give directly to the homeless. The bulk of the cash goes to homeless charities. While many homeless advocates applaud the giving sentiment behind the meters, they also point out that the machines can make the issue abstract and easier to detach from emotionally. As the National Coalition for the Homeless says on their blog, "Donations to service organizations are always encouraged, but we should never let these meters discourage acknowledging those who ask for money are fellow human beings. Just as ignoring the issue of homelessness will not help end it, ignoring the people directly affected by homelessness will not help them help themselves."<br /><br />For many homeless people, a conversation of a few minutes helps ward off loneliness. Francine Triplett, a middle-aged woman who ended up on the streets after escaping domestic abuse, toured the country a few years back as part of a panel raising awareness about homelessness. Triplett said the worst part for her was not being hungry or cold, but being treated like she didn't exist. People walking by "treated us like we was a big old bag of trash," she told the Philadelphia Weekly Press. "All I wanted was conversation. I didn't want food," she recently said during National Poverty Awareness Week according to the Weekly Press. <br /><br />8. Selective enforcement of laws like jaywalking and loitering. Many laws that apply to all citizens, like loitering or jaywalking, end up being selectively enforced against homeless people or based on race. A UCLA report on LA's efforts to clean up Skid Row found that the 50 extra officers assigned would cost $6 million -- more than the $5.7 million the city allocated for homeless services. Their favored method was going after people for infractions like jaywalking, which do not get strictly enforced against the general population. Defendants in many cities have sued police departments for discrimination in selectively enforcing the law. <br /><br />9. Destroying possessions of the homeless. Police regularly conduct sweeps of homeless encampments, destroying or confiscating tents, blankets and other private property, including medications and documents, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless. The destruction of property caused by law enforcement raids clearly violate constitutional protections against search and seizure without due process, but most cities continue to rely on the tactic to clear out public areas (a strategy that could come into play in crushing the Occupy camps). Here's how a homelessness advocate described a Dallas raid in Pegasus News: <br /><br /> ... a Crisis Intervention team from the City of Dallas (now part of the Dallas Police Department) raided the homeless camps under a bridge. All of the personal possessions of the camp inhabitants — clothing, blankets, coats, years worth of belongings — were shoveled up by two bulldozers, and four to five loads comprising the contents of the "cardboard community" were dumped into city trucks and taken to the landfill. <br /><br />In 2008, following five sweeps one right after the other, police in Port Charlotte, Florida rounded up the people from the camp, making them take a "Homeless Class of 2008 photo. <br /><br />Residents of homeless shelters also have their property rights routinely trampled by police.<br /><br />10. Kicking homeless kids out of school. Unsurprisingly, good educational opportunities are not bountiful for homeless children. The country's estimated 1.35 million homeless youth face a number of obstacles to regular schooling, ranging from residency requirements that are tough to meet when a family is transient to a lack of immunization records. According to a Department of Education report, 87 percent of homeless kids were enrolled in school in 2000; only 77 percent attended regularly.<br /><br />These difficulties were highlighted in a 2011 case in which a homeless Connecticut woman used her babysitter's address to enroll her child in a public school in the area. Her efforts to provide her kid with an education earned her a first-degree larceny charge. The babysitter who helped was evicted from her public housing complex.<br /><br />Better Ways<br /><br />There are municipalities that do not mutiliate the Constitution to address the problems associated with homelessness. In Daytona Beach, service providers and business groups banded together to lower rates of panhandling with a program that hires homeless people to clean up downtown areas. In exchange, they received transitional housing. Portland, Oregon's "A Key Not a Card" program allows outreach workers to set up homeless with permanent housing. These efforts are driven by the fact (shown in multiple studies) that housing, which lowers rates of hospitalizations and arrests, ends up being way cheaper for cities.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Tana Ganeva is AlterNet's managing editor. Follow her on Twitter or email her at tana@alternet.org.<br />© 2012 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.<br />View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/154830/Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-12784975939675420442012-02-14T07:10:00.000-08:002012-02-14T07:14:12.935-08:00Tyler Perry’s GOOD DEEDS Announces Initiative to Support Homeless YouthMedia Alert <br />February 9, 2012<br /><br />http://youtu.be/pwcmBBnh4vo<br /><br /><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pwcmBBnh4vo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br /><strong>Tyler Perry’s GOOD DEEDS Announces Initiative to Support Homeless Youth</strong><br />Tyler Perry’s GOOD DEEDS is very happy to announce Good Deeds:Great Needs, an initiative to support Covenant House, a non-profit organization that provides for homeless youth. Through GiftCardGiver.com, Good Deeds:Great Needs will be collecting unused gift cards and donating all collected to Covenant House. <br /><br />In addition, Lionsgate will be making a financial donation to Covenant House for every share of the GOOD DEEDS trailer! So make sure to watch and share the video!<br /><br />To learn more and share Good Deeds:Great Needs, visit www.gooddeedsgreatneeds.com <br /><br />GOOD DEEDS also presents fans the opportunity to win a Valentine’s Date Night! Just head over to the GOOD DEEDS Facebook page and submit your “love story” for the chance to win a $500 Visa Gift Card!<br /><br />Contest can be found here: <br />http://www.facebook.com/GoodDeedsMovie?sk=app_239455529470849<br /><br /><strong>TYLER PERRY’S GOOD DEEDS</strong> opens in theaters everywhere on February 24, 2012. The film stars Tyler Perry, Thandie Newton, Brian White, Rebecca Romijn, Jamie Kennedy, Eddie Cibrian, Jordenn Thompson, and Beverly Johnson with Phylicia Rashad and Gabrielle Union. <br /><br />To learn more, visit:<br />Covenant House: http://www.covenanthouse.org/<br />Gift Card Giver: http://giftcardgiver.com/<br /><br /> <br />-----------------------------------------------------<br />SYNOPSIS<br /> <br />A successful, wealthy businessman, Wesley Deeds (Tyler Perry) has always done what’s expected of him, whether it’s assuming the helm of his father’s company, tolerating his brother’s misbehavior at the office or planning to marry his beautiful but restless fiancée, Natalie (Gabrielle Union). But Wesley is jolted out of his predictable routine when he meets Lindsey (Thandie Newton), a down-on-her-luck single mother who works on the cleaning crew in his office building. When he offers to help her get back on her feet, the chance encounter with someone so far outside his usual circle ignites something in Wesley. This one good deed may finally spark his courage to exchange the life that’s expected of him for the life he’s always really wanted. <br /> <br />A moving, uplifting drama about coincidence, courage, and the defining choices we make on our paths to happiness, TYLER PERRY’S GOOD DEEDS is written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry, and stars Perry, Thandie Newton, Brian White, Rebecca Romijn, Jamie Kennedy, Eddie Cibrian, Jordenn Thompson, Beverly Johnson, with Phylicia Rashad, and Gabrielle Union.<br />-----------------------------------------------------<br />Official Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/GoodDeedsMovie<br />Official Site: http://www.GoodDeedsMovie.com<br />Official Twitter: http://twitter.com/GoodDeedsMovie<br /><br /><br /><br />For Press Inquiries Contact:<br />Corby Pons<br />corby@differentdrummer.com<br />323-960-1102<br /> <br />For Good Deeds:Great Needs Inquiries Contact:<br />Jean-Michelle Lopez<br />jeanmichelle@differentdrummer.com<br />323-960-1102Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-9356932815490106652012-02-03T14:51:00.000-08:002012-02-03T14:54:46.688-08:00How Europe is dealing with freezing temptures<strong>Europe tries to shield homeless from deep freeze </strong><br /><br />MSNBC<br />Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:45 CST<br />http://www.sott.net/articles/show/241076-Europe-tries-to-shield-homeless-from-deep-freeze?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter <strong>{ORIGINAL ARTICLE}</strong><br /><br />© Fr LW Gonzales <strong>Russia and Ukraine </strong>took extra precautions on Friday to protect homeless people during a brutal cold snap, ordering new facilities and medical care after scores of people have frozen to death on the streets of Europe. <br /><br />As the death toll from the past week rose to at least 175 on Friday, Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the creation of facilities nationwide to feed and provide medical assistance to the homeless. <br /><br />The week-long freeze - Eastern Europe's worst in decades - is causing power outages, frozen water pipes and widespread closure of schools, nurseries, airports and bus routes. <br /><br />Other parts of Europe experienced frigid temperatures unseen in years. A roundup: <br /><strong><br />Ukraine </strong><br />In the hardest-hit country, health officials have told hospitals to stop discharging the hundreds of homeless patients after they are treated for hypothermia and frostbite. The goal is to prevent them from dying once they are released into temperatures as low as minus 32 Celsius (minus 26 Fahrenheit). <br /><br />Authorities also have set up nearly 3,000 heating and food shelters. <br /><br />Thirty-eight more fatalities were reported from frostbite and hypothermia in Ukraine on Friday, raising the nation's death toll to 101. Emergency officials have said many of the victims were homeless. <br /><br /><strong>Bosnia </strong><br />Bosnia reported its first deaths. Five people died Friday in Sarajevo, most of them while shoveling snow, Dr. Tigran Elezovic said, and one person died in the southern city of Mostar, where ambulances could not reach the victim because of snow. <br /><strong><br />Rome </strong><br />Thick snowflakes fell on Rome on Friday, forcing the closure of the Colosseum over fears tourists would slip on the icy ruins, and leaving buses struggling to climb the city's slushy hills. <br /><br />The snowfall prompted authorities to stop visitors from entering the Colosseum, the adjacent Roman Forum and the Palatine Hill, the former home of Rome's ancient emperors. <br /><br />Authorities appealed to Italians to stay off highways, as the cold snap was predicted to continue well into the next week. <br /><br /><strong>Northern Italy </strong>also has been gripped by snow and ice that is disrupting train travel. <br /><br />Netherlands <br /><br />Police in the eastern city of <strong>Wageningen</strong> reported that a homeless man found dead Thursday in a shed died of hypothermia, making him the first confirmed Dutch victim of the cold. <br /><br />Traffic around the <strong>Netherlands</strong> was thrown into chaos Friday by snow. Trains ran with long delays and several flights in and out of Schiphol were delayed or canceled. <br /><br /><strong>Poland</strong> <br /><br />The Interior Ministry recorded eight more deaths on Friday and said two other people died of asphyxiation from carbon monoxide-spewing charcoal heaters. <br /><br /><strong>Croatia and Montenegro</strong> <br /><br />In Croatia, some highways were closed and waters of the Adriatic Sea froze in some areas. Buses that travel from Zagreb, the capital, toward the coast have been canceled. In Montenegro, the airport in the capital, Podgorica, was closed due to heavy snow. <br /><br />This article includes reporting from Reuters and The Associated Press.Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-82992136867349181922012-01-15T10:47:00.000-08:002012-01-15T10:58:47.831-08:00VIDEO: Sleep is a Human Right - Metal at City Hall Homeless Vigil 1.5.12Sleep is a Human Right - Metal at City Hall Homeless Vigil 1.5.12<br /><br />http://youtu.be/yr3YXBjGNng [13:44 minute video}<br /><br />I stop by the vigil for housless folks that is going on 24-7 in front of Portland City Hall.<br /><br />This was around noon on Thursday 1.5.11.<br />Metal tells me what is happening with regards to this vigil outside of city halls front doors.<br /><br />He tells me about his involvement the vigil, which began after Occupy Portland protesters was evicted from the parks across the street.<br /><br /><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yr3YXBjGNng" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-28722997608111878102012-01-08T12:46:00.000-08:002012-01-08T12:49:17.417-08:001438 Flags displayed for the homeless in my community 2008 video<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2jJ1HI8pBZgwRdh51JCBxhZC7gNMLqdhJsOmGRdcIxRt0D7tXdzbjsBMV2hMaDM2E19gKLIDmFTe00f5EcafTpOMQL_5tsXcfN0r2ZFyakAA4LuVe3ePkGSJTeQIRccEa1kJV/s1600/1438flagsHomeeless2006Log0_.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 339px; height: 243px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2jJ1HI8pBZgwRdh51JCBxhZC7gNMLqdhJsOmGRdcIxRt0D7tXdzbjsBMV2hMaDM2E19gKLIDmFTe00f5EcafTpOMQL_5tsXcfN0r2ZFyakAA4LuVe3ePkGSJTeQIRccEa1kJV/s400/1438flagsHomeeless2006Log0_.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5695365862765247314" /></a><br />http://www.archive.org/details/HomelessOnMayDay1438Flags<br /><br />May Day 2008 I filmed this in Portland Oregon at the May Day celebration. A display with flags for those that were homeless on May Day in my community.Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-50416443118632861902011-09-30T10:25:00.000-07:002011-09-30T10:34:10.125-07:00Adopt a Homeless Person - Portland websiteA website that I stumbled upon today that looks like it may be one that is produced here in Portland Oregon. It seems like it has some good ideas going on it. I only briefly looked. <br /><br />http://liv-n-on-the-streets.com/mission-statement/<br /><br />One concern was the topic "Adopt a Bum" <br />Not sure if that is PC to be saying / using the word "bum" in that fashion.<br />The term is derogatory and demeaning in my opinion.<br /><br />I do have some reserve about the integrity of the website when I see words used like that being used.<br /><br />But am giving some print space here to ...look into this more and see "just what going on"<br /><br />http://liv-n-on-the-streets.com/Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-23727341102658638352011-09-28T15:17:00.001-07:002011-09-28T15:20:58.803-07:00State of the Union (blogspot) Pictures and more<a href="http://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/">http://linhdinhphotos.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />Worth checking out folks - good pictures & more <br /><br />Solidarity = Love<br /><br />Thanks From Joe AnybodyJoe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-18080779826517799142011-07-20T19:39:00.000-07:002011-07-20T19:41:01.733-07:00LACAN - What I found about them .... is all good stuff!http://www.cangress.org/our_work.htm<br /><br />Our Mission<br /><br />The mission of the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) is to help people dealing with poverty create & discover opportunities, while serving as a vehicle to ensure they have voice, power & opinion in the decisions that are directly affecting them. <br /><br /><br />Our overarching goals focused on social change are: <br />•Organize and empower community residents to work collectively to change the relationships of power that affect our community.<br /><br />•Create an organization and organizing model that eradicate the race, class, gender barriers that are used to prevent communities from building true power.<br /><br />•Eliminate the multiple forms of violence used against and within our community to maintain status quo.<br /><br /><br />Organizing Principle<br /><br />The organizing principle of the LA CAN is to build indigenous leadership within the Central City East community to address the multitude of problems faced by homeless and very low-income residents of the community. Our community has long been disenfranchised and ignored or has had “leaders” that were not representative of the community speak on its behalf. The service-rich community of Central City East has led to a dysfunctional culture of dependence reinforced by outdated program rules and illegal practices utilized by slum-lords and oftentimes law enforcement. This “culture,” based on taking orders and not questioning the necessity of those orders, has led to the creation of community norms which counter those things needed to achieve widespread systemic change. This reality is what led to the formation of LA CAN and continues to drive the need to build indigenous leadership equipped to build power and make systemic change.<br /><br /> The four organizing strategies employed by LA CAN are: <br />1. Legal: Protecting the civil rights of homeless and low-income people utilizing impact litigation that protects the overall community. For example, a) City Center Redevelopment Plan Lawsuit, b) Anti-poverty litigation such as, anti-sweep and quality of life defenses, and c) Residential Hotel lawsuits aimed at unfair business practices, ongoing tenant defense and habitability complaints. <br /><br />2. Community Education & Empowerment: Building a broad base of informed residents that possess the tools necessary to defend their tenant, civil and human rights, both on the streets and in residential hotels. For example, one-on-one education in the streets [as a part of overall outreach], monthly teach-ins for downtown residents, community lawyering and ongoing legal clinics. <br /><br />3. Community Organizing and Leadership Development: Building a broad base organization of informed leaders and constituents who understand gentrification and its many tenets and are equipped to fight for progressive redevelopment policy and its tangible benefits. For example, implementation of the LA CAN leadership development program, securing local hiring agreements, stopping the 28-Day Shuffle, and promoting voter engagement as a means of civic participation.<br /><br />4. Grassroots Policy and Community-Based Research: Developing grassroots policy that promotes opportunities for living-wage employment and affordable housing that meets the income levels of our constituents. In addition, investigating, monitoring and enforcing current policy that should benefit our constituents. For example, the Share the Wealth Platform, local hiring and training provisions in redevelopment law, and changing the Rent Stabilization Ordinance to create parity between residential hotel and apartment tenants.Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-3741431448176632702011-05-17T16:44:00.000-07:002011-05-17T16:57:42.934-07:00May 2011 Commissioner Kafoury - homelessness and help<b>Commissioner Kafoury: In this economic crisis, County must make wise investments.</b><br />By Deborah Kafoury, Contributing Writer: with Street Roots.<br /><br /><a href="http://streetroots.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/commissioner-kafoury-in-this-economic-crisis-county-must-make-wise-investments/#more-5205">http://streetroots.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/commissioner-kafoury-in-this-economic-crisis-county-must-make-wise-investments/#more-5205</a><br /><br /><b>May 16 2011</b><br /> <br />On a cold night last winter, I took my 10-year-old son with me to serve dinner at the Winter Warming Shelter. By the time we arrived, families were already lined up outside.<br /> <br />The evening flew by. While I helped dish out servings of lasagna, salad and roasted vegetables, my son played with the children who were staying at the shelter.<br /> <br />As we were driving home, I thanked my son for coming with me and asked him what he thought about the evening. He was silent for a minute and then, remembering the families waiting by the door, said “it was really cold out tonight.”<br /> <br />My children are used to dinner time conversation about those in need. We talk about poverty, homelessness and helping others. But all the words in the world cannot replace an evening’s experience.<br /> <br />We all know times are tough. Sometimes the problems feel so daunting that you don’t know where to begin. As your Multnomah County Commissioner, one of the best opportunities I have to make a difference is through the County’s Budget.<br /> <br />On May 5, County Chair Jeff Cogen released his proposed budget. My fellow Commissioners and I have just over a month to ask questions, propose changes, and adopt a balanced budget.<br /> <br />Over one third of the County’s budget comes from the state and federal governments. We are expecting anywhere from $17 million to $60 million of cuts to essential services like mental and physical health care, public safety, and energy assistance.<br /> <br />On the one hand, given the unknown cuts ahead, I feel the need to be conservative with our general fund. If the state cuts programs that people in our community can not live without, we may have to step in.<br /> <br />On the other hand, the hard times are here and I believe we need to invest in people who need help.<br /> <br />My priorities for this year include a few items that I know will make a difference in people’s lives immediately. Some of these items I’ve highlighted below were in the Chair’s proposed budget and some I will propose as amendments to the budget.<br /> <br />+Short Term Rent Assistance. It works. With small amounts of money we can prevent and end homelessness. This year, the County devoted a little more than $354,000 to short-term rent assistance. In this budget, Chair Cogen added an additional $500,000, which is tremendous. But with stimulus funds going away, this increased investment will only maintain the current level of rent assistance. Already, agencies that distribute rent assistance run out by the 5th of every month. For that reason, I’m going to ask the Board to double the proposed addition to $1 million. (If you need rent assistance, please call 211).<br /> <br /> +Bridges to Housing provides 139 previously homeless families with housing and intensive case management. The private grant funding that built this program is now finished. It is critical housing for families that we’ve built over the last five years and we can’t afford to let it go away. Thank you to the Chair for including an additional $480,000 to fully fund Bridges to Housing.<br /> <br />+ East County Outreach. People are sleeping outside from Forest Park to Thousand Acres outside of Troutdale. Last year, the County partnered with JOIN on a pilot program to reach out to people camping in East County. Our small investment of $75,000 was much more effective at ending homelessness than continued sweeps by the Sheriff’s office. I will propose that the County continue to fund this effort.<br /> <br />+ Rapid Re-Housing. For the last two years, I’ve requested emergency funding to house families in our winter warming shelter. The first year, we housed 32 families in 30 days. Last year, we housed over 65 families. At my request, Chair Cogen added $325,000 to the budget again this year, so we don’t have to wait for an emergency. This strategy works to get families quickly out of shelter and into stable housing.<br /> <br />+ Action for Prosperity. The County’s dedicated anti-poverty providers are trying new ways to address homelessness. The newest approach pairs rent assistance, case management, and job training together for families in crisis. Stimulus dollars initially funded this program, named Action for Prosperity. I will be advocating adding $195,000 for another phase of this initiative, leveraging investments from the Housing Authority of Portland and Worksystems Inc, our partners in this effort.<br /> <br /> + Street Roots’ Rose City Resource. County staff and those we contract with use this guide on a daily basis. It’s time we started paying our fair share of the cost to produce and distribute it. The Chair included $20,000 in the proposed budget to make sure the Street Roots’ Rose City Resource continues to exist.<br /> <br />Together, these items total just over $2.1 million. In light of the economic crisis we find ourselves in, these are wise investments that will help people immediately. I would appreciate any feedback you have on these proposals and on the budget in general. Email me at district1@multco.us or come to a budget hearing and share your opinion. The full schedule and link to the proposed budget is available at here.<br /> <br />Deborah Kafoury is a Mult. County Commissioner.Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-67981931076858574412011-04-10T22:17:00.000-07:002011-04-10T22:19:14.545-07:00Portland junkie street kids - a corporate media TV clip<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-PaY8RdZIIc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><br />2011 posted onlineJoe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-26317909260345457182011-01-15T21:19:00.000-08:002011-01-15T21:21:05.846-08:00A story of sucess and hope - A hand up - In Solidarity<object style="height: 390px; width: 640px"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LzGhEJn-q-c?version=3"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LzGhEJn-q-c?version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></object>Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-69969077084297302292011-01-01T23:58:00.000-08:002011-01-02T00:00:27.410-08:002011 in Jail For Sitting on a Sidewalk in SF CaliforniaPolice State: "Lefty" San Francisco Can Throw People in Jail For Sitting on a Sidewalk<br />Propelled by wealthy donors and business interests, a new sit-lie ordinance in San Francisco gives police the power to fine and arrest people for resting on the sidewalk.<br />December 20, 2010 | <br /> <br />Photo Credit: AFP<br />http://www.alternet.org/story/149266/police_state:_cops_can_throw_people_in_jail_for_sitting_on_a_sidewalk?page=entire<br /> <br /><br />When Jon Paul, a 69-year-old who's been homeless for 39 years, pulls off his cowboy hat and bows his head, I think he's being chivalrous. Instead he knocks on his forehead to show me his steel plate. He got it in Vietnam about 39 years ago. He says that when he came back from that war he had to live on the street because he "couldn't stand to be inside anymore."<br /><br />In addition to the metal in his forehead, Paul's stint in Vietnam earned him a whopping $400 a month, or just enough to pay for about two weeks in a SRO (single residence occupancy). So partly through choice ("I like being out here because I can help people") and partly through necessity, he sleeps on the street in San Francisco's Mission District.<br /><br />Starting last Friday, Paul and the rest of the city's homeless (numbering between 7,000 and 10,000) won't legally be allowed to do that anymore, a development that leaves him shaking his head in bewilderment, saying “fuck that.” On November 2, as the GOP swept into a majority in the House on Teabagger juice, voters in freewheeling San Francisco -- one of the haloed liberal utopias bookending dreaded "flyover country" -- passed Proposition L, a sit-lie ordinance that outlaws sleeping (or resting or sitting) on a public sidewalk between 7am and 11pm.<br /><br />Police are supposed to give a warning, but after that they can issue a citation that carries a $50-$100 dollar fine. A repeat offense within 24 hours earns the unrepentant sitter a $300-$500 ticket, and/or up to 10 days in jail. If caught sitting or reclining again within 120 days of the original conviction, the individual can be fined $400-$500 dollars and end up in jail for 30 days.<br /><br />So what does the city of San Francisco have against sitting down in public? Nothing, obviously, as long as you don't look like you're prone to criminal behavior (e.g., homeless).<br /><br />“If the law were enforced the way it is on the books," the ACLU of Northern California's legal director Allan Schlosser tells AlterNet, “We'd be living in a police state." But as Schlosser explains, the sit-lie ordinance is unlikely to be enforced against, say, the millions of tourists who flood the city with billions of dollars in annual revenues.<br /><br />Police officials have basically admitted as much. At a March public safety hearing in which the measure was discussed, public defender Jeff Adachi presented a series of slides showing people engaged in the offensive behavior: an attractive (white) woman sitting on a nice suitcase, a (white) kid holding his skateboard on the curb, and a couple of tourists. But the shots were interspersed with pictures of homeless people. Adachi wondered if they'd all be criminals under the new law.<br /><br />In his rebuttal, assistant police chief Kevin Cashman assured the board that the “good” people depicted in the slides would be warned first and were unlikely to end up getting citations, saying, "Obviously, common sense is going to be part of the training with enforcement of this statute." An earlier PowerPoint presentation by Cashman also contained the creepy promise that the law "Enables Preventative Intervention, Before Accident or Crime Occurs." As Greg Kamin noted on Fog City Journal, Cashman emphasized the law's Minority Report aspect further by adding that sit-lie would "prevent a criminal act from occurring in the first place.”<br /><br />Actually, what the law is most likely to do is exacerbate the city's horrific homelessness problem. As Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of Coalition on Homelessness pointed out in a phone interview with AlterNet, homeless people are not eligible for housing programs if they have a criminal record. "People wait for years to get housing and then they get knocked out. It's depressing as hell." Since sit-lie carries criminal penalties, a measure designed in part to manage the city's homeless actually plants obstacles to getting them off the streets.<br /><br />Clearly aware of the optics of a law that fights pre-crime and targets people for the way they look, the city is being mindful of how the ordinance is rolled out. Sgt. Michael Andraychak told AlterNet that although the measure took effect last Friday, the SFPD is still formulating an enforcement policy. Once a game plan is drafted, the department will train officers in the proper use of the ordinance. Andraychak says the law will likely not be enforced until February 1 of next year.<br /><br />But Bob Offer-Westort of the Coalition on Homelessness says there have already been incidences of individual police officers wielding the rule to hassle the city's homeless -- even before the ordinance became law. As early as election night, Offer-Westort claims there were multiple reports from the Haight and the Castro of police telling homeless youth they weren't allowed to sit on the sidewalk anymore. Offer-Westort says he witnessed a police officer tell a young guy he'd better "move along" because of the new law. Was the guy doing anything to attract police attention? "No. He was sitting cross-legged, hands tucked into his sleeves, because it was a cold day."<br /><br />Over the course of the campaign, proponents of the measure -- which included Mayor Gavin Newsom, police chief George Gascon (who'd spearheaded a similar campaign targeted at Los Angeles' Skid Row) and other high-level police department representatives -- insisted the law would not be used to harass the city's poorest residents. As homeless advocates raised concerns over the impact of the discriminatory measure on San Francisco's most vulnerable, the Yes on L campaign spokespeople claimed police needed the law to curb aggressive and dangerous behavior by the city's homeless (even though San Francisco has plenty of laws that target people living on the street -- Jennifer Freidenbach says there are about 34 laws aimed at the homeless population).<br /><br />In fact, the campaign for sit-lie allegedly grew out of efforts to manage a small population of homeless that mass around the Haight. As the story goes, Mayor Gavin Newsom was taking a walk with his daughter down Haight Street last February when he saw someone smoking crack on the sidewalk. The scandalized Newsom announced soon after that he would put a sit-lie measure to the board (but neglected to submit a police report).<br /><br />Newsom's sudden realization that some homeless people use hard drugs was not the beginning of the push for sit-lie though; a well-oiled PR operation had already been cranking out reports of dangerous, aggressive street culture overtaking the Haight. In the six months leading up to the vote for Prop L, C.W. Nevius, a conservative columnist and former Republican fundraiser, wrote 20 fearmongering op-eds pushing for a sit-lie law. In Nevius' overheated columns, crazed thugs terrorized the neighborhood's law-abiding citizens, and the police were powerless to stop them. "The problem is that in the last year or so, the Haight has gone through an unpleasant transformation," he wrote. “Instead of the usual drowsy drunks and affable stoners, a new group has taken over the sidewalks. They're young, aggressive bullies who confront residents, sit on the sidewalks with pit bulls, and even prey on small-time marijuana dealers." So intimidating were the Haight's street kids, wrote Nevius, that residents were too scared to report crimes to the police.<br /><br />Teresa Barrett, then police chief of Park Station, which oversees the Haight, held a series of community meetings with Haight residents in which she drummed up fears about rising crime in the neighborhood. (During the course of the campaign Barrett ran afoul of ethics rules when she appeared in an ad for the measure in her police uniform.) Like Nevius, Barrett claimed the police did not have enough authority to curb violent behavior in the area.<br /><br />But despite dire reports of assault and aggressive behavior, crime stats in the area hadn't increased. At least one of the stories promoted by Nevius turned out to be bogus -- he wrote about a man who was jumped by a homeless man, but the district attorney found that the fight was mutual and ended up dismissing the charges.<br /><br />Of course, jumping peaceful residents already tends to be illegal. So are many of the other behaviors cited by Nevius, Barrett, Gascon, and others campaigning for sit-lie. Aggressive panhandling and sidewalk obstruction are against the law. The city has strict laws against loitering. In fact, San Francisco was named the seventh "Meanest" city in its treatment of the homeless in a report by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless. The SFPD issues around 10,000 citations each year for "quality of life" crimes such camping and blocking the sidewalk. Religious Witness for the Homeless found that the city used up $9,847,027 on 56,567 such citations between 2004-2008. (That money, they determined, could be used to house "492 people, put 300 people in a three-month detox center, or pay the salaries of 113 psychiatric outreach workers.)<br /><br />One of the main arguments for sit-lie was that current laws were inadequate because they required a third party to report threatening behavior. But in a review of local and state laws, the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco and the Bay Area found that a third party was not necessary for police to get involved. "As this report makes clear, these laws can be enforced by police officers without requiring citizens to complain of violations prior to their enforcement," they concluded.<br /><br />Many of these questions were raised by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which voted overwhelmingly (8-3) against the measure on June 8. "I've got to believe that we can do better than this law and do something that's more meaningful for the public," said Supervisor Bevan Dufty.<br /><br />Undeterred by the board's vote, Newsom put sit-lie on the ballot as Proposition L, optimistically termed "Civil Sidewalks" by advocates. While some Haight Street business owners and residents who voiced complaints about aggressive street behavior supported the measure, the Prop L campaign was, for the most part, promoted not by the community but by high-level figures in the police department and government, the city's financial interests and its wealthiest residents.<br /><br />The SF Chamber of Commerce lobbied for the measure and pushed businesses to give money, including the owners of the San Francisco 49ers. Other business interests, few of which have a direct presence in the allegedly dangerous streets of the Haight, followed suit, including the Building Owners and Managers Association of SF, Coalition for SF Neighborhoods, Cole Valley Improvement Association, Mission Merchants Association, Polk District Merchants, and the San Francisco Apartment Association.<br /><br />The campaign was flush with cash from the city's wealthiest residents. Investor Ron Conway, beloved in Silicon Valley for bankrolling pretty much every big startup to come over the last 20 years, donated a total of $55,000 to the Civil Sidewalks campaign. Conway even lobbied for the measure in a speech at the Bay Area Council Dinner. Other generous donations came from Charles Schwab ($25,000), 49ers President Jed York ($10,000), Kevin Lynch, of Adobe Systems ($1,000) and Jeff Fluhr, the CEO of StubHub ($500). Overall the Yes on L campaign amassed about $280,000 -- cash that went to slick consultants and TV advertising, with ads running during the heavily viewed Giants playoffs.<br /><br />"It was a classic 'buy the election' campaign," says Friedenbach. The opposition had only $7,802.<br /><br />The results of the election were also telling. In an analysis of votes by precinct, Chris Roberts of the SF Appeal found that the city's wealthiest neighborhoods were instrumental in passing the legislation, while less affluent areas mostly voted against. "Sit/Lie fared poorly in most voting precincts where one can actually find homeless people sitting on the street," wrote Roberts. The measure failed in the precinct that includes the Haight.<br /><br />Beyond the many non-Haight business interests and wealthy conservatives that propelled the measure in San Francisco, sit-lie advocates also got help from as far away as New York. The right-wing Manhattan Institute's Heather MacDonald penned an almost 7,000-word screed in favor of a measure in a city across the country, painting the homeless in the Haight as spoiled, violent vagrants and denouncing homeless advocates and progressives as weaklings whose inaction would sink the city (when tourists suddenly decide to stop coming to San Francisco because of the mean homeless people, an argument that would later crop up in Nevius' columns).<br /><br />The Manhattan Institute has promoted laws targeting the homeless before. In the early 2000s senior fellow George L. Kelling got $500,000 to consult on the campaign for L.A.'s Skid Row sit-lie law, which was spearheaded by current San Francisco police chief Gascon. Over the years, the conservative think-tank has been instrumental in promoting the "broken windows" theory of local governance, which calls on police to patrol poor neighborhoods for low-level "quality of life" crimes. Scrubbing the bad elements is supposed to trigger magical neighborhood rejuvenation; tax dollars go to police, not all those pesky social programs.<br /><br />In sit-lie measures, which have cropped up all over the country, including Seattle, L.A., Miami and Chicago, that theory reaches perfection -- criminalizing the poor without the bother of waiting for them to commit a crime.<br /><br />"We have to look at this in the big-picture context," said Friedenbach. "When the federal government created the homelessness crisis, local governments did not have the means of addressing the issue. So they use the police to manage homeless people's presence." Fueling this is the standard conservative mindset that paints people who have fallen on hard times as weak, criminal and subhuman. "They have to set up a framework to understand homelessness that it's not about systemic causes, but about the person."<br /><br />An older guy who calls himself Birdman, who resides near Valencia Street in the Mission, articulated the humiliating dehumanization inherent in laws like sit-lie in a self-published flyer: "What if ur homeless and broke and have nowhere to go? Are u forced to stand like in Abu prison? While a DOG is free to sit or lie?<br />Tana Ganeva is an AlterNet editor. Follow her on Twitter. You can email her at tanaalternet@gmail.com.Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-30295771325085132922010-11-18T07:41:00.000-08:002010-11-18T07:48:07.665-08:00Women’s Warming Center opens at TPI<strong>Portland Oregon Women’s Warming Center opens at TPI</strong><br /><br />Posted on November 17, 2010 <br />by rocketpoetry<br />http://streetroots.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/womens-warming-center-opens-at-tpi/#more-4338<br /><br />On the one of the worst nights of the year to date, the Women’s Warming Center will be opening tonight with a capacity of 70 women.<br /><br />Women can reserve a space at the warming center by contacting Transition Projects. Women can stop by 475 NW Glisan Mon – Fri, 8:30 -7:30 PM. They can also call 503-823-4930 24 hours a day (after hours, press 5 to reach the shelter staff).<br />The Women’s Warming Shelter is made possible by a $180,000 grant from the Portland Housing Bureau.[ http://www.portlandoregon.gov/PHB ]<br /><br /> In partnership with other City departments, Multnomah County and community partners, the Portland Housing Bureau coordinates Winter and Severe Weather shelter and day services for homeless individuals in our community.<br /><br />For the most up-to-date information on shelter or assistance, call 211info by dialing 2-1-1. [ http://www.211info.org/ ] In Multnomah County, the call line is open from 8am and 10pm, Monday through Friday; and between 8am to 10pm on Saturdays and Sundays.<br /><br />For more information on severe weather shelter go here: http://tinyurl.com/32mtkktJoe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-34621014770332379942010-10-10T17:43:00.000-07:002010-10-10T17:44:04.530-07:00I have nothing to loose - a music video<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/d7bR3yAGBtU?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/d7bR3yAGBtU?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079402.post-28909036723571165132010-10-05T15:07:00.000-07:002010-10-05T15:16:14.075-07:00CALIFORNIA: When Home Has No Place to Park<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWnUrmKqfE03za8dQFvGYSOFrjl6u7Lous65DgAtSlpGEtbx-Dxnymy4qUQIkC1Ri-ju-rasq-7TSVTILNfu8dHUedoGuLw4VDY5ygwqTE6UQ0_yEemVG5JayKPQ3fDT4FsJE6/s1600/transparentBG.gif"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 1px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 1px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524687710312602034" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWnUrmKqfE03za8dQFvGYSOFrjl6u7Lous65DgAtSlpGEtbx-Dxnymy4qUQIkC1Ri-ju-rasq-7TSVTILNfu8dHUedoGuLw4VDY5ygwqTE6UQ0_yEemVG5JayKPQ3fDT4FsJE6/s400/transparentBG.gif" /></a><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/us/04rv.html?_r=1<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSd4K3v2cdiisVLAuNQbtpjLZ1Rqpag9H4qBdKVNtHVttEiUx0IOmLJ9vCnHY_uKHOQg2t3Dag5WqAtlhq1KLgVxaoyBPa3yOL1TYRnuyAxpd33R4WDSZfoK606T-LqyN_y46i/s1600/califHouselesss.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 259px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524688371417668642" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSd4K3v2cdiisVLAuNQbtpjLZ1Rqpag9H4qBdKVNtHVttEiUx0IOmLJ9vCnHY_uKHOQg2t3Dag5WqAtlhq1KLgVxaoyBPa3yOL1TYRnuyAxpd33R4WDSZfoK606T-LqyN_y46i/s400/califHouselesss.JPG" /></a><br /><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>LOS ANGELES 10.5.10</div><div> </div><div>Every day, Diane Butler and her husband park their two hand-painted R.V.’s in a lot at the edge of Venice Beach here, alongside dozens of other rickety, rusted campers from the 1970s and ’80s. During the day, she sells her artwork on the boardwalk. When the parking lot closes at sunset, she and the other R.V.-dwellers drive a quarter-mile inland to find somewhere on the street to park for the night.<br /><br />Their nomadic existence might be ending, though. The Venice section of Los Angeles has become the latest California community to enact strict new regulations limiting street parking and banning R.V.’s from beach lots — regulations that could soon force Ms. Butler, 58, to leave the community where she has lived for four decades.<br /><br />“They’re making it hard for people in vehicles to remain in Venice,” she said.<br /><br />Southern California, with its forgiving weather, has long been a popular destination for those living in vehicles and other homeless people. And for decades, people living in R.V.’s, vans and cars have settled in Venice, the beachfront Los Angeles community once known as the “Slum by the Sea” and famous for its offbeat, artistic culture.<br /><br />Yet even as the economic downturn has forced more people out of their homes and into their cars, vehicle-dwellers are facing fewer options, with more communities trying to push them out.<br /><br />As nearby neighborhoods and municipalities passed laws restricting overnight parking in recent years, Venice became the center of vehicle dwelling in the region. More than 250 vehicles now serve as shelter on Venice streets, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.<br /><br />“The only place between Santa Barbara and San Diego where campers can park seven blocks from the beach is this little piece of land,” said City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose district includes Venice. “Over the years, it’s only gotten worse, as every other community along the coast has adopted restrictions.”<br /><br />In the past, bohemian Venice was tolerant of vehicle-dwellers, but, increasingly, the proliferation of R.V.’s in this gentrifying neighborhood has prompted efforts to remove them.<br /><br />“The status quo is unacceptable,” said Mark Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Association, a group of residents devoted to removing R.V.’s from the area. “It’s time to give us some relief from R.V.’s parking on our doorsteps.”<br /><br />A bitter debate has raged between residents who want to get rid of R.V.’s and those who want to combat the problems of homelessness in the community by offering safe places to park and access to public bathrooms. Last year, residents voted to establish overnight parking restrictions, but the California Coastal Commission twice vetoed the plan.<br /><br />However, a recent incident involving an R.V. owner’s arrest on charges of dumping sewage into the street has accelerated efforts to remove vehicle-dwellers. Starting this week, oversize vehicles will be banned from the beach parking lots; an ordinance banning them from parking on the street overnight could take effect within a month.<br /><br />While Mr. Rosendahl supported parking restrictions, he has also secured $750,000 from the city to pay for a pilot program to house R.V.-dwellers. Modeled after efforts in Santa Barbara and Eugene, Ore., the Vehicles to Homes program will offer overnight parking for vehicle-dwellers who agree to meet certain conditions, with the goal of moving participants into permanent housing.<br /><br />“For people who want help, we’ll support them,” Mr. Rosendahl said. “The others can take their wheels and go up the coast or somewhere else, God bless them. It’s not our responsibility to be the only spot where near-homelessness is dealt with in the state of California.”<br /><br />While some have expressed interest in the program, many said they did not want to subject themselves to curfews and oversight or had no means or desire to return to renting. Mr. Ryavec believes few will participate.<br /><br />“I will not debate that some people are mentally ill, indigent or drugged out,” Mr. Ryavec said. “But my stance is that the bulk of these people are making a lifestyle choice.”<br /><br />Still, according to Gary L. Blasi, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an activist on homeless issues, most people choose to live in vehicles only when the alternative is sleeping in a shelter or on the street.<br /><br />“The idea of carefree vagabonds is statistically false,” Professor Blasi said. “More often, these are people who lived in apartments in Venice before they lived in R.V.’s. The reason for losing housing is usually the loss of a job or some health care crisis.”<br /><br />Even if all the vehicle-dwellers in Venice wanted to participate, the pilot program will accommodate only a small fraction of them. In Southern California, though, there may not be anywhere else R.V.’s can legally park. According to Neil Donovan, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, ordinances banning R.V.’s have spread from metropolitan areas into the suburbs as vehicle-dwellers venture farther afield in search of somewhere to sleep.<br /><br />“Communities are now forming a patchwork of ordinances, which virtually prohibits a geographic cure to the situation,” Mr. Donovan said. “If you’re in a community and they tell you to leave, you can’t just go to the next community, because they establish similar ordinances, especially in California.”<br /><br />Mr. Donovan said vehicle-dwellers often end up on the street after their vehicles are towed or become inoperable. When his organization surveyed tent camps in California, they found that many residents had come from R.V.’s.<br /><br />Vehicle-dwellers in Venice are now considering their options, but few expressed any intention of leaving.<br /><br />“They can keep throwing more laws at us, but we’re not just going to go away,” said Mario Manti-Gualtiero, who lost his job as an audio engineer and now lives in an R.V. “We can’t just evaporate.”<br /><br /></div>Joe Anybodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460776922438300004noreply@blogger.com