City Council Passes Resolution Preventing Vigilante Justice Against Homeless

City Council Passes Resolution Preventing Vigilante Justice Against Homeless

By Scent-anal Staff Writer

Despite pleas from the community for tougher action against the homeless, the Santa Cruz City Council unanimously passed what has been dubbed the “Just and Humane Answer to Homelessness Ordinance”. Under the new law, when it takes effect in November, it will no longer be legal for downtown merchants and residents to tie the homeless to shopping carts and throw them from the pier.

Of the new ordinance, City Council Person Emily Reilly said, “We can all feel good that we have listened to the various stake holders in the community and come up with a solution that addresses the concerns of everyone”.

Yet, creating the typical circus-like atmosphere of City Council meetings in this left-leaning town, the usual nay-sayers were present to complain and disrupt the meeting. Robert Norse was arrested when he called the Humane Ordinance, “a Nazi plan for cleansing the city of the homeless”.

Robert Norse’s claims were in apparent reference to the ordinance’s changes to the Camping Ban. Under the Humane Ordinance the new penalty for sleeping in public will include the police handcuffing the homeless to shopping carts and throwing them from the pier.

Answering critics, City Councilman Mike Rotkin said, “If we do not have a law allowing the humane drowning of the homeless, vigilantes will just do it any way they please. This new law will maintain the kind of strong business climate that Santa Cruz needs to continue to maintain a strong tax base for services for the homeless. In the real world things are done with money, and that’s what buys my vote.”

In response to Norse calling City Council People Nazis, City Councilman Ryan Coonerty responded, “I am deeply offended. We are nothing like the Nazis. The Nazis gassed the homeless, we only throw them from the pier. Besides, my family sells books, and the Nazis burned books. I hope Norse has a long time to think about that in jail.”

Adding to circus was Steven Argue, the unrepentant cop puncher. For him the Humane Ordinance didn’t give the homeless enough. Argue claimed that the homeless, “had the right to sleep and the right to live”.

Spokesman for the Downtown Neighbor's Association, Bob Rubel, responded saying, “Radicals like Argue claim that the homeless have a right to live, but if they continue to live they will continue to eat, poop, and pee. Banning sleep is not enough. The homeless also should not be allowed to eat. What about the rights of the tax payers? I don’t think that this City Council has adequately addressed our concerns with the Humane Ordinance.”

Of the differing sides and disruptions, City Councilman Ed Porter was philosophical, explaining, “The fact that we haven’t made anybody happy tells me that we are doing the right thing. We have come up with the right compromise. That is what we do in a democracy. We don’t resort to childish tactics, call people names, and disrupt meetings, that’s what the Nazis do. The community has spoken. It’s like my progressive mentor once said, if the community wants the street made of cobble stones, that is what they should get. If they want the homeless thrown from the pier, progressives like me can make sure it is done humanely.”



This is an article inspired by years of b.s. from the City Council and Sentinel, as well as the hateful discussions at:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/August/17/local/stories/05local.htm
and
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/August/19/local/stories/03local.htm


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