More Drum Circle Melodrama Wednesday? Be There at 3:30 PM to Keep Public Space Public.

NO REPLY FROM THE SCPD

I've still not received an e-mail response to my Public Records Act request of early September from SCPD Recordsclutcher Trisha Husome [See "No Public Records, More Public Lies" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/25/18541261.php ] So there's no more evidence than there ever was of problems, complaints, citations, arrests, accidents, or injuries in Parking Lot #4. And no excuse for the massive public expenditure of police time and money from late August through mid-September there.


BRATTON BYPLAY

On-line columnist Bruce Bratton [http://brattononline.com/] and I have had the following dialogue in response to my published letter ["Blogger Bratton Backing Bullying the Drummers?" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/10/01/18542504.php?show_comments=1#18542732 ]:

BRATTON to me and WES:

Robert here's what I sent to Wes M. re farmers mkt and Bookshop SC.
From: Bruce Bratton
To: Wes Modes
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2008 12:19 PM
Subject: Re: Support for a Radical New Space in Town, MAYBE!!!

Wes,

I think I've told you this before but there two institutions in Santa Cruz that are endangered The Farmers Market and Bookshop Santa Cruz. We need them both, and when you focus on activities that threaten them I certainly don't support you or those actions. Tell me about the Infoshop....I haven't heard a thing. Sure I'll support it, depending etc etc Bruce B.

Robert...I never heard back from Wes. But in the column I wrote that if the drum circle really cares about free speech, right to assemble etc etc they should move it to Tuesdays or Thursdays and test the system. I don't agree with or support Ryan and only rarely ever supported Neal's positions on the City Council, and still believe your actions against genuine free speech, free press, big corporations that the Bookshop represents simply suck. bB


ME TO BRATTON:

----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Norse
To: Bruce Bratton
Cc: Wes Modes
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 12:51 PM

Thanks for your candor, Bruce.

Clearly we disagree strongly on some matters.

Wes may still be facing charges from the police action on September 17th, so perhaps that's why he hasn't gotten back to you. He's often real slow in answering me too.

My point about police action against the Drum Circle is that it has no legitimate basis in terms of actual complaints, citations, arrests, accidents, injuries, etc. that have happened at Parking Lot #4 that would actually threaten the Farmer's Market, which I also support. if you take the trouble to read through some of the indybay.org discussion, you'll find that. Including interviews with some of those vendors nearest the Drum Circle as well as Sandra Ward, a long time Board of Directors member.

I think, as I've written repeatedly, that the attack on the Drum Circle is really a follow-up to the Coonerty Parking Lot Panic Law, an election eve stunt to show how 'tough' he is on counterculture people and how 'responsive' he is to conservative merchants, a prequel to the continued move to build a 5-story $43 million parking structure, going along with a staff-SCPD agenda, or any combination of the proceeding.

You have my permission to go to the SCPD and pick up public records there to actually document the actual 'crime' rate around the Drum Circle. Let me know what you find (once you've forked over $5.50 to take a look).

I appreciate your on-going coverage of the City Council 'race'.

But I haven't seen you in your sidewalk 'office' lately.

RN


BRATTON TO ME:

From: Bruce Bratton (bratton [at] cruzio.com)
Sent: Tue 10/07/08 1:06 PM
To: Robert Norse (rnorse3 [at] hotmail.com)

Robert,

my main point is/was/will be why not change the drum circle day and test the system to see if it is really free speech or just trying to improve the shopping atmosphere at the market? If the drummers are sincere about drumming and free speech they could test the city policies by changing day and location....I believe that 99% of the drumming is only for protest and the old " fuck you" attitude..."lets keep pushing the law" concept. "Bug the police", "fight for the sake of fighting there's nothing else to do" idea. bB


ME TO BRATTON:

Bruce,

I'm not a drummer myself and don't usually attend the Drum Circle. But it's the only event (other than the occasional Trash Orchestra rehersal on the 3rd floor of the Riverfront Parking Garage) that has continued after the passage of Coonerty's 15 minute law.

Part of the reason for that is that it's so public that attempting to crush it can't be done without a lot of public exposure and attendent public protest. As happens every week with the removal of the green mesh fences, and the Sept. 17 near-riot provoked by the police.

In fact, the drummers--most of them--did move away to the Town Clock on September 17th. They were intimidated by the month-long 'educational' campaign of the cops and just wanted to drum in peace. But a few refused, as well as a number of others (myself among them) who felt that this was an attack on Public Assembly--which it is. Once a small number of drummers resumed drumming in the now-fenceless area under the two trees, other drummers--previously at the Town Clock drumming--returned as well.

If there were genuine concerns about noise, public safety, etc., these could be addressed by meetings with the drummers and other folks (like Food Not Bombs and its clients who feed there). Provided the parking lot continued to be a place where people could gather, sit in their cars, read a book under the trees, and not be harassed under Coonerty's law, I doubt I'd be interested in this situation at all. Unfortunately, that's clearly not the case.

I wish you would give some publicity to this bogus law. Perhaps you did and I didn't notice it.

Again, for me, the issue is not the drum circle but the right to public assembly. And, frankly, the proximity of the Farmer's Market is the only thing that allows the community to maintain parking lot #4 as a public space--because the police, as we've seen, can't afford to thug their way forward there. Changing the day and/or time would remove the protection the drummers currently have, in removing their visibility. It's not about bugging the police, but being left alone--which has been the case--largely--for 10 years--until the cops began to interfere.

Ask for Public Records into real problems there and I think you'll find I speak truly.

Robert Norse


OTHER UPDATES

While police seem to have backed off from Parking Lot #4 proper (though the mesh fence has still gone up like clockwork), no such gentle hand was evident on Pacific Avenue when Whitney brought out some erasable sidewalk chalk October 3rd for what she was was the usual First Friday of the month Art Day on the sidewalk. [See "The Chalking Menace--Cops Block One Lane of Pacific Avenue for an Hour" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/10/04/18542837.php ]

During the Drum Circle support demonstrations, there have been many instances of chalking and no citations--even as Sgt. Harms and his patrol squad strode about the lot making people uncomfortable and resentful. Interesting contrast. When there are lots of vigilant community members around, police take a step back.


COURT DATES

I'm not aware that any charges have been filed against Wes Modes when the police massed on September 17th and kidnapped him and Jack Russ (after a baton blow or two). Nor, naturally, has there been any evidence of disciplinary action against police officers.

"Wheels" a short guy in a wheelchair did get a ticket that same day for insisting on his right to wait there in his chair for the drummers. That ticket has yet to appear--I think it's a "Parking Lot Panic" ticket (i.e. "No Public Assembling" in parking lots).

Crow--cited off-site on October 1st, for "petty theft" because he dragged the mesh fence, already lying in the road out of the way, and reportedly put it in his vehicle to be recycled--has a court date but I've lost track of it. If anyone sees Crow, ask him and post it.

For those interested in interviews from the Drum Circle, including an in-studio interview with Crow, check out archives of my radio show at http://www.huffsantacruz.org under the link "Listen to Bathrobespierre's Broadsides, now archived online!" (show descriptions are separately linked immediately below the "Listen to..." link).

Police near-riot of 10-17 may have provoked a glass-crashing response at the City Attorney's office. ("Local Resistance to the Cops" at http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/28/18541708.php )


CONSTITUTION-CHALLENGED CITY COUNCIL

City Council candidates Cabrera and Kenyatta have both weighed in supporting the right of the public to assemble and take back public space--according to what they've told me on interviews this last Thursday and Sunday.

None of the Recycled Reruns (former incumbents seeking to get back in power) Fitzmaurice, Coonerty, Beiers, Lane, or Madrigal have made any public statements on the police crackdown or the rights of the community. Except Coonerty has defended the cops.

One of Mayor Ryan Coonerty's last City Council meetings of this year comes up this next Tuesday, October 13th (he has four more until the Mayorship rotates to someone else). Hopefully he will be defeated in the November 4th elections.

Check the calendar section of this website for the dates and times of candidate forums. Encourage folks to pepper the candidates with questions. Will those who favor a "plaza" be willing to support people willing to risk arrest to create one?

Most important, spend at least a little time each Wednesday afternoon supporting the right to assemble in Santa Cruz in a parking lot paid for with your money. It's probably a good dress rehersal for the kind of actions we need to take to restore little things like habeas corpus, end the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and take back the country from the bankers and billionaires.