Striking Back at Brutal Bullies: Russell Files Claims Against the City

Claims against the Santa Cruz Police Department [SCPD] for the abusive destruction of community camp sites, property seizure, and arrests are heard at City Council's twice-monthly Closed Sessions.

CONCEALING UNPLEASANT PARTICULARS
The particulars as described by the victims of these sweeps are not available on the City Council agenda. Powerful City Administrator/Clerk Bonnie Bush ignored pleas to post the Claims in their original wording on the regular agenda without explanation. They can only be seen through a Public Records Act demand, and realistically only within a narrow 4-day window from the time the Council's agenda is released on the Friday before the Tuesday Council meeting.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR WITHHOLDS MISSING DETAILS AND CONTACT INFORMATION
The Agenda only mentions the names of those filing claims and a brief phrase or sentence describing the category of the complaint. The details and contact information, the actual narrative of the claim--which is public information, is held by the City staff. You must make an individual request for each particular document. This severely limits real public comment in the open interval before the Closed Session and has for years in spite of my repeated requests that Bush put the full claim on the Agenda or at the very least make it regularly available to those who've previously informed her they want it e-mailed to them. She refuses to do this.

FROM BAD TO WORSE
This bad process backs up worse process of the SCPD in its "drive 'em out of town" attacks. The City Council, City Mayor Fred "Fast Lane" Keeley, and City Manger Matt "Mello Mangler" Huffaker pays no attention to the needs of the homeless majority outside to say nothing of the continuing abuses as they are pursued until they leave or hide more deeply.

Or are herded into "programs" where they follow restrictions not imposed on the average free citizen, have to abandon most of their property, and serve simply as grant-magnets for the "service-providers" falsely promising housing options.