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Add an EventCouncilmember Posner Calls for 24-Hour Bathroom Support at Council today
Today the final budget comes up for discussion and vote at 7 PM. Councilmember Micah Posner, apparently anxious that staff opposition will kill the proposal, has asked the community to come and support. I forward his e-mail and my response.
Dear Activists,
As you know the City Staff are very concerned about Council's direction to keep some bathrooms open all night. Their concerns are totally legitimate. After all staff are the ones who will have to supervise the proposed program.
The City Council, led by Pamela Comstock, has, so far, courageously, directed the staff to find some way to keep bathrooms open at night.
If people want to support this direction, you should be supportive. Bring flowers, appreciations and constructive suggestions. This is not a time for a negative protest, not even a polite negative protest. The Council can use your SUPPORT. This is completely different from the BEARCAT thing where you were being ignored and it needs a completely different
response.
AND, the idea of ramping this up into bringing excrement to the Council is completely counterproductive, in addition to being totally rude.
There is no better way to ruin the chances of the City opening bathrooms up at night than to bring shit to a Council that is being supportive of these efforts. I am totally shocked that activists who I respect came up with this idea. To be honest it makes me not want to share information with some of you.
My request: completely change the Facebook Event to encourage people to SUPPORT a City Council that wants to open bathrooms. Meet people at 6:45 and explain why being positive and supportive is the best way for them to get bathrooms open at night.
Thank you hearing me,
Micah Posner
MY RESPONSE
A City that declines to provide elementary sanitation services at night should not have to be wooed with flowers and candy.
The problem seems to be that the Staff (who Micah praises as usual) wants to reverse the will of the Council as expressed on May 26—the reason he's asked homeless people (and housed folks) to come to the meeting.
And since the staff is usually the tail that wags the Council dog, as one activist put it, there's not a lot of reason to be terribly optimistic.
I think everyone should present their concerns as they feel them.
No one I know of is planning to bring buckets of shit--though the current closed bathroom policy results in just that happening all over the City, of course—in spite of Brent and Micah's well-intentioned incremental efforts.
I suggest people speak about the issue forthrightly and clearly and be prepared for the usual Council-follows-staff lockstep.
If that doesn't happen—if the opening up the bathrooms is kept in the budget, well then, flowers to the Council!
If the Council caves, then obviously further steps have to be taken to focus attention on the issue.
Folks should be aware, of course, that this whole issue is a smaller part of the much larger proposed shutdown of emergency services at the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center—which is now a locked, gated, patrolled area that requires ID to use.
This all seems part of the broader attempt to “unwelcome” homeless people to Santa Cruz and it is this broader issue that we all need to unite to fight. Or fight it separately in our own ways.
Meanwhile kudos to Brent and others focusing attention on the essential sanitation issue. And to the Council, if--for once--they do the decent thing.
Which is interesting. Contrast the depth and breadth of oppressive knowledge and abilities, the 'will' and 'resources' squandered on the slightest perceived transgressions, yet a chronic lack of concern about the systemic torture of targeted groups.
Of course Posner et al demand polite fealty. They aren't on the receiving end of torture, so the slightest deviation from approved expression will not be tolerated.
Boycotting their illegitimate sovereignty, in all its forms, might be an affective long term solution.
If you don't like the government, go out and make some of your own - 'Scoop' Nisker, paraphrased.
Food Not Bombs was completely mum on the issue as they ran their attack protest against HSC with veiled rhetoric. As soon as a rumor that city staff would request an alteration to the budgeting of $25K for over-night bathroom cleaning, FnB created an event on facebook featuring a bucket of shit as they encouraged people to bring their shit to city council chambers. Very strange and gross.
We at DBTF, encouraged community members to bring a bucket of flowers and then had a conversation with councilperson Posner. He was quite upset about the bucket of shit event and contacted FnB, who then changed their tune and copied our event. Now they're saying it was just a joke and to bring flowers.
We've posted our Bucket of Flower event to their page and group but they continually delete it. There really is nothing like the idea of lefty censorship. What a contradiction. When lefties don't get the gravity of that concept, we begin to see the lack of grounding. We wish to see lots of flowers in the chambers tonight, whoever brings them, but in-authentic copy-cat actions that have re-written history are unsavory and unsettling.
Not a random comment:
"Of course Posner et al demand polite fealty. They aren't on the receiving end of torture, so the slightest deviation from approved expression will not be tolerated."
It's a known phenomena.
"Power is accompanied by a sense of entitlement, which shapes reactions to self-relevant injustices. We propose that powerful people more strongly expect to be treated fairly and are faster to perceive unjust treatment that violates these expectations. After preliminary data demonstrated that power leads people to expect fair outcomes for themselves, we conducted four experiments. Participants primed with high (vs. low) power were faster to identify violations of distributive justice in which they were victims (Study 1). This effect was specific to self-relevant injustices (Study 2) and generalized to violations of interpersonal justice (Study 3). Finally, participants primed with high power were more likely to take action against unfair treatment (Study 4). These findings suggest a process by which hierarchies may be maintained: Whereas the powerless are comparatively less sensitive to unfair treatment, the powerful may retain their social standing by quickly perceiving and responding to self-relevant injustices."
http://psp.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/05/30/0146167215588755.abstract
Meanwhile, back at what Posner used as encouragement.
This is completely different from the BEARCAT thing where you were being ignored and it needs a completely different response.
Obviously Posner is oblivious to how deeply offensive that 'common wisdom' assertion is to anyone other than Council members et al.
The consent of the governed is a fragile thing.
I just want to know if any of the activists who support this concept have wandered downtown in the, oh lets say the 1am to 4am time period of the night recently?
I offer guided tours and will supply the security and weapons necessary to keep the wet brain alcoholics, speedfreaks, and other intravenous drug users who need a secure shooting gallery / bar at that time of the morning at bay. Everyone else is at a commercial establishment (like a bar or Dennys/SC Diner) and have access to a bathroom.
even with a bearcat.
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