Not in Ben Dover's Backyard?

Here are two responses to the city council vote published by "Ben":

"It's not as if the neighbors there aren't already absorbing their fair share of the homeless at the Salvation Army shelter, literally a few blocks away. What the hell Cynthia Mathews? Way to sell out your neighbors."

"This past Tuesday, the Santa Cruz city council decided it was a good idea to move our self perpetuating dumpster fire (also known as Camp Bernal) to a parking lot next to Depot Park. Honestly, I don’t have the patience to list all the various reasons this is all kinds of stupid..."

His reaction has been hateful, but full of irony.

"Ben Dover" is the pen name of Steve Schlicht, who as recently as 2015 was listed as the communications director of Take Back Santa Cruz on their website. Schlicht also designed at least one of city council member Cynthia Mathews' campaign websites.

Using his real name, Steve Schlicht served for a short period of time on the Santa Cruz Public Safety Task Force, which was a public commission in the City of Santa Cruz. Schlicht is probably best known locally for the statement he made during his time on the task force that he was "fine with junkies dying", which became a public scandal reported on by Indybay and the Santa Cruz Weekly.

Following that disaster with public service, Schlicht retreated into anonymity with the "Ben Dover" persona, even going so far as to call himself "Ben" as he reads his written pieces on the new Santa Mierda podcasts.

In addition to using the Ben Dover persona, Steve Schlicht is also using his real name to oppose the new downtown homeless camp.

"I think the more lawsuits threatened against the city, the more apprehensive the city will get. Two different lawyers have given me indications a lawsuit against the city has legal merit here," he wrote in the Facebook group "Friends of Depot Park Santa Cruz", which was created to oppose the new homeless camp shortly after Tuesday's council meeting.

With this latest advocacy, Schlicht is continuing a pattern where he uses multiple identities to propel his political advocacy, as well as the agenda of Take Back Santa Cruz. Last November Steve Schlicht announced he was working on the city council campaign of self-described "radical republican" Ashley Scontirano. At the same time, he was also endorsing her and talking her up every week as "Ben Dover" through the Santa Mierda blog.

Santa Mierda is a hate blog written not just in support of anti-homelessness, but also gentrification, in the City of Santa Cruz. And now that there will be a homeless camp located in his backyard, we can expect to hear a lot more about it from both "Ben" and Steve.