(no subject)
So I guess we won the protest.. kinda..
No one got arrested for criminal trespassing or anything. One girl got arrested on an outstanding warrant which had nothing to do with the protest. Before the cops could come the Unitarian Church decided to allow us to move to their property on the west side. We found out that tent city could still exist around 9pm last night. The woman from the Unitarian church said she was going to talk to the cops to keep them from harrassing us for 24 hours from 7pm yesterday, which would have meant we had until 7pm today.. Plans were made for transportation of the camp and it was to begin at 9am today. Instead the cops showed up at 6am and forced everyone to begin then without any support from the advocates who thought we had until 9am. I happened to be asleep in a van across the street so all of this I had to hear about when I woke up to find the entire camp gone in the morning. I found photographs and info online explaining what happened.
I have some issues with this so called "win".
Okay, people have a place to go, we can all stay together, we can remain independent and keep the vision of the PPU and Camp Quixote.. but we are out of the public's eye! We are no longer centralized. We are displaced from downtown meaning less homeless persons in need will be able to stumble upon the camp and get the help they need. Each person also has to be screened by the Unitarian Church council before becoming a resident of tent city.
We will receive less donations being tucked away behind a church on the webside, it'll be that much more difficult for those with jobs to get to their jobs and those seeking jobs to look for jobs. Bus passes are going to be a must because the camp is all the way out by Deer Run!
I understand that the ultimate goal settled upon is that we will seek to find land to purchase and occupy for our own private tent city open to anyone in need who abides by the four simple rules. Still the same problems arise. Transportation.
Almost all of these people are wanting to transition from being in a hole to being self sustaining citizens.. it's not going to be easy for them having to live so far out of downtown.
I don't even know where this place is. I haven't yet been there. If it wasn't so far away.. I would probably be there right now..
I don't even know if we can consider this a solution either!!
This is a temporary solution and there is a chance that the neighborhood surrounding the new tent city may no longer wish to support the placement...
Also we are to cut off from the media. We are to have no "stragglers" about seemingly doing nothing.. which means what? No visitors either? How about freedom? Freedom to be a community that operates and functions independently and is not ruled by the influence of conservativists who would rather sweep us under a rug before recognizing us as equals.
This is going to come to an end... and what then? There will still be homeless people on the streets of downtown.. will the police give them rides to tent city rather then the jail? And how quickly will we be able to accept these people if they have to first go through a screening and background check from the Church council? Where will they stay while they are in limbo?
This situation doesn't feel comfortable to me at all!
I could continue actually.. with this little rant.. I am seeing so many flaws in this solution with every minute that I spend thinking about it.. and it's exhausting and stressful to me. I want this to work. This isn't a fucking game... and these people at Camp Quixote are genuinely amazing and are very fucking dear to me. I want to see them succeed by whatever definition of success they believe in. I want them to be taken seriously.
I was ready to go to jail for this cause and these people... I am just not having a good feeling about this solution. It doesn't seem sustainable or convenient.. They deserve better.
No one got arrested for criminal trespassing or anything. One girl got arrested on an outstanding warrant which had nothing to do with the protest. Before the cops could come the Unitarian Church decided to allow us to move to their property on the west side. We found out that tent city could still exist around 9pm last night. The woman from the Unitarian church said she was going to talk to the cops to keep them from harrassing us for 24 hours from 7pm yesterday, which would have meant we had until 7pm today.. Plans were made for transportation of the camp and it was to begin at 9am today. Instead the cops showed up at 6am and forced everyone to begin then without any support from the advocates who thought we had until 9am. I happened to be asleep in a van across the street so all of this I had to hear about when I woke up to find the entire camp gone in the morning. I found photographs and info online explaining what happened.
I have some issues with this so called "win".
Okay, people have a place to go, we can all stay together, we can remain independent and keep the vision of the PPU and Camp Quixote.. but we are out of the public's eye! We are no longer centralized. We are displaced from downtown meaning less homeless persons in need will be able to stumble upon the camp and get the help they need. Each person also has to be screened by the Unitarian Church council before becoming a resident of tent city.
We will receive less donations being tucked away behind a church on the webside, it'll be that much more difficult for those with jobs to get to their jobs and those seeking jobs to look for jobs. Bus passes are going to be a must because the camp is all the way out by Deer Run!
I understand that the ultimate goal settled upon is that we will seek to find land to purchase and occupy for our own private tent city open to anyone in need who abides by the four simple rules. Still the same problems arise. Transportation.
Almost all of these people are wanting to transition from being in a hole to being self sustaining citizens.. it's not going to be easy for them having to live so far out of downtown.
I don't even know where this place is. I haven't yet been there. If it wasn't so far away.. I would probably be there right now..
I don't even know if we can consider this a solution either!!
This is a temporary solution and there is a chance that the neighborhood surrounding the new tent city may no longer wish to support the placement...
Also we are to cut off from the media. We are to have no "stragglers" about seemingly doing nothing.. which means what? No visitors either? How about freedom? Freedom to be a community that operates and functions independently and is not ruled by the influence of conservativists who would rather sweep us under a rug before recognizing us as equals.
This is going to come to an end... and what then? There will still be homeless people on the streets of downtown.. will the police give them rides to tent city rather then the jail? And how quickly will we be able to accept these people if they have to first go through a screening and background check from the Church council? Where will they stay while they are in limbo?
This situation doesn't feel comfortable to me at all!
I could continue actually.. with this little rant.. I am seeing so many flaws in this solution with every minute that I spend thinking about it.. and it's exhausting and stressful to me. I want this to work. This isn't a fucking game... and these people at Camp Quixote are genuinely amazing and are very fucking dear to me. I want to see them succeed by whatever definition of success they believe in. I want them to be taken seriously.
I was ready to go to jail for this cause and these people... I am just not having a good feeling about this solution. It doesn't seem sustainable or convenient.. They deserve better.