Here is a video of Alley Valkyrie and John Monroe participating in a Revive Ken Kesey Square event. John is playing the guitar Alley was holding. These two got arrested with Belle Burch, as did Jean Stacey who may be an attorney for SLEEPS. There is a call for “art vendors”. Note how the statue of Ken Kesey is used to promote their cause a sandwhich-board put around his neck. This is defacing a public work of art. A artist displays her work.
Note how Alley says “Yes! Yes! Yes!” like Belle did in my video. Did Belle see this video? Note woman with red OCCUPY ribbon on her hat that is there at the arrest.
I was not approached by a individual, but by a person representing a group that may have known Belle was going to give me a call and set up an appointment. This group WANTS ARTISTS! After I tell Belle Burch what my blog is about, she says;
“We can talk. What’s your number?”
Belle was not taking my number for her personal use, but the use of her extended “family” of activists. She was obligated to tell me she was acting as an agent for a group of people. To not do so, is fraud!
Alley is enjoying her One Woman Downtown Celebration, she going out of her way to make me feel my life is in danger if I go downtown, or, attend a City Hall meeting. This came about when I questioned Belle partying downtown at bars, and perhaps doing so with monies donated to the homeless. Alley is not homeless. She attached herself to the homeless plight and brags about getting laws changed, just for her.
It is obvious Belle has been taking lessons from Alley on how to be Cute & Disorderly while getting to manipulate people with impunity. This cute little pixie never has to grow up. Alley is ‘King of the Planter’ and a female Robin Hood.
Chalk graffiti is harmless. At the Wandering Goat I told Belle how the European Bohemians would put their tables out in the street in defiance of the curfews their conquerors would impose on them. Here was her chance to tell me how she and her “family” do this in Ken Kesey Square. Who is giving these Pixies permission to rip folks off? Jean Stacey looks like an adult, but, I doubt it! They got caught, and they got scared! Case closed!
It’s official. I am very angry! But, then I realize this will put me in the art history books. Both Belle and Alley are – artists! Never in Art History have two artist launched a vicious campaign to utterly destroy the reputation of a fellow artist! This is a milestone in the short history of Women’s Liberation! I think I am going to try to sell a story to a major magazine. ‘Cute and Disorderly’….A New Approach!
Perhaps Playboy would want to do a shoot?
Jon Presco
Kesey Square Revival
May 4, 2012
“You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.”
– Ken Kesey
Reclaim Kesey Square as a place for street artists, entertainers, friends and activists to gather as a community.
Since the breakup of the Washington Jefferson Park occupation site, many of the displaced homeless have been harassed by some within the Eugene Police Department.
They have been unfairly targeted, charged with small crimes, and then told they can’t return to a 20 block area surrounding Kesey Square.
This “Downtown Public Safety Zone” is being used to discriminate against the homeless. Alley Valkyrie demonstrates how easy it is to break these laws, and not get arrested because she doesn’t look homeless.
Join in every Friday, noonish to dusk-ish. Art vendors welome.
Where? Kesey Square, of course, Broadway & Willamette.
Donations
Occupy Eugene asks for your financial support so that we can continue to build coalitions, pressure our elected leaders, and work together to end the inequality and injustices in our community and in our country.
We welcome any level of support and hope that you will give an amount meaningful to you. Donations to Occupy Eugene can be done using the Donate with WePay button, at Oregon Community Credit Union,mailed to PO. Box 744 Eugene, OR 97440, or use the option to direct debit donations from your checking or savings account using the Occupy Eugene Direct Debit logo.
http://www.opb.org/news/article/revival-on-the-ropes/
On Sunday, April 20, 2014 11:51 AM, Belle Burch wrote:
Yes, those are my hands in the RG. That was the first time I had ever appeared in the news as an activist.
Yes, I got a misdemeanor along with 11 other people for trying to talk to a silent and (cowardly) hiding John RUIZ.
I LOVE Crouching Tiger. It’s one of my favorites. The scene where the two young warrior lovers are in the bath together in the desert is my favorite part I think.
Is Bohemian a language as well as a place? Or are you referring to Romani? Was Romani the language that was spoken in Bohemia?
I’d like to hear more of your personal life story. “When I got sober”, “When I was homeless”, “When I was fighting cancer”……. these are words you drop and then let flit by without much detail or explanation or storytelling. I want those details and stories. Please.
Tell me what you thought of my poem. Did it make you feel anything? Did it make you think? If so, what?
On Sat, Apr 19, 2014 at 10:27 PM, John Ambrose wrote:
O.K. Belle, the only one that made me chuckle a dozen good times after a date. My mother wanted my name to be spelled JON. A nurse put an H in it and that’s how it appears on my birth certificate. Rosemary was furious and started calling me GREG. My father called me GREGORY, because that is how my middle name is spelled. When I got sober, I recovered JON.
Now to AMBROSE which is also AMBROSIUS. In Bohemian this name is spelled BRASKEWITZ, as I told you. Now I wanted a pen name as a writer JON AMBROSE. In PRESCO there is also a ROSE.
Now, to you, mystery hands with message! Are those your hands in the RG? Did you get arrested confronting JON REUZ, who returned my call just after we met. I just watched the movie Croutching Tiger.
On Saturday, April 19, 2014 9:34 PM, Belle Burch wrote:
Hey Jon,
It’s Belle. Still wondering if you’re real. Thank you again for the bike. Let’s set up a time for me to do some modeling. Thurs and Fri are possibilities for me.
By the way, Why “John Ambrose”? Is that your middle name? Nom de plume? Highly synchronistic, as my current partner’s legal first name is Ambrose. I’m very curious about this.
Also, I thought you preferred to spell your name without the “h”?
Here’s the poem I said I’d send you.
Haven’t read any of your emails yet, will get to that soon.
Untitled
Last night I fell
asleep in a tent on the concrete
in front of city hall
to the sounds of a quiet radio-
some show about the Bermuda Triangle.
How things, people
disappear there.
Whether or not it exists.
Interviews with people
who believed in it,
interviews with people
who didn’t. Its history.
Amelia Earhart. (Airheart?)
It seemed to go on
for centuries.
There are people out there
who don’t have state IDs, passports,
birth certificates,
social security numbers,
who technically
legally
don’t exist.
The faeries who put people
to sleep for 100 years must live there
in that West Atlantic Vortex.
I got lost in it,
like Rip Van Winkle*,
and woke
to a changed world.
I texted a lover in New Orleans,
‘I’m stuffing almonds into a banana,
around my neck is a red bandana
and I love you.’ It was all true.
I walked through what is known
in Eugene as the Barmuda Triangle,
the magical trine of Luckey’s,
Horsehead and Jameson’s downtown.
If you order food at Jameson’s,
it gets run across the street
from Horsehead.
Luckey’s has the best pool tables,
and a fantastic little Mexican foodcart lovechild
that only accepts cash.
At the Horsehead,
there is a touch screen machine
where you get to choose
what music is being played.
You pay money for this privilege.
If you pay more money,
your songs get played
first.
This is a triangle
you can only get lost in
if you’re a real person.
* bandana around my eyes to keep the
blazing orange streetlights out
On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 6:34 PM, John Ambrose wrote:
Dear Belle
Our café experience was better then ‘My Dinner With Andre’. It was a very creative happening!
Here are some posts you might be interested in. My ancestor was the Master of the Falcon Art College in Holland, and a member of the Swan Brethren. He used a rose to sign his name. Here are photos of me when I was 26 in my sister’s studio. There is an energy field around me. I am 24 in the photo of me in blog ‘defying mafia’.
If you want a character reference, call Marilyn, the woman who was my first girlfriend. We are still close today.
Your friend
Jon
P.S. nothing in the blog is true.
Rosamond Publishing
Alley’s post on Kitty Piercy’s wall.
“This man’s name is John Gregory Presco, DOB 10/8/1946. He lives in Springfield, Oregon.
He frequents Eugene, especially the Whiteaker neighborhood, and regularly shows up at activist events. He is a stalker, a harasser, and an obsessed de…lusional sicko.
If you need a concrete example of his behavior and why I am posting this, his delusional writings can be found at https://rosamondpress.wordpress.com/
If you see him in your neighborhood, on the street, or anywhere, call him out. Expose him. Make it known that you will not accept and tolerate someone who harasses and obsesses over young women in our community. This man is a very sick individual. Anyone who deliberately makes women feel unsafe should not be tolerated in this or any community.
On Saturday, April 19, 2014 9:41 PM, Belle Burch wrote:
Hell yes I want to see a dance show on Broadway. I’ve always wanted to see a Broadway show. I’ve been in NYC twice but failed both times to get overpriced tickets to any Broadway shows enough in advance to make one. Why do you ask?
12 Cited for Criminal Trespass After Refusing to Leave City Manager’s Office After Hours
This afternoon, a group of people staged a sit-in at the City Manager’s Office and refused to leave. At 5 p.m., they were advised the office was closed and they indicated their intention to stay. At 5:45 p.m., the group was informed that they would be subject to Criminal Trespass charges if they didn’t leave. Twelve people were cited in lieu of custody and released.
The group was demanding to meet with the city manager regarding homeless issues recently discussed or ruled on by council, outside a council setting. The city manager’s delegate on this issue, Deputy Chief Joe Zaludek, came to the office to meet with them but they did not accept that offer.
Last week, on March 26, the City of Eugene re-posted notices that property is not open to the public and that the clearing and clean-up of the area would begin after April 1. The City Council has directed that the site be closed no later than April 15.
The City’s goal has been for people to leave the site voluntarily and to get connected with the services they need to find safe and legal shelter. The City is coordinating with a number of local social service agencies to help people transition from the camp.
The City Council and City staff have been working to help develop options. There are now two rest stops open – at Garfield and Roosevelt, and Northwest Expressway and Chambers – that are being managed by Community Supported Shelters. The City is continuing to work with community partners to open a third site and hopes to have a signed agreement with a volunteer site manager in the next few days.
Cited and Released were:
1. Bollman, Aurthur Frank 12/31/63 Eugene Trespass II
2. Burch, Belle Erin 11/21/90 No Address Trespass II
3. Shepard, Helen Marie 07/12/85 Eugene Trespass II
4. Monroe, John Lee 11/06/85 Eugene Trespass II
5. Smith, Charles Anderson 11/08/50 Springfield Trespass II
6. Williams, Terra Renee 02/24/88 Eugene Trespass II
7. Marcroft, Sabra Marie 05/15/66 Eugene Trespass II
8. Stacey, Jean Anderson 08/23/45 No Address Trespass II
9. Valkrie, Alley NMI 12/20/81 Eugene Trespass II
10. Wales, Geran Straford 09/15/90 Eugene Trespass II
11. Holtham-Keathley, Ambrose Stormrider 02/06/92 Eugene Trespass II
12. Grotticelli, Peter David 07/16/88 Eugene Trespass II
On May 27 the Eugene Police Department brought the City Council a proposal to close Kesey Square between 11 pm and 6 am, a move that some say is targeting the homeless population. Kesey Square, aka Broadway Plaza, is a city-deemed performance space that sits on the corner of Broadway and Willamette, home to the bronze statue of Ken Kesey. The City Council has not scheduled a vote.
Civil Liberties Defense Center attorney Lauren Regan says the proposal to close the public square is repugnant in the face of the human rights image touted by the city of Eugene.
“It’s incredibly classist and discriminatory based on income and status, and I think we gave up those types of policies 100-plus years ago,” Regan says.
Homeless rights advocate Alley Valkyrie says there is already a lack of public space for the unhoused downtown.
“What downtown Eugene needs are bathrooms, benches and more open spaces,” Valkyrie says.
She says the ordinance changes will stir more resentment between businesses and the transient population. “The only reason they’re there in the first place is because after park curfew there’s nowhere else legal for them to be, and now we’re going to kick them out of the last place that they’re allowed to be,” Valkyrie says. “Where are they supposed to go?”
Police Chief Pete Kerns says the businesses near the public plaza want it closed at night. He says food cart equipment is often broken and stolen.
“Anyone who walks across the plaza won’t be — it doesn’t affect them,” Kerns says. “It’s the people that want to park there and get in fights and drink and camp there overnight.”
Tom Kamis, owner of The Davis on the corner of Broadway and Olive, estimates that a large fight happens once a week outside of his restaurant. “The fighting, I think, is going on a lot more in back alleys,” Kamis says.
Valkyrie says she noticed more problems coming from the college-age crowd than the unhoused when she was living on 10th Avenue and Lincoln Street. She says she believes the police largely ignore their behavior because they spend money downtown.
“Public space is public,” Valkyrie says. “We should not be excusing the behavior that comes from people who spend money and then scapegoating those who have no money.”
Regan says enforcing this ordinance would cost taxpayers money and ensure that police will continue to get the largest chunk of the city’s municipal budget.
“People will qualify for court-appointed lawyers based on the fact that they have no income and there are no other places for them to seek shelter in Eugene,” Regan says.
Citations for being in Kesey Square between 11 pm and 6 am could amount in fines as high as $500 on the first offense and $1,000 and one year in jail for subsequent violations. Kerns says he expects the council to take action on the ordinance by the end of June.
The proposal also prohibits unlicensed dogs from the downtown activity zone, which covers the area between Sixth and 11th avenues and High and Lincoln streets.
“Neither proposal addresses the sources of homelessness or contributes to a solution,” Eugene Human Rights Commission member Ken Neubeck says. “Carrying these proposals out will utilize staff time and financial resources that could be far better used by police in the prevention and pursuit of more serious crimes perpetrated on the housed and unhoused.”
Friday, April 5, 2013
A vibrant public space is essential to a healthy city center, and Downtown Eugene lacks a functional and frequented commons. Kesey Square, at the corner of Broadway and Willamette Streets, is publicly owned and centrally located downtown, but it has long been a neglected and underutilized plaza. Originally furnished with elevated terrace seating, and in later with years tables and chairs, it has stood bare for several years now. The seating in Kesey Square was removed by city staff, as were nearly all the benches throughout downtown, at the request of local business and property owners. The theory was that removing benches would discourage the homeless and transient population, especially street youth, from congregating in the square and throughout downtown.
Kesey Square stands nearly empty in the fall of 2011
Those populations have not left, and are still the subject of complaints and controversy. Removing all seating has not only failed in discouraging people from hanging out, but it has arguably exacerbated the problem. Not only do they still sit, but for lack of designated seating they sit anywhere and everywhere, especially in Kesey Square. People are often strewn about all over the ground throughout the square, surrounded by their belongings and interfering with pedestrian traffic. Those who live and work downtown often avoid walking through Kesey Square.
Street youth hang out in Kesey Square because they have nowhere else to go. Kesey Square is not designated a city park, and is therefore not governed by a 11pm curfew, which makes Kesey Square the only public space downtown where people are allowed to congregate 24-7. Some of the youth who are fixtures in Kesey Square have been excluded from city parks by the police, others have been excluded from the library and/or the LTD station, and Kesey Square is literally the only place downtown they are allowed to “be”.
In addition to removing the seating, the City of Eugene has employed several strategies in recent years in order to discourage youth and transients from hanging out. In June of 2010, the City launched a “Food Cart Pod” in Kesey Square with five food carts in the hopes that commerce would drive out the “undesirables”. However, a lack of customer traffic resulted in flat sales, and by the end of the summer, only one food cart remained. Other food carts came and went, but by the summer of 2011 there were only one or two food carts that set up with any regularity in Kesey Square, and only for a few hours each day, a few days a week. Other than that, the square usually stood empty save for the street kids, often sprawled out playing card games on the ground.
Those with nowhere else to go hanging out in Kesey Square
The weekly gathering that became the Kesey Square Revival emerged from a collective vision of what a common space in downtown Eugene could (and should) look like. A public plaza should be alive and thriving, with people eating lunch, making music, reading, playing chess, and meeting with friends. And as Ken Kesey himself once said, “You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go. You lead by going to that place and making a case.” We decided to manifest this vision.
On a beautiful Friday afternoon in early 2012, approximately fifty people spontaneously appeared in Kesey Square, bringing tables, chairs, board games, free food, music, street theater, and chalk art. We spent the afternoon interacting with the community, creating a space that was welcoming to everyone, whether housed, unhoused, or somewhere in between. The response to our presence was overwhelmingly positive, and as a result, we gathered at Kesey almost every Friday during the warm months of 2012.
Kesey Square Revival, February 3, 2012
We spent the year continually focused on integrating the downtown population as a whole and creating vibrant public space that focuses on community inclusion, positive energy, economic revitalization, and free expression. We attracted workers on their lunch break, neighborhood residents who were out for a walk, and random passersby who stopped simply based on the fact that something was going on in Kesey Square. We drew a mixed community into the square and created a positive atmosphere. The same people who came to play chess and chat with friends also wanted to eat lunch in the square, and the two food carts benefited from our presence on Fridays.
Seniors playing Scrabble in Kesey Square
And during the course of that year, we watched as the corner of Broadway and Willamette transformed before our eyes. An arcade opened, and then a hip coffee shop. A movie theater and a pizza parlor were rumored to be in the works, rumors which have since been confirmed. The new LCC building rose from the ground a block away. Office workers were suddenly going in and out of the Woolworth Building and the Broadway Commerce Center. The signs of revitalization were stark and impressive.
However, we also noticed something else over the course of that year from the corner of Broadway and Willamette: an increased police presence, both bicycle and patrol officers who spent much of their time downtown engaging in patterns of harassment towards the “undesirables” downtown and enforcing ordinances intended to criminalize homelessness. We watched every Friday as the police harassed, cited, and sometimes even arrested the young and unhoused for “crimes” such as sitting on a planter, leaning against a building, sitting on the sidewalk, or failing to cross the street at a right angle.
We watched as the “Downtown Guides” regularly approached groups of young people, obviously based on their appearance, and forced them to “move along” when their only “offense” was congregating in public space. We noted that this enforcement was increasing as more businesses opened downtown, and we predicted that one of the effects of “revitalization” would be an intensified push to drive the “undesirables” from public space downtown. In November, the Kesey Square Revival decided to take the winter off, with the intention of gathering every Friday again come early spring, but downtown activists associated with the Kesey Square Revival maintained a connection with the square throughout the winter, further observing both signs of revitalization and oppression.
Police and Downtown Guides in Kesey Square, September 2012. Officer Ellis drove the car into the square to scare away the homeless, and then hung out in the square with his car running for the next two hours in order to intimidate.
A few months ago, the City relaunched the Food Cart Pod in Kesey Square with four food carts. And a few weeks later, Kesey Square Revival officially started up again. We immediately noticed that not only were we not the only people in the square, but the square was quite crowded with commercial activity. There were people sitting at tables provided by the food cart vendors, and others waiting on line for food. We did not have room for the tables and chairs that we usually set up for the community due to the tables and chairs provided for the food carts. There were plenty of places for the customers to sit, but no space left for the rest of community to sit.
When we returned the following Friday, we came upon the same scene. Tables and chairs set out for customers, people eating in the square, and little room for any other activities. In the meantime, community activists were planning events in the square on Fridays that coincided with the Revival and added to the crowd. On one Friday in early March, an anti-NDAA march proceeded to the square, with protesters in costumes that inevitably conflicted with the flow lunch crowd. When activists who were part of Nuclear Justice week arrived at Kesey Square on a beautiful Friday a week later to do tabling and outreach during lunchtime, the food cart owners could not hide their frustration. The conflict was obvious, and we had a feeling what was coming.
And sure enough, a few weeks later I was approached by one of the food cart vendors, who very politely but firmly let me know that the presence of the Kesey Square Revival was hurting the food cart sales, and that they would appreciate it if we didn’t encourage people to come down to the square on Fridays. He referenced a group who was tabling for nuclear justice and a lunchtime granola giveaway as examples of what was hurting their business. He pointed out that in such a small square, it was hard for them to operate with our presence.
On one hand, it’s a great sign for commerce that there are finally enough people downtown during the lunch hour to sustain four food carts in a plaza. As a former part-owner of a food cart some years back that did not succeed downtown due to lack of business, I know full well how hard it is out there and I’m glad that the food carts in Kesey Square are enjoying success. They deserve it. But their prosperity is unfortunately directly connected to the City’s agenda of pushing the homeless out of downtown and inevitably has a detrimental effect on all who spend time downtown.
By successfully establishing four food carts in a plaza that’s less than a thousand square feet in area , they City has effectively taken the space away from the people as a commons. Kesey Square is the sole public plaza in downtown Eugene, and now it is crowded with food carts, with no room left for those engaged in non-commercial activities. Not only does this affect the downtown homeless and youth population, which already has nowhere to go, but it affects anyone who wishes to gather in Kesey to play chess, table or rally for a political cause, display or sell art, or just meet with friends. The food carts are not at fault. The City of Eugene is at fault, both for this decision as well as for years’ worth of decisions regarding public space downtown that have been detrimental to the overall population.
Public space is for everyone, a fundamental concept that both City officials as well as the downtown property and business owners don’t seem to understand or care about. For years, both public and private interests have waged a war against the homeless downtown, criminalizing their existence and systematically pushing them from public space. In this case, in order to drive out those who the businesses consider undesirable, the city has commercialized Kesey Square at the expense of the overall population. The City talks about their role in “balancing the interests” between the business owners and the homeless, but not only does the City not seem to recognize that human rights ALWAYS outweigh economic interest, but any attempt of “balancing” on their part seems to weigh heavily in favor of the businesses. The commercialization of Kesey is a not only a significant loss (and abuse) of common space, but it signifies a renewed effort on the part of the City to “clean up” public spaces downtown, presumably to encourage further commercial revitalization.
We have been caught in the crosshairs of this effort, and while our instinct is to dig our heels in and exercise our First Amendment right to public space, in reality the situation requires a different approach. We wish to develop and retain positive relationships with those who work downtown, especially the food cart owners, and we don’t want to gather in Kesey Square if our presence directly interferes with their business. Additionally we refuse to allow the City to pit us against the food carts in a political fight, which would further distract us from our true goals. For this reason, the Kesey Square Revival will no longer take place until further notice.
Instead, we will spend the next several months focused on an even greater concern in terms of Kesey Square and the City’s attempts to push the homeless from public space. According to reliable sources, the City of Eugene intends on designating Kesey Square a city park within the next few months. Kesey Square is currently a 24-hour public plaza and is not under control of the Parks Department, and is the only public place downtown where people can congregate after 11pm. By designating Kesey Square a park, not only will the City of Eugene will be able to impose a 11pm curfew, but the police will have the power to cite people for violating park rules in Kesey, which means that many minor offenses that are currently only violations under city code will become arrestable offenses that are charged as misdemeanors in Kesey Square. Police will also have the power to exclude those who violate any park rules in Kesey Square through the use of a park restriction. Park restrictions apply to all city parks, not just the park where the violation took place.
Downtown Eugene has no shelters, no benches, and no public spaces that one can congregate in 24-hours a day other than Kesey Square. If a curfew is imposed on Kesey Square, there will literally be nowhere left to go at night. Nowhere. Nowhere to sit down, to take a rest. Being homeless after 11pm will essentially be illegal ANYWHERE in downtown Eugene. Not just camping, not just sleeping. EXISTING.
40 years ago, Eugene was a sundown town, an important part of this city’s past that many are uncomfortable to speak of. African-Americans were not allowed in the city limits after nightfall, forcing them to the outskirts of town under threat of harassment or violence. As it already stands currently, there is a near-sundown effect in Eugene today as it concerns the homeless, given that there are there are no shelters, no benches, sitting under an awning is an arrestable offense, leaning against a planter or a building can also land you a night in jail, and all parks have a 11pm curfew. Cutting off access to Kesey Square only further cements the sundown effect, making it abundantly clear to the unhoused that they are not welcome anywhere in town at night.
To take away the last public space where those who are homeless can congregate 24 hours a day is to repeat the same bigoted patterns of behavior that defined this city for nearly a century. In viewing the current actions of both the business interests and City officials through the lens of history, we see the continuation of a sociological mindset that fears and targets the “other”, a mindset that with the exception of the specified target, remains essentially unchanged from the ideals that drove the beliefs and actions of our forefathers, beliefs and actions that we consider to be shameful by modern standards.
I am confident that future generations who look back will see the actions towards the homeless to be as bigoted and shameful as most view Eugene’s past as it concerns African-Americans. In the meantime, however, those behind the Kesey Square Revival refuse to let the City further exclude the homeless from public spaces without a community-based response. Our belief that public space is for everyone is why we first gathered at Kesey in the first place, and while we have now retreated from that space as a weekly gathering, it is only in order to focus our energies on the larger picture of preserving Kesey Square for use by everyone, any time of day.
We will be fighting and publicly campaigning against the City’s plan to designate Kesey Square as a park. We will not allow the City to slip this through quietly and covertly, as is their intention. We will be researching the legalities behind this move, in an attempt to learn what kind of public input or public control (if any) there is over the process, and how to prevent or appeal such a move. We will be publicizing the issue and raising awareness about the intentions and consequences should the City succeed in their efforts. And we invite anyone who shares our concerns to join us in this fight. And if the city does manage to take Kesey away from the people despite our efforts, we’ll meet you in the streets for a summer of civil disobedience.
http://www.opb.org/news/article/revival-on-the-ropes/
The Sanctuary at the Fairgrounds
(This is a letter I sent to Mayor Piercy and the City Council on August 29th. Given that the “Whoville” camp is back at the fairgrounds, I realized that its still quite relevant and should be shared.)
Greetings, Mayor and Council,
While everyone has been concentrating on the current controversy that is the Free Speech Plaza, I wish to momentarily draw your attention to the southeast corner of 13th and Adams.
For the past four days, a small row of tents has been set up on a median strip in front of the Lane County Fairgrounds, on County property. They are a SLEEPS-affiliated group of homeless people who are there to protest the camping ban and declare their right to sleep, but they have also been specifically enacting and demonstrating a community living model quite similar to the “rest stops” that the Council has proposed.
They have deliberately set up in a residential neighborhood in order to defy the stereotypes associated with the homeless and to show that they can live peacefully, cleanly, and safely in our community. They have won the support of a large majority of the neighbors, to the extent where KEZI knocked on the doors of several houses looking for someone to speak out against it, and could not find a single person. I have personally witnessed several neighbors come by to show their support, bring them food, and offer their assistance. The only concern expressed by the neighbors was regarding sanitation, and a porta-potty was brought in to assuage these concerns. The protest camp is spotless, military-clean, and police will confirm that there has not been a single incident that has warranted law enforcement action.
Among the dozen or so people there are at least two homeless veterans, one who fought in the most recent Gulf War. There are women there who have chosen to be a part of that community specifically because they fear for their safety on the street. One of the other men who is camped there used to work at LCC in the same department as Councilor Evans. Another older man is there who worked every day of his adult life until he was hit by a car three years ago. He uses a walker and is in constant chronic pain. He has applied for disability twice and has been denied.
As I write this, they are set to be cited for prohibited camping in a few hours. The Mission is full, and there is literally nowhere else for them to go. Two federal courts have ruled that citing homeless people for sleeping when there is no shelter is unconstitutional, and yet I have no doubt the citations will be issued as usual. They are prepared to be cited, to plead not guilty, and fight the charges at trial. They also fully intend to reform their camp on another parcel of public land soon after they are cited, knowing full well that they will be cited again and again.
Meanwhile, over the past month, not only has BLM swept over 200 people from the wetlands, but EPD and LCSO have conducted coordinated sweeps of the riverbanks and other city parkland. There are literally hundreds of people who no longer have anywhere to hide, nowhere to be, nowhere to go. What is occurring in Eugene right now is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis, and I don’t say that lightly. These are people, just like you and me, who are literally being denied the right to exist. I ask you to think long and hard about what that really means. They are literally being denied the right to exist, in a city that prides itself as a “human rights city”.
What you need to understand about the current SLEEPS protests is that this is a completely different scenario than either Occupy or the first incarnation of SLEEPS. Both of those prior efforts were initiated by housed activists, with the aim of securing rights for those who are unhoused. The current SLEEPS protests, on the other hand, were initiated by homeless folks themselves as a direct response to being evicted from the wetlands and other places. While myself and several other housed activists have been assisting the protesters, we are only in advisory roles this time around. The homeless are running this show, bar none.
Their movement is expanding by the day… people I’ve never even met before are coming out of the woodwork, willing to place themselves in the public eye and be cited for prohibited camping. In my nearly six years of interacting with the homeless in Eugene, never have I seen such anger, such despair, and such a willingness to engage in active resistance. Right now there are three SLEEPS camps, a fourth will most likely form tomorrow, and from what I am told that number will grow in the next several days. These folks have simply had enough. They are done with being treated as less than human, they are done with their fundamental rights being violated, and they are done with hiding in the shadows. Nobody “wants” to be camped out in the Free Speech Plaza. They are there because there is nowhere else to go. They are no longer willing to hide and no longer willing to be oppressed. They are willing, on the other hand, to remain in the public eye, to be cited again and again, and to clog the courts for months. Such a scenario is not only a waste of time and resources on behalf of both parties, but will most likely eventually result in a federal lawsuit that could easily have been avoided.
Last April, homeless activists were hopeful that the Council would set aside legal camping places that would allow the countless numbers of homeless people in our community to safely sleep at night. Since then, the proposal has dwindled from many sites to only one, in which people will have to pack up every morning, and where there will apparently be no sanitation. From the perspective of an activist, I feel that you have backpedaled due to pushback from the community, and that the fundamental issue at hand is no longer in focus. But I can tell you that while I am experiencing frustration and disappointment, my emotions are nothing compared to what those on the streets are expressing, which is nothing short of pure rage. It is a legitimate rage which I honor in its truth and power, and a rage that I notice is deepening with every day that goes by.
Back to 13th and Adams. Your “rest stop” not only already exists, but it’s already serving a critical need for a dozen of the most vulnerable members of our community. It isn’t costing you a penny. It isn’t hurting anyone. It is not only well-executed and functional, it stands as a strong testament to the fact that homeless people can indeed conduct themselves respectfully in a residential neighborhood. It stands as an example to the community that they do not have to fear the homeless, that they are not all drunks, criminals, and freeloaders. It effectively reflects the fact that the stereotypes and misunderstandings that so many in this community hold towards the homeless are just that: stereotypes and misunderstandings.
I feel right now that the city, the county, and the homeless are standing at a vital crossroads. I see a pressing humanitarian situation that has hit a critical peak and may possibly turn quite ugly in the coming months. I also seen an opportunity for the city to be on the right side of history, even if the county chooses a different path.
The campers at 13th and Adams will be cited at sunrise, but will then have 24 hours to vacate and will most likely be there until late morning. I cannot encourage you enough to go down there this morning, meet them, talk to them, look at their site, see what they have created, and get to know them. And after you do that, I ask that you act with the courage of your convictions and grant them sanctuary somewhere on public land within the city limits, at least on a temporary basis until the humanitarian crisis that is on your hands can be properly dealt with.
The Geneva Conventions declare sleep deprivation to be a method of torture, and denying a person sleep is expressly forbidden in the treatment of prisoners of war. Consider the fact that there are multiple veterans of American wars, homeless and on the streets in this very town, who currently have less protection under their local government in regards to the right to sleep than they would under the Geneva Conventions were they being held captive in a foreign and hostile country.
Sleeping is a human right. Please, let the homeless sleep.
Respectfully,
Alley Valkyrie
Rosamond Press 
Leave a comment