We Shall Not Be Moved! Homeless advocates & city council members protest Berkeley proposed "sit ban"

[tpsbmam]

http://vimeo.com/45720656

Berkeley, California - Amber, 24, who’s been living on the streets half her life, was sitting on a sunny sidewalk in downtown Berkeley last week, cuddling her three-month-old puppy and talking to a friend. But if voters approve a measure the city council placed on the November ballot, sitting on the sidewalk – after a warning – could cost her 75 dollars.

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Although the council chambers was packed with those opposing the law, the city council, at the end of a dramatic meeting that went past midnight on Jul. 11, approved putting the sit ban to a vote. The proposed ordinance is similar to statutes in Seattle, Washington, Anchorage, Alaska and Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Palo Alto, California. It would ban sitting on the sidewalk in commercial areas between seven a.m. and 10 p.m.

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Once the public speakers queue wound down, the meeting took an unexpected turn when several activists stood up and led the public in the civil rights protest song, “We Shall Not Be Moved.”

The three councilmembers opposing the sit ban joined the sing-along, as the five other councilmembers present left the room. When they returned, in the midst of chaos, the majority voted to place the measure on the ballot.

The rest of this heartbreaking article is at Truthout:
Being Young and Homeless in the US Could Get Even Worse

Damn, we've become a heartless country. Let's starve people, screw the workers 'til they have no resources and end up homeless and then let's make sure they can't sully our precious streets and god forbid people should have to see, hear, have anything to do with "those people." Except they're no longer treated like people......those entities.

[snot]

1. Not to mention the people's right of assembly --

I guess it's only as long as we can stand. Will there be an exception for cripples?