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Sunday, May 19, 2013
Safe Ground Jubilee rallies for homeless rights
by Elizabeth Orfin, published on September 15, 2011 at 4:06 PM
Storyline: Little Free Library
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Despite the 90-degree weather, more than 300 people came together at Cesar Chavez Park, located at 924 J St., on Wednesday afternoon to support the second annual Safe Ground Jubilee and its message: That the rights of homeless people must be protected.
“The celebration is about all of the friends from the community that have joined forces with the homeless community,” said Paula Lomazzi, leader of the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee. “We are trying to bring about Safe Ground and just make connections with the homeless people.”
Started in July 2009, Safe Ground is an organization that aims to provide a secure location sanctioned by the city and operated by the residents where the homeless can go to be free from harassment and danger and to access services they need to turn their lives around.
Safe Ground came about when people started to realize community bonds, Lomazzi said. After the tent city was taken down, people needed a place to go. She added that Safe Ground is a vehicle for people who want to help or meet homeless people.
The Jubilee followed the Safe Ground March to support the homeless community. Marchers started from Loaves and Fishes, located at 1321 North C St, and walked or biked to Cesar Chavez Park.
The Jubilee had several guest speakers discussing topics pertaining to homeless people’s current situation.
Guest speakers included Council members Jay Schenirer and Angelique Ashby.
“We know that there are challenges out there, and we know that winter is coming,” Schenirer said. “We have to do two things: We have to find a place that you can call your own this winter, and we have to find, as we’re working on now, a permanent home for Safe Ground.”
Schenirer said that his and Ashby’s commitment is that by the time the weather changes, homeless people will have a place that they can call their own for this winter.
Other speakers included Colin Bailey, an attorney with Legal Services of California, speaking on the state’s responsibilities and his feelings on its current inability to help all citizens. Sonny Iverson, lead outreach advocate at the Wind Youth Center, spoke about the lack of resources for transition-age youth, such as shelters. Debra Reiger, chairwoman of the Sacramento County Chapter of the ACLU, discussed the civil liberties of homeless people.
“We’re concerned that people are not being given their rights,” Reiger said. “They have the rights to not be hassled, to not be chased away.”
“Safe Ground is a positive thing that Sacramento needs … and we’re long overdue,” said Jeanie Williams, spokeswoman for Safe Ground. “We need to let people know that homelessness is a real problem and people have to stop being blind to it. The homeless are people too. They have needs too. We all have our rights, and people shouldn’t have to worry about where they’re going to sleep that night or where they’re going to eat that day.”
Lomazzi said that this year’s jubilee had more information tables for those in need or for those curious about how to alleviate the situation.
Tables included Women’s Empowerment, an organization providing women with the help to secure a self-reliant life. Wheels for Work had information on job search and resume training services that they provide, and the ACLU’s table had information about the rights of the homeless people.
Marcelino Medina, a man homeless for three years, said he attended the Safe Ground march that preceded the jubilee and went to Cesar Chavez Park to support Safe Ground.
“There were about 100 people on the march,” Medina said. “Safe Ground provides a feeling of safety. I can get a good night’s rest and a place to cook, so I wanted to show my support.”
Medina said he heard about Safe Ground by seeing the difference it made in others, so he looked into the program.
“I can’t work because of back problems,” Medina added. “I receive $190 in food stamps and $134 in cash aid. That’s way below the poverty level. That’s my reason for being in a tent.”
Even with such hardships, all around the park people lounged in the shade, listening to the bands and holding signs to show their support.
Harmony brought the crowd together with its deep lyrics sung a cappella. The three-man group held the crowd’s attention as members swayed to the words, “Something got a hold of me.”
Miracle followed, the rap group’s strong presence and blaring sound presenting a stark contrast to Harmony’s soft sound. Miracle brought more people to the stage area, their style reaching out to a broader audience.
Pinkie and Blind Resistance stole the crowd. Members of the audience yelled to Pinkie to really let it go.
“You want me to get deep, do ya?” she asked the crowd. Pinkie gave the crowd a single soulful note that she took to the sky, her blues style stirring the audience into movement. The crowd got up and danced as she clapped her hands, and the guitarist pounded away at his guitar, building the tempo until Pinkie sang of life and love.
The Safe Ground Jubilee is to bring people together,” Lomazzi said, “and the jubilee is an event to cross the divide between these two communities.”
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2. Because if they did open their homes up to these poor homeless folk, they would learn some unpleasant facts about some of the homeless that they like to pretend are not true.
And how is your little safeground world treating you these days anyhow?
Not getting treated like a criminal and being harassed w/criminal charges for having to go to the bathroom, or threatened w/charges of illegal camping when you lay down to sleep, I presume?
No, your not. And I'm sure its because your a HARD WORKING citizen who NEVER lies and cheats on his taxes, and you EARN an HONEST living, always doing what is right and necessary to ensure security from poverty so as not to end up like those "worthless bums"..
..I wouldn't bet on it
And yes, you can bet on it, Sonny. Most of us are earning an honest living, at least until your friends in the government turn us into outlaws.
Some of the rich with homes are a mess!!!
Have you seen the documentary out about the current economic meltdown and how it was all caused by a handful of scumbags who made HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF $$$ ripping the entire country off?!! Its called 'Inside Job'.
Talk about slave to addictions, mental illness and potential violence. You need to watch that documentary. THAT is a simple fact.
And YOU can bet on that 'Curmudgeon', none of those crooks 'honestly earned' those hundreds of millions of dollars they magically walked away with. For some reason, I image you much like one of those scumbags, a crook in a business suit, claiming to be an honest man earning an honest living.
I aint buyin it dood.
Proof again, you have no idea @ all what your talking about at all. How amazing, that you can talk like an expert but continue to be wrong across the board.
The reason that you don't know what your talking about is simple. You have no interest in whats REALLY going on with these issues. You only have interest in manipulating the facts to support your self centered plans and devices.
So just consider for a moment why the Bum Camper movement... err SafeGround... doesn't bother to march in front of the city halls of Roseville, Rocklin, Rancho Cordova, Folsom, Elk Grove or West Sacramento.
In fact, their march last week didn't even both to swing by the Sac County Board of Supervisors office at 7 & H, which arguably would be the "go to" entity for a regional issue such as this.
One can only conclude that the Bum Camper Movement has correctly identified the mushy-headed Sacramento City Council as the most easily influenced target in the region for this kind of nonsense.
I don't see advocating for the rights of people, whether they be homeless, lower, middle, upper class, or whatever, as nonsense.
What you fail to see cogmeyer, and those like you, is that you and your kind are the ones who live in the 'safe ground' or 'bum camp'. You have that safe little place where you lounge around, working half measures while claiming to be 'hard working'.
If cogmeyer and those like him were faced with illegal camping violations upon arriving at home, or threatened by the police w/indecent exposure charges for urinating in the bathroom at his 'safeground' the world would NEVER hear the end of how terribly he was treated, how his/their rights were violated etc... etc... It would go down in history!
Most of you have a 'safeground', no matter what you call it, its the same thing. A place where you can sleep w/out threat of being in violation of the law, a place where you can go to the bathroom w/out threat of being in violation of the law, and a place to be w/out the threat of being in violation of the law.
YOU have that. They do not. The question that begs to be answered is, do you and those like you, REALLY deserve it, as you seemingly claim, more than the ones who are going without?
I would not be suprised if the answer to that question turned out to be a big fat NO..
Gee, if we don't meet the mortgage or rent obligations, we *are* faced with that. Your mixture of self-pity and arrogance is striking.
"The question that begs to be answered is, do you and those like you, REALLY deserve it, as you seemingly claim, more than the ones who are going without?"
Yes, we do. Try to take it from us and we will make you suffer, although not as much as your friends in the government try to make us suffer for defending our selves and our homes and our property.
Americans came here and took the land from the Indians, however long ago, before there ever was ownership of the land.
White people pushed Indians onto 'reservations' and literally stole the land from them.
It makes me ashamed to be a white person.
Its not your land, and it never was. You live in an illusion that you deserve the rights you have, and that homeless do not.
It will be a hard lesson for you, when you have to come to terms with the fact that you are no better than the poor and homeless..and that they deserve a place to sleep, and a place to pee, and a place to be, as much as you or anyone else..i just doubt you have the capacity to accept that sad sad reality...
You cant have something taken from you if it was never rightfully in your possession to begin with.
Just as you cannot transmit something you do not have. So stop trying to transmit this pseudo knowledge of what its like to be homeless. You don't have a clue. Don't you understand that?
So if you don't meet your mortgage etc.. etc.. Oh poor Curmudgeon.
Is that your cry of how much harder you work than the homeless and poor? sounds like your struggles as difficult as the homeless!! Maybe you have more in common with them then you think!
Ive been where they are at, and Ive been where you are at. I can testify from experience(of which you do not have, I might add), that they have a more difficult struggle than you buddy. Sorry. Your not the martyr here. If anyone is, its them.
They are working harder than you, and you are crying that, because you supposedly work hard and they do not, they deserve the hardships they face. I would love to agree, because then I could just forget about the whole thing and join your cynical little committee and giggle and laugh about how those stupid homeless people think they're rights are being violated when they aren't..
I know better, and you do not. you have no place here. Why not go somewhere and debate of things that you have knowledge, experience, etc...etc.. All you bring to this is nothing but ignorance and hatred. Others may sit quietly observing, but I wont.
Uh, when have I ever claimed that? Other than knowledge of those who approach me when I am on my way to work downtown, of course. Seriously, get lost.
If you don't believe me, go to Folsom or Roseville, or Oklahoma City for that matter and tell the city council that you deserve your own special campground. (cue sound of door slamming)
Yet we have the Sacramento Bum Camping movement who looks at all this charity, spits in it's face, and says that just is not good enough.
The Bum Campers want to recieve charity on THEIR terms. The want the city to give them land and exemptions from the laws. They don't want the inconvenience and restrictiveness of shelters. They want to be able to hang out with their old lady's, and have their dogs around, and want come and go as they please. They want to receive all the charity, but without having to listen to the boring Christian sermons.
The Bum Camper movement should change their name to the Gimme Gimme More movement.
Like I posted before, whether you call it a "Safe Ground", or as I prefer to call it, "A Bum Containment Zone", I think we need to create one.
Unfortunately for the few residents there, it appears that it is the fate of what is euphemistically called "The River District" to be the Safe Ground. With Loaves and Fishes and the Salvation Army there, "The River District" already is.
I propose the area in that vacant triangle formed by 12th Street, 16th Street and Basler Street, become the campground, with perhaps policing around the perimeter area to keep the Safe Ground safe and quiet. Perhaps the former Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, the former Western Pacific Railroad tracks, the American River and 12th Street / Dos Rios Street can form a perimeter area "box".
I wish nothing for you, but this; that As YOU loved cursing, so let it come unto YOU:
as YOU delight not in blessing, so let it be far from YOU.
As YOU clothe YOURSELVES with cursing like as with YOUR garment, so let it come into YOUR bowels like water, and like oil into YOUR bones.
Let it be unto YOU as the garment which covereth YOU, and for a girdle wherewith YOU are girded continually.
Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD,...
If you like, I posted the rest of that Psalm below, in case your curious where you might stand in the eyes of the King James version of 'The Lord', ...
But then I doubt you are God fearing men. Maybe agnostic, or atheist, or Satanist..then again, maybe you do believe in that Christianity rubbish...
Maybe if you learned to read, you might notice that I actually support the idea of a Safe Ground, even though I call it a Bum Containment Zone, because that is what it would ultimately be. Sorry if the truth hurts. But the truth shall set you free....
You don't support safe ground, you support your version of it. Ive read enough of your ramblings to know exactly where you come from. The real bums are people like you.
You speak the truth with a lying tongue. Your statement that you support Safeground is proof of that.
If you do believe in God Curmudgeon, you may want to carefully read and re-read the palms I posted, cuz it looks like you may not be in very good favor of the god depicted therein.
and from those miserable sermons, I learned of a wise little Psalm I would like to dedicate to you...
My response to the 3 losers that cant get enough of condemning the poor;
(A Cry for Vengeance
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.)
1 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise;
2 for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me:
they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred;
and fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries:
but I give myself unto prayer.
5 And they have rewarded me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
6 Set thou a wicked man over him:
and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned:
and let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few;
and let another take his office. Acts 1.20
9 Let his children be fatherless,
and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg:
let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath;
and let the strangers spoil his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him:
neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off;
and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD;
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the LORD continually,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 Because that he remembered not to show mercy,
but persecuted the poor and needy man,
that he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 As he loved cursing,
so let it come unto him:
as he delighted not in blessing,
so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment,
so let it come into his bowels like water,
and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him,
and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD,
and of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name's sake:
because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth:
I am tossed up and down as the locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting;
and my flesh faileth of fatness.
25 I became also a reproach unto them:
when they looked upon me they shook their heads. Mt. 27.39 · Mk. 15.29
26 Help me, O LORD my God:
O save me according to thy mercy:
27 that they may know that this is thy hand;
that thou, LORD, hast done it.
28 Let them curse, but bless thou:
when they arise, let them be ashamed;
but let thy servant rejoice.
29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame;
and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth;
yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor,
to save him from those that condemn his soul.
The Holy Bible: King James Version. 2000.
The Psalms
109
Maybe all five of those thumbs are the same person? Let me guess...the many faces of 'Curmudgeon'.
Us tax paying and charity giving citizens are not your problem Sonny, nor should you expect the City of Sacramento to be your Salvation.
Marching on City Hall to demand land and special laws and to complain about how all the charity your recieve is not good enough, implies that the City is somehow responsible for your lot in life. But a look inward at your own decisions might be a better starting point. Peace Sonny
Cogmeyer; There is an approximate 2month wait to get into any shelter in Sacramento. There are NO transition age shelters for 18-24, and one 12 bed under 18 shelter in Sacramento.
There is NO funding for a winter shelter this year, and because of that, many homeless will freeze to death as a result. All because the mayor would rather use any extra money to build a basketball arena?!! Are you 'f'ing kidding me??!!! And I'm the only person in Sac who sees a problem w/the city official's priorties?
I'm not saying Safe Ground is the answer. But standing up for the rights of the homeless is still needed. There are people out there who deserve a hand up and aren't getting it. There is a lot of good work being done in Sacramento but that doesn't mean more isnt needed.
Lets just not be resentful because the Psalms 109 reflects poorly on us and remain in denial, refusing to see the truth for what it is.
but persecuted the poor and needy man.
It also appears to me, (CUrmudgeon in particular) loves cursing,
and delights not in blessing,
He clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment,...
Hey, you know what they say; if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, well you know the rest.
I think your just upset because you've been called out for what you really are;hence the thumbs down.
Sorry if the truth hurts. But the truth shall set you free....
if, according to the bible, we are to aspire be like this Jesus character, and according to this psamls, jesus is like unto one who would stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those who would condemn his soul...why do you choose to be of those that condemn the poor? I am totally confused. And I'm not even religious..
On top of that, it sounds like you 2 may even be religious! What gives? I dont get it. Am I missing something here..clue me in!!
http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/projects/documents/GATEWAY-District-Streetscape.PDF
"A Gateway District Streetscape Master Plan"??? Good luck with that. Like any developers are going to want to locate themselves anywhere near "Social Services" facilities. Calling the existing businesses there "Office / Commercial" is a bit of a stretch. "Light Industrial / Warehouse Commercial" would be more like it.
..and claiming that you care about the homeless...whatever
It is also a place to concentrate services for them. Add shower and toilet facilities, and we might have something.
It's all how you look at it. If I cynically call it a "Bum Containment Zone", that is because I suspect that is what it could degenerate into, like Berkeley's "Rainbow Village" did.
Or perhaps flop houses, or what WIlliam Burg euphemistically calls SROs, need to be built. However, building new low cost SROs, which I bet will decay into flop houses, is probably as politically popular as giving the homeless free drugs.