Court Creep Part 2

by Catherine Limcaco/POOR Magazine Race, Poverty and Media Justice Intern

"Today they incarcerate us for being poor; tomorrow they incarcerate us for being human!" POOR Magazine's own Lisa "Tiny" Gray-Garcia was one of the many activists that were rallying outside City Hall on Tuesday, June 22nd in opposition to the proposed Community Justice Center (CJC) (aka; A Poverty Court) that if implemented will institutionalize and finance the criminalization of people in poverty in San Francisco while leeching funding from service providers such as Tenderloin Health Center among many.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that the plan for the CJC was first submitted to the Board of Supervisors. In the proposal, Gavin Newsom would cut $20 million from existing programs to allow more funds to be used to build the CJC which was in cost be $2.9 million. The Board would ultimately vote NO against the CJC proposal but the Mayor would leave with the last word. On June 17th Newsom filed a measure with the Board of Elections to put his Community Justice Center initiative on the ballot in November.

The significance of the hearing that took place this morning in front of the Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee was virtually unseen by media and community And if the board were to vote to allocate funds for "homeless court" (CJC) that would destroy community programs and the only 24- hour drop in center in the city, offenses that were previously considered to be minor infractions would escalate to misdemeanors. One of activists that showed up, Eli, the Tenant's advocate, explained with concern, "compassion is rarely instituted when it comes to an officer writing citations and implementing other acts of offense. " With that being said, in the words of down-District 6 supervisor Chris Daly, "How are we going to have homeless court that cite and give them services that don't exist?"

Supervisors Jake McGoldrick and Chris Daly opened the hearing with their respected arguments with Daly obviously solo in his appeal: "I don't think this current budget situation is better than it was last year, and I don't understand why we're here. This is a pet project of the Mayor, but I don't think it's good public policy."

Though alone amongst his fellow supervisors, Daly received a mountain of support from members of community including big name non-profit organizations Coalition of Homelessness and the reporting and supp-porting staff from POOR Magazine. The Board allowed each member of the community a measly 3 minutes to voice their disgust for this misleading ploy that isn't adequate enough to solve the houseless problem. Out of the many activists who stepped up to the Board, here are the four that uttered the fundamentals candidly to the inattentive bunch of supervisors. Starting with the basics with Reverend Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church: "It's not a legal problem, it's a social problem. A 24 hour drop-in center is necessary because right now, One Fifty Otis Shelter is not allowing women enter which I think is discrimination; except at Ocean but they're only allowing residents to stay 4 hours at a time." As the Rev preaches his case to the Board Committee, it is obvious which way the verdict will go.

Up next was Molly Glasgow, Civil Rights Organizer at Coalition on Homelessness, expresses her discontent with plan for the CJC with her assertive address: "I hope you guys slept well last night and thank you for this short notice to the community. City is making sleeping a crime with Quality of Life Offenses. The list of theses offense are: 23 (a) MPC-Obstruction of Streets and Sidewalk (24 hours); 97 (a)-MPC Camping in House Car; ; 97 (b) MPC-Camping in Car; 647 (c)-PC Obstruction of Streets and Sidewalks;647 (j) PC Lodging/Encampment. This is not a sob story, it's the reality of life: We don't have to have people sleeping in streets."

Next up was a man who has had first-hand experience with the shelters in The City, "This policy is a kin to beating someone in the head to give them a headache. This issue will increase, as the economy worsen," proclaims houseless citizen, Frank Cowell.

And once again to connect the dots, because these policies didn't come from nowhere the former mayor of New York and previous hopeful for the Republican spot for this year's 2008 Presidential Election, Rudolph Giuliani, targeted citizens like Frank Cowell by proclaiming that it's citizens like Frank that need to be "cleaned out." Gavin Newsom seems to want to follow in Giuliani's footsteps.

So as the Board becomes recklessly disinterested, Dr. Norma Tecson closes the comments from the community section by professing her take on the CJC proposal: "You don't know what it's like to work out there when you all are stuck in your offices. I did not get paid a salary for 3 years because I am passionate about helping this cause. "

As the Board does the traditional gratitudial praise, Jake McGoldrick takes his farewell address to the heart. McGoldrick starts talking about his past in France which included a brieft stint in homelessness. Supervisor states, "Being homeless in France is not the same as it is here" with a small "ai-yi-yi" at the end. All that can be said to that statement is just a puzzled expression with the caption "UMM YOU THINK, Supervisor?" in bold. In the end, as of this press date, the CJC proposal was passed 4to1 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee.