Some of the most stirring
signs of social change in the state of California are springing
to life in the affluent seaside city of Santa Barbara and neighboring
Isla Vista. It's a development that seems to defy common sense and
political logic. You don't look to tourist-oriented resort towns
like Santa Barbara for inspiring examples of social justice on the
move, but some of the most hope-filled homeless activism in the
state is unfolding in this wealthy city located about 100 miles
north of Los Angeles.
Even here, in the midst of million-dollar mansions on the picturesque
coast, poverty, police persecution and premature deaths stalk the
homeless community.
Following the deaths of two homeless people during an unusually
cold winter, a bold group of homeless advocates took the law into
their own hands and set up a tent city in Isla Vista to awaken the
public conscience about the need to create a legal campground. Meanwhile,
in adjacent Santa Barbara, the Committee for Social Justice continues
to successfully defend homeless people from criminal charges and
infractions, while working on an innovative proposal to create legal
parking areas for homeless vehicle dwellers.
Two deaths too many
In defiance of an ordinance prohibiting overnight camping, a group
of homeless activists set up an encampment in Anisq' Oyo' Park in
Isla Vista to protest the lack of housing and outdoor living space.
Isla Vista, an unincorporated community near Santa Barbara that
is home to the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB),
is very densely populated. Heavy real-estate development has pushed
homeless people out of the empty fields and vacant lots they used
to inhabit.
The tent city was set up shortly after two homeless people died
in a three-week period. The first one died on Christmas night. Only
three weeks later, on January 12, Deva Redwood, a longtime local
resident and musician, died from what friends called the stress
of being homeless.
Jenny Jett, an organizer of the encampment, said people decided
to hold a camp-in at the park both because of "the shock of
the deaths and a pretty good cold snap when it got down to 30 degrees
outside." About 15 people started camping out in tents on Sunday
evening, January 27, and steadfastly refused to move as police continually
threatened to arrest and cite them for illegal camping. On February
5, seven camp dwellers were given tickets for illegal camping, and
are currently awaiting trial, represented by attorney Glen Mowrer.
But the citations did not shut down the camp or erode the campers'
resolve. They dug in their heels, vowing to keep the tent city alive
unless handcuffed and forcibly removed. The encampment has survived
for two months now; it was relocated once in February to nearby
Estero Park. In an unexpected development, the seven defendants
cited for violating the County's no-camping ordinance discovered
they may have been unlawfully charged with violating a non-existent
law. The Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District's own counsel
discovered that the County's no-camping law doesn't apply to Isla
Vista parks, which do not fall under the jurisdiction of Santa Barbara
County.
Defense attorney Glen Mowrer is filing a demurrer stating that
the Parks District cannot use the County ordinance to prosecute
the homeless defendants, and is asking that all charges be dropped.
"This loophole could easily get these folks off the hook,"
Mowrer predicted.
The surprise of finding that the County's no-camping ordinance
does not apply to Isla Vista parks initially led the Parks District
to consider enacting a sweeping anti-camping law of its own. But
the success of the tent city in mobilizing university students and
citizens in defense of the homeless has created new hope for a more
tolerant approach. Mowrer said of the Isla Vista Parks District
board, "I think as far as establishment people go, they're
about as enlightened as we're going to get. I've found a certain
willingness on their part to consider designating certain sites
for camping; and if they do that, that would be a pretty nice accommodation."
Jenny Jett is a housed activist who has been working with homeless
people for about three years to set up a legal outdoor shelter.
"Homeless people are getting tickets, and a solution is to
have a legal, safe, outdoor sleeping space," she said.
The campaign to establish a safe, legal encampment will be a long
struggle, Jett said. "It is not something that can happen overnight.
We had been trying and trying, and going to all the community meetings."
Then homeless people electrified the public debate by setting up
a tent city without official approval. Besides raising public awareness
of the urgent need for a legal camp site, the tent city immediately
improved the lives and safety of the homeless occupants. Jett said,
"In essence, the tents and the community have increased everybody's
standard of living way above what it was. The tents are protecting
people from the wind, the cold, the animals, the bugs. People are
in a group so they're safe." The tent city brought out an outpouring
of community spirit, Jett said. "Everybody worked together
- it was just amazing. We got a cooking thing going with a propane
stove and a place to wash the dishes. There were food drives; the
sororities and fraternities were bringing by food. It was kept clean.
There were no problems; still, to this day, there haven't been any
problems and it's been two months." The encampment received
some badly needed support from students at the nearby UCSB campus.
About 60 UCSB students turned out to voice their support on behalf
of the homeless encampment at a mid-March meeting of the Isla Vista
Recreation and Parks District (IVRPD).
Jett said that the university students were very influential in
speaking out for the homeless cause at the IVRPD hearing. Students
and homeless people live in close proximity to one another in Isla
Vista, Jett explained, and many students personally know homeless
people and have come to care greatly about the homeless issue, even
in an era seemingly marked by student apathy. The UCSB newspaper,
The Daily Nexus, has provided positive coverage of the issues surrounding
the encampment.
Another important ally of the tent city has been the Committee
for Social Justice, founded by Peter Marin, a poet, writer, and
homeless advocate. When the IVRPD was considering a ban on sleeping
and camping in early March, Marin wrote a letter reminding the IVRPD
board that his Committee for Social Justice has successfully used
the "necessity defense" to win acquittals of homeless
people charged with city or county laws against sleeping and camping.
Marin warned that the same necessity defense could be used if the
IVRPD board voted for a camping ban.
Marin wrote eloquently about the inhumanity of the proposed camping
ban: "Do you not understand the extent to which such laws can
ruin not only lives but the fabric of the community and the decencies
which ought to exist among us? Are you oblivious to the violence
this allows those with homes and money and privilege to do to those
who lack them?"
Terry Messman is editor of Street Spirit, published
with permission by the Homeless Organizing Project of the American
Friends Service Committee. Street Spirit enables homeless people
to sell 50 papers a day and keep all proceeds. Terry can be reached
by phone: 415-565-0201, or by email: spirit@afsc.org. Street Spirit
receives no proceeds from sales, no government funds and accepts
no advertising. To help the publication meet its printing and mailing
costs, donate or subscribe to Street Spirit and help it remain an
independent voice for justice and as a potential source of income
to homeless vendors. Visit their website at www.afsc.org/street/strtsprt.htm.
