[WestMALocals] Fwd: [ArisePeace] RESEND: Fresh outrages and civil rights villations of homeless people - ACT NOW!

Thu Aug 17 14:17:30 EDT 2006

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michaelann Bewsee <michaelannb at gmail.com>
Date: Aug 13, 2006 1:05 PM
Subject: [ArisePeace] RESEND: Fresh outrages and civil rights villations of
homeless people - ACT NOW!

What would YOU do if you were stopped by the police, asked if they could
take your picture, and when you hesitated, were told you HAD to allow it, it
was the LAW?

The Springfield Police Department—and it appears, the City of
Springfield—are increasing their harassment of homeless people and violating
their civil rights at the same time.

Last week, six cruisers turned up at the Warming Place, asking to come in
and take pictures of the homeless people who sleep there. They were turned
away by the director.  Earlier that day, police had gone to the Loaves &
Fishes soup kitchen, and were also turned away.  But the police took
pictures of people as they left the soup kitchen.

In July, a homeless family had exactly the experience described—they were
not allowed to refuse.  They didn't know what would happen to them if they
said no.

This week coming up, City Councilor Domnic Sarno plans a meeting about
panhandling.

In the following news articles, the responses of city officials are
disingenuous at best.

First, I have no reason to doubt the versions of the story I heard from the
homeless family and the directors of the Warming Place and Loaves and
Fishes.

Second, Sarno says he wants vans to bring people to drug treatment and
mental health facilities. But as Kevin Noonan points out, those few programs
that still exist are already overwhelmed.

Third, if the city wants homeless people "off the streets" in the daytime,
then it had better do something about providing funding to shelter programs
for a 24 hour shelter, which is what people need.  Right now the only "day
program" is a very overcrowded storefront on Worthington St. where 30 people
at the most can climb over each other for breathing room.  Oddly enough, the
proposed shelter expansion at Worthington St. Shelter, supported by the
city, is STILL only for an overnight shelter with exactly the same capacity
as the existing shelter.

Fourth, to state the obvious, what people REALLY need is affordable housing
and income—jobs, disability income or temporary income from the state until
they can get back on their feet.

Last but not least, it is unfortunately true that many people behave the way
they are treated.  If they are treated as valueless people, that becomes the
way they perceive themselves.  Most of the violence in the homeless
community is directed against each other.

The Springfield business community doesn't want homeless people to be
visible on Springfield's streets.  Steve Roberts, of the FL Roberts
Corporation, has been threatening a lawsuit against the City of Springfield
if the Warming Place shelter is not removed from Columbus Ave., near where
he runs one of his businesses—a self-serve gas station/truck stop with a
convenience store that sells alcohol.  Yes, those homeless people who are
addicted to alcohol make there purchases there and then some of them behave
badly.  Isn't there a simple solution here that Mr. Roberts is overlooking?

I will be meeting with some homeless people tonight to discuss an action to
demonstrate for homeless peoples' civil rights and personal dignity.  Please
keep a watch for notice of this action, and please come and participate.

Meanwhile, there are some things you can do on Monday morning:

Call the Mayor's office at  787-6100 and demand a solution to homelessness
that does not "require" harassment of the homeless.

Call Police Commissioner Flynn at 787-6313 and tell him to order his
officers to cease taking pictures of homeless people.

Call Domenic Sarno at the South End Community Center at 788-6173 and tell
him to stop grandstanding and come up with REAL solutions.

And call Steve Roberts at 781-7444, ask him to treat homeless people
decently and suggest he stop selling liquor at his convenience store.

*Phone: (413)
Fax: (413) 781-4328*

*Phone*: 413-. Fax: 413-737-0635. Email: allensecc at netscape.net.

 Homeless advocates fault police

Sunday, August 13, 2006

By PATRICK JOHNSON

*pjohnson at repub.com*

SPRINGFIELD - Homeless advocates said that police on Thursday sought to
photograph several homeless people inside a soup kitchen and an overnight
shelter.

Kevin Noonan, executive director of Open Pantry Community Services, said the
police action was "blatantly illegal, hostile and unfriendly."

Open Pantry oversees Loaves and Fishes, a soup kitchen on Chestnut Street,
and the Warming Place, a cot shelter on West Columbus Avenue, where the
incidents happened.

"We're not looking for any kind of fight, but this is just beyond what we
can stay quiet about," he said.

Police officials, including a lieutenant with the Street Crime Unit who was
in charge of the detail, acknowledged police were there but denied officers
ever sought to enter either facility or violate anyone's rights.

The police chalked it up to a misunderstanding by the staff at each
facility.

Noonan said he was not there but was told by staff at each location that
police showed up and wanted permission to come inside to photograph people.
Staff turned them down, because the police did not have a warrant, he said.

"We very bothered by this. If they do this to people they perceive as having
no rights, who do they go after next?" he said.

James Laster, director of the Warming Place, said a total of six cruisers
showed up, and officers asked him for data on the number of residents and
for permission to take pictures.

Laster said he provided the numbers but would not allow any photographs.

"I knew they didn't have a right to take pictures of our guests," he said.
"You just can't take pictures of people. It's a violation of their rights."

Lt. Rupert Daniel of the Street Crime Unit, who was in charge of each
detail, said police never sought to enter either facility.

He said officers went to the public park outside Loaves and Fishes for
complaints about homeless in the park creating a disturbance, and later to
the Warming Place to check on reports of homeless people camping in the
woods near the riverfront.

He said he spoke with staff at each facility but never asked to be let
inside.

Daniel said police did take photographs of some homeless people outside
Loaves and Fishes, which he said officers routinely do to add to the
department's database.

He said that police for the last few years have gathered photos of street
people, which are used for identification in cases where a homeless person
is found dead or injured, or is involved in crime.

One of the photos taken Thursday evening was used to identify the body of a
man found dead hours later, he said. The death is under investigation and is
not considered foul play, he said.

Lt. C. Lee Bennett said officers routinely photograph people they encounter.
"These are the people we're dealing with on a regular basis," she said.

Daniel said police do not need permission to take a picture in a public
space, but officers usually ask the subject for permission.

Michaelann Bewsee, of Arise for Social Justice, said the incidents
demonstrate police efforts in recent months to harass and target the city's
homeless.

"I can't imagine what the justification is. I think this is outrageous,"
Bewsee said. "I can't think of any group of citizens that would tolerate
this."

She said she planned to complain to Mayor Charles V. Ryan and to file a
complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Maria Foscarinis, executive director for the Washington D.C.-based National
Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, said such reports like from
Springfield are part of a nationwide trend where communities are treating
homelessness as an issue for law enforcement.

The center calls it "the criminalization of homelessness" Foscarinis said.

"It's a disturbing trend, an unconstitutional trend, and the overall
assumption is people who are homeless don't have the same rights as anyone
else," she said.

If the accounts of police seeking entry into the two facilities is accurate,
she said, then "it was an outrageous request, a very inappropriate request
to make."

The Fourth Amendment, protecting against improper police searches, applies
equally to everyone, regardless of whether the person lives on the street or
in a mansion, she said.

No one from either the Western Massachusetts or Boston chapters of the
American Civil Liberties Union could be reached for comment.

 Panhandlers subject of meeting

Saturday, August 12, 2006

By MIKE PLAISANCE

*mplaisance at repub.com*

SPRINGFIELD - A city councilor has scheduled a meeting for Thursday to deal
with what he said is the problem of homeless people and panhandlers
bothering businesses and pedestrians downtown.

Councilor Domenic J. Sarno, who works as executive director of the South End
Community Center on Howard Street, said that vagrants are constantly around
in the South End, at the riverfront and on State Street.

"They literally come knocking on your window and if you don't give them
anything, they give you the finger," Sarno said this week.

Next week's meeting of the City Council Civil Rights and Race Relations
Committee, of which Sarno is chairman, will be at 1 p.m. Thursday in Room
200 at City Hall. Sarno has asked officials from the police, housing, health
and law departments to attend.

He also is contacting representatives of social service providers, the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which is on the riverfront, the
Affiliated Greater Springfield Chambers of Commerce Inc. and neighborhood
groups.

Sarno wants to discuss possible solutions, such as having vans available to
bring people with mental problems or those abusing drugs or alcohol to
treatment facilities, he said.

But Kevin J. Noonan, executive director of Open Pantry Community Services,
287 State St., said that among the questions are, where would the money to
pay for the vans come from and where would treatment be provided, as
existing facilities are overwhelmed.

Business people are upset with vagrants downtown. And while the "tent city"
of homeless people that once formed on State Street hasn't sprung up for a
few years, there are people living on the riverfront, Noonan said.

But, he said, "The majority of people are law-abiding and are just trying to
make it through the day."

Police Sgt. John M. Delaney said panhandling and people sleeping in doorways
are problems particularly on West Columbus Avenue near the riverfront.

Police will "move along" and even arrest problem-causing vagrants. But the
key is to eliminate the root of the problem that dumped such people on the
street to begin with, a complicated question for which Delaney said he
doesn't pretend to have the answer.

"We try to address it as much as we can," Delaney said.

Meal-providers and shelters obviously are important, Delaney said, but they
almost backfire by offering services for several hours and then putting
numerous homeless people back onto the street at once.

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-- 
Owen R. Broadhurst
Candidate for State Representative
Third Hampden District
http://www.owenbroadhurst.org