The rumor floating around this morning was that city hall was going to try to evict the hunger strikers and their supporters who have slept on 4th Avenue for over a month now. Mayoral spokesperson Caryn Brooks says that’s not true, but police are going to start enforcing city rules against the strikers and their supporters and the city is going to power wash the sidewalk, which has become rather filthy from people eating, sleeping, and protesting on it for months, since a homeless vigil that started this winter. The hunger strike itself is now marking its 40th day.
City hall’s security officers were previously charged with trying to keep the sidewalk open for pedestrians and make sure no one was doing anything illegal—like drinking or smoking pot—at the protest site. But Brooks says security staff complained that the protesters would not listen to them, so the city distributed these flyers today to let protesters know that uniformed police officers are going to be making occasional rounds.
You may notice the last line of the flyer:
“Umm….” I asked Brooks. “Are people having sex on the sidewalk?”
“Everything is on there for a reason,” she replied.
I’m always surprised by how condom wrappers I see on the streets downtown.
What if you only go 1% of the way in?
Occupiers will no doubt take this as a thinly-veiled attempt to shut down the Vigil before it gains any real attention – scratch that, they ARE taking it that way.
As well they should, because it is.
What many of them will ignore, however, is that the city probably has legitimate reasons for many of its complaints – and by ignoring that, they will disconnect further from the general public. And if that doesn’t suffice to alienate, I’m sure they can come up with a way to dismiss anyone who doesn’t want public sidewalks littered with trash and filthy people with mental health and substance abuse problems as an ignorant classist, instead of successfully appealing to their humanity.
Isn’t it something like the average human body can survive without water for 3 days,and food for 2-3 weeks?
Sure – vitamins and suppliments, etc etc….
But I would just about bet my left pinky they are squeezing in a cheesburger every now and then.
Successfully appealing to their humanity means give them anything they want for free. Free money. Free health care. Free food. Free weed. Free housing. Sure, why don’t we all chip in a little for a large home for them in the Laurelhurst neighborhood, maybe by the park? Anybody? No? Blast you skyrocketing home prices. Blast you!
They need to successfully locate a job or relocate elsewhere.
Other than Mr. Whitten, how many hunger strikers are there at City Hall? I ask because there seems to be a regular cookout among the out-of-town kids bivouaced outside City Hall for what appears to be Homeless Summer Camp-lite 2012.
@billyjak – There have been at least three other hunger strikers at the vigil besides Cameron. People have gone on hunger strike for a couple days or weeks along with Cameron, who’s been doing the strike for the whole forty days.
There is a crowd of other people down there who are, yep, cooking burgers mere feet from famished Cameron.
Wow!
you mean there are some people who have nothing better to do than to trash talk people who are less fortunate, suffering from mental health issues, or trying to raise awareness about the suffering that goes on right under our noses?
Talk about a need to get a job
Worth noting that the people sleeping down there are also composed of vigilantes who have been maintaining a presence at city hall since Dec. 1, 2011. Having Cameron Whitten join the protesters there- many who are homeless, some who are not, many who have put a lot of time and effort into maintaining that occupation against police harassment, threats to people’s safety from other people living on the street, a cold, wet winter without the benefit of anything even resembling shelter from the elements, and a general disillusionment/malaise/depression (take your pick)- has brought a lot of attention to the situation.
If the Police Bureau and City Hall try to enforce some exclusionary practices they will be actively working against a hunger striker, the longest continuing occupation of public space to this point in the Occupy movement, and another example of the People trying to take simple care of each other, meeting the needs of people whose needs seem to be some sort of political football.