Alex Darocy Photography

A large group of community members in Santa Cruz attended the October 25 city council meeting to voice their concerns regarding the killing of Sean Smith-Arlt by Santa Cruz police. Many in attendance held protest signs with the pre-printed messages "Release The Videotape Now" and "We Will Remember Sean!" Sean was suffering from mental health issues at the time he was shot and killed by Santa Cruz police, who say he advanced towards them with a garden rake in his hands outside of a home on the west side on October 16. Four officers were involved in the incident, which occurred over the course of a 20 second time-span that ended with one of the officers shooting two shots at Sean. Abbi Samuels holds a protest sign as she waits to speak to the Santa Cruz City Council during oral communications One close friend of the Smith-Arlt family, Don Payne, spoke before the city council, saying he had spoken to them after Sean's killing. He described himself as havin...

On the rain-swept evening of March 8, the Santa Cruz City Council voted 5-2 to re-affirm the city's camping ban, which outlaws sleeping in public with or without bedding, and prohibits sleeping in cars, between the hours of 11pm and 8:30am. Supporters of the "Right to Rest" had hoped the city council would remove references to the word "sleep" from the ordinance, but the majority of council members voted to keep the law exactly as it is presently written. Shortly after the vote concluded, it was business as usual for the Santa Cruz Police Department, whose officers spent the evening issuing citations and targeting homeless people sleeping downtown. SCPD officer Nicholas Kramer issues a camping citation to a man sleeping along Walnut Avenue at 6:45am on March 9, following the city council's vote to re-affirm the camping ban about eight hours earlier A large group of community members spoke to the city council in favor of amending the camping ban (sec...

A small but dedicated group of "Freedom Sleepers" are facing all the conditions winter has to offer them as they continue to sleep outside of Santa Cruz City Hall on Tuesday nights. The rain stopped just before the beginning of the 28th community sleepout held on January 19, but the city hall area stayed wet all evening, as did some of the sleepers' possessions. Individuals, some with and some without houses of their own to stay in, have been coming together since July 4 for the sleepouts, which are organized to protest local laws that make homelessness and sleeping in public a crime. The City of Santa Cruz continues to take measures to prevent the sleepers from occupying the city hall courtyard and lawn area. The entire complex at city hall is closed to the public at night, and police have issued countless citations and arrested many during the course of the protests, in order to keep the area clear. Security guards were on duty all night at city hall on January 19, ...

On December 8, community members in Santa Cruz joined together for their twenty-second sleepout at city hall. The sleepouts were initiated on July 4 by unhoused and housed community members to oppose laws that criminalize sleeping in public places within the city. Sunrise in front of Santa Cruz City Hall Over the course of the protests, the Santa Cruz Police Department and city staff have taken extreme measures to prevent people from entering and sleeping in the city hall complex at night. The area is marked "no trespassing" between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. Police raids have been the norm for the majority of the sleepouts, with SCPD officers ticketing and sometimes arresting demonstrators for their participation. No one was arrested or cited at the December 8 sleepout, but a group of security guards stood watch over, and patrolled, the city hall courtyard all night long. Despite the heavy security presence, a small group of sleepers have made it through the night fo...

On September 8, community members protesting laws that criminalize homelessness held their ninth in a series of group sleepouts at Santa Cruz City Hall, which is closed to the public at night. At least three people were issued citations, and two others were reportedly arrested for participating in the latest protest. Despite that, a large group stayed through the night and slept at City Hall. Since the sleepouts began on July 4, police have consistently attempted to disperse protesters away from City Hall and its garden courtyard by conducting raids. In the process, many participants have been issued citations, and several have been arrested. One individual taken to jail on the evening of September 8/9 had been holding a protest sign and speaking loudly about the injustice of the police raids as people were being cited in the courtyard. She was arrested when she began to walk away from two police officers who were attempting to communicate with her. She had been standing on a fla...