Alex Darocy Photography

In response to the planned closure of the River Street homeless campground, community members in Santa Cruz have established a survival camp at the downtown post office. At 11pm on November 15, nearly two dozen individuals had set up spaces to sleep along the sidewalk in front of the large postal building, which is a landmark downtown. "Please join us for a peaceful night's sleep while celebrating the constitution and supporting the human right to sleep. Everyone is welcome, whether you have a home or not," an event announcement for establishment of the survival camp read. Earlier in the day on November 15, the City of Santa Cruz announced the closure of five parks due to fire danger, including Pogonip, Arana Gulch, Moore Creek, DeLaveaga, and Arroyo Seco. These latest park closures in Santa Cruz follow the closures of San Lorenzo and Grant Street Parks in October, which were literally fenced off from the public for "public safety" reasons, according to the...

On April 17 a group of homeless community members in Santa Cruz initiated a high visibility sleep-protest, which was held downtown at the main branch of the post office. Sleepers subsequently occupied several locations outside of the front of the building for four days, with many individuals continuing to sleep there in protest after being cited for violating the sleeping ban or for obstructing the sidewalk. Some of those cited under Santa Cruz's municipal code 6.36.010, the ban on sleep in public places, say they were on the Homeless Services Center wait list for shelter spaces at the time they were cited. The protest was organized in support of decriminalizing sleep, and individuals primarily participated in the protest because they needed a safe place for the night. "We are just looking for a safe place to sleep, and we are really trying to get the sleeping ban lifted," a homeless participant named Zack said. Yoyo, another homeless participant added, "you can'...