Went to my city council meeting to speak against an ordinance that would criminalize unhoused people camping on city property and enable law enforcement to fine them and dispose of their belongings. I was the only citizen there to speak and I did my best. The measure did not pass. The city solicitor--who wanted it to pass!--commented to me that I had changed some councillors' minds.
So if you think your voice won't matter in your local politics, go and speak up! I
[#]homelessness
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@DataAngler
What did you say to them?
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@PersistentDreamer
You only have 5 minutes at our city council, so you need to be brief. First, I outlined how the ordinance does nothing to help the homeless--it takes a societal problem and puts it in the hands of law enforcement to deal with. I pointed out that this is especially callous given that we are in a housing crisis (and in the middle of winter!) and that the number of unhoused people in delaware is on the rise.
Next, I pointed out that the language of the bill allows (1/n)
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@PersistentDreamer the city to just dispose of a person's belongings and relocate the person to any location. The language of the bill was very cruel.
I pointed out that how would it help to fine an unhoused person and convict them of a misdemeanor when that would hinder them from getting credit to find a place to live.
Lastly, I said that the bill is especially bad because anyone else can camp on city property (like scouts) by requesting permission, so this bill was not really about ((2/n)
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@PersistentDreamer camping, but about criminalizing being unhoused.
I think the councillors saw that this ordinance would not do anything to address this problem.
Since SCOTUS has given towns the green light to ban homeless people from camping on city property, these bills are going to come up everywhere--especially since city councils often are rubber stamps for what property developers want, and they often want homeless people to be removed, to not see the problem. (/end)
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@DataAngler @PersistentDreamer removing them is bad enough but taking (and usually destroying) their possessions is horrendous. Kick them when they’re down BS.
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@Rickd6 @DataAngler @PersistentDreamer
Happens all the time.
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@DataAngler @PersistentDreamer absolutely stunning irony in light of the thousands of folks in California whose living quarters just burned to the ground. Unhoused in the blink of an eye.
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@DataAngler Stereotyping homeless people is so inaccurate. I learned from a Paradise fire survivor, that there are people who never received any insurance for their homes being burned, and are homeless. Wonder how this going to work out for LA fire survivors?
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@Leefellerguy @DataAngler well, LA passed this law against camping in public, so many will end up incarcerated. 😢
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@DataAngler nice work!
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@DataAngler
Great to read your story about speaking up at your city council meeting, and what you said - and that it changed some minds & impacted the vote. 🙂 Thx for sharing, I learned a lot.
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@DataAngler This is one of those things I wish more people understood: local politics is where your voice matters most!
The President gets elected by 150 million votes. I've seen decisions locally hinge on one vote.
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@mark Yes! It can be difficult to organize people, but it's critical to get in front of people making these decisions. In this case, I think some of them saw that turning this over to law enforcement would do nothing to address the real problem.
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@DataAngler @mark
Congrats!
As a former city hall reporter I saw the impact of public comment a lot
Even when speakers believed their comments didn’t have an immediate effect, they had more weight than you might think
It’s worth it to practice democracy where we can - all politics are local and we make our communities stronger when we do the little actions, much more than voting in a national election imho
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@mark @DataAngler
Our mayoral race was won by 2,000 votes out of 24k. The heavily funded corporate stooge actually lost for once!
We run into these candidates around town and get to speak to them directly.
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@DataAngler amazing! Great work!
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@DataAngler thank you. Punishing the homeless does nothing. The solution for homelessness is housing. Period.
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@DataAngler
Thank you for doing that.
There's a lot more you will have to do in the next few years after Jan 20. Good luck and keep fighting the good fight.
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@DataAngler Bravo! Yup, to few citizens participate in local city and county meetings. I'd bet the numbers nationwide are in the low single digits, sadly.
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@DataAngler Great work!
Local government is the level that touches peoples' lives most, and also the place where advocates are mostly likely to be heard.
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@DataAngler Thank you
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@DataAngler
Not living nearby, but still: thank you!
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@DataAngler Fantastic! Thanks for the encouraging news!🤗
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@DataAngler A great example of this wise advice I found the last time:
https://mstdn.social/@Strandjunker/109416513393162734
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@DataAngler thank you! Our current policies seem based on “people will get homes if we just keep taking everything away from them” don’t seem to be working, but they keep trying.
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@jemal I know. Let’s relocate the homeless until they are housed is the approach.
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@DataAngler It always seems like the answer is right in the name: what if we just housed them? I know, I know – it's only worked in every city that's every tried it, so we don't know if it will work again, but…
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@DataAngler Thank you for doing that – they passed a similar law here in Albuquerque, dozens spoke against but sadly it proceeded anyway...
I'm sad/upset but it illustrates how consistently showing up matters...there will be more attempts to scapegoat people instead of solving the root causes, and there will be more moments to push back, so we need to practice being collective and showing up when/where we can.
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@joecardillo Sorry to hear this, but so many cities are passing these and it can feel like a losing battle.
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@DataAngler thank you for doing this!
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@DataAngler Thank you for your voice. California passed that law (with some of the most expensive housing anywhere)(Median home cost $900,000) and it’s horrifying.
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@DataAngler Organize!
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@DataAngler Thank you for protecting the unhoused.
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