Advocates for the homeless arrested at City Hall protest
Pastor among 15 picked up while criticizing sweeps of encampments
By JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTER
Given that he was in a wheelchair, Mike Smith said Seattle police officers treated him "magnificently" Monday morning when they arrested him and 14 other homeless advocates who blocked Cherry Street near City Hall.
But the cordial treatment contrasted with the city's sweeps of homeless encampments, he said after his release from custody, likening the sweeps to a death sentence.
A downward economic spiral will keep "people dropping to the bottom," said Smith, who has cerebral palsy and lives in low-income housing near Pike Place Market.
"They're lucky to have a tent and a place to put it to survive. When you take away their means to survive, you're going to kill a percentage of them -- guaranteed. So as far as I'm concerned, the sweeps policy is about killing people."
The demonstration followed the third overnight campout at City Hall held by the Real Change Organizing Project, as well as a memorial service for hundreds of homeless people who have died on the streets.
After the service, demonstrators put a tent on Cherry Street at Fourth Avenue and stood on the street. About 20 police officers, aware of the demonstrators' plan to be arrested, lined the crosswalk and asked the crowd to disperse or risk arrest.
Among those picked up was the Rev. Rich Lang of Trinity United Methodist Church, wearing his white pastoral robe over jeans and sneakers.
You can read the rest @
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/366326_homeless10.htmlIf you've read this post, you might want to read this one, too:
"No matter what other factors may come into play in any individual’s experience of homelessness...:
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Sapphire%20Blue/587And also this report: WITHOUT HOUSING: Decades of Federal Housing Cutbacks, Massive Homelessness, and Policy Failures:
http://wraphome.org/documents/Without_Housing_20061114.pdf"No matter what other factors may come into play in any individual’s experience of homelessness – without housing, that person will remain homeless."
"No matter what other factors may come into play in any individual’s experience of homelessness – without housing, that person will remain homeless."
"No matter what other factors may come into play in any individual’s experience of homelessness – without housing, that person will remain homeless."
"No matter what other factors may come into play in any individual’s experience of homelessness – without housing, that person will remain homeless."
"No matter what other factors may come into play in any individual’s experience of homelessness – without housing, that person will remain homeless."