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Oct 03, 2023

Tent City Bulldozed

Can someone show me where exactly it says that the press has to be notified before that this action was to happen? Most of the people commenting on this story have also been complaining that laws are

Can someone show me where exactly it says that the press has to be notified before that this action was to happen? Most of the people commenting on this story have also been complaining that laws are not being enforced in the city, and then the city does enforce them they are outraged. Camping in a city park is against the law. We don't get to pick and choose which ones we want to follow. The people living there made a chose not to follow the rules and this is what happens.[Paul: The main issue was the penning reporters far from the scene where they couldn't see or photograph what was happening with a phalanx of cops spreading out to stop people. There was also a question of whether officials would like to see how they handle controversial circumstances in public settings or if they go out of their way to fudge answers to questions about their plans; whether they make special efforts to shield actions from scrutiny instead of seeking to promote transparency and accountability.]

"Most of the people commenting on this story have also been complaining that laws are not being enforced in the city, and then the city does enforce them they are outraged. Camping in a city park is against the law. We don't get to pick and choose which ones we want to follow. The people living there made a chose not to follow the rules and this is what happens."Some people don't get to pick and choose which laws they want to follow; as often as not, those with money and influence are tacitly allowed to flout any number of laws. People without homes, of course, have little power or influence and are easily subject to draconian enforcement actions. I'm disappointed in this action by Mayor Elicker even though I do still think he's a person of good conscience and trying to balance competing imperatives. It's not okay for shanty towns to spring up unmonitored and unregulated in city parks. It's also not okay to bulldoze the only stable housing some people are able to secure and scatter them to the winds. Contrary to what some commenters seem to believe, there is not a ready supply of 'beds' somewhere else that they could easily move to. In another story on this topic, published today, Karen Dubois-Walton refers to a waiting list of 30,000 households waiting for public-housing apartments.

La majestueuse égalité des lois, qui interdit au riche comme au pauvre de coucher sous les ponts, de mendier dans les rues et de voler du pain. -Anatole France, en Le Lys Rouge.

1644-"Poor naked wretches, whereso'er you are,That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend youFrom seasons such as these? O, I have ta'enToo little care of this! Take physic, pomp;Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel,That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,And show the heavens more just."'King Lear' (3.4)

Paul, you and the reporter keep saying that the media was kept far away from the actual site by the police...however in some of the pictures here...it looks like the media was able to get quite close to the site. I noticed that with other media outlets too. So which is it? What are you guys trying to say? I'm confused.[Paul: After everybody was cleared out, after they made an arrest and took somebody out on a stretcher, and after we lodged complaints, and after the bulldozing was underway, we were able to get closer. We were not able to watch them actually remove people. Before that, dozens of cops set up a line that stretched far from the scene to keep reporters and photographers out.]