<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">What would YOU do if you were stopped by the police,
asked if they could take your picture, and when you hesitated, were told you
HAD to allow it, it was the LAW?<span style=""> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">The Springfield Police Department—and it appears,
the City of Springfield—are increasing their harassment of homeless people and
violating their civil rights at the same time.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">Last week, six cruisers turned up at the Warming
Place, asking to come in and take pictures of the homeless people who sleep
there. They were turned away by the director.<span style="">
</span>Earlier that day, police had gone to the Loaves & Fishes soup
kitchen, and were also turned away.<span style=""> </span>But
the police took pictures of people as they left the soup kitchen.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">In July, a homeless family had exactly the
experience described—they were not allowed to refuse.<span style=""> </span>They didn't know what would happen to them if they said no.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">This week coming up, City Councilor Domnic Sarno
plans a meeting about panhandling.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">In the following news articles, the responses of
city officials are disingenuous at best.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">First, I have no reason to doubt the versions of the
story I heard from the homeless family and the directors of the Warming Place
and Loaves and Fishes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">Second, Sarno says he wants vans to bring people to drug
treatment and mental health facilities. But as Kevin Noonan points out, those
few programs that still exist are already overwhelmed.<span style=""> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText">Third, if the city wants homeless people "off the streets"
in the daytime, then it had better do something about providing funding to
shelter programs for a 24 hour shelter, which is what people need.<span style=""> </span>Right now the only "day program" is a very
overcrowded storefront on Worthington St. where 30 people at the most can climb
over each other for breathing room.<span style="">
</span>Oddly enough, the proposed shelter expansion at Worthington St. Shelter,
supported by the city, is STILL only for an overnight shelter with exactly the
same capacity as the existing shelter.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">Fourth, to state the obvious, what people REALLY
need is affordable housing and income—jobs, disability income or temporary
income from the state until they can get back on their feet.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">Last but not least, it is unfortunately true that
many people behave the way they are treated.<span style="">
</span>If they are treated as valueless people, that becomes the way they
perceive themselves.<span style=""> </span>Most of the
violence in the homeless community is directed against each other.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">The Springfield business community doesn't want
homeless people to be visible on Springfield's streets.<span style=""> </span>Steve Roberts, of the FL Roberts
Corporation, has been threatening a lawsuit against the City of Springfield if
the Warming Place shelter is not removed from Columbus Ave., near where he runs
one of his businesses—a self-serve gas station/truck stop with a convenience
store that sells alcohol.<span style=""> </span>Yes, those
homeless people who are addicted to alcohol make there purchases there and then
some of them behave badly.<span style=""> </span>Isn't there
a simple solution here that Mr. Roberts is overlooking?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText2">I will be meeting with some homeless people tonight to
discuss an action to demonstrate for homeless peoples' civil rights and
personal dignity.<span style=""> </span>Please keep a watch
for notice of this action, and please come and participate.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">Meanwhile, there are some things you can do on
Monday morning:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">Call the Mayor's office at<span style=""> </span>787-6100 and demand a solution to homelessness that does not
"require" harassment of the homeless.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">Call Police Commissioner Flynn at</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">
787-6313
and tell him to order his officers to cease taking pictures of homeless people.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">Call Domenic Sarno at the South End Community Center
at 788-6173 and tell him to stop grandstanding and come up with REAL solutions.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: "Courier New";">And call Steve Roberts at 781-7444, ask him to treat
homeless people decently and suggest he stop selling liquor at his convenience
store.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;">Phone: (413) <br>
Fax: (413) 781-4328</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Phone</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">: 413-. Fax: 413-737-0635. Email:
<a href="mailto:allensecc@netscape.net">allensecc@netscape.net</a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/MICHAE%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image001.gif" height="35" width="177"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">
</span></p>
<h1>Homeless advocates fault police</h1>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sunday, August 13, 2006</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By PATRICK JOHNSON</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="mailto:pjohnson@repub.com">pjohnson@repub.com</a></b> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p>SPRINGFIELD - Homeless advocates said that police on Thursday sought to
photograph several homeless people inside a soup kitchen and an overnight
shelter. </p>
<p>Kevin Noonan, executive director of Open Pantry Community Services, said the
police action was "blatantly illegal, hostile and unfriendly." </p>
<p>Open Pantry oversees Loaves and Fishes, a soup kitchen on Chestnut Street,
and the Warming Place, a cot shelter on West Columbus Avenue, where the
incidents happened. </p>
<p>"We're not looking for any kind of fight, but this is just beyond what
we can stay quiet about," he said. </p>
<p>Police officials, including a lieutenant with the Street Crime Unit who was
in charge of the detail, acknowledged police were there but denied officers
ever sought to enter either facility or violate anyone's rights. </p>
<p>The police chalked it up to a misunderstanding by the staff at each
facility. </p>
<p>Noonan said he was not there but was told by staff at each location that
police showed up and wanted permission to come inside to photograph people.
Staff turned them down, because the police did not have a warrant, he said. </p>
<p>"We very bothered by this. If they do this to people they perceive as
having no rights, who do they go after next?" he said. </p>
<p>James Laster, director of the Warming Place, said a total of six cruisers
showed up, and officers asked him for data on the number of residents and for
permission to take pictures. </p>
<p>Laster said he provided the numbers but would not allow any photographs. </p>
<p>"I knew they didn't have a right to take pictures of our guests,"
he said. "You just can't take pictures of people. It's a violation of
their rights." </p>
<p>Lt. Rupert Daniel of the Street Crime Unit, who was in charge of each
detail, said police never sought to enter either facility. </p>
<p>He said officers went to the public park outside Loaves and Fishes for
complaints about homeless in the park creating a disturbance, and later to the
Warming Place to check on reports of homeless people camping in the woods near
the riverfront. </p>
<p>He said he spoke with staff at each facility but never asked to be let
inside. </p>
<p>Daniel said police did take photographs of some homeless people outside
Loaves and Fishes, which he said officers routinely do to add to the
department's database. </p>
<p>He said that police for the last few years have gathered photos of street
people, which are used for identification in cases where a homeless person is
found dead or injured, or is involved in crime. </p>
<p>One of the photos taken Thursday evening was used to identify the body of a
man found dead hours later, he said. The death is under investigation and is
not considered foul play, he said. </p>
<p>Lt. C. Lee Bennett said officers routinely photograph people they encounter.
"These are the people we're dealing with on a regular basis," she
said. </p>
<p>Daniel said police do not need permission to take a picture in a public
space, but officers usually ask the subject for permission. </p>
<p>Michaelann Bewsee, of Arise for Social Justice, said the incidents
demonstrate police efforts in recent months to harass and target the city's
homeless. </p>
<p>"I can't imagine what the justification is. I think this is
outrageous," Bewsee said. "I can't think of any group of citizens
that would tolerate this." </p>
<p>She said she planned to complain to Mayor Charles V. Ryan and to file a
complaint with the American Civil Liberties Union. </p>
<p>Maria Foscarinis, executive director for the Washington D.C.-based National
Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, said such reports like from Springfield
are part of a nationwide trend where communities are treating homelessness as
an issue for law enforcement. </p>
<p>The center calls it "the criminalization of homelessness"
Foscarinis said. </p>
<p>"It's a disturbing trend, an unconstitutional trend, and the overall
assumption is people who are homeless don't have the same rights as anyone
else," she said. </p>
<p>If the accounts of police seeking entry into the two facilities is accurate,
she said, then "it was an outrageous request, a very inappropriate request
to make." </p>
<p>The Fourth Amendment, protecting against improper police searches, applies
equally to everyone, regardless of whether the person lives on the street or in
a mansion, she said. </p>
<p>No one from either the Western Massachusetts or Boston chapters of the
American Civil Liberties Union could be reached for comment. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/MICHAE%7E1/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msoclip1/01/clip_image001.gif" height="35" width="177"><span style="font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">
</span></p>
<h1>Panhandlers subject of meeting</h1>
<p class="MsoNormal">Saturday, August 12, 2006</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By MIKE PLAISANCE</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><a href="mailto:mplaisance@repub.com">mplaisance@repub.com</a></b> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p>SPRINGFIELD - A city councilor has scheduled a meeting for Thursday to deal
with what he said is the problem of homeless people and panhandlers bothering
businesses and pedestrians downtown. </p>
<p>Councilor Domenic J. Sarno, who works as executive director of the South End
Community Center on Howard Street, said that vagrants are constantly around in
the South End, at the riverfront and on State Street. </p>
<p>"They literally come knocking on your window and if you don't give them
anything, they give you the finger," Sarno said this week. </p>
<p>Next week's meeting of the City Council Civil Rights and Race Relations
Committee, of which Sarno is chairman, will be at 1 p.m. Thursday in Room 200
at City Hall. Sarno has asked officials from the police, housing, health and
law departments to attend. </p>
<p>He also is contacting representatives of social service providers, the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which is on the riverfront, the
Affiliated Greater Springfield Chambers of Commerce Inc. and neighborhood
groups. </p>
<p>Sarno wants to discuss possible solutions, such as having vans available to
bring people with mental problems or those abusing drugs or alcohol to
treatment facilities, he said. </p>
<p>But Kevin J. Noonan, executive director of Open Pantry Community Services,
287 State St., said that among the questions are, where would the money to pay
for the vans come from and where would treatment be provided, as existing
facilities are overwhelmed. </p>
<p>Business people are upset with vagrants downtown. And while the "tent
city" of homeless people that once formed on State Street hasn't sprung up
for a few years, there are people living on the riverfront, Noonan said. </p>
<p>But, he said, "The majority of people are law-abiding and are just
trying to make it through the day." </p>
<p>Police Sgt. John M. Delaney said panhandling and people sleeping in doorways
are problems particularly on West Columbus Avenue near the riverfront. </p>
<p>Police will "move along" and even arrest problem-causing vagrants.
But the key is to eliminate the root of the problem that dumped such people on
the street to begin with, a complicated question for which Delaney said he
doesn't pretend to have the answer. </p>
<p>"We try to address it as much as we can," Delaney said. </p>
<p>Meal-providers and shelters obviously are important, Delaney said, but they
almost backfire by offering services for several hours and then putting
numerous homeless people back onto the street at once. </p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>I did it for you, Robin:<br>turned on the sprinkler the third dry day<br>a monarch comes to wash the dust away