Welcome to the Santa Cruz Community Safety Workgroup

Here are some resources here that will help you get up to speed on what is happening here:

Workgroup: Food Security - Apr 14, 2011

Mission statement
To facilitate local food production and distribution while reinforcing the values of the community safety workgroup including autonomy, self reliance, and DIY.

How food security relates to Community safety

-Food security is related to community health; mental and physical
-Enabling people to meet their daily needs (food, space, community) makes them less likely to resort to crime (theft, blackmarket sales, solicitation) to meet those needs.
-Wasted Food (from restaurants and stores) represents a squandered resource that is easily utilized with community connections
-Poorly used land in cities and surrounding areas is a nuisance, while properly utilized land is a resource for the community

Workgroup: Crisis Response - Apr 14, 2011

SMALL GROUPS:
Crisis Response Team

*talked about strategy/action examples from last week
*some discourse about whether or not we should have a mission statement
*questions about the extent of a transparent process whether that means we are disclosing our process to the police

Mission statement: "We want to create a safe, confidential, trusted & non-hierarchical system for addressing local conflicts and issues without involving police or external authorities, excepting in medical emergencies."

Workgroup: Crisis Response - Apr 28, 2011

This is a recounting of the minutes of the Crisis Response Committee for
the Community Safety Meeting conducted on 4/28/2011 at Subrosa.

Three participants present for entire meeting. One listened and left before the group concluded.

1. Review of notes of previous meetings, strategies: Legal ramifications of having a group such as this. U.S. Code 1503: Obstruction of justice was reviewed. Discussion was had regarding the charge of "Interfering with a police investigation," and the need to be careful in dealing with police, as well as examples of situations in which this statute was interpreted broadly, resulting in arrest and/or prosecution of witnesses attempting to observe and record police action with a video camera.

2. What is the purpose of having such a group? Someone suggested: Linking people in your neighborhood, building community and neighborhood trust, to create the possibility of neighbors calling on each other rather than authorities. A variety of viewpoints were presented about the nature of a "Crisis Response Team."

Workgroup: Community Connectedness - Apr 28, 2011

AGENDA
* Review of action items
* Strategies
* Actions

STRATEGIES
How do we connect with other communities?
   - Through shared needs, shared resources, and/or shared threats.
Interestingly, we realized this is also how we connect with individuals within our community as well.

Workgroup: Community Connectedness - Apr 14, 2011

AGENDA
* Mission Statement
* Review Past Actions
* Strategies
* Actions


MISSION

How can communities connect with each other and to communities outside?
Why interested in this?
* we are societelly alienated
* connectedness = safety
* we want to find and build trust
* we want reliability
* confidentiality is important
* take anarchism to its logical conclusion: how link together
* local decentralized non-hierarchical
* work together

Mission Statement
"We desire to meaningfully connect with others within our communities and have our communities connected with other communities.  We want to be welcoming, inclusive, and willing to grow."

Workgroup: Public Spaces - Apr 28, 2011

Public Spaces small group notes 4 - 28

 - Components -
Protecting existing spaces

Creating new public spaces


 - Thoughts -
Current and new space Dynamics

Community space strengthens communities by creating a place for people to come together

people need space to assemble publicly: eat, sleep, store possessions, make music, socialize

There is insufficient space for people to publicly assemble

There are many regulations governing what people can do in public spaces

Workgroup: Community Connectedness May 12, 2011

[brief notes from small group]

community connectedness: Vibe at Subrosa, how to integrate anarchist community and "street people" community

Themes: need for check-ins, what defines a community, communication, need for a shared community, desire not to other, find commonalities, need for a drop-in center, desire to see houseless folks self-organize to resist oppression