San Jose CA. We have been on the ground all day, every day prior to and during the sweep of Columbus Park. We’ve observed everything going on there: outreach, water distribution, sign-ups for the RV buyback program, police behavior, sign-ups for the hotel program, every part of the actual sweep process and watching/assisting people with moving into the hotels.
10 days ago, a man committed suicide in the camp.
5 days ago, a man deeply concerned about being displaced by the sweep, was found dead in his home, the first day of the sweep.
We repeatedly asked the city to postpone the sweep to prevent additional trauma and deaths, as well as to give people time to grieve,
We were also concerned that a large portion of the camp population had been left out of sign up for both programs and would be negatively affected as a result.
The city council and several departments chose to ignore our pleas and move forward with the sweep with an earnestness we’ve never seen before. They attacked the camp from all angles and had us all running back and forth, running from one issue to another as residents called for help.
On the first day, they mistakenly towed a man’s home while he and nephews fought to save it to no avail, They went to the tow yard to see if they could at least get his belongings and important papers–including all identifying paperwork–only to find out it had been sent to junk and everything was gone.
San Jose has failed to properly outreach to the very large monolingual Spanish population at Columbus Park.
This family is fighting against the city towing the WRONG RV home. It ended with a trip to the ER after the father suffered a medical emergency. This is what’s really happening at Columbus Park.
Demand the sweep be stopped until:
1) Thorough outreach is done to all remaining residents, verbally and in writing
2) The hotel program is reopened to these people
3) The Buy Back program is reopened to these people
4) A green zone is established for people who wish to be in safe parking or a motel program but not give up their RVs. Registration should not be an issue in the green zone.
5) Advocates and lawyers be allowed back in all work zones as they were at the beginning of the sweep. Residents need them even more as they feel more isolated with less residents left. Advocates provide food, water, clothing, first aid and much more throughout the day.
Video by courtesy of Shaunn Cartwright, recorded by Law Foundation of Silicon Valley
San Jose police abuse and threaten a woman protesting the removal of her family’s beautiful RV home to the wrecking yard where it will be destroyed.
Shaunn Cartwright is the director of Unhoused Response Group
