Also, there will be a Sabotage Noise Productions benefit show at The Charleston in Bremerton September 8 for Ostrich Bay Needle Exchange, lineup TBA.

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Anti Group Feeding Ordinance Gets First Discussion

The City of Aberdeen held the first discussion of their proposed Anti-Group Feeding ordinance on June 14th. Concerns were raised by those in attendance as well as those on the council about the proposed ordinance and the effect it will have on those seeking to feed the unhoused in town. The draft ordinance and our response to it can be found here. But essentially it forces anyone seeking to bring resources to the homeless apply for a permit two days in advance, or face a $250 dollar fine for the first offense and $500 there after. All while being banned from applying for such a permit for a full year should they find any fault with it. Among the concerns the City seek to address with this ordinance is the trash accumulated by people dumping unwanted stuff at camp, a legitimate phenomenon to be sure. But in seeking to curb illegal dumping, which is already illegal based on current laws, they have come up with something that targets those bringing actual resources to the unhoused. They have no ability to see that the two are different problems. In fact, the Community Development Director said as much when he mentioned that most of what they throw away is raw chicken. Something Food Not Bombs would never serve at a meal. They speak of “raw food in particular” when we only ever bring prepared foods.

“We never leave food behind, because we never have leftovers, because the need is so great.” say Food Not Bombs volunteers.

Again the City is being led off course by the far right members of the Council and the Mayor, they are attempting to mask their targeting of Chehalis River Mutual Aid Network and Food Not Bombs by pointing a very real problem they’ve created and then developing this ordinance which attacks those trying to aid the community, not illegal dumpers, who wont apply for such a permit.

It is also of note that the fee schedule for their new “vacant buildings” ordinance imposes a smaller fine on large and wealthy property owners than it does on individuals serving the unhoused food.

They say “why not come join us and make it better?”. Well we say why not come join organizers in the streets where the unhoused live, go to a community meal and see for yourself what goes on there instead of listening to scary reports from the local fascists. They admit that they “wont be able to catch everyone” who illegally dumps down there, but Council member Ellis brought up the point that Aberdeen doesn’t even currently enforce it own nuisance laws on trash. As the Mayor says, “rotten food four inches thick in the bottom of someone’s tent” does not result from illegal dumping or “inefficient charity”. If they “aren’t looking to penalize anyone” for trying to help the homeless, then why is there such a steep penalty built into the ordinance?

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ACLU & The City Council

The escalating harassment of Aberdeen’s unhoused population has been increasing in growth since long before the 2019 lawsuit against the city of Aberdeen for the illegal sweep of a long standing homeless encampment earlier that year that stated that the city needed to find adequate shelter for the unhoused. In a similar fashion as lead up to the 2019 lawsuit the ongoing violations of civil and constitutional rights of the impoverished have caught the attention of the Washington Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU-WA) On June 28, 2023 La Rond Baker, Legal Director and Susie Lake, Staff Attorney at the ACLU-WA contacted The Aberdeen City Council via email bringing to attention their concerns that implementing various policies will unfairly target, punish, and harm the unhoused population in Aberdeen and will open the city to further litigation. We will look at their letter, the follow up response sent over two weeks later by City Administrator Ruth Clemens, and give our own commentary as well.

The City’s response:

Our Commentary:

The City is trying to use one anecdotal experience in order to brush aside the hundreds of complaints that we have heard about the City’s theft of personal property, whether at encampment sweeps or individuals in the downtown corridor being robbed by City workers because they thought their stuff was trash. The City’s attempting to narrow the focus of the complaint and respond to that narrow focus because addressing what the ACLU-WA actually brought up would be damning to the City. See, the ACLU-WA is bringing up a concern that the Constitutional Rights of the unhoused might be infringed upon, because people still have the fourth amendment protections against searches and seizures by the government even if they are unhoused as established by State v. Pippin.

In fact they enjoy all the same constitutional rights as anyone does.

It just so happens that they get infringed upon much more frequently in this case. The City cannot address this main concern as what they are doing is likely unconstitutional, and certainly immoral and disgusting. The City clearly doesn’t understand the unhoused community or their response to threats like being given legal notice to move. They are going to avoid any interaction they can with the City or Police, even if that means surrendering their belongings to the dump instead of fighting for them. The City always refuses to recognize the power imbalances at play in this relationship.

Moving on to the next point raised in the email, the ACLU-WA said about the proposed anti-group feeding ordinance:

To which the City replied:

In actuality, The Chehalis River Mutual Aid Network’s chapter of Food Not Bombs have not received any such invitation from the City to talk about improving the ordinance. If they are concerned with trash dumping then they should feel free to enforce those ordinances. What the mutual aid network in town offers is a full fledged meal where tables, chairs, hygiene supplies, harm reduction supplies, and clothing are brought in and then removed upon leaving. Each meal has trash containers and handwashing stations, and they even participate in cleaning up the rest of the property they feed on while there. They leave nothing of their own waste and often leave with more trash than they generated. When they depart from the meals all they leave are full bellies and fulfilled needs.

The city however will continue to target group feedings such as this regardless and would blame them for every bit of trash generated when those meals are not being held.  They and discuss constantly what needs there are and how best to fill them, as this is their belief as is ours at Sabot Media, namely Solidarity Not Charity. The Network doesn’t propose to know what the unhoused need and bring it to them as a charity night, we ask what they need and then work together to fill those needs to the best of our ability. All the work is done by volunteers who are fully a part of the community they labor for.

Again, the City has not addressed the ACLU-WA’s main concern which, as always, is Constitutional Rights. As they mention, many other Food Not Bombs chapters have experienced similar City repression and the courts have repeatedly found that such feeds are constitutionally protected first amendment behavior. We, and other Food Not Bombs are engaged in political activity, not charitable donations. The idea that the City would become the arbiter of what the unhoused need and how to obtain those things is beyond the pale. Especially when you consider all these new draconian ordinances are being put forth by supposedly “small government” Republicans on City Council and the Mayor. Yet, they seek to regulate the most basic of human behaviors, eating together.

Finally, we come to the security camera policy:

The City’s response was:

Our Commentary:

How do these ordinances makes the unhoused feel safer in the Downtown District? Let’s consider this as we read the words of the City claiming that these ordinances are designed to balance the needs of everyone. Are they? They are written explicit to target the unhoused and their limited resources, and to benefit the “fragile economy”. This belies their real concerns, namely the planned gentrification of the area. The City wants desperately to “drive the unhoused from the community”. When they speak of reducing the number of homeless people on the streets, they mean through eradication, not housing.

The City refuses to engage the ACLU-WA on the terms of their concerns, rather deflecting blame to economic woes, or other larger jurisdictions with similarly horrible laws. This excuse does nothing to address the underlying reason why the ACLU-WA contacts you – Constitutional Rights. That’s their whole thing, and yet the City hasn’t responded to any of the concerns set forth in the letter, other than to claim they are advised by corporate counsel. The City is very familiar with being sued and if they are not careful going forward, it appears the ACLU-WA has their eye on them. It would be fitting that the City would be sued twice in so few years over their mistreatment of the unhoused.

The City continued:

Boy howdy, where to start with this one. First of all, the current City Council members organized the very campaign that brought an end to the federally funded low barrier shelter proposed by Chaplains on the Harbor last year. The City has always claimed no authority or responsibility since the County is responsible for homeless issues. Despite this, they routinely have gotten involved to the detriment of the unhoused and the taxpayers who have to foot the resulting legal bills. For the City to claim to want a low barrier shelter now is a day late and a dollar short, people died on the streets while that proposed shelter could have saved them. That blood is forever on their hands. Especially the County Commissioners who made the actual vote, but we will not forget the hand that the Aberdeen City Council and Mayor had in that decision, as well as the decision to refuse an emergency Cold Weather Shelter all last winter.

Second, that the City thinks their HRC can somehow solve homelessness with this top down heavy handed approach is laughable. Their so-called discussion with the unhoused was only one of six sessions, most of which focused on the business community, and it was attended by a total of three unhoused people…not exactly a good turnout. When wondering how to increase the communication with the unhoused people themselves, apparently no one considered going down there themselves to talk to them like people. Why would anyone attend a meeting for a committee they know has been formed for the benefit of the business community and to target them for eradication? The current strategy leaves them with no voice, when they should be at the lead of any decision affecting them.

The grassroots collective that has formed around providing permanent low barrier shelter, housing, and social services; The Blackflower Collective has been pushing for grassroots lead solutions to these issues recently. When reached for comment The Blackflower Collective stated that “They have received zero outreach or support from the City, despite working towards the same supposed goal as the City and County.” It’s because the city wants to be in complete control over the site selection, the services administered, and the overall functioning of the facility. They want to run an open air prison, a work camp for the poor. They fear the liberation that a entity like Blackflower represents to the lives of those suffering on the streets. The idea that people can determine what they need and how to get it without the need for representatives and hierarchies is outside their lived experiences, and directly threatens their status quo. The status quo where some people sit on City Council seats while others sleep in tents 10 feet from the train tracks. If the City wants to help to the unhoused, then get the fuck out of the way.

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Council member Kacey Ann Morrison Looses Her Shit On Main

In a recent article Aberdeen City Council member Kacey Ann Morrison was called out by the local paper The Daily World for her upsetting and dangerous post blaming the alleged destruction of some campaign signs on a multitude of people in the community including her political opponents. The article focused on the likely defamatory and slanderous “pissed off rant post” made on her public Facebook page. The original post made the assumption that the local mutual aid network had been in coordination with this media outlet to destroy their campaign signs. Kacey Ann also attempted to doxx multiple people in her post. The Daily World article mentions that they tried to reach her for comment twice to no avail, but she did delete the post after their first request. So apparently she is regretful for having posted it publicly, as opposed to screaming it into her pillow like usual. With people calling for her removal from office given this atrocious lack of judgement and possible criminal behavior, we shall see how this stunt goes for this long time local hate group leader turned politician.

The article focuses largely on new City Council hopeful Sydney Newbill and Dee Ann Shaw, whose signs were not destroyed, leading to the wild conspiracy theories from right wingers in Kacey Ann’s orbit. On June 19, current Aberdeen City Councilor Kacey Ann Morrison made strong claims on her personal Facebook profile about a woman who is running for Aberdeen City Council after several campaign signs were destroyed.

The claims targeted Sydney Renae Newbill, who’s running for Aberdeen’s Ward 6 Position 12, and current Aberdeen City Councilor Dee Anne Shaw, who represents Ward 6 Position 12.

Morrsion says in her screed, “It appears to be culprits from the same group as all the other instances of vandalism thus far — it is very TARGETED. Cliche criminal anarchist/antifa chic … all in black.”. It is as though she knows who committed these acts. With ZERO evidence to back up her claims she then rattles off her most wanted list of people who she has identified as being “antifa”. Also, take notice of how they make a list of things these culprits have either said and/or done in the same list. It serves to leave it to her audience to decide what crimes these people have supposedly committed rather than be accountable for any more direct false accusations. She uses misrepresentations of content from our colleagues at Aberdeen Local 1312 as the only flimsy source of evidence to support the heavy accusations of, as they have called in previous posts about her own signs being destroyed last year, “terrorism”.

Aberdeen Local 1312 is a meme page that makes and shares anti-capitalist and anarchist content, as a part of the Sabot Media collective. They assist the individual projects in our media collective by signal boosting our projects through their social media presence saving the rest of us the labor of maintaining individual social media. This attempt to spread misinformation by making a meme page, whose sole purpose is to shit post to the internet, evidence of some mass conspiracy connecting grassroots organizations, non profits, politicians,  & private citizens. It is troubling conspiratorial behavior at best and malicious defamation with intent to harm at worst. However, her vain attempt to get someone hurt has backfired in her face apparently, as even The Daily World has taken notice of her bullshit, and we here at Sabot Media will continue to keep you updated on her decent into madness.

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Daily World’s Coverage of Candidates

Why is Pieraccini running for Aberdeen mayor?

“I am running for mayor to help lead our city in the economic growth that is destined for our area and to play a bigger role in helping to find a solution to the homelessness issue that is plaguing not only our community, but the nation as a whole,” Pieraccini said. “I believe that we can do better. We are coming into an exciting time for Aberdeen as we embark on the levee project, the museum project and the railway separation project. We have a great opportunity to lead in infrastructure growth with fiscal responsibility.”

 

 

Dee Ann Shaw:

Why is Shaw running for Aberdeen mayor?

“My campaign has three areas of focus,” Shaw said. “Illegal camping/homelessness, drug enforcement and infrastructure development.”

“We are on the cusp of reinventing our economy,” Shaw said back in May. “More than $72 million is slated to be invested in our community over the next several years (the North Shore Levee, the rail separation project, a new bridge) and I want to be in the strongest position possible to support these projects. This is not counting the $18 million Fry Creek Project currently under way in our West End.”

Shaw said with the funds secured for the above projects, “the work has just begun.”

 

These three see the coming wave of wealth headed our way should we continue on this road towards gentrification and want to “clean up” the City to attract that new wealth. They are paving the way for developers to do the real work of gentrification: forcing the current low income residents of the Harbor out through high rents and higher cost of living. All three are willing to profit from and trample on the memory of Kurt Cobain, who grew up in Aberdeen, and left because of the hateful politics that led to the ostracization he felt within the city. The city is taking a heavy footed approach in their starting steps towards their gentrification process by pressing their boot against the houseless populations, should they succeed in eradication of the homeless populations how long until their policies translates into property rates and rents rising until the original families that make up our community are priced out and left for the streets?

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Sources:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUU8Al8tUrw

sabotmedia.noblogs.org/an-open-letter-to-the-aberdeen-city-council/

https://mrsc.org/stay-informed/mrsc-insight/june-2019/homelessness-and-the-limits-of-enforcement

www.thedailyworld.com/news/aberdeen-city-councilors-facebook-post-seen-as-defamation-and-slander/

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