By Mike Zint, April 22, 2019 (facebook.com)
Meet Michelle Lot. Today she was told to reduce her tent to a 3×3 foot square, or 9 square feet.
A brief history. Michelle came to us while we were occupying the Berkeley post office. She decided to hang around and become active with us. Her first accomplishment was to maintain the post office occupation while I started another occupation at city hall. That occupation was called liberty city. That occupation was about criminalization of the homeless. Michelles presence allowed for both occupations to succeed. When the city destroyed liberty city, the post office occupation was safe. Liberty city rules of conduct are the same rules of conduct that our camp at here there uses. Michelle also participated in the poor tour. That protest is how camp got established. 3 months, 17 raids, 4 arrests, thousands of dollars worth of gear stolen, and a class action lawsuit finally gets filed.
Once camp was established is when she saved lives. One was a runaway she helped reunite with her family. Another was a victim of a mental predator. She intervened and helped separate the predator from the victim twice, with the police getting involved the second time.
Michelle is very sick. She has had serious health issues since the last protest. She needs her tent up. She cannot do what she needs to on a public sidewalk. This ordinance is torture for her. Its inhumane.
Tomorrow, the city will be back to enforce the sidewalk ordinance. They got their notice today. Michelle is a good friend and member of the ftcfth family. Her camp is located on shattuck at Carlton. If the city follows through, they will be endangering her life.
The city’s solution was to sign up with the HUB. She has been for years. No help at all. So, what does she do?
She leaves town, or she dies at shattuck and carlton. Think I’m exaggerating? The city seems to.
