Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 12:00:23 -0700 (PDT) From: <sffnb at iww.org>
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San Francisco FNB has been ordered by the police to cease serving free food or face citations and possible arrest.
Friends and comrades,
San Francisco Food Not Bombs has had a long history of harrassment and repression on the part of City government and the police. For many years we were arrested routinely, food confiscated, threats by the police made to our members, our literature and banners seized. We were arrested in Golden Gate Park in 1988 and in Civic Center under the Agnos' administration. Art Agnos was able to secure a court injunction against FNB - making it illegal for us to serve free food in public. We were arrested hundreds of times under the Jordan administration at our daily community meals in Civic Center and the United Nations Plaza.
In the last major election, almost 4 years ago - Mayor Willie Brown pledge that he would not arrest FNB and that he would dismantle the matrix program which targeted homeless people for 'quality of life' infractions which lead to mass ticketing and police sweeps. While Mayor Brown ended the arrests against FNB, homeless people have faced even greater persecution. The District Attorney, Terrence Hallinan, pledged that he would not prosecute charges against FNB memebers for serving food and he defended our actions. It has been almost 4 years since our last arrest for serving free food.
We have recently been approached by the SF Police Department and told to stop serving. At our community meal at United Nations Plaza on Friday September 3rd and tonight, on Sunday September 12th, FNB servers were approached by the police and told that we must cease our activities as we are in violation of the law. On September 3rd, two FNB servers were given citations for serving food. On September 12th, an FNB memeber was told that he might get a citation from the health department - however the health department official declined to come down and inspect us as the police requested. The Health Department offical apparently said, 'I don't want to get involved', according to the officer in charge.
While the police and FNBer were able to discuss the situation calmly, the police made it clear that there was some kind of political pressure to sweep us out of the area.
We are to be removed from the area as we provide direct services to homeless and low-income people and we are a visible sign of protest against reactionary city policy and economic inequality generally. The Mayor and many on the Board of Supervisors have repeatedly attacked the civil rights of homeless people, villianized homeless people in their rhetoric and implemented policy to force homeless people out of public spaces, like United Nations Plaza.
We have been threatened with the possibility of citations and we have strong reason to believe that this could esculate into arrests against Food Not Bombs. The current election race for Mayor is heating up in SF and some have speculated that there may be a connection.
We will continue to conduct our free, open, public community meals - serving dinner everynight at United Nations Plaza around 5:30-6pm. We are currently in the process of deciding what action to take. We will be calling for solidarity from the social justice movement that we are apart of. Hopefully we can generate enough community and political support now, so that we can put a stop to this harrassment.
What you can do! We will be meeting soon to talk about stratgey and will keep you posted as the situation develops. For now, if you can contact the Mayor, the District Attorney and the Board of Supervisors and express your concern about this situation and support for FNB, it would be greatly appreciated.
Mayor Willie Brown 415.544.6141 or <mayor at ci.sf.ca.us> District Attorney Terrence Hallinan 415.553.1752 Board President Tom Ammiano (an ally) 415.554.5144 or <supammiano at aol.com> Supervisor Sue Bierman 415.544.6661 or <Sue_Bierman at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Amos Brown 415.544.7601 or <Amos_Brown at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Leslie Katz 415.544.5335 or <Leslie_Katz at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Barbara Kaufman 415.544.4880 or <Barbara_Kaufman at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Mark Leno 415.554.7734 or <Mark_Leno at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Gavin Newson 415.554.5942 or <Gavin_Newsom at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Mabel Teng 415.544.4981 or <Mabel_Teng at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Michael Yaki 415.544.7901 or <Michael_Yaki at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Leland Yee 415.544.7752 or <Leland_Yee at ci.sf.ca.us> Supervisor Alicia Becrril 415.544.6488 or <Alicia_Becrril at ci.sf.ca.us>
Thank you very much for your support and solidarity. For social and economic justice - chris crass, an FNB organizer
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<sffnb at iww.org> Signature File Of Thursday 17 September 1998
Communications from this e-mail address <sffnb at iww.org> DO NOT necessarily reflect views of the San Francisco Food Not Bombs organization, unless it is otherwise indicated. The information content and opinions expressed in this communication are from individual members, allies and affiliates of San Francisco Food Not Bombs.
San Francisco Food Not Bombs P.O. Box 40485 San Francisco, California 94140 USA
Phone: + 1-415-675-9928
E-Mail: < sffnb at iww.org >
Web Page: < http://www.foodnotbombs.org >