{
	"type": "rich",
	"version": "1.0",
	"provider_name": "Action Network",
	"provider_url": "https://actionnetwork.org",
	
	"html": "<link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/stop-ord-28756-public-camping-ban?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-stop-ord-28756-public-camping-ban' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div>",
	"author_name": "Tacoma DSA Housing Justice Committee",
	"author_url": "https://actionnetwork.org/groups/tdsa-housing-justice-working-group",
	"title": "Stop ORD 28756 - Public Camping Ban!",
	"thumbnail_url": "https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/letters/photos/000/170/650/normal/Stop_the_Sweeps_correction_.jpg",
	"description": "Tacoma Democratic Socialists of America (TDSA) demands Tacoma City Council reject ORD 28756 enacting a camping ban on public property in Tacoma. On Tuesday, April 20th, 2021, the first reading of Ordinance 28756, which enacts a citywide camping ban on public property, will take place. TDSA calls community members to action to stop the passage of this harmful ordinance, which criminalizes the survival of our most vulnerable residents. Given the City’s stated commitment to ending homelessness, we demand that the City focus on real solutions, rather than criminalizing homelessness. The City of Tacoma has long claimed that the plight of those experiencing homelessness is an emergency that must be addressed. In 2017, the City declared a state of public health emergency, passing Ordinance 28430 on May 9th, and has subsequently extended that ordinance several times. The City has also come to the realization that homelessness is not an emergency that will immediately end. Indeed, in Ordinance 28755, considered on Tuesday, April 20th, the City is signing onto an effort to attempt to end the crisis of homelessness by November 2021. We believe that Ordinance 28756 will be used to terrorize and punish those experiencing homelessness in our community. Why, fundamentally, should this be a policing issue, when the city is moving to rapidly deal with a crisis? We are very concerned about the section giving more power to the Chief of Police when this population is disportionately people of color. Moving forward with this ordinance would be tone-deaf and violate the City’s Antiracist Systems Transformation commitment. We urge the council to reject Ordinance 28756 and focus on fixing the crisis, rather than doing pointless sweeps. Beyond being fantastically ineffective and punitive, Ordinance 28756 violates the Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidance on encampments during a pandemic. CDC guidance states that sweeping encampments causes people to disperse throughout the community, losing connections with service providers and making the pandemic worse. The CDC recommends close collaboration with encampments for sanitation and to fight COVID-19 infections, actions that are precluded by this extremely punitive approach. This ordinance also violates unhoused people’s constitutional rights to survive. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Martin v. City of Boise that laws criminalizing individuals who are sleeping, sitting, and lying down outside and who have no access to indoor shelter are a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In other words, laws like these are cruel and unusual punishment. Providing a fig leaf of plausible deniability and discretion in the ordinance language does not cover up the malign intent of the ordinance and how it will be used. It is very clear that this ordinance is about terrorizing and criminalizing individuals experiencing homelessness. We demand that Tacoma City Council reject Ordinance 28756. Work to solve homelesness, not criminalize it. Join us in making this demand heard by sending a letter to Tacoma City Council today!",
	"url": "https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-ord-28756-public-camping-ban"
}