The possible human rights violations of the local homeless was a main topic of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s press conference Tuesday. The conference was held to announce the expansion of Bank on Sacramento, a collaboration between local nonprofit organizations, banks and credit unions, to help people receive low-cost accounts and financial advice. Despite the announcement, the topic of homeless rights were heavily discussed. Catarina De Albuquerque, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, recently sent a four-page memo to warn Johnson about the possible violation. The current policy of removing the homeless from tent cities denies the homeless safe drinking water and sanitation, wh

“Searching for Safe Ground,” a film series by Costa Mantis, reveals the daily struggles of being homeless in Sacramento and addresses the bleak reality of not having a safe place to sleep. Starting in October and continuing until February, a different episode of the five-part series will play at First Methodist Church on the corner of J and 21st streets during Second Saturday Art Walks. Mantis moved from his home in Pennsylvania to Sacramento on Apr. 1, 2009 on a “mission to give the homeless a voice,” he said. In 2009, an estimated 250 of Sacramento’s homeless lived in a collection of tents on the banks of the American River in a community called Tent City. Without running water, bath

Should a group of homeless people be allowed to camp together in Sacramento without outside monitoring? Safe Ground Sacramento, a group of mostly homeless people, says it should have the right to be “self-governing” and to operate an overnight camp independently. But a few Sacramento City Council members said they disagreed with that idea Tuesday. The City Council held a workshop on the safe ground issue as part of its weekly meeting. Over the past two years, Safe Ground Sacramento has asked the city to dedicate land for a site where the homeless could camp legally overnight. The city has an ordinance that bans overnight camping. One of the group’s key principles is that its members ar

The Sacramento City Council will discuss the idea of setting aside land for the homeless on Tuesday night, but it will not decide on specific locations for a homeless living space. Council members will participate in a workshop on the “safe ground” idea, promoted by a group that wants the city to provide a place for homeless to live together. The Safe Ground Sacramento group opposes the city’s ordinance against overnight camping. The group, composed mostly of homeless people, has pressed its case for two years, but the city has not designated an area where the homeless can camp legally. As part of the workshop, the Safe Ground group will present its ideas to the City Council. Councilma

If you attend the weekly Sacramento City Council meetings, you’re likely to see an activist with colorful clothing address city leaders on homeless issues. Tracie Rice-Bailey, 57, has appeared at Tuesday night council meetings so frequently in the last year that she has become a familiar face at City Hall. For more than a year, Rice-Bailey and other advocates for the homeless have lobbied council members for a legal camping ground for the area’s homeless.  Rice-Bailey is a vocal member of the advocacy group that calls itself Safe Ground Sacramento. The group wants the city to reserve a space for homeless people where the city’s camping ban would not apply. Rice-Bailey, who said she was

On Aug. 17, the City Council members voted 5-3 in favor of holding public comments until the end of its meetings. For the last three weeks, matters not found on the agenda have been addressed at the end of meetings for the last three weeks. However, the council’s rules of procedure were reversed last night after a number of advocacy groups publicly opposed the council’s decision. Council members passed the motion under the condition that commenting would not exceed 30 minutes and would allow each speaker a maximum of two minutes on the floor. If the allotted 30 minutes expire before a person is able to share, their comments are to be held until the end of the meeting. Prior to Tuesday’s

A group that presses for a designated camping space for homeless people in Sacramento opposed on Tuesday the City Council’s decision to move the open public comment section of council meetings to the end of the meeting. About 18 supporters of Safe Ground Sacramento stayed until the end of Tuesday’s City Council meeting to oppose the controversial decision the body made last week. Before last week’s decision, open public comment was heard by the City Council at the beginning of weekly council meetings. During the open public comment part of council meetings, Safe Ground Sacramento supporters regularly urge the city to reserve a space in which homeless residents can camp. The city enforce

Residents will need to attend Sacramento City Council meetings later in the evening if they want to speak about issues that are not on the weekly council agenda. The City Council changed its meeting rules Tuesday night to move the open public comment section to the end of the weekly meeting. Currently, the public can speak at the beginning of the meeting on any issue that is not related to the City Council agenda. Council members were split on the issue and voted 5-3 to alter the time of the open public comment section. Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members Kevin McCarty and Ray Tretheway opposed the change. Councilman Steve Cohn was absent from the meeting. Johnson and Tretheway said

Sacramento’s homeless are still searching for safe ground after the tent city was taken down in April 2009. On Tuesday, homeless camper and SafeGround movement leader John Kraintz, Sacramento civil rights lawyer Mark Merin, State Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg and activists from nonprofit organizations around Sacarmento marched from Friendship Park to Cesar Chavez Park in celebration of the SafeGround Movement. They were joined by homeless men and women as they marched, sang, danced and spoke on behalf of the homeless. Using a microphone, which echoed through speakers around the stage, musicians and speakers were heard loud and clear by the crowd of more than 100. “People c