For Immediate Release
Contact Robbie Powelson, 415-847-7500
The camp of unhoused people in Sausalito that is due to be evicted in spite of a COVID eviction moratorium are planning a series of protests starting Friday at 10am. The most latest eviction notice states that Tuesday at around 9am will be the actual eviction, which campers are planning to resist.
The City of Sausalito voted 4-1 on February 5th to evict a controversial unhoused encampment on the city’s waterfront. According to the city website, they will post 72 hour eviction notices on our camp on Tuesday February 9th. Later in the day, the city posted notices that cleaning crews would be coming on Tuesday at 10am.
It is the latest chapter of the battle for Richardson Bay as the eviction being led by the Bay Conservation of Development Commission to evict over a hundred liveaboard mariners from the Rainbow Bay Anchor-Out Community in the next five years.
Activist Occupies Sailboat in Latest Chapter of Battle for Richardson Bay
Members of our camp are in the process of chartering with the California Homeless Union, and have retained general council from the Union to file a temporary restraining order in federal court against the City of Sausalito for 4th and 8th amendment violations as well as CDC guidelines with the proposed eviction. We expect to file tonight, Monday.
“We have to pay for our own porta potty, face masks, water, food, and COVID education materials from community donations.” said Robbie Powelson of the Tam Equity Campaign “The groundswell of help we are getting is incredible, and we are confident that ultimately the strength of the council’s proposed eviction will be as empty as their platitudes of compassion.”
No where in the resolution is COVID Safety discussed, or do they acknowledge that they are violating CDC guidelines that camps not be moved during the pandemic. It also does not acknowledge that Sausalito was just ranked one of the most economically inequitable and racially segregated cities in California
The resolution also compels campers to break camp every morning, and set up every night in the place they wish to displace us to. It does not mention accommodations for campers with disabilities, who would need help breaking camp and would be exposed to COVID.
Moving tents is unsafe, because breath condenses on the fabric which can spread the virus. The current resolution has no proposal to mitigate this threat of COVID spread.
The majority of the camp are displaced liveaboard mariners whose boats were either crushed by the Richardson Bay Regional Agency, City of Sausalito, or sunk due to the storm. The camp is next to the only public access dock to the anchorage, making its location essential for the entire community.
“We have set down a charter for a small craft harbor district by Harbor and Navigation Code Section 7000, and that means we claim the land of rainbow bays shore, which includes this land right here” said Jeff Chase at the city council meeting on Friday.
Currently, the camp is registering people to vote using their Sausalito location so that they can have standing to sign the petition for a small craft harbor district and claim this land as part of the district. It is being proposed that the park be turned housing for the anchor out community, a dock for boat homes, and a community center.
The Camp is also inviting artists to come to the camp to build public art in protest of the proposed eviction. We are also showcasing an exhibit of Van Bo paintings – a world famous artist who was an Anchor-Out and unhoused resident of the Sausalito waterfront.
Most recent reporting on the camp:
Small homeless encampment grows on Sausalito waterfront
