Why Did NEOCH Sue City of Cleveland

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless with the assistance of the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit today over the extremely large "event zone" and the overly broad prohibited items in that the Zone during the Republican National Convention.  Below is the language of items that are not allowed--many of which are common to homeless people.  The legislation could have excluded homeless people by declaring them residents of the city.   We keep hearing, "Don't worry we are not going to harass homeless people," but have yet to see anything in writing.  We heard from various reporters and police that they were not going to waste time looking at campsites,  but we need something that we distribute and post from someone in the City. Also below is the map provided by the City on the "event zone," which is huge.  Way bigger than we were led to believe, and involves a majority of the homeless population. 

The map is basically West 25th all the way over to the freeway at East 27th St. all the way back to St. Vincent's hospital to the Lake.  This involves four of the five largest shelters in Cleveland, and around 100 people who live outside.  We join with our friends at Organize!Ohio over the limiting of free speech with protests limited to the no man's zone of the Lorain Carnegie Bridge, but our main concern is over the treatment of homeless people during the RNC.

Brian Davis

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