Laura Glesby photos
U-ACT protester Mell: âShow me the law telling me I cannot walk up those steps!â
Alexis Terry in the tent on City Hall's first floor.
Four dozen people showed up to City Hall on Thursday night to protest a city policy of issuing 72-hour eviction notices upon discovering outdoor encampmentsâââleaving a symbolic tent outside the mayorâs office after a standoff with police.
The protesters, who included several people with personal experience of being homeless along with about 30 Yale students, marched around the first floor of City Hall for an hour and a half, chanting ââHousing is a human right!â and ââStop the sweeps!â
They had been convened by Unhoused Activist Community Team (UâACT) to call attention to a city policy of providing 72-hour notices of eviction to people sleeping outside in tents and sleeping bagsâââââa recent shift in policy to accelerate evictions,â UâACT described in a press release.
According to Mayor Justin Elicker, the city has always had a policy of providing 72 hours of notice before clearing an encampment deemed to be unsafe.
âThereâs been no policy change,â he said. ââAt times, staff will not have posted [a notice of eviction] immediately.â Sometimes, as the Independent has previously reported, the city would work for days or weeks alongside local nonprofits to encourage people sleeping outdoors to accept shelter and other resources, prior to leaving an eviction notice. ââBut our policy has always been that we give 72 hoursâ while ââconcurrentlyâ offering services, Elicker stated.
At a meeting of local homeless outreach organizations, according to an outreach worker who was present, the city announced that it would immediately leave an eviction notice and start the 72-hour clock upon finding an outdoor encampment. (The outreach worker requested anonymity because they had not been authorized to discuss the matter.)
When asked about this account, Elicker said that he had not been present at the meeting, but noted, ââI spoke with staff about how we need to be consistent with our policies.â
Elicker defended the cityâs overall approach toward outdoor encampments. ââWe do more than any other city in the state of Connecticut to support individuals that are experiencing homelessness. We bend over backwards to do everything we can to support the unhoused,â he said.
âAt the same time, we find encampments that are dangerous,â he said. ââAlmost inevitably, we find heating sources in the tents that are highly flammable. We find an immense amount of trash and human waste collecting around the encampments.â
Advocates for allowing outdoor encampments, meanwhile, argue that sleeping in the cold without a heating source is more unsafe than the fire hazard of running a space heater inside a tent. And they contend that the indoor alternatives offered by the city, typically warming center mats or shelter beds, are not a realistic alternative for people who are addicted to substances banned in those places, or who have experienced trauma that renders sleeping in communal settings intolerable.
âNot everyone fits into the shelter easily, and the warming centers are full,â said UâACT activist Suki Godek. She called for a designated space in the city where people can sleep outdoors.
In response to UâACT statements that shelters and warming centers are often full, Elicker said that ââduring cold weather emergencies, nobody is turned awayâ from city warming centers.
"Displacement Is A Crime!"
There was some confusion among Thursday nightâs protesters about the precise details of the 72-hour enforcement window. One protester called on the city to stick to a 72-hour warning, believing that the time frame had been shortened; another suggested that Elicker was ââtrying to pass eviction legislationâ in secret.
The protestersâ overall message, however, was clear: that people should have the right to sleep outside, especially when they are uncomfortable with the cityâs shelter options and have nowhere else to go.
Elicker has ââdone away with the policy they had for window dressing,â declared Mark Colville, who runs the Amistad Catholic Worker. ââHeâs always been a wolf in sheepâs clothing.â
âWe are Yale students, but we are also proud members of UâACT,â said one student. The 72-hour policy is ââpart of a campaign run by Elicker, run by Yale, to oppress low-income folks.â
âMany people have been victimized and hunted,â said a protester named Mell, who spoke of carrying ââthe pain and suffering of my friends who died out here.â
âNo one should ever be turned away from a warming center,â said Sean Gargamelli-McCreight. ââWe can no longer allow anyoneâs belongings to be stolen by the police.â
Colville and UâACT organizer Alexis Terry began to set up a tent beneath the City Hall staircase as fellow protesters circled them, singing, ââFrom New Haven to Palestine, displacement is a crime!â
Meanwhile, a handful of police officers gradually trickled into the building.
One the tent was fully assembled, Colville and Terry took turns sitting inside.
The circular march continued. Nearly every protester carried a handwritten sign. This is a community genocide, one sign declared. Elicker: Stop Being Trumpâs Bootlicker, said another. Yale owes New Haven $35 billion.
Tensions escalated when, at Colvilleâs suggestion, the protesters attempted to carry the tent upstairs to the second floor of City Hall, intending to leave it outside Elickerâs office.
Midway up the staircase, they found themselves face to face with a pair of police officersâââMark Salvati and Justin Julianelleâââblocking their path.
Police stop the protesters from going upstairs.
The officers explained that the mayor had asked that protesters not be allowed up on the second floor of City Hall. (City spokesperson Lenny Speiller later said, ââWe were wanting to provide folks with the opportunity to protest while at the same time allowing City Hall to function.â)
âShow me the law telling me I cannot walk up those steps!â responded Mell. ââYou show me the legal right!â
âPlease, get off the steps, man,â sighed Julianelle.
Soon, Colville darted past the officers to the second floor landing, sliding across the floor in the direction of the mayorâs office. Another police officer stopped him by holding his arm.
âThis is bullying behavior!â Colville said. The protest, he said, ââis a simple, simple gestureâ and an expression of ââFirst Amendment rights.â
He eventually made it to the mayorâs office door and parked there resolutely, declaring that he wouldnât leave until the protesters were allowed upstairs.
Colville refuses to budge outside Elicker's office.
City Chief of Staff Sean Matteson eventually came by and approached the protesters, who explained that they wanted to leave the tent upstairs.
âAnd then youâre going back down?â Matteson asked.
At the protesterâs affirmative response, he instructed the police to let them upstairs.
The group ceremonially placed the tent in front of the City Hall steps, arranging their signs around it in a border, and then posing for a photo.
Sean Matteson watches as the protesters assemble for a photo...
...and then leave behind the tent with a series of signs.
Then, as they gradually left the building, a few lingered behind on City Hallâs front steps to serve soup to anyone who wanted.