The Eureka City Council will revisit the issue of camping within city limits tomorrow night as it considers Bill No. 989-C.S. – Camping Ordinance, a repeal and replacement of its current ordinance banning camping in public spaces. The adjustment appears to be in response to the 2019 Ninth Circuit Court case Martin vs. City of Boise, in which the court overturned that city’s camping ordinance on the grounds that it “criminalized necessary human behavior; specifically, sleeping, sitting, and lying on public property when homelessness and lack of available shelter gives individuals no alternative.”
The decision hinges on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits “the state from punishing an involuntary act or condition if it is the unavoidable consequence of one’s status or being.” In essence, Boise decriminalized “involuntary camping,” which appears to be the exact behavior this ordinance — drafted by City Attorney Robert N. Black — now seeks to rein in.
The ordinance essentially restricts “involuntary camping” on public property that falls within specific business zones. Those zones, according to maps provided with the agenda item, include Old Town, Henderson Center, the Waterfront and the Bridge District — basically, most of Eureka. It also precludes camping anywhere in city limits “. . . during the period from fifteen minutes after sunrise to fifteen minutes before sunset.”
In an email to the Journal, Eureka Police Chief Steve Watson said the new ordinance, if passed, “actually allows more legal camping options for ‘involuntary’ circumstances, allowances for 15 minutes before dusk to 15 minutes after dawn, while adding some exclusionary zones like Old Town but leaving much of the city open for involuntary situations (provided public vs. private property, non-obstruction of public ways and spaces, and the exclusionary zones.”
He also stated that EPD and the city have already adopted the practice of “outreach and services over enforcement where feasible.”
“We wouldn’t generally be enforcing, baring the listed exceptions and real need, during the night which is our current stance anyway,” Watson wrote. “We let people sleep at night if they aren’t causing other issues or dangers or trespassing.”
Other items on the agenda, which can be found here, include a renewal of funding for Betty Kwan Chinn’s homeless village, an amendment of the Local Coastal Program to allow for emergency shelters and the kick off of National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. and is accessible via Zoom.
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This article appears in ‘Hope Holds Out Here’.
while you’re screeching at Nappy Lumpkin, the Compassionate Progressives are criminalizing the victims of NAFTA.
All social issues are ultimately local issues.
Eureka and Humboldt County are long overdue in imposing vacancy-fines on the numerous empty structures, storefronts, homes and parking lots commensurate with their social costs on our communities in blight, vandalism, police calls, and fires.
The money raised should go to an affordable housing fund to better-leverage state and federal grants to build the modest apartments needed to efficiently handle local homelessness.
The full economic impacts of COVID-19 have not yet occurred…combined with Humboldt County and Eureka’s decades of planning by the highest bidder…will create a perfect storm of catastrophe in housing, bankruptcy and foreclosures for working families in the coming years.
Is the desire to push the homeless into the residential sectors of the city? If they have nowhere to go, that seems to be the likely outcome. This should play out well. /s
Compassionate Progresive here.
Should we all support marching the unfortunate from zone to zone while isolation has just been ramped up…again? Isn’t “camping” with marshmallows and singing songs? What does that have to do with having to sleep, when you don’t have a home or other shelter? We can do much better, as was recently demonstrated with Roomkey and Homekey funding. Lets keep up the progress, and compassion. Those are positive labels, BTW. Nice ordinance for the holiday season, and the covid-19 explosion. Great work ECC! (not)
Marc Delany
I agree Marc.
ECC needs to abandon the bigoted fallacy that sleeping where one must is “camping”.
Shall we call the children sleeping in cars with a parent “home schooled”?
When homelessness causes untreated diseases to shorten lives and land them in the emergency room, is that “compassion”?
Distasteful. Work to solve the issue. Do not just put it out of sight out of mind. Where is the humanity in such a messed up time.
This takes the cake. Are you kidding me. The merchants and businesses are barely surviving through Covid and now the Council wants to finish them off by allowing camping on private properties. Has the Council lost their minds. Hello, it is bad enough now. They are running off customers. Many of them nave mental problems. There is room at the mission for them. They chose to roam the streets. I’m tired of replacing windows, cleaning up vomit, trash,urine,and hauling off mattresses. Rather than thinking up banning camping, why isn’t the Council trying to help the local businesses and landlords that have not received rents for 9 months. Where are you going to get your taxes Council when you run us all off.
I feel like I met a history class and nobody’s listening. This is not the first time an ordinance has been created to Outlaw camping and it’s understandable. However this effort as all other efforts that came before it will be challenged again and everything will be put on hold and nothing will get done. I’ve been in this field for over 25 years and it’s the same thing every single time. If we don’t want people in areas that we don’t want them then we need to create an area that we do want them that we control. If you just look at the wording we are pushing these human beings because they have no roof over their head outside of the city so we don’t have to look at them again? The idea is to create a structured environment that they would be comfortable going to that’s under the control that can keep maintenance health and safety issues at a very bare minimum. The goal would be to make it self-sufficient but only transitional. Currently city employees and County employees are told not to go into wetlands and forested areas without law enforcement. Although we’ve been doing it without law enforcement 4 over 13 years with the homeless population. This instead of putting the penalty for panhandling on the person obstructing traffic driving in the car we tried to create ordinances that prevented that person from holding a sign. Right now with COVID these people should have been put under protection anyway as they are the most vulnerable ones we have out there. they do not have four walls and a roof to protect themselves they do not have clean bathrooms or places where they can put their trash. Everybody’s worried about the virus spreading well if it gets into the homeless population well checkmate
if a police officer comes along and tells some skateboarders they can’t skateboard in that parking lot, because it’s private property and its not allowed, it’s illegal..
And one of the teenagers says “well if I can’t skateboard here where can I skateboard? so I’m not getting in trouble.
Wouldn’t that officer answer the teen by saying, ” go skateboard where it’s legal at the arcata skatepark.” (Because he is protecting and serving)
But if a homeless person asks an officer if I can’t camp here then where is it not illegal so I’m not breaking the law.
And your saying that a cop that know the camping areas. Is going to lie and act like he doesn’t really know exactly where cuz it’s like a mystery. Then that law is apparently too vague. If the cop can’t even tell where it’s illegal or not how can he enforce, it or not.
That’s grounds right there for a law suit. We are all guaranteed equal protection from the law. Police are supposed to protect and serve the citizens in the community.
How can our city council be dumb enough to sit there and say “oh we don’t want to show homeless a map to where they can go camp. That could cause a problem, but we’re going to make a law that maps out where camping is illegal or not.
Our council is out of order. If there’s a map that they made then they are responsible when it sends campers to certain spots of town. caused any problems that occur when people start going by the map and camping in spots where its lefal.
It’s not supposed to be a mystery.
This is almost the exact problem I had when I sewed Eureka over panhandling. I remember the very first day when the officers took our signs gave us a ticket. I waited till they were all done. And I kindly asked the officers, ” I know the ordinance says you’re not allowed to panhandle http://here.So then where can we, cuz it wouldn’t restrict one spot without leaving another open. I know the cops had to know where it was legal in order to know where it’s not legal.
I’m already confused I’m ready to see right now I don’t think I can go to sleep tonight cuz I don’t know where I can go. Especially if the cops are going to try to trick us looks like ground for another lawsuit to me.
Sincerely Kelly pifferini.
P.s. no shelter will ever be adequate if it kicks its patrons out in the daytime to be homeless again sheltering means I’m not homeless no more not kick out every day to be homeless again.