San Rafael extends its anti-campaign prescription to all city parks to reduce the risk of forest fire.
The municipal council voted 3-1 at its meeting on Monday to approve the amendment after a six-month assessment of its prescription from the homeless. The member of the Council Maribeth Bushey was absent from the meeting. Second reading and final adoption are set for April 21.
Related: the California bill proposed prohibit fines, the arrest of homeless for camping
The member of the Council Rachel Kertz, who voted unique against the order, said that “the fact of framing homelessness as a risk of fire rather than a humanitarian problem only strengthens negative stereotypes and leads to more in-depth marginalization rather than solutions such as support housing and an increase in mental services.
“For me, this prescription does not check these boxes,” said Kertz, who participated in the city’s homelessness working group with the mayor Kate Colin.
The examination of the ordinance on the homeless concerned community meetings with the working group, which was responsible for finding solutions to balance the needs of a growing homeless community with security problems reported by residents and business owners.
“This, as we know, is a very difficult problem of politics and there are many competing points of view,” said municipal director Cristine Alivich.
Alilovich made a temporary administrative order prohibiting the campsite in all the parks before the proposal was presented to the Council. She said no one lived in city parks.
This decision was to ensure that the Council and the residents could fully assess the order before considering a permanent adoption and that the action would not result in an expulsion of the homeless residents.
“The proposed order is a preventive measure which reduces the risk of forest fire in our parks and guarantees that no one is moved due to the city’s camping regulations,” said Alivich.
San Rafael’s efforts to approach homelessness were a battle responsible for litigation.
Following reports of drug consumption, violence and other illicit activities over the years, the city has adopted prohibitions on the campsite in Albert Park, Boyd Park and the Falkirk Cultural Center. Each movement has led to prosecution.
An order regulating the size and location of the camps entered into force in August after a one -year legal battle.
In October, the city created a sanctioned campsite area, where 50 people live and have access to case managers and social services. Until now, a camp resident has moved into permanent accommodation, and another has received a housing voucher and is looking for accommodation, officials said.
The new amendment is caused only by fire concerns in camps outside the sanctioned campsite area, officials said.
“For a large part of this year, the city has always received comments from the community around the existing campsite prescription in the context of the recent fires in Los Angeles,” said John Stefanski, deputy director of the city.
Secondly, Cal Fire in February has published zone of gravity of the risks of updates that have appointed several city parks as risk of fire. This included Gerstle, Sun Valley, Peacock Gap, Victor Jones, Santa Margarita, Jerry Russom Memorial and Terra Linda Parks, among others.
With so many parks falling under the danger zone, and with a ban in place in three parks already, officials have chosen to recommend a general ban in all parks, said Stefanski.
“As the fire season approaches,” said Stefanski, “we believe that this amendment is appropriate and necessary to protect public security.”
The members of the working group on homeless people had varying opinions. Some members said they wanted the ban further, while others suggested a different approach.
Some residents said they had bad experiences with the homeless in parks, such as being harassed or seeing drug use and human excrement.
Resident John Bischoff, who participated in the working group, said that he was interested in seeing an expansion of the sanctioned campsite area and a construction of tiny houses, staff from the concept city has explored, but with little progress.
“Without shelters or more sanctioned camping areas, the application (of the prescription) will be a problem,” said Bischoff.
Ritter Center CEO Mark Shotwell said he was proud of the city’s efforts to combat homelessness taking into account compassion and security.
“It’s not easy to do it,” he said.
“This city regulates the campsite,” said Shotwell. “This is what must happen. We must regulate it and manage it for the good of the city and for the good of the individuals who must be accommodated. And there will be no more camps in San Rafael early. We are going to put an end to homelessness for everyone. ”
Colin said that in addition to the sanctioned campsite area, the city is home to Jonathan’s place, a refuge and a permanent support housing complex operated by Homeward Bound of Marin. Another complex with support housing for residents of previous homeless people was soon opened at 3301 Kerner Blvd. In San Rafael, she said.
Colin said that she accepts that more shelters and more housing options are necessary, but the city does not have the resources.
“We do not have a health and social services department here, this is not our strong point,” said Colin. “It is therefore essential, for the solutions that will really transfer street people to the accommodation, it must come from the county.”
Colin said that she was grateful for collaboration with the county of homelessness.
“I will be frank, I want them to do more to solve the camps. I want them to do more to have a small native village,” said Colin. “We will continue to push for this because this is what is good for people who are on the street and that is actually what is also suitable for our community.”
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