City and County officials reached an agreement on Wednesday that the city’s ban on camping out on city property extends to county property within city limits.
City and County officials reached an agreement on Wednesday that the city’s ban on camping out on city property extends to county property within city limits. This means that someone—it is not quite clear who—can force the Peacecamp 2010 protesters to evacuate the area around the county courthouse. The protest, now in its 24th day, has brought dozens of homeless people to sleep out on the grounds, despite the city ordinance that bans sleeping on public property between 11pm and 8:30am.
Among the city’s recent allies are labor unions, who complain that the campout endangers the safety of county employees. Over the past three weeks there have been several reports of public drunkenness and drug use and at least one report of a homeless person urinating in a public trash bin. There is also a report of one of the demonstrators at the Peacecamp wielding a lead pipe.
The demonstrators, however, remain undaunted and promised to continue sleeping on the site until their demands are met. They also have some anonymous allies. As they prepared for their weekly drum circle on Wednesday afternoon, someone went around distributing coffee, donuts and burritos to the participants.
While the city and the county decide who should actually clear out the camp, residents fed up with the fetid smell of trash and urine are coming up with some creative solutions of their own. Some suggest that the county turn on the sprinklers at night. It should, at least, wash away the stench, they say. The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that this problem should be resolved sooner rather than later. Read more at Santa Cruz Sentinel.
