For the past three weeks Santa Cruz’s homeless population has been camped out on the steps of the county courthouse, protesting the city’s ban on sleeping on the streets. The courthouse grounds are safe, because they belong to the county, not the city, and the protesters, while they may be a nuisance, cannot be arrested easily there. But the protesters feel that they are not making headway, so on Tuesday they marched to City Hall to demand that the sleeping ban be repealed.
For the past three weeks Santa Cruz’s homeless population has been camped out on the steps of the county courthouse, protesting the city’s ban on sleeping on the streets. The courthouse grounds are safe, because they belong to the county, not the city, and the protesters, while they may be a nuisance, cannot be arrested easily there. But the protesters feel that they are not making headway, so on Tuesday they marched to City Hall to demand that the sleeping ban be repealed.
According to Mayor Mike Rotkin, the ban protects the community. The protesters disagree, saying that they are part of the community too, yet they have no options under the current system. Existing shelters are already overcrowded, yet simply being in the streets at between 11:30pm and 8am could get them a ticket; four such tickets could lead to a year in jail, which does mean a roof over their heads, but at the taxpayers’ expense, and not exactly the kind of roof they want.
What are the options, then? The protesters say that they have no plans to go anywhere until the ban is rescinded. Meanwhile, many courthouse workers say that they feel threatened by the growing number of people loitering right outside their workplace, and some even report that fights have broken out. Mayor Rotkin has said that a city ordinance could force the protesters off the property, provided that the actual expulsion is carried out by the County Sheriff’s Office, not the SCPD. In other words, it all seems headed for a showdown. Read more at KSBW.
