Sherman R. Frederick
Marinscope
The homeless encampment in Lee Gerner Park — a COVID-19 homeless phenomenon that confounds Marin County — occupied much of the time at the last Novato City Council meeting. It was a 4-plus hour meeting with the bulk of it spent on what to do with the homeless who do not want to get into an organized government program or housing.
In the opening public comment period, Navatoans blasted the Council for allowing the homeless to take over the park during COVID-19.
A caller identified as Terry Graham summed up the angst when she said:” I believe Novato has allowed Urban blight to fester. We’ve now got dangerous ‘no go’ zones throughout the city.”
She then accused the city of failing to enforce city codes and called on elected leaders to establish one location for the homeless then clear public parks.
“One designated area. Not everywhere they want to be,” she said.
A caller identified as Lori told the council she’s afraid of the Lee Gerner encampment. “I’m terrified of the people in the park. They are dangerous people.”
Caller Tina claimed that there are enough beds for the homeless in Marin. “The people at Lee Gerner don’t want the beds. They want to stay in the park. They are dangerous. They defecate in the creek and they steal from our local businesses. I want my park back.”
Mayor Pat Eklund, who took withering criticism from some of the callers said “the city is committed to do what we can to reduce encampments” and encouraged callers interested in the topic to stick around for a discussion on new anti-camping laws.
The changes in the law, City Manager Adam McGill said, are designed to deal with people who “don’t want a program or housing. They want to live in tents outside society’s norms.”
He was tasked by the City Council to advance changes to city ordinances that will “balance the greater good and the overall safety of everyone in Novato”
The city is contemplating changes to its anti-camping ordinance that would ban camping in certain portions of public areas and fire risk areas. City Attorney Jeff Walter said under the contemplated changes “those who are homeless and entitled to camp under the Martin vs. Boise doctrine can do that” but must break camp during the day.
How that aim would jibe with the latest federal court rulings remains up in the air. After the Novato meeting, Federal Judge Edward Chen issued a ruling in the Sausalito homeless situation in which he said it was OK for the city to designate one location for the homeless, but that location must be a place for 24/7 tents. Sausalito had initially planned to make it only a nighttime place to sleep.
Mayor Eklund at the beginning of the meeting told those attending that “we need to do some temporary housing, just as Sonoma County has done.” She said she visited the sites there and was smitten by their approach.
Eklund was also critical of Marin County for failing to adopt the temporary housing idea.
“The county does not support the temporary housing concept. That’s very disappointing. We need to get temporary housing to get people out of encampments.”
In the background material provided during the meeting, the City attorney attempted to explain the current state of the law after the Marin v. Boise ruling. Here is that background:
“The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held in Robert Martin et al. v. City of Boise (2019) 920 F.3d 584 that ‘the Eighth Amendment prohibits the imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals who cannot obtain shelter.’
“The Ninth Circuit provided the following caveat in footnote 8 of Martin:
‘Our holding does not cover individuals who do have access to adequate temporary shelter, whether because they have the means to pay for it or because it is realistically available to them for free, but who choose not to use it. Nor do we suggest that a jurisdiction with insufficient shelter can never criminalize the act of sleeping outside. Even where shelter is unavailable, an ordinance prohibiting sitting, lying, or sleeping outside at particular times or in particular locations might well be constitutionally permissible. So, too, might an ordinance barring the obstruction of public rights of way or the erection of certain structures. Whether some other ordinance is consistent with the Eighth Amendment will depend, as here, on whether it punishes a person for lacking the means to live out the “universal and unavoidable consequences of being human” in the way the ordinance prescribes.”’
“In other words, Martin generally prohibits imposition of criminal penalties for sitting, sleeping, or lying outside on public property for homeless individuals, but allows cities to impose reasonable regulations on those acts. This includes prohibiting camping when individuals have access to adequate temporary shelter, or adopting geographically limited restrictions justified by public health or safety concerns. The proposed Ordinance meets that balance by adopting reasonable time and place restrictions on camping activities that do not broadly “punish[] a person for lacking the means to…’sleep in a private space.’”
I need shelter. I am homeless. I camp outdoors in Marin County. I was told over & over by Ritter House & other service providers that there’s no shelter available & there’s only a waiting list. Please tell me where shelter is available, if you are going to keep claiming that’s the truth. I receive $1040 a month total from Social security disability. Thats my total income; so, $12,480 per year to live on. Please find me housing!!!! If it’s so dammed available, why have I been told there’s nothing but a waiting list for me????!!!!
Also, I don’t defecate in your precious Creek, nor do I litter. I defecate on newspaper and then as you would do with a dog I wrap it up and throw that into a compost garbage receptacle. I do steal from stores but that’s because I need gluten free food I have been diagnosed with celiac disease and I’m trying to live on $12,480 a year. The bread that I need alone cost $6 a loaf. Get a CPA in here to tell me and everyone else how I am supposed to budget $6 a loaf bread into an annual income like that? Also I spend almost every penny of my annual income buying myself hotel rooms on Priceline or Hotwire because that is where they are the cheapest that is how I how I was myself: $80-$100 per night at the America’s Best Inn or the Budget Inn in Rohnert Park, or similarly priced hotels on Priceline/hotwire. And I have been working hard since I became homeless over 10 years ago to try to find affordable housing. And by the way the whole reason I became homeless in the first place was because I was making $15/hr or less my entire adult life (which goes back 22 years) and struggled hard to make rent on that kind of wage. Often, I had to work 50 to 60 hours a week in order to pay rent. I decided in 2007 I deserved better quality of life than working for the rest of my entire life 60 hours a week just so I could afford to rent an apartment and make a landowner rich. So I stopped working then and gave up on trying anymore. 4 years ago I got cancer and two years ago became disabled because of the cancer treatment. I am not scary and I am not dangerous I am just a sick person who was poor to begin with. And once I became sick, that made it impossible for me to even have any chance at renting an apartment and working 60 hrs a week. Yeah if it’s so damn easy for me to get some housing then why please tell me am I still homeless after all the effort that I’ve put in to try to get house especially during this pandemic especially since I have an autoimmune disease that would most likely cause me to die if I got covid. And YES, my primary care doctor has tried to contact Health and Human Services three separate times on my behalf with three separate emails and no one ever answered her back. This was her attempts at getting me housing starting when the pandemic lockdown was announced in April 2020 again in July of 2020 and a final attempt in November 2020. You can contact me to my email if you have any help to extend to me: I especially need to know where this prolifically available shelter / housing in Marin County is available for those of us who camp in the Park in Novato. andreaamericangirl@yahoo.com. or please contact me through Catholic charity services I have attempted to get housing through them & was told that a congregate shelter (death sentence: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/second-covid-19-death-reported-at-santa-rosa-shelter/) wait list is all they have to offer me. As I previously stated I would gladly give up my outdoor camp for a hotel room through project homekey. No one has offered me this and no one has even offered me a spot in an outdoor sanctioned safe camping area like the service area under the 101 in downtown San Rafael. Catholic Charities and the community outreach police officer I don’t remember her name the phone number and name of which is given in the press release on San Rafael’s city website, I called her I called Catholic Charities I asked Ritter house, how do I get a tent in the service area under the 101 they told me there are no more tense available, there is nothing available. So yes if there is so much housing and shelter available to me please contact me at that email or through Catholic Charities they have my contact information. In the meanwhile I will keep camping in the park because no one has offered me anything better, understand?