The Santa Monica City Council has passed an ordinance that has created a “zone” downtown to prevent homeless men and women from sleeping in the doorways of businesses.
While some people say it is an important law in terms of public health and safety concerns, others claim the homeless will only find new doorways to use as shelter in other parts of the city, and it is merely a Band-Aid for a larger problem.
So this week Q-Line wants to know: “Do you think the zone will be effective in dealing with the homeless problem downtown? Or will it just create headaches somewhere else in Santa Monica?”
Call (310) 285-8106 with your response before Thursday at 5 p.m. We’ll print it in Friday’s paper. Please limit your comments to a minute or less; it might help to think first about the wording of your response.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 14, 2002. Read the original PDF.