> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Activist fights city’s camping law with lawsuit - URL: https://www.smdp.com/activist-fights-citys-camping-law-with-lawsuit/ - Published: 2002-10-07T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:46:29.000Z - Author: Andrew Fixmer - Tags: Community, Ocean Park, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness *Activist seeks repeal of city’s ban on public camping* Only in Santa Monica does eating a muffin on a sidewalk constitute a criminal act. That’s the claim levied by a local homeless activist, who is suing Santa Monica because he says his constitutional rights were violated after police arrested him for allegedly breaking the city’s anti-camping law. Santa Monica police officers arrested David Busch on June 1, 2001, for violating the city’s prohibition against camping in public spaces and leaving unattended belongings in public for more than 10 minutes, both of which are misdemeanor charges. Busch, a 45-year-old, longtime Santa Monica homeless resident, was sitting next to a small cart containing his possessions, directly underneath a sign on Seventh Street that stated camping and loitering is forbidden. Busch was outside the Ocean Park Community Center, a homeless shelter off Colorado Boulevard. SMPD Officer R. Thurston wrote in his police report there was trash scattered around Busch, indicating he had been there for a while. Thurston also wrote that Busch was camping in public because he was “wearing multiple layers of clothing, having food and miscellaneous food wrappers around him, (and) having a sleeping bag and toiletries next to him.” A photo taken by the police department’s Homeless Liaison Program, or HLP team, is included in the report that shows Busch sitting in front of a fence next to a neatly packed luggage cart with newspapers stacked underneath it. “So here’s David minding his own business eating a muffin when this cop in his squad car pulls up and points to him and then to the sign he’s sitting under,” said Paul Mills, Busch’s attorney. “This is supposed to let David know it’s time for him to move along.” Busch told police he was not breaking any laws. He refused to leave, according to the police report. “I pointed to a metal sign, which was posted directly above Busch’s head and I told him to read it,” Thurston wrote in his report. “Busch read the sign then looked at me and said, ‘I’m not leaving.’” The incident quickly escalated once back-up officers arrived and recognized Busch as a homeless activist, Mills said. Busch is well-known for running a Santa Monica homeless newspaper and his work with the Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness. In 1997, Busch organized a much-publicized, non-violent protest when 100 homeless persons chained themselves to a vacant hotel for a week. Many homeless used the hotel as shelter to escape the El Nino storms. They disagreed with the city’s decision to board up the building. Two years later Busch was named — along with Congressman Tom Hayden and architect Frank Gehry — in a list of “Most Influential People of the Westside” by the Los Angeles Times for his homeless activism, according to court documents. Busch made headlines again in 2000 for winning a $29,000 settlement from Los Angeles after he was unfairly arrested a year earlier for running a food program in Pershing Square on Christmas Day, according to court documents. Deputy City Attorney Carol Rohr said she’s not interested in seeking headlines on the Busch case. “To argue the case in the media... well, that’s not the best way to go about this,” she said. “And we won’t do that.” She added that the police enforced the city’s laws appropriately. “Our position is there was probable cause to arrest him,” Rohr said. “My opinion is that he wasn’t expressing a First Amendment right sitting there eating a muffin.” Santa Monica officers spent more than five minutes “politely” asking Busch to move, according to the police report. Thurston then told Busch if he did not leave the area, he would be cited for breaking the city’s camping law. Busch then told the officers even if he was cited, he wasn’t moving, according to Thurston. “I told Busch that if he did not move, I would have to place him under arrest and take him to jail,” Thurston wrote. Thurston said Busch responded, “take me to jail, I’m not leaving.” He was taken to the Santa Monica Jail and held for about four hours before being released. Four months later, the city dropped all charges against him. “They were contradictory charges,” Mills said. “The whole thing is ridiculous.” Busch was unavailable for comment. Rohr said the arresting officers have not yet been deposed, and it is inappropriate to now explain why the officers felt the need to arrest Busch. The loitering provision of the sign posted where Busch was sitting has been taped over because there are no loitering laws in Santa Monica, officials said. Loitering laws have been deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, officials said. Busch argues his arrest highlights an unjust and unconstitutional city camping ordinance that leads police officers to think they can arrest residents for little more than sitting on a sidewalk. “Mr. Busch intended by his actions to reduce or eliminate the climate of fear and hostility that systematic, government-sanctioned violations of human rights — including the right to choose where to eat a muffin — create in a community such as the city of Santa Monica,” wrote Mills in his lawsuit against the city. Robert Myers, a former Santa Monica City Attorney, said the charges against Busch and the police officers’ actions are unjust. Myers was fired by the city council in 1992 for refusing to write an anti-camping ordinance. “I wouldn’t write a camping ordinance because I knew (police chief James T. Butts Jr.) and the police department would use it in this manner,” he said. “Thousands and thousands of dollars will now be spent paying officers to testify... and city attorneys just to defend the police’s harassment of poor people.” SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega said it’s the department’s policy not to comment on pending litigation. But he did say that it’s the SMPD’s job to enforce the laws on the books, regardless of whether or not people believe they are fair. “The police department will enforce the ordinances and state laws equally across the board,” Fabrega said. “We take the law to its totality and it’s up to the courts to interpret it. “We will enforce the law with the direction of the city attorney’s office,” he added. Myers said the state already has adequate laws on the books to deal with criminal behavior. He said anti-camping laws are part of an attempt by municipalities across the country to enact piece-meal legislation that will re-instate vagrancy laws, which have been ruled unconstitutional. “Communities are passing bits and pieces that make it illegal to be a homeless person living on the street,” Myers said. “All these laws do is criminalize homelessness and make it a crime to be poor.” The Santa Monica City Council will consider enacting two more ordinances at its Tuesday meeting that would create restrictive guidelines for people sleeping in downtown doorways and for food lines predominantly run by out-of-town religious organizations that are held in public parks. Some local homeless activists believe both ordinances would likely affect the city’s transient population more than any other group, and violate food distributors’ constitutionally protected rights of free speech and religion. Homeless activists have vowed to defeat the ordinances in court, should the council enact them. Both proposed laws will be considered along with an internal review of city-funded social service programs designed to raise homeless off the streets and into jobs and permanent housing. Some council members have said they support enacting the ordinances as well as creating a task force to study the homeless situation in Santa Monica. Busch wants the “no camping” signs taken down. He believes they are misleading and gives the wrong impression about the rights of residents, housed or unhoused. “I don’t know if it’s part of the city’s master plan, but these signs are targeting the homeless,” Mills said. And while Busch is suing for monetary damages, his attorney argues the lawsuit is about principles, not a cash settlement. “He wants them to pay so they have to admit they’re wrong, and that if they do this in the future, it’s going to cost them,” Mills said. “They can always get away with it if someone like David doesn’t stand up and say ‘no.’” > “He wants them to pay so they have to admit they’re wrong, and that if they do this in the future, it’s going to cost them.” — — PAUL MILLS Attorney ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/100702-02_03.jpg) is a photo of David Busch that was taken by Santa Monica police officers just before they arrested him for violating the city’s camping law on June 1, 2001\. (Photo: Photo courtesy This) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 7, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100702.pdf?ref=smdp.com)