By Lori Emerson Santa Monica
Ms. Kreis’s stated fact that the Santa Monica City Council is ineffectual is totally correct (SMDP, letters to the editor, page 6). What she may not know is that laws to stop panhandling, sleeping in doorways and parks, loitering and support of the homeless “causes” in this city do already exist.
There is a no panhandling sign at Polly’s Pies with the municipal code listed. It is located just above where several regular homeless beg outside the door, directly underneath the posted sign. There is a “no sleeping in doorway” type sign posted on Fourth Street, just north of what will be the new Circuit City. Even though there’s homeless sleeping in that doorway, you can still see the sign because it is posted above the “sleeping zone.”
There was a law passed in 1994, city ordinance 2.69.010 (f) (SMDP, Bill Bauer Dec. 26, 2003), that (in effect) states that the City Council cannot do anything that will increase the numbers of homeless in Santa Monica. It is now 10 years later. How can a law passed 10 years ago forbidding the encouragement of the homeless lifestyle result in this city writing a check everyday for $20,273 to the OPCC ($7.4 million for the year)? Somebody needs to call the police, because I have been robbed, as a taxpayer, as a third-generation resident and as a voter.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 7, 2004. Read the original PDF.