> ## 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. # City council to debate homeless laws tonight - URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-council-to-debate-homeless-laws-tonight/ - Published: 2002-10-08T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:46:38.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Government & Politics, Downtown, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness *Ban tougher than state law* *By Daily Press staff* The Santa Monica City Council tonight is expected to vote on two highly controversial laws designed to move homeless people out of the downtown area. The city council postponed its vote on the proposed ordinances two weeks ago after they heard from hundreds of residents on the issue. While the proposed ordinances were introduced to the council by city staff, they originated from a public safety committee spearheaded by the Bayside District Corp., which manages the downtown with local government. For the past several months, Bayside has been trying to address complaints by some business owners and residents who are fed up with the anti-social and threatening behavior of transients in the downtown area, particularly on the Third Street Promenade. In an attempt to reduce the homeless population, Bayside recommended to the city council that the groups who distribute food to the needy in public parks be held under more scrutiny, in hopes that many of them would stop their charitable efforts here. The proposed ordinance says any group that hands out food must have a permit issued by the Los Angeles County Health Department and be authorized by the city before organizing food lines. The other proposed law would make it illegal for any person to sit or lie down in a building’s entrance between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. The ordinance only covers buildings downtown, which means the area bounded by and including the east side of Ocean Avenue, the north side of Wilshire Boulevard, the east side of Lincoln Boulevard and the south side of Pico Boulevard. Some elected leaders, including Mayor Mike Feinstein, believe the ordinances will do little to solve the larger problem of homelessness. Feinstein has told the Daily Press that it’s a political issue being disguised as a health issue, which isn’t honest government. However, some officials believe part of Santa Monica’s vagrant problem stems from the church groups that come from outside of the city that host public food lines in Palisades Park and on the front lawn of City Hall. The lines draw hundreds of homeless people to the downtown area every day. The law that would restrict those groups by requiring them to go through the county health department and the city approval process may be enough bureaucracy to deter some of them from coming to Santa Monica any longer, some officials and merchants say. The ordinance that would ban sitting and lying down in doorways is designed to make trespassing laws tougher. The state’s trespassing law only addresses public property, not vestibules. It also requires that people not stay in one place if they have been asked to leave. The result is that the homeless can move from one doorway to another along city streets, which makes it difficult for police to keep people from sleeping in doorways, officials have said. If the laws are passed, enforcing them to the fullest extent most likely will be an issue. City officials and police have voiced their frustration in the past that there is not enough resources to enforce the laws that already are on the books. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 8, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/100802.pdf?ref=smdp.com)