> ## 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. # Downtown group to address city’s homeless problem - URL: https://www.smdp.com/downtown-group-to-address-citys-homeless-problem/ - Published: 2003-05-26T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T02:10:55.000Z - Author: John Wood - Tags: Community, Downtown, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness Frustrated by homelessness in Santa Monica, local officials will hold a work session this summer to address the situation. Officials from the Bayside District Corp., voted last month to put safety, cleanliness and vagrancy at the top of their “to-do” list and agreed on Thursday that the matter is so important it demands its own workshop. “It’s such a huge issue that we have to be meticulous in organizing it in order to be productive,” said Kathleen Rawson, executive director for Bayside, a non-profit that oversees downtown in conjunction with the city. “The board has been chipping away at some of these issues for a very long time. “What they’re doing now is taking focus and jumping in with both feet.” Rawson said all ideas will be on the table during the work session, which will take place some time in the next two months. She added that the board hopes to address specific issues, such as the homeless that congregate in center court on the Third Street Promenade and the overall city and business philosophies on addressing vagrancy. Bayside boardmembers on Thursday said that cleaning up downtown is critical to its success, noting that visitors form a perception of Santa Monica over time that is difficult to unlearn. John Warfel, chair of the Bayside board, said he hears the same complaint from all corners of the community. “It smells, you trip over people and you can’t park,” he said, adding that residents on the westside are easily lured to other retail areas without the same problems. “It’s a left turn or a right turn, and which freeway has more traffic,” he said. Henry Lichtman, a Bayside board-member and property manager for the company that owns Santa Monica Place, took aim at the city attorney, who he characterized as slow to take up the cause of local merchants. The City Council in October passed two laws aimed at curbing the homeless population downtown, but board members said neither law has yet had much effect. The first law bans sleeping in business doorways downtown. It requires merchants to post signs saying homeless are not allowed to camp in their entryways and has recently begun being enforced by police officers. The other law, which prohibits charity groups from handing out food in public parks without obtaining health permits, has not been enforced. Officials said they are instructing the groups that conduct the feedings on how to comply with the ordinance and will begin issuing citations as early as next month. Bayside members said the bottom line is that issues pertaining to vagrancy, safety and cleanliness need attention. Left as they are, the overall health of the Promenade and its visitors are in jeopardy. “The whole reason for this is to improve the overall experience of visiting downtown and the Promenade,” said John Warfel, chair of the Bayside board. “If people don’t come, we have a problem. And if too many people come we have a different problem.” > “If people don’t come, we have a problem. And if too many people come we have a different problem.” — - JOHN WARFEL Bayside District Corp. Board chairman *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 26, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052603.pdf?ref=smdp.com)