Change would boost public sleeping to a misdemeanor illegal camping, particularly in city parks.
The council will formally consider the change next week.
Currently, those caught “passed out” in city parks or public streets can only be cited and fined, City Attorney Bob Boehm said. Often, the infraction is ignored and the pattern of illegal camping continues, he said.
Since police began making river bottom sweeps to clear out the homeless, many vagrants migrated to downtown and other neighborhoods.
Brian Lee Rencher, who is homeless and running again for the City Council on Nov. 8, said it was immoral to not allow someone to sleep. Rencher said the real problem is a lack of housing, which forces people to sleep in the river bottom and other places.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 12, 2005. Read the original PDF.