No trespassing signs only do so much, officials say
Signs are popping up in windows of downtown businesses warning transients that loitering in front of their store can land them in jail.
And it appears to be working. Merchants along the 300 block of Wilshire Boulevard report fewer people are camping in their doorways since the signs were posted.
Sharon Steen, owner of Central Pharmacy on Wilshire Boulevard, said she had trouble with a homeless woman who would leave trash and old food in front of her store every morning. When Steel’s husband asked the woman not to sleep in front of their shop, the woman allegedly threatened him with a gun, she said.
“It’s something we don’t want to see happen,” Steen said. “We don’t want this area to become a gross, skid-row type neighborhood.”
“It’s something we don’t want to see happen. We don’t want this area to become a gross, skid-row type neighborhood.” — — SHARON STEEN Central Pharmacy owner
Since John Warfel, who is Steel’s landlord, posted the signs in her front window more than a month ago, there have been no further problems, she said.
The signs read: “Please be advised, the front of this building is private property. Persons occupying this property without the express permission of the owners of this building are subject to arrest under penal code 602(n) and/or municipal code section 3.12.360. Thank you.”
The penal code referred says that anyone forcibly blocking the entrance to a place of business can be arrested and fined. The municipal code cited in the signs is a 50-year-old ordinance that forbids anyone from blocking the entrance to a business or a public street.
However, state law supersedes any local ordinances regarding trespassing, and state law says that police can only ask someone to leave private property if the owner has already asked the person to leave. If the owner of the property is not present, then the police cannot do anything.
Under current law, the letter expires every 30 days. After that, the owner must file another letter with the police department.
The proliferation of vagrants on the downtown outdoor mall has frustrated many Third Street Promenade merchants, who complain that transients are chasing away customers because they are aggressively panhandling, as well as urinating and defecating in public.
Other downtown establishments have used “No Loitering” signs, but they haven’t been very effective.
At Polly’s restaurant, also on Wilshire Boulevard, a prominently displayed “No Loitering or Panhandling” sign mostly goes unheeded, said the restaurant’s manager.
“If our customers complain we try to ask the person to move on,” said the manager, who declined to give his name. “But if they don’t want to (move) there isn’t much we can do.”
Kathleen Rawson, executive director of the Bayside District Corp. — which partners with the city in managing the Promenade, said her organization has been giving out no trespassing signs to businesses for years.
The signs Bayside distributes are used to inform police officers whether the business has a letter on file with the department asking them to remove any trespassers.
“The cops wouldn’t necessarily know off hand if there is a letter on file,” Rawson said. “So we created these signs in the first place to give them a visual cue.”
Rawson cites the need for a re-assessment by the city of the laws it currently has on the books to determine how to make them more effective.
“It works as best that it can work,” she said. “All this boils down to is that we need more better ability to discourage people from camping in doorways when businesses are closed.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 10, 2002. Read the original PDF.