City Council To Vote On Banning Homeless Camps In Public Spaces

By City News Service, Times of San Diego:

The San Diego City Council will consider a controversial proposed “Unsafe Camping Ordinance” Tuesday intended to address the city’s homelessness crisis.

Mayor Todd Gloria has pushed hard for the ordinance — written by City Councilman Stephen Whitburn — in recent weeks, urging citizens to sign a petition and speaking on the issue at news conferences.

It would prohibit tent encampments in all public spaces throughout the city if shelter beds are available and would ban tent encampments at all times in certain sensitive areas — parks, canyons and near schools, transit stations and homeless shelters — regardless of shelter capacity.

“Encampments pose an immediate threat to public health and safety, for both the people living in them and people living, working or going to school around them,” Gloria said. “Those living in encampments are in constant danger of disease spread amid unsanitary conditions, violence and exploitation by dealers of deadly drugs.

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