Edhat Staff
Personal items stored near the Sunken Gardens (Photo: NatureBoy)
By edhat staff
The City of Santa Barbara is considering an ordinance that limits the storage of personal items on public property to four hours.
The ordinance committee including councilmembers Randy Rowse, Oscar Gutierrez, and Kristen Sneddon voted 2-1 on Tuesday with Sneddon dissenting. The ordinance will now go to the full Santa Barbara City Council for review.
After the four-hour limit is up, police will impound any belongings bigger than a large backpack. The ordinance also includes areas with “immediate impoundment” where signs will state any belongings will be removed within 50 feet. This is suspected to be placed around areas like the Santa Barbara County Courthouse and Sunken Gardens.
Any property worth $100 or more will be stored at no cost for up to 90 days at the police station or public works yard. If it’s not claimed after 90 days, it will be sold or destroyed. Items such as medications and birth certificates will be preserved.
The ordinance is meant to deter transients and homeless people from leaving their belongings on the sidewalk, streets, or public landscape.
“Unattended or stored personal property in certain public spaces threatens the health and safety of residents and visitors because it interferes with the safe passage of pedestrians and the disabled in the public right-of-way, attracts vermin seeking food or refuge, or in extreme cases can be used as a cover for explosive devices or bio-agents,” the proposed ordinance states.
Homeless advocate Peter Marin is against the ordinance and argues there are no exclusions for people who are disabled, ill, elderly, and/or suffering from mental illness.
“Not a single mention re the need for a shelter, day-care centers or even, minimally, public storage areas for homeless possessions. Just official and legalized cruelty, harassment and confiscation,” Marin wrote in an email to local officials and media members regarding the ordinance.
Sneddon also mentioned the need for a solution to the problem suggesting she’d support the ordinance if a possible daycare center was provided for people to go.
[10:15 a.m. Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with information from Peter Marin]
Can I cancel my trash collection service and just leave my trash on the sidewalk (like what is claimed “homeless” people are doing) and it will be collected for free?
Andrew. Good questions, but I think the ordinance is targeting hobos and the like based on the proposed ordinance quote……”Unattended or stored personal property in certain public spaces threatens the health and safety of residents and visitors because it interferes with the safe passage of pedestrians and the disabled in the public right-of-way, attracts vermin seeking food or refuge, or in extreme cases can be used as a cover for explosive devices or bio-agents,”. Is yet to be determined if it will pass or be enforced if passed. Personally, I like the “vermin seeking food or refuge” portion. Fits some of the hobo’s persona to a tee.
@11:03. We can always add to that, the creeks and rivers that are being poisoned with toxic waste and trash. Runs out to the ocean during the winter. It is an ecological tragedy.
Do spurious arguments like this really work for you? They don’t seem to be logically-based. 02:01 has politely addressed your concerns.
Hope so–should people really be leaving their stuff out a day or two in advance? It’s become ridiculous.
OCT 24, 2019 10:41 AM. It’s called a “daypack.” Nice, sturdy, long-lasting ones sell on Amazon for about $20.00. You can stash quite a bit of “belongings” in one and it’s easy to carry up to 10 lbs of stuff on your back, whether you’re walking or riding the bus or on a bicycle. Try it.
Who is standing by with a timer, is my question.
I (WE) pay too much money to live here to accept the trash pile/homeless campground this city has become! Let’s clean it up. I am all for this ordinance.
It’s not as simple as police pulling up in a pick up truck, throwing the property in and taking off. When Police impound anything, it has to be inventoried, piece by piece and written down on a sheet of paper. So each time property is abandoned, the police will spend lots of time going through the filthy and perhaps lice ridden things, box it up and take it to the Station. Then the owner can stop by and claim their stuff, without any worry of consequences or fines, and move on. Then a few days later, the Police will be impounding the same stuff, having to inventory it, again, and move it again to the station. Then the owner claims there was a couple hundred in cash, and it’s gone. The City will cough up a couple hundred dollars and give it out to settle the claim. Then word gets out, how easy it is to get a few hundred bucks out of the city…. It turns into a big scam……. Is this what we want our Police Officers doing?
There’s got to be far more important things they need to do, like serve and protect the citizens who call Santa Barbara home, people who are afraid to walk down state street because of all the panhandlers and people laying on the sidewalks
It’s about time, although I think a two-hour limit would be better.
A 4 hour interval is being kind to the homeless. Any time longer than that is welcoming trash and garbage on our streets.
Will that include items left along a parade route to reserve the spot?
We’ve had situations where a backpack is found unattended in a public place and the bomb squad is called for fear that it is “suspicious.” Seems odd that a cart full of nobody-knows-what can be left for hours. Who decides what is suspicious? On the other hand, as a bus rider who often shops downtown, I know (on a small scale) what a pain it is not to have anywhere to safely stash stuff while I go about multiple errands. Hauling belongings around is hard.
Ok. Now apply the same rule to those who live in encampments on public property. (Hwy 101/train tracks. ) 4 hours and gone. That solves the problem of homeless encampments where there is plenty of stuff stored. If you don’t apply the rule fairly across the board, the city has a big legal problem. Oh, no storage in front of public buildings near State St. but it’s ok to ‘store’ stuff along the tracks and in legal right of ways, endangering the neighborhoods and the whole community.???? Don’t think so.
LA has had trouble enforcing this unless they provide options for storage before applying it. They have a building where people can get a 55 gal storage bin for their stuff and can access it during the day. Before it goes to the Council I guess the City attorney will have to explain why we are different than LA? Plenty of lawyers advocating for the homeless here.
OCEANDREW – excellent point. If it does not, or if it is not enforced in situations like parades, La Fiesta Pequena, Concerts in the Park, etc, then homeless advocates would have a ripe old time suing the City. This is a great idea, BUT it must be enforced equally against everyone, regardless of their housing or income.
Took the words out of my mouth! Also to include the beach areas and Shoreline Park on July 4th?
Four hours? Where does that come from?
What if I go to the library for 5 hours and lock my bike outside, will it be removed?
Marborg leaves my green cans (after emotying) on the sidewalk all day. Will they be removed?
Can I leave random stuff I don’t want on the sidewalk and in four hours it will be collected for free?
People who give food, drink or money to the homeless teaches them to be homeless. They will never stop because there is always a codependent who will give them something first free. You think you are helping, you are handicapping them. They use the money you give them for drugs and alcohol. Then we hear stories of a woman walking onto the freeway at Milas or someone dieing on the train tracks by Las Positas. They will never stop until YOU STOP! When you stop they will only be able to get food from the places in town that are EQUIPPED TO HELP, not enable. Do you like living with drug addicts who are causing fires because they are under the influence and passed out. My step son who is a meth and heroine addict was living with his codependent, enabling mom. He was doing heroine in the house, passed out and the house burned down with all their things, valuables, memories and irreplaceable pictures. Do you want one of those fires to do that to your home? Please for the sake of all our homes, our beautiful community stop giving to them. Give them no other choice but to go to the places that are equipped to help.
Determining what are goods stored on public property isn’t that difficult. Like porn, borderline issues exist so you may not be able to define it down to the letter, but you know it when you see it. As for going through it and ID tagging it, that is too big a burden & risk for enforcement. How about large bins or the equivent of the heavy plastic bags for hazardous waste that are sealed when the stuff is picked up so no one risks needle punctures, infections and the possibility of booby-traps. As for the I-rule-you-drool entitlement group who leave their property to claim public property for viewing spots more than a few hours before an event, impound their “claim stakes” and include them in the abandoned property/bike sale to cover the cost of collection. Anti-social behavior shouldn’t be rewarded.
Why not try a proactive solution instead of constantly sweeping ugliness under the rug? Fewer resources would be necessary in providing a safe place to store items, than for belongings to be collected, processed and stored at the police station. The homeless are human beings who have fallen into social unacceptability, and they are constantly vilified. My guess is that most people don’t want to be in their situation and probably that’s the reason for such a visceral and angry reaction. What happened to compassion and humanity?
Why doesn’t S.B. use jail labor to help with the clean up? People with non violent jail sentences in Shasta county are allowed to work off their sentences helping the police or helping at Meals on Wheels. It’s a win – win as our jail is usually full and the prisoners get 2 days credit for one day of work and sleep at home. We don’t have this problem in Shasta county as we have proactive policing.
So much coddling of the homeless and mentally ill people. If I were to leave my unattended backpack out on State Street in a public place, the cops would be called as soon as people suspect it was unattended and I was nowhere to be found. The cops would be called and the bomb robot would come and the block would be closed down. And if I didn’t show up during the ordeal, my backpack would be removed immediately.
Must must must find a way to keep people’s personal identification papers safe indefinitely when the papers are connected with swept belongings. I have had homeless friends lose their birth certificate, etc. from a sweep or theft and their lives are significantly changed or ruined. Not having their certificates means they can’t get into the housing system, for example. One of these friends was NEVER, that’s never, able to replace his birth certificate because the state he was from was so close to bankrupt (PA) that it closed its birth certificate replacement system. He was dropped from the housing list because they hadn’t made a copy of his birth certificate so said that his eligibility was lapsed. This is the sort of problems, bureaucratic problems, that arise with sweeps, folks, so tread carefully with other people’s belongings.
Birth certificates are always kept on file at the county recorders office. There is no problem obtaining an official certified copy. Unless this person forgot where they were born.
The custom of leaving blankets, etc to claim space for parades, etc. is a new one. Let’s drop it.
Really, chain gangs and stripped pajamas? The truth is the cost of organizing such an effort, assuming you do not approve of sending the janitors out unsupervised, is greater than the cost of just hiring someone to clean up things as needed. I know this pragmatic view is not satisfactory to those with a thirst for vengeance but dollars should count somewhere in the equation.
City established regulations about marking out parade space reservations a few years ago. Non-issue. Cluttering up State Street sidewalks during Fiesta by unpermitted junk sellers is strongly in need of strict regulations.
This proposal faces serious legal challenge. Several cities have been successfully sued for damages due to the destruction of personal property under policies such as this. Several cities have been enjoined from banning homeless people from engaging in certain life activities such as is proposed here. And, practically, how does an police officer evaluate the dollar worth of the contents of the items being seized and destroyed? What is the value of the sole photograph of your children lost in a wildfire, for example? All in all this proposal is a truly embarrassing reflection on the Scrooge’s being heard in SB. Thank you Sneddon for not making it unanimous.
San Francisco pays people $200,000/yr with benefits to clean up needles and poop. They probably have 20 prisoners here working at Meals on Wheels daily – No way possible organizing that program costs more than hiring people !
SEADOG I agree. The city of Ventura uses people sentenced to community service hours as well as non violent people serving jail time. The cost of supervision is much less than public employee pension and salary costs. They are used for everything from landscape maintenance at government buildings and parks, janitorial services and government vehicle washing to picking up trash and painting over graffiti.
These aren’t chain gangs. It gives people an opportunity to work off jail time and be out in the community. I wonder how many Gardners, janitors and general maintenance people are paid over 50K a year in Santa Barbara? I know many make 90K with benefits.
You people who are concerned for the mentally ill is commendable. I suffered 30 years ago from anxiety that was so intense that I did not leave my house. That was not living. I got help and learned helpful coping skills. I control my anxiety now, it does not control me. My quality of life is fabulous. Being co-dependant and an enabler is part of the problem here. My husband’s ex wife is co-dependant and enabled their son and now he is a monster. He is a meth and heroine addict. He has over the last 10 years rehabbed the rehabs. He refuses to get help. He would rather live on the street, do meth and heroine and mast…..e. One time at a rehab the guys were so happy to see Cam. They chastised him for being on the street. They told him that after being on the street for 1 year you begin to go insane. Cam is now insane. You cannot talk to him as there is no one inside his brain. Thankfully he does not live in Santa Barbara. Someone here stated it accurately. There are not only the haves and have not, there is the will not, do not, etc. Cam is that. A lot of the homeless, mentally ill are that way because they chose it by doing drugs. Co-dependancy will not help or fix it. It only makes it worse. Hence we have the problem we are talking about here. Let’s clean it up. We pay a lot to live in a beautiful place. Why should they when they do not contribute and set fires because they are high and passed out?
Probate officers in Superior Court inventory and account for estate property all the time. This is a doable task.Yes, they also have to inventory small personal items too.
Factotum: Do you seriously think the “probate officers” will be available to evaluate this stuff? The proposal is not to store it until evaluated but to destroy it if not worth more than $100. If the stuff is going to be held long enough for outside evaluation there will be legal recourse for the owner to stop the destruction so that clearly is not the idea.
Compassion and Humanity go out the window when you have to deal with the perpetual vagrants that lose their minds to drugs and addiction. Slither around at night stealing others belongings. I live and my business is right in the middle of this nonsense. The true homeless and down on their luck people will accept the help that is out there. I have seen families living in their car. Give them food. Have offered them jobs. It is the worthless vagrants that give the homeless a bad rap. But they have to be willing and able to help themselves, otherwise, it is just a waste of time, energy and resources arguing about what to do with them. They are not “homeless”. They chose this sickening lifestyle.