L.A. Acts to Ban Overnight Beach Sleeping : City Council’s Move Aimed at Camps of Homeless on Sands at Venice

Amid protests from Venice’s homeless and their supporters, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to an ordinance outlawing overnight sleeping on city beaches.

Approved by a 12-1 vote, the law would provide legal leverage for police to disperse homeless encampments that have sprouted on Venice Beach in recent months. The camps, now home to about 85 people, have touched off heated debate within the traditionally tolerant community, spurring new Councilwoman Ruth Galanter to action.

Pressured on one side by those who portray the homeless as a dangerous blight and on the other by those who urge compassion, Galanter stressed that enforcement of the new law will be paired with a social service outreach program intended to direct the homeless toward jobs, health care and both temporary and permanent housing.

Galanter said her goal is “to protect both the homeless and the homed.” As it is, she said, the beach camps pose “a serious, rather tense, situation.”

But opponents suggested that the law represents “vigilante actions” and portrays the homeless as criminals.

“The way I look at the ordinance, it will make it a crime to be homeless,” Steve Bonk told the council. Bonk said he has been living in a small camp behind the Venice Pavilion for three months.

In any case, the ordinance will serve to clarify beach camping regulations. City officials ranging from Councilman Richard Alatorre to police officers said the city’s existing vagrancy laws cover beach camping. Venice residents said the beaches have been posted with signs prohibiting overnight sleeping.

But Deputy City Atty. George Buchanan said the new law is necessary because current codes that prohibit camping in city parks specifically exempt city beaches.

The proposed code defines “beach” as including “public seashore and shoreline areas bordering the Pacific Ocean that are owned, managed or controlled by the city.” State beaches would not be covered by the law.

“When it takes effect, where am I going to go?” Greg Rader asked. “Where can I go where I can feel safe to lay down at night?”

Rader said a back injury that cost him his job ultimately led him to the beach camps. Although walking is a struggle, Rader said he has yet to qualify for disability assistance.

City officials said they will be able to distribute about $7,000 worth of housing vouchers to provide temporary housing. But, Rader said, “That’s no solution. You get a seven-day voucher and you’re back on the street in seven days.”

Jennifer Pirie, a member of Venice Neighbor-to-Neighbor, a group organized to aid the homeless and oppose the ban on beach camping, told the council that the shortage of low-income housing is at the root of the homeless problem.

“Neither vigilante actions nor police sweeps will make the homeless disappear,” Pirie said.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi, the lone dissenting vote, argued that the law would make innocent victims subject to arrest and jail. “That’s the kind of housing program we have for these unfortunates,” Bernardi declared.

Police officials said violators who refuse orders to move will probably be arrested.

But Galanter said jail is unlikely, noting that courts have upheld the “defense of necessity,” which prohibits prosecuting persons for vagrancy when they have no alternative to living outdoors.