Judge Supports Santa Ana in Homeless Case

A judge Tuesday refused to order the city of Santa Ana to stop its new policy of storing the belongings of homeless people in a container at Centennial Park.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Legal Aid Society of Orange County had sought a preliminary injunction to prevent the city from carrying out the policy, which was enacted Sept. 6, because they say it does not provide equal treatment to homeless people’s property.

But Superior Court Judge William F. McDonald in Santa Ana dismissed their objections and called the city’s policy “a very fair, very good-faith effort to resolve the problem.”

Attorneys for the two groups cited three arguments to support their claim that the city’s policy is inadequate:

- The storage container is too far from the downtown area where most homeless people congregate.

- Park workers are not required to open bags to see if they contain valuables before they throw them away.

- Workers have not been keeping records of what they find in the park.

McDonald asked lawyers for the ACLU and Legal Aid to give the city time to complete enactment of its new policy, but he said he expected to see them back in court if they find after the trial period that the city has, in fact, not been properly storing the belongings found in city parks and the Civic Center.

The city began storing the belongings a week after the two groups won a temporary restraining order barring the city from destroying them.