Laguna Proposal to Curb Homeless Delayed

Protests by citizens concerned about the constitutional rights of the homeless forced a divided City Council to postpone action Tuesday on an ordinance that would prevent transients from sleeping on private property.

By a 3-2 vote, the council sent the proposed ordinance to its Human Affairs Committee for review.

Among those voting for further review was Councilman Robert F. Gentry, who called the homelessness issue “a complex social problem that cannot be solved by a simple law.”

Gentry suggested before the council meeting that cities in the area join together to find a regional solution, including the establishment of shelters to house people who do not meet criteria set at privately run shelters.

City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said the ordinance simply places in the municipal code what had been the city’s practice under an existing state law and mirrors a city code that bans sleeping on public property.

“For years, we have had a procedure where property owners can advise us in writing that they wish us to cite an individual for trespassing on their property. But for some reason, the district attorney is now reluctant to prosecute under state law,” Frank said, adding that the procedural problem could be corrected with the new ordinance.

Without the ordinance, Police Chief Neil Purcell said, his department’s “hands are tied and there’s nothing we can do” to remove transients who return to private property after repeated warnings to leave.

But Gentry said that issuing citations and sending transients to jail, just to have them out on the streets again, is not going to solve the problem.

“If it’s against the law to sleep on private property and it’s against the law to sleep on public property, where does one sleep?” Gentry asked.

Councilwoman Lida Lenney added: “When you have to sleep, you have to sleep no matter where you are.”

Mayor Neil G. Fitzpatrick and Councilwoman Martha Collison supported the ordinance.

“I don’t want someone sleeping in my back yard and I think that’s what we are dealing with,” Collison said.

The council also voted to take $35,000 from its Open Space Fund to help establish the Laguna Canyon Foundation, a nonprofit group that would be responsible for raising money to meet the city’s $78-million obligation to buy land in Laguna Canyon.

The Irvine Co., which owns the 2,150-acre canyon site and has given the city five years to purchase the land, is expected to contribute an equal amount. Three environmental groups will also donate.

In other action Tuesday, Fitzpatrick was chosen to be the city’s mayor for the next year.