Civic Center Homeless Told to Move Belongings : Santa Ana: City says it needs to clear plazas so crews can steam-clean the areas. Rocky relationship grows shakier.

The city’s already rocky relationship with its homeless in the Civic Center area grew shakier Tuesday when city officials began notifying them to move their belongings today to a remote parking lot in the area.

Homeless people living on the mall area between City Hall and the courthouse said they didn’t want to move their homes made of blankets, plastic and cardboard to a space that offers no protection from the rain and is removed from drinking faucets. The mall area has trees and covered parking garages.

“They are not talking about just moving a few personal belongings,” Brutus Jones, 40, said. “They are asking us to move our houses.”

But City Manager David N. Ream downplayed their worries, explaining that the parking lot, located just west of the Orange County Courthouse at the intersection of Flower Street and Civic Center Drive, is the city’s “preferred” location, where the homeless can store their possessions.

“It’s a big, open area,” Ream said. “It’s more out of pedestrian traffic and abuse.”

He said the city also needed to clear the plazas so that work crews could steam-clean the areas and remove graffiti.

“They do not have to move over there,” Ream said, “but if (gear) is left behind or it interferes with maintenance, then we will pick it up and store it at the Civic Center and it will have to be claimed at lost and found.”

By Tuesday evening, the portable toilets usually located near the makeshift tents of the homeless people had been moved to the parking lot, and that area of the lot had been cordoned off.

Because of previous legal battles over the rights of the homeless, Ream said, the Legal Aid Society of Orange County had been advised of the new storage site for the personal belongings.

Legal Aid attorneys at the site Tuesday evening said a staffer had received a call from the city’s parks department, but the attorneys had not discussed the plan with city officials.

“It’s hard to know what they are doing,” said Crystal Sims, director of litigation, as she surveyed the parking lot.

Last August, the City Council agreed to pay 28 homeless people $400,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit filed on their behalf by the Legal Aid Society and several Orange County lawyers who donated their services. The case stemmed from a 1990 sweep through the Civic Center, in which police arrested more than 30 homeless people on suspicion of offenses ranging from littering to jaywalking.

In another major case, the council paid $50,000 to 14 homeless people who sued the city in 1988 after their bedrolls and other personal property were confiscated and discarded by park employees.

Wayne Mangrum, 43, said he became alarmed Tuesday morning when he saw a city worker posting notices on utility poles a few paces from his tent that advised: “This area is subject to continuous major specialized maintenance. Please remove any property or belongings immediately.”

Pointing to the word immediately , Mangrum said: “This word can mean anything.”

Ream said the notice is similar to others permanently posted throughout the area. He said the 24-hour-in-advance notices are part of an agreement reached with Legal Aid after the 1988 case.

“There’s nothing tricky,” Ream said of efforts by the city to keep the area clean. “What we are doing is maintaining a level of respectability.”

What is new, he added, is the recommendation that the personal belongings be moved to the new location.

“Anyone has a right to be in this Civic Center,” Ream said. “We have no intention of denying anybody access. But they cannot leave their belongings or establish permanent locations that impact maintenance or pedestrian traffic or the daily use of the Civic Center.”