Santa Ana Delays Effort to Evict Civic Center Homeless : Law: Pleas for humane treatment of tent city residents and a lack of a detention facility prompted a hold on enforcing camping ban.

Confronted with a last-minute plea from Orange County citizens that the homeless in the Civic Center be treated humanely, the City Council agreed Monday evening to postpone for 90 days the enforcement of an anti-camping ordinance that would effectively evict the homeless from the city.

The ordinance, originally scheduled to take effect July 1, makes it illegal to camp, sleep or store personal belongings on public property.

Instead of taking a final vote on the ordinance, the council agreed to delay the vote and give the citizens, local businesses and social workers enough time to find alternative housing and treatment programs for those homeless people who are considered mentally ill or addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Ever mindful of the strong sentiment among local residents to rid the Civic Center of the shanties that house about 300 homeless people, the council cautioned that it would not fund any new programs and would hold the newly formed advocacy group to its promise to work on solutions.

“I think we need to get the ordinance on the books. If nothing else, it’s given a wake-up call,” Mayor Daniel H. Young said before the vote. “It gives Santa Ana a feeling of fairness, and it gets everyone involved in the problem.”

But the delay also appeared to be a practical matter for the council.

Under questioning by Councilman Robert L. Richardson, the city staff said that the installation of a 48-cell temporary jail to hold misdemeanor violators not currently accepted at the Orange County Jail will not occur until the end of September.

Given the delayed temporary jail, Richardson then made the motion to delay enforcement of the anti-camping law.

Pointing to the 337 shelter beds for the homeless available in Santa Ana--about one-third of what is offered countywide--Richardson said it was time for other cities to shoulder some of the responsibility of caring for the homeless.

Chiding advocates for the homeless for offering assistance at the last minute, Richardson signaled the city’s intolerance of the problem when he said it “is going to come to an end, and it has to come to an end.”

The new citizens’ effort, which was named “Operation Fresh Start” just moments before organizers entered the City Council chambers, is intended to raise private donations and work with social service agencies to meet a variety of needs, ranging from shower facilities to job training.

Many of the group’s members who addressed the City Council do not live in Santa Ana and agreed that the city had been unfairly burdened with the county’s increasing homeless population.

But volunteers who help feed the homeless on weekends implored that the council treat the homeless as human beings.

“I am telling you, they are people,” said Kathy Winter, who is leading Operation Fresh Start. “We want to stand here and tell you, ‘You can count on us.’ ”

Another organizer, Jerilyn H. White, added: “I hope you will be able to give us a chance to do something that will allow us to succeed for the benefit of us all.”

Other speakers told the council that to begin immediate enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance would lead to greater problems because the homeless would refuse to leave the Civic Center without help.

“There has to be a peaceful solution to this,” said Cireena Scheffield, a woman who lives in the Civic Center and offers Bible study to the homeless. “Because if you do go this way, you are reaping what you sow; you are asking for trouble.”

But the council also heard from numerous county and state government employees who spoke of the assaults, harassments and “peeping Tom” incidents in the women’s restrooms that have created fear among the work force.

“We believe that the problem should be immediately and sympathetically addressed by the appropriate government agencies,” said Kathleen Sage of the Orange County Employees Assn. “But in the meantime, we support the anti-camping ordinance.”

Jerry Scott, an employee with the State Board of Equalization, handed paperwork to the city clerk as he began to speak. The paperwork was a claim against the city for damage to his car, which he said occurred recently when a mattress belonging to one of the homeless caught fire near his car. Embedded in the mattress was a hypodermic needle, he said.

But Scott also asked that the homeless be helped, saying: “They are people just like you and me.”

* INSPECTIONS POSTPONED: The Santa Ana City Council delays a plan to clean up rental properties. B5