SANTA ANA : Homeless Waiting for Ax to Fall

Sitting inside a tent made with blankets and shopping carts, Anthony Purnell angrily tossed aside a police flyer stating that his makeshift home at the Civic Center had become illegal overnight.

“It says that we can’t have camping paraphernalia,” said Purnell, 28, who has lived at the Civic Center for the last year. “In other words, being homeless is a crime.”

Still, Purnell said he would stay in the area regardless of the law because he has nowhere else to go. “If they take me to jail, what’s the difference?” he asked.

Purnell, a former construction worker, is one of about 150 homeless men, women and children who have remained at the Civic Center despite warnings that camping there would become illegal as of midnight Wednesday.

On Thursday as the law went into effect, police handed out flyers in English and Spanish informing homeless people of the new anti-camping ordinance and reminding them that their shopping carts would be confiscated.

Although the ordinance is now in effect, police spokesman Lt. Robert Helton said that officers will not begin enforcing it until next week.

The law was prompted in part by a flurry of complaints from workers at the government complex concerning verbal and physical harassment, panhandlers and thefts from cars.

But the homeless said they are angry that the city would deny them tents without offering alternative shelter.

Seated next to a Bible and holding an open beer, Purnell blasted the city officials responsible for the ordinance.

“They act like we’ve got a plague,” he said. “This is America, and I feel like they’ve violated my rights. They’re harassing me.”

Gloria Hillman, 39, who shares Purnell’s tent, said she is more disappointed than angry. “They ought to build some low-income housing, and provide jobs,” she said. “This is the land of opportunity. Give me a chance to get on my feet.”

“Give me that chance,” she repeated.

Hillman shook the white flyer that police had handed out moments earlier as she spoke.

“I feel like they’re telling me they don’t give a damn about me,” she said. “Shelter is a basic necessity. Food is a basic necessity. It’s not a luxury.”

Last weekend, with the help of volunteers from Operation Fresh Start, about 115 homeless left the streets for shelters or received one-way bus tickets out of town to rejoin family. Throughout the Civic Center on Thursday, dozens of shopping carts laden with blankets and personal belongings remained, lining the walls of the parking structures and walkways.

Surveying the scene, Dino Farow, 34, who is homeless, said: “You better believe that by Monday you’ll see a drastic change here. We’ll be gone.”

Sarah Renderos, 21, who was running an errand at City Hall, said she is ambivalent about the new law.

While it is unfair to the homeless, she said, the people who work at the Civic Center or do business there should not have to worry about their safety.

“A lot of women don’t feel safe around these people,” she said.

However, she believes that the city should provide more assistance to the homeless.

“They should find them a place to live and get them jobs because being homeless is not something they want to do,” Renderos said.