Santa Ana Asks Homeless to Go; They Do Quietly

Following years of embarrassment and costly efforts to evict the homeless from the Civic Center, police Wednesday used careful tactics and a new ordinance to shut down an encampment that had grown up around the seat of city and county government.

After a week of low-key warnings to the homeless, a single pair of police officers at daybreak drove a maintenance cart through the Plaza of the Flags, its adjacent walkways and a ground-level parking lot, telling the 30 to 40 men and women who sleep there to break camp.

Police took a cautious approach Wednesday in light of costly court settlements against the city for arbitrary treatment of the homeless during sweeps in recent years. A city employee rode with the officers, videotaping them as they made their rounds, a move designed to protect police in case of complaints or lawsuits.

Police did not arrest or cite anyone and said the homeless were quickly complying with requests that they take down tents and roll up their sleeping bags or risk being cited. An area once crowded with makeshift shelters and shopping carts was nearly cleared by late afternoon.

“We’ve learned we need to document and need to be able to back up our position through video recordings and things,” Police Chief Paul M. Walters said. “We want to go in and make sure there is no question about what we do and how we do it.”

Just hours after police began enforcing the ordinance, a group of Orange County lawyers called a news conference for this morning, at which they will announce the filing of a challenge to the constitutionality of the anti-camping ordinance.

About half a dozen officers were involved in issuing warnings during the day. In addition, a small number of city employees loaded shopping carts and sleeping bags into pickup trucks.

Many of the men and women who called the area home said that while they knew eviction day was coming, they did not know where they would spend the night.

Daniel Rodriguez propped himself on a cane and shrugged his shoulders after police told him to gather up the belongings he had stashed under a silver tarpaulin.

“I don’t have any plans” for shelter, he said. “I agree that we can’t stay.” Rodriguez, a lean man with red eyes, said he has lived for six months in the Civic Center next to a parking lot wall.

The encampment disintegrated gradually. As employees left their cars in the parking structure near City Hall, a homeless woman was busily stuffing her belongings into a shopping cart. Several hours following their dawn wake-up call, about a dozen homeless remained, befuddled amid their belongings. Just outside the Police Department’s back door, one homeless man began to disassemble his tent from behind a row of potted trees.

Jean Callahan and her friend Diane Kare stood looking over the rail of the Santa Ana Civic Center Plaza, watching several city workers load into small trucks the belongings of homeless who were not there to claim ownership.

“They came by and told us we’d have to move, but where are we supposed to go?” Callahan asked.

The sweep of the Civic Center homeless follows a city ordinance that went into effect Sept. 3. Prompted by complaints from residents and workers in the area, the City Council voted to make camping a misdemeanor offense on public property.

Police may cite people who set up tents or tarpaulins or use sleeping bags on public property. Police Lt. Robert Helton said officers will confiscate any property that the homeless abandon.

Because misdemeanor offenders are not taken to County Jail due to overcrowding, violators will be given tickets, Helton said. Those cited must appear in court, and if they do not a warrant will be issued for their arrest, making them liable for jail time. The city will begin jailing misdemeanor violators later in the year when it opens a temporary jail, he said.

In their circumspect enforcement effort, police officers assigned to the Civic Center area distributed English and Spanish flyers during the past week, which explained the new ordinance and warned of evictions.

Many homeless cleared out of the area in recent days as police began informing them about the law. Those that remained were told once again Tuesday evening about the camping ban and that there would be a sweep in the morning.

Police officials said the costly lawsuits against the city, which resulted from sweeps or other actions against the homeless in 1989-90, prompted the new ordinance and the different tactics. The city of Santa Ana has paid about $500,000 in out-of-court settlements to some 30 homeless people who were arrested or had possessions confiscated.

However, lawyers for the Legal Aid Society of Orange County said they believe that the ordinance violates constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment. They said they would ask a judge today to stop the city from enforcing the ordinance.

The ordinance “is unconstitutional because it forces people to leave the city,” attorney Harry Simon said. “It punishes the homeless for being homeless and is cruel and unusual punishment.”

The challenge is part of a regionwide legal strategy to stymie similar ordinances in Fullerton, Orange, Long Beach and Santa Barbara.

Paul Coble, a deputy city attorney, defended the ordinance and police action. “We have a right and a responsibility to maintain the Civic Center in a safe, clean and orderly fashion,” he said.

Times correspondent Maresa Archer contributed to this report.