SANTA ANA : Public Homeless to Receive Warnings

Homeless people living in the Civic Center have at least two more days to move out of the area before police officers begin ticketing them under the city’s new anti-camping ordinance, Santa Ana police said Friday.

The law, which went into effect Friday, bars anyone from using the Civic Center for “living accommodations,” such as sleeping or cooking, but does allow “short-term, casual” dozing.

Civic Center patrol officers “will walk around the Civic Center itself with notices that show the boundaries (of the ordinance) and admonish people of what the ordinance is about” today, Sunday and possibly Monday, Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Helton said.

Later next week, police will begin citing transients violating the ordinance in the area bounded by Sycamore and Shelton streets, Santa Ana Boulevard and Civic Center Drive, Helton said.

Santa Ana officials enacted a similar ordinance in September, 1992, when about 275 people were camped in the Civic Center. It banned camping activities that included sleeping with blankets on public property throughout Santa Ana without permission.

Advocates for homeless people soon challenged that law, as well as a section of the state Penal Code used against transients. Police are blocked from arresting homeless people under either law until the courts decide if the laws are constitutional, although officers may still arrest anyone sleeping in public structures.

Harry Simon, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, asked Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert J. Polis on Wednesday to block enforcement of the newest ordinance. Polis refused, saying he believes the newest law is likely to survive a judicial challenge.

“I’m afraid with this new law, our clients will be punished simply for the condition of being homeless,” Simon said.