Homeless Plan OK Is Called ‘Political Move’

The Santa Monica City Council approved more get-tough homeless policies last week, but supporters of the petition drive that prompted the new measures say the issues of crime and homelessness won’t go away in the fall campaign.

“My colleagues are scared to death they’re going to lose their seats, and the voters are smart enough to see it,” said Councilman Robert Holbrook, a strong supporter of homeless restrictions who is up for reelection.

But members of the powerful political group Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, who Holbrook criticizes for being too permissive on homeless issues, say the petition was only a political tool to drum up fears of crime.

“When I walk around town, I think things are OK,” said Nancy Greenstein, co-chairwoman of the renters’ group. The petition, she said, “seems like a black-and-white thing for people to run on and take their competitors out.”

Petition supporters had planned to launch a new signature drive for tougher homeless measures after the City Council delayed a decision on their original petition, keeping it off the November ballot. But the council on Wednesday adopted all the measures the petition called for, removing the need for the new petition effort.

The council had already approved many steps called for in the petition, such as restricting panhandling and closing the parks at night. Still, petition organizers question the sincerity of these and other demonstrations of support for homeless restrictions by the council majority backed by the renters’ group.

Wednesday night’s action, they said, was a “blatant political move designed to diffuse the impetus behind the initiative,” said Councilwoman Asha Greenberg, spokeswoman for the group Coalition for a Safe Santa Monica, which is backing Holbrook and two other candidates for the three council seats up for grabs on Nov. 8.

Councilman Tony Vazquez, the only incumbent backed by the renters’ group in the election, cast the lone vote against the petition, which was approved 5-1. (Mayor Judy Abdo was out of town.) Vazquez said the petition is only a political strategy of his opponents.

“I didn’t feel we needed to go through the motions to approve it,” he said.

The package of measures approved Wednesday would, among other things, ban panhandling of more than five people waiting in movie lines and require that people be given a three-foot zone of privacy.

In a few cases, the new measures would actually ease current restrictions. This summer the council voted to close city parks from 10:30 p.m. to 6 a.m., but the new steps will roll the closing time back to 11 p.m. They also allow Palisades Park to stay open until midnight and slightly ease the prohibition on panhandling near ATMs. Panhandling was prohibited within 80 feet of an ATM, but the new steps draw the line at 50 feet.

That restriction is one of several that might be found unconstitutional if challenged in court, according to a report from the city attorney’s office. The courts consider panhandling a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment, and cities have little authority to regulate it.

Even as the council was gathering for the meeting Wednesday, former City Attorney Robert Myers and other members of the National Lawyers Guild were on the City Hall lawn talking to homeless people in preparation for possible legal action against the city.