Judge Upholds Santa Ana Camping Ban : Homeless: City ordinance is aimed specifically at unsightly encampments at Civic Center. Civil rights lawyers fear countywide repercussions from ruling.

An Orange County Superior Court judge Wednesday upheld a law banning camping at the Civic Center, although he recognized that the ordinance may leave homeless people with nowhere else to sleep in the city.

“I still think the ordinance passes constitutional muster,” Judge Robert J. Polis said as he issued his ruling in the latest battle between the city of Santa Ana and civil rights attorneys representing the homeless.

Attorneys for the homeless said the judge’s decision could have a sweeping and oppressive effect on homeless people in Orange County. They said officials in other cities may see the ruling as an opportunity to impose similar anti-camping restrictions.

“I shudder at (the implications). This may be a green light for other cities wanting to make it a crime to be homeless,” said attorney Christopher Mears, who represented the homeless in their lawsuit against the city.

“The situation looks very grim for our clients,” said Harry Simon, another attorney for the homeless, who works for the Legal Aid Society of Orange County. “They have no place where they can lawfully be in Santa Ana.”

City Atty. Edward J. Cooper said city officials do not intend to banish the homeless, but merely want to stop them from setting up camp in the Civic Center. He said the ordinance is necessary to prevent the day-to-day business at the Civic Center from being disturbed.

“We had some major problems there,” Cooper said, citing health and safety concerns in the plaza because of the rickety tents, open fires and human waste that was left there.

The anti-camping law prohibits anything but “short-term casual sleeping” in the Civic Center area. Its passage was the city’s second attempt at restricting homeless camping.

The city’s first ordinance banned camping throughout the city, including the Civic Center. It was upheld by the Orange County Superior Court, but was later declared unconstitutional by the 4th District Court of Appeal and is currently being reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

Attorneys said Polis’ ruling on the second ordinance may become moot if the Supreme Court finds the city’s first anti-camping ordinance is constitutional.

“We’re all waiting to see what happens in that case,” Mears said. In the meantime, he said, he will likely appeal Polis’ ruling.

Santa Ana officials have grappled with the homeless problem in their city for many years. Some officials have estimated that as many as 3,000 homeless people reside in Santa Ana, but others say that figure is too high. Currently, about 330 shelter beds are available for the homeless in Santa Ana.

In the late 1980s the city waged a highly controversial campaign to push the homeless out of the Civic Center. Many homeless people were arrested and some of their belongings were seized or destroyed.

Cooper said that lawyers for the homeless have unfairly implied that it is the city’s duty to provide land for the homeless to set up camp.

“I’m not aware of any such duty,” he said. “If it’s anyone’s responsible then it’s the County of Orange.”

Simon, however, said the city does have responsibility “not to expel the homeless from the city” or “make it a crime for homeless people to live in every public space in the city.”

As a result of the city’s anti-camping law in the Civic Center, Simon said, his clients have been forced to sleep illegally in areas just outside of the Civic Center.

“They basically will continue to go anywhere they are not forced out of,” Simon said.

He added that the city’s enforcement of the law has been “sporadic” and that he is aware of only half a dozen citations being given to homeless people.