La Mirada Officials Weigh Ban on Sleeping in Parks

Not being a prime destination for transients, La Mirada took only passing notice when Santa Ana’s controversial ban against overnight camping on public property passed a key constitutional test in the state Supreme Court last year.

Still, complaints about homeless people drinking and urinating in parks surfaced periodically. So, La Mirada considered adopting a law similar to Santa Ana’s. But city officials determined that they had sufficient tools to deter homelessness, including referrals to shelters and other services.

But just a month after neighboring Whittier enacted rules that make sleeping in public parks a misdemeanor, La Mirada officials are once again talking about adopting their own version of the camping ban.

This time, community resources director Tom Robinson said, the aim is preventive, “so that we would not be behind if Whittier’s problems or other cities’ problems ended up coming to La Mirada.”

The City Council will hold a first reading of the proposed ordinance at its meeting July 23.

City staff members emphasized that recent complaints against transients do not indicate that homelessness has become a major problem in La Mirada. Rather, they said the camping ban would simply provide one more option for county sheriffs deputies who patrol the parks.

“We really look at this ordinance as one more tool . . . that the deputies will have available to them to deal with this situation,” community resources assistant director Andrea Travis said.

Usually, she said, police refer homeless people to shelters and job training and counseling programs. Although referrals will continue to be the preferred method of dealing with transients, she said those services may not be enough in light of Whittier’s camping ban--as well as similar measures recently enacted in the surrounding communities of Norwalk, Buena Park and La Habra.

“There are homeless people moving through the Southeast area of L.A. County that on any given day are in La Mirada,” Robinson said.