Law Not a Solution for Homelessness

Well, Thousand Oaks City Council members finally found something on which they agree: The homeless are a nuisance. They agreed to take action against sitting on sidewalks, camping and a couple of other annoying homeless actions. The homeless don’t vote, so the council has nothing to fear.

Passing laws against doing these things doesn’t solve anything. The council should get to work on the basic problems and offer some feasible, workable solutions. Could we provide restrooms, showers, lockers in our parks? I don’t know the answer, but I do know you don’t solve any problem just by passing a law against it.

Let’s have a little competition in the council to see who can come up with the best workable solution for our homeless citizens. Being homeless is not a crime.

MELANIE HOLMES, Newbury Park

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Recently the City Council of Thousand Oaks passed three ordinances to prohibit the homeless from camping and storing personal possessions on public property or without permission of the private property owner, to prohibit people from obstructing sidewalks and roadways, and to prohibit aggressive solicitation.

My wife and I have been residing in the Newbury Park-Thousand Oaks area since 1974, and in that time I cannot recall ever being aggressively solicited by a homeless person.

Camping and storing personal possessions on private property is certainly subject to the desires of the property owner and is subject to prohibition, but prohibiting camping and the storing of personal possessions on public property is subject to question. Does the camping pose a health hazard or a fire hazard or does the storing of personal possessions pose a health hazard? As Councilwoman Linda Parks has expressed, the city should provide the homeless some means of storage and possibly shelter for the time being.

SAMUEL M. ROSEN, Newbury Park