Costa Mesa won’t replace bus-stop shelters and benches despite criticism

Costa Mesa officials said Friday that there are no immediate plans to reconsider the recent removal of bus stops and shelters done as means to curb homeless and vagrant activity.

The move came under fire this week during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, when Councilwoman Katrina Foley urged the city to reconsider the decision, which was done at an administrative level and never run through the council.

About a week ago, an online petition at Change.org was also created to urge the city to return the shelters and benches, a lack of which, it contends, “hurts the disabled, pregnant women, the elderly, individuals with health issues and everyday bus riders.”

As of Friday afternoon, it had 190 signatures.

City staff have removed nine benches and four shelters in the past year, leaving the vast majority of them unaffected.

The bus stops in question were frequented by homeless and drug users, becoming more hostile for everyday users, according to city staff. Scheduled cleanings of the stops, done by an outside city contractor, were also difficult and sometimes couldn’t happen because of people loitering on the benches, according to staff.

“That just contributed to the sanitary issue,” said city spokesman Tony Dodero. “They weren’t getting cleaned and were becoming a health hazard.”

Added city CEO Tom Hatch: “The prior conditions were unacceptable to bus riders and area businesses. The city continues to balance the needs of all those impacted and will implement solutions that will consider each location’s particular needs.”

Some of the solutions included installing new “anti-vagrant” benches with partitions that make sleeping on them difficult.

City officials have earmarked funds for replacing some of the removed shelters and ultimately want to install dozens more of the partitioned benches.

Foley said Tuesday that removing the benches and shelters has had “unintended” consequences for public transportation users.

“I’m thinking we should come up with some kind of alternative,” she said, adding that she wasn’t sure the removals were “the right thing to do.”