Residents rally against city’s temporary homeless ordinance
SANTA CRUZ >> Residents of the Seabright neighborhood in Santa Cruz rallied at Day’s Market on Easter Sunday to push back against the city’s Temporary Outdoor Living Ordinance, commonly referred to as TOLO, in an effort to keep the homeless in the city from being displaced into Seabright.
Currently, the TOLO prohibits camping within the downtown sector, and along the San Lorenzo River, among other places such as beaches and wildlife reserves. Seabright residents want their neighborhood included in that list.
More than 100 people gathered with a variety of opinions on the homelessness issue that grips the city. Some expressed disdain for the homeless population through T-shirt slogans which read “Santa Cruz is not a homeless sanctuary,” while others hoped to find solutions. One such person was Santa Cruz Mayor Donna Meyers.
“My biggest takeaway is people in Santa Cruz are just worn out from this issue,” Meyers said. “People who care about the community are so ready for solutions and they are just worn out by it.”
Meyers made herself available for questions from the crowd and addressed concerns. Residents of the neighborhood talked with the mayor further on the issue, long after the crowd dispersed. The rally became an opportunity for the public to have a back-andforth conversation with its mayor, something that doesn’t happen often at the council chambers.
“We don’t spend enough time doing this,” Meyers said. “I think we had a pretty good conversation by the end of it. It was heated obviously when it started. People are passionate, I totally get that.”
Group organizers stated the rally wasn’t anti-homelessness, per se. Rather, it was about keeping issues surrounding homelessness out of the neighborhood. Seabright residents are worried about increased crime as well as biological and material waste.
“We are not anti-homeless, we are anti-criminal,” Damon Brudder, a co-organizer of the event, said. “Homelessness is completely different from being a criminal. You do not have to defecate in the streets, you do not have to
destroy property and rob houses just because you’re homeless.”
While crime does increase with higher homeless populations, a 2018 study by the National Institute of Health found most of the crimes were nonviolent crimes. In fact, most crimes were related to being homeless, such as panhandling, vagrancy and trespassing.
When it came to homeless people and violent crimes, those bouncing from shelter to shelter were more likely to commit violent crimes than those who sleep on sidewalks, according to the American Psychological Association. Brudder is also aware that not all homeless people commit these crimes, having been afflicted by homelessness himself in the past.
“There are many homeless who are hidden in the shadows that don’t do any of that,” he said. “They treat the neighborhoods that they are in with respect and that’s what we want here.”
A growing waste issue in the neighborhood would be a different problem. Most of the businesses in Seabright don’t have public restrooms, according to residents of the neighborhood. The nearest restroom that a homeless population would have access to is at Seabright State Park Beach, two blocks away.
Residents said they are also worried about the businesses in the area. A majority of the businesses in Seabright are locally owned. With a perceived light at the end of the tunnel for the pandemic, the community expressed its desire to see its businesses make it to the other side and not be affected by further complications.
“We have businesses that have been affected by COVID, already,” Paige Concannon, another co-organizer, said. “They might have to completely shut down if we allow this camping that no one is going to force.”
Meyers agreed that Seabright wasn’t the best place to force homeless encampments into, and showed concern for the neighborhood and its businesses.
“I care about our neighborhoods and businesses,” she said to the crowd. “That is my number one priority.”
While Meyers’ presence and support may help the community, residents realized that solving homelessness is not just a city issue. State and federal funding to address the homeless crisis goes to the county.
“It’s the county’s responsibility to take care of this,” Brudder said. “We need to push at the county level.”
Therefore, the community is hoping to bring the issue to the attention of the county supervisors and plan to invite Supervisor Ryan Coonerty to another rally next weekend. Coonerty represents the third district from 7th Avenue in Live Oak westward through the City of Santa Cruz.
Meyers said she believes the issue goes further up the chain of command. She said she believes the community needs to get Gov. Gavin Newsom involved to help find more solutions to a statewide epidemic.
“We can’t keep saying, ‘call the county. Call the county.’ They’re part of the system,” she said. “It’s the state that really needs to help local jurisdictions.”