New SLO ordinances crack down on abandoned shopping carts, tents in parks
The San Luis Obispo City Council passed two ordinances Tuesday related to the homeless community, pertaining to use of shopping carts and tents in the city.
Homeless community advocates, however, view the measures as punitive and urge San Luis Obispo officials to do more to help unhoused people.
In response, San Luis Obispo city leaders pointed to resources the city is planning to provide in its next budget cycle, such as contributing to the 25% expansion of 40 Prado Homeless Services Center, adding a mobile crisis unit, and a new Community Action Team social worker.
City officials will also work with the San Luis Obispo County government, which has a social services department, to coordinate resources to meet the needs of unhoused people, San Luis Obispo city manager Derek Johnson said. The county is receiving federal funding, including American Rescue Plan Act money, to help provide social services, city officials said.
The shopping cart ordinances passed unanimously with a 5-0 vote and the tent ordinance was approved with a 4-1 vote, with Councilmember Andy Pease dissenting.
Pease supported a possible permit for days in the winter, in which use of tents could be allowed to keep warm and then the unhoused could use warming center shelters at night to address possibly dangerous conditions for anyone on the streets.
The first of the city ordinances seeks to cut down on the number of unattended shopping carts “outside the premises of retail establishments,” which city officials say can interfere with traffic and create dangerous conditions for users of those public spaces.
“Abandoned carts also contribute to litter, clutter and visual blight in San Luis Obispo’s beautiful natural areas and can also become hazardous to streams and riparian areas,” city officials said in a news release.
“Throughout the years, the city has removed hundreds of abandoned shopping carts from public spaces,” Shelly Stanwyck, assistant city manager, said in the release. “And, unfortunately, in many cases these carts create accessibility issues on our sidewalks and end up in creeks causing environmental damage.”
The ordinance requires businesses to properly label each shopping cart to identify ownership and add signage warning that people could face fines for removing carts from parking areas. Businesses must also secure carts during off hours and retrieve carts that have been abandoned on either public or private property, the ordinance said.
The city may impound any shopping cart that doesn’t adhere to the city’s rules. A business could be fined $50 for each occurrence and be required to pay for the city’s costs to retrieve and store a shopping cart.
The ordinance is specific to abandoned shopping carts, not carts that are being actively used by homeless people.
The second city ordinance prohibits the use of tents in parks and other recreational areas.
San Luis Obispo officials say that the use of unpermitted tents in public spaces has contributed to illegal activities such as drug use and resulted in an increase of adverse or aggressive behavior in parks.
“In addition to creating opportunities for negative behaviors, tents interfere with park maintenance and the general public’s use and enjoyment of these spaces,” the city’s news release noted.
“Prohibiting the use of tents or similar enclosed structures in public parks and recreational areas is critical for us to be able to continue providing safe, inclusive, accessible and clean parks for the entire San Luis Obispo community, which is a top priority for our Parks and Recreation Department,” said Greg Avakian, Parks and Recreation director.
Homeless community advocates react to new SLO ordinances
Advocates for the homeless community spoke out Tuesday’s San Luis Obispo City Council meeting to express concerns about the new ordinances.
Kevin Foote said that he believes the ordinances are going against the city’s progressive values, calling for the council to reject the ordinances and wait for more housing initiatives to take effect.
“Why are we rushing to these ordinances now?” Foote asked.
“If we are on the cusp of so many things,” he added, from the popularization of so-called tiny homes to efforts to create Hope’s Village of SLO to the “use of our grant money in ways we haven’t done the past 10 years, why now?”
Added Foote, “Let’s think long and hard about what an actual progressive housing policy looks like.”
Marshall James also spoke in public comment, saying that San Luis Obispo’s 40 Prado shelter is “not for everyone” due to his view the rules are too strict.
“Why are we creating new laws saying that homeless (people) are violating (them) by existing?” James said. “We need to come up with better funding for Prado or a new facility.”
Amman Asfaw encouraged council members to get to know homeless members of the community and put themselves in the shoes of unhoused people to understand their struggles.
Eva Ulz also felt the ordinances were impositions on civil rights and criminalized the homeless community, versus maintaining laws that prevent unlawful behavior.
“This is ordinance is focused too much on the aesthetic impacts,” Ulz said. “As a resident of the city of San Luis Obispo, I’m far less inconvenienced by seeing a homeless person sitting in a park than I am, by example, dodging people in the street, drinking in the outdoor overflow area set up by bars to continue to function during the (coronavirus) pandemic.”
City officials: New laws on tents, carts are ‘reasonable’
City attorney Christine Dietrick wrote a letter, posted in the city’s agenda correspondence, in support of the new laws.
“The city does not have, or enforce, any blanket regulations against individuals sitting, sleeping, or lying on public property at all times, in all places,” she wrote.
Dietrick added, “The city can and will enforce reasonable time, place and manner prohibitions of activities that adversely impact public health, safety or welfare, while continuing to work with the county to provide supportive services and shelter and use city funding to advance housing opportunities for our unhoused residents.”
The city of San Luis Obispo is proposing more than $1.1 million in new funding toward social services in its next two-year budget cycle in addition to spending toward housing production goals.
San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon said that funding for services for unhoused people “starts at the top” with a lack of adequate federal support and leaves a lot of the cities “holding the bag” as they try to support people who are truly in need.
“I’m grateful that we have a lot more funding coming on board and meaningful conversations with the county,” Harmon said.
Harmon said it’s important for San Luis Obispo’s parks to be welcoming and safe, adding that areas with large homeless populations such as Mitchell Park can truly “be scary” and “concerning for families.”
The Mitchell Park gazebo recently was vandalized after previous damage, and will be repaired, Stanwyck said.
“I do feel a responsibility that we’re advocating for the next generation,” Harmon said. “No doubt that we have to do more and the county has to do more, but we get ourselves in a bad situation by essentially allowing for an encampment to be established in a place like a public park.”
Harmon said that people who are actively using shopping carts to store and transport their personal possessions shouldn’t have to give up their carts. The ordinance’s language refers to abandoned carts only.
City Council member Carlyn Christianson said she has conversations “all the time with people on our streets” as a resident of the downtown area.
“I know most of the regulars by name and if there’s someone I don’t know I try to talk to them,” Christianson said. “I am coming from a place of having talked to people.”
Christianson said that homeless people have lived in the parks for years, and the proliferation of tents in parks in the summer and fall is “not very good” for the city.
“Abandoned carts are easy to identify,” Christianson said. “I’m thrilled that we’re finally making our shopping cart owners take care of their property.”
City Council member Jan Marx said she has talked with homeless people extensively and served as a volunteer at 40 Prado.
“I’ve encountered some really aggressive behavior as well, where people get really close to me to the point where they could hurt me,” Marx said. “Not everyone who’s homeless is a nice person or everyone who’s housed is a nice person. ... Let’s not assume the council is out of touch with unhoused people.”
Marx sees the ordinances as narrowly tailored measures to address key issues.
“I’m hearing from people that ‘It’s too bad we can’t go to the playground right now to meet up with our friends, with our kids, if adults are sleeping or drinking alcohol or staring or stalking children,’ ” Marx said. “Parents are protective and they won’t use the playgrounds. Parents are watching and waiting for a chance to utilize the playground.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
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