Hello Councilman Mueller, Your ordinance appears quite reasonable though I see a significant omission; that being the location and quality of the shelter provided. Menlo Park should not be able to pawn off its homeless residents to other municipalities just as other municipalities should not be able to pawn off their homeless onto Menlo Park. Menlo Park would not appreciate it if San Bruno or Daily City, same county, forced its homeless into hotel rooms or other homeless facilities in Menlo Park; thus Menlo Park should not be allowed to force its homeless problem onto San Bruno or Daily City. Forcing a homeless person to move ten to twenty miles away from his/her daily routine would be a cruel and unusual burden/punishment. Furthermore, given that there is a 14 day incubation period in which no symptoms are present for the Covid-19 virus I would think it would be required by the City to ensure that any individual placed into housing has been tested and cleared of the virus prior to being housed so as not to subject anyone in or near the housing to the virus and conversely all people whom the individuals who are already residing in the same housing or in close proximity to the housing provided to the homeless individual should be tested and cleared prior to housing any homeless individual at a housing site that could potentially already be infected with the contagion. Therefore within the framework of the ordinance it should also include the above requirements to ensure the Constitutional Rights and safety of everyone. My friends who live in Redwood City don't want infected homeless people moving next door. Or in the alternative you could just enforce the existing ordinances which would have the same effect of prompting the homeless individuals to accept the housing from the city. And that could be accomplished tomorrow rather than several weeks or a couple of months from now via some new ordinance. That woman in particular has more belongings stored on the sidewalk than most people have in a one-bedroom apartment. If she were storing half a cord of wood on the sidewalk, which would take up less space, you would enforce the ordinance. So the real question is, why are you not enforcing the ordinance? I think it is because you want to force Menlo Park homeless residents onto other municipalities. Menlo Park 13.18.020 Permit required. (c) No encroachment of any kind, which impedes, obstructs or denies pedestrian, vehicular or other lawful travel within the limits of the public right-of-way or which impairs adequate sight-distance or safe pedestrian or vehicular traffic, will be permitted. (Ord. 957 § 2 (part), 2007). Pete ========================== Mueller, Ray 7:15 AM (16 hours ago) Please see below in the new draft I have clarified the shelter available must be "an available individual, non congregant overnight space" This is the contemplated idea. This is just an idea at this point to try to solve a problem. If the ACLU would like to help provide input, I would welcome it. In response to the public health threat caused by the communicable disease, Covid-19,the San Mateo County Public Health Officer first issued a Shelter in Place order on March 16, 2020. That Shelter in Place Order was extended on March 31st, 2020, to May 3rd, 2020. It is anticipated on May 3rd, the Shelter in Place Order may be extended again, or alternatively may later be renewed as required periodically in the future until the Covid-19 pandemic ends. In response to the Public Health Officer’s Shelter in Place order, the City of Menlo Park has made offer of individual non-congregate shelter to homeless individuals living on City sidewalks, both to protect the homeless individual’s health from potential exposures to the virus from the public at large as well as to generally protect the public health of the City. This ordinance, for which the penalty is a civil fine rather than a criminal charge, has been drafted in response to the unique circumstance wherein a member of the homeless population refuses individual non-congregant shelter, to serve as a tool for social services and law enforcement, in their efforts to gain compliance with actions in the best interests of the health of the homeless population and the public health. A. Prohibitions: It shall be unlawful, during a Shelter in Place order issued by the San Mateo County Health Officer in part for the purpose of slowing the transmission of a communicable disease, for any person to use any sidewalks as a camping place. The term "camp" or "camping" shall mean the use of public property as a temporary or permanent place of dwelling, lodging or residence, or as a living accommodation at any time between sunset and sunrise, or as a sojourn. Indicia of camping may include, but are not limited to, storage of personal belongings, using tents or other temporary structures for sleeping or storage of personal belongings, carrying on cooking activities or making any fire in an unauthorized area, or any of these activities in combination with one another or in combination with either sleeping or making preparations to sleep (including the laying down of bedding for the purpose of sleeping). B. Enforcement: Law enforcement officers shall not enforce this camping section when there is no available overnight shelter. The term "available overnight shelter" is a public or private shelter, with an available individual, non congregant overnight space, open to an individual or family unit experiencing homelessness, at no charge. C. Penalty: In the occurrence of a violation, a civil fine of 10 dollars ($10) shall be imposed for each day the violation remains in effect, not to exceed ($100). D. Waiver: All penalties imposed for a violation of this section shall be waived upon the. person accepting available overnight shelter. =================== Received on Fri Apr 17 2020 - 23:59:25 PDT
