By Marisa Kendall : calmatters – excerpt
For the second year in a row, Democrats today voted down a bill that sought to ban homeless encampments near schools, transit stops and other areas throughout California.
Despite the fact that cities up and down the state are grappling with a proliferation of homeless camps, legislators said they oppose penalizing down-and-out residents who sleep on public property.
Senate Bill 1011 stumbled in its first committee hearing, stalling in the Public Safety Committee on a 1-3 vote. The measure by Senate GOP leader Brian Jones and Democratic Sen. Catherine Blakespear, both of the San Diego area, would have made camping within 500 feet of a school, open space or major transit stop a misdemeanor or infraction. It also would have banned camping on public sidewalks if beds were available in local homeless shelters…
Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Oakland, said while she appreciates that Californians don’t want to see encampments, she couldn’t support the bill.
“It’s kind of like trying to make a problem invisible versus addressing the core of the problem,” said Skinner, who joined Wahab and Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, in voting “no.”…(more)
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This is a controversial issue, but, one that could hurt some of those who voted to opposite. I’m wondering what Scott Wiener thinks is the core of the problem and how he would address it. Does he think that building more housing is the solution or has he some other idea he has not shared with us?
