When Harry Shearer signs off his weekly show from “Santa Monica, the “home of the homeless,” he’s not kidding. An estimated 700-1,000 people live on the city’s streets (and in its doorways, and parks, …).

This isn’t news. Former LA Times reporter Mack Reed wrote in LAVoice that “Santa Monica opened its arms to the homeless back in the 1980s,” and a 2002 New York Times article reported that the city was “known for its kindness to the dispossessed.”
But it is news when Santa Monica’s residents get fed up. When the National Coalition for the Homeless released a report this week listing the “Top 20 Meanest Cities,” lefty Santa Monica came in at #9.

Among the mean things Santa Monica has done, according to the report:

• if park rangers and city contractors have to clean up after free meals are provided to homeless people, the food providers may be fined!

• the city has banned feeding more than 150 homeless people without a permit!

• the city (specifically, Councilman Bobby Shriver) has proposed making it illegal to lie or sit on the sidewalk!

That … is … so … heartless!

Los Angeles came in at #18. The LAPD was censured for enforcing “‘“quality of life*’ statutes such as public urination and sleeping on public sidewalks.”

*That’s “quality of life” in quotes, mind you. Opposition to public urination is a subjective issue, after all.

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Surprisingly, the Los Angeles Times — often credulous on homelessness issues — has so far not run this story.

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See Shriver’s campaign material for his approach to refocusing Santa Monica’s resources toward housing the homeless while simultaneously addressing resident’s concerns. The report ignores that.

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Berkeley isn’t mean. If they find an abandoned shopping cart full of belongings, they store it for 90 days. … in a refrigerated container they had to buy when the stored carts caused a vermin problem at the city yard.

Technorati Tags: homeless, Santa Monica

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 18th, 2006 at 12:29 am by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under California Schemin'. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.