Berkeley’s new cause: Make homeless behave

Maura Dolan, Berkeley’s new cause: Make homeless behave, L.A. Times, Nov. 29, 2007.

This L.A. Times article discusses the Berkeley City Council’s passing of a law that increases the enforcement of restrictions against camping in public places. The restrictions, which ban “lying down on commercial streets during the day” and “smoking on sidewalks on main commercial corridors,” reflect a departure from Berkeley’s reputation for tolerance that has helped attract many homeless to the area.

According to merchants, Berkeley’s “openness to the unorthodox has given way to discomfort over aggressive panhandling and public urination and defecation”—discomfort which has in turn affected development in Berkeley. The article points out that in one instance, residents and merchants helped block a project that would have brought a public plaza to North Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto “for fear that the homeless would just take over.”

While it is clear that increased enforcement will impact the homeless, Mayor Tom Bates and other city officials maintain that they are not targeting the homeless but are addressing bad behavior by anyone. The laws come as part of the larger plan the city calls “Public Commons for Everyone,” which also includes provisions for increasing housing and public toilets and day programs for young adults.