Mayor Steinberg, councilwoman criticize sweep. Will city continue crackdown on homeless vehicles?
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela Tuesday raised concerns about the city’s decision to clear 160 homeless vehicles from a North Sacramento industrial park. But it’s unclear whether the pushback will halt an apparent new city strategy to clear more homeless vehicles.
“I as mayor of the city believe strongly the businesses on Commerce Circle and other commercial corridors need and deserve relief,” Steinberg said during a City Council meeting Tuesday, referring to a Sacramento Bee report. “I believe living in unsupervised tent encampments is a health and safety crisis for the businesses and neighborhoods, but mostly people living in such conditions. From what I know, I disagree strongly with the timing and manner of this action over the last several days.”
A total of 18 vehicles and trailers were towed on Monday from Commerce Circle, city spokesman Tim Swanson said. Many vehicles and trailers had moved from the area since receiving notices from the city that they would be towed, Swanson said. Many said they were not offered shelter or housing.
In a social media post, Valenzuela said she was “very disappointed.”
“We should not be wasting resources on further traumatizing and harming people who have no place to go, particularly when those actions take away the only shelter that people have during the rainy and cold season which can be life threatening to people living outdoors,” Valenzuela said in the post.
There is a chance of rain Wednesday night, and then temperatures are forecast to dip into the 30s Thursday and Friday night, according to the National Weather Service.
Councilman Jeff Harris, who represents Commerce Circle, said he did not direct staff to clear the area, but did support it. He said business owners have been complaining to him about the homeless campers there for about two years. In addition, the unhoused have been digging stairways into the levee, and the American River Flood Control District has been unable to do mowing or important inspections, Harris said.
“It is not the intention to cause people harm but it is the intention to send a signal — you can’t simply park for free in perpetuity on our streets,” Harris said of the action, adding that the city needs many more Safe Ground parking lots.
It’s possible some of the vehicles towed were abandoned, Harris said.
But not all were.
The city towed Jeffrey Clark’s RV Monday, which he was using for shelter, he said. To get the RV back would cost him about $270 and an additional $85 a day for storage — money he does not have, he said. He would also need to pay a $170 city release fee, get the registration up to date and be the registered owner with a valid driver’s license, he said.
Clark, 55, is now sleeping in his car, but missing the RV, he said.
“It was warmer, I could prepare and cook meals and almost shower,” Clark said. “It was also much safer for myself and (my dog) Stevie Nicks.”
The car also has expired registration, which could mean it could be towed as well, leaving him in a tent.
The car that Tammy Taylor, 54, was sleeping in was towed to Woodland. She teared up Tuesday recalling the experience.
“The car is warmer, it’s more secure for me, I can lock my doors,” Taylor said. “I don’t want to be out on that river again. I just can’t do that no more, you know? It hurts. I’m getting too old for this.”
Under the city vehicle parking code, which staff used to clear Commerce Circle, vehicles must be registered and cannot park in the same spot for more than 72 hours. There are about 3,000 vehicles in the city that meet that description, Harris told The Bee.
“They are all cataloged and the city staff came up with a priority list of problematic areas,” Harris said. “It turned out Commerce rose to top.”
Harris said he did not know what other areas are on the list; Swanson did not immediately respond to an email seeking that answer.
Asked about the clearing last week, Swanson directed a reporter to a city web page with a new FAQ about homeless response.
“The city in going forward with its Commerce Circle action apparently relied on a set of FAQs which the city manager and city attorney put forward for circumstances where the city’s authority to move vehicles out of these large encampments is legally allowed,” Steinberg said. “But the FAQs are different from the question of whether the timing and the manner in which this sweep was conducted was right ... there’s nothing mentioned in the FAQs about the siting plan.”
Steinberg said he plans to propose revisions to the FAQs, and also said he wants staff to move more urgently to open the sites in the $100 million Comprehensive Siting Plan to Address Homelessness, which the council adopted in August. None of the new sites have opened yet. He asked when the city will open 25 tiny homes on Colfax Street and Arden Way, and when the Federal Transit Administration will approve a 100-spot Safe Ground parking lot at the Regional Transit Roseville Road light rail station — both of which are in the plan.
“If that were in place and if Colfax were in place, we would have at least an RV and car alternative for those 18 vehicles,” Steinberg said.
The city completed paving the Colfax site and is waiting on approval from the State Water Board, which shares a land-use covenant on the site, Swanson said Nov. 12.
Steinberg said he wants the council to have a discussion on the sites, as well as a discussion on enforcement, at its Dec. 14 meeting.
“I know some sites we don’t have control of, but where we do have control, we need to move faster,” Steinberg said.
This story was originally published December 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
