Sacramento’s Broadway shut down as protesters clash over police funding, homeless
Dozens of people clashed in the middle of one of Sacramento’s busiest corridors Saturday morning over the city’s two most controversial topics — police funding and homelessness.
The protest and counter protest, at the corner of Broadway and 16th Street, lasted more than two hours, including a one-hour stretch in which police closed traffic on the strip.
At times people from the two sides screamed at each other. Others stood on the sidelines and engaged in long, thoughtful conversations with members of the opposite side.
One group of residents organized the protest to put pressure on the City Council to increase police funding, and to enact new police policies that would lead to more arrests.
The other group showed up to oppose that message, urging the council to instead reduce police funding in order to redirect that money toward housing.
Jim Dobrinski held a colorful sign that read “increase our police force” as he stood on the sidewalk near the iconic Tower Theater.
His son and daughter-in-law, who live in Land Park, have had two break-ins in their house and had their $6,000 e-bikes stolen, he said. They made an online police report, but never got the bikes back, he said. His neighbor’s catalytic converter was stolen — a common occurrence around Sacramento in recent years.
“A couple more (officers) on the beat in our neighborhood could at least make the neighborhood safer,” said Dobrinski, who also lives in Land Park.
Dobrinski said that while not everyone committing such crimes are homeless, some are.
“I am sympathetic (to homeless people), but you want something to keep the neighborhood safer,” Dobrinski said. “I wish the city and county could figure out a place for them all to go.”
On the other side, homeless activists said the city should reduce police funding in order to build more homeless housing, which they said result in fewer of what they call crimes of poverty.
“Survival crime and petty low-level crime does increase in times of extreme hardship,” said Niki Jones of the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee. “We should invest instead in housing, health care, and mental health care.”
The council this year approved an all-time-high $211 million police budget for the fiscal year that ends June 30, but did not add any officers. City staff project the budget will hit a deficit in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Protests shut down Broadway
Cars honked as they slowly drove by, but it was unclear for which side they were showing support. Several homeless activists went into the street at some points, briefly stopping vehicles from driving for several seconds, as members from the other side yelled at them to get out of the street.
Police closed one lane of Broadway, then eventually closed the entire street for several blocks around noon, causing most people to disperse.
Dozens of people from the Sacramento Homeless Union and Anti Police-Terror Project Sacramento showed up to the counter protest. They held a large black and white banner that read, “When I feed the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”
Joyce Williams, 54, stood beside the banner on the sidewalk outside Tower Liquor. She sleeps in a tent along the American River Parkway in North Sacramento with her wife of over 20 years. She said if more people had housing, crime would decrease.
“More police is not the answer,” said Williams, holding a sign that read, “Homeless people need housing not hate” with a drawing of a sun. “Some people (who steal) have to feed themselves and clothe themselves.”
Homeless measure on Sacramento ballot
Kris Rogers, a Land Park homeowner, said she did not know why the counter protesters were focusing on homelessness.
“This is about crime and drug use,” said Rogers. “We’re talking about crime, whether you’re housed or unhoused .... We know they need help, but they are slaves to addiction.”
City Council members have been pushing the county Board of Supervisors to increase funding for substance use and mental health services for homeless people. That commitment could come as the council and supervisors negotiate an agreement later tied to a November ballot measure that would allow the city to sweep certain homeless encampments and require it to provide more shelter.
John Morales of the group For a Better Sacramento helped organize the demonstration calling for more police funding. He has been leading the effort to recall Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, who represents central city and Land Park. Valenzuela, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, wants to reduce police funding, but has not been able to do so.
The recall effort did not gather the roughly 7,800 signatures needed by the deadline they were aiming for, but leaders say they will try again, in hopes of forcing a special election in the spring. Valenzuela’s term ends in December 2024.
This story was originally published September 10, 2022 at 4:02 PM.
