Gilroy's camping ban goes into effect
Antoni Piotrowski: Homeless woman, 1896. Image in Public Domain
In tandem with cities like San Jose, Sacramento, and San Diego, the Bay Area's Gilroy passed a partial camping ban this summer designed to keep areas near schools and parks safer. As the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports, the City of Gilroy recently ordered a sweep of illegal homeless encampments at Uvas Creek Park—one of its first clear-outs under the ordinance.
For the past three years, Toni-Jo Napihaa has made the tent beneath the swooping branches of a Bay Laurel tree her home at Uvas Creek Park in Gilroy.
Thursday, Napihaa, 62, began folding up tarps and lugging tanks of propane out of the dusty dirt pathways as she prepared to leave the park encampment with her boyfriend. The city of Gilroy has ordered the 10 residents there to pack up their homes so that it can perform tree and weed trimming this coming Monday.
The move is meant to give city workers space to work, but residents and advocates say the sweep is disruptive and can upend the lives of the homeless residents.
It also marks one of the first major sweeps since the city passed a partial camping ban this June after much spirited discourse and dozens of public comments. The ordinance restricts camping around nearly a fourth of the area within city limits, including public spaces such as near schools, in parks, by creeks, and under bridges....
The city says the sweep will help enable regular upkeep, including tree trimming and brush clearing, meant to protect against wildfire and flooding risk.
The city has worked to provide some options for the residents as they move, saying any objects that are not soiled could be stored by the city for up to 90 days. Two dedicated members of Gilroy Police Department are serving as quality of life officers who assess the needs of the homeless individuals and relay them to partners in the community.
This article originally appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Read the whole thing here.
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