Atwater council puts off vote on homeless camping amid public comment

The Atwater City Council last week delayed adopting an ordinance that bans sleeping in parks and aggressive panhandling in the face of strong opposition from residents.

One of the most persuasive opponents was Ted Torres. The 35-year-old was close to being homeless at one point in his life, he said, after the stock market crashed.

“I was knocking on the door of homelessness, and it’s scary,” said Torres, a warehouse employee who’s lived in Atwater since the early 1990s. “I very well could have been someone sleeping in my car on the side of the street.”

Torres said the proposed ordinance, which makes it illegal to sleep or lie down on public property from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., criminalizes homelessness. He said he believes it may also violate people’s constitutional rights.

City leaders want to stop people from camping on public property, storing personal property in public areas and panhandling in an aggressive manner. The ordinance would punish violators with a $100 fine on the first offense, $250 on the second and $500 on the third.

Subsequent violations could result in a misdemeanor charge, including a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

Mayor Jim Price said the ordinance was geared toward people who “camp out” around town, usually in makeshift tents and shelters. He worried about the costs associated with removing the tents and clearing homeless encampments.

There are roughly 85 homeless people in Atwater, according to the latest count.

During a City Council meeting on March 9, Torres said similar camping ordinances have been challenged legally. He said the state Penal Code contains panhandling laws that the city should enforce. “This is already in the books. We can just enforce the law that’s already there,” Torres told the council.

But Atwater City Attorney Tom Tersptra said adopting a local ordinance gives city officials more authority when it comes to enforcing the law.

“This gives you the ability at a local level to add some additional enforcement options, and that’s why communities around us have the same thing,” Terpstra said. “This provides a greater level of control and allows us to use our own common sense in each situation.”

The City Council discussed removing certain language in the ordinance that prohibits sleeping on public property and allows the city to confiscate unattended property. The council decided to return the ordinance to staff to make the revisions.

No changes were suggested to the part of the ordinance that deals with aggressive panhandling – using coercion, verbal or physical threats. Panhandling before sunrise or after sunset also would be banned, according to the ordinance, as would panhandlers traveling in groups of two or more.

The ordinance does not prohibit “passive” panhandling, which means the individual holds a sign but does not approach people. Charitable organizations would be allowed two fundraising events per year.

Renee Davenport, a homeless advocate and longtime Atwater business owner, said she’s never seen panhandlers near her beauty salon on Broadway Avenue. She’s been in business for 48 years.

Davenport said if Atwater stops homeless people from sleeping in parks, officials need to come up with an alternative for them.

“Where are they going to sleep? Where are they going to go?” Davenport said. “If a person has nowhere to sleep and you’re running them out of parks, then give them a place where they can have shelter. In Atwater, there is nowhere for these people to seek shelter. So where are they supposed to sleep?”

Although the ordinance is still a work in progress, Torres said he’s happy that the City Council members used common sense and listened to the public before adopting the law.

“It pretty much proves that you can never underestimate the power of your voice,” he said. “What happened shows your voice really does matter.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2015 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Atwater council puts off vote on homeless camping amid public comment."