From: Asya Sorokurs
To: City Council
Subject: Comment for February 15th Meeting: Agenda Item 10 on Consent Calendar RV Parking Ordinance Date: Monday, February 14, 2022 1:14:55 PM
Attachments: Outlook-1z3opzi3.png
Dear City Council Members,
I am the Homelessness Prevention Attorney at Legal Aid of Sonoma County. We assist unhoused individuals with removing legal barriers to housing. This comment is about agenda item 10 on your Consent Calendar: Approval of Second Reading and Adoption of Ordinance 1136, An Ordinance of the City of Sebastopol Adding Chapter 10.76 Recreational Vehicle Parking Ordinance and Amending Chapter 10.36 of the Sebastopol Municipal Code. We ask that you remove the item from the consent calendar for the reasons outlined below.
First, we do not believe that this ordinance conforms to the prevailing legal precedent of Martin v.
Boise or the Eight Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Citing and towing recreational vehicles that unhoused people make their home is criminalization of homelessness. When unhoused individuals are not offered a placement and there is nowhere else for them to go, they cannot be removed from public spaces. The towing of recreational vehicles that serve as homes for the homeless population of Sebastapol would be a forfeiture and an excessive fine under the Eighth Amendment.
The allowance for RV parking at night is not a common sense carve-out since many unhoused individuals live in inoperable vehicles which cannot be moved. This blanket ban on recreational vehicles will not only affect those unhoused individuals you are trying to ban, but those who use recreational vehicles in your city for businesses and leisure recreational activities. With this ordinance you are prohibiting unhoused individuals from existing in the City of Sebastopol during the day, with the hopes that they do not return at night.
Second, this is the wrong time for this ordinance. If homeless people are being moved from where they are living on public property, they should be offered an alternative in the form of safe parking or permanent housing. Currently, the city does not have enough safe parking or permanent housing units to house the homeless population. The RV Village run by SAVS has not yet officially opened and allowed RV owners to move to this location if they are able. Until this is accomplished, it is unclear that there is a need for a blanket ban on all recreational vehicles city-wide. In their February 1st report, the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Unhoused says that they believe once the RV Village is operable the concerns with RVs on Morris Street will be eliminated or reduced. We ask that you do not pass this ordinance that would disproportionally impact the indigent homeless community.
Respectfully,
Asya Sorokurs
Legal Aid of Sonoma County
Ronit Rubinoff, Executive Director
Legal Aid of Sonoma County
Asya Sorokurs, Esq.
Pronouns: she/her
144 South E Street Suite 100
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
https://legalaidsc.org/
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