Public comment in reference to closed session agenda item one:
Conference with Legal Counsel: Existing Litigation
(Government Code Section 54956.9) DAVID ALLEN
YESUE, MICHAEL W. DEEGAN, PAIGE ‘ELIGHTZA’
CORLEY, JESSICA MARIE WETCH, and ‘SONOMA
COUNTY ACTS OF KINDNESS’ (sic) Versus City of
Sebastopol
While this lawsuit annoyingly remains shrouded in legal secrecy to city citizens, there are several historical and upcoming realities that should be born in mind when
discussing this case.
• On April 22nd later this month, the supreme court
will be hearing the Grants Pass challenge to the 2018
‘Boise vs Martin’ decision by the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in response to a 2009
lawsuit by six homeless plaintiffs against the city of
Boise, Idaho regarding that city's anti-camping
ordinance. That 2018 ruling held that cities cannot
enforce anti-camping ordinances if they do not have
enough homeless shelter beds available for their
‘homeless population’.
•
That decision six years ago led to a massive migration of people to live on the west coast in vehicles and on the street, knowing they had ‘housing’ and camping rights
based on Boise vs Martin.
The Grants Pass case will probably wrap up in June with a new ruling which may well declare most of the legal
efforts for ‘relief’ in this current case vs the city obsolete.
For this reason it would be unwise for the city attorney, legal council or councillors to contemplate any sort of compromise ‘deal’ from the plaintiffs at this point, given this possible important new legal precedent.
•. While the listed plaintiffs in the lawsuit are portrayed as helpless people suffering from various debilitating
medical conditions including PTSD (apart from non profit ‘Sonoma Acts of Kindness’ whose relevance for ‘relief’ in this case is both puzzling and illogical). Corley, who
migrated from the midwest to the city of Sebastopol
recently. has a long criminal record and I believe has just been released from jail. It is unclear if her claimed
disabilities were recognized by the court or prison
services?
Plaintiff David Yesue has an address listed online at 1528 Occidental Rd, Sebastopol along with Kathy M Viall who
he is related to (married?) https://neighbor.report/a/
4460a1b/
• While settlement proposals may seem enticing to get the massive burden on the city, both financially and in time burned, off our backs, a wrong move accepting a
compromise with the endlessly aggressive and greedy
‘non profit’ legal activist lawyers could prove a great deal more costly to the city in the future.
If the entire city is subjected to a further increase of ‘experiencing homelessness’ in the form of a fresh RV
armada of down and outs descending to live on our
streets due to a ‘deal’, we can then say goodbye to any new hotel developments, tourist sales tax income and
massive fresh burdens on our overstretched police and fire services.Thi swill push us a lot further into fiscal crisis.
In recent years the city has endured multiple homeless RV fires, one of which knocked out internet services, a murder of a camper on a city street by a citizen, collisions with people living in campers on city streets, endless petty crime taking up police time, ‘homeless’ deaths by
overdose. The city provides a well above average
spectacular array of services to homeless people, but is being unfairly picked on by activist political agitators in part due to opportunities created by the naivete of past council missteps.
The county has a massive homeless budget. This should
be their problem to solve for taxpayers, lead by Tia Rivera.
The city of Sebastopol needs to stand firm and await the Grants Pass legal verdict before making any further
decisions in the current case.
Oliver Marks
Downtown Sebastopol