top
Santa Cruz IMC
Santa Cruz IMC
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

Santa Cruz Police Evict Homeless Residents from Main Beach

by Santa Cruz News
On September 10, the Santa Cruz City Council voted 6-1 to impose a six-month, midnight-sunrise curfew for the dry sand portion of Santa Cruz Main Beach. Santa Cruz Police Chief of Police Andrew Mills and other members of City Staff had requested that Council enact the curfew due to an "increase" in nuisance crimes related to homeless individuals camping on the beach. By the evening of September 15, police began evicting homeless residents from the beach.
sm_santa-cruz-main-beach-police-evict-homeless-september-16-2019.jpg
In response to the above photo of last night's eviction of the homeless, which was posted by the Santa Cruz Police Department on social media, one local resident wrote:

"Glad you can be there to shoo them away but turn a blind eye when I had a belligerent neighbor blasting music and bashing things at 3am while living nearby in the Beach Hill neighborhood. Weird flex to share this photo on social media but OK."

One homeless services provider, who has been monitoring the situation at Main Beach very closely over the past several weeks, was also critical of the curfew. Today he summed up the situation:

"Let's be clear, there were no authentic public safety reports that indicated that any of those camping had any responsibility to what city department heads reported to city council in order to enact a beach curfew. This was completely fear-based and there is no fallback for people to go to now. The Salvation Army shelter has remained full, not that these people would have any interest in traditional shelter. Tonight, these very same people will now be camping in and around Santa Cruz."

The new Main Beach curfew expires in six months, however for similar reasons in 2013, the Santa Cruz City Council voted to implement the same curfew hours on Cowell Beach, and that curfew is still in effect to this day. Cowell Beach is just across the wharf from Main Beach.
§Police Photo of Tents on Main Beach
by Santa Cruz News
rangers_police_santa_cruz_main_beach_homeless_tent.jpg
sm_santa-cruz-main-beach-cowell-beach-municipal-wharf-boardwalk-shawn-harrison-usgs-pacific-coastal-and-marine-science-center-public-domain.jpg
Photo Credit: Shawn Harrison, USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center. Public domain.
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Santa Cruz News
Mon, Sep 16, 2019 4:48PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network