Earlier this week, the City of Chico filed its rebuttal to the lawsuit filed by Legal Services of Northern California, essentially stating that the web of local ordinances against camping, and sitting and lying down in public spaces, essentially criminalizes homelessness, which based on case law, is a violation of the cruel and unusual punishment prohibition outlined in the Eighth Amendment.
Last night, the only two Chico City Councilmembers who support a sanctioned campground, Councilmembers Alex Brown and Scott Huber, held a press conference to call on their fellow councilmembers to “reflect on, and correct the flawed decision to evict unhoused people without providing alternatives, and we call upon them to join us in working to create no barrier shelter and extending the Shelter Crisis Declaration.” End quote. The press conference was attended by approximately 100 people.
Following the press conference, a scheduled City Council meeting started with, for the first time, a limited number of members of the public were allowed entry, provided they wear face coverings. Unfortunately a small group refused to wear a face covering, and so Mayor Coolidge shut down the public part of the public meeting. The meeting was eventually cancelled.
The confounding part of this action, by the mayor, is that he and the conservative majority have used city resources to evict people from public places many times, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollar each time. But last night, the Mayor was unwilling to use these same resources to evict people from the council chambers. Instead he choose to cancel the public meeting.
Then, just this morning, Legal Services of Northern California submitted its response to the City’s rebuttal of the original lawsuit…just in time for the hearing scheduled for this Friday to determine whether or not the Temporary Restraining Order will remain in place, serving to prohibit the City from evicting people from encampments in public spaces…. Wow, a lot going on.
Tonight on The Real Issue, we will try to cover as much of these issues as possible tonight. To talk about the policy side of the homeless crisis, we’ll first talk with Chico City Councilmember Scott Huber about why he and Councilmember Brown called yesterday’s press conference and what they are calling the council to do. And then during the second half of the program, we’ll talk about the legal side of the homeless crisis with Chico-based civil rights attorney Peter Washington. He will provide an update on the City’s response to the lawsuit, and then Legal Services’ response to their response.
Bob Trausch of Chico Housing Action Team was scheduled for this evening to talk about the future of the work of CHAT, but we’ve rescheduled him for next week.
To talk about the politics and public policy of Chico’s homeless crisis, Councilmember Scott Huber is on the phone.
