Stealing Parking Spaces From the Homeless

“No Parking For Homeless Vehicles”? NO!

Without notice to or input from the Unhoused Community, the Public Works Department is planning to ban all parking on Coral Street, Limekiln Street, and Fern Street.

Currently there are already severe restrictions limiting parking during the day and banning it after midnight on those streets.

This will significantly impact unhoused and disabled individuals using the services of the Paul Lee Loft, the Page Smith Community House, the Rebele Family Shelter, the Homeless Persons Health Project, the River St. Shelter, and the Homeless Services Center.

There has been no documentation provided, nor public hearing held around this decision.

Regular users of these services will be significantly impacted by these changes. This attack on the most vulnerable will hurt the most vulnerable people as they try to obtain food (and less likely) shelter- life-sustaining assistance that they need.

Has the management funded to provide for services and security for homeless people spoken up about this or quietly agreed to proceed with a homeless-vehicle-exclusion program?

JOIN US TUESDAY MAY 5th at 3 PM to find out!

Homeless United for Friendship & Freedom will be serving coffee at Cafe HUFF and gathering signatures opposing the proposed Parking Ban.

We will also be collecting information on the flood of Sleeping, Blanket, and Camping tickets being issued, whether the Homeless (Lack of) Services Center []HLOSC] and River St. Mini-Shelter is issuing documentation for those on its waiting lists so that police and rangers can be encouraged not to harass, cite, and issue stay-away orders.

Under MC 6.36.055, such behavior is already illegal, but police have continued to do so--and the HLOSC have encouraged this practice by declining to regularly issue evidence that those who have signed up are on the waiting list.

In addition we will be investigating concerns that the HLOSC is refusing to put in badly needed storage lockers, created a jail-like atmosphere at the center, and ignored other problems.