Eureka City Councilman G. Mario Fernandez used the phrase “robber baron” when asking his colleagues to postpone consideration of an ordinance that would increase the penalties for people living in unauthorized encampments.

Fernandez urged his fellow councilors to refer the ordinance to an ad-hoc committee on camping alternatives consisting of himself and Councilwoman Renee Contreras-DeLoach rather than consider it on May 20.

This request echoed comments several public speakers made on Tuesday about removing the proposed ordinance from the May 20 agenda. Though a handful of commenters accused the City Council of criminalizing homelessness, Fernandez said speakers were asking him and his colleagues to either let them be part of their deliberations or to bring “those with experience into the discussion.”

“We’re going to authorize potentially this bill, this ordinance, before we’ve even had a community-driven process about how and, potentially, where to have designated encampments,” said Fernandez, who represents Eureka’s Ward 3. “So we’re saying then, in effect, you can’t be here and you can’t be over there.”

However, with Mayor Kim Bergel casting a tie-breaking no-vote on whether to remove the item from the agenda later this month, the City Council decided that the discussion would proceed as planned.

“Regardless if this passes or doesn’t pass, this discussion needs to happen,” she said.

Bill N. 1040 C.S. was born out of a Jan. 14 City Council direction to staff to combine two existing policies regulating camping and sitting and lying on sidewalks and to increase penalties for those who violate those regulations.

On March 18, the Council listened to more than three-and-a-half hours of public testimony on the new streamlined version of those two policies, which make violating regulations governing camping and sitting and lying on sidewalks a misdemeanor. Proposed penalties for violating those regulations include being jailed for up to one year and/or fined up to $1,000 per violation.

Those violating the new ordinance may also be taken to a facility that provides social services related to mental health and substance abuse treatment and housing. The city would also urge the court to divert someone violating the new ordinance to probation or another program “with a condition that the offender complete a rehabilitation or other appropriate program.” 

The ordinance states that Eureka “affirms its commitment to implementing and maintaining a Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program,” which provides “rehabilitative alternatives” to criminal prosecution. However, the diversion program would only be able to serve up to 10 people and have a waiting list that would also cap at 10, according to Jacob Rosen, managing mental health clinician with the city’s Crisis Alternative Response Eureka, or CARE, program.

According to Rosen, who spoke at the March 18 meeting, if the waiting list is full, the Eureka Police Department would not issue misdemeanor charges under the proposed ordinance.

Members of the public on Tuesday argued that LEAD serves a limited number of people compared to the actual number experiencing homelessness. In August 2024, the Mad River Union reported that 323 unhoused persons lived in Eureka, according to that year’s Point-in-Time count, the annual tally of those experiencing homelessness required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

According to the proposed ordinance, Eureka adopted its first sitting and lying regulations in 2012 due to public spaces in commercial districts becoming “inhospitable” to residents and visitors because of individuals and groups taking over the sidewalk, obstructing pedestrian access and leaving behind debris.

The city’s camping regulations were updated in 2021 to adapt to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2019 ruling in Martin v. Boise, which held that unless a person had access to adequate temporary shelter, enforcing criminal restrictions on public camping was unconstitutional.

The proposed ordinance also refers to the June 2024 U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Johnson v. Grants Pass, which reversed the Martin v. Boise ruling and held that laws regulating camping on public property did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment and wasn’t a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The City Council on March 18 chose to table its decision on the proposed ordinance with Contreras-DeLoach, who was absent on Tuesday, stating that there are some “structural things” that she and Fernandez need to address in their ad-hoc committee.

“I feel that we should involve other members of the community in this conversation,” Contreras DeLoach said.

During public comment on Tuesday, Rick Toledo, a representative of Humboldt Students for a Democratic Society, criticized the LEAD program, saying it only serves 10 people when there are hundreds more leading to the police “criminalizing homelessness”. He urged the City Council to move the proposed ordinance with the new camping and sitting or laying on public sidewalks to the ad-hoc committee or to vote it down when it appears on their agenda next, threatening litigation if it’s approved.

Toledo also urged the City Council to “speak with the community and come to a consensus with them rather than deciding among yourselves and law enforcement.”

“Criminalizing homelessness is not a good thing for anyone,” he said. “When you have people who have criminal histories who are homeless, when you have people that suffer from addiction, when you have people that suffer mental health issues, bringing the police in will only increase violence against them. The statistics for this are very bad. Police shoot and kill people with these conditions. They will further their criminal record and they will end up with severe punishment because of this.”

Another speaker, who said her name was Gracie, urged the City Council to vote no on Bill 1040 and to also repeal the existing camping restrictions and sitting and sleeping restrictions on public property. 

She referred to an executive order that came from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, awarding more than $1 billion to communities statewide to clear “dangerous encampments.” Gracie said noncompliance with state housing and homeless laws may prompt the state to claw back those funds.

On Oct. 29, 2024, Newsom announced 37 grant awards totaling more than $827 million to help local communities and organizations “create long-term solutions to address homelessness.” Those dollars came with accountability and reporting requirements, including reporting on the monthly fiscal progress on the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s website.

On Tuesday, Gracie further stated that she frequents Eureka with her husband and daughter to shop. She called seeing an unhoused person being arrested and their tents taken down heartbreaking.

“When you think [that] residents and tourists don’t want to come here because of unhoused people, maybe cruelty doesn’t sell either,” she said. “How about we treat people with dignity and respect?”

On Tuesday, following the City Council’s decision to proceed with discussion of Bill 1040 on May 20, City Manager Miles Slattery said units are in place for a transitional housing project on Hilfiker Lane known as the Crowley Site.

This site will provide 33 tiny housing units with shared restrooms, kitchens and laundry facilities to people living in encampments in the greenbelt along the Hikshari Trail, the Lost Coast Outpost’s Isabella Vanderheiden reported on March 19.

On Tuesday, Slattery said concrete work prevented people from being able to move in this week, but he anticipates executing a contract with philanthropist Betty Chinn who spearheaded the project either by the end of this week or next week.

“It will be very low barrier and follow housing first principles just like all of our housing programs and our rapid rehousing program,” Slattery said.

He added that the rapid re-housing program helped more than 250 people over the past two years find a place to live.