Protest success

Around 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday (Dec. 17), Brian Lutzow says he awoke on the concrete in the City Plaza near the veteran’s memorial, wrapped in blankets. Chico police officers told him he needed to move along because the plaza was closed.

Later that same day, more than a dozen people assembled outside the City Council chambers to protest the police department’s rousting and arresting of folks seeking shelter from the rain two weeks ago (see “Out of the cold,” Newslines, Dec. 12).

Lutzow was among the protesters. That morning wasn’t the first time Lutzow, who uses a wheelchair, was rousted from a public space while sleeping. Earlier this month, police ushered him out from under an awning at City Hall while it was raining, he told the CN&R.

“I’m old, crippled. I’m blind. I have a catheter. … I’ve had strokes. I have [health] problems,” he told the City Council during the business from the floor portion of that evening’s meeting. “I don’t commit crimes. I clean up my stuff always. Where’s the fairness in that? I understand that [those places are] closed, but I have nowhere to go. Nowhere.”

The consensus from Lutzow and 16 others who addressed the council on this topic was clear: The city must stop arresting homeless people for being on public property. It is cruel and inhumane.

Several of those speakers went even further, telling the city its police officers’ actions were unconstitutional. They referenced Martin v. Boise, in which homeless citizens sued the city of Boise, Idaho, for being cited for resting and/or camping in public. The Supreme Court chose on Monday (Dec. 16) not to hear a challenge of that case, meaning the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling stands: criminally prosecuting homeless people for sleeping outside on public property when there are no available shelter beds is cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.

The council made no comments to the gallery in response, but change is afoot. After the meeting, Mayor Randall Stone told the CN&R he and Vice Mayor Alex Brown had submitted a formal request that evening to agendize a discussion about rescinding the city’s sit/lie ordinance and amending its Offenses Against Public Property Ordinance. The latter, which was adopted in 2015 and used to move people along, stipulates a closing time for the Chico Civic Center, which encompasses the property around the City Hall.

“We have expected that the ineffective policy of rousting people while they’re sleeping is illegal, and we found that in Martin v. Boise,” Stone told the CN&R. “It’s surprising we continue to push failed methods that we know do not address the demands of all sides of the community.”

The protest that evening was part of a days-long effort led by homeless people. On Monday night, the CN&R spoke with individuals gathered outside City Hall, under the same awning where protester Richard Muenzer was arrested on Dec. 2 for seeking shelter shortly after the property’s hours of operation ended.

They displayed cardboard signs facing motorists driving down Main Street with messages such as, “Tell us where to go and not the BCJ [Butte County Jail].” Other signs grieved the loss of their homeless friends who’d died on the streets—this year there have been at least four.

Protester Traci Hull told the CN&R homeless people are “kicked out by the cops every five seconds … for trying to survive like everybody else.”

“We need something till we got somewhere else to go,” she added. “We’re losing too many people.”

Muenzer added that the city is not acting quickly enough. There needs to be a 24-hour, centrally located shelter, or at the very least, a place designated for legal camping, he said.

Last week, the council directed staff to make changes to its “Code Blue” program criteria for opening a warming center, which the city currently pays the Jesus Center to provide. Right now, the nonprofit opens a warming center when temperatures drop below freezing. The additions made by a unanimous vote of the panel would trigger a warming center when temperatures drop below 45 degrees and it is expected to rain three-quarters of an inch or more, and when it is colder than 40 degrees with forecasted wind speeds of 15 miles per hour or more.

Those amendments weren’t in place during the rain (and hail) storm last weekend and still haven’t taken effect. On Tuesday, the council formally adopted those changes and forwarded them to the Jesus Center, along with increasing the program’s budget from $30,000 to $60,000 for this fiscal year.

But the Jesus Center has to approve of the changes, which represent an increased demand for its staff. The city is waiting to hear from the center, Assistant City Manager Chris Constantin told the CN&R.

During discussion on the item, Rhonda Magnusson told the council that while she’s been homeless for the last two years, she has slept on the streets along with senior veterans, those with physical disabilities and families. The centers need to be open more often and provide beds and a meal, she added.

“This warming center should have already been into place, because let me tell you, I’m cold,” she said. “We can do a lot better besides [four] people dying again this year. … I’m not laying down and I’m not dying on this damn street.”