Facial Profiling: Harlan Graves says his employed friends have been harassed by police and business owners who assumed they were homeless: “I don’t think anyone should be profiled by how they look.” Photo by Joel Ede.
Plaza Patrol
City, police try smoking ban to banish Monterey’s “dirty folks.”
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Mackenzie Friday’s been hanging out at downtown Monterey’s Griffin Plaza for a decade, and has witnessed firsthand the explosion in the homeless and transient populations that flocks to the plaza’s patio furniture, shade trees and open space.
“The more they showed up, the less fun it got,” says Friday, 22. He appreciates the city’s search for solutions, but thinks its approach, including a city-enacted ban on smoking in the plaza that took effect last week, is “bullshit.”
“I smoke, and I’m not a transient,” Friday says. He thinks the ban could hurt business at East Village, the plaza’s popular coffee shop. But others think the ban is the best bet for cracking down on transients – or at least shooing them to another part of town.
Monterey Police Department spokesperson Leslie Sonne says MPD has ramped up its patrol efforts in recent months due to complaints from businesses bordering the plaza and a request from City Manager Fred Meurer. But officers’ enforcement options are limited.
“The problem with homelessness is, it’s not a crime,” Sonne says.
The city doesn’t have a sit-lie ordinance, which prohibits sitting or lying on the sidewalks or public space. Patrol officers can only act on smoking, drinking or blatant law-breaking, like public urination.
“The transient problem’s gotten worse,” says Dean McAthie, who owns East Village and recently installed a spotlight above his shop’s entrance to deter street kids from loitering at night.
This year’s Monterey County Homeless Census showed a sharp increase in homelessness among people between 18 and 30 years old since 2007. One-third of the homeless youth survey respondents reported job loss as the primary cause of their homelessness.
Jim Casey, who manages East Village’s next-door neighbor, Aquarian Bicycles, says he noticed changes in clientele since the plaza’s homeless population spiked this past summer.
“The dirty nature of the folks out there prevents families with kids from coming in here,” Casey says.
But the loitering youths aren’t all bad, Harlan Graves says.
“You can’t judge a book by its cover,” says Graves, a plaza regular who’s currently couch-surfing and has been homeless on and off for years. “You see someone who’s got dreadlocks and a dog and a big pack, it doesn’t mean he’s causing any trouble.”
Down the street at Safe Place, a day center for homeless youth 21 and under, counselor Vincent Delgado provides food and advice. He tries to encourage positive interactions between business owners and the center’s clients, but there’s only so much he can do: “After 5 or 6pm, we’ve got to tell them to go somewhere else.”
Shelters for teens and young adults are scarce on the Peninsula; the county’s prominent social service agencies have a larger presence in Salinas. Many youth wind up at Griffin Plaza before sleeping on the streets.
Sonne’s realistic about the cyclical nature of homelessness: “They’ll show up somewhere else next week.”
Comments
Hi everyone, I am one of the businesses near East Village Cafe. The article unfortunately did not charactorize the problems we have had over the past three months. Drugs deals, drug use, public urination, two bank robberies, public intoxication, two assaults, and numerous disturbances. We had to do something. The smoking ban was a way to avoid people hanging out all day and night in the Park. I truly wish I could be a part of a greater societal sollution, but this was the best site specific idea we could come up with. My staff literally felt threatened by what was going on. I have to compliment the City Manager and the police for a creative solution that has largely solved the problem on our corner. And, I need to apologize to the decent folks who just wanted to have a smoke outdoors where it wasn't bothering anyone. But the outcome is that Griffin Plaza is a more pleasant place today than it was two weeks ago. Thank you City of Monterey.
'I truly wish I could be a part of a greater societal sollution, but this was the best site specific idea we could come up with.'
really? if that is your true wish for our community why stand behind some cockamamie ordinance that sloughs off 'undesirables' from your disposable income corner lot (site) into surrounding areas which are used by people who can't afford a $4 coffee drink because they need that money for their (ever rising) bus fare and (big box, overpackaged, non-locally sourced) discount groceries? sure, poor folks are resilient, let them deal with getting panhandled and beat up. if only we could apply such shortsighted 'site specific' solutions to garbage and the ocean. there's a lot more room in the ocean than there is in this little garbage can, hmm.....
to become 'part of a greater societal sollution' (which i pray is different from the final 'sollution' that one european nationalist made so famous) why dont you let the Packards help out the marine life and take a stand for your two legged brethren, pal? unemployment and boredom is everybody's problem. drunk kids with nothing to do bugging you? use the inane amount of unleased space on washington st. and surrounding areas for a COMMUNITY CENTER! petition as a local business owner to enrich our community. if you can convince law enforcement to stop people from smoking within the boundaries of a retaining wall, you might have a little bit of sway...
these folks play music- give them a place to play (and to teach)
they sell drugs- give them a place to learn about business development (there's obviously an entrepreneurial spirit there)
they fight- give them a place to excercise and freak out (who wants to fight after 20 laps in a lap pool? or after circuit training?)
they relieve themselves in public- like you never have. prude.
you exist in a reality that overabundance has created. you cannot hold the 'have-nots' at fault for not being given an equal piece of the 'have-alls' pie. you cant eat the whole damned pie and then complain about the growling stomachs of those that surround you.
enjoy your smoking ban(daid) and the false comfort it provides. this is just the beginning of a very big and much needed change in our society.
It wasn't "dirty people" who caused the police to get involved. It was aggressive degenerates who threatened customers, got in fights, and broke the law on a regular basis.
And it wasn't all of the homeless kids who caused the trouble. A small handful of louthed mouthed jerks ruined the experience for their friends and the patrons.
To putsomepantson: You've attacked business owners and presumably patrons who complained about the aggressive panhandling and disturbing the peace. Your solution is to GIVE the jerks a place to play music, learn, exercise, et cetera? Why should anyone give these degenerates anything?
After all, many homeless were given the same opportunities in life as the rest of us. Instead of capitalizing on the education or opportunities GIVEN to them, they skipped school and did drugs. They have been given so much already. They are the sum total of the decisions they made throughout their development, just as is everyone else.
While business owners and patrons worked hard to get where we are, there's no reason to expect us to GIVE fruits of our labor to lazy, disrespectful, violent degenerates.
Well what can I say to "Putsomepantson?" As I have already mentioned, the corner has turned very ugly and violent over the past two or three months. I agree that the problem is not the chalk artists, musicians, or people reading books. The problem was a small handful of aggressive and sometimes violent individuals who ruined the place for everyone. There were fights, assualts, drug deals, and open hostility. I worked with my neighbor businesses, the police, and City to find solutions. I agree the solution was a site specific bandaide.
So Putsomepantson, have you put actual effort into finding solutions? You have my respect if you are an active participant in trying to find solutions and we can agree to disagree on what those solutions may be. If you are just sitting on the sidelines complaining about what others are doing, then you are part of the problem.
As someone who lives and works near the plaza the issue was never ‘dirty people’ or the fact people liked to hang out all day, enjoy a smoke and play music. The issue was that drug dealing, violence and destruction of property was becoming more frequent and stemming from a known group of people who used the park all day. Several less drastic steps were taken to solve the problems including speaking directly to the guilty parties, but nothing was changing.
With limited resources and even fewer options this was the best solution available. This was never an attempt to marginalize the homeless or inconvenience the general public. Based on those actively involved in seeking a solution and looking at the options available this was the best option left. Is it going to be the best long term solution and better society? Who knows, that's another debate. In the mean time we don’t have to accept violence, property destruction and drug deals as a part of our neighborhood.
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