For three decades Santa Cruz authorities have used The Nighttime Sleeping Ban to selectively harass and drive away homeless people. The ordinance MC 6.36.010a is a law against sleeping on any public property, or in a vehicle and most private property between the hours of 11PM to 8:30 AM. In a town with emergency walk-in shelter for less than 60-160 people and an estimated homeless population of 1500-2000, this law is unconscionable, unconstitutional and immoral. The Blanket Ban makes it illegal to cover up with blankets or bedding outside during the same nighttime hours.

After the Jones decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the subsequent Jones Settlement, nighttime camping bans in Los Angeles, Fresno, Richmond and San Diego were eliminated. Activists in Santa Cruz took heart and began preparing for a legal challenge here.

We hope to challenge not only the Santa Cruz's infamous Sleeping Ban , criminalizing the very act of sleeping at night, but also any and all police practices that abusively and selectively target homeless people for necessary survival behavior such as sleeping. Given the city-acknowledged shelter emergency, the city has done little to resolve in spite of its "progressive" pretensions.

Attorneys from Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Washington, D.C. are putting together the pleadings. Attor­neys from San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento are helping.

The City Attorney and Mayor Ryan Coonerty has resisted any and all efforts to reform the Sleeping Ban so that it conforms with the 9th Circuit decision. We are fund-raising and gathering plaintiffs to take the course directly to federal court
and expect to have an action filed in February.