At the Eureka City Council meeting tonight, John Shelter spoke to the chamber about establishing overnight parking lots for transients that sleep in their vehicles. He talked about a controlled environment where people would be required to check in and they would have to leave in the morning.
If the police were to find someone camping in their vehicle on the city streets, they would direct them to the parking lot. They would also give them an orange sticker that would allow them to register in the morning if they were sent there late at night. This way they wouldn't have to wake people up. Also the person or persons in charge would know that they were sent there and should be allowed to sleep until the next morning. At that time they would register with the site manager.
Councilmen Mike Jones and Jeff Leonard spoke in favor if the proposal.
The Council l voted to consider the idea. It was a brave and progressive step for the City of Eureka.
It also makes sense for everyone involved.
ReplyDeleteJohn Shelter is a saint for the homeless in the area - he really cares about people.
I hope they pass this plan soon. Winter looms with the showers it brings.
I'm sure we'll see something up and running soon. I agree with the comment about John Shelter. If you want Amnesty Parking Lots to work - you need to have people in place who can set up and manage the program. Good Ideas are great - put somebody has to do the day to day work to make it happen. John Shelter has done a great job of making Good Ideas work for the City of Eureka.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a great idea! This would be much safer for everyone concerned...
ReplyDeleteWith a safe place to park, even those without cars could utilize the parking lots with the EDAR. See earlier post on this blog.
ReplyDeletehttp://tomsebourn.blogspot.com/2009/10/everyone-deserves-roof.html#comments
My brother and I are willing to put up 100-dollars toward one of these if a local program were to want to utilize this invention.
I'm still on board! I think I can get some more $$$ if we can push this a little farther and get more support. I would like to see a slum lord be forced to contribute, but maybe Humboldt doesn't have any... Maybe get the lumber guys to by 1 EDAR for each tree to offset their negative environmental impact...
ReplyDeleteAny additional sponsors?
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