Many residents feel that during the past year or so the Haight has seen an increase in homeless young people who have begun to aggressively panhandle and incite violent confrontations with passers by. As a result Police Chief George Gascon has recently proposed a ‘No Sit/Lie” law on Haight Street.
Park Police Captain Teresa Barrett has held two meetings in as many months to discuss the proposal with residents and merchants in the neighborhood. Barrett said she has examined numerous other cities that have imposed such laws, and has recently met with city officials to discuss the best course of action.
If passed by the Board of Supervisors, the measure would prohibit sitting or lying on the ground along Haight Street for extended periods of time.
The proposal is currently being drafted by the City Attorney’s Office; however, District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi has been slow to endorse the ‘No Sit/Lie’ law. A representative from Mirkarimi’s office said at the January 12 police community forum that the supervisor was still examining whether there was a real need for this new law.
“Many ‘No Sit/Lie’ laws have problems,” Mirkarimi’s aide admitted, adding that the supervisor believes increased foot patrols in the neighborhood and stepped up community policing are the answers.
As it is, police need someone to sign a citizen’s arrest in order to get anything to stick, but most residents don’t want to have to do that, fearing it could put them in danger. The new ‘No Sit/Lie’ law would give police the power to arrest individuals without involving the residents of the neighborhood.
“The importance of a ‘No Sit/Lie’ law is the immediacy of action it will create,” said Haight Ashbury Improvement Association President Ted Loewenberg.
However, others argue that the Haight Ashbury is known for the bizarre and reckless behavior of its inhabitants, and that this is just one more law on the books that will kill the Haight’s unique culture and turn it into another place like everywhere else in America.
In a blog on his Bay Guardian web site, publisher Bruce Brugmann called the proposal “a move to criminalize a behavior that, for the most part, over many years, has not been a serious law-enforcement problem.” Brugmann also calls for increased foot patrols, something Chief Gascon says is not always possible.
“I cannot in good faith as Chief stand by idly and assert that the only answer to this problem is an around-the-clock beat officer presence that is, quite frankly, not possible given the competing demands for officers,” Gascon wrote on the police department web site in response.
abrody(at)haightbeat.com
