SAN JOSE HOMELESS residents are at risk of being cited or arrested if they’re caught sleeping or sitting on the sidewalk by early morning.
The City Council voted unanimously at its March 11 meeting to extend sidewalk sleeping and sitting restrictions by two hours early in the morning starting at 8 a.m. to 12 a.m. Known as the “pedestrian facilitation zone,” police will enforce the bans in an area bounded by Highway 87 to the west, Julian Street to the north, Fourth Street to the east and Interstate 280 to the south, in addition to Santa Clara Street between Fourth and Tenth streets. Police can arrest or issue criminal citations to people violating the updated policy.
Interim District 3 Councilmember Carl Salas, who represents the downtown core, said at the meeting he wanted the time to start even earlier at 7 a.m.
“I can’t thank you enough for what you have to do in this city, I know you’re stretched all the time,” he said, referring to law enforcement. “I would encourage staff to really look into extending this to other parts of the city.”
Police Chief Paul Joseph proposed the update to the policy, originally passed in 1996 and meant to improve foot traffic on the sidewalk for people walking through downtown on the way to work.
“The fact that many, if not most, of these businesses open during the morning hours surrounding 8:00 a.m. makes the ordinance, which does not go into effect until 10:00 a.m., less impactful,” Joseph said in a memo.
Salas told San José Spotlight he’s in “complete alignment” with Joseph’s proposal to extend sidewalk sleeping and sitting restrictions.
But there are exceptions
Homeless residents won’t be arrested or cited unless they have been caught violating the policy by police more than once in a 30-day period. The policy doesn’t apply to permitted vendors, sidewalk cafes, people experiencing medical emergencies, people using wheelchairs, walkers or similar devices.
The policy update is the latest in a series of proposals from San Jose leaders frustrated by the lack of enforcement on homeless residents turning down shelter services. On Thursday, Mayor Matt Mahan unveiled his “Responsibility to Shelter” initiative to arrest homeless residents who choose not to accept shelter after three attempts within an 18-month period.
San Jose Downtown Association CEO Alex Stettinski said the group’s Groundwerx team, which cleans downtown sidewalks and is partly funded by the city, at times has to ask homeless residents to move or work around them.
“(S)ometimes it is just not comfortable to just walk along East Santa Clara Street. It’s not just because it feels unsafe, but it also feels uncaring.” Alex Stettinski, San Jose Downtown Association CEO
“I walk to work around that time and sometimes it is just not comfortable to just walk along East Santa Clara Street,” Stettinski told San José Spotlight. “It’s not just because it feels unsafe, but it also feels uncaring.”
Not everyone is on board with the updated restrictions.
Shiloh Ballard, an environmental and urban growth advocate who sits on the Valley Water board of directors, said if the city is trying to improve foot traffic, there are other ways.
“First, build more high-density housing so we have better population density. Also, wider sidewalks and slower traffic,” she told San José Spotlight. “I personally put encountering a homeless individual on the sidewalk pretty far down on my reasons for not walking around downtown.”
Sending the problem elsewhere
David Hernandez, a representative for downtown advocacy group Opening Doors Silicon Valley, which gives out free clothes and blankets to homeless residents along East Santa Clara Street, said he’s skeptical about the increased enforcement hours. He said police are slow to respond under the existing policy and that kicking homeless residents off the sidewalk just moves the problem elsewhere.
“What you’re going to do is most likely push them to other local businesses outside the area. You’re just going to fill up the library, transit hubs, Roosevelt Community Center and other places even more than they are right now,” he told San José Spotlight. “As long as (homeless) services are in downtown, people will come back.”
Deputy Police Chief Gina Tibaldi said the downtown area was struggling with open air drug markets, and business owners were frustrated with people sitting on sidewalks selling drugs.
“SJPD began enforcing the (sidewalk) ordinance again in issuing citations, and we found by issuing these citations that the open air drug usage and sales were reduced,” she said Tuesday.
Contact Vicente Vera at vicente@sanjosespotlight.com or follow @VicenteJVera on X.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.