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Ridiculed as the “Public Commons for Everyone but the Homeless” initiative and lauded as a measure badly needed to rid shopping areas of people who act inappropriately and drive customers away, the City Council approved in concept Tuesday night Mayor Tom Bates’ Public Commons for Everyone Initiative, a laundry list of proposals that will be further refined into laws, and considered again in about six months. 

“The goal is to create a comprehensive package with new services, clarify laws and make them more enforceable,” Bates told the council. 

The measure has changed since Bates first introduced it. “I’m not recommending any new laws against sitting on the sidewalk,” Bates said. “Prolonged sitting” was prohibited in the original concept. The proposed laws will target lying on the sidewalk, public urination/defecation and enforcing “quality-of-life” laws already on the books, such as hitching dogs to fixed objects, littering, possessing a shopping cart and making loud noises. 

About a dozen opponents of the measure lined up to ask the council not to pass the proposals. Several members of the business community were present to support the measures. 

“This is the Public Commons for Everyone except those who need it most,” Phoebe Anne Sorgen said, arguing that lying on the sidewalk is a problem only when people are blocking someone’s way. 

Aaron Aarons said there are other laws on the books that truly need enforcement, such as “people who park their cars on the sidewalk and disabled people have to go around them,” and people who don’t stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk. 

“You are criminalizing the homeless,” said Elizabeth Gill, who is homeless. 

Mark McLeod, president of the Downtown Berkeley Association, had another view. “The public commons for everyone is essential,” he said. Merchants sell goods, consumers purchase them, the city collects taxes on the goods and spends the tax money on services, which will help everyone, he said, adding, “That’s a local, living economy.”  

Approval of various aspects of the initiative took several votes.  

A number of items were passed unanimously in a single vote, including writing ordinances: 

• To prohibit smoking in commercial areas and to designate smoking areas. 

• To improve signage indicating where restrooms are and to expand hours for public restrooms. 

• To plan for public seating. 

• To direct donations away from panhandlers and to nonprofit agencies. 

• To expand supportive housing, linking mental health services with housing opportunities. 

The vote included soliciting feedback from a number of commissions which are expected to present their ideas at a fall council meeting. (To date, the Homeless, Mental Health and Human Welfare commissions have stated numerous concerns with the proposals.) 

The unanimous vote also included three items proposed by Councilmember Kriss Worthington: 

• Collecting data on quality-of-life citations issued, prosecuted and convicted in Berkeley and neighboring jurisdictions. 

• Delaying consideration of an ordinance that bans sitting on the sidewalk for a year, until the results of the other ordinances are seen. 

• Implementing community-involved policing features, including beat walking and use of a dedicated cell phone or pager when feasible. 

The council passed with a 7-1-1 vote the mayor’s proposal for making public urination/defecation an infraction rather than a misdemeanor. It was argued that police will be more likely to enforce the law if it is an infraction, similar to a traffic ticket. Those accused of infractions do not have the right to jury trials or public defenders. This proposal will be referred to the Police Review Commission. (Councilmember Dona Spring abstained and Worthington voted in opposition because he wanted the council to commit to installing an adequate number of public toilets before pursuing more arrests.) 

The council considered a plan to increase parking fees and the number of meters to fund these programs. This was approved 6-2-1, with Councilmembers Betty Olds and Dona Spring voting in opposition and Councilmember Max Anderson abstaining.  

“I will never vote to increase parking meter fees,” Olds said. “If people have to pay $1.50 an hour, they will not come.” 

The council voted 7-1-1, with Worthington voting in opposition and Spring abstaining to: 

• Hire a six-month planner to write the ordinances and get feedback from the commissions. 

• Enforce existing quality-of-life laws. 

• Modify the city’s lying-on-the-sidewalk law so that there would be no warnings or fewer warnings given; enforcing the lying law at night would be a low priority. This was referred to the Police Review Commission. 

While Olds voted in favor of most of the items, she seemed to question the idea behind the initiative because she favored programs that help people in need. “I like Options,” she said, referring to Options for Recovery, a drug and alcohol treatment program. “It’s better to spend our money there,” she said. 

Spring also voted in favor of a number of the proposals, but she said critical needs were not targeted. “There’s no detox available, there are no (new) services,” Spring said. “I see no place in this package to help people get out of poverty.”