Allen Warren, hero of the homeless. Jeff Harris, misanthrope.

Allen Warren, Sacramento Hero

Councilman Allen Warren did something controversial -- that should never be controversial -- at Tuesday's Sacramento City Council meeting. He proposed that there should be a moratorium in some places in the city, allowing homeless folk to camp. This, according to an excellent piece in today's [1/12/17] Bee -- titled "Warren seeks temporary OK for camping in the city" -- written by the always-splendid reporter-extraordinaire Ryan Lillis.

What a wild idea! Instead of having things as they now are, which effectively disallows homeless people to exist, Warren would like for some places to be designated that would allow camping.

Councilman Jeff Harris, in sharp contrast to Warren, said at the meeting, that he "would never support losing our camping ordinance."

Quoting the article ...

"I'm not sure (Warren) has analyzed the situation thoroughly," Harris said. "I have to say I feel the camping ordinance is a management tool. It gives the police the ability to manage crime among the homeless population."

The situation, as it exists now, allows the police to arrest homeless people JUST FOR EXISTING. If you don't have a bed at a shelter and aren't prepared to walk around all night, the police can charge you with a crime. This circumstance is, of course UBER-OUTRAGEOUS! It is not a crime to need sleep and comfort apart from the cold and the rain.

Laws ARE NOT supposed to be "management tools" to control people ahead of them doing anything wrong. Harris is living in the wrong country. Sacramento ISN'T IN PUTIN'S RUSSIA.

The situation that currently exists is stupendously people hating! Jeff Harris is a misanthrope. The city council should pass a management tool to require that Harris take some classes such to learn how to properly do his job.

Jeff Harris

I have a suggestion. In order that Jeff  Harris can gain just a modicum of sympathy for other human beings, let us pass a law -- one that disallows people-hating Harris to breathe between the hours of one and two pm every day. With this law, Harris won't be inconvenienced for nine hours -- like a great many homeless people in the county are each night -- but just for one measly hour a day.

Allen Warren's just-crazy-enough-it-might-work idea thrilled folks sympathetic to the struggles of homeless people in the council meeting room.

One fellow who was floored was staunch homeless advocate Faygo Clark.

Quoting the last paragraph in Lillis's piece:

"I almost had a heart attack," activist James "Faygo" Clark said after the meeting. "For one council member to even float the idea of a moratorium, that's huge."

It's huge, but it is also an obvious thing that needs to happen.