Sausalito homeless campers can stay at park, judge rules
The homeless occupants of a camp at a Sausalito park can stay for now, a federal judge ruled Monday.
U.S. District Court Judge Edward Chen granted a preliminary injunction barring the city from enforcing a daytime camping ban or clearing the camp behind Dunphy Park as long as the threat of coronavirus transmission exists.
The City Council passed a resolution last month to relocate the camp to Marinship Park. It is adjacent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers debris yard where confiscated boats are stored and destroyed by the Richardson’s Bay Regional Agency.
The Sausalito Chapter of the California Homeless Union sought the injunction on Feb. 16. Anthony Prince, the lawyer representing the group, called the ruling “a resounding victory for the union.”
He said the ruling protects the campers from coronavirus transmission and stops a coordinated effort by wealthy residents to “kick homeless people out of town.”
“We feel very good about this,” Prince said. “We will continue to work with city on immediate questions of COVID and the broader issue of housing for poor people in the city and in Marin County.”
While Chen wrote that the ruling was compelled more by the daytime camping ban than the proposed relocation, he noted that the city’s plan “flies in the face” of federal coronavirus safety guidelines.
Chen also questioned the city’s motives for passing a resolution to move the camp to Marinship Park without doing a complete study of the environmental impacts beforehand.
“The fact that Resolution No. 6009 requires both the move of the encampment and the day camp ban suggests that Defendants’ intent should be viewed as a whole and in context,” Chen wrote. “The two actions taken in tandem raise serious questions whether Defendants were truly motivated by a concern for the health and safety of the Dunphy Park campers in enacting Resolution.”
He noted that the city has not provided any assistance to the camp, and that the people living at the camp have formed “a community of sorts, as reflected by their maintenance of a communal kitchen and their procurement of a portable toilet and handwashing station for common use.”
The ruling does not preclude the city from filing a motion to modify or dissolve the injunction if it can show there is no risk of toxic exposure at Marinship Park.
Arthur Friedman, an attorney representing the city, did not respond to requests for comment. Mayor Jill Hoffman declined to comment.
“We have no further comment at this time as we are reviewing the court’s ruling with counsel,” Hoffman said.
A case management conference is scheduled for April 1.