UPDATED JULY 01, 2022 11:00 AM
Homeless father Harold Hamilton said the city of Sacramento towed his family’s 2002 Buick LeSabre on June 19 — Father’s Day. “It felt disrespectful, like they were trying to emasculate me on Father’s Day and make me look like a horrible dad,” Hamilton said. He works at O’Reilly Auto Parts, but does not have the $3,000 to get the vehicle back, and is raising money for a new one, he said. The tow is one of hundreds that have occurred in the six months since the council voted to continue towing vehicles that are parked on a street for more than 72 hours, even if they belong to a homeless person with nowhere else to go. TOP VIDEOS Continue watching 2022 Emmy Awards nominations announced after the ad × More than 200 people affiliated with 43 Sacramento area congregations protested that policy on Thursday, sending a letter to Sacramento City Council members that called the sweeps inhumane. “We believe that forcing people to move, and to have their vehicles impounded, without providing safe relocation alternatives, is neither effective nor humane,” the letter read. Pastor Alan Jones of St. Mark’s Methodist in Arden-Arcade, who signed the letter, said he believes the council members are good people, but the decision to continue towing vehicles was wrong. “Sweeps are evil, they are injustice, they are oppression,” Jones said during a press conference outside City Hall Thursday. “When good people end up abusing significant portion of the population in their care, there is something terribly sick going on.” The council by a 6-3 vote in December supported towing, rejecting a proposal by Mayor Darrell Steinberg. Business leaders supported the policy, saying towing vehicles is an important tool that’s needed in some situations. They say some of the people who stay in the vehicles scare off customers, threaten employees’ safety, steal items and defecate near the door. Get unlimited digital access Subscribe now for just $2 for 2 months. CLAIM OFFER “The city should have all lawful tools available to protect the safety and well being of our community,” Amanda Blackwood, president and CEO of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber, said Thursday. “At times, towing a vehicle, as is legally allowable, is necessary and appropriate to protect public health and safety.” CHANGE COMING TO SACRAMENTO COUNCIL The council is comprised of the same members as it was in December. Three new members will be sworn in this year, all replacing members who voted to keep towing, but not until December. Pastor Amy Kienzle, of St. John’s Lutheran Church in midtown, said waiting until the summer ends would be too late. So far this month, temperatures hit triple-digits on 11 days, according to the National Weather Service, she pointed out. Vehicles, while an eyesore, often provide air conditioning or at least block the beating sun, she said. In 2020, the most recent year available, two unhoused people died with heat stroke as one of multiple causes. “Why would you take away people’s shelter when it’s hot?” said Kienzle after leading a press conference Thursday outside City Hall. “I don’t think we can wait through a summer when we’re already seeing so many days over 100.” Kienzle said the group now plans to focus pressure on the members who rejected it the first time — Angelique Ashby, Sean Loloee, Jeff Harris, Jay Schenirer, Eric Guerra and Rick Jennings. ‘THE TIMING WAS CRUEL’ During the first three weeks of June, the city’s code enforcement department towed 161 vehicles, not counting those towed by police, according to weekly reports council members receive. On May 25, as temperatures climbed to hit 103, dozens of police officers, code enforcement officers and tow trucks arrived at a vacant dirt lot in Old North Sacramento to clear a camp. Over a dozen homeless men and women dripped with sweat as they scrambled to move their RVs, vehicles and tents. The city towed 11 vehicles. “The timing was cruel,” Kienzle said, adding that the sweep prompted the leaders to decide it was time to present their letter. The May 25 sweep was the latest in a string of similar actions in North Sacramento. In December, the city towed 18 vehicles in a North Sacramento business park, prompting the mayor to bring the item to the council later that month. In February, the city towed 13 homeless vehicles from another North Sacramento street, including one belonging to Harold Hamilton’s father in law. “I will continue to fight for the proposition that all levels of government should be legally obligated to provide shelter, housing, and mental health care for those in desperate need, and that people have the same legal obligation to accept that help,” Steinberg said in a statement Thursday. “Rights and obligations, compassion and public safety must always go together.” The letter urged the city to open the 20 sites in its $100 million homeless siting plan it approved in August. So far the city has not opened any sites in the plan, though several are moving forward. A count in February found there are an estimated 9,278 homeless people in Sacramento County on any given night — more than San Francisco — and that up to 20,000 people will experience homelessness at some point this year. This story was originally published July 1, 2022 5:25 AM.
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