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Marysville police took action Wednesday in their first step toward enforcing the city's "no camping" rules.
Homeless residents of the former Hollywood Trailer Park and of Thorntree received a flier that warns them of fire danger, and of the possibility of future citations.
"You are being notified to vacate this area," it reads. "Violators may be cited or booked into Yuba County Jail."
Police Chief Wally Fullerton said several of his officers spent the day distributing the warning, marking camp sites, and attempting to delineate exactly where city property begins and ends.
Hollywood, the expanse of land boundaried by Simpson Lane and the Marysville Levee Ring, has been inhabited in recent weeks by a large family, and also serves as an outdoor living space to 30 or so adults. The Federal Emercency Management Agency's flood concerns shut down Hollywood Trailer Park.
Jurisdiction is a jigsaw puzzle of city land, privately owned tracts within city limits, and Yuba County property, Fullerton said.
Police officers equipped with Global Positioning System devices, old plot graphs and range finders were expected to cobble together a rough map by the end of the day.
"If we have to write a citation, we want to make sure it's a lawful one," said Fullerton.
A long list of contact information for health and welfare agencies covers the back of the warning flier. Many of the agencies are frequented by Hollywood residents, said Don "Shortstack" Oliver.
Upon returning from a housepainting job, he read the warning and the page of service agencies and shook his head.
"You always go on a waiting list for Section 8 Housing. It's about two years long," he said. "It's not a remedy."
Su Cruzan, 48, said she has been on that waiting list for more than a year. A few months after she first filled out the paperwork, she became homeless and the housing authority had trouble contacting her. She got dropped to the bottom of the list.
"I'm back to 400-something," she said.
Still, the basic premise for the warning, said Shortstack, makes sense.
"Once a fire takes off, it takes off," he said. "I can understand their concerns. They can't cover the liability of all these lives down here."
Homelessness is not a new issue, Fullerton said, but its visibility has been elevated in light of a state budget crisis and dearth of city funds.
"It's an impossible situation," he said. "There is a vacuum of leadership at the state and federal level, and they're the ones that can make things happen."
Public comment at recent City Council and county supervisors meetings included cries that local officials should take commercial buildings that are standing empty and use them to house the homeless.
Fullerton said that while such ideas are well-meant, they are impractical and difficult to address.
"The city cannot just wave a wand and take some private building, and convert it to homeless housing," he said.
For one thing, he said, there's no money for buying buildings.
"We asked the citizens for a half-cent sales tax and they said no. we work for them (voters)," Fullerton said. "You have to live within your means and that's what we've got to do."
As for enforcing the no-camping ordinance, he said, fire and flood concerns are real.
"We're not trying to run people out of Dodge, we're trying to render the situation safe," he said.
Shortstack says he isn't thrilled at the prospect of trying to find a new place to sleep.
"But if we gotta move, we gotta move," he said. "I don't know what else we're gonna do."
Contact Marysville Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternack at 749-4712 or at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com
Homeless residents of the former Hollywood Trailer Park and of Thorntree received a flier that warns them of fire danger, and of the possibility of future citations.
"You are being notified to vacate this area," it reads. "Violators may be cited or booked into Yuba County Jail."
Police Chief Wally Fullerton said several of his officers spent the day distributing the warning, marking camp sites, and attempting to delineate exactly where city property begins and ends.
Hollywood, the expanse of land boundaried by Simpson Lane and the Marysville Levee Ring, has been inhabited in recent weeks by a large family, and also serves as an outdoor living space to 30 or so adults. The Federal Emercency Management Agency's flood concerns shut down Hollywood Trailer Park.
Jurisdiction is a jigsaw puzzle of city land, privately owned tracts within city limits, and Yuba County property, Fullerton said.
Police officers equipped with Global Positioning System devices, old plot graphs and range finders were expected to cobble together a rough map by the end of the day.
"If we have to write a citation, we want to make sure it's a lawful one," said Fullerton.
A long list of contact information for health and welfare agencies covers the back of the warning flier. Many of the agencies are frequented by Hollywood residents, said Don "Shortstack" Oliver.
Upon returning from a housepainting job, he read the warning and the page of service agencies and shook his head.
"You always go on a waiting list for Section 8 Housing. It's about two years long," he said. "It's not a remedy."
Su Cruzan, 48, said she has been on that waiting list for more than a year. A few months after she first filled out the paperwork, she became homeless and the housing authority had trouble contacting her. She got dropped to the bottom of the list.
"I'm back to 400-something," she said.
Still, the basic premise for the warning, said Shortstack, makes sense.
"Once a fire takes off, it takes off," he said. "I can understand their concerns. They can't cover the liability of all these lives down here."
Homelessness is not a new issue, Fullerton said, but its visibility has been elevated in light of a state budget crisis and dearth of city funds.
"It's an impossible situation," he said. "There is a vacuum of leadership at the state and federal level, and they're the ones that can make things happen."
Public comment at recent City Council and county supervisors meetings included cries that local officials should take commercial buildings that are standing empty and use them to house the homeless.
Fullerton said that while such ideas are well-meant, they are impractical and difficult to address.
"The city cannot just wave a wand and take some private building, and convert it to homeless housing," he said.
For one thing, he said, there's no money for buying buildings.
"We asked the citizens for a half-cent sales tax and they said no. we work for them (voters)," Fullerton said. "You have to live within your means and that's what we've got to do."
As for enforcing the no-camping ordinance, he said, fire and flood concerns are real.
"We're not trying to run people out of Dodge, we're trying to render the situation safe," he said.
Shortstack says he isn't thrilled at the prospect of trying to find a new place to sleep.
"But if we gotta move, we gotta move," he said. "I don't know what else we're gonna do."
Contact Marysville Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternack at 749-4712 or at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com
