Renton, WA City Council to vote on camping ban

Well, Renton is now the latest city considering a homeless ban and a ban on encampments in an effort to preserve its parks and public spaces. FOX 13 Sam Campbell live outside Renton City Hall with the details on this ordinance. And Sam, this comes as the City Council is set to vote on this tomorrow. That's right. They're gonna be voting right inside those doors tomorrow at seven p.m. And they already had a first reading. So this will be the second and final reading before they take a vote and looking at the City Council's agenda, we can see exactly what the catalyst behind this ordinance was. It all goes back to a Supreme Court decision stemming from Grants Pass versus Johnson a couple years ago, where the court had ultimately upended a previous circuit court ruling that prohibited such camping bans. Instead, the Supreme Court says municipalities can enforce whatever camping bans they want on public property. That's exactly what written looks poised to do. The City Council read this ordinance aloud in the public last month, but now it is time to take a vote and make it law or let it fizzle. But let's get into the details here. It would make it a misdemeanor to camp on city property, store personal belongings on city property, fail to leave city properly fast enough when ordered by a quote authorized official end quote. And it even spells out the possessing or abandoning a shopping cart on city property is forbidden. All of these would carry a penalty of up to 90 days in jail or a maximum fine of $1000 or both. So without naming unhoused folks explicitly, it becomes abundantly clear who this ordinance impacts and focuses on. And the legislation paints a picture of a city whose patients has run out with camps on public parks and the property crime that the city has associated with it. It says it has heard innumerable complaints from citizens and that the city has a quote unquote compelling interest to protect the health and safety of property users and city employees. Now that public health and safety phrase is repeated multiple times in the 30 page ordinance suggesting that this is the legal basis upon which the council would legitimize its ability to detain and arrest anyone who continues to camp on public property like city parks. Now take a look at the ordinance here. It now state. It's also states that the inability to make arrests made enforcement impractical. But now this misdemeanor or I'm sorry, this ordinance would make it a misdemeanor. Like I said, and we have also heard from critics of not just this camping band, but camping bands and other towns across the region like Burien, who say that you can ban camping all you want, but it's not going to solve the problem without extra housing. It just pushes people down the street. We're gonna be keeping an eye on this as the city council meeting happens again tomorrow, and they're gonna take a vote at seven p.m. Live in written Sam Campbell FOX 13 news.