Opposed to homeless camping
EDITOR: Thank you for article on homeless camping in residential areas. I encourage Sebastopol residents to contact the city council in regard to this issue.
Our city council members need to be our advocates. Our streets are not RV parks. Our trails are not campgrounds. Our parks are not public housing. We need the city to stop RV and tent camping in public areas. If someone wants to live in an RV, there are RV parks. If someone wants to live in a tent, there are campgrounds. If a person cannot afford them, then they are in need of charity, and Sonoma County and its municipalities should develop tent and RV areas for those who need charity.
We cannot let homeless people turn our public spaces into housing. Our parks, streets, trails, libraries and sidewalks are designed for specific purposes and for the use and enjoyment by citizens. Currently there are car campers around many of our public spaces — Ives Park and Pool, the Sebastopol Community Center, the Laguna Trailhead and Willard Libby Park. These areas are not private living spaces, but they are being treated as such and impact the use of these public facilities.
Sebastopol does not have the budget to support homeless encampments. It is expensive to have police responding to complaints and municipal workers cleaning up homeless encampments.
Until there are designated county areas, Sebastopol could offer a few sites in town where people register as one might at RV park, located at the police station and/or fire station.
Thank you for your ongoing reporting on this very important issue.
Kate Haug
Sebastopol
I miss the police logs
EDITOR: I found the sheriff’s log and the Sebastopol police logs two of the most relevant and helpful parts of the paper.
Surely all the news about flowers and animals and sports and pot and hospitals is important but what happened to these two features? I learned more and shared more of that info than all of the other feature combined. No news is not good news.
Neil Davis
Sebastopol
FROM THE EDITOR: Thanks for your letter, Neil. You are not the only person who misses the police logs. We are working on returning them to the paper. It’s a question of time. Sonoma West is currently operating without our usual full-time reporter and our usual part-time river correspondent. When we replace these critical staff members — or get an intern — the logs will return.
