Sonoma City Council supports homeless parking trial

In a 3-2 vote, Cook and Edwards dissenting, at its meeting Monday night the 19th of September, the Sonoma City Council decided to support the proposal by SOS and the Haven Homeless Shelter for a three-month experiment providing five overnight parking spaces for the homeless living in their cars.

A large turnout of the public seemed to sway the three women on the council, Gallian, Hundley and Agrimonti, who all voted in favor of moving ahead, and directed staff to outline the process needed to get the parking plan implemented as quickly as possible.

Kathy King, who runs the Haven, and a variety of citizens spoke in favor of moving ahead, noting that providing a safe and legal place for the homeless to park is both compassionate and a necessary “band-aid” that can help such homeless folks ultimately find a place to live.

Even the two dissenters on the council expressed their strong desire to see the city and other agencies make inroads into solving the homeless problem. Their objections seemed to be that this plan was too small and too limited to have any true and lasting effect and that a larger, more comprehensive plan was worth developing instead. While not voting to support this proposal, they indicated that they would support the council’s decision and will continue to help to work to solve the homeless housing problem in Sonoma.

The trial period of three months will cost the Haven Shelter approximately $2,000, which will cover the personnel cost for monitoring and administration if the five spaces are located adjacent to the Police Station, which is where the Haven is also located. The cost of a program at another location would cost much more. Former Mayor Larry Barnett, speaking in support of the program, offered to personally cover the $2,000 cost of the trial, and also supported the use of the parking spaces provided to the council and commission members at the rear of the building where public parking is prohibited. The Executive Director of FISH indicated that they would cover the cost of sanitation for the program.

The next step is for city staff to outline the dimensions of process which must take place, and it is expected that the matter will appear on the next City Council agenda.