A San Francisco supervisor today introduced alternative legislation to a proposed, controversial sit-lie ordinance that would be based on a community justice solutions and not simply police enforcement.
Board president David Chiu said the ordinance he’s proposing would be “a neighborhood-based community justice model” that could serve as an alternative or complement to legislation offered by Mayor Gavin Newsom.
Newsom’s ordinance, supported by Police Chief George Gascon, would make it unlawful to sit or lie on a public sidewalk between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.
Homeless advocates have contended the law would criminalize homelessness and be used as a tool to push them out of neighborhoods.
Chiu’s legislation would set up a Neighborhood Community Justice Task Force to make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors “regarding the creation of neighborhood-based restorative and community justice programs.”
Current programs in the city include the Tenderloin’s Community Justice Center, and behavioral, drug and community courts.
The task force would first focus on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, where residents and businesses have complained about groups of “street thugs” blocking sidewalks and harassing passersby.
The seven-member, unpaid task force would be appointed by the supervisors and made up of residents, business owners, homeless and youth service providers, and those with experience in “restorative justice models.”
The board’s Public Safety Committee is expected to take up both sit-lie proposals at their meeting Monday.
