I kinda laugh when people stereotype California as being super progressive. Sure, it can be progressive in some aspects relative to other states, but that’s a pretty low bar and the state is definitely not a monolith politically.
Recent example: Yesterday, San Diego city council passed a homeless encampment ban in many areas as long as there are shelter beds available. This does nothing to help people transition out of homelessness and gives police more power to harass, cite, and arrest some of our most marginalized people. Like Ken Saragosa said, “The problem is you can’t arrest homelessness out of existence.”
There are far too few shelter beds in the city, so it’s questionable if this can even be enforced anytime soon, though I doubt such technicalities will stop the police. I hope this gets challenged legally and thrown out.
“Divided San Diego City Council passes homeless camping ban”. The San Diego Union-Tribune. .
