SACRAMENTO-
California State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) has introduced the Homeless Bill of Rights, which would allow the homeless to do any life-sustaining activity on public property.
That includes sleeping, panhandling and even urinating.
“We think it’s time to begin establishing a set of laws to treat (the homeless) as human beings, which they are,” said Carlos Alcala, Ammiano’s communications director.
A homeless man identifying himself Kenneth has been on the streets of Sacramento for 12 years. He struggles to find food, shelter and water, and is in constant fear of being shot or mugged.
Joan Burke, who has worked with Sacramento Loaves and Fishes for the last 25 years, strongly supports Ammiano’s legislation.
“In Sacramento, we don’t have enough emergency shelters for the people who need shelters. Some of them need to sleep outside,” Burke told FOX40. “Our parks have locked up all the bathrooms. There is nowhere for people to go to the bathroom.”
Kenneth agrees.
“You make us feel like animals, then of course we’re going to start acting like animals,” he said.
But not everyone is on board, including midtown Vanilla Bean Gourmet Cupcakes employee Jasmine Lymas.
“They’re aggressive. Some are really aggressive,” she said. “They come into the store and growl at me.”
Lymas fears legislation like Ammiano’s could make things even worse.
Kai Beech filed this report.
21 Comments to “Lawmaker Proposes ‘Homeless Bill of Rights’”
January 5, 2013 at 11:26 AM
Great idea! Finally! I suggest we get home addresses of all legislators approving and supporting this "bill of rights" and set up homeless camp on public property in front of their houses…..
January 5, 2013 at 8:10 PM
so vera- if this were a bill of rights addressing the need for equal rights of women thats all good and your a full supporter- but because it is a bill of rights addressing the need to ensure the rights of homeless people your ready to set it on fire huh? how is that women's right for equality movement comin along anyway? still the underdog huh?
January 5, 2013 at 8:27 PM
I agree vera! That is a great idea! and while we're at it, lets drum up a bill of rights to make sure there are equal rights for women too! and when we get the home addresses of legislators approving and supporting equal rights of women(which its pretty obvious there aren't at this point) then we can send in resumes of women who deserve a seat at the legislative branch but are'nt because they're discriminated based on gender- and they can have equal opportunity for those jobs as men do! of course then we still have racism to address as well. lots of work to do huh?
January 5, 2013 at 9:35 PM
I was just checkin to see if you were being sincere in your comment or not vera? at first i thought you were. then i thought you might be bein sacrcastic and such. dont wanna speak outta context and all..
January 5, 2013 at 9:36 PM
or wait..
January 5, 2013 at 9:36 PM
were you bein sarcastic vera?
January 5, 2013 at 9:36 PM
i dont want to speak out of context n' such
January 5, 2013 at 9:37 PM
if you were sincere then i agree! great idea!
January 5, 2013 at 9:40 PM
but then again, camping on thier property may be detrimental to the cause.
January 5, 2013 at 9:41 PM
we may want to think that out before that suggestion is taken.
January 5, 2013 at 9:42 PM
we want to be careful how we move forward on this
January 5, 2013 at 9:44 PM
as people will look for ways to
January 5, 2013 at 9:46 PM
oppose the bill
January 5, 2013 at 9:46 PM
and that could give them cause to do so
January 5, 2013 at 9:48 PM
i dont know why this wouldnt allow me to post that as one comment..
January 5, 2013 at 9:48 PM
it kept deleting it
January 5, 2013 at 9:48 PM
how wierd
January 5, 2013 at 9:48 PM
it would only let me post it if i broke it up into segments
January 5, 2013 at 9:49 PM
must make me look like a crazy person huh?
January 5, 2013 at 10:20 PM
hey admin- do you think you could get it together over there so i can post a comment w/out having to break it up into segments? that would be dandy thanks!!
January 5, 2013 at 10:32 PM
I disagree. homeless people dont deserve anything. they should sequester them into one area away from society and let them fend for themselves! We work hard and they are lazy bums!
Though I do agree that women's rights are important and should be equal to a man's. Its too bad women dont have equal opportunity as men.
And racism too. all people are created equal!
Hey homeless- get a job like the rest of us hard workers!