Last week the Phoenix City Council did exactly what we expected they’d do. Rubber stamp Parks Department director Cynthia Aguilar and City Manager Ed Zuercher’s proposal to dramatically restrict (essentially eliminate) humanitarian aid in city parks.
By a 6-3 vote, the Council approved the ordinance despite hours of testimony from healthcare providers, outreach workers, harm reduction advocates, and community members warning that the policy will make life even harder for people experiencing homelessness.
Phoenix OKs punitive limits on feeding, treating homeless people in parks
Zuercher’s press release spins the ordinance as a simple “time, place and manner” regulation designed to keep parks “safe and welcoming.” But the actual policy is really just a way to almost completely shut down humanitarian aid in city parks.
It sharply limits food distribution and medical outreach unless organizations get (an ungettable) permit from the Parks Department. If they can get a permit (limited to two per park per month total) it restricts activities to tightly controlled settings, bans syringe exchange services in parks altogether and puts up other huge barriers.
Councilmember Anna Hernandez was one of only three “no” votes and the Council’s most compassionate voice opposing the measure. In her recent op-ed, she argued that Phoenix “shouldn’t criminalize caring,” warning that the ordinance punishes the very groups trying to fill gaps in the city’s behavioral health, housing, and healthcare systems. That argument was echoed repeatedly during public testimony this week by organizations that actually work on the streets every day.
Phoenix shouldn’t criminalize caring for people | Opinion
This outcome was totally predictable. Once something makes it to the city council agenda it’s almost always a slam dunk no matter what people from the public say. The Parks Department leadership under Cynthia Aguilar pushed the proposal aggressively, tightening the screws with each revision- with an end result of essentially ending all aid.
City Manager Ed Zuercher also fully backed it. Most Council members seemed primarily interested in finding a politically safer way to package the ordinance rather than reconsidering whether it was good policy.
Starting June 5, humanitarian groups that have long provided sandwiches, wound care, hygiene supplies, overdose prevention services, and basic medical outreach in parks will face enormous red tape to provide even sporadic basic services.
Op-ed: Phoenix Parks Department treating homeless like biohazards instead of people
Those who disobey the man face arrest and sure prosecution from County Attorney Mitchell for a Class 1 Misdemeanor (the worst kind).
Fortunately, I gotta believe that a brave soul may exercise nonviolent civil disobedience and provide services without the ungettable permit. I also gotta believe a jury is unlikely to convict the person – but if they do – they’d become a public health martyr.
Criminalizing aid to the unsheltered so parks workers can look at magazines in the shade doesn’t solve homelessness. It just makes their job easier (which is the goal).
