While San Bernardino city officials are hailing the progress that is being made in the city in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 28, 2024 ruling in the case of the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson allowing local governments to be more ruthless in the way the homeless population is handled, the situation with regard to inhumane conditions endured by those who live on the streets has gotten worse.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson essentially undid the previous rulings in the 1962 case of Robinson v. California and the 2018 case Martin v. Boise. In Robinson v. California, the Supreme Court held that the Eighth Amendment prohibits criminalization of a status, as opposed to criminalizing criminal acts, in striking down a California law that criminalized being addicted to narcotics. By extension, this applied to being homeless, such that it made applying traditional vagrancy laws difficult, problematic or even impossible. In this way, from that point on, at least until very recently, an individual could not be prosecuted for being homeless. In Martin v. Boise, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that city officials in Boise, Idaho, could not enforce an anti-camping ordinance whenever its homeless population exceeds the number of available beds in its homeless shelters. The Ninth Circuit includes the nine western states and all of the Pacific Islands.
Both Robinson v. California and Martin v. Boise had the practical effect of preventing government in general and local governments in particular from declaring open warfare on the homeless. Whereas previously, before the Grants Pass vs. Johnson ruling, local officials had to walk a very fine line in evicting homeless from parks and other public areas, officials now have a much freer hand in sending the homeless packing.
In the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the punishments of fines, temporary bans from entering public property, and one-month jail sentences imposed by the City of Grants Pass on trespassers at its parks were neither cruel nor unusual and that that the Grants Pass’s anti-camping ordinances were neutrally applied against both the homeless and those who are not homeless. The upshot was that the Supreme Court held that local governments can ban the homeless from public areas.
This was of substantial significance in San Bernardino, where the homeless had established what were, for all intents and purposes, permanent residency there, living in tents or using other means such as sleeping bags laid out near the parks’ picnic tables to make it through the night and on to the next day and then the next and then the next.
The homeless have now been cleared out from Secombe Lake Park, Perris Hill Park and Meadowbrook Park. At Secombe Lake Park, where the largest number of homeless had congregated, the park was shuttered entirely for a time and some of the property which it included and which was immediately adjacent to it is being developed into housing.
On March 3, 2024, the city initiated what is to be a $13.8 million renovation of Seccombe Lake Park, located just east of Downtown San Bernardino at 160 East 5th Street. Due to the extensive work being undertaken, the 44-acre park has been closed and will remain off limits to the public for what is anticipated to be a full year.
“This will be a complete revitalization of one of the crown jewels of our park system,” said interim Parks and Recreation Director Ernesto Salinas. City officials say the project will bring new amenities to the park as well as restore the existing infrastructure. Major improvements planned for San Bernardino’s second largest park will include the restoration of the park’s signature lake; new landscaping and irrigation; renovation of the gazebo and basketball courts; new lighting throughout the park; concrete walking paths; the restoration of the island in the middle of the lake, new playground equipment with large shade sails, upgrades to the dog park, Americans With Disabilities Act upgrades, new fishing stations around the lake, electrical vehicle charging stations, upgraded drinking fountains, restrooms, and trash enclosures, the installation of palm trees, solar lighting and repaving of the parking lot.
“This transformation will breathe new life into Seccombe Lake Park,” said Mayor Helen Tran. “The council and I look forward to next year when families and residents can enjoy a renewed and vibrant space in the heart of our city.”
Funding for the project is being supplied by capital from the American Rescue Plan Act as well as $1 million from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians.
The City Council approved a contract with North Hollywood-based Landscape Support Services in December 2024 to perform the work. CSG Consultants will provide construction management and inspection services for the project. Plans for the renovation were prepared by RHA Landscape Architects of Riverside.
“The renovation of Seccombe Lake Park is just the latest of a series of investments the city is making in our parks,” added Mayor Tran. “Parks are a priority and San Bernardino residents will notice a big difference across the city very soon.”
For years, city officials and many residents decried the homeless inhabition of the park, which many complained made city residents reluctant, unwilling and afraid to visit the park or make use of its amenities. The same situation applied to both Perris Hill Park and Meadowbrook Park.
There have been expressions of relief and accomplishment among a certain set, perhaps even a majority of the city population, over the homeless having been booted from the parks.
Nevertheless, what has resulted in large measure is that the homeless have left the park to take up lodging in areas nearby that are as or near as problematic as their presence in the park. This includes living in alleyways, abandoned buildings, in flood control channels, in and near riverbeds and creekbeds and under freeway overpasses.
Among the homeless themselves, many face increased health challenges, worsening health, depression, anxiety, psychological distress, heightened mental health concerns, increased incidents of involvement with law enforcement and the increased risk of violence.
As an inducement to get many of the homeless to leave the parks, officials offered them vouchers to stay at local motels or hotels. The Sentinel spoke with four individuals who accepted those offers. One said the voucher he was given was good for three days. Another said he remained at a motel for 10 days, using vouchers. A third said she had been so housed for a week. A fourth said she had a motel stay respite of eight days. All are again living under dire conditions in San Bernardino.