The primary mandate of the district attorney is to ensure public safety and
the equal administration of justice for all consistent with that mandate.
Approximately one hour ago, my office filed *** civil lawsuit against the
city of Sacramento alleging that it violated California civil code section
3480 specifically that it allowed created and enabled *** public safety
crisis regarding our UN houses.
Now, you might be asking yourself, how did we get here? Why is the district
attorney suing the city of Sacramento and what comes next? So how do we get
here in the last seven years? Our unhoused population in Sacramento has
exploded to over 250%. We have more homeless people in Sacramento than in
San Francisco.
The community is at *** breaking point.
The unhoused are living in conditions typical of third world countries.
All the while the rest of the community is stuck between compassion and chaos.
So how did we get here earlier this summer?
The presiding judge sent *** letter and that letter precipitated and started
the process. But how did we get here? Let me put on my law professor hat for
*** moment and explain it this way. If you own private property, you allow
drug dealing, drug use. If you allow human trafficking, theft, vandalism. If
you allow the accumulation of garbage, needles and feces on your property, the
city of Sacramento will reach out to you and say, you know what you need to
clean this up because you are creating and allowing and enabling *** public
nuisance on your property.
If you do little or nothing at all, the city will then send out *** survey to
your neighbors asking how your property affected their quality of life.
And if you do little or nothing at that point, the city will send you ***
letter and tell you to do *** B and C or they will take you to court and the
judge will make you do *** B or C.
So, what we are doing is we are simply holding the city accountable by the
same laws that they enforce on us. So how did we get here? I mentioned ***
moment ago, the letter by the presiding judge of the superior court in which he
sent to the city in detailed public safety issues that impacted access to
justice to the courthouse. The very next morning, I sent *** letter to the
city describing incidents where d *** employees were threatened and assaulted.
I asked for help from the city to get people off the streets and into shelter.
The mayor responded by saying the district attorney and the presiding
judge are right. I'm gonna fix this problem in two weeks. That was nearly
three months ago.
Since then, things have only gotten worse. Another court reporter was
assaulted, another d employee was threatened. And just last night at
three o'clock in the morning, there were some bushes right outside the
courthouse that was set on fire by an unhoused individual.
How did we get here? We are stuck in this never ending Groundhog Day Loop
where nothing gets better and nothing improves. How did we get here? Enough
is enough and so on July the 18th, 2023 my office sent out
*** survey regarding 16 major encampments within the city of
Sacramento. We asked the community to describe in this survey how these
encampments and the city's actions or inactions affected their quality of
life.
The responses were heart wrenching after nearly 3000 responses that we
received my office sent the mayor *** letter asking the city to do *** few
simple things. One consistently enforce the law, enforce the city ordinances
that they put on the books regarding unlawful camping, unlawful storage,
unlawful fire
and sidewalk obstructions,
two
to create additional safe ground sites that are professionally operated. Three
city hall
allows camping on city hall property at night but they don't allow it during
the day. I asked the city to extend the same protection they give to themselves
to the rest of us. Four to complete the audit that they started two years ago,
an audit that really evaluates the millions upon millions of dollars that
have been spent to deal with the unhoused crisis. And *** true
accounting of what program actually works.
Two years ago, that process started and we still have little to nothing to show
for. And five, I've asked the city to share real time data in regards to the
availability of shelter beds to all the partners, including to law enforcement
to date. The city has not fully implemented any of these proposals. So
how do we get here? Seven years into this descent into decay? Seven years
into this collapse into chaos where we have an erosion of everyday life, an
erosion of everyday life where we forget what it feels like to be safe
and that brings us to this lawsuit or should I say lawsuits?
So why is the district attorney suing the city of Sacramento? Because we need
to get people off the streets living on the streets is not compassionate for
the Un House or the House
studies show that nine out of 10 women who are chronically homeless are
victims of sexual assault.
Sacramento. Sheriff Jim Cooper, since January has been conducting homeless
outreach and enforcement in the unincorporated area found nearly 600
incidents of sexual assault. Nearly 500 incidents of domestic violence they
visited and cleaned up over 400 different camps.
It's not safe, it's not safe for the unhoused or the house earlier this
summer
in the middle of the heat wave, I was driving downtown on the corner of 15th
and Jay, I saw an unhoused woman hopping around barefoot on the sizzling
sidewalk before she ran off into the streets.
Is it compassionate to let people die in the sweltering summer sun? Is it
compassionate to let people freeze to death on *** cold winter's night? Is it
compassionate
that we allow unsafe conditions to fester? So that *** 14 year old boy
can't ride his bike to school where little girls can't play soccer on ***
field littered with needles. Is it compassionate that somebody in ***
wheelchair cannot navigate down the street because of blocked tents or
small businesses had to shut down forever because of repeated broken
windows and break ins.
Why is the district attorney suing the city of Sacramento?
Because we are giving *** voice. We are giving *** voice to those that feel as
if their cries for help have fallen on deaf ears. You see them up here with me
today, you see them here in the audience. And I bet you if we had ***
bigger location, we'd have even more people here who yearn to have their
voices heard. I wanna tell you *** moment about Sandy.
Sandy 30 years ago, bought *** beautiful little home with her husband
in the blue collar neighborhood of colonial Heights. Together, Sandy and
her husband raised *** family and built *** life for themselves. In that home.
*** few years ago, Sandy's husband passed away, but she kept going,
family members and friends passed away, but she kept going.
And then cancer came knocking on her door. But Sandy kept going until there
was an unhoused encampment that opened up across the street from her. She
reported *** drug dealer. And so every day that drug dealer would walk by her
house with *** leather whip and crack it as he stared menacingly at her.
She reported broken condoms and prostitution, but the city led it
fester. She reported feces and urine but the city let it fester.
And the cries for help that Sandy had went unanswered. And in fact,
the people from the camp threatened to burn down her home. They shot out her
window with *** gun when Sandy's son moved in to help her out, the people
from the camp went up to the sun and said, if you leave, we're going to rape
your mother.
So in the midst of fighting cancer, Sandy actually moved out of her house
to another part of town and rented *** room.
She told us that,
you know, my husband passing away didn't break me. Cancer didn't break me.
But this homeless encampment broke me. The city of Sacramento has not heard
Sandy's voice but they will now because she's listed as one of the victims in
the people's complaint. But you know what, there are other people that feel
as if their voices, their, their community's voices have not been heard
by the city.