Camps near Bay Bridge-off limits to S.F. brass

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 12/7/5 | Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

[SmithL]

A bureaucratic stalemate is turning San Francisco's underpasses near the Bay Bridge into a free-fly zone for the homeless -- with the city's cops being ordered to stay out or face possible discipline charges.

In recent months, squatters have been setting up camps amid the piles of beams and pillars stored under roadways for the retrofit of the bridge and its freeway approaches.

In the meantime, police say, there has been a proliferation of auto break-ins and petty crimes around the freeway -- plus a growing chorus of complaints from neighbors and merchants who have had to put up with drunkenness, panhandling, street defecation and other lewd acts.

"We have a bunch of irate merchants and residents who are just fed up,'' said police Capt. Denis O'Leary, who found himself fielding the complaints soon after taking over command of Southern Station some 15 months ago.

There was a time when the cops would have felt free to clear away homeless encampments under the freeway. Anyone refusing to go would have been cited for illegal lodging, blocking the sidewalk or generally creating a nuisance.

But in late 2003, advocates for the homeless went to the city's Office of Citizen Complaints and accused the cops of illegally trying to boot a group of homeless campers off a state-owned parking lot near the Transbay Terminal.

The police watchdog agency rejected the complaint, saying the homeless didn't have permission from the lot's manager to be there; and, therefore, they were trespassing.

Nonetheless, the cops got the message to back off -- and leave the areas under the freeway and its ramps to the California Highway Patrol until they got an agreement from the state to enforce the law on Caltrans property.

[bboop]

Isn't some of that on ex-Governor-Moonbeam's side/ the city of Oakland? Oh, they love the homeless guys up in San Fran. Pay 'em $800/ mo or something just for ... drugs. The New Utopia.