Tuesday, 50 people asked the Sacramento City Council to rescind the anti-camping ordinance. Erica Talbott is an elementary school teacher in Oak Park. She says some of her students are homeless.
"Because of this law, my 8-year-olds are criminals in the eyes of the law," she said. "I respectfully ask you where they are supposed to sleep tonight."
About a quarter of the speakers were from Davis or are students at UC Davis.
Some of the people who spoke have been camping illegally at city hall for about six weeks.
Earlier this week, Councilman Jay Schenirer and the council's homeless committee asked the homeless and their advocates to propose a plan to help solve homelessness.
"I don't think the council has an appetite to completely lift the camping ban," said Schenirer. "But, this is a challenge the council takes very seriously. We're spending a lot of time and effort on it and frankly for a city we're putting a lot of money into homelessness."
The city says it spends $13.6 million dollars per year on homelessness.
There were more verbal skirmishes between homeless protestors and supporters and Vice Mayor Rick Jennings during the meeting.
Two people were asked to leave the chambers after continuous outbursts.
Council took a five-minute recess at one point, but, unlike last week, the public comments segment of the agenda was completed before the council adjourned.
Vice Mayor Jennings read the rules of decorum to the crowd before the meeting began. Jennings was filling in for Mayor Kevin Johnson for the second-straight week.
Follow us for more stories like this
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.
Donate Today