The stakes are high in the battle for Library Park.

On one side are the homeless and the “day-time” homeless – those who can crash on a friend’s couch at night but have nowhere to go during the day.

On the other side is the City of Manteca responding to complaints from parents, neighbors, downtown businesses, and other city residents who access the park designed primarily for youth use – from gazebo events and frolicking in the water play feature to using the tot lot – just outside the doors of Manteca Library.

Toss in constitutional issues such as universal public access and what exactly constitutes vulgar behavior and language that set limits on the rules of police engagement.
All of this against the city moving forward with a plan approved Tuesday by the City Council to spend $600,000 in bonus bucks paid for sewer allocation certainty and redevelopment agency funds to expand Library Park.

In a bid to turn the tide against what is perceived as a growing number of incidents involving the homeless the city has:

• started closing Library Park from dusk until dawn instead of the previous 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. closure hours.

• changed the sprinkler time schedules to water the grass in the hours shortly after dusk to discourage the homeless from camping.

• cut off power to the gazebo after discovering many homeless converge on the park because they can charge their cell phones at the gazebo.

Assistant City Manager Karen McLaughlin said staff was surprised when they discovered one reason homeless said they went to the park was to charge their cell phones at the gazebo.

McLaughlin said while apparently the homeless have no place to go “they still have cell phones” adding that they will no longer be able to charge them “on the city’s dime.”

McLaughlin said staff is also considering locking up the restrooms even when the park is open unless there is a scheduled event. They are balancing that, however against the need for families and kids using the park that may have to go to the bathroom.

“We also don’t want to do something that prompts (the homeless) to go elsewhere to go to the bathroom including in the library,” McLaughlin said.

Police have taken a zero tolerance approach to problems at Library Park while at the same time acknowledging all people have the right to access the park - including the homeless. Police Chief Dave Bricker has noted that it isn’t a crime to be homeless or to simply use rude and belligerent language unless it is in a threatening manner.

Police had been trying to talk with the homeless causing problems to get them to change their behavior. But then an escalation of inappropriate behavior started happening. Homeless started sleeping on the library roof and an increase in used needles has been found around the outside of the library as well as in trash cans at the park.

They also have warned those hanging out at Library Park about the state law prohibiting smoking within 20 feet of a playground.

Then a physical fight took place mid-afternoon on Aug. 22. The two males told police they were just trying to help each other get home as they were drunk. They ended up arresting both for public intoxication and added a charge of possession of a dangerous weapon one of the two men had wooden nunchakus. During the same incident a woman was arrested don outstanding warrants.

Police have been issuing citations for drinking.

However, that has had minimal impact on drinking or vandalism.

Bricker Tuesday indicated that the new park hours effectively give officers additional tools to deal with the problem.

McLaughlin noted the cutback in park hours won’t impact the public as park use drops off after dark in the fall and winter.

Staff hasn’t taken a suggestion to ban serving free food and clothing to the homeless under consideration - at least not yet.

It has been proposed to ask organizations and individuals who feed the homeless to do so at other locations.
Bricker has noted that people who want to help the homeless go to Library Park to do so since that is where they gather.

McLaughlin said there is also a “fine humanitarian line to consider.”

“You don’t want to tell people they can’t help people in need,” she said.

This is the second time in 10 years that the homeless have become an issue at Library Park.

The last time it was right before the city was getting ready to spend $400,000 to install the water play feature. At the time, then Councilman Jack Snyder pushed for the homeless issue to be addressed as he said it wouldn’t make sense to invest substantial money in improving the park for the use of kids and families if they didn’t feel safe using it.

The problem has got to the point this past summer that some have stayed away from the Tuesday farmers market due to the behavior of the homeless.

It has prompted the Manteca Convention & Visitors Bureau to consider relocating the market next summer to The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley.