“Not good. Don’t like it.”
Prince Cunanan Saruhan, a leader volunteer with Faith in Action Nevada, is matter of fact and worried about a new draft proposal being circulated by the Washoe County Sherrif’s office, after a green light was given last December to start the process of amending county code to criminalize camping in public areas.
A preamble to the document called “Camping on public property” has six bullet points about the beauty and importance of the Truckee River.
Point four indicates “proper management of the Truckee River, which provides 85 percent of the water delivered in the Truckee Meadows, is vital to sustaining a healthy community.”
Saruhan doesn’t disagree but he points out the hypocrisy.
“They essentially start with wording about how beautiful the waters are and all this stuff. And then saying that we need to make laws because people make it dirty or whatever.”
Saruhan says homeowners with bigger consumption habits pollute much more overall than transients along the river.
Another file photo from a neighbor we interviewed who lived in his vehicle due to not being able to afford rising rents.
Saruhan says the Sheriff’s office has been meeting with “stakeholders” while working on the amendment but that the meetings were not satisfactory to members of the Faith in Action non profit.
“The first three times we didn't feel like we were taken seriously, and we didn't see any word change. And so we actually walked out on them at least once as a big group,” he recalls.
“They asked people what they think the amount of times they need to meet with someone before they could arrest them or charge them with a crime, right, with a misdemeanor or whatever. Like they wanted us to answer, like, oh, is it seven times we meet with someone before we do something, is it 13 times? And our group did not feel comfortable answering that,” Saruhan explained in detail.
“We do not believe in ccriminalizing homelessness. We don't believe that the county has our community's best interest in mind especially the Sheriff's department, when they propose these ordinances. If we let an inch of this pass, they'll take a mile for sure. I have personal experience with sleeping in a car, you know, and getting harassed by police. We don't need to give them any more reason to do this for people who have to be forced to do that.”
The draft proposal shared with Our Town Reno indicates “it shall be unlawful to camp on public property within 1000 feet of the shore of the Truckee River within unincorporated Washoe County limits.” It goes on to say that “to camp” or “camping” means to sleep, make preparations to sleep, storing personal belongings, making a fire, cooking and using a “tent, shelter, other structure or vehicle for sleeping.”
The draft would also make it illegal to park oversized vehicles of more than 20 feet, “except immediately in front of the property of the owner or driver thereof.” It would also make panhandling illegal and unlawful for “any vehicle which is being used for human habitation purposes for a period exceeding 48 hours on a public street or a public right-of-way.”
Saruhan and other activists are now planning for a large community group to speak before an upcoming county board meeting “to oppose the criminalization of homelessness.”
Last December, commissioners Alexis Hill and Jeanne Herman voted against the plan to amend the county code for unincorporated areas of Washoe County. Outgoing commissioners Bob Lucey and Kitty Jung voted yes, which means that with new commissioners Mike Clark often siding with Herman, and Mariluz Garcia often voting with Hill, a yes on these changes is far from a foregone conclusion.
At the time of the initial vote, Hill even tweeted: “Proud to vote NO on this proposal,” even though it passed 3-2.
“We’re hoping that it does fail and we’re working on it failing,” Saruhan said. “But with the wording, it makes it seem that you can’t say no because of environmental reasons.”
Reno and Sparks already have similar laws in place, but activists say that doesn’t mean the emptier parts of Washoe County should now follow suit.