On Sunday, July 14, the Albuquerque Journal published a 600 word guest opinion column written by Pete Dinelli. Many thanks to the Albuquerque Journal for publishing the article. Following is the unedited opinion column followed by the link to the article with photos:
JOURNAL EDITORIAL PAGE HEADLINE: City should seek dismissal of ACLU lawsuit in wake of SCOTUS ruling
By PETE DINELLI
ALBUQUERQUE RESIDENT
“On Aug. 18, 2022, the city of Albuquerque closed Coronado Park that had become a de facto city-sanctioned homeless encampment that Mayor Tim Keller sanctioned.
The city evicted upwards of 100 unhoused who camped at the park nightly. The city cited numerous reasons for closure of the park, including overall damage to the park, lack of sanitation causing severe health risks, extensive drug trafficking and violent crimes including rapes and murders. Crime at the park reached crisis proportions and closure was a necessity.
On Dec. 19, 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union along with others filed a class-action lawsuit against the city of Albuquerque over the closure of Coronado Park. They alleged the city unlawfully seized personal property, denied due process of law, violated constitutional rights and forced all the unhoused out at Coronado Park with nowhere for them to go and the city not providing sufficient shelter for them.
The lawsuit sought court orders against the city to cease and desist city wide enforcement actions to stop the homeless from camping in public open spaces including streets, rights-of-ways, alleyways, under bridges and city parks unless the city has shelter or housing for them.
On Sept. 21, 2023, a state District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction against the city from “enforcing or threatening to enforce” statutes and city ordinances to displace the homeless from public spaces. The court said given a shortage of shelter beds, the city of Albuquerque cannot punish the homeless for their “mere presence” on public property citing the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment and the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.
On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court announced its ruling in the case of Grants Pass v. Johnson. The case challenged the municipality’s ability to bar people from sleeping or camping in public areas, such as sidewalks and parks. The Supreme Court held that local laws that effectively criminalize homelessness do not violate the U.S. Constitution and do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision found that the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment does not extend to bans on outdoor sleeping in public places such as parks and streets. The Supreme Court ruled that cities can enforce bans on homeless people sleeping outdoors.
The city has spent or is spending upwards of $100 million a year on homeless services, including for two emergency shelters, subsidized housing, food and medical care and drug counseling. The vast majority of the chronically unhoused decline city shelter, housing, services and financial help offered or simply say they are not satisfied with what is being offered by the city.
The unhoused cannot be allowed to just ignore the law, illegally camp wherever they want for as long as they want, and as they totally reject any and all government housing or government services.
The city has every right to enforce its laws on behalf of its citizens to preserve and protect the public health, safety and welfare of all its citizens. Squatters who have no interest in any offers of shelter, beds, motel vouchers or alternatives to living on the street really give the city no choice but to make it totally inconvenient for them to “squat” anywhere they want and force them to move on.
After repeated attempts to force them to move on and citations, arrests are in order.
The city of Albuquerque should seek the immediate dismissal of the ACLU lawsuit based on the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson.”
Pete Dinelli is a former Albuquerque city councilor, former chief public safety officer and former chief deputy district attorney. You can read his daily news and commentary blog at www.PeteDinelli.com.
The link the Albuquerque Journal Guest column with photos is here:
The link to a related Dinelli blog article with in depth reporting is here: