EXPERTS ADDRESS PUBLIC PARKS, CRIME, AND HOMELESSNESS

1 PAGE 16

Stephen Eide of the Manhattan Institute examines policy responses to homelessness. PAGE 29

John MacDonald of the University of Pennsylvania tackles blight and crime in cities. (writing together with co-Author Charles Branas of Columbia University)

The Urban Policy Series hosts experts and stakeholders for discussions around the country on topics contained in this book. The results of these conversations inform the writings of our contributors and provide direct support to specific communities. Foreword Stephen Eide of the Manhattan Institute examines policy responses to homelessness.

The fate of cities depends on the quality of their public spaces. And those public spaces, in turn, depend on how well they serve the people of a city. Parks, streets, and sidewalks are not merely to be well kempt physical places, but should strengthen and shape the

PAGE interactions that form our vital social infrastructure. 5 We once knew this: William H. Whyte argued in 1979 that the point of John MacDonald of the New York City’s Bryant Park should be to “promote the widest possible University of Pennsylvania use and enjoyment by people.” Frederick Law Olmsted before him, as tackles blight and the designer of Central Park, argued that streets were an “outer park.” crime in cities.

(writing together with co-Author Charles Branas of Columbia University) Yet many cities today struggle to maintain their parks and streets and sidewalks. Public spaces are deteriorating for want of care, sensible management, and diverse funding. Vacant lots are breeding disorder and crime in distressed cities. Homelessness is harming the health and safety of sheltered and unsheltered people alike.

In our latest Urban Policy Series, Manhattan Institute invited authors to speak to the state of America’s public spaces, equipping urban leaders with the ideas and tools they need to lead. As they considered these issues, they sat down with local experts from across the country—including cities in California, Missouri, and Wisconsin— to learn how to implement them practically.

3 John4 MacDonald visiting St. Louis to discuss his findings Crime

John M. MacDonald and Charles C. Branas draw on their years-long study of the Philadelphia LandCare program to show how cleaning and greening vacant lots can dramatically deter crime. Since crime is highly concentrated in neighborhoods, small, targeted investments in remediating blighted properties can have large-scale benefits across an entire city.

5 6Howard Husock, John MacDonald, and Michael Hendrix in North St. Louis. CLEANING UP VACANT LOTS CAN CURB URBAN CRIME

John M. MacDonald John M. MacDonald is professor of Crime Prevention Through crime in the city.5 Given this reality, it criminology and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. His work has Environmental Design makes sense to think about what changes been published in journals across a variety Scholars who study urban problems we can make to curb these pockets of of disciplines, including the Proceedings crime that exist in every major city. of the National Academy of Sciences, are well aware of the powerful role American Journal of Epidemiology, that “place” has in shaping crime; they The concentration of poverty, Criminology, and Journal of the American understand that the two are tightly dilapidated homes, and vacant and Statistical Association. MacDonald holds coupled.1 In the 19th century, André- abandoned spaces is endemic in urban an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University 6 of Maryland and a B.A. from Vassar. Michel Guerry and Adolphe Quetelet pockets of crime. Targeted community found that crime in France was economic development would seem Charles C. Branas concentrated in the same places, and to be a natural solution. But there are remained remarkably stable in those few examples of policies that cities Charles C. Branas is professor of epidemiology and chairman of the same areas, year after year. A century can enact in the short term to reduce Department of Epidemiology at Columbia later, University of Chicago sociologists poverty and decades of neglect in certain University’s Mailman School of Public Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay noted neighborhoods or communities, while Health. His research has been published in that the crime was highly concentrated at the same time protecting against journals including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, American by place in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, sudden out-migration by long-term and Journal of Epidemiology, British Medical Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Richmond, multigenerational residents. In fact, Journal, New England Journal of Medicine, Virginia.2 Even today, we continue to see the history of place-based economic and American Journal of Public Health. He is the coauthor, with John M. a small number of particular locations in development is not entirely encouraging. MacDonald and Robert J. Stokes, of every major city generate the majority of Harvard economist Edward Glaeser Changing Places: The Science and Art of serious crime.3 notes that state and federally funded New Urban Planning (2019). Branas holds urban economic development initiatives a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University’s Hebrew University criminologist Bloomberg School of Public Health, an David Weisburd has referred to this that target places have generally failed to 7 M.S. from Drexel University, and a B.A. empirical reality as the “law of crime generate benefits that exceed their costs. from Franklin and Marshall College. concentration.”4 In Philadelphia, for By contrast, cities can abate vacant example, 5% of addresses where a crime lots and abandoned spaces and address was reported from January 2006 to proximal causes for why crime centers in December 2017 accounted for 50% of all specific places. Focusing on abatement

7 CLEANING UP VACANT LOTS CAN CURB URBAN CRIME

also avoids the “causal fallacy” problem8 makes it easier to surprise a potential Philadelphia LandCare of thinking that the only way to reduce victim. Wilson and Kelling’s “broken (PLC): A Case Study crime is by addressing “root causes” like windows” theory also explains that signs Today’s cities can curb the incidence poverty. Evidence from social science of blight and disorder signal that an area of crime by abating blighted vacant 14 suggests that patterns of crime change in is “fair game … for fun and plunder.” land. The benefits are clear, and a step with the human-built environment, Visible signs of disorder signal that no one useful strategy is to give priority to where higher crime areas devolve from cares and that community norms around programs that are simple to implement, single-family and multi-unit dwellings civility are no longer obligatory. Physical are scalable to large populations, and 9 into places of blight and abandonment. signs of disorder like trash on the streets are not expensive to sustain.16 While This spiral of decay is often just that: and abandoned and unkempt properties addressing blighted vacant land has a process that feeds upon itself—from spread fear, lead to more abandonment, been advocated as a crime-prevention crime to abandonment to more crime, and signal to criminals that crime goes policy for decades, there are now and so on. When people abandon a home unabated. Decisions about how and examples of successful programs that or business, trash accumulates, graffiti where cities invest resources in the cities can inexpensively replicate to multiplies, properties turn to ruin, and abatement of vacant lots could have a reduce crime and encourage residents crime and disorder fester, triggering a greater influence on reducing crime than to remain in their neighborhoods for cycle in which more people abandon many realize. decades to come. their homes and businesses. John Snow’s work on the causes of Philadelphia is one such example. Crime prevention through cholera in contaminated drinking water Vacant and abandoned urban spaces environmental design and situational in the United Kingdom in the 19th century are an effect of the 1960s and 1970s shift crime-prevention theories explain why provides a historical example of how from an industrial to a service-based vacant and abandoned spaces invite changes to a place can be transformative. economy, the movement of people to 10 crime. Poor visibility on streets attracts Snow mapped cholera deaths in the the suburbs, rising crime, urban riots, 11 criminal offenders. Overgrown shrubs, Soho section of Westminster and showed and “block-busting,” all of which led to weeds, and trees on abandoned properties that they clustered around the Broad the spiral of urban decay.17 Cities such and vacant lots reduce the visibility of Street water pump. After he petitioned as Boston, New York, San Francisco, and 12 criminal activities on the streets and local politicians to remove the handle of Seattle have been able to successfully discourage residents from walking down the water pump, cholera deaths waned. rebound from the deindustrialization 13 them. Motivated offenders notice that The simple act of removing a source of of the U.S. economy by attracting they can avoid detection from bystanders the epidemic vastly improved the health technology and finance industries. But and apprehension by the police when of an entire community and prevented Philadelphia, like Baltimore, Cleveland, there are easy places to hide, and hiding cholera from reemerging in Soho.15 8 12,000 18M 28% VACANT LOTS SQUARE FEET OF ALL TRANSFORMED VACANT LOTS

and St. Louis, has a legacy of blight and along with $150 per year to stabilize the lot Remove trash and abandonment that had come to full through biweekly cleaning and mowing.18 debris from vacant lots scale by the 1990s. Since its inception in 1996, the In the later years of that decade, Kensington neighborhood’s PLC program residents of the Kensington neighborhood has expanded through partnerships with in Philadelphia grew tired of the eyesore local contractors and city agencies to of vacant lots, the drug dealing, and other the entire city, transforming more than vices taking place in these areas around 12,000 vacant lots and over 18 million their homes. They teamed up with the square feet of land. Funds to support PLC Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and are made possible by local community Grade the land created a revitalization effort called groups, the city, and private philanthropy. and grass; plant a “land and care,” now referred to as the Philadelphia’s Department of License few trees Philadelphia LandCare (PLC) program. and Inspection (L&I) provides the legal PLC is simple and was designed to be mechanism for the PLC cleaning and applied across the neighborhood. Trash greening abatement. Once a property and debris are removed from a vacant lot. is deemed to be in violation of city The land is then graded, and grass and a ordinances about vacancy, L&I contacts few trees are planted. A low wooden post- the owner of record. If the owner does not and-rail fence is installed with openings respond, L&I affords PLC the right to enter to permit residents access to the newly the property and green the vacant lot. greened spaces. The fence prevents illegal PLC cleaning and greening offers Install small, wooden dumping of garbage and construction a unique opportunity to document post fence with open debris; it is also a visual sign that someone what happens when abandoned and access at the corners is maintaining the property. The result is a overgrown lots are rehabilitated. In our small “pocket park.” The rehabilitation of first study, we examined the effect of PLC such lots takes less than a week to clean remediation on crime between 1999 and and green. The lots are maintained through 2008. In these years, PLC cleaned and twice-monthly cleaning, weeding, and greened roughly 8% of Philadelphia’s mowing during the growing season (April vacant lots (nearly 7.8 million square feet). through October). The cost to clean and We compared changes in crime around green a typical lot is roughly $1,000–$1,300, cleaned and greened PLC lots with those

9 John MacDonald in a vacant lot in Philadelphia

10 11 CLEANING UP VACANT LOTS CAN CURB URBAN CRIME

of nearby vacant lots that remained found significant reductions in shootings the “social infrastructure”: basic needs blighted and were otherwise similar (e.g., (8%), assaults with guns (4.5%), and inherent in all city neighborhoods.22 lots with similar square footage, age of nuisance crimes (7%) such as public If remediating vacant lots simply abandonment, and in neighborhoods drinking and illegal dumping. The effects displaced crime to nearby places, there with similar economic conditions). were even larger for neighborhoods below would be no citywide benefit. When we We found that crime had dropped by the poverty line, with the PLC treatment examined areas at farther distances from a statistically significant amount after leading to a 29% reduction in gun assaults the vacant lots that had been cleaned and 20 the PLC cleaning and greening. In and a 28% reduction in nuisance crimes. greened, we did not see evidence of rising particular, assaults and assaults with This evidence was consistent with our crime. This was not surprising, as a review guns dropped by a statistically significant earlier study but is more convincing of studies of place-based interventions amount (decreases of about 4% and because the experiment ensured that finds that they are about as likely to find 9%) around vacant lots after they had treated lots were identical to the lots a diffusion of crime reductions to nearby 19 been remediated. We did our best to that remained blighted, controlling places, as they are to find displacement.23 address selection effects in this study, for anything we could measure that The opportunity to engage in crime or the concern that PLC may have existed beforehand (e.g., crime and facilitated by vacant lots may not easily be selected vacant lots to remediate that unemployment nearby). transferred to nearby places after lots have were somehow different from lots that A survey of residents living in the areas been cleaned and greened. remained blighted. that were part of the experiment showed Beyond the reduction of crime and To provide stronger evidence that that those living near greened and fear, the PLC program provides economic the PLC program was truly effective at cleaned lots reported significantly fewer opportunities. PLC relies on a network reducing crime, we conducted a citywide, concerns about their personal safety and of 18 community organizations that hire controlled experiment of the cleaning and an increase in the use of outside space local landscape contractors to perform the greening program. With research funding for relaxing and socializing, compared work; these contractors hire individuals provided by the National Institutes of with residents living near lots that from the same communities to clean, Health and the Centers for Disease remained blighted. Collaborators of green, and maintain the properties. As Control, we randomly assigned more than ours, who inspected hundreds of PLC- it has grown from a pilot project in the 500 blighted vacant lots to either receive remediated lots, noted the presence of Kensington neighborhood to a citywide PLC cleaning, greening, and maintenance tables and chairs, gardens, barbeques, effort, the program has brought jobs and 21 or to remain in the usual state of blight. and swings. The PLC program provides future career opportunities in landscape We found a significant reduction in crime clear evidence that remediating vacant management to individuals in some around PLC-treated lots relative to lots lots reduces crime and improves what of Philadelphia’s most economically that remained blighted. In particular, we NYU sociologist Eric Klinenberg calls 12 disadvantaged communities. This has Michigan, and are now being launched that remained blighted) found that the helped PLC expand to every area in need in New Orleans and Chicago. In program reduced violent and property in Philadelphia, and it allows the resources Youngstown, a city that has experienced crime offenses in the nearby areas.25 devoted to vacant-lot abatement and a 30% population loss between 1990 In Flint, the local land bank, Genesee maintenance to be spent in the affected and 2010 and has a notable number County Land Bank Authority (Clean & communities. of abandoned spaces, local residents Green, or C & G), which has ownership To remediate the remaining 30,000 and community groups apply to the over some 15,000 vacant properties, vacant lots in Philadelphia would cost Youngstown Neighborhood Development has funding to support neighborhood $34–$45 million and about $5 million to Corporation (YNDC) to remediate vacant groups that submit a proposal to maintain. The money spent doing the remediate and maintain vacant work would stay in the community, The money spent doing the lots. Like Philadelphia’s PLC, the employing individuals with a decent work would stay in the C & G program in Flint requires wage and a semiskilled occupation neighborhood groups that receive that can spur economic self- community, employing funding to clean and mow the lot sufficiency and entrepreneurship. individuals with a decent wage once every three weeks and perform The economic benefits of reduced additional maintenance if they crime are also clear. The results and a semiskilled occupation desire. A study compared streets from our research imply that one that can spur economic self- in the year before and after the C can invest about $15,000 in the PLC sufficiency and entrepreneurship. & G program was implemented program to avert a shooting. Our with streets that had un-remediated overall calculations suggest that vacant parcels of land. It found $1 invested in the PLC program returns significant reductions in violent crimes $26 in net benefits to taxpayers from lots. The applicants determine the type after the program had been implemented: reductions in gun violence, and as much of remediation—typically, community roughly a 39% reduction in assaults.26 gardens, but also urban farms or orchards, as $333 in general costs to society, such as The results from the studies of vacant- native plantings, athletic fields, and green pain and suffering costs associated with a lot remediation programs in Philadelphia, 24 spaces. Applicants who receive the funds gun assault. Youngstown, and Flint show that these are responsible for the upkeep. Results programs can be designed to be scalable from an evaluation of nearly 250 vacant to entire cities and replicable across Remediation Spreads lots in Youngstown that were remediated different settings. City governments like Programs similar to PLC are under compared with nearly a thousand Baltimore and Chicago have also begun way in Youngstown, Ohio, and Flint, vacant lots (in similar “neighborhoods” 13 CLEANING UP VACANT LOTS CAN CURB URBAN CRIME

partnerships with community groups and local residents to clean and green blighted and abandoned lots. Today, a growing body of high-quality studies demonstrates that abating vacant land in an urban neighborhood can dramatically reduce crime. The changes do not require large-scale structural investments from taxpayers. Rather, they require local partnerships between landscape workers, contractors, and municipal organizations to simply and quickly clean up blighted blocks— opportunities that local residents often welcome, if not outright request. Given that crime and related problems are highly concentrated in the same places, this means that strategic planning can have large-scale population benefits. Imagine a likely scenario where a hundred blocks in a city are responsible for 20% of all serious crime. Addressing blight on these blocks alone could translate into a 5%–10% reduction in crime for the entire city. As a means of reducing crime and the fear that it creates in urban neighborhoods, changing places is often easier than changing people.

14 ENDNOTES

1. Sections of this paper have been adapted Windows, Collective Efficacy, and the Criminal Point of wide Cluster Randomized Trial,” American Journal of from John M. MacDonald, “Community Design View (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008). Public Health 109, no. 1 (January 2019): 140–44. and Crime: The Impact of Housing and the Built Environment,” Crime and Justice 44, no. 1 (September 12. Paul Michael Cozens, Greg Saville, and David 21. Megan Heckert and Michelle Kondo, “Can 2015): 333–83. Hillier, “Crime Prevention Through Environmental De- ‘Cleaned and Greened’ Lots Take on the Role of sign (CPTED): A Review and Modern Bibliography,” Public Greenspace?” Journal of Planning Education 2. Clifford Robe Shaw and Henry Donald McKay, Property Management 23, no. 5 (2005): 328–56. and Research 38, no. 2 (June 2018): 211–21. Juvenile Delinquency and Urban Areas: A Study of Rates of Delinquency in Relation to Differential 13. Eugenia Garvin et al., “More than Just an Eye- 22. Eric Klinenberg, Palaces for the People: How Social Characteristics of Local Communities in American Cities sore: Local Insights and Solutions on Vacant Land Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972). and Urban Health,” Journal of Urban Health 90, no. 3 and the Decline of Civic Life (New York: Crown, 2018). (November 2012): 412–26. 3. David Weisburd, Elizabeth R. Groff, and Sue- 23. Rob T. Guerette and Kate J. Bowers, “Assessing Ming Yang, The Criminology of Place: Street Segments 14. James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, “Broken the Extent of Crime Displacement and Diffusion of and Our Understanding of the Crime Problem (New Windows,” Atlantic, March 1982, p. 29. Benefits: A Review of Situational Crime Prevention York: Oxford University Press, 2012). Evaluations,” Criminology 47, no. 4 (November 2009): 15. John Snow, On the Mode of Communication of 1331–68. The authors specifically find that out of 272 4. David Weisburd, “The Law of Crime Concentra- Cholera (London: John Churchill, 1855). place-based crime-prevention programs studied, tion and the Criminology of Place,” Criminology 53, 23% find evidence of displacement and 37% find a no. 2 (May 2015): 133–57. 16. Charles C. Branas and John M. MacDonald, diffusion of benefits. “A Simple Strategy to Transform Health, All Over 5. Based on calculations from Philadelphia Police the Place,” Journal of Public Health Management and 24. Charles C. Branas et al., “Urban Blight Reme- Department data. Practice 20, no. 2 (March–April 2014): 157. diation as a Cost-Beneficial Solution to Firearm Violence,” American Journal of Public Health 106, no. 6. Robert J. Sampson, Great American City: Chicago 17. Alan Mallach, “Facing the Urban Challenge: 12 (December 2016): 2158–64. and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect (Chicago: Uni- The Federal Government and America’s Older versity of Chicago Press, 2012). Distressed Cities,” Metropolitan Policy Program at 25. Michelle Kondo et al., “Effects of Greening and Brookings Institution, May 2010. For a description Community Reuse of Vacant Lots on Crime,” Urban 7. Edward L. Glaeser and Joshua D. Gottlieb, “The of block-busting that helped spur “white” flight, see Studies 53, no. 15 (November 2016): 3279–95. Economics of Place-Making Policies,” National Wesley Skogan, “Fear of Crime and Neighborhood Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 14373, Change,” Crime and Justice 8 (1986): 203–29. 26. Justin E. Heinze et al., “Busy Streets Theory: October 2008. The Effects of Community‐Engaged Greening on 18. Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, LandCare Violence,” American Journal of Community Psychology 8. James Q. Wilson, Thinking About Crime (New Program. 62, nos. 1–2 (September 2018): 101–9. York: Vintage, 1983). 19. Charles C. Branas et al., “A Difference-in-Dif- 9. Leo Schuerman and Solomon Kobrin, “Com- ferences Analysis of Health, Safety, and Greening munity Careers in Crime,” Crime and Justice 8 (1986): Vacant Urban Space,” American Journal of Epidemiol- 67–100. ogy 174, no. 11 (December 2011): 1296–1306.

10. Clarence Ray Jeffrey,Crime Prevention Through 20. Charles C. Branas et al., “Citywide Cluster Ran- Environmental Design (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publi- domized Trial to Restore Blighted Vacant Land and cations, 1971); Ronald V. Clarke, “Situational Crime Its Effects on Violence, Crime, and Fear,”Proceedings Prevention,” Crime and Justice 19 (1995): 91–150. of the National Academy of Sciences 115, no. 12 (March 2018): 2946–51; Ruth Moyer et al., “Effect of Reme- 11. Peter K. B. St. Jean, Pockets of Crime: Broken diating Blighted Vacant Land on Shootings: A City-

15 Public Parks

Charles F. McElwee distills the lessons from Bryant Park into principles for leveraging private dollars for public spaces. All too many parks nationwide are underfunded, underused, and underappreciated. McElwee shows how avoiding public support and implementing better management can help parks be beautiful and self-sustaining for generations to come.

16 Bryant Park in New York CIty17 Daniel18 A. Biederman of Biederman Redevelopment Ventures visiting Milwaukee HOW PRIVATE DOLLARS CAN MANAGE PUBLIC SPACES

Charles F. McElwee Charles F. McElwee is assistant editor The parks in America’s towns and cities departments typically manage numerous of City Journal. His writing has are accessible locations for people to visit public spaces. It may ultimately become appeared in publications including The Atlantic, National Review Online, and congregate. If these public spaces are difficult to focus on the endless details and City Journal. McElwee previously managed and designed correctly, they that go into presenting a good public worked in government affairs in draw pedestrians, foster activity, generate space. Urban park departments tend Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He holds a revenue, and increase real-estate values.1 to pay above-market wages. They also B.A. from Lebanon Valley College and an M.P.A. in public administration They become desired destinations, ignore numerous opportunities to earn from the University of Pennsylvania. invigorating neighborhoods and enhancing nontax income. a community’s brand. There are 22,764 parks in the nation’s most populous cities.2 Hybrid Public/Private To manage these parks and park systems, Operation three models currently prevail. Here, a city government funds a park while contracting certain park operations Purely Public Operation to private management. While the city This is the traditional option. In this government generates revenue—via model, a park is incorporated into a events or other forms of programming— city government, typically as part of private contractors oversee park a parks and recreation department. maintenance, from landscaping to Public employees manage all the facilities maintenance. The proportion of components, from sanitation and public funding can also determine public security to landscaping and amenities. control of the space. The department’s budget funds all costs The Central Park Conservancy, for associated with public management. Any example, operates New York City’s 843- revenue generated by the park, such as acre Central Park while still receiving special events, is funneled into an annual funding from the city government. The general fund. Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, This model is still the most common, meanwhile, is a nonprofit cooperative but it presents challenges, since park association and a partner to the National 19 HOW PRIVATE DOLLARS CAN MANAGE PUBLIC SPACES

Park Service and the Presidio Trust, of the Bryant Park Corporation raises the Parks Done Right which collectively manage 80,000 acres value of the park’s immediately abutting Bryant Park has been transformed of national parkland around the San buildings, resulting in an additional $33 from a magnet for crime to a vibrant 3 Francisco Bay Area. The conservancy million annually in real-estate taxes. public space.5 This was not the result generates park support through private Purely private parks can offer of geographical serendipity. Midtown philanthropic dollars, cooperative a favorable path for public spaces, Manhattan in the early 1990s was agreements, and earned income from especially those with high pedestrian still associated with urban disorder. visitor services such as tours, books, traffic in metropolitan regions. Moreover, the park’s layout, while interpretive products, and food and Occasionally, a private, nonprofit notably improved, still retained its beverage operations. This model reduces organization is able to gain control of a basic structural elements incorporated a city government’s exposure to escalating park’s budget, operations, and revenue decades earlier. It was through proper operating costs. Of course, this model still generation without restrictions imposed management—backed by innovative sometimes subjects parks to higher labor by a city. This is a particularly helpful funding, smart design, programming, and contractor costs because of government- approach for city parks that confront unconventional thinking—that Bryant mandated, above-market salaries. challenges due to deferred maintenance. Park became financially self-sustaining Wisconsin’s Milwaukee County, for and pleasant for future generations. The Purely Private Operation example, has several parks that have lessons from Bryant Park are applicable suffered from this problem. But this trend to other parks and park systems, many of In a pure privatization model, a private, is not unique to Milwaukee County— which remain underfunded, underused, nonprofit organization oversees all the mismanagement has afflicted many and underappreciated in U.S. cities. park’s operations, including sanitation, public spaces.4 programming, horticulture, security, and City governments contemplating maintenance. In addition, the organization A purely private park, when geographical privatization should keep some generates all the revenue to support the and socioeconomic factors permit, shows important principles and considerations public space. A private model commonly that a public space does not always require in mind, as outlined below. involves an agreement between a nonprofit the financial stewardship of a city hall or county courthouse. New York City’s Bryant and a city, with the municipal government Avoid Public Dollars and Park Corporation (BPC) and Dallas’s Klyde granting the organization control over Understand How Market Warren Park have diverse revenue streams: the revenue generated in the space. Prices Work When self-sustaining, a privately run sponsorships, concessions, philanthropy, park benefits public tax rolls. According and programming. When managing a public park, it is to one study a few years ago, the success best to use private revenue sources for

20 maintaining open and vibrant spaces. bill alone accounting for $270 million.6 development and more than 6 million Responding to current public disinvestment, When projects reach such costly levels, visitors since it opened in 2012.7 parks and park systems should seek managers—private or public—often BPC, which manages Bryant Park, has not alternative private monies that can offset make decisions that only escalate accepted public dollars since 1997. Several a government’s revenue shortfall. Private their expense budgets. They forgo inventive revenue sources, along with resources are preferable—public dollars opportunities to collect revenue from years of patiently working the property’s burden taxpayers and arrive with strings sources like food carts, public events, profit-and-loss statement, have made this attached. The announcement of a federal, or user fees. On the expense side, a approach possible. These revenue sources state, or local grant may help finance a city government may sign a deal with include sponsorships of park programs, project for a public space, but the grantee a labor union that explodes the park’s rents paid by kiosks and restaurants, and must continually navigate cumbersome costs. The outcome is perverse: city hall support by a business improvement district requirements. These requirements typically ignores what the market is signaling, created and run by BPC. translate into added costs, as well as time, both on the expense and revenue sides. whether it is spent meeting archaic work Unfortunately, too many public space rules or filing repetitious reports. projects, particularly in the Northeast Review Revenue Options Expending private dollars also and California, have pursued this Multiple revenue sources can expand contributes to better managerial costly and foolish way for completing a budgets that are adequate to maintain decisions and avoids inefficiencies. Too park turnaround. parks. Sponsorships help generate often, city governments systematically This approach contrasts with that of revenue by underwriting features, underprice on the revenue side and Klyde Warren Park, a public space on activities, and events. By securing overspend on the expense side. For a deck over a highway in downtown corporate partners, parks may finance example, a manager will hire expensive Dallas. Operated by the Woodall physical improvements or spearhead designers who require massive public Rodgers Park Foundation, the 5.2-acre new initiatives that ultimately attract and private funding for the park’s design park and deck cost $110 million. The more people. In Boston Common, the and execution, all with the hope that privately operated nonprofit relies on nation’s oldest public space, corporate people will follow. There is no sense sponsorships, rentals, and revenue from outings and holiday parties support of urgency to seek earned revenue to an affiliated park improvement district the park’s Frog Pond, a year-round support expensive or new design, even if for most of its operating budget and destination.8 In Green Bay’s Titletown, a it does get built. raised over half of its construction costs new park adjacent to Lambeau Field, the Packers have partnered with Microsoft to Chicago’s Millennium Park, completed from private philanthropy. Klyde Warren, establish an entrepreneurial incubator.9 in 2004, cost $475 million, with the city’s which is undergoing another expansion, has attracted $2 billion in economic In selected cases, parks can also benefit 21 Daniel22 A. Biederman and Howard Husock in downtown Milwaukee 23 HOW PRIVATE DOLLARS CAN MANAGE PUBLIC PARKS

from advertising. For instance, if a public Programming offer core programs, like yoga and art park agency owns excess land along a Saves Money classes; and promote monthly or weekly heavily trafficked highway, setting up a Park programming typically offers events like film screenings and concerts. private billboard—with advertising— the best financial deliverables, drawing Public spaces should apply wide-ranging could generate real money. Licensing people in at a relatively minimal cost programming options, from children’s goods that visitors would buy as souvenirs and raising dollars without government events to fitness and games. Eclectic is also effective in larger cities. assistance. Packing city parks with options, from bird watching to swing When considering sponsors, public programming is important, since urban dancing lessons, also can enliven a public space managers should explore their public spaces commonly lack the space. In Bryant Park, square dancing has regional networks, determining which scenery of national parks. (Yosemite attracted more than 1,000 people. Such companies will embrace, and fund, National Park, with its natural beauty, programming, when it draws attendees, projects and programs. Promoting creates revenue, especially when pricing an event that exceeds sponsors in a restrained manner is When a park offers programming, always preferable. Bryant Park, for its actual cost. In 2016, Klyde instance, credits companies with it mitigates nuisance or criminal Warren Park brought in $326,135 10 small signs in flower beds or on behavior, attracts people who live in event revenue. Programming umbrellas with understated logos. commonly thrives in parks that and work nearby, and increases the complete physical improvements. Philanthropy can also help. In 2011, Philadelphia’s University Park conservancies, which work in real-estate value of the surrounding City District, a private partnership, partnership with local governments, neighborhood’s properties. completed a pedestrian plaza often employ a donation-based outside 30th Street Station, the approach to managing public metropolitan region’s central spaces. The Golden Gate National does not require special events to entice transportation hub. Once a drab Parks Conservancy, for example, raises crowds.) When exploring programming intersection with congested traffic, the philanthropic dollars for programming, opportunities, park managers should plaza became a popular destination for maintenance, and educational initiatives. engage their community by building pedestrians, from commuters to college Of course, there is always uncertainty relationships with prospective event students. This public space now features in annual funding streams that rely on partners and matching amenities with local demographics. active programming, including musical voluntary donations. But fund-raising can 11 performances and a farmers’ market. still contribute to the revenue needed to A park can present everyday features, operate and maintain a public space. like Ping-Pong tables or reading rooms;

24 Understand How lunchtime, or in a rush, this same worker A public space can also transform Operations Work should know that the public space offers its existing, and overlooked, physical Unforeseen developments occur in free Wi-Fi. By providing ample electrical features, as Newark’s Military Park public spaces—sewer lines get clogged, outlets and proper seating, a park can learned with an old monument. That stone pavements break, storms damage attract office workers and students, park features the Wars of America, a trees. That is why public spaces require throughout a long daytime schedule. monument designed in 1926 by Gutzon reliable revenue streams. In Bryant Park, Uniformed park workers and security Borglum, renowned for his creation the operating and construction budget have to constantly monitor public spaces. of Mount Rushmore. The monument is partially drawn from rent paid by the Trained employees should create a sense includes bronze figures in honor of past Bryant Park Grill and Café, along with of safety, immediately attend to any litter wars, and once contained a reflecting food kiosks. Such funding sources are or vandalism, monitor restrooms, and pool. The pool was later abandoned, then deployed to maintenance costs. ensure the operation of proper lighting sitting empty for years. In 2010, the Military Park Partnership was created to Managing a successful and active to deter nighttime predators. With a sufficient horticulture budget, employees revitalize and operate the park, which public space entails enhanced services, had fallen into disrepair. Today, the proper sanitation, safety, and excellent can also tend to gardens, flowerpots, shrubs, and trees. former reflecting pool features floral horticulture. A park must plant seasonal displays. In Pittsburgh, meanwhile, the flora, mow lawns, collect garbage, and city’s parks conservancy repurposed clean restrooms to keep its environs safe Embrace Unconventional a parking lot. At Schenley Plaza, the and beautiful. The alternative risks a Thinking conservancy created an active lawn with hazardous environment, one that attracts Modern parks can benefit from gardens, dining kiosks, and free, family- criminals and deters visitors. 13 unconventional thinking and inexhaustible oriented programming. Maintenance is difficult, especially in attention to small details. In Bryant Park, Public spaces should also continually the management of restrooms. It is critical BPC applied the thinking of William H. upgrade existing infrastructure or to aim for the seemingly unattainable Whyte on what creates energized, crowded reinvigorate historic sites. In 2017, in order to deter nuisance behavior. A spaces.12 One small, yet consequential, Houston’s Levy Park reopened after park’s restroom, for example, can feature detail is the movable chair. Scattered a $15 million revamp that turned the mosaics, recessed lighting, flowers, and throughout the park are 5,000 movable once-underutilized space into a vibrant even music. This means that an office pieces of furniture, uniformly painted destination with gardens, playscapes, worker, when using the park, can use green. They create a sense of control and programming. In Buffalo, meantime, the restroom, without concern, instead for visitors, creating flexibility when the Erie Canal Harbor Development of running back to the office. During conversing, working, or lounging. Corporation reclaimed the Erie Canal 25 HOW PRIVATE DOLLARS CAN MANAGE PUBLIC PARKS

Harbor, originally built in 1825 and Finding inspiration for detailed once considered America’s “Gateway to features requires travel. In an age when the West.” Today, the area is known as the cost of airfare has significantly Canalside, a 23-acre redeveloped public declined, it is helpful to travel to different space at the canal’s historic terminus. regions, observing what other parks or Canalside now benefits from an adjacent park systems have adopted. Employer- mixed-use district, including offices, sponsored conferences usually create hotels, and retail.14 these opportunities. By visiting other Parks can find advantages in their public spaces, a park manager can climate. In Green Bay’s Titletown, a develop a model, discover new ideas, and 45-foot-tall hill, incorporated into a learn what does or does not work. physical structure, offers snow tubing in the winter and becomes an attractive Conclusion greenspace during the summer. In Whether it is a park or park system, Bryant Park, an annual Winter Village, public spaces can improve greatly through reminiscent of those in Germany, private management and private dollars. includes retail vendors, a food hall, and Maintaining them, however, requires free-admission skating. Attention to constant attention to security, sanitation, every detail, including lighting, results in design, lighting, and programming. an elegant space. A vibrant public space not only Other unconventional moves can draws visitors—it also increases real- highlight a park’s details. For instance, estate values and plays a pivotal role parks habitually turn off fountains in in revitalizing its urban surroundings. the winter, fearing liabilities or damaged The project will never be “done,” but pipes. But a frozen fountain, with its by avoiding public dollars, building majestic icicles, draws attention, as in diverse revenue streams, understanding Bryant Park. People, armed with their how operations work, and embracing smartphones, will take pictures of this unconventional thinking, a public space scene, resulting in free marketing on can have a positive impact on a city’s social media platforms or coverage in economic development. local news.

26 ENDNOTES

1. This paper is drawn from interviews with Daniel 6. P. J. Huffstutter, “Park Gives Windy City a Fresh 12. William H. Whyte, “Revitalization of Bryant A. Biederman, president of Biederman Redevel- Face,” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2004. Park–Public Library Front,” Nov. 26, 1979. opment Ventures, who offered insight into best The report can be accessed at Aaron Renn, practices for private management of a public space. 7. Christine Perez, “The Expansion of Klyde War- “William H. Whyte’s Original Plan To Save ren Park,” D Magazine, Oct. 23, 2018. Bryant Park,” AaronRenn.com, Oct. 12,2016. 2. Charlie McCabe et al., “2018 City Park Facts,” The Trust for Public Land, August 2018. 8. Kristi Palma, “USA Today Readers Say the Bos- 13. Lisa W. Foderaro, “Revival Is Planned for a Der- ton Common Frog Pond Is the Best Skating Rink in elict Downtown Newark Park,” New York Times, Feb. 3. Keiko Morris, “Bryant Park Perimeter Brings America,” Boston.com, Dec. 23, 2017. 5, 2013; Yoni Bashan, “Behind Reborn Newark Oasis Rent Premium,” Wall Street Journal, Mar. 8, 2015. Stands a ‘Park Whisperer,’ ” Wall Street Journal, 9. Richard Ryman, “Titletown District: Packers, Mi- May 16, 2014. 4. Don Behm, “Milwaukee County’s Maintenance crosoft Add UW Support to TitletownTech Business Backlog for Parks Now ‘Seemingly Insurmount- Development,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, July 19, 2018. 14. Cynthia Lescalleet, “Houston’s Revitalized Levy able,’ Report Says,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. Park Co-Earns ULI’s Urban Spaces Award,” 21, 2018. 10. Klyde Warren IRS Form 990, 2016. Forbes.com, Oct. 9, 2018; Caitlin Dewey, “How Ca- nalside, Once a Wasteland, Became Buffalo’s Pride,” 5. Paul Goldberger, “Bryant Park, an Out-of-Town 11. Kaid Benfield, “In Philadelphia, a Porch for an Buffalo News, July 4, 2019. Experience,” New York Times, May 3, 1992. Entire City,” CityLab, Aug. 9, 2012.

27 The28 Tenderloin district of San Francisco Homelessness

Stephen Eide shows how law enforcement can address homelessness hand-in-hand with social services. Maintaining the quality of life in public spaces and ensuring public health are among the most essential functions of local government; without these, the costs to society and those most in need, including the severely mentally ill, may grow intolerable.

29 30 RESPONSES TO HOMELESSNESS: THE LAW-ENFORCEMENT DIMENSION

Stephen Eide Stephen Eide is a senior fellow at the Homelessness-related public disorder is Cities have been more ambivalent about Manhattan Institute and contributing one of the leading policy challenges in law enforcement. In the 1980s, when there editor of City Journal. His writing has appeared in publications major U.S. cities. Widespread concern was a concurrent rise in violent crime including the New York Times, about homelessness has been registered and homelessness, many thought the Politico, Wall Street Journal, and in surveys of the public.1 Almost daily, two were related. More recently, though, National Review. He holds a B.A. it seems, newspapers and government homelessness has continued to increase from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in political agencies are issuing reports about the but murder and other serious offenses philosophy from Boston College. many public health dangers now arising have declined, resulting in lower levels from the continued expansion of the of support for using the criminal-justice unsheltered homeless.2 system to address homelessness. Most would agree that any policy This chapter will discuss some response requires both social-welfare common misconceptions about the law- and law-enforcement dimensions. On enforcement response to homelessness, the social-welfare front, several major including the legality of regulating cities have increased their spending on sleeping in public, panhandling, and civil homeless services. In fiscal year 2019, commitment. It will conclude by laying New York spent more than $3 billion,3 out a list of principles to guide a law- San Francisco about $360 million,4 enforcement response to homelessness. and Los Angeles city and county governments combined more than $600 Common Misconceptions million.5 Spending has risen in all three About “Criminalization” jurisdictions, thanks to a combination of voter approvals for new taxes for homeless The debate around a law-enforcement services6 and healthy local economies. response to homelessness is often framed Between 2013 and 2018, the number of as a debate over the “criminalization permanent supportive housing units in of homelessness.” However, that New York City, Los Angeles County, and characterization, which has been used San Francisco increased by 50%, 44%, not only by homeless advocates8 but also and 62%, respectively.7 the Trump administration,9 is misleading. 31 RESPONSES TO HOMELESSNESS: THE LAW-ENFORCEMENT DIMENSION

Laws that regulate panhandling and someone could be arrested for simply District attorneys in Manhattan, sleeping in public punish people based having been identified as a vagrant by a Brooklyn, and the Bronx have adopted on their conduct, not their status as patrol officer.12 A series of Supreme Court “decline to prosecute” policies for low- homeless. Advocates claim that this is a decisions culminating in Papachristou level offenses such as farebeating and distinction without a difference because v. City of Jacksonville (1972) dismantled marijuana possession.15 Los Angeles, certain behaviors, such as sleeping in the vagrancy law regime. During the New York, and San Francisco all public, are simply derivative of status— early 1980s, homelessness surged and launched major quality-of-life public and thus to punish the behavior is to cities developed new laws and policies safety pushes during the 1990s or punish the category of people. But this to address public disorder. Thus, while 2000s, but all have since adopted a claim is far from a settled matter in the many municipal ordinances targeting more lenient attitude toward low-level eyes of courts. behaviors such as panhandling and offenses even as their homelessness 16 The language of “criminalization” sleeping in public may date back crises have escalated. The former further misleads by suggesting that only to the 1990s or later, that should general manager of the Bay Area Rapid the homeless always face criminal not be taken as evidence that broad Transit recently recommended a ban penalties for violations of quality-of- tolerance for unsheltered homelessness on panhandling as part of a plan to life ordinances. By contrast, these cases persisted prior to their passage. If make the system safer, but the board often result in civil penalties such as anything, intolerance was the norm. has declined to act, with the board fines, or in simple dismissals. Even Nor are ordinances that target behaviors president claiming: “Polarizing people 13 progressive scholars, if not progressive somehow “rooted” in vagrancy laws. about nonaggressive panhandling politicians, have conceded that the The most influential intellectual leaders does not help BART succeed with our 17 “criminalization” of homelessness does of the quality-of-life movement long biggest problems.” The number of not contribute to “mass incarceration.”10 ago made clear their opposition to the quality-of-life summonses issued by traditional vagrancy law approach, and the New York Police Department has Homeless advocates have there is no serious movement under way declined by three-fourths over the suggested that efforts to “criminalize” to resurrect it.14 past 15 years.18 Between 2010 and 2018, homelessness are on the rise.11 In truth, annual misdemeanor adult arrests in cities’ authority to regulate low-level The number of quality-of-life ordinances on the books tells us little New York City fell by 49% (250,299 to public disorder is at or near a historical 19 128,194). From 2010 to 2017, annual adult low. Before the 1970s, there existed in about the extent of “criminalization” of misdemeanor arrests fell 21% in Los the U.S. what scholars have called the homelessness, because these laws are often not enforced as a matter of public Angeles County (211,639 to 167,261) and “vagrancy law regime,” which allowed 20 25% in San Francisco (10,460 to 7,831). for “status crimes,” meaning that policy or prosecutorial discretion.

32 Sleeping in Public had a choice in the matter.”21 Boise has Ninth Circuit’s denial for a rehearing 24 Efforts to regulate homelessness- petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to of the case. Shelter can be very 22 related sources of public disorder review the Ninth Circuit’s decision. expensive, and not all cities can afford it commonly target sleeping in public. The Ninth Circuit ruling applies for all homeless individuals within their The many homelessness-related public to the nine western states over which boundaries. New York City, which has a health controversies noted above are that court has jurisdiction. Within “right to shelter,” spends over $3 billion more directly related to people sleeping that jurisdiction, and California in on homeless services—more than on in public than, say, panhandling. Some particular, the ruling has already had the fire department, libraries, and parks 25 communities in California have seen significant consequences. Earlier this combined. If the choice is between encampments grow to hundreds of year, Orange County, after being sued funding shelter at the level of New York inhabitants. Because encampments by two homeless-advocacy groups, or allowing people to sleep in public, create serious public health risks was forced to enter into a settlement many communities will likely have to and make public spaces feel accept the latter option. unaccommodating, cities face Judges are not well positioned to significant pressure to address New York City, which has a “right assess the quantity and quality of them. to shelter,” spends over $3 billion local homeless-services systems. While many homeless really do However, a recent high- on homeless services—more than profile court case threatens to not have any realistic options other undermine cities’ abilities to on the fire department, libraries, than sleeping in public, some 26 deal with this issue. In Martin and parks combined. do. A city cannot realistically be v. City of Boise, the Court of expected to offer shelter to those Appeals for the Ninth Circuit with options. Without knowing struck down Boise’s “Camping and preventing them from enforcing many precisely what portion of the homeless Disorderly Conduct Ordinances” on of their public-order regulations against have other options—provided by the grounds that they constituted “cruel the homeless. Some Los Angeles city city or elsewhere—a judge cannot and unusual punishment.” The court councilmembers have threatened to sue assess whether a community’s shelter explained: “as long as there is no option neighboring localities for not being in system has adequate capacity. Whether 23 of sleeping indoors, the government compliance with the ruling. shelter is “practically available” to the cannot criminalize indigent, homeless The ruling in Martin will be a burden homeless—the standard adopted by people for sleeping outdoors, on public for many localities, as Judge Milan the Court in Martin—plainly does not property, on the false premise they Smith explained in a dissent from the come down to just the number of beds.

33 RESPONSES TO HOMELESSNESS: THE LAW-ENFORCEMENT DIMENSION

In Boise, two of the three shelters were individuals still exercise choices about “Red Zone” approach to public disorder: operated by faith-based organizations, where to go and when.30 The homeless, designate, formally or informally, an area which, in the court’s view, rendered them like everyone else, respond to incentives, in the city where the homeless could practically unavailable because of the including the availability of temporary sleep, lie, sit, and camp, and so on, in potential violation of religious liberty.27 or permanent housing benefits.31 Warm- public, but also provide a concentration 36 Other judges, following Martin’s weather climates have higher rates of of social services. However, other logic, will likely consider levels of unsheltered homelessness than cold- scholars have raised concerns about 32 safety and sanitation in local shelters weather climates. During the winter, the long-term practicality of such an 37 to determine whether they constitute New York City’s unsheltered population approach. Los Angeles created a “Red 38 a viable alternative to the streets. This concentrates heavily on the E train Zone” in its Skid Row neighborhood, was precisely the experience of New because it stays underground for nearly but this has not contained the problem: 33 York City during the decades of litigation an hour straight. Well-designed Skid Row is host to only 5%–10% of over the enforcement of its “right to service systems minimize moral hazard the total homeless population in Los 39 shelter.”28 What would judges accept as while moving the maximum number Angeles County. Los Angeles faces a good-faith effort to offer the homeless of beneficiaries and clients out of the same persistent concerns regarding an alternative to sleeping on the streets? homelessness. disorder, public health, and under- or Through its Homeward Bound program, Courts have generally held that cities over-policing as do cities that attempt San Francisco offered homeless people have less authority to regulate behavior to disperse the homeless. Concentrating a bus ticket home instead of a shelter in “traditional public forums” such as homelessness, by informal or formal bed. The program has reduced the city’s parks, streets, and sidewalks than in means, is, at best, a stopgap solution. homeless population by thousands places with a more specific function, over recent years—but at least some such as libraries and transit systems. In Panhandling of the Homeward Bound clients wind the latter, cities have wider latitude to There is good reason to regulate up homeless again at their destination prohibit panhandling, sitting and lying panhandling in public. Charitable city.29 What about moral hazard? Due down, disruptive behavior, and even, in groups often provide the homeless with to their enforcement policies, social the case of libraries, body odor.34 Though necessities, such as food and clothing, programs, and culture, some places are transit and library system rules may not at no charge. Thus, it is reasonable more accommodating to the homeless be enforced to the fullest possible extent, to suspect that cash handouts to the than others. Even if one leaves aside that is a question of policy and not law.35 homeless, who have high rates of whether homelessness itself is always In an influential law review article from substance-abuse disorders, will be used completely involuntary, homeless the 1990s, Robert Ellickson proposed a to feed drug and alcohol addictions. In

34 addition, many people feel intimidated considerable resources to helping the seriously mentally ill are more likely when confronted by panhandlers, homeless, occasionally in ways that to be “service-resistant”—unwilling to especially at night or in a confined local authorities believe enables the accept help to get off the streets. The space.40 problem.44 But attempts to regulate these conditions under which someone can Attempts to regulate panhandling organizations have been struck down by be forced to accept treatment vary from 45 47 in U.S. cities date back at least as far courts on religious-freedom grounds. state to state; typically, the standard is as the 19th century.41 However, since At the same time, as noted earlier, one whether one is “gravely disabled” and a the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in reason that the Ninth Circuit held that “threat to self or others.” However, even Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015), dozens Boise’s homeless-services system was within the same state, standards can be 48 of local panhandling ordinances have inadequate was because two out of its applied differently by different judges. been either struck down or are no three shelter providers were associated Legal barriers, while significant, are longer enforced.42 Reed itself did not with faith-based organizations. Whether not the only obstacle to increased civil concern panhandling or homelessness- cities have an obligation to provide commitment. Quality inpatient mental related disorder, but it established a thoroughly secular shelter program health care is extremely expensive: in very stringent standard for regulations alternatives to the homeless, and whether 2015, the average cost per patient in a on signage in public. According to the the homeless have a right to object state psychiatric hospital was $664 per 49 National Law Center on Homelessness to sobriety or program participation day, or over $242,000 per year. Fiscal and Poverty, every challenge to a requirements in exchange for shelter, are concerns have been a significant driver 46 panhandling ban since 2014 has unresolved questions. of the recent reduction in inpatient succeeded.43 The Supreme Court itself psychiatric capacity across the nation. Between 2008 and 2019, San Francisco clearly understands the ruling to apply Civil Commitment to panhandling. In 2015, it remanded General Hospital lost half its acute Another legal mechanism available 50 Thayer v. Worcester, which upheld a inpatient psychiatric beds. Last year, to cities in the attempt to combat panhandling ordinance, back to the the federal Department of Health and homelessness is civil commitment. lower court for reconsideration in light Human Services offered states waivers This is an option only for the seriously of Reed. The ordinance was subsequently from the so-called IMD Exclusion, mentally ill, not for the homeless struck down. which limits the use of Medicaid funds per se, but untreated serious mental for long-term treatment in an institution Homeless regulations can bring into illness is one of the most distinguishing that specializes in psychiatric care.51 conflict cherished values of religious features of the challenge of modern However, no states have pursued this liberty and standards of public order. homelessness. Though not a majority waiver authority thus far. Faith-based organizations often devote of the homeless population overall, the

35 RESPONSES TO HOMELESSNESS: THE LAW-ENFORCEMENT DIMENSION

In the near term, outpatient with a specific treatment plan, a court- Local officials should not accept this commitment is a more promising appointed conservator possesses broad choice as legitimate. They should act to means of addressing homelessness. powers over a mentally ill individual’s regulate homelessness-related disorder, New York has made active use of care, treatment, and personal affairs. A particularly if prompted to do so by the outpatient civil commitment via robust conservatorship program could public. The following five principles its “Kendra’s Law” program, which ultimately prove as effective as assisted may provide guidance in crafting a law- authorizes courts to order a treatment outpatient treatment, but in California, enforcement response to homelessness- program for mentally ill individuals where it is an option, stringent related public disorder. with a history of incarceration and/ requirements have kept usage levels First, the maintenance of order in public or violence, and noncompliance with even lower than under Laura’s Law thus spaces is one of the most vital functions 54 voluntary treatment. From 1999 to the far. From 2013 to 2019, mental health of municipal government. Widespread present, the rate of homelessness for conservatorships in San Francisco fell homelessness is correlated with crime 55 those committed under Kendra’s Law by 13%. However, last year, California and is a threat to quality of life. San declined from 28% (before entering the enacted SB 1045, which gave San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood program) to 12% (while in the program), Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego is home to 40% of the city’s unsheltered and incarceration declined from 28% to the option to expand conservatorships homeless population and 56% of drug 52 8%. Despite its demonstrated success for people with severe behavioral arrests.57 A number of public transit in reducing homelessness, Kendra’s Law health disorders. Discussions are systems, including those in New York has not been used much outside New under way at the state level to revise City and San Francisco, have declining York. California has an equivalent of SB 1045 to facilitate still-broader use of ridership and decreased customer 56 Kendra’s Law, known as “Laura’s Law,” conservatorships. satisfaction, likely due in part to but it is rarely used. Currently, about increased homelessness.58 In New York, 1,300 people in New York City are under Principles for Reform subway delays caused by homelessness- court order, compared with about 30 in related disturbances increased over 50% Homeless advocates present cities San Francisco and 135 in Los Angeles between 2014 and 2018.59 In surveys, 53 with a choice: either allow the homeless County. “addressing homelessness” ranks at the to live and sleep anywhere in public— Another form of outpatient top of the list of concerns for commuters and accept all the corresponding public commitment can be pursued through on the Bay Area Rapid Transit.60 disorder and public health concerns— a mental health conservatorship. or spend massive amounts of money on The public expects municipal Whereas assisted outpatient treatment subsidized housing for all the homeless, government to manage disorder in low- commits an individual to complying even when they have other options. income and high-income neighborhoods

36 alike.61 In the words of legal scholar Nicole Small-business owners are among the violating public transit regulations into Stelle Garnett: “[O]rder-maintenance most vocal advocates of a more robust law- services instead of issuing summonses.66 policies might ‘work’ even if they do enforcement response to homelessness, But diversion programs have their not reduce serious crime. Importantly, which threatens the already-struggling limits. The most effective diversion 64 order-maintenance policies may mitigate brick-and-mortar retail industry. In a programs do more than just offer the negative effects of the fear of crime, 2019 report, New York’s Metropolitan leniency; they impose a specific and including reduced levels of collective Transportation Authority specifically consistently enforced system of rewards efficacy and residential stability. These cited “the continuing challenge of the and punishments. Those who commit things matter intensely to cities and their homeless population” as part of the minor quality-of-life offenses do not face neighborhoods; crime rates tell only part reason for a recent drop in sales at New incarceration, and thus the criminal- 62 of a city’s story.” York City’s Grand Central Terminal, justice system often has little leverage The goal of using law enforcement to where, in each of the last three years, over them. One of the major conundrums address homelessness is not to “arrest January Point-in-Time surveys have of homelessness, as it intersects with the your way out of homelessness” or found more than 200 unsheltered criminal-justice system, is that cities are 65 even to end homelessness. It is simply individuals. The “retail apocalypse” is dealing with individuals who have very to increase order in public—which rooted in broader global trends unrelated serious behavioral health problems but citizens desperately want. For judges to homelessness, but addressing public who do not commit serious offenses. to deny citizens the ability to petition disorder is one measure within the scope They are thus often not the ideal clients their government to pass quality-of-life of a local government to take. for a diversion program.67 ordinances is to deny them the right of Third, “diversion” programs that direct Fourth, judicial rulings mandating self-governance. offenders into social services instead spending on homelessness can be profoundly Second, the broader societal costs of public of punishment have limits. Diversion inegalitarian. The two cohorts most likely disorder are many and various. Too many programs, which offer alternatives to be harmed by disorderly public places libraries, parks, and other public spaces to traditional criminal penalties for are small-business owners with brick- have ceased to feel fully public. Instead, some crimes, can be life-changing and-mortar establishments and residents they have come to resemble the private interventions for some. As such, some of low-income neighborhoods. Massive accommodations of the homeless.63 Park are tempted to use these programs global corporations’ bottom lines aren’t benches, plazas, and library carrels are as part of a strategy for dealing with threatened by public disorder, and the public property and should be shared— homelessness. In June 2019, the de Blasio wealthy don’t have to take the subway meaning that they should be used administration launched an initiative to or use the public park.68 As explained temporarily, not occupied for hours on end. re-divert homeless individuals caught earlier, New York City can afford a “right

37 RESPONSES TO HOMELESSNESS: THE LAW-ENFORCEMENT DIMENSION

to shelter,” but many cities cannot.69 In sum, city officials dealing with Requiring a poor city to provide housing the homelessness issue should for all its homeless or allow them to realize that they are not required to languish on the streets is tantamount allow intolerable levels of disorder to decreeing that that city is too poor to to persist on sidewalks and in parks enjoy self-government. and other public spaces, thanks to the Fifth, cities are capable of restoring public presence of homeless individuals and order.70 This point is worth emphasizing, encampments. Moreover, officials have since advocates regularly insist that strong reasons to take actions against quality-of-life laws and regulations are such disturbances. At the same time, counterproductive.71 New York’s Central there are recognized ways to assist the Park has faced challenges with vagrancy homeless, especially those suffering throughout its history, including the from behavioral health issues. These “Hoovervilles” erected during the Great include not only referral to shelters Depression.72 Central Park would not but the use of legal conservatorships now be the source of civic pride and and outpatient treatment. We must international admiration that it is, had not allow the complications posed by New York not dealt effectively with homelessness and its intersection with those challenges. Not every public constitutional rights to paralyze cities disorder challenge requires making and prevent the response that the public more arrests,73 but sometimes arrests wants and has the right to expect. are necessary. During 1980–2013, New York City’s misdemeanor arrest rate increased by nearly 200%.74 It is widely held that New York experienced an increase in levels of public orderliness during 1980–2013. Certainly, the recent decline in enforcement of quality-of- life regulations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York has not served to increase perceptions of public order.

38 ENDNOTES

1. “New York City Mayor Gets Worst Grades on 5. “County of Los Angeles 2018–19 Final Budget,” Seattle University of Law Homeless Rights Corruption, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; 96% Board of Supervisors County of Los Angeles; “Fiscal Advocacy Project, May 2015. Say Homelessness Is Serious Problem,” Quinnipiac Year 2018–19 Budget Summary,” City of Los Angeles. University, Mar. 1, 2017; Mark Baldassare et al., “Cal- 14. George Kelling and Catherine Coles, Fixing ifornians and Their Government: PPIC Statewide 6. “Los Angeles County, California, Sales Tax for Broken Windows (New York: Free Press, 1998), 64: Survey,” Public Policy Institute of California, May Homeless Services and Prevention, Measure H “We support fully the movement by the courts away 2019, 6, 11, 24; “2019 San Francisco City Survey: A (March 2017),” Ballotpedia; “Los Angeles, California, from allowing persons to be penalized for their Biennial Survey of San Francisco Residents,” Office Homelessness Reduction and Prevention Housing, status. We have no wish to return to vagrancy laws, of the Controller, May 13, 2019, 7, 10; “Public Safety, and Facilities Bond Issue, Measure HHH (Novem- which are unjust and inappropriate in a democratic Homelessness and Affordability Are Biggest Issues ber 2016),” Ballotpedia; “San Francisco, California, society”; Robert Tier, “Restoring Order in Urban in 2018 SF Chamber Poll,” San Francisco Chamber Proposition C, Gross Receipts Tax for Homelessness Public Spaces,” Texas Review of Law and Politics 2, no. of Commerce, Feb. 2, 2018. Services (November 2018),” Ballotpedia. 2 (Spring 1998), 260: “With a combination of proper legislation, fair-minded law enforcement, and a 2. “Report on Homeless Encampments,” Los 7. Author calculation based on “PIT and HIC Data ‘tough love’ approach by social service providers for Angeles City Controller, September 2017; Theresa Since 2007,” HUD Exchange. the homeless, urban communities are reclaiming Walker, “Thousands of Pounds of Human Waste, their public spaces as both safe and civil, where resi- Close to 14,000 Hypodermic Needles Cleaned Out 8. “Criminalization of Homelessness,” National dents and visitors alike will voluntarily spend their from Santa Ana River Homeless Encampments,” Coalition for the Homeless. time. These communities have decided to cease Orange County Register, Mar. 8, 2018; California tolerating everything that any deviant wants to do. State Auditor, “Homelessness in California: State 9. “Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for the They want to re-establish order without a return to Government and the Los Angeles Homeless Ser- Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Continuum of Care Program the discrimination and arbitrariness of the past, and vices Authority Need to Strengthen Their Efforts Competition,” U.S. Department of Housing and they are doing so while respecting the constitution- to Address Homelessness,” April 2018, 24–25; Urban Development, Community Planning and al rights Americans hold dear.” California Department of Public Health, “Hepatitis Development, 64. A Outbreak Associated with Drug Use and Home- 15. “Subway Fare Evasion Prosecutions Down 96% lessness in California, 2016–2018,” Apr. 11, 2018; 10. Issa Kohler-Hausmann, Misdemeanorland in First Year of New Policy,” Office of Cyrus Vance, Adam Andrzejewski, “Mapping San Francisco’s (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018); Feb. 1, 2019; “Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Human Waste Challenge—132,562 Cases Reported Forrest Stuart, Down, Out, and Under Arrest Clark Statement to City Council Committees on in the Public Way Since 2008,” Forbes, Apr. 15, 2019; (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018); Sara Public Safety,” Office of the Bronx County District “Mapping San Francisco’s Homeless Hypodermic Rankin, “Punishing Homelessness,” New Criminal Attorney, Feb. 27, 2019; “Low-Level Marijuana Needle Challenge—30,000 Case Reports of Needles Law Review 22, no. 1 (Winter 2019): 20–21; “Justice Prosecutions in Brooklyn Plunged by over 91% in the Public Way Since 2011,” Openthebooks.com, and Safety for All,” Bernie 2020; “Rethinking This Year as District Attorney’s Office Expanded April 2019; David Zahniser, “Lawyer Files $5-Million Public Safety to Reduce Mass Incarceration and Declination Policy,” Office of Brooklyn District Claim, Saying L.A. City Hall Rat Problem Caused Strengthen Communities,” Warren for President, Attorney, July 27, 2018; “Brooklyn District Attorney Her Illness,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 21, 2019; Phil Aug. 20, 2019. Eric Gonzalez Moves to Erase Past Convictions and Matier, “Cleaning Up SF’s Tenderloin Costs a Lot Outstanding Warrants for Low-Level Marijuana of Money—Soon It Might Cost Even More,” San 11. “Housing Not Handcuffs,” National Law Center Possession,” Office of Brooklyn District Attorney, Francisco Chronicle, May 1, 2019. on Homelessness & Poverty, 2018. Dec. 19, 2018; “Brooklyn District Attorney Announc- es New Program to Erase Misdemeanor Marijuana 3. “FY 2020 Agency Watch List Homeless Services 12. See Risa Goluboff,Vagrant Nation: Police Power, Convictions,” Office of Brooklyn District Attorney, Provider Agencies,” Office of New York City Comp- Constitutional Change, and the Making of the 1960s Sept. 7, 2018. troller, May 2019, 2. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017). 16. On San Francisco’s “Matrix” program of the 4. “Mayor’s 2019–2020 & 2020–2021 Proposed 13. Javier Ortiz, Matthew Dick, and Sara Rankin, early 1990s, see Kelling and Coles, Fixing Broken Budget,” City & County of San Francisco, May 31, “The Wrong Side of History: A Comparison of Windows, 206–13; and on Los Angeles’s “Safer 2019, 221–26. Modern and Historical Criminalization Laws,” Cities” initiative from the 2000s, see Stuart, Down,

39 Out, and Under Arrest. Even the city of Berkeley tered, according to the city’s official numbers. 30. “San Francisco’s Homeless Problem, Ex- enacted anti-panhandling legislation in the 1990s, Gale Holland and Christine Zhang, “Huge In- plained,” San Francisco City Insider Podcast, June described by one scholar as “one of the most crease in Arrests of Homeless in L.A.—but Mostly 23, 2018: “[Each] week 150 newly homeless people far-reaching panhandling control ordinances in for Minor Offenses,”Los Angeles Times, Feb. 4, 2018; are going to be in the city…. [W]e know that of the country”; Robert C. Ellickson, “Controlling Matier & Ross, “SF Courts Ignoring Thousands of that 150, roughly 50 of them, maybe a little bit less, Chronic Misconduct in City Spaces: Of Panhan- Quality-of-Life Citations,” San Francisco Chronicle, came from somewhere else. So, and that’s just a dlers, Skid Rows, and Public-Space Zoning,” Yale Nov. 14, 2016. fact. I also will say it’s a fact that of the 30% rate of Law Journal 105, no. 5 (1996): 1172; Tier, “Restor- homeless people who show up in San Francisco ing Order in Urban Public Spaces,” 286. In June 21. Martin v. Boise, 902 F.3d 1031 (9th Cir. 2018); Mar- without a home is almost twice as much as every 2016, the New York City Council passed the tin v. Boise, 920 F.3d 584 (9th Cir. 2019) (amended county around us. So we do have a higher inflow of “Criminal Justice Reform Act,” legislation that opinion and denial of rehearing en banc). out-of-county homeless people than the counties decriminalized a range of low-level offenses, around us. And I think it’s also important to note including public urination. See Greg Berman 22. “City of Boise Formally Asks U.S. Supreme that we have 24% of the Bay Area’s homeless pop- and Julian Adler, “Toward Misdemeanor Justice: Court to Hear Martin Case,” Office of Mayor David ulation but we have about 45% of the permanent Lessons from New York City,” Boston University Bieter, Aug. 22, 2019. supportive housing and nearly a third of the shel- Law Review 98, no. 3 (May 2018): 981–97. ter beds”; “San Francisco Homeless Count & Sur- 23. “Councilmembers Act to Stop Cities from Push- vey 2017 Comprehensive Report,” Applied Survey 17. Phil Matier, “When It Comes to Panhan- ing Homeless People into Neighboring Communi- Research, June 2017, 22; Rachel Aviv, “Netherland,” dling, BART Largely Looks the Other Way,” San ties,” Office of City Councilmember Mike Bonin; The New Yorker, Dec. 2, 2012; Thadani, “A Ticket Francisco Chronicle, July 3, 2019; Rachel Swan, “Settlement Agreement,” July 2019. Out of Town”; Amy Graff, “Is SF a Friendly City for “Rapper Tone Oliver Makes Up to $200 a Day on Homeless? 17 People Living on the Street Told Us,” BART. Should He Be Barred from Busking?” San 24. Martin v. Boise (Smith, J., dissenting from denial San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 5, 2018; Kevin Fagan, Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 18, 2019. of rehearing en banc), 10–29. “Bay Area Homelessness: 89 Answers to Your Questions,” San Francisco Chronicle, July 28, 2019. 18. “Preliminary Mayor’s Management Report,” 25. “Comments on New York City’s Fiscal Year 2020 Mayor’s Office of Operations, February 2019, Executive Budget,” Office of New York City Comp- 31. “Perspectives from the Navigation Center; 60; “Mayor’s Management Report Fiscal 2016,” troller, May 23, 2019, table A2. April 2019 Financial Report #2: Encampment Homelessness in San Mayor’s Office of Operations, September 2016, Plan Expenditure Detail; “FY 2020 Agency Watch Francisco,” City and County of San Francisco, 62; “Mayor’s Management Report Fiscal 2012,” List Homeless Services Provider Agencies,” Office Office of the Controller, November 2015; C. W. Ne- Mayor’s Office of Operations, September 2012, 5; of New York City Comptroller, May 2019, 2. vius, “Expanding Navigation Center Just the Start “Mayor’s Management Report Fiscal 2008,” May- in Helping Homeless,” San Francisco Chronicle, or’s Office of Operations, September 2008, 131. 26. Even progressive scholars acknowledge that Sept. 11, 2015; “Reinvesting in Shelter: Lessons from “[n]ot all persons who panhandle are homeless.” the Navigation Center,” City and County of San 19. Author calculation based on data from “Adult Terry Skolnik, “Homelessness and the Impossibili- Francisco, Office of the Controller, August 2016, 5. Arrests by County: Beginning 1970,” New York ty to Obey the Law,” Fordham Urban Law Journal 43, State Division of Criminal Justice Statistics. no. 3 (2016): 760. 32. See survey of literature in Kevin Corinth and David Lucas, “On the Relationship Between Cli- 20. Author calculation based on “Open Justice 27. Martin v. Boise, 15–19. mate and Homelessness,” AEI Economics Working Data,” California Department of Justice; A Paper, March 2017, 4–5. February 2018 analysis of Los Angeles Police 28. Thomas J. Main, Homelessness in New York City: Department data by the Los Angeles Times noted Policymaking from Koch to de Blasio (New York: New 33. Annie Correal, “In Deepest Cold, a Subway that misdemeanor arrests of the homeless grew York University Press, 2017). Car Becomes the Shelter of Last Resort,” New York from 2011 to 2016, in contrast to the decline in Times, Jan. 8, 2018. overall misdemeanor arrests. But that was a time 29. Trisha Thadani, “A Ticket Out of Town,” San when the Los Angeles homeless population Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 2019. grew substantially: 27% total and 85% unshel-

40 34. Grayson Barber, “The Legacy: Kreimer v. 44. “Assessing the Faith-Based Response to Home- studies have found evidence of Kendra’s Law’s Bureau of Police, Twenty Years Later,” Library & lessness in America: Findings from Eleven Cities,” effectiveness. See “Kendra’s Law Studies,” Mental Archival Security 25, no. 1 (2012): 89–94. Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, 2017. Illness Policy Center.

35. Matier, “When It Comes to Panhandling, BART 45. “Housing Not Handcuffs: A Litigation Manual.” 53. “A Promising Start: Results from a California Largely Looks the Other Way.” Survey Assessing the Use of Laura’s Law,” Treat- 46. Rankin, “Punishing Homelessness.” ment Advocacy Center, February 2019; “San Fran- 36. Ellickson, “Controlling Chronic Misconduct in cisco’s Assisted Outpatient Treatment Program City Spaces.” 47. Megan Testa and Sara G. West, “Civil Commit- Three-Year Evaluation Report,” San Francisco ment in the United States,” Psychiatry (Edgemont) Department of Public Health, March 2019. 37. “Urban policy has wavered between disor- 7, no. 10 (October 2010): 30–40. der-concentration and disorder-dispersal for over 54. “Conservatorship: Serious Mental Illness and a century.” Nicole Stelle Garnett, “Relocating 48. See discussion in “Review of Lanterman-Pe- Substance Use Disorders,” SB-1045. “California Disorder,” Virginia Law Review 91, no. 5 (September tris-Short (LPS) Conservatorship in San Francis- Legislature Passes Bill to Expand Conservatorship 2005): 1080. co,” San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst, Laws to Help Homeless Individuals with Severe July 26, 2019, 5–6. Mental Health & Substance Use Disorders,” 38. Edward G. Goetz, “Land Use and Homeless Office of Scott Wiener, Aug. 30, 2018; “Senator Policy in Los Angeles,” International Journal of 49. “Trend in Psychiatric Inpatient Capacity, Unit- Wiener’s Statement on Board of Supervisors Vote Urban and Regional Research 16, no. 4 (December ed States and Each State, 1970 to 2014,” National to Implement Senator Wiener’s Conservatorship 1992): 540–54. Association of State Mental Health Program Law,” Office of Scott Wiener, June 4, 2019; “Board of Directors, August 2017, 11. Supervisors Approves Conservatorship Legislation 39. Author calculation based on “2018 Homeless Introduced by Mayor London Breed and Supervi- Count Results,” Los Angeles Homeless Services 50. “Review of Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) sor Rafael Mandelman,” Office of Mayor London Authority. Conservatorship in San Francisco,” San Francisco Breed, June 4, 2019. Budget and Legislative Analyst, July 26, 2019, 7; 40. Will Sarvis, “The Homelessness Muddle see also Stephen Eide, “Systems Under Strain: 55. “Review of Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Revisited,” The Urban Lawyer 49, no. 2 (Spring Deinstitutionalization in New York State and Conservatorship in San Francisco,” San Francis- 2017): 317–54; Helen Hershkoff and Roger Conner, City,” Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, co Budget and Legislative Analyst, July 26, 2019, “Aggressive Panhandling Laws,” ABA Journal 79, no. November 2018; “California’s Acute Psychiatric exhibit 1. 6 (June 1993): 40–41; Anthony D. Lauriello, “Note: Bed Loss (Preliminary 2019 Report),” California Panhandling Regulation After Reed v. Town of Hospital Association, February 2019; Doris A. 56. SB-40 Conservatorship: Serious Mental Illness Gilbert,” Columbia Law Review 116, no. 3 (2016): Fuller et al., “Going, Going, Gone: Trends and and Substance Use Disorders. 1105–42. Consequences of Eliminating State Psychiatric Beds, 2016 Updated for Q2 Data,” Treatment 57. “San Francisco Homeless Count & Survey 2017 41. Amy Dru Stanley, “Beggars Can’t Be Choosers: Advocacy Center, June 2016. Comprehensive Report,” Applied Survey Research, Compulsion and Contract in Postbellum Amer- June 2017, 15; “Policing and Criminal Justice Costs ica,” Journal of American History 78, no. 4 (March 51. “SMD # 18--011 RE: Opportunities to Design Related to Open Air Drug Dealing in the Tender- 1992): 1265–93. Innovative Service Delivery Systems for Adults loin, South of Market, and Mid‐Market Neigh- with a Serious Mental Illness or Children with a borhoods,” San Francisco Budget and Legislative 42. Lauriello, “Panhandling Regulation After Reed Serious Emotional Disturbance,” Department of Analyst’s Office, Apr. 25, 2019, 6–7. v. Town of Gilbert.” Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Nov. 13, 2018; “IMD Update 58. “Monthly Module Raw Data Release,” Federal 43. “Housing Not Handcuffs: A Litigation Manual,” Q&A,” Treatment Advocacy Center. Transit Administration, July 2019; “Interactive National Law Center on Homelessness & Estimated Ridership Stats,” Los Angeles County Poverty, 2018. 52. Statistics and Reports, New York State Office of Metropolitan Transportation Authority; “Transit Mental Health; many academic and government Ridership Report, First Quarter 2019,” American

41 Public Transportation Association, May 31, 2019; more likely pedestrians will sense that he is 70. Ellickson, “Controlling Chronic Misconduct Laura Nelson, “L.A. Is Hemorrhaging Bus Riders— disrespecting an informal time limit.” in City Spaces,” 1202: “Ever since the great cities of Worsening Traffic and Hurting Climate Goals,”Los the United States sprouted in the mid-nineteenth Angeles Times, June 27, 2019; Rachel Swan, “BART’s 64. Heather Knight, “Small Businesses Can’t century, levels of street misconduct have waxed End of the Line Surges with Homeless as Misery Escape Misery on SF’s Streets,” San Francisco and waned. For example, after experiencing ram- Plays Out Each Night,” San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle, July 27, 2018. pant disorder in the aftermath of the Civil War, city June 22, 2019; Rachel Swan, “Violent Crime on governments responded in the 1870s by beefing up BART More than Doubles in Four Years,” San Fran- 65. “Safety Committee Meeting Committee Book,” police forces and social welfare programs. The tur- cisco Chronicle, June 25, 2019; Phil Matier, “BART’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, July 2019, bulent Great Depression years eventually ebbed Fare-Evasion Collection Tally: One $95 Payment 13; “Joint Metro-North and Long Island Com- into the unusually orderly 1950s. If the crackdowns on 6,000-Plus Tickets,” San Francisco Chronicle, mittees Meeting,” Metropolitan Transportation of the 1990s continue, the late 1980s are likely to be June 26, 2019. Authority, July 2019, 8. seen in retrospect as another peak in disorder.”

59. Winnie Hu, “How Subway Delays and the 66. “Supports, Not Summonses: de Blasio Ad- 71. See, e.g., “Criminalization of the Homeless,” Homeless Crisis Are Intertwined,” New York Times, ministration Announces Pilot Initiative to Divert National Coalition for the Homeless; “ ‘Forced into June 26, 2019. Homeless Individuals on the Subway from Unnec- Breaking the Law’: The Criminalization of Home- essary Court Processes,” Office of Mayor de Blasio, lessness in Connecticut,” Allard K. Lowenstein In- 60. “2018–2019 Alameda County Grand Jury Final June 13, 2019. ternational Human Rights Clinic, 2016; “Punishing Report,” Alameda County Grand Jury, June 21, the Poorest: How the Criminalization of Home- 2019, 123–37; Dan Rivoli, “Homeless Incidents on 67. Berman and Adler, “Toward Misdemeanor Jus- lessness Perpetuates Poverty in San Francisco,” Subway Triple over a Decade, Disrupting Train tice,” 991: “Chronic misdemeanants typically have Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco, 2015. Service,” New York One, June 10, 2019; Laura J. Nel- complex needs, but their cases involve low-level son, “As Waves of Homeless Descend onto Trains, charges. The principle of legal proportionality 72. Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar, The L.A. Tries a New Strategy: Social Workers on the imposes significant limits on the interventions Park and the People: A History of Central Park (Ithaca, Subway,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 6, 2018. that can be offered in these cases; no New York NY: Cornell University Press, 1998). City judge would sentence a shoplifter to one year 61. Berman and Adler, “Toward Misdemeanor of inpatient treatment no matter how much she 73. See discussions of how standards of public Justice.” needs it.” order were reestablished in Bryant Park and the subways in Kelling and Coles, Fixing Broken 62. Nicole Stelle Garnett, “The Order-Maintenance 68. Ellickson, “Controlling Chronic Misconduct Windows, ch. 4. Agenda as Land Use Policy,” Notre Dame Journal of in City Spaces,” 1189–90: “To favor the poorest Law, Ethics and Public Policy 24, no. 1 (2010): 131–58. may disadvantage the poor, who are as unhappy 74. Preeti Chauhan et al., “Trends in Misdemeanor with street disorder as the rest of the population. Arrest Rates in New York,” report presented to the 63. Ellickson, “Controlling Chronic Misconduct Because residents of poor urban neighborhoods Citizens Crime Commission, October 2014; “Bro- in City Spaces,” 1178: “In open-access public tend to make especially heavy use of streets and ken Windows and Quality-of-Life Policing in New spaces suited to rapid turnover, norms require sidewalks for social interactions, they have an York City,” New York Police Department, 2015. individual users to refrain from long-term unusually large stake in preventing misconduct stays that prevent others from exercising their there.” identical rights to the same space. These norms support government time limits on the use of 69. Joshua T. McCabe, “Federalism in Blue and public parking spaces and campsites. They Red,” National Affairs (Summer 2017); Stephen also underlie informal cutoff points on the Eide, “De-Municipalization: How Counties and use of, say, a drinking fountain on a hot day, a States Can Administer Public Services in Dis- public telephone booth in a crowded airport, tressed Cities,” Manhattan Institute, July 2019. or a playground basketball court. The longer an individual panhandles or bench squats, the

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