City officials from San Diego are meeting with their counterparts today in Los Angeles. They’re trying to come up with a better plan to deal with the homeless. The move follows a ruling by the ninth circuit court of appeals that said it’s unconstitutional to ticket the homeless without providing them shelter. San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre has suggested creating overnight homeless zones, an idea that was heavily criticized. Aguirre defended his proposal on KPBS Radio’s These Days program.
Aguirre: We’re using our county jail as a homeless center because our council has not adequately addressed this issue. We’re talking about a new home for the Chargers, but we are not talking about a new home for the homeless. And that says something about our morale values right now, in terms of the leadership of our city.
Aguirre says one thing the city and county could do is come up with a joint-powers agreement to deal with the city’s homeless problem.