Reality Check is a Bee series holding officials and organizations accountable and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email realitycheck@sacbee.com .
During the first debate of the Sacramento mayoral general election, candidates Flo Cofer and Assemblyman Kevin McCarty had a heated exchange about homelessness.
It started when Cofer confronted McCarty for speaking about her on the campaign trail.
“I was surprised to hear recently you’ve been at the doors telling people misleading things about me and my campaign, and that you’re saying things that aren’t actually true,” Cofer said Thursday during the debate, hosted by the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association. “My position on public safety, my position on homelessness, that I’m a radical. I mean there’s some things you said to people that really misrepresent who I am as a person.”
In response, McCarty said when voters ask him Cofer’s position on homelessness, he has referenced what she has said in previous debates and in the media.
“You’ve said we should use underutilized city parks as homeless safe grounds. I said I don’t support that idea,” McCarty said. “I’m not saying anything nefarious I wouldn’t say to you. What I’m saying is stuff I read about in newspapers and I’ve heard you say at our public forums.”
McCarty was referencing a statement Cofer said during a February debate, ahead of the primary election. During that time she said she wanted to open homeless safe grounds in underutilized parks, including those that have water and electricity hook ups. In a safe ground, homeless people can live in a designated area in uniform tents or trailers with bathrooms, showers, and water as they await permanent housing.
During Thursday’s debate Cofer elaborated further what she meant by “underutilized.”
“Underutilized parks are basically just parcels with brown grass that nobody is using,” Cofer said. “And so when you’re saying things to people like that I wanna put people in parks shooting up drugs next to your kids, that’s not ... I’m really disappointed that’s what’s happening because I’m not out here talking about you.”
When contacted Friday by The Sacramento Bee, Cofer declined to name specific parks she has in mind for homeless safe grounds. She did say they are included in the list of 244 park properties on the city website.
Asked if she would consider McClatchy, McKinley or Curtis parks, for example, she said no because those parks are extremely well utilized. She said the process would include robust public input.
Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela, whose term ends in December, previously opened a Safe Ground at Miller Park along the Sacramento River, which was somewhat controversial and is now closed. The city notably shut down a tight-knit Safe Ground of seniors in North Sacramento called Camp Resolution last week.
McCarty has said he also supports Safe Grounds, but not in park properties, regardless of their utilization. He has suggested instead former city corporation yards, lots the city used to park vehicles and store other materials.
There is a relatively small former corporation yard is located at the corner of Eleanor and Traction avenues in North Sacramento, along the bike trail. It’s about 1.3 miles from Camp Resolution, which also used to be a city corp yard, city spokeswoman Gabby Miller has said.
Unlike Camp Resolution, the site at Eleanor and Traction avenues does not have any issues with contamination, said Blair Robertson, spokesman for the State Water Resources Control Board.
There would need to be many more shelters than that one open to get all the homeless off the streets however . There are roughly 6,600 homeless people in Sacramento, most of whom live in the city. There are 2,600 people and 840 families on the wait list for roughly 1,300 shelter beds, according to city data.
The election will be held Nov. 5.
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