Turlock reduces park hours, citing public safety

Turlock has reduced the hours its parks will be open in an experiment to see whether that reduces crime and other bad behavior.

The City Council approved this on a 3-2 vote Tuesday after rejecting an earlier proposal that would have limited hours at three downtown parks and opponents said was an effort to target the homeless.

City parks now are open 7 a.m. to dusk. They had been open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. City staff will report back to the council in January on the impact of the change.

The original proposal was to reduce the hours for Denair, Central and GAR parks. These tiny parks are downtown and don’t have the amenities of larger city parks.

The proposal was to address “growing community concerns regarding crime and Turlock Municipal Code violations (which include camping in a park and public intoxication) in and around the downtown corridor,” according to a city report.

But some audience members said that if the city is trying to increase public safety — and not target the homeless — then it should reduce hours for all parks.

“If they are worried about those three parks, then they should be worried about all parks,” said Ann Strahm, adding that the homeless frequent the three downtown parks.

Strahm — who is a California State University, Stanislaus, sociology professor — said she understands community members are concerned about the impacts that some of the homeless have on the city. But she said the city should focus on helping the homeless.

Mayor Gary Soiseth and Councilman Bill DeHart voted against reducing hours at all parks, though they supported reducing hours at the three downtown parks. Soiseth said that unlike with the three parks, the city had not researched the effects of reducing hours for all parks.

Parks, Recreation & Public Facilities Director Allison Van Guilder said in an email Wednesday that she and her staff are “working on a plan to implement (the) Council’s policy regarding the temporary change in park hours.”

Van Guilder said she’d provide details once the plan is done.

Tuesday’s council vote came after Soiseth called an emergency meeting last week to discuss homelessness.

Strahm questioned whether Soiseth did that because he is running for re-election in November and asked why he used a flier paid by his re-election campaign to help promote the meeting on Facebook.

“This is not about politics,” Soiseth said. “This is about getting as many people as possible to the table to find solutions.”

Soiseth said this is not about targeting homeless people but about bad behavior, including not leashing dogs, drinking alcohol and camping in city parks.

“Unfortunately,” he said after the meeting, “that is making our public spaces unavailable for all our residents and all our visitors. And it’s only allowing some to use our public spaces.”

Besides reducing park hours, the council also approved brighter streetlights and security lights at Broadway, Central and GAR parks at a cost of $2,523.

Soiseth said Turlock is taking other steps.

He said he met Wednesday with Stanislaus County and Modesto officials to talk about a potential partnership involving a jobs program for the homeless. The work would include cleaning up parks and other public spaces.

Soiseth said he expects that the council, at its Aug. 14 meeting, will consider strengthening the city’s regulations regarding leaving private property, such as shopping carts packed with clothing and other possessions, in public spaces.

He said people now have seven days to move their property. And he said they can meet the city’s requirements by moving their possessions from one part of a park to another.

Soiseth said Turlock is considering giving people 24 hours to remove their property. If they don’t, he said, the city will store it. But he said the city is working with the Turlock Gospel Mission to provide homeless people with storage bins for their possessions so they don’t have to store them in public.

The change in park hours did not mean much to one 59-year homeless man who was in Central Park late Tuesday night.

“I think people still can go to the parks,” said the man, who identified himself as Chuck and said he doesn’t stay in a shelter because of his dog, Angel, a pit bull mix. “It’s open,” Chuck said about the parks.

But as Chuck spoke, a Turlock police officer pulled up and spoke with a man and woman bedded down nearby for the night. The officer was courteous and respectful and offered to call an ambulance when the woman complained of pain. She declined the offer.

The officer told the couple they would have to move along. The man declined to speak with The Bee.

This story was originally published July 25, 2018 at 4:56 PM.