Santa Barbara officials plan to draft alcohol and shopping cart ordinances, and clean up city parks, to combat the impacts of aggressive and chronic homeless people.

The City Council spent more than three hours on Tuesday night talking about its services for the homeless population and ways to reduce the number of people who create problems, including nuisance crimes, in the city.

Much of the discussion focused on the state of the city's parks, and how officials can make them safer for families.

The January Point in Time homeless count recorded 887 people in the city, and volunteers found them sleeping outside, in their veicles, in emergency shelters or in transitional housing programs.

The number of homeless camps in city parks is increasing, with 95 found in 2017, 122 in 2018, and so far in fiscal year 2019, which started in July, the city has cleared 70 homeless camps in city parks.

"The misuse of our parks has had stunning impacts on our budget," said Beebe Longstreet, a Westside resident and longtime member of the city's Parks and Recreation Commission. "Families don’t feel safe in our parks. Revenue goes down when people don’t feel safe holding events in our parks."

About $50,000 a year is spent on encampment cleanup each year from the city's creeks division, and another $3,000 is spent on portable toilets.

"It is frustrating to see the problem pushed from downtown to our parks," Longstreet said.

Parks and Recreation Director Jill Zachary said despite the state of some parks, things can get better. She cited the success at the Cabrillo Ball Field.

“It was really atrocious there," she said.

The city, however, removed all the vegetation and put a fence around the restroom and closed it. It is only open by permit.

"You can go to that park today and see any number of people enjoying that park, irrespective of whether they have a roof over their heads," Zachary said.

In May, the City Council will discuss an off-sale alcohol ordinance that regulates sales at convenience stores, liquor stores and markets.

After that, the city will look at a shopping cart ordinance that could require stores to collect and clean their carts regularly, to prevent homeless people from using them as storage.

During Tuesday's discussion, Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said the city should do more to reduce homelessness, but that it also needs to show compassion.

"I am very concerned about how if we move people out from underpasses, there is no place to go," Sneddon said.

She also worries about homeless people going to the bathroom in parks or creeks because they don't have other options.

"People need a place to go to the bathroom," Sneddon said. "Maybe it is not our parks, but it is just a human dignity issue, a public safety issue. I think it is unrealistic to think that homeless people don’t deficate in the hours that we close our bathrooms. They go somewhere."

Councilman Eric Friedman begged people not to give money to homeless people and panhandlers on the street.

"The public needs to stop giving out cash," Friedman said. "That’s how they are buying the liquor. That’s how they buy their drugs."

Friedman, who works at Trader Joe's near MacKenzie Park, said he often sees people give money to homeless people in that area.

"They make more in an hour than the Trader Joe's employees," Friedman said.

He said the public needs to stop enabling panhandlers financially.

"That is your role," Friedman said. "We have our role and together we can make a difference."

Former Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider, a longtime activist for the homeless, spoke at the meeting. She is now the regional coordinator for the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, based in Santa Barbara and managing programs in California and Arizona.

"The goal is to find a way to make homelessness a rare, brief and one-time occurence," Schneider said.

"It can happen. It’s that combination of law enforcement and street outreach, and getting them into supportive housing that works."

— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.