City provides update of what has happened since Palco Marsh cleanup

The City of Eureka continues to make emergency shelter available for the 11 plaintiffs as
ordered by Federal Judge Jeffrey White. Six of the eleven plaintiffs are currently living in the
container shelter operated by Betty Chinn. The remaining plaintiffs have refused the City’s offer
of shelter, found shelter elsewhere, or have not responded to offers. The City continues to work
with plaintiffs’ counsel and comply with the Court order.
Concerns regarding increased illegal camping in other greenbelts in the City continue to be
addressed. Eureka Police Department has issued 18 EMC citations and arrested one person
for illegal camping in the City. EPD received 248 transient related calls for service since May
2nd. Many of these calls were officer initiated contacts during foot patrols or field interviews. The
illegal camping citations have been issued near Washington/Koster, Bayshore Way, foot of W.
Del Norte Street, 3400 block of W Street2400 block of 2nd Street and along Broadway.
Residents are urged to report illegal camping on their property or on City property.
The City has also received several Public Records Act (PRA) requests seeking documents and
Council and upper management communications regarding the broad catch-phrase “homeless”
or “houseless” from the ACLU and the media. The City is evaluating each request but, is
concerned that the entities involved are using the PRA to bypass the federal discovery rules
which would apply in the federal lawsuit that is currently pending against the City. This process
would allow these individuals and entities to provide whatever records are disclosed by the City
directly to the 11 plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit thus, bypassing legal requirements. Further,
many of the records sought are exempt from disclosure per several exemptions such as
Pending Litigation and Deliberative Process Privilege. The Pending Litigation exemption
provides that records relating to pending or anticipated litigation are exempt from disclosure.
The Deliberative Process Privilege protects records which would expose the City’s decision-
making process with regard to the May 2 move-out.
The City has received one threat of litigation from the North Coast Journal. Thaddeus
Greenson of the North Coast Journal has requested City Council and upper management
communications since February 1, 2015 from a broad category of records related to
“homeless.” This request includes records related to the pending federal lawsuit and the City’s
decision-making process with regard to the May 2 move-out. The City has and continues to
expend a significant amount of time and resources to respond to these PRAs. The City is taking
steps to respond to this threat of litigation and will vigorously defend any lawsuit that is filed.