Lock up your tents, California! Toss out your old camping gear! Hide your pillows and blankets! Because the people who run California have finally seen clearly that the greatest scourge in today’s Golden State is not climate change, not crime, not corruption, and not the cost of living nor grinding privacy. No, what most threatens our way of life is: people who camp. So, in this the year 2024, the great state of California has gone to war against campers and their encampments.
This war effort is unlike anything seen here in generations. The wheels of 21 century California government move painfully slowly. It takes agencies days to respond to a police call, six months minimum to permit a coffee shop, five years to add a carpool lane, and three decades (and counting) to construct a high-speed rail line.
But the war on encampments is proceeding with shocking speed. This summer Gov. Gavin Newsom, known more for issuing plans than following through on them, didn’t merely order state agencies to take down encampments on land they control.
He donned to throw away the tents of the unhoused himself. Newsom on removing encampments to cities and counties. Local governments usually ignore state orders, but not this time.
Cities from Arcata to Vista have ripped down encampments with alacrity and vigor. at least 14 cities, from San Francisco to Long Beach, that have either passed new laws to prohibit camping or updated old ones. San Diego, a leader in the anti-encampment war, has made .