The Temecula City Council, in a vote of 4 to 1, approved the repeal of the city’s residency restrictions during its regularly scheduled meeting on April 11. The repeal is to take effect immediately and no further City Council is required.
According to a city staff report, the city’s decision to repeal was based upon a March 2015 decision by the California Supreme Court which determined that blanket residency restrictions applied to all registrants, regardless of offense or the amount of time passed since the conviction, violated the Constitution.
The City Council’s action followed a lawsuit filed in federal district court on March 3 challenging the city’s residency restrictions which prohibited all registrants from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks or day care centers. As a result of the restrictions, registrants were banned from living in “virtually all” parts of the city.
A total of 21 lawsuits have been filed challenging residency restrictions in 21 different cities. Of that total, most cities have repealed or significantly revised their residency restrictions.
The vote was 5-0, not 4-1. During discussion, the board members were very constrained, using the word “reluctantly” quite a bit.
Here is the video of the board meeting segment repealing the ordinance. Please comment away on the board members’ ignorance.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vioj9gVx4Qs?start=2971&end=3183
Note the video only shows the sex offender repeal part.
Congrats to Janice, Chance, and team!
It is at the 49:40 mark in the video. The guy introduced it as a matter of urgency that they repeal the ordinance ( urgency is code for this could negatively impact our salaries.) then of course they all wanted it on the record that they reluctantly voted to repeal it. The intonation in their voices lacked any real sense of concern or distress for the “safety of the community” though, because their paychecks are the first and foremost thing on their minds. A bunch of milquetoasts.
Congratulations Janice.
I live in a city with residency restrictions. I am not directly affected because they apply to those convicted after 2006. It makes it virtually impossible to find housing with restrictions that not only cover the usual places: parks, playgrounds, etc. It makes it illegal for a 290 registrant to live within 2000 linear feet from another 290 registrant. Just ridiculous. http://www.qcode.us/codes/deserthotsprings