On the same day that activists and supporters rallied together for homeless rights at the Safe Ground Jubilee, attorneys for the city of Sacramento were busy filing a motion to appeal a Federal Court decision in a contentious homeless class action lawsuit. “Our rationale for appeal is based primarily on procedural and evidentiary rulings that came up in the trial,” Brett Witter, supervising deputy city attorney for Sacramento said Thursday. The motion for appeal was filed Sept. 14 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by attorney Chance Trimm, on behalf of the city. According to court documents, the city is appealing a May 24 Federal Court decision that found the city liable on two of s

On Aug. 17, the City Council members voted 5-3 in favor of holding public comments until the end of its meetings. For the last three weeks, matters not found on the agenda have been addressed at the end of meetings for the last three weeks. However, the council’s rules of procedure were reversed last night after a number of advocacy groups publicly opposed the council’s decision. Council members passed the motion under the condition that commenting would not exceed 30 minutes and would allow each speaker a maximum of two minutes on the floor. If the allotted 30 minutes expire before a person is able to share, their comments are to be held until the end of the meeting. Prior to Tuesday’s

About 50 people urged the Sacramento City Council Thursday to help efforts to reserve land for the homeless. The people who addressed the City Council were supporters of the “Safe Ground” campaign, which opposes the city’s anti-camping ordinance and advocates for a living space for the city’s homeless. The recent stabbing death of 68-year-old Bernice Nickson, a homeless resident, was mentioned in the comments of some of the Safe Ground advocates. The Safe Ground supporters spoke during the part of the meeting reserved for public comments on subjects that are not covered in the agenda. Council members do not respond to citizens during that part of each City Council meeting. Comments from

A proposal to crack down on hospitals if they leave homeless and unstable patients at various sites failed to advance to the City Council Thursday. City Councilman Kevin McCarty proposed an ordinance that would have required health care facilities to get written permission from patients before transporting them to sites other than their homes. If the proposal was passed into law by the City Council, health care facilities that did not comply with the ordinance would face a misdemeanor charge. But the city’s law and legislation committee, which studies proposed ordinances, decided not to move the proposal to the City Council. Councilmembers Sandy Sheedy, Steve Cohn, Lauren Hammond and Ro