Given persistent problems with drugs, trash and public urination in beach neighborhoods, the city of San Diego needs a legally enforceable law on the books allowing it to ban people from living in vehicles. This is why the City Council should heed Mayor Kevin Faulconer and approve a measure Tuesday that would ban living in vehicles within 500 feet of homes or schools, excluding campuses of higher learning. The council repealed the city's previous law on living in vehicles in February after a federal judge ruled last year that it was too vague to enforce.
While a new law is needed, Councilwoman Monica Montgomery made a good point when she called for San Diego to borrow from Los Angeles, where those ticketed for illegal parking are directed into what amounts to a diversion program, and where a city website shows where they can park legally. Council members who say the law must be used with discretion are also right: Enforcers should distinguish between "van life" fans, tourists and the destitute.
Officers already have difficult jobs. Expecting them to make such distinctions _ and to balance concern for affected communities and concern for the homeless _ is asking a lot. But nothing involving the city's homelessness problem has been easy. The best solutions will acknowledge this complexity.
