Civil rights attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against this exclusive coastal town and accused its leadership of engaging in a campaign of harassment against the disabled homeless.
The American Civil Liberties Union alleged in its lawsuit that a city ban on sleeping on the street is unconstitutional, particularly because there are no year-round city-sponsored shelters.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.
"There are even more art galleries than homeless residents," said Mark Rosenbaum, ACLU's legal director for Southern California.
"Yet city leaders have chosen to attempt to eliminate the homeless, rather than eliminate homelessness."
The lawsuit seeks a change in policy, but no money for the homeless, Rosenbaum said. It deals with mentally and physically disabled homeless - terms that defines a majority of the town's homeless population, Rosenbaum said.
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