On Wednesday, October 2, 2024, the Ukiah City Council discussed a resolution to support California’s Proposition 36, a citizen-led effort to address crime, overdoses, and homelessness statewide. City officials highlighted potential benefits for Ukiah, while council members expressed concerns about its similarity to ineffective policies from the war on drugs. Despite this, public commenters unanimously supported the measure, seeing it as a necessary tool to combat quality of life issues in Ukiah.
Proposition 36 would reclassify certain misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies, creating a new category called “treatment-mandated felony.” Those charged could plead no contest and complete drug treatment instead of going to prison, but failure to complete treatment could result in up to three years in prison.
Proposition 36 is a response to Proposition 47, passed a decade ago, which reduced theft and drug crimes to misdemeanors to ease prison overcrowding. One highly publicized component of the measure was raising the threshold for felony theft from $400 to $950 which critics argue enables petty theft.
Since then, California has seen higher rates of property crime and homelessness, with law enforcement and retailers placing the blame on Proposition 47. Data shows a 28% increase in shoplifting of items worth up to $950 over the past five years.
City Manager Sage Sangiacomo brought the Proposition 36 Resolution in front of City Council explaining the League of California Cities, dedicated to improving the quality of life in their communities, had come out in support of Proposition 36 as a tool to address what was described as a “spike in retail theft, violent smash-and-grab robberies, fentanyl deaths and illicit drug use” in the agenda summary report.
Sangiacomo offered a litany of ways Proposition 47’s approach towards criminal justice has affected Ukiah.
He told the council there are “individuals who are repeating theft multiple times a day, multiple times in a week, that far exceed the $950 threshold, but because of each individual offense, it cannot be dealt with as a more serious offense.”
Proposition 36 still provides leeway to address each case as presented, explained Sangiacomo, “Judges will retain discretion not to incarcerate an offender but prosecutors will have the ability to bring felony charges against hardened repeat offenders.”
He emphasized that repeat drug offenders “will be provided the opportunity to participate in drug-treatment programs” and Medicare and Medical will be made available to pay for that treatment.
Sangiacomo shared the tragic story of a Mendocino County woman’s fatal overdose to demonstrate the need for Proposition 36. He told the City Council that law enforcement stumbled upon the woman’s body while investigating bike theft at the Ackerman Creek encampment north of Ukiah. “If you take a look at that individual, you would see this person was in and out of jail for theft and drug-related issues for nearly two decades or more,” he said.
He argued that “if this legislation had been in place, there may have been tools” to mandate treatment or treatment through incarceration. “Maybe we could have prevented that death,” he said.
Sangiacomo added, “That is happening again and again in Mendocino County. 40 to 50 individuals per year. That is nearly four times the amount of individuals since Prop 47 went in place.”
City Councilman Juan Orozco said leaders have to “look for a solution” for the current situation calling local encampments a “health risk”.
Councilwoman Mari Rodin said, “I agree that we have a huge problem” but expressed concern about the strain on local services such as the county jail and courts. Rodin argued that Proposition 47 offered cost savings whereas 36 came with resource demands that could disproportionately affect the small-scale economy of Mendocino County. She emphasized the need for more time to examine the details before making a decision.
Sangiacomo argued this does not take into account the cost burden of law enforcement, homeless services, public works, and other needs that arose in the wake of Proposition 47’s implementation.
During a public comment, Ukiah resident Ferdinand Theriot said “there is a price Ukiah pays” when residents chose to relocate because of negative perceptions of public safety.
Another public commenter Tracy Theriot took aim at the financial argument proposed by Sher stating simply, “The savings on the state has been a great cost to us.
Councilman Douglas Crane said, “I’ve been in retail settings where people have rolled out of the store with a cart full of power tools and the staff is prohibited from doing anything about it.”
He sees the Proposition as “a small step in restoring some accountability and some tools to encourage in several different ways a change of behavior that could lead to a better life for those that took the mind-altering, body-destroying drugs.” He added, “Do I think it’s perfect? No. But I think it’s a step in the right direction.”
Ukiah Mayor Josefina Dueñas acknowledged the seriousness of the issues but expressed concern that Proposition 36 overlooked the struggles of local people in poverty. “I am always trying to defend the homeless,” she said. “They are not homeless because they want to be. A month ago, I was without electricity. I’m not ashamed to say I am poor.”
Dueñas said, “I can relate with people who commit theft” due to her days as the owner of a second-hand store. She recalled people stealing shoes because they could not afford them.
Councilwoman Susan Sher argued that the challenges of implementing Proposition 36 were too significant to support the resolution that evening. “We clearly have a terrible problem here, but I don’t think Prop 36 is the solution,” she said. She pointed out that “Prop 36 is a catchall, and drug abuse, retail theft, and homelessness can’t all be treated the same.”
Sher criticized the measure’s approach to addiction, stating, “A lot of people go into recovery and relapse. Probably the vast majority. Someone might opt for recovery, but if they relapse, they get sent to jail.” She concluded by saying that elements of Proposition 36 echo the war on drugs by “increasing our prison and jail populations.”
Ukiah resident Tracy Theriot told the City Council the status quo is “sacrificing our citizens and the people who every day get up to do the hard work, and make [the] choice not to steal out of need, not to do drugs to cope with their situation, and work terribly hard to stay above that line because those are their morals.”
Theriot made headlines earlier this year after she witnessed three teens harassed by a convicted sex offender bringing her concerns to City Council. This week she argued that under the current system, “we have to wait until members of our community are sacrificed, we have to wait for them to recommit, so they can actually be put away.”
Theriot referred to the title of Proposition 47, “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act”, saying it did “nothing for safe schools or neighborhoods and we have become less safe.”
Adam Gaska, Redwood Valley resident and one of the organizers behind the recent clean-up of the Ackerman Creek encampment, spoke to the board saying that an unintended consequence of Proposition 47 was “repeat petty theft and drug offenses have been virtually decriminalized. He added, “Proposition 36 won’t be a cure-all, a one and done, but it is a move in the right direction.”
When discussion concluded, the City Council voted on the item. Both Dueñas and Rodin chose to abstain. Rodin justified her decision stating “I haven’t researched this enough”. Orozco and Crane both voted yes, and Sher was the sole dissenting voice. And with that, the Ukiah City Council voted to decline support of Proposition 36
You’ll never fix the problem. You’re just chasing your tail . 🙁
What the world needs is JESUS CHRIST and to place the Ten Commandments and prayer back in schools.
Our problem is a “sin” problem, spiritual in nature. Only God can fix us. He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior and we find help and forgiveness through Him alone. We find right living through the Word of God, the Holy Bible, help from the Holy Spirit sent by God to help us!
It’s a spiritual life people. We are spirits! Our bodies are just temporary, our souls are eternal and will answer to God the Father in the great Courtroom of Heaven for what we did in the body.
We must return to God through the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ. He is humanity’s only hope. Our blessed Creator. His gift of salvation is free but it will cost you everything. It’s totally worth it. 🙂
Seek God with ALL your heart and you WILL find Him. That’s a Bible promise you can stand on! 🙂
Get real, you think Europe in the Middle Ages was a safe and happy place? It sure didn’t stop the lords from killing each other every chance they got. It didn’t stop the Spanish from slaughtering people left and right in the name of God. I could spend hours writing about the many times Christians who attended church far more often than people do now would then go out and commit atrocities. It would be nice if things were that simple, but they aren’t.
C’mon man. This is about crime. Let’s not make it easier for people who commit crimes, be it petty theft or otherwise. The state doesn’t care about the citizens who suffer the consequences of the criminals. We need security at schools, banks, grocery stores, streets and creeks. We need laws that protect our communities. The courts need to uphold the laws. Look around town, pay attention to what’s happening. Our city council and county leaders need to get with the program!
Wait, you’re telling me I could have been stealing 950 worth of groceries this whole time!? This could have really prevented me from getting in trouble with my husband over the grocery bill!
People like that are the reason why these stores are losing money and going out of business. And you wonder why people are crying over Big Lots and JCpenney closing. And shoplifters passing it onto their descendants setting them a bad example.
JCpenney and Big Lots were going out of business because there were better options online or better retail establishments pushing them out. I’m surprises Ukiah still has a Lucky’s. Trader joes or Target would be more preferred than these current outdated businesses.
Please do! And another thing CC, get rid of those fucking bums, methheads and shoplifters crawling on our streets everyday. Ukiah is so ugly now
Because of proposition 47, Walmart now has lock glass boxes on all of the underwear and socks, all of the fishing gear is locked up with magnetic locks, food and medicine and cleaning supplies are also locked up, as well as bathing supplies.
Thanks prop 47 for allowing rampant crime throughout my town
Yeah, I won’t even go into Walmart any more. If I need something, it’s locked up and it’s a nightmare trying to find someone to unlock it for you. I think that is the plan. Shut down the stores, buy online. You shop from Amazon and they know what you buy, read, watch, now they have a pharmacy..I see them as being a big factor in. Supplying our techno socialist future..
What we need is security to wake the fuck up and be on more alert of these people, we need security around town, and back Loss Prevention at like Ross, Wal Mart, etc. No excuse of stores losing money by hiring LP, you’re losing money more from shoplifters than you are at hiring LP, so pick a choice! Prop 47 really backfired on this one.
Vote YES on 36!! Our leaders are just plain stupid. No one thinks or considers the victims or the domino effect on law abiding citizens and businesses. I’m sure all the offenders are paying taxes so the leaders get their pay checks, right? Right? IDIOTS!
36 is a loser being pushed like a drug by conservatives and law enforcement because their drug of choice is arresting and jailing people. Instead of addressing poverty- a huge taproot feeding crime- the league of cities wants to cater only to the rich and the powerful and make sure officer Karen can put the cuffs on more people more often.
Try this test…hum dinger….1) keep 1 week’s worth of theft reports 2) At the end of the week, tally (count) how many thefts were for…
1) Food
2) Other
1)Went to jail (hand cuffed by Karen)
2)Did not go to jail (off to buy more drugs to feed mental illness!)
3)Volunteered to get some help..paid for by City, County, State!!!
PUBLISH your findings. I DOUBLE-DRUG DARE YA ( oops..I mean double-dog dare ya! lol
So more mentally ill people will end up in prison. I heard no mention of a mental health professional being involved in this matter.
That’s the new excuse for terrible behavior “mental illness” the biggest load we see constantly is people claiming to be victims of the actions they took to get there. I’m a long time local myself and have watched these folks drug themselves to the point they loose their minds and we the people get to pick up the tab and live with their crap all around us. If we are picking up the tab give them 3 hot and a cot in prison. I’m done with this and done with our city council
I watched the CC meeting after seeing this article and was completely disgusted at a few of our council members. I don’t have enough information? The subject was on the agenda so that doesn’t make sense. The next one “ I understand why people steal” that was the most pathetic speech I’ve ever heard and lacked any leadership or back bone. And “how much will this cost?”
What happened to ITS NOT OK TO STEAL. People who steal a cart full of tools aren’t doing it because they’re hungry they are fencing those for drugs. And their addiction wasnt caused by our law abiding residents.
I live in the City of Ukiah and I will definitely not be voting for these three ever. I wouldn’t leave them in charge of a wheelbarrow full of horse crap!
Agreed! It’s no excuse whether you are poor, you are living after each paycheck or you don’t want to wait in line, it’s never okay to steal. It sucks to see thieves walk out the door with a bunch of stuff and no associate does anything about it, because they are required NOT to do any thing about it and that’s just bullshit. And let’s not get started in the bigger cities like the bay area where businesses get totally stomped on by these shoplifters. Argh!
I am sick and tired of hearing that Duenas is a poor, Latina, deaf woman as her immediate go-to statement and reasoning for everything – never mentioning or caring about anybody else’s plight. It disgusts me. She wants us to care for the homeless people that somehow find money for drugs and destroy the threads of our community by laying about all over our gateways, spinning out on every street corner, crapping in front of our businesses, and destroying the quality of life we once enjoyed. These people don’t live here, they are not from here, they are not ‘our own’. I don’t want to hear about it anymore Josefina. Until you can change your myopic view, I don’t want to hear one damn word you have to say because it’s all bullshit and self-serving. You’re a shameful council member.
I am sick and tired of hearing that Duenas is a poor, Latina, deaf woman as her immediate go-to statement and reasoning for everything – never mentioning or caring about anybody else’s plight. It disgusts me. She wants us to care for the homeless people that somehow find money for drugs and destroy the threads of our community by laying about all over our gateways, spinning out on every street corner, crapping in front of our businesses, and destroying the quality of life we once enjoyed. These people don’t live here, they are not from here, they are not ‘our own’. I don’t want to hear about it anymore Josefina. Until you can change your myopic view, I don’t want to hear one damn word you have to say because it’s all bullshit and self-serving. You’re a shameful council member.
Her performance was the least amount of leadership I have ever witnessed. To the contrary she sounded like a hobo asking for change no wonder she supports them.
And it makes me wonder do we want leaders who simply cry about their situations or find ways to improve things? Sad sad display and everyone saw it.
Jordan is correct I’m done with this city council and I’m definitely not voting for her or a couple others in the upcoming elections.
Duenas is up for re-election, you think the voters are smart enough to vote her out? We will see!
Rodin and Sher need to go next.
I remember the good old days when if somebody shoplifted two store clerks, stomped the shit out of them with boots in front of the store. That’s the way it used to work. Now if you touch a shoplifter as an employee at Walmart you get fired because of the liability risk in court. Circa 1996 at Willits Safeway I saw a shoplifter get half kicked to death by employees. The Willits PD showed up and arrested the shoplifter. The employees went back to bagging groceries. That’s the way it should be. But now these huge corporations are afraid of getting sued out of existence. You’re not even allowed to stop a shoplifter physically. All they can do is observe and call the cops now.
Probably employees used to actually respect their job and the company they worked for. Now employees of safeway don’t give a shit cause the safeway co doesn’t give a shit about them.
Actually that was 1994. I remember now.
Prop 36 is the line in the sand.
We have had enough of this soft peddling nonsense.
36 will pass by a mile in this once great state.
The Ukiah city council should remember the election in November. Why take the side of crooks who didn’t vote, let alone for them?
Ukiah has a mayor?
Yes.
Their biggest roll is to chair the meetings.
Haha!! Hahahahaaaa!!
It’s all good on paper, but let’s just say it for what it is. These agencies that profit off “mental health treatments” have no incentive to cure anything, as thier profits are directly tied to the problem. Positioning their incentives to propagate the problem for profits, rather than solve it. Giving the people who cause the problem more and more money. This problem will never be solved unless we hold people accountable. DA David eyster has a long history of corruption and persecuting anyone who stands in his way… drain the swamp, but don’t expect the swamp to drain itself.
The US had mental treatment facilities at one point in time. That’s where the temple of 10000 buddas took over the old husk of the mental health hospital in the area. There is no mental health systems in the US anymore. This is why the private market won’t fix this problem.
Shall we start counting Ukiah city council STUPIDITY VOTES AND MIS-DO-MEANERS?
1000 – 1
1000 – 2
1OOO – 3
Keep going cc….you’re on a roll!
I realize this article is about bashing the City council (CC) or at least certain members. People really need to consider the cost to the community to house more local inmates so there would be less crime in their respective communities. I don’t see anyone here talking about the costs to incarcerating more people vs letting off petty crimes.
I’m going to push back on your “this article is about bashing the City council (CC) or at least certain members”. I gave space for each city councilmembers’ perspective followed by the rebuttals offered by their colleagues or the public. That’s called balance,”not bashing”.
What moronic comment! Who cares about the cost, you’re tax dollars going to homeless to live on the street and commit crime. At least in jail, they would be out of the elements, fed and a cot. Not vandalizing, stealing and assaulting people. Property owners are paying the price as we speak, not only do they pay taxes, they pay to fix the vandalism that occurs to their property.
We are paying for them regardless of where they are.
We can pay for them to live on the streets, stealing from us, pooping in creeks, leaving trash and needles, eventually picking up their dead bodies.
Or we can push them into treatment, paying for that or for incarceration when they fail to accept the help.
The choice is ours.
I’ll respond to Adam to keep my response succinct and I think Adam has been actively pushing to improve the community in many ways.
I (personally) want to put repeat offenders of the peace into wards or detention centers until they finish rehab or spend time behind bars, but CA and its localities have so much mismanagement that it has resorted to closing prisons and reducing inmate populations.
There’s an article on this and it has pretty revealing numbers: “Here’s why it costs $132,860 to house a prisoner in California”
We are paying for mismanagement not the mental cases. This is my distinction from your comment.
The choice is ours. I hope our voters are aware of what is happening with our elected officials to make a choice or otherwise we are throwing darts at a board with a blindfold.
Ex:
The voters voted for Measure B to rehab drug addicts and due to mismanagement we are paying the price for a jail that once was already paid for by the state. -Mismanagement
Research the initiatives and tally the costs we are paying now. You might change your mind.
Making harsher laws won’t necessarily put these repeat offenders behind bars for their crimes. Mendocino County is breaking its back(and trust with the community) just to get this new local jail built. The State is paying over $132k per inmate. If these structural problems don’t get remedied, than it doesn’t matter what laws are passed at the civic level.
DA won’t do anything anyways. Bought and paid for.. Whole county is corrupt to the core, no exceptions! When even the auditor is in jail what does that tell you?! The weed industry is a joke, so Ukiah doesn’t have anything other than insurance and child support revenue A.K.A. Title IV-D! Yes, children are being placed in unsavory environments for the incentives given to the county.
Unfortunately in Ukiah and Mendocino County you can’t fix stupid elected officials.
Ukiah and Mendocino County has turned into a junkie dumping ground. I could throw a rock in any direction and I would hit a druggie scumbag. Ukiah and Mendocino Officials don’t give a crap about the scumbags. Yet they have taken the drug money that comes into the community from illegal grow operations. Freakin hypocrites!
Our country has gone to shit thanks to greed
Thank you for the coverage. However for journalistic integrity: name corrections: Ferdinand Thieriot not Frances Theirot. Tracy Thieriot not Tracy Theirot and Juan Orozo not Jose Orozco. The financial argument was proposed by Rodin- not Sher. And Tracy’s daughter was NOT one of the teens accosted by Angel Miller in January. Please check your facts before publishing.
Thank you for pointing out the misspellings and needed corrections. However, Rodin did bring up the fiscal effects. See 2:06:00 of the video and she brings up the “fiscal effects” specifically.” https://ukiahca.portal.civicclerk.com/event/1960/media
Yes- as stated in my comment that is what I was correcting that Rodin brought it up-
Matt, I’m so grateful for this reporting and for your work! Thankful for local journalism! Boy, it sure is precious.
Instead of putting Humans that have community services hours/co jail inmates on highway’s…..Also …Put them on the clean up of graffiti of buildings, clean up the homeless garbage areas, clean up the parks in the county, have them grow a community garden for a give back to community (food)……