Fresno ordinance addressing private property trespassing

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno city leaders are offering new powers to local business owners.

Tuesday, council members Garry Bredefeld, Mike Karbassi and Tyler Maxwell introduced a new ordinance, giving owners the right to ask people to leave when they trespass on private property.

They say this legislation offers something to owners that is not currently an option.

"You're at your favorite coffee shop, and there are several people sleeping inside across the span of multiple hours; the business owners cannot call the police for help if those individuals refuse to leave. I can't imagine that good for business," said Maxwell.

Maxwell says his office constantly gets calls from business owners dealing with this problem.

"Having your patrons be afraid of visiting you is a death sentence for these businesses. This common-sense ordinance will change that. It will be a tool to help small businesses, local businesses," said Maxwell.

If people refuse to leave after being notified, owners can call the police, and trespassers can be charged with a misdemeanor and face a $1,000 fine or one year in jail.

For Kemi Fagbule, owner of the Fagbule Glass House, she knows firsthand the damage people invading a property can cause.

"They come, they trespass, they trash the place to the point they burn down my building, my precious building. Now, you can imagine I'm still paying mortgage on an empty building," said Fagbule.

She says she still pays nearly $9,000 a month for a space that is now a dirt lot.

For her Pink Palace beauty supply store, she's constantly on edge that something similar can happen again.

"This Pink Palace a couple of weeks ago, somebody was at the back of the building cooking and he almost burned the whole building," said Fagbule.

But not everyone supports the proposed legislation, arguing it further targets the unhoused community following the no-camping ordinance.

"When the criminalization ordinance went through, we knew we only had a couple places to go -- they just took those couple places away," said Dez Martinez, 'We are not Invisible' CEO.

Advocate Dez Martinez says she believes some businesses are okay with allowing unhoused individuals to stay because they protect people from breaking in.

"Whether you're housed or unhoused, crime is crime. Housed people do it, unhoused people do it," said Martinez.

However, city leaders say the latest changes are meant to improve everyone's quality of life.

"This, along with recent measures we've taken and the supreme court ruling, are steps we can take to hopefully push the unhoused to places they need to go to get treatment," said councilmember Mike Karbassi.

The ordinance will be voted on at city council on Thursday.

If passed, it will come back for a second reading a few weeks later, and if approved at that time, it will go into effect 30 days after that.

All trespassing cases will be handled through the city attorney's office.

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