On Thursday, the state’s powerful coastal land-use agency will determine whether the City of Santa Cruz can expand its street-sweeping program in a way that local homeless advocates say targets houseless people who live in their cars.
In August, the Santa Cruz City Council agreed to pilot a new way of conducting its street-sweeping program on the lower and upper Westside and in Seabright. Between 5 and 7 a.m. on Tuesday, the city would prohibit parking on one side of the street, and on Thursday the opposite side, so a sweeper vehicle could access curbs where trash and debris often collect. Cars that don’t move could be towed and ticketed.
The city’s existing street sweeping program does not require a curb cleared of cars, nor does it threaten any sort of towing…