Gardena, CA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Gardena Municipal Code § 9.60.010, in Chapter 9.60, Obstruction of Businesses and Sidewalks, bars sitting or lying on a public sidewalk or median, or on a blanket, chair, stool or other unaffixed object placed there, within any commercial or industrial zone during set hours: 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on weekdays and 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Subsection B carves out six exceptions: a medical emergency; use of a wheelchair, walker or similar device due to disability; operating or patronizing a sidewalk business under a city permit; sitting in a bus stop zone while waiting for transportation; participating in a permitted parade, festival, rally or similar event; or engaging in activity protected by the First Amendment, though subsection C clarifies none of those exceptions excuses conduct otherwise unlawful.

Enforcement is graduated: subsection D bars any citation unless the person was first warned by a law enforcement officer that their conduct violated the section and continued anyway. The chapter's companion provisions reinforce the same policy against sidewalk occupation, § 9.60.020 separately bars obstructing pedestrian or vehicular passage on posted private property open to the public, punishable as a misdemeanor per the required warning sign, and § 9.60.030 bars remaining at a business after being told to leave.