XPost: la.general, sac.politics, alt.politics.republicans
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
From: bankrupt-liars-and-damned-near-out-of-business@nytimes.com

In Los Angeles, the law against sleeping on the sidewalk
(Municipal Code 41.18) has gradually been undone by a series of
court rulings. Now, the City Council is trying to update the law
in a way that would be in line with those rulings but also give
the city some control over where people can sleep.

In 2007, LA was sued by the ACLU in a case called Jones v. Los
Angeles. The case concluded with LA agreeing it would only
enforce the anti-camping code in certain limited circumstances.
But the law took another hit last year when the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals ruled against a law in Boise which prohibited
sleeping on the sidewalk. The court concluded that it was cruel
and unusual to prevent people from sleeping in public spaces so
long as there weren’t any beds available to them. What that
means for LA, according to some, is that unless the city can
offer a bed to the 36,000+ homeless that reside there, it can’t
enforce the anti-sleeping laws. Sice LA only has about 8,000
shelter beds, that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. But the
LA City Council is trying to update the law and the LA Times
reports that a city attorney argues there is a way to update the
law and make it enforceable despite the Boise decision:

The proposed rules were unveiled at the council’s homelessness
committee meeting Wednesday at City Hall, where Senior Assistant
City Atty. Valerie Flores said that prohibiting people from
sleeping near schools, parks, newly established shelters and in
other specified areas would be legally defensible, even after
the federal decision that tossed out rules against sleeping on
public property in Boise…

Flores argued that L.A.’s existing laws on sidewalk sleeping
“would benefit from modernization, clarification and a better
balance between the competing needs of persons using the public
right-of-way.”

After meeting with Flores and other city staffers behind closed
doors Wednesday, O’Farrell laid out the proposed rules: No
sitting, lying down or sleeping within 500 feet of schools,
parks or day care centers. No bedding down near homeless
housing, shelters or other facilities to serve homeless people
that have opened in recent years.

People would also be banned from bunking down on bicycle paths,
in tunnels or on bridges designated as school routes, in public
areas with signs barring trespassing or setting closing times
for safety or maintenance purposes, and in crowded areas near
big venues such as Staples Center.

Naturally, homeless advocates are not pleased with the new plan
and are pointing out that the rule against sleeping within 500
feet of a park would put much of Skid Row off limits. From LAist:

Peggy Lee Kennedy, an advocate for the homeless from Venice who
attended Wednesday’s meeting, called the proposal “inhumane.”
She was particularly concerned about the 500-foot rule
pertaining to parks, saying it would force homeless people to
camp far from public bathrooms.

“If you’re living outside, nobody is going to let you use their
bathroom. So you have to go to a park. If you can’t be within
500 feet of a park, that means you have to go 500 feet to pee or
poop.”…

Homeless advocate Jed Parriott said the rules could lead to ever
greater concentrations of homeless encampments.

“This severely limits where you can camp legally, which is going
to effectively create containment zones like Skid Row all over
the city,” Parriot said.

I don’t think anyone involved believes changing this law would
lead to Skid Row disappearing overnight. But while the city
works on dealing with this long-term problem through new
housing, temporary beds, and mental health and drug abuse
treatment the city also needs to maintain some control over the
streets. The new law seems aimed at reinforcing that the city’s
sidewalks are not a free-for-all in which the homeless exist
outside the law.

The city attorney was asked to draft an ordinance. Once that’s
done, it will have to come before the City Council again to be
approved. So this is far from a done deal at the moment. But as
one recently elected member of the council points out, the
homeless aren’t the only people involved here:

John Lee, who was recently elected to represent the northwestern
San Fernando Valley in a council race that focused heavily on
homelessness, said he was still reviewing the proposed rules but
called them “a good step” toward protecting public safety and
ensuring sidewalks are accessible.

“As I said during the campaign, we need to be compassionate to
homeless people,” Lee said. “But we have to be compassionate to
businesses and homeowners too.”

Here’s a local news report on the issue:

https://youtu.be/d9rY9DnX-NE

https://hotair.com/archives/john-s-2/2019/08/26/los-angeles- considers-rules-homeless-can-sleep-advocates/

TAGS: 2020 Democrat Retards Homosexual Pedophile Socialist
Morons Eric Garcetti Idiot No Balls Sissy Cunt Weak Bitch

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)