Is Los Angeles the worst run city in America - Homeless Update
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti signs ordinance criminalizing homelessness following City Council vote in favor of it
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The mayor of Los Angeles signed an ordinance Thursday making it unlawful for people to "sit, lie, sleep" or otherwise situate their belongings in the "public right of way," according to CBS LA.
The measure makes it illegal to sit, lie, sleep, or set up encampments near "sensitive use" properties, and other areas such as streets, overpasses, underpasses, freeway ramps, and more as mentioned in the document, and as reported by FOX 11.
The mayor of Los Angeles signed an ordinance Thursday making it unlawful for people to "sit, lie, sleep" or otherwise situate their belongings in the "public right of way" - a law that will almost exclusively disenfranchise the unhoused population of LA.
According to the official action, Mayor Eric Garcetti had until August 9 to act. He signed a day after the Los Angeles City Council voted in favor of the ordinance 13-2, as mentioned in a previous Insider article.
The ordinance goes into effect 30 days from signing, CBS LA reported. Garcetti did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The ordinance restricts "sitting, lying, or sleeping or storing, using, maintaining, or placing personal property in the public right-of-way." The measure makes it illegal to sit, lie, sleep, or set up encampments within 500 feet from "sensitive use" properties, such as schools, parks, and libraries, and other areas such as "overpasses, underpasses, freeway ramps, tunnels, bridges, pedestrian bridges, subways, washes, spreading grounds, or active railways."
The ordinance also makes it illegal to sit, lie, sleep, or set up encampments within 1,000 feet of or on a "street, sidewalk, or other public right-of-way."
LA residents and organizations have posted their grievances and opposition to the ordinance on Twitter, and have made plans to camp outside of Garcetti's house in protest.
Mike Bonin, one of two city council members who voted against the ordinance, noted during the vote that the city only has enough shelter beds for 39% of the unhoused population.
"What about the other 61%?" Bonin asked.
Bonin shared his own story of being unhoused during the meeting.
"Some of those nights I slept in the car, some of those nights, when my car was in the shop, I slept on the beach. I cannot tell you how much turmoil is in your heart when the sun is setting and you don't know where to sleep," he said, according to Spectrum News. "I cannot tell you how demoralizing and dehumanizing and defeating that experience is when you don't know where you're going to sleep."
He said the ordinance tells people where they cannot sleep, but it doesn't tell them where they can sleep.
"That's what it comes down to for me ... where can people go, where can people sleep when they do not have an alternative," Bonin said.
Read more about the anti-homeless ordinance here.
Reach out to this reporter at tmitchell@insider.com for tips.
A Homeless Village Is Growing on Apple’s Silicon Valley Property
According to recent reports, a growing homeless encampment has been set up on dozens of acres of undeveloped land in the heart of Silicon Valley owned by tech giant Apple.
VICE News reports that despite Apple committing billions of dollars to fix California’s housing crisis, an encampment of homeless people living in RVs, shacks, and tents has taken over dozens of acres of undeveloped land owned by Apple in the center of Silicon Valley.
Between 30 to 100 homeless people have reportedly set up camp on the property owned by Apple in North San Jose. The area covers about 55 acres according to the local CBS affiliate KPIX. Some current residents of the site say that they feel they can be left alone there, despite the area’s proximity to PayPal’s corporate headquarters and other office buildings.
Before the start of the coronavirus pandemic, around 6,000 homeless people lived in San Jose with fewer than 1,000 beds available to them. It’s common for homeless people living outdoors and in vehicles across the Bay Area to be moved from place to place by security and police, those staying on the Apple property have largely been left alone according to Renee Corona who has lived in an RV on the property for nearly two years.
Corona, who receives disability payments but cannot afford to live in San Francisco where she was raised, stated: “This is an area where you’re secluded from the city. I don’t think a lot of people knew about this.” She added: “I’m grateful that they don’t kick us out. I just want to say thank you. They don’t bother us.”
San Jose City Council member David Cohen, whose district includes the property, told VICE News that his office is trying to schedule a meeting with Apple to discuss the site. “We’re setting up a meeting so that I can begin to talk to them about what we might be able to do to help the people who are living there, and to figure out some plan for offering services,” Cohen said.
Read more at VICE News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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