Fighting among the burbs over the homeless? Pity. What these people need is a high speed bullet train. Yeah, that's the ticket...!



LOS ANGELES -- The 405 Freeway underpass along Venice Boulevard has become a flashpoint in the escalating homelessness crisis plaguing Southern California.

The road is a border between worlds. On the north side of the famed street is Los Angeles -- and a sidewalk packed with sun-bleached tents, dirty sleeping bags, bikes in various states of disrepair and even a few surfboards belonging to residents of the underpass’ homeless population. On the south side is Culver City, a storied moviemaking hub and a peaceful suburban oasis.

On a recent weekday morning, Culver City’s side was noticeably bereft of any sign of the homeless sprawl just across the street, save for a lone tent.

Scenes like this are apparent across the Los Angeles region, where homeless camps and tent cities have cropped up all over the city of Los Angeles while just across the border in suburbs like Culver City, Manhattan Beach and Rancho Palos Verdes these encampments are nowhere to be seen. This disparity has infuriated Los Angeles city councilmembers and led to claims that L.A.’s neighbors are not just shirking their responsibility in tackling the region’s homeless crisis, but are actively pushing the homeless into L.A.’s city limits.

“They’re slacking, and some are not even doing that much,” Branimir Kvartuc, a spokesperson for L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino, told Fox News. “Some are taking the homeless out of their cities and moving them to the L.A. city side.”

These accusations come amid a damning report to local lawmakers that revealed Los Angeles saw a 16 percent increase in its homeless population over last year – soaring to more than 36,000 people living on the streets and landing a blow to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city officials working to add more affordable housing and social services. Overall in the bigger Los Angeles County, the homeless population rose 12 percent compared with last year’s count, bringing the total population to almost 59,000.

“We came down here from Santa Barbara because there are more opportunities for work and it seems like there is more support here,” Lauri, a home care worker who recently lost her job and home after the company she worked for went out of business, told Fox News. She added that she and her partner, Cory, have only been living on the streets for a week, but that it will be tough getting back on their feet.

“It’s tough to even get a job interview when you’re living out of a tent,” said Cory, who previously worked as a personal trainer. “I have nowhere to shave or clean myself or iron my clothes.”

Some Los Angeles officials point to the disparity in the number of homeless living in the city as compared with the rest of the county as evidence that neighboring towns are pushing the homeless out of their communities and across the city boundaries. While L.A.’s population of around 4 million people makes up only about 38 percent of the county’s total population, the roughly 36,000 homeless people living in the city account for 61 percent of Los Angeles County’s overall homeless population.

“All things being equal, the numbers just don’t add up,” Kvartuc said.

The practice of sweeping the homeless out of certain communities and into others first came to light early in 2018 when video surfaced of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LACSD) deputies allegedly moving a homeless man out of the upmarket L.A. suburb of Rancho Palos Verdes and leaving him in San Pedro, an L.A. neighborhood that is in Buscaino’s district.

While the LACSD did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment, Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the department, told The Los Angeles Times last year that the homeless man was not “dumped” in San Pedro, but the deputies were “performing an act of compassionate service” by taking the man to a bus stop.

“This call is not a case of dumping,” Nishida said. Kvartuc countered that in the video, there is no bus stop in sight.

Buscaino and other councilmembers aren’t buying the claims by law enforcement agencies throughout the county that the practice of “dumping” homeless within Los Angeles city limits is not occurring.

“Instead of allowing people to sleep on their sidewalks, they are encouraging people, or compelling people, to move to the city of Los Angeles to do that,” L.A. Councilman Mike Bonin, whose district borders Culver City, told The Los Angeles Times.

Last week, Buscaino and Bonin asked City Attorney Mike Feuer to look into any possible legal action that could be taken to force smaller cities to stop the practice of sweeping the homeless into Los Angeles.

The councilmembers argue that some neighboring cities are openly disobeying a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from last year that found that prosecuting homeless people for sleeping on public property when they have no access to a shelter was in violation of the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The debate over shelters and affordable housing is a much larger issue in California, but L.A. city officials say they just want their neighbors to follow the law and do their part.

“We’re shining a light on the 9th Circuit decision because we’re doubtful some of these cities are even aware of the 9th Circuit ruling,” Kvartuc said. “Councilmember Buscaino is just asking other cities to do what Los Angeles is doing, because it’s one of the few cities in the region doing something about the homelessness crisis.”

Officials in Culver City – whose police force has been repeatedly accused of ordering the homeless to move out of its borders – denied participating in the practice of “dumping” and said they have not issued a citation for sleeping on public property for at least 10 years.

“We have a significant homeless population, but we’re very attentive and we follow the law,” Culver City Manager John Nachbar told Fox News. “We’re a small city but we have significant resources dedicated to public safety.”

When asked about the visible difference between the two sides of the Venice Boulevard border, Nachbar said he was unsure why the homeless encampment was in Los Angeles city, but said maybe the homeless “choose to levitate where there is less attention.”

As for sweeping the homeless into Los Angeles, he added: “I’m not aware of any type of situation like that. We don’t do that.”

Nachbar’s claims run counter to what some people living in the homeless encampment along the 405 underpass say is happening.

“I came across to this side because I don’t want to get harassed by the Culver City cops,” Tzarina, a recovering heroin user who has been living on the L.A. side of the underpass for about three months, told Fox News. “Los Angeles is more open, more understanding of our situation here.”

She added: “In Culver City, it’s like the suburbs. They don’t want to see you there.”



https://www.foxnews.com/politi...cials-burbs-homeless

I travel to LA frequently for work. I stay at the Courtyard at 405 and Sepulveda. The homeless population has exploded over the past few years. Along the Ballona Bike Path (Marina Del Rey and heads inland) has large homeless encampments.

What the City of LA doesn't seem to get, the more services you provide (taxpayer provided shelters), the more consumers you get (homeless traveling to take advantages of services).

Usually, behavior that you reward increases and behavior that you punish decreases.

This is a very subtle and difficult to grasp concept; kinda like the limit theorem in calculus.

"landing a blow to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and other city officials working to add more affordable housing and social services."

Well, yes, the homeless will migrate to the places where services are best. LA is (supposedly) making great strides to improve the lot of the homeless as a result they will get more homeless.
When the homeless, many/most of whom are addicts and/or mentally disturbed, have a rational moment, they will move to the welcoming side of the road.

Actually LA is trying to displace San Francisco as the designation spot for west coast homeless, of course there is Seattle.

quote:

What the City of LA doesn't seem to get, the more services you provide (taxpayer provided shelters), the more consumers you get (homeless traveling to take advantages of services).

If the people of the City of LA or the State of California understood economics, or even had any basic common sense, they wouldn't vote for the GDC socialist democrats who run the place.

If you build it, they will come.

Go to hell Commiefornia. You created the problem, fostered it, tried to shame the rest of the country into thinking your ideals should be the norm. Now you have off the charts homelessness, shit literally in the streets, and financial disarray that you hide behind claims of the 10 largest economy in the world.

Smoke and mirrors.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving city. Here's hoping the problem multiplies in spades.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Shugart:
Usually, behavior that you reward increases and behavior that you punish decreases.

This is a very subtle and difficult to grasp concept; kinda like the limit theorem in calculus.

They grasp it. Everyone grasps it.

It's a huge problem. And they're farming them out to other places, too. I live and work in a small Midwestern town, population about 15,000. A few years back our small, church-operated, homeless shelter was replaced by one that's part of a larger not-for-profit organization. This seemed like a good idea at the time as they had more resources and provided a more structured environment than the smaller church-run facility.

Problem is the new place has their own way of doing things. They call an ambulance for every little complaint, from sore feet to difficulty breathing... they have a max capacity of about 50 people living there at a time, and I hear least 1-2 EMS calls per day. Guess who's picking up the tab for that?

They also won't admit anybody after 8pm, or answer the phone. I work nights, so if we encounter a person who legitimately needs a place to stay for the night due to circumstances beyond their control, the shelter is zero help to us. They have a zero tolerance policy for alcohol...anything over .000 on a pbt and they won't admit a person. I'm ok with this...I'm all for holding people accountable...except for the following issue:

They import people. Because they're part of a larger organization, if someone somewhere else over-extends their stay at another shelter, or there are capacity issues, these other shelters will put them on a bus and send them to our town. I've dealt with people from other cities in our state, and even as far away as Delaware and Arizona. So now we have folks with no local ties or support structure whatsoever that the shelter brought here, then they go out and get drunk or high and the shelter kicks them out and won't take them back. Local PD gets stuck dealing with them, sometimes more than once per night. If they're over .24 on a pbt, the jail won't take them so an officer gets taken off the street for hours waiting on medical clearance at the hospital. EMS and local hospitals have to treat them, and the taxpayer foots the bill...all while being exposed to their drunken shennanigans and having to step over the piles of feces they leave in the middle of the sidewalk (and that's quite literal, btw).

And that is why jurisdictions try to push them off on other places. I'm all for handing them a greyhound ticket and sending them down the road...the $50 it cost would be a huge savings in the long run.