Peters said that although officers have impounded vehicles because of leaking sewage, expired registrations or other violations, "RVs are such a small part of what we're doing down there."
Last month several RV dwellers whose vehicles bear license plates or placards for the disabled filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court alleging Los Angeles police were targeting their vehicles for selective enforcement in Venice because they are homeless.
The lawsuit said plaintiffs had been subjected to "harassing stops" prompted by "bogus assertions of equipment failures," such as a nonfunctioning taillight.
"I think it's particularly pernicious that the police department and the city would violate the law by discriminating against people with disabilities," who are exempt from many parking restrictions, said Carol A. Sobel, a Santa Monica attorney who helped file the suit.
Venice property owners have for years prodded the city to enforce the law against sleeping overnight in vehicles. They complain that occupants use alleys for bathrooms, party late into the night and dump waste into storm drains.
But other residents and homeless advocates argue that homelessness is being criminalized in Venice.
"It's become a huge, tension-filled issue," said Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the community and has been caught in the cross-fire between opposing factions.
The City Council recently approved an ordinance prohibiting "oversize" vehicles from parking on the street between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. City street crews are expected to begin installing signs in areas where two-thirds of residents have signed petitions favoring the restrictions.
"People should be mad at the city," Sobel said. "They should ask why it is we spend so much money on police when it would be far cheaper to house people."
For two years Rosendahl has promoted a "vehicles-to-homes" plan, modeled on a Santa Barbara program, that would allow RV dwellers to stay overnight in designated lots if they took advantage of programs aimed at getting them into permanent housing.
But critics say the program has been too slow to come to fruition at a time when the city has too few shelter beds to accommodate the need.
A summer survey in Venice and nearby areas identified more than 250 vehicles that appeared to be domiciles, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
But stepped-up enforcement has pushed hundreds of people into adjoining neighborhoods and farther from the social service resources they need, said Steve Clare, executive director of the Venice Community Housing Corp.
"The city has to take up this issue on a citywide level," Clare said.
The death of longtime Venice resident James Hunter, whose body was found Dec. 1 in his Ford van, spurred homeless advocates to meet Thursday with Rosendahl to urge him to impose a holiday moratorium on citations of RV dwellers and homeless individuals.
Rosendahl said he was opposed to such a move.
"There will be no moratorium" on the ordinance forbidding overnight sleeping in vehicles, he said. "The law is the law."
But on the streets, the death of Hunter, who earned money as a sign painter, is being seen as fallout from the recent crackdown.
"It really woke me up," said David Busch, 55, who said he has been homeless in and around Venice for the last dozen years.
Hunter "was a friendly, a quiet, gentle guy," Busch said. "But the man had a heart condition and was terrified that he would be targeted. All these punitive measures it's just snowballed and gotten out of control."
Busch said he joined the protest Saturday to appeal to residents of Venice who want to address the homeless problem, not kick it out of town.
"Show your love Venice!" Busch shouted. "Stop the homeless kick-out now!"
The group headed north banging a drum through the theater of the beach boardwalk. Past the medical marijuana hawkers, jugglers and musicians who gave them thumbs up. Past tourists who snapped photos. And past a disheveled man sitting on the ground who seemed oblivious to the police vehicle inching toward him from behind.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-homeless-parking-20101212,0,7121745,print.story
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Here's another recent article about the homeless .. one from a decidedly different perspectie:
He Found Bag of Cash, But Did the Unexpected
by Marc Lacey
New York Times
December 12, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. For a homeless man like Dave Tally, the $3,300 in cash that he found in an abandoned backpack a few weeks ago would have gone a long way. Food. Shelter. Repairs to his bicycle. Spending it would not have been a problem.
But Mr. Tally, who is recovering from drug and alcohol addictions, transformed his life in a different way: by turning the money in.
He gave the backpack to the Tempe Community Action Agency, the social service organization where he volunteers, whose officials managed to trace it to Bryan Belanger, an Arizona State University student who lost the money while on his way to buy a used car.
In news accounts, Mr. Tally has been praised as a homeless hero. People moved by his selflessness have sent him checks totaling far more than was in the backpack and have offered him jobs to help him get on his feet.
On Thursday night, Mayor Hugh Hallman read a proclamation declaring it Dave Tally Day. Mr. Tally was taciturn, having recently undergone dental surgery in preparation for a whole new set of teeth donated by a local dentist. A lawyer stepped forward, too, to help Mr. Tally try to handle an old court case.
I never imagined all this, Mr. Tally, 49, said as he emerged from City Hall and went out onto the streets where he has scraped by for the past decade. I just thought we'd turn the backpack over and it would be over with.
Mr. Belanger was the first to thank Mr. Tally for his good deed with a reward. It's humbling, Mr. Belanger told The Arizona Republic, and it puts things into perspective.
Mr. Tally's decision to turn in the money has prompted animated discussions on the streets of Tempe, where many of the drifters know him.
I would have spent every last cent, said Will Colby, 30, who was sitting on a bench with friends trying to get enough spare change for a motel room. I'd be in a resort in Mexico right now.
His companion, a woman who identified herself as E.T., said she once found $1,400 in cash in an envelope next to an A.T.M. and did not think twice about keeping it. I stayed in a motel for a long time on that money, she said.
But Mark Mullins, who lost his job and was playing the guitar to try to raise money for his children, said there was inspiration in what Mr. Tally had done. You do what's right, he said, and everything turns out all right.
Mr. Tally's downward spiral began in 1999 when his driver's license was suspended after he was arrested on a drunken-driving charge. He then lost his job as a supervisor of a landscape firm. Then he lost his house.
I never gave much thought to homeless people, Mr. Tally said. I never imagined myself that way. I worked every day. I had a place to live. But all that changed fast.
Mr. Tally said he had set up a savings account for the donations, which already exceed $8,000. He is working with counselors to develop a plan for the money, which he imagines will involve computer training. He is also sifting through the job offers.
The best part of his decision, he said, is that he may have helped change the negative image of homeless people. Mr. Tally recounted how one of his friends from the street called out to him the other day: Thanks, man. You made us all look good.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/us/12backpack.html?ref=us |
