Los Angeles OKs sweeping ban on homeless camps near schools

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

Los Angeles OKs sweeping ban on homeless camps near schools

August 3, 2022

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to ban homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers during a meeting that was disrupted by protesters who said it criminalizes homelessness.

The council voted 11-3 to vastly broaden an existing ban on sitting, sleeping or camping that currently only applies to daycare centers and schools specified by the council. The vote, which applies to public and private schools, came after a previous vote last month failed to pass unanimously.

The meeting was recessed for about an hour before the vote after dozens of people became unruly, at one point chanting “shut it down!”

A second and final vote will still be needed next week.

-snip-

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/california-los-angeles-homelessness-9274e307f2d844c7b1bc5069271ee1e7

[maxsolomon]

1. I just don't know what to say any more.

Homeless encampments are public health threats.

They're dangerous for the residents.

They're also a logical response to the crisis these people find themselves in.

For Schools and Daycares, they're mainly just unsightly. I don't like seeing them, either, but I'm not sure how they are a threat to those businesses and the kids that attend them.

[Magoo48]

2. Camps? Camps my ass. This isn't fucking camping. They are slums' slums. They are whack-a-mole

Hoovervilles springing to life, appropriately, where we must see them. As the billionaires of dystopia bound, vulture capitalism bloat and ooz unchecked in our midst, their inevitable, funhouse mirror images mock them at every turn here in California.

Leave these constant reminders exactly where they arise until you have a real option for these Americans hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

You can’t legislate away poverty. Children need to watch it grow. We all need to watch it grow right in front of our eyes. Ask your CHILDREN what should be done. You know what most will say? Give them a home and something to eat, that’s what they will say.

Come for a visit. Drive around. It takes some of the shine off our bluest of the blue state.