The eviction of Skid Row Los Angeles has begun. Videos; Dial-up warning. This may piss you off. [View all]

[Fire Walk With Me]

Last edited Tue Jun 26, 2012, 02:09 PM - Edit history (12)

The below video includes much of what I've written here, if you wish to skip to it...and I apologize for the unclear nature of this article. I work myself past exhaustion on this stuff and while intending to get out the story in a timely manner, lose cohesiveness and clarity.

As depicted in the true story "The Soloist", the rich in Los Angeles (the "CCA&quot influence the city council and get their way (which is Mussolini's definition of Fascism) and have LAPD clear the homeless from an area they wish to gentrify into ritzy, for-profit rentals. They easily succeeded.

Now they are again attempting it, but in a more gentle, more conniving manner.

CCA are contracted to sweep the streets in areas of downtown, as well as collect trash from garbage cans and to twice-weekly power wash Skid Row. In May, they ceased these activities. Not oddly at all, shortly before then, the Health Department were concluding a report on Skid Row, finding and documenting some situations which required action. I will not attempt to contest the facts of these findings, but I will present the CCA's involvement in creating them.

A while back, something called the "Safer Cities Initiative" was introduced, extremely loosely based upon the "Broken Windows Theory", implying that a single homeless person will attract the rest of them, bringing harm to the area. Laws were enacted to force the homeless to break down their tents or sleeping arrangements at 6AM every day, until 9PM at night. Only recently has consideration been added regarding truly inclement conditions; Row residents tell me that they used to be forced to be in the rain until 9PM. Also, it is illegal to either sit or sleep upon the sidewalk. Breaking any of these laws will result in an arrest. There have been more arrests on the Row than there are total residents. Whether these laws achieve anything other than seriously inconveniencing the homeless remains to be seen.

Recently, 50 police were assigned to Skid Row at a cost of $6,000,000 per year. Note that only $5,700,000 per year is spent upon homeless services for the entire city. Skid Row is about ten square blocks. The main issue of the Row is to create long-term housing for these people, and that money would go very far along those lines. The priorities are obvious.

The City is barred from seizing homeless people's property through a Federal injunction. Police must place a 24-hour warning tag upon any property in question. Only then can they remove it. It used to be that police would simply grab up property found unattended, even if it included identification, medicine, personal paperwork, etc. Even now with the Injunction, they will still raid when and where they wish, sometimes "losing" the claims slip for what they've seized. This makes it extremely difficult for the homeless to go to doctor's appointments, to apply for housing, to find food, much less to go to the public restroom. The CCA are nearly literally forcing people to stay very close to their property, even if it means sometimes avoiding public restrooms!

So now there is something new under the blazing Southern California sun. Because the city is barred from simply clearing homeless encampments, using the Health Department's study they have called in the County to do cleaning. Local homeless have been agreeable to the previous power washes, moving their property to the street and back afterward. I have video of such. So, they moved their belongings when the County came in yesterday to clean the street where Occupy Skid Row reside.

Then the police said "You cannot return to where you were, and you cannot stay where you are now." Big surprise. OSR is on a street not appearing in the Health Department's study, yet the County are cleaning it and a few nearby streets before areas deemed as requiring immediate action. Police now say all large properties must be stored in their facilities (which are taking money from homelessness funds, stealing it from the people who need it). Police say all property must be mobile, and kept moving all day long, until the one of the Injunctions kicks in at 9PM and people are allowed to sleep. At 6AM, they must begin moving around again until the night.

Seriously. It's right there in the video. Although the police do not specifically say where the homeless are expected to go, it is obviously implied.

Occupy Skid Row defy the police and re-Occupy their area. Police are quick to respond, although they seem to have not expected this to happen. (Then again, the three streets they cleared earlier this week are empty, the residents having been told they'd be arrested if they returned.)

Police threaten OSR with arrest. OSR defy them again. Later in the afternoon, police chief Beck is spotted in a cruiser creeping by, seeing things for himself. This implies that the "problem" has been kicked fairly far up the decision tree, which means Someone Wants Action Now, and the police have to figure out how to apply it.

As of this evening, there has been no raid, although it is likely a foregone conclusion. Much more so than the city taking action to provide what the Health Department has Recommended, and which the extremely successful and money-saving Project 50 shows can be accomplished through placing even the most severely homeless among us into long-term housing. $6,000,000 a year for extra police, or for homeless housing.

This is a story of long-term struggle between the people, most notably the Los Angeles Community Action Network, and the rich seeking to become ever richer. It is very difficult for me to sum up into anything shorter than Lord of the Rings...!

Update, 6/25. One of OSR's organizers was singled out and arrested for violating 56.11, which is something about the homeless must stay moving from 6AM until 9PM every day. He is expected to be released within a day. All of his property was seized; three CCEA trucks were there to grab it up. Here's hoping they do not again "lose" the claim slip.


Pardon my bargain-basement technology. The story should still come through:

During the move-out, they are told they cannot go back in and retrieve the rest of their property. A blatant attempt to destroy Occupy Skid Row. Eventually they are able to do so, but still:

Video by David.

Police intimidate and lecture and threaten arrest, marching everyone off the block:

Video by Patti.


Or, "Operation Clean Sweep", meaning...people. The "storage facility" is clearly deemed temporary, so obviously it can easily become a trash can instead of a service. Out it all goes in one fell swoop!









Spanish language channel Noticias 22 came and did a live broadcast:



There is lots of money for spanking new sports cars for city workers, but not the homeless:



Edited from the Health Department's report:












I have the report, and there is nothing in it to request the homeless be made to wander around all day long or face arrest. Sigh...

I am told the CCA are contracted to sweep the streets, empty the trash bins, and twice-weekly power wash the sidewalks of Skid Row. I've seen crews doing this. In my visits to the area, I have noted the cessation of these services sometime early or mid May. Occupy Skid Row continued to clean their area, which is outside of the Health Department report's boundaries, yet the County cleaned that street first. And of course, police then told OSR they could neither return to that street nor stay in their temporary encampment. The rule is now that the homeless must have all of their property on wheels and to keep it moving all day long between 6AM and 9PM or face arrest. Seriously. I was there, I witnessed it.

So CCA allowed a build-up of biohazards in order to call Skid Row a problem requiring their solution. Isn't it against the law to, when contracted to clean, to allow a build-up of biohazards to further your business interests? When you are using biohazards as the core of your argument against the homeless? If they are bad why are you willingly aiding in their creation? And why clean OSR before the areas cited as requiring immediate attention in the Health Department report? Creating biohazards and then ignoring them while attacking people in the way of profit. Especially while ignoring the Recomendations stated in the Health Department report. None of them say a thing about moving out or criminalizing the homeless. All of them address cleaning and also the creation of long-term housing, which my homeless friends want. Project 50 has already proven the overwhelming efficacy of such an approach. Shame on the profiteers who cannot even see the homeless as human beings in need of care and compassion.



Excellent report on the CCA:

Harsh Skid Row policies driven by business lobby, say advocates -

http://www.laactivist.com/2012/06/24/harsh-skid-row-policies-driven-by-business-lobby-say-advocates/

"Queen of LA’s mountain

If homeless advocates were looking for a fight, then by all accounts they found it. The CCA may very well be LA’s true seat of power.

In 2010, it was reported by Los Angeles Downtown News that the CCA had a budget of $2.3 million and $1.8 million in reserves. That same year, CCA gave money to every sitting city council member, according to journalist Hillel Aron.

In 2011, Los Angeles Downtown News ranked Schatz the sixth most powerful person in downtown.

Above Schatz in ranking are people she may call friends."


Previous report on Skid Row, May 25:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002770630