In this story from the LA Times April 15, we read, in more depth in a previously posted story) the impact of a federal ruling about the rights of the homeless to camp in public areas.
Here is an excerpt.
Justices Hand L.A.'s Homeless a Victory
In a case with national import, a federal appeals court rules the LAPD cannot arrest people for sitting, lying or sleeping on skid row sidewalks.
By Henry Weinstein and Cara Mia DiMassa Times Staff Writers April 15, 2006
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Los Angeles Police Department cannot arrest people for sitting, lying or sleeping on public sidewalks on skid row, saying such enforcement amounts to cruel and unusual punishment because there are not enough shelter beds for the city's huge homeless population.
The long-awaited decision effectively kills Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton's original blueprint for cleaning up skid row by removing homeless encampments that rise each evening throughout the 50-block downtown district.
That plan has been on hold for three years, and city leaders have recently backed a less aggressive policy.
The ruling also has implications for police agencies around the nation that have grappled with how to deal with the homeless.
Although Los Angeles' policy was considered one of the most restrictive in the nation, other communities have tried milder variations of the same approach. Las Vegas and Portland, Ore., for example, bar sleeping or standing on a sidewalk or other public space only if it obstructs pedestrians or cars, and Seattle, Tucson and Houston limit the hours of enforcement, the opinion said.
City officials said Friday that the ruling makes it likely that the LAPD will move forward with a more moderate skid row policing plan, one that would crack down on crime while allowing cardboard cities.
The city's crackdown will focus "on the predators who are preying on the homeless, whether they are selling drugs, prostitution, whatever it is," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has promised a major push to fix skid row, said Friday.
The mayor said he hoped the court's decision would allow the city to finally move forward with a humane approach that targets crime without making criminals out of transients who have nowhere else to live.
