Homeless Moved by Chits, Arrest Threat

With the offer of a free bed for the night--and, otherwise, under the threat of arrest--Los Angeles city officials Thursday night stopped about 70 homeless men and women from sleeping on the steps to City Hall where the group has set up camp nightly for the last three weeks.

It was the first high-profile city action against the indigents since a controversial police raid on two City Hall-area encampments two weeks ago in which the belongings of about 50 people were swept up by Bureau of Street Maintenance bulldozers and hauled off to a land fill.

The Thursday night blockade showed that, while city officials did not want another confrontation or controversy, they also would not tolerate a homeless camp on their steps.

First, hand-lettered signs went up around the Spring Street entrance to City Hall in a mid-afternoon warning that the area is off limits at night.

Then shortly after 7 p.m., city Homeless Coordinator Bob Vilmur, along with members of the City Hall security force, warned the group that they would face arrest by Los Angeles police if they did not leave the lawn and sidewalk area within the hour.

Voucher Offered

The city then offered each member of the group a voucher for one-night’s lodging at the Weingart Center, a Skid Row service center, and transportation there in a city van. The city also promised to pick them up this morning and transport them to a variety of social service agencies.

“The Spring Street courtyard (of City Hall) is not Motel 6,” Vilmur said while debating the move with several of the street people. “We will enforce the ordinance” that bars sleeping in city parks and on sidewalks, he said.

In all, about 35 to 50 people took the one-night vouchers and cleared the area by about 8:15 p.m.

But about a dozen others, mostly members of the Justiceville homeless advocacy group, refused the offer and staked out a new parcel on Main Street across from City Hall.

Late Thursday, police said they had no plans to move in on the small group.

“I’d rather fight for the cause; I’d rather go to jail,” said Columbus Davis, 40, who refused to accept a voucher and vowed to wait until police removed him.

‘Not a Solution’

“What about tomorrow night and the next night?” asked Tyrone Blake, 28, who stood nearby. “A voucher for one night is not a solution.”

Fred MacFarlane, a spokesman for Mayor Tom Bradley, said the vouchers and transportation were not necessarily a solution, but were the beginning of a process that could help the homeless to get in touch with existing services that may help them.

Conway Collis, a member of the State Board of Equalization and organizer of the Housing and Nutritional Assistance initiative that has qualified for the November ballot, came to observe Thursday night’s city operation.

“There is no better example of the need for a long-term solution,” he said. “This isn’t the city’s fault. But the fact is these people will be back on the sidewalk tomorrow night for another one-night voucher and more bureaucratic rigmarole. What we need is to get these people off the streets and into housing and a job.”

But at least one man thought that he had found a solution. George, who refused to give his last name, gladly took the housing voucher and a promise from city social service workers to help him get a one-way bus ticket back home to Georgia this morning.