LAPD Begins Crackdown on Skid Row Homeless : Safety: Police take action after USDA warned food company that it could be closed over health hazards posed by transients.
With the Riordan Administration’s blessing, Los Angeles police have launched a controversial offensive on homelessness along the edge of the Civic Center, where federal authorities have warned at least one food-packing plant of health risks because of dirty encampments in front of the business.
The latest crackdown--one in a series that have been undertaken over the years--began Wednesday when police moved into one of the worst areas of Downtown homelessness on Towne Avenue between 4th and 7th streets and ordered everyone off the streets. According to police, the street’s residents were told they could not return.
On Thursday night and Friday morning, officers brought a flatbed truck to several pockets of transient encampments, confiscating 188 shopping carts used by the homeless.
The crackdown was undertaken after the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued a warning to the Tengu Beef Jerky Co. at 5th Street and Towne Avenue that it faced closure unless steps were taken to keep the sidewalk clear of trash and waste.
Michi Osaki, Tengu’s office supervisor, said her company wants to be sensitive to the needs of the homeless but had no choice other than calling upon the city for help. “They could close our plant if we don’t comply,” she said.
Many Skid Row residents complained that they lost everything they owned in the sweeps--from medicine to blankets.
“They took everything I had and threw it in a trash truck,” said Richard Cobb, who has lived on Skid Row for nearly seven years. “All I have are the clothes on my back.”
“It’s sad,” said Skid Row resident Al Green, 32. “They told us that the city is changing and they have a new policy toward the homeless. The business don’t want us here.”
Homeless advocates, still bitter over Mayor Richard Riordan’s plan to build a homeless drop-in center in a secluded industrial area east of Downtown, said the crackdown is another attempt to move the tattered hordes to a place where few can see them.
“This is their way of announcing the holiday season?” asked Alice Callaghan, director of Las Familias del Pueblo, a Skid Row social service center. “It’s just part of the city’s new policy of meanness toward the homeless.”
But Sgt. Robert Veliz, the LAPD Central Division’s homeless coordinator, said the city had few options. “Because of health reasons, we have to respond to the complaints. (The businesses) have a legitimate concern.”
“It’s a double whammy for the businesses,” Veliz added. “They have to deal with the transients and to be written up by the USDA. Why should they stay in Downtown Los Angeles?”
Noelia Rodriguez, Riordan’s press secretary, said: “Our Los Angeles companies need to be able to operate in a healthy, business-friendly environment. This is important for the city.”
Veliz estimated that 30% to 40% of the Skid Row’s homeless encampments have been affected by the crackdown.
Carol Schatz, senior vice president for the Central City Assn., which represents Downtown businesses, applauded the police’s action.
“It is an issue of balancing rights,” Schatz said. “If (the homeless) are affecting the health and safety of the people who purchase products from the packing plants, then something has to be done.”
Homeless Crackdown Los Angeles police are cracking down on sidewalk encampments on portions of Skid Row, a move that has prompted angry criticism from Downtown homeless advocates. The police action was requested by food packaging plants in the area.
