Court ruling’s effect on skid row’s homeless

Re “ACLU’s victory is a loss for skid row,” Opinion, April 18

What a difficult position L.A. City Councilwoman Jan Perry has chosen to defend. According to her commentary, it’s acceptable for police to arrest and jail homeless people only because they have nowhere to sleep.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Constitution prohibits punishing people for “the unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless without shelter in the city of Los Angeles.” The court also said it was “undisputed” that the plaintiffs “had no choice other than to be on the streets.”

All right, that establishes a baseline and reminds us that compassion and medical care are part of the solution to housing the homeless, not punitive punishment. It’s time to move on and build a consensus. We agree that L.A. needs more affordable housing and wraparound services for the mentally ill and sick. People living in downtown L.A. deserve police protection too. Police should patrol the area targeting real crime with the intent of making it safer for everyone.

The mayor has embraced the 9th Circuit’s decision for the right reasons -- because it reminds us that criminalizing the homeless does nothing to improve a terrible problem. We know Perry cares about the needs of her community and the homeless, so let’s agree to work on real solutions that help the 88,000 homeless people in our county.

RAMONA RIPSTON

Executive Director

ACLU of Southern California

Los Angeles

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Re “Justices Hand L.A.’s Homeless a Victory,” April 15

The justices of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would have a different opinion of skid row if their office were on its doorstep, as is mine. They would see people on the sidewalks killing themselves with narcotics, fighting each other with makeshift knives, sleeping in feces and urine, their skin being eaten away by resistant staph infections. Many are truly homeless or mentally ill. Many are not. And those who are not include ex-felons, registered sex offenders, drug pushers and gang members who use the chaos on the sidewalks to camouflage their criminal pursuits.

Skid row sidewalks are also “home” to people who actually have housing, even subsidized rooms in skid row, but for whom the lure of drugs (and the prostitution, burglary or extortion needed to buy them) is stronger than the desire to sleep indoors.

This ruling has given everyone -- the truly homeless, the opportunists and the predators -- the right to die on L.A.’s sidewalks. This ruling is enabling this situation to continue until someone, somewhere, builds enough housing and overcomes the widespread NIMBYism to do so. How many bodies will we pick up off the sidewalks in the interim? Whom will we have helped and whom will we have irrevocably hurt with this court decision?

ESTELA LOPEZ

Executive Director

Central City East Assn.

Los Angeles