LOS ANGELES
DOWNTOWN
NEWS Volume 40, Number 46
Thanksgiving in Downtown 14-16
2
Ice skating and a French bistro, and other happenings Around Town.
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A department store and more are part of the future of Broadway.
W W W. D O W N T O W N N E W S . C O M
November 14, 2011
DRIVE TIME
INSIDE
The Los Angeles Auto Show Parks in Downtown. See story p. 17 Gary Leonard, he takes pictures.
2
Urban Scrawl on the NBA lockout.
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Will the Dodgers move to South Park?
5
photo by Gary Leonard
Buy your own big Downtown lot.
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A Sidewalk Scuffle in Skid Row A Judge’s Ruling Leads to Trash Pile-Ups and a Divided Community by Ryan Vaillancourt staff writer
Reviewing a romance at L.A. Opera.
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Five great entertainment options.
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19 CALENDAR LISTINGS 21 CLASSIFIEDS
O
n a recent Tuesday afternoon, an abandoned, dirty baby stroller sat at Sixth and San Julian streets, resting against a fire hydrant in the heart of Skid Row. Although the surrounding sidewalks teemed with people, many of them homeless, nobody paid attention to the stroller. Anywhere else in Los Angeles, the stroller would have been an obvious candidate for pick up by the city’s Bureau of Sanitation. But in the wake of a June federal court ruling that prohibits the seizure of homeless people’s abandoned property in Skid Row, the ownership status of that stroller — and anything else left on sidewalks, from shopping carts to couches — is now in question. In the eyes of local civil liberties groups, the ruling marked a rare victory for the voiceless. Now, homeless individuals can access a shelter for a shower or a meal without fear that police will seize their belongings when they’re gone. The LAPD,
meanwhile, maintains that the ruling handcuffs the city them from keeping sidewalks free from detritus that invites bacteria and provides cover for drug dealers. Homeless advocate the Los Angeles Community Action Network, or LACAN, contends that the law does nothing to prohibit sidewalk cleaning. But authorities are proceeding cautiously. “A broken piece of furniture could be presumed trash before, but now we have to presume it’s property,” said Lt. Shannon Paulson, who runs the Los Angeles Police Department’s Safer Cities Initiative, a group of 50 officers assigned to Skid Row. “Even if we’re going to take it as property, we have to prove it’s abandoned or poses an immediate health or safety risk.” The situation began in April, when eight homeless individuals organized by LACAN filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that homeless people’s constitutional rights were being violated when police took and destroyed their unattended items.
photo by Ryan Vaillancourt
A judge has ordered police to stop seizing abandoned items from Skid Row sidewalks. To some, it’s a crucial victory for homeless rights. Others say it’s a stewing public health concern.
In June, U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez agreed and issued an injunction barring the city from taking abandoned property without giving potential owners the chance to
The Voice of Downtown Los Angeles
claim it, or to retrieve it from another location within 90 days (items posing an immediate public health or safety concern can still be seized.) City see Sidewalks, page 10