LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles City Council voted to enforce its anti-camping law at 58 new locations, including numerous encampments across Northeast L.A., with two council members voting against the resolutions.
The five resolutions passed today will allow enforcement at 27 other locations in Councilman Gil Cedillo’s district, 22 locations in Councilman Joe Buscaino’s district and seven locations in Councilman Kevin de Leon’s district.
The law, LAMC 41.18, which went into effect Sept. 3, prohibits sleeping, sitting, camping and obstructing the public right of way within 500 feet of “sensitive” facilities, including schools, day care facilities, parks and libraries.
Some of the locations in Cedillo’s Council District 1 include:
- Albion Riverside Park — Lincoln Heights
- Avenue 35 Ave between Verdugo Road and Eagle Rock Boulevard
- Carlota Boulevard between Ave 45 and Ave 44
- Cypress Park Recreation Center
- Debs Park — Hermon/Montecito Heights
- Downey Park Pool — Lincoln Heights
- Elysian Park — Echo Park/Solano Canyon
- Greayor’s Oak Mini Park — Mount Washington
- Lincoln Heights Recreation Center
- Rio De Los Angeles Park — Cypress Park
- Sycamore Grove Park — Highland Park
- Veterans Square at York Blvd and N. Figueroa St. — Highland Park
Some additional locations in De Leon’s Council District 14 include:
- 6152 North Figueroa Street
- Broadway and the Glendale Freeway
It can be enforced once the council passes a resolution to designate a specific area for enforcement, posts signage and gives notice of the date that the ordinance will be enforced for the area. The ordinance is also supposed to go hand-in-hand with street engagement and offers of shelter to people living in the location selected for enforcement.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman and Councilman Mike Bonin both voted against the ordinance and all enforcement resolutions since the ordinance was passed. On Wednesday, Bonin again expressed his opposition to the ordinance on Twitter, saying:
“Many people — including my political opponents — are demanding I support and implement laws that criminalize sitting and lying down in ever larger portions of our city,” Bonin said. “But these laws take us backwards, make us less safe, and make homelessness worse.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, he asked council members to suspend enforcement of the ordinance during the current surge in coronavirus cases fueled by the Omicron variant, noting that it pushes people into congregate shelters where the virus spreads. Councilman Paul Koretz said he thought “it would be wise” for council members to not implement enforcement of the resolutions during the Omicron surge.
Councilman Kevin de Leon said the locations in his district included in today’s resolutions would not see immediate enforcement.
