Goodbye to All That

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A federal judge last week shined a light on a profound stain on an otherwise remarkable region.

The Los Angeles Police Department and the city’s Sanitation Department have engaged in the unconscionable practice of seizing and destroying the belongings of the homeless without sufficient notice.

While Judge S. James Otero affirmed the city’s right to confiscate or destroy contraband and property that posed public health and safety hazards, he ruled that the city had gone well beyond that.

“The city,” he wrote, “in many instances, appears to be confiscating all property, without differentiating the types of property at issue or giving homeless people a meaningful opportunity to separate essential medications or medical equipment from their other property.”

The shame of homelessness in the region – a shame that is creeping out of the confines of downtown L.A.’s Skid Row, demanding the attention of a largely disinterested public – has (again) received renewed attention through the mayor’s promise to spend $100 million to address the problem. Indeed, in the wake of that pledge, the city’s top official for homeless issues, Eric Spiegel, last month left his post after 18 months on the job, saying he felt he had had “a major impact” on the problem.

Perhaps. But coming up with a “comprehensive strategy” means nothing if the strategy is not implemented quickly and effectively. The time to judge the impact will be after that has happened, not before.

And in the meantime, until a federal judge stepped in, city agencies were compounding the humiliation of some of the 25,600 homeless in the city (nearly 18,000 of whom are unsheltered) by hauling away what little they call their own and dumping it. “Some of the individual defendants appeared to take away property from a person lying on the sidewalk, visibly suffering physical pain,” Otero wrote.

City Attorney Mike Feuer was “evaluating” the ruling, a spokesman for his office told the Times. Let’s hope the evaluation leads not to an appeal of the ruling but to pressure on City Hall to execute the “comprehensive” strategy to end homelessness in Los Angeles.

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News also broke last week that residents of Porter Ranch, scene of the months-long methane leak from a Southern California Gas Co. storage facility that forced evacuations, are complaining of more fumes.

Inspectors said they registered modestly elevated levels of methane in the area, not enough, they said, to warrant shutting the plant down again.

The complaints came against the backdrop of bickering over whether the shutdown earlier this year might cause shortages leading to blackouts during the peak-use summer season. Consumer advocates called the prospect of blackouts linked to the Aliso Canyon leak a ploy by the company to keep the aging facility open.

Meantime, Los Angeles County officials received a report that found that most of the 500 homes near the former Exide Technologies battery recycling plant in Vernon are contaminated with lead and require cleanup.

Exide agreed to pay $50 million toward the cleanup effort, and Gov. Jerry Brown has asked that more than $176 million be appropriated to speed the process.

It’s an appropriate response, though the damage done to children and families living nearby as the plant was allowed to operate on one temporary state permit after another cannot be repaired.

Which brings us to the SoCal Gas storage facility in Playa del Rey, which the Business Journal reported in the April 4 issue has had mechanical problems of its own. Less than two miles from Playa Vista’s booming office and residential scene, the lessons of Aliso Canyon and Vernon need to be heeded before something dramatic and costly happens at this site.

Regulators must keep the pressure on the gas company to assure that the aging facility – portions of which date to the 1930s – is updated and safe. An event so close to Los Angeles International Airport and the area’s commercial hub would have a profound economic impact. State and local officials are on notice, and ought to act forcefully to assure the facility is safe.

Jonathan Diamond is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

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