Downtown BID Pays $10,000 to Settle Suit Brought by Homeless
By AMANDA BRONSTAD
Staff Reporter
The Historic Core Business Improvement District has become the second downtown BID to settle a complaint that it violated the civil rights of area homeless.
The BID agreed on Feb. 6 to pay $10,000 in attorney’s fees to settle a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and Morrison & Foerster LLP on behalf of a dozen downtown homeless people.
As part of the settlement, the security guards under contract to the Historic Core BID cannot order the homeless to move, cannot conduct random searches and cannot demand identification.
The suit, filed Nov. 16, 1999 in Los Angeles Superior Court, named Historic Core, Fashion District and the Central City East Association their respective security companies.
The Fashion District settled last fall, agreeing to give $600 in vouchers toward the purchase of food the three homeless plaintiffs who claimed to be harassed in the district. The Historic Core also agreed to those terms for three other plaintiffs who claimed harassment in its district.
A representative of the CCEA, which covers the area bounded by 4th, 8th, Alameda and San Pedro streets, said it has no plans to settle.
“We are in a totally different situation,” said Don Steier, general counsel for the CCEA. “It’s like black and white between our BID and the Historic Core,” he said. “We have a lot of homeless, primarily because social service providers have concentrated in that area, and it acts as a magnet. When you have that concentration, you have problems.”
The ACLU and Morrison & Foerster, working pro bono, claimed that security guards in all three downtown BIDs harass the homeless, violating their civil rights.
“It’s not okay to make homeless people move away from public sidewalks because you don’t like what they look like,” said Michael Katz, the Morrison & Foerster partner representing 12 homeless plaintiffs.
The security firm for the Historic Core, Totally Secured Inc., paid $10,000 in settlement fees.
An Historic Core spokesman said Totally Secured was forced to pay settlement costs out of pocket after its insurance company filed for bankruptcy. The Historic Core’s insurance company is separate, he said, and the bankruptcy had nothing to do with the Historic Core’s decision to settle.
Morrison & Foerster will begin discovery soon on the CCEA case, Katz said.
