DSA councilmember clears way for homeless to pitch tents in district parks

DSA councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez just made it a whole lot easier for homeless people to set up tents and live in the parks within his district.

The City Council voted 10-3 in favor of lifting anti-camping restrictions at more than a dozen parks and public spaces across Hollywood, Silver Lake and surrounding neighborhoods.

The anti-camping rules had previously been in place to prevent encampments from returning after they were already cleared by law enforcement.

The reversal means homeless people can once again legally camp at the designated sites.

The locations losing protections include Barnsdall Art Park, a popular cultural destination overlooking Hollywood, the Hollywood Recreation Center, Las Palmas Senior Citizen Center, Madison West Park and areas around freeway and roadway crossings.

Restrictions around schools and a daycare will remain in place.

The move officially lifts restrictions put in place by LAMC 41.18, which allowed the city to ban people from sitting, sleeping, lying down or storing belongings at specifically designated public spaces.

Before Tuesday’s vote, more than 50 community groups had demanded Soto-Martinez lift the restrictions.

Just a week before Soto-Martínez’s June reelection about 30 activists staged a mock homeless encampment “sweep” outside his East Hollywood apartment building.

Soto-Martínez insisted Los Angeles has a better way to tackle homelessness Tuesday by getting people indoors rather than pushing them from one sidewalk to another.

Councilwomen Traci Park, Imelda Padilla and Monica Rodriguez, three of City Hall’s more moderate voices, cast the only votes to keep the anti-camping restrictions in place.

“We have spent billions on homeless housing and services, and our constituents have been incredibly generous,” Park said. “They have every right to expect something in return.”

Park represents a sprawling Westside district that includes Venice Beach, the world-famous tourist destination that had become one of the most visible battlegrounds in Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis.

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Padilla argued that the homelessness crisis has also taken a toll on working-class homeowners in her district, who she said deserve to feel safe in their own neighborhoods.

“In communities like mine, communities of color, communities where people have worked so hard to be able to become homeowners, I don’t think it’s fair that they can’t hang out in their front yard or keep things in their front yard, because there are so many people walking up and down over the influx of homeless folks,” Padilla said.

Tuesday’s move does not require another council vote.

Once the action is processed, the affected sites will no longer carry the location-specific 41.18 restrictions.