Editor’s note: The People’s Tribune’s Chris Venn interviewed General Dogon and Joe Joe about the new law passed in Los Angeles that prohibits the homeless from owning more belongings than can fit in a 60-gallon trash can with the lid closed.
LOS ANGELES, CA — “This is an attack on individual property. This is the confiscation of a person’s personal property, which is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution. This is a violation of the Lavan v. City of Los Angeles where a federal district court judge issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the City from seizing or destroying personal property left unattended on the public sidewalks of downtown’s Skid Row.
Now the police run people in for warrants based on the “violation” of having a tent set up on the sidewalk; they will then “bootleg” the ticket by backdating which gives a homeless person two weeks to respond rather than the normal, expected three months that is usually required before a ticket turns into a warrant. The homeless individual, wracked by mental illness, drugs or just the wear and tear of living on the street is defenseless in the face of this abuse by the city, enabled by the police.
Even though we forced Mike Feuer, the City Attorney, to reclassify 150 misdemeanors to infractions (thereby lessening the penalty) the LAPD is again writing misdemeanors for violations that are simple infractions. Jail has become housing for people who are homeless.
The city of Los Angeles will lose. As a result, the city will lose federal funding for projects because the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the removal and immediate destruction of a person’s unattended property violates the United States Constitution. But in the meantime, there will be enormous amounts of suffering by the homeless in L.A.”
