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December 20, 2019 – January 2, 2020 Volume 5, Issue 27
Supreme Court Turns Down Homelessness Law Ruling ties hands for lawmakers grappling with encampments, celebrated by homeless advocates. By Sam Catanzaro The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal in a case surrounding a Boise, Idaho law that would have made it illegal to sleep in public places, a setback for many West Coast cities grappling with a growing homelessness crisis. The decision, issued by the court without comment Monday, leaves in place earlier rulings by the 9th Circuit appeals court, in the case Martin v. Boise, that homeless persons cannot be punished for sleeping outside on public property in the absence of adequate alternatives. The ruling is binding in the 9th Circuit, covering nine states including California, a state home to 1/4 of the nation’s homeless population. “No one should treat this as an endorsement or acceptance of sidewalk encampments. Everyone should treat this as a firm and indisputable mandate for more housing, more shelter, and more services,” said Councilmember Mike
Bonin following the decision. Lawyers representing Boise argued that the decision ultimately hurts the individuals the law claims to protect by hindering lawmakers within the 9th Circuit from managing homeless encampments that pose a public safety risk. “Public encampments, now protected by the Constitution under the Ninth Circuit’s decision, have spawned crime and violence, incubated disease, and created environmental hazards that threaten the lives and well-being both of those living on the streets and the public at large,”
said lawyers for Boise in court documents. Los Angeles County, where homelessness increased 16 percent the past year, and many other governing bodies backed Boise in its petition to the Supreme Court. “The Martin decision forbids municipalities from enforcing common sense ordinances that prohibit public camping unless those local governments can offer acceptable shelter to every unhoused person in the jurisdiction. In other words, the County could be powerless to address camping in public places by anyone until
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it provides shelter for everyone,” the County wrote in September. LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl who represents Santa Monica and is a Santa Monica resident, however, voted against backing Boise’s petition in September. “We need to continue to provide more and more housing and shelter and services, not simply ticket and arrest,” Kuehl said. This was a view shared by lawyers representing homeless individuals and their advocates following the Supreme Court’s decision Monday. “We’re thrilled that the Court has let the 9th Circuit decision stand so that homeless people are not punished for sleeping on the streets when they have no other option,” said Maria Foscarinis, Executive Director at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. “But ultimately, our goal is to end homelessness through housing—which is effective and saves taxpayer dollars—so that no one has to sleep on the streets in the first place. We hope that the 9th Circuit decision will help communities find the political will to put that housing in place. Housing, not handcuffs, is what ends homelessness.” The case now returns to the 9th Circuit. The City of Boise says it is evaluating options for its next actions.
Power Lines Underground in Wake of Getty Fire? Pacific Palisades Brentwood. High Fire Severity Zones. HereandWhen Life Takes Very Over Homeowners take legal We’re According to city officials, less than 10 perAccording to Koretz, the portion of fires cent of wildfires in California are ignited in caused by vegetation contact with electrical action against LADWP some form by power lines. Of these fires start-
CurtainBy&Sam Upholstery Inpower Your Home ed by utilities, 38 percent are the result Catanzaro Cleaning Done Councilmember Paul Koretz, who represents Century City and Westwood, is proposing burying LADWP power lines underground in the wake of the Getty Fire, which was sparked by a tree falling on a power line. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) the fire, which burned more than 700 acres in late October, was caused by a tree branch falling on a city-owned power line in the Sepulveda Pass. The fire, which burned for over a week, forced widespread evacuations in
of downed or impacted power lines (including by mylar balloons), 18 percent are due to failed hardware and 16 percent are attributed to vegetation contact. The remainder are due to line slapping and animal contact. Because power lines have recently sparked several of the large-scale wildfires in California in addition to the Getty Fire, Koretz has introduced a motion asking the LADWP to report back on the feasibility, including costs, to underground electric distribution facilities in LAFD designated
facilities may decrease if power distribution facilities such as poles and wires are underground rather than overhead. “Our climate is not going to get better, it’s going to get worse and likely much worse, depending on how successful we are in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade. Which means these horrific fires will continue to persist in their size and scope and relentlessness,” Koretz said. “If re-engineering our power system in an affordable manner will help cut down on fire ignition points, we should look into it. This motion will at least start that conversation.”
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Earlier this month, Brentwood homeowners took legal action against the LADWP, seeking monetary damages for the fire. As reported by Bloomberg News, the plaintiffs are owners of a multimillion-dollar, 1,540-square foot home in Brentwood that was one of 27 homes destroyed or damaged in the fire. According to the claim LADWP was aware for years about the hazardous state of its electrical system infrastructure and the department could have prevented the blaze with better brush and vegetation control. “LADWP has been acutely aware of these risks and their catastrophic results for a significant period of time,” reads the complaint per Bloomberg News.
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