San Pedro Neighbors for Peace & Justice
Dear Editors,
Feeling powerless and isolated, trying to have a positive effect in discussing the United States providing weapons to Israel that are used to demolish and obliterate the Palestinian people, San Pedro Neighbors for Peace & Justice responding to the demands for Peace and an end to the genocide in Gaza holds a vigil on 13th and Gaffey every Friday from 5 to 6 pm. Our demand is to end the U.S. support of the Genocide. At the vigil we gather as peace activists and humanitarians holding signs such as “Honk for Peace” and “End U.S. Support for Genocide”. Our belief is that peace is a demand that comes from below, from those willing to take a stand through demonstrations, marches and education exposing the real war criminals. Support from the street is overwhelmingly positive. Individuals from as far away as Upland and Huntington Beach join us, informed by peace-oriented websites and word-of-mouth. Please consider joining us. Together we make a difference. Stop the Bombing, stop the murder of innocent people.
Chris Venn,
San Pedro Neighbors for Peace & Justice
LAUSD & AI
“The AllHere chatbot fiasco at LAUSD underscores serious concerns about the District’s priorities and decision-making processes. Despite the ongoing struggle to secure funding for proven programs that support student success—such as hiring more educators, campus aides, program coordinators, and expanding Community Schools and the Black Student Achievement Program—the district chose to risk $6 million on an AI initiative. This situation erodes our confidence in how the district will allocate future resources for our students.
While we welcome technological advancements, it’s crucial to engage in transparent discussions with educators, educational staff, parents, and policymakers about the risks and impacts of AI in schools. This approach ensures we thoughtfully incorporate new technology, rather than hastily embracing it in the name of innovation.
We urge the Board to hire outside counsel to conduct an immediate, independent investigation. Additionally, we call on the district to collectively bargain on any future AI tools implemented in our schools.”
Cecily Myart-Cruz,
President of United Teachers Los Angeles
Controller Mejia Condemns Supreme Court Ruling Allowing Cities to Criminalize Homelessness
Today (June 28), the US Supreme Court ruled that Los Angeles and other cities can criminally punish people for sleeping outside – clearing the way for cities to punish unhoused people for their existence – even when those cities do not have places for those people to sleep. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled that it is “cruel and unusual punishment” to criminalize people for sleeping outside when there is no available shelter.
The Controller’s Office strongly condemns the Supreme Court’s decision. Our own Office’s work was cited in the Grants Pass v. Johnson brief in support of unhoused peoples’ rights. The brief cited our Office’s finding that last year, there were only approximately 16,000 shelter beds but approximately 46,000 unhoused people in the City of LA. Just today, it was announced by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) that there are still approximately 45,000 unhoused people here.
If the City somehow managed to fill all 16,000 beds and the scant collection of other housing resources, where would the Supreme Court suggest the remaining tens of thousands of people go? For people who cannot afford our soaring rent prices, whose friends and family can’t support more people under their roof, who can’t access affordable health care, mental health support, or substance abuse support – there is nowhere for them to go but streets, sidewalks, parks, and other public spaces – where it is now illegal for them to be.
When you see unhoused people in Los Angeles, you see people who have no choice but to live their lives on sidewalks, in front of our apartments and houses, in front of our shops and restaurants, on medians, on freeway exits, under freeway overpasses. Our neighbors have nowhere else to go.
Today’s Supreme Court ruling means that City officials now have the power to arrest any unhoused person whenever they take up space in public. The ruling promotes throwing people away – by jailing them or dumping them in other cities – as a method of “solving” homelessness. But how can this cruel method really solve homelessness when more people are continually becoming newly homeless? Today, LAHSA reported that 120 people are falling into homelessness for every 100 people coming out of it.
Homelessness happens when people lose their homes due to skyrocketing rents, unaffordable home prices, disappearing community spaces, inaccessible medical care, inaccessible substance use support, domestic violence, an inequitable job landscape, and stunted wage growth. None of these problems will be solved by ticketing or arresting unhoused people.
The City already has a local law that allows for the criminalization of homelessness in certain types of public spaces, Municipal Code 41.18. Not only is it cruel – adding further burden to already severely burdened people – LAHSA also found that it isn’t effective at either helping to house people or even reducing encampments while costing over $3 million in two years, not even including enforcement costs.
In recent years, by law, cities could not generally criminalize homelessness when no shelter exists. During this time, the City averaged 662 arrests per year under 41.18. Before that, the City averaged 4,781 41.18 arrests per year.
Now that the door is open to criminalizing homelessness, we can expect to see homelessness arrests catapult. And going by the City’s data, we can also expect that we won’t see punitive measures result in meaningful reductions in homelessness or encampments.
Los Angeles can and must make our own decision, regardless of the Supreme Court’s decision, not to punish people for not having homes. Our Office urges the Mayor and City Council to ban criminalizing homelessness. We also urge the City Attorney to not enforce laws that criminalize homelessness while the legislative process runs its course. The City must prioritize preventing more people from falling into homelessness, and we must prioritize getting unhoused people permanently housed with support services.
Punishing people for sleeping in public spaces when they have nowhere else to go may now be lawful, but it is flat-out cruel and unusual punishment. The City of LA can and must choose better.