As she pushes for new homeless housing, Yaroslavsky shifts gears on no-camping zones

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, giving you the latest on City Hall and beyond.

Six months ago, Los Angeles City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky took a firm stand on the city’s law regulating homeless encampments, saying she would not support the creation of any new no-camping zones until she had received a written report analyzing the law’s effectiveness.

Yaroslavsky made that announcement in February, as she and three of her colleagues voted to oppose the creation of no-camping zones in Westchester, Venice, North Hollywood and other locations. She cast more “no” votes over the following months, opposing anti-encampment zones in Woodland Hills, Granada Hills and Northridge.

Now, Yaroslavsky is taking a somewhat different approach, promising residents in her Westside district that she will create a new no-camping area at Pico Boulevard and Midvale Avenue, where she is planning to convert a city parking lot into a 30-bed interim homeless housing facility. In a recent Zoom meeting with her constituents, she said LAPD officers would be available, if necessary, to enforce the planned no-camping rules around that location once the housing is up and running.

“The last thing we want is for it to be a draw for encampments,” she said. “That’s unacceptable and won’t happen.”

So what happened between February and now? For one thing, Yaroslavsky has grown increasingly frustrated by the lack of interim homeless housing beds in her district, which she needs for her effort to clear sidewalk encampments and move people indoors. For another, her plan for interim housing has drawn critics, who have questioned whether the new interim housing facility on Pico Boulevard will become a public safety issue.

Yaroslavsky promised to create the new no-camping zone — frequently referred to as a “41.18 zone,” after the section of the Los Angeles Municipal Code that spells out where homeless encampments can be prohibited — even though the report she requested on the ordinance is not finished. That stance has put her in an odd position: repeatedly saying no to residents who asked for no-encampment zones in other council districts, while saying yes to those who support them in her own.

Asked about those different stances, Yaroslavsky pointed out that each time she voted against a 41.18 zone, her colleagues on the council outvoted her, approving the locations anyway. She said she hasn’t wavered from her view that the creation of any new anti-camping zone must be accompanied by “credible offers of housing” to homeless residents in the area — and that documentation must be submitted upfront to show that work is being done.

At the same time, Yaroslavsky said she is trying not to take a “rigid” approach to the law. And she said that, as a relatively new council member, she is still learning.

“I think it’s OK to have your position on things evolve [with] new information, or new realities,” said Yaroslavsky, who took office in December. “You learn. So for now, that’s kind of how I’m thinking about 41.18 enforcement.”

The debate around 41.18 has raged for more than two years. Supporters call it a necessary tool for addressing encampments, allowing council members to create a 500-foot buffer around parks, freeway overpasses and other “sensitive” locations. The law also prohibits encampments from coming too close to doorways, driveways and fire hydrants — or occupying so much sidewalk that a wheelchair user cannot get past.

Opponents of 41.18, such as City Controller Kenneth Mejia, have argued that the law criminalizes homelessness, creating fresh trauma for those who live on the streets. Other critics have said that the issuance of citations under 41.18 place a financial burden on the city’s neediest.

Yaroslavsky has been part of a five-member bloc that routinely votes against new 41.18 locations. Those council members cast those votes at times when residents from other council districts showed up to request the new zones.

In February, a clutch of San Fernando Valley residents showed up at City Hall to ask for new 41.18 zones in or near North Hollywood. Eleanor Wallen, a resident of West Toluca Lake, told the council during that meeting that she regularly had to walk in traffic lanes of busy boulevards to get around encampments — and had stopped walking on certain streets altogether.

“I used to walk to Tujunga Village along Moorpark and Riverside Drive. I used to walk to North Hollywood Park along Tujunga Avenue. This situation is not freedom. It is not humane. It is not safe, and it is not healthy,” she told the council.

The council approved the new 41.18 zones, with Yaroslavsky and Councilmembers Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Nithya Raman and Hugo Soto-Martinez voting no.

On Friday, Wallen said 41.18 did provide relief in the designated no-encampment areas, primarily at busy freeway overpasses. But, she added, some homeless residents in her neighborhood have been living just outside the 500-foot zones, occupying different stretches of sidewalk.

That assessment could provide ballast for Yaroslavsky, who has repeatedly argued that 41.18 zones push unhoused residents from one block to the next unless there are credible offers of housing. Which begs a question: Will Yaroslavsky make sure that homeless Angelenos who set up tents outside the new interim housing project on Pico Boulevard receive offers of housing once enforcement of the new no-camping zone begins — even if the facility is full to capacity?

Leo Daube, Yaroslavsky’s spokesperson, said the council office will attempt to connect those new arrivals with housing and services. However, if housing is not available at that moment, those unhoused people will still have to move, he said.

Daube said he expects the upcoming analysis of 41.18 will come out well before Yaroslavsky’s proposal for a new no-encampment zone reaches the council.

As the debate over the Pico Boulevard project intensifies, Yaroslavsky said she hasn’t decided whether her new no-camping zone will cover a 500-foot radius around the site or 1,000. She said she also remains concerned that new 41.18 zones are sometimes created for “whoever screams the loudest and is the best organized.”

At a time when LAPD resources are stretched thin, “I don’t think that’s the best way for the city to be regulating public space,” she said.

State of play

— ONE-DAY STRIKE: Thousands of workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 721 left their jobs on Tuesday, in one of the biggest labor actions seen by city government in a generation. The event didn’t have the same anger as some of the region’s other labor showdowns. In fact, the head of SEIU Local 721 urged union members at one point to give a round of applause to Mayor Karen Bass — who heads the city’s bargaining committee, and oversees its top negotiator.

— COPS AND RAISES: The Los Angeles Police Protective League announced Friday that LAPD officers have ratified a new four-year package of raises and bonuses, with nearly 64% voting yes. The agreement, which includes a 13% increase in police officer starting salaries, now heads to the City Council’s personnel committee. That panel is headed by Councilmember Tim McOsker, who served for several years as a lawyer and registered lobbyist representing the police union.

— THE NUMBERS KEEP FALLING: One big reason Bass has been pushing for higher starting pay is to reverse the decline in staffing at the LAPD. Despite her call for more officers, those numbers keep dropping. The LAPD’s latest crime statistics show the department has fallen to 8,995 officers, down from 9,034 a month ago. That’s the lowest level since Mayor James Hahn’s first year in office back in 2001.

— NO CHARGES: City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto decided not to file charges against two men involved in a physical altercation at an Eastside holiday toy drive last year — Councilmember Kevin de León and Jason Reedy, an activist known for getting in the faces of elected officials and their staffs. Reedy and De Leon both assailed the decision, with each saying the other should have faced charges.

— LIVING ON VIDEO: De León still hasn’t divulged his political plans — will he or won’t he run for another term in March? But another contender for his seat, housing rights attorney Ysabel Jurado, unveiled a video this week spelling out her reasons for seeking the post. The ad features headlines about the federal corruption charges against former Councilmember Jose Huizar, De León’s predecessor, saying the district had been sold out to “luxury real estate developers.” De León’s district takes in all or most of downtown, Boyle Heights, El Sereno and Eagle Rock.

— WAGE WARRIOR: Over at the county, Supervisor Janice Hahn proposed a $25-per-hour minimum wage for hotel and theme park workers, following in the footsteps of several other cities in L.A. County. One hotel industry rep responded by accusing Hahn of catering to a “special interest” — the hotel workers’ union, which wages big campaigns for its favored candidates — saying she should instead find policy solutions for all of the region’s workers, not a small percentage of them.

— HE’S BACK: Councilmember Curren Price returned to the council chamber on Wednesday, casting votes after an absence of nearly two months. Price had stayed away since the D.A.’s Office announced it had charged Price with perjury, embezzlement and conflict of interest.

— STEPPING DOWN: The Times’ Howard Blume looked at the two big names stepping down from the L.A. Unified board of education next year — George McKenna, who has been in office since 2014, and Jackie Goldberg, who has had two stints on the board, along with positions on the City Council and in the state Legislature.

(Not so) quick hits

Where did Inside Safe Go?: The mayor’s signature initiative to combat homelessness returned for a third time to the Echo Park-to-Hollywood district represented by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, focusing on a four-block stretch of Selma Avenue that runs past a grade school in Hollywood. That street is where former City Councilmember Joe Buscaino held a chaotic press conference calling for a prohibition on homeless encampments next to schools. Bass aides estimated that at least 45 people had been moved indoors during the operation.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK: Two big issues are on tap for the City Council next week: The council’s homelessness committee is set to take up the mayor’s proposal to buy the Mayfair Hotel and turn it into interim homeless housing. Meanwhile, Yaroslavsky is expected to take another run at the Bulgari, a 58-room luxury hotel proposed in the Benedict Canyon section of her district. Yaroslavsky, who opposes the project, tried earlier this year to persuade her colleagues to ask the planning department to kill the project before its environmental review is finished. She fell one vote short.