The ‘Mobile Homeless’ Baffled by Village Map of Where to Sleep

By DEBORAH STAMBLER and JOHN HARLOW

Transients living in their cars in the Palisades—known as the “mobile homeless”—and local homeless experts are united in their uncertainty about new city laws that lay down where they can park and sleep at night and whether such regulations can work.

Temporary regulations agreed on by the city of Los Angeles, restricting where the mobile homeless can park at night, came into force on Tuesday, Feb. 6.

A city map issued to police, which appears to create hundreds of miles of “sanctuary tarmac,” largely in industrial zones east of the 405, has been criticized for ignoring local issues and restrictions—and reality.

Overnight parking in the Palisades is limited to a small area along Sunset between Monument and just past Via de la Paz. However, the construction from the Caruso project is blocking most of this area.

There are many streets where people living in recreational vehicles and cars can park between the daylight hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., but after that, they have to move.

The map is available on the city website but the office of Councilmember Mike Bonin is already looking at how it can be revised and updated.

It was estimated in 2016 that approximately 7,000 people live out of their cars or recreational vehicles in Los Angeles.

Concern has been raised that an already-vulnerable population will now have to scramble for an inadequate number of parking spots that are often found in remote, dangerous parts of the city. The regulations will be in place until July 2018.

Over the last week, the Palisadian-Post has spoken to two of the mobile homeless, who both joked they were “enjoying the freedom of the road” but confused by the new map.

“Larry,” who was evicted from his West Hollywood apartment last year after losing his barista job due to long-term illness, slept in his 2010 Prius in The Highlands for five nights last week “because no one notices a silver Prius and I am not bothered there.”

He said he had looked at the map on his PC in a coffee shop, and it did not reflect local parking restrictions.

“Even in the industrial parks, there are night parking bans because owners are frightened of arson, and anyway you don’t want to park there—you are more at risk of robbery when the workers have gone home. But I will be driving back to east LA, I guess.”

A second transient, a Latino who declined to be named but  said he was sleeping in an older Toyota, said that he felt safer in his car than sleeping outdoors.

“This is just politicians lying about how liberal they are to us—they just want to sweep us out of sight without solving the problem. I drove here because the Palisades feels safe.

“I have VA money, I have a Purple Star, so I am not panhandling or bothering anyone.”

The Pacific Palisades Community Council will take up the tangled issue for discussion at its Feb. 23 evening meeting at
the Palisades Branch Library in The Village.

Maryam Zar, PPCC chair, said that the overnight parking ordinance is an attempt to balance the rights of homeless people against the expectations of homeowners.

“LA residents face the stark reality that thousands of people are not housed, and until LA begins to address housing for homeless people in a substantial way, this balancing will be a part of our neighborhoods,” she said. “I know in Pacific Palisades, our beach patrol has been effective in enforcing the law as related to overnight parking. We are grateful for the support of LAPD and defer to their judgment as to when and if to cite vehicles.”

Doug McCormick, chair of Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness, told the Post, “After discussions with others on the task force, we feel this topic is so new and evolving that we still have much to learn.

“What we know is that starting about two months ago [before the new parking code], our Beach Patrol did sweeps of the vehicles parking illegally overnight along PCH. The number then was about 23 throughout the Palisades and that is down to about five now. We look forward to the discussion at PPCC on February 23.”

LAPD Senior Lead Officer Michael Moore will be on hand at the upcoming PPCC meeting to answer questions about the new regulation and report on enforcement in the Palisades.

The initial results of the homeless count in the Palisades, which is expected to be substantially down from last year due to the weather, will be released in the next few days.