Local merchants seek ways to address homelessness
By Hilaire Fong
Nov. 20, 2002 9:00 p.m.
Los Angeles police officers and business owners discussed
homeless people in Westwood who may hurt businesses at a town hall
meeting at Jerry’s Famous Deli Tuesday.
About 25 merchants showed up to ask questions and address
concerns about the quality of life around their businesses. They
wanted to know what to do when homeless people interfered with
their businesses.
Los Angeles Police Captain Richard Wemmer advised business
owners to develop a relationship with Officer Michael Wang and
Sergeant Jeff Hollis, who deal with Westwood Village
complaints.
There are two parts to the goal of the police unit, said Wemmer.
The first part is determining which laws homeless people might be
breaking and the second part is enforcing those laws, he said.
Hollis suggested merchants call the problem solving unit, a
non-emergency line, or 9-1-1 if they have any problems with
homeless people breaking the law.
People can make a citizen’s arrest if a homeless person
commits a misdemeanor that is not in the presence of a police
officer, said Wang.
“It is an investment on your part and the part of your
employees,” said Hollis. “It does not solve problems to
just call the police, and then have the guy come back.”
“If we have a community that does not take actions, it is
hard to solve the problem,” Wemmer said.
The police department handed out a Trespass Arrest Authorization
form, which may force homeless people to leave businesses for at
least 24 hours. If homeless people violate the law, they may be
prosecuted.
One homeless man, Harold Prather, Jr., said people should have a
right to be anywhere.
Besides discussing ways to deal with homeless people who break
the law, the police department and business owners talked about how
to improve the lives of homeless people.
“We aren’t the bad people trying to get rid of
them,” said Wang. “We want to help them, and get them
to another place to help them start a new life.”
Homeless people are in Westwood for economic reasons ““
they are looking for food and possibly shelter, Wang said.
Students in particular may be more sympathetic towards homeless
people asking for food or money.
“I give them change sometimes,” said Hammad Samana,
a first-year liberal studies student at Santa Monica City College.
“You or I or anyone else can be there someday.”
Others do not agree with helping the homeless in that way.
“The worst thing that you can do is hand them
money,” said Janet Ganaway, associate executive director of
People Assisting the Homeless.
“It seems like the homeless in Westwood are just living
day to day instead of going out to get help,” said
fourth-year bio-chemistry student SusAnn Winbush.
It does not take that much to get help, she said. There are
shelters and public assistance for the homeless if they really
wanted them, she added.
There are many shelters the homeless can go to, such as the one
at the Hollywood Center, Ganawa said.
But one homeless man in Westwood, who identified himself as
B.J., said he does not go to shelters anymore.
“Sometimes I just don’t like the way they run
them,” he said.
Meanwhile, to improve communication between business owners,
Westwood owners can commit to forming a business watch, Wemmer
said.
Business watches in other cities have effective meetings in
which there is a speaker and participating officers each time, he
said.
Through a business watch, people can make presentations to
educate others about crime reports.
A training course can be created on how to deal with
homelessness issues. There can also be a UCLA student
representative, said Wemmer.
The Westwood business owners could have a meeting about starting
a business watch as soon as December, said Wemmer. That time of
year is especially important to merchants because that is when they
get most of their business.
The Westwood business owners had a meeting about the transient
situation a few years ago, said Gabriel.
“There was more information and concrete solutions in this
meeting,” he said.
With reports from David Zisser, Daily Bruin Contributor.
