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MONDAY, OCTOBER 30-NOVEMBER 05 , 2023
VISIT MONTEREYPARKPRESS.COM
VOL. 11,
NO. 144
Hotel workers’ union holds major downtown LA march amid contract talks
LAPD union criticizes commission ruling on Keenan Anderson death
By City News Service
By City News Service
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he Metro Board of Directors approved a motion Thursday to develop and implement an action plan to address homelessness within the agency’s transit system and connect people with social services and other resources. The Board of Directors voted unanimously to support the motion introduced by LA Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn, Lindsey Horvath, Hilda Solis, as well as City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky and Director Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker — who all sit on the 13-member board. Bass, chairperson of the group, said “addressing homelessness on the system is a question of life and death.” “We can build on the work that Metro has already begun to address homelessness on the system,” Bass said prior to the vote. “Since 2017, Metro has made strides forward to provide outreach and support for the unhoused. These past actions made clear that this board is committed to action, committed to results and committed to making progress on homelessness.” According to the motion, the Social Resources and Homelessness Action Plan will provide a data snapshot on the state of homelessness on the Metro system, as well as regional variations, which would then be compared to data from the point-in-time homelessness count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The 2023 Los Angeles Homeless Count revealed an estimated 75,518 people are experiencing homelessness within LA County, a 10% increase from the previous year. In the city of Los
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the line” communities, in which between midnight and 1 a.m., the trains go out of service to return for cleaning. “We found ourselves having to remove dozens of people who were unhoused because that was the policy, and we understood what that policy was, but at the same time of night, what we were finding is there were no services and no help for people,” Hahn said. She added, “It was causing problems not only for the community ... but certainly for these folks who found themselves in need of some assistance and service.” Hahn hailed the motion and described it as a next “logical step” to address
he union representing Los Angeles Police Department officers Wednesday criticized a city commission ruling that found some actions of five officers involved in the death of a man who was subjected to repeated electric shocks during a confrontation in Venice early this year violated department policy. “We strongly disagree with these politically influenced findings, each responding officer acted responsibly in dealing with Mr. (Keenan) Anderson who was high on cocaine and ran into traffic after fleeing a car accident he caused,” according to a statement from the Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors. “The coroner confirmed (Anderson) was not Tased but rather drive-stunned when he refused to follow simple directions while in the middle of a busy street. Mr. Anderson and Mr. Anderson alone was responsible for what occurred,” the statement continued. Melina Abdullah, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and Black Lives Matter Grassroots, spoke with Dominique DiPrima on “First Things First” KBLA 1580 Wednesday morning and called the city Police Commission’s determinations about the officers’ actions a “victory.” According to BLM, while the ruling is important, the group will continue to rally for justice in Anderson’s name. She added BLM will continue to demand that LAPD officers police be removed from traffic stops, and call on the city of Los Angeles to invest in mental health and housing resources. Abdullah said she expects the officers involved in the Anderson confrontation to be fired because it’s “consistent with what the police (commission) recommended.” But she noted that LAPD officers can appeal to a Board of Rights — the disciplinary appeal board that has the ultimate say in whether officers accused of serious misconduct are punished. In a closed session Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Commission analyzed the actions of officers Joshua Coombs, Stephen Feldman, Christopher Walters, Rasheen Ford and Jaime Fuentes to determine whether their response to a Jan. 3 traffic stop in Venice, where Keenan Anderson, a teacher from Washington, D.C., was shocked with stun guns multiple times. Anderson, 31, was taken to a hospital and later died. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner ruled that he died from the effects of an enlarged heart and cocaine use. The Police Commission’s analysis of the confrontation covered various aspects, including the officers’ de-escalation tactics, the use of the stun gun, and the pressure officers applied to Anderson’s neck during efforts to restrain him. The five-member commission determined Coombs, Feldman and Walters’ use of force to be within department policy. The commission deemed Ford and Fuentes’ use of force — applying pressure to Anderson’s neck in nine separate instances during their response — not
See Homelessness Page 28
See Keenan Anderson Page 27
The Metro station in North Hollywood. | Photo courtesy of the Carol Highsmith Collection/Library of Congress
Angeles, 46,260 people are experiencing homelessness, a 9% increase from the prior year, according to the count. Additionally, the plan will identify challenges and offer strategies to engage unhoused individuals, focusing in the late evening or early morning hours. Metro will examine ways to offer support services and staff will explore funding recommendations to enact the plan. The motion requests that Metro staff develop an emergency housing protocol, such as occurrences of extreme weather or other emergencies, which could bring online interim beds or a designated area for unhoused individuals in Metro’s system. Metro will be requesting inclusion on LAHSA’s Coordinated Entry System Policy
Council and the Continuum of Care Board, a regional planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals. Bass recalled there were 50 deaths on Metro within the first six months of the year. While Metro does not know the cause for all those deaths, she says, “We can reasonably suspect that a majority of those were overdoses and many of those people, if not all, were unhoused.” Addressing homelessness is also about creating a better experience for riders, Bass added. Hahn referenced a motion she introduced last year, which focused on the agency’s end of the line policy. The motion had a particular focus on Long Beach, one of many “end of