Advocates for the homeless want the state Legislature to pass the so-called Right to Rest Act (SB 608). Introduced Feb. 27, this legislation would prevent Los Angeles and other cities from enforcing laws against camping on sidewalks, in parks and in vehicles parked on public streets.
However well-intentioned, SB 608 ignores how whole neighborhoods of Los Angeles are already beset with crime because of the inability of the police to cope with mentally ill, drug-addled and criminal transients. Though these people are a minority of the homeless population, they are greatly degrading public safety and quality of life in these neighborhoods.
[For more of this story, written by Mark Ryavec, go to http://www.latimes.com/opinion...-20150308-story.html]
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