The Los Angeles City Council directed the Department of Transportation Wednesday to expedite the issuing of permits to safe parking projects for the homeless on the department’s property.
The department was directed to remove any unnecessary hurdles as part of Los Angeles’ effort to create 6,700 new placements and beds for people experiencing homelessness.
The motion was introduced by Councilmen Bob Blumenfield and Mike Bonin.
“It’s really the least we can do and it’s relatively speaking low impact, low infrastructure, it should be easy. People are dying on the streets, we have to move quickly and we have to cut red tape,” Blumenfield said.
He added that the Transportation Commission’s procedures for approving a recent safe parking lot in Canoga Park slowed down the process.
“Once the council and the mayor have acted by funding the Homeless Roadmap, etc., approval of such a lot by the commission should be a formality. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to understand this. They not only failed to treat this as routine matter, they decided that they were homeless experts and took it upon themselves to question the efficacy of safe parking,” Blumenfield said.
Councilman Paul Koretz also spoke during the meeting in support of the motion.
“I’m not aware of a single safe parking site anywhere that’s been implemented that has actually been a problem,” he said. “It’s a relatively trouble free process, people are just there at night when most residents are asleep, there’s security, there’s no impact.”
The motion passed with 14 yes votes and one absent.