LA needs to find a place for homeless to park

L.A. seeing more people living out of their cars
By CHRISTINA HOAG, Associated Press Writer

Monday, June 23, 2008

(06-23) 12:24 PDT LOS ANGELES, (AP) --

Having lost her job and her three-bedroom house, Darlene Knoll has joined the legions of downwardly mobile who are four wheels away from homelessness.

She is living out of her shabby 1978 RV, and every night she has to look for a place to park where she won't get hassled by the cops or insulted by residents.

"I'm not a piece of trash," the former home health care aide said as she stroked one of five dogs in her cramped quarters parked in the waterfront community of Marina del Rey.

Amid the foreclosure crisis and the shaky economy, some California cities are seeing an increase in the number of people living out of their cars, vans or RVs.

Acting on complaints from homeowners, the Los Angeles City Council got tough earlier this year by forbidding nearly all overnight parking in residential neighborhoods such as South Brentwood.

But some people are just crowding into other parts of the city, including the seaside community of Venice, where dozens of rusty, dilapidated campers can be seen lined up outside neat single-family homes. The stench of urine emanates from a few of the vehicles, and some residents say they have seen human waste left behind.

click post title for more

They can complain all they want but it won't solve the problem as long as people keep losing their homes and have no place else to go. The residents have a right to be upset but if they were unlucky enough to lose their house, it's very doubtful they would have the same opinion on the homeless.

There has to be some empty parking lots these people can go to at night with some facilities to take care of their personal needs. What's so hard about doing something like that? It would cost the city a lot less time and money having them park on a lot than in front of someone's house who is likely to complain. How about a little human kindness and a whole lot of common sense on this one?