A divided Los Angeles City Council confirmed the mayor's appointment of a third person with ties to the ACLU to a panel on homelessness Wednesday, ending a bruising political battle over how their appointments would affect the city's efforts to clean up skid row.
Critics worried about Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's appointments -- including Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California -- because the ACLU had challenged the city's ban on homeless people sleeping on the streets.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday December 17, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 58 words Type of Material: Correction
ACLU lawsuit -- An article in Thursday's California section about the executive director of the Southern California ACLU being confirmed to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said the organization sued in 2003 to bar police from searching homeless people without reasonable suspicion that they had violated parole. The lawsuit was filed in 2000 and settled in 2001.
The debate comes as Villaraigosa and other city leaders have vowed to improve downtown's skid row, where police officials contend that other law enforcement agencies and hospitals regularly dump criminals, the homeless and the mentally ill. It also comes as some advocates assert that the rapidly gentrifying downtown loft district area is pushing homeless people out.
Villaraigosa ended up facing a tougher than expected fight to get the three appointees with ACLU ties -- Ripston, USC Associate Dean Rebecca Avila and attorney Douglas Mirell -- confirmed to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Avila is a member of the ACLU board, and Mirell was a volunteer attorney who pressed an ACLU lawsuit in 2003 that barred police from searching homeless people without reasonable suspicion that they had violated parole.
"My concern is it may reflect a weighting of issues that disproportionately affects people living on the sidewalks," said Councilwoman Jan Perry, whose district includes downtown's skid row.
Villaraigosa bristled when asked Wednesday whether his appointments signaled support for the ACLU's challenge to the city's efforts to remove people from city sidewalks.
"I'm very proud of the commitment of these individuals to serve the city of Los Angeles and help us with this very important challenge in dealing with the homeless," he told The Times in a hallway interview before refusing to answer further questions.
Thomas Saenz, an attorney for the mayor, said the appointments were meant to bring in skilled people with creative ideas for improving the delivery of homeless services, and not to remake the homeless authority in the image of the ACLU.
"They were not picked because of their ACLU connection. They were picked for their record of high accomplishment and the ability to step into difficult situations," Saenz said.
