Los Angeles officials and the American Civil Liberties Union have reached a compromise to settle a lawsuit that has prevented police from arresting homeless people who camp on the streets and sidewalks of skid row, Police Chief William J. Bratton said Monday.
Bratton, speaking to The Times' Editorial Board, declined to provide details. But sources briefed about the compromise said it would allow police to arrest people camping, sleeping or lying on sidewalks between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m.
The sources said the settlement also would prohibit encampments at any time within 10 feet of any business or residential entrance.
Such rules would effectively prevent homeless people from creating "tent cities" that the Los Angeles Police Department and downtown business leaders have been trying to remove.
The settlement would also establish a downtown area -- bounded by Central Avenue and Los Angeles, 3rd and 7th streets -- where homeless people would be allowed to sleep on sidewalks at night without challenge by police or business owners.
Downtown development and business interests were immediately skeptical of the plan. They had hoped the LAPD would be given more sweeping powers to remove tents day and night, and they fear the agreement will attract homeless camps within the boundaries covered in the law.
"Any settlement that leaves people living on the street in filthy conditions and permits chaos from 9 to 6 every night in one critical area of the city is unacceptable," said Carol Schatz, president and chief executive of the Central City Assn.
The agreement, which the Los Angeles City Council is expected to consider on Wednesday, would end a four-year stalemate that Bratton said has stymied his department's effort to clean up skid row.
It comes after months of closed-door negotiations with a federal mediator that involved the ACLU, LAPD, city attorney's office and the office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Council approval is considered the last step in the process.
Villaraigosa has said that improving skid row by increasing affordable housing and improving homeless services is one of his top priorities. There's also been a flurry of legislation in Sacramento aimed at reducing the "dumping" of homeless people downtown and at beefing up law enforcement.
The debate stems from a federal appeals court ruling in April. The court ruled in the ACLU's favor, saying the LAPD cannot arrest people for sitting, lying or sleeping on public sidewalks in skid row.
