Jan 02

Now It’s A War on Pillows! L.A.’s Mayor Goes Goofy

New Ordinance Takes Effect January 7, 2017

Thousands Sleeping in Vehicles at Risk for Money-Grabbing Fines

“Get Out of Residential Areas” Says Mayor and Council

Goofy Garcetti Fines up to $75 for having a Pillow in your car!  Is he nuts?

L.A. Mayor Garcetti Leads Attack on Poor.

L.A. Mayor Garcetti Leads Attack on Poor, even outlawing pillows in any vehicle.

The Shameful Actions Against Thousands of Displaced Folks Living in Vehicles

The City of Los Angeles has done it again, launching a new campaign against anyone “dwelling” in a vehicle.  The new Ordinance (Fully reproduced at the end of this article) takes effect on January 7, 2017. It shoves vehicle dwellers out of residential neighborhoods, near parks and schools, and seeks to push them either back onto the street to sleep on the cement, or shove them into “industrial or commercial” areas that are already heavily posted with signs that say “No Parking between 2am-6am”. In other words, making it very difficult to park somewhere just to sleep.  Many of these vehicle dwellers work in low paying jobs and cannot afford the insane high rents in Southern California, hence they live in their vehicles.

Law Applies to Everyone, Even the Thousands of Moms and Pops Visiting Their Kids.

The local efforts to criminalize homeless and poor folks across the State and other states in this Country reveals such a sick situation of conflicting laws that it is amazing the public puts up with these loony politicians.  For instance, with this new law in Los Angeles, relatives who have traveled from afar to visit their moms, dads, or other kin, cannot park their RVs in residential neighborhoods.  Many cities have also banned the parking of RVs in residential driveways.  In some cities, like Burbank, a police permit and fee is required to park an RV anywhere on a city street.  The arriving moms and pops have no idea what a hassle they are in for just coming to Southern California for a friendly visit.

Pasadena Rose Parade Out of Town Visitors Targeted by Cops. 

There is no parking anywhere on any street in Pasadena without an expensive permit only issued to residents.  Imagine the surprise the tourists get who come out from another area to see the Rose Parade. They face tickets and tow.  The rich folks who run Pasadena, the same folks who actually gave their City Manager in effect a lifetime job, really don’t want a lot of visitors, especially ones in RVs.  The thousands of small businesses suffer from a constant loss of business from out of town visitors who are denied a place to park overnight.  Unless you can afford to stay in a $300 dollar a night hotel room.

LA Outlaws Sleeping Bags, Blankets, Pillows, Cooking Utensils, in any Vehicle

The new Ordinance actually prohibits the public from carrying a sleeping bag, pillow, sheet, blanket or other items in your vehicle.  Ironic as the City disaster folks are telling everyone to carry just those things in your vehicle for an emergency, such as an earthquake.  Will the City set up checkpoints around town to search all vehicles for pillows?  The perfidy of the sociopaths who run the City has now hit an all-time high with this one.

The City Does Not Have Even One Decent Solution to the Many Problems of the Poor

Many thinking people and websites have sent in or published solutions to some of the problems.  The City has ignored all of them.  We have proposed safe overnight parking facilities, for instance.  There should also be well placed areas for RVs and Campers to dump grey water and get fresh water.  The City has never tried to even provide adequate rest room facilities for both homeless and tourists,  Much of the low-cost housing that was built for our poor and seniors is occupied by foreign immigrants who never worked a day in their life in this Country.  Another taboo subject not to be mentioned in the hallowed chambers of City Hall. And by the way, we are not talking about Mexicans or Hispanic folks.  We are talking about the many thousands of old people brought in to L.A. County from European, Russian, and Middle Eastern countries and given low cost housing plus benefits for political asylum.  

Not Everyone Sleeping in Their Vehicle is “Homeless

Let’s face the fact that many folks could have reason to dwell in their vehicle.  Folks coming into L.A  to live and work sometimes have to live out of their vehicle until they can even find an apartment and a job. Tourists from around the world travel in RVs and Campers on their vacations.  Seniors who can’t get into the low cost housing that was allegedly built for them are more and more living in their cars because they can’t afford rent. There’s also a growing trend of folks who just want the freedom of living in a vehicle. There’s also the traditional gypsy lifestyle.  And then there’s the 50,000 homeless in L.A  Criminalizing poor people, homeless folks, seniors, visitors, and tourists is a despicable act of cowardliness by the Mayor and  Council.

Below is the Complete Text of the New Ordinance.

 

ORDINANCE NO. 184530 An ordinance amending Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 85.02 to establish regulations governing the use of vehicles for dwelling on City public streets and to provide a sunset of the regulations in 18 months. The City finds and declares the following:

 

WHEREAS, for a variety of social, economic and personal reasons, many people dwell in their vehicles on City public streets;

 

WHEREAS, some people with homes choose temporarily to dwell in their vehicle on public streets because of financial considerations, such as a person catching an early morning flight or train and instead of paying for a hotel room decides to dwell in his or her vehicle overnight on a public street near the airport or train station;

 

WHEREAS, some people have no housing and they believe their safest option for dwelling is in their vehicle on public streets;

 

WHEREAS, substantial public health, safety and quality-of-life concerns are posed by persons who use their vehicles for dwelling on public streets, especially on streets in residential areas or in sensitive areas, such as near schools, day care facilities and parks;

 

WHEREAS, there have been numerous complaints by residents of litter, unsanitary conditions, noise and crime, sometimes resulting in altercations, when persons dwell in their vehicles in residential and sensitive areas;

 

WHEREAS, the conditions described above have resulted in and will likely continue to result in blight, sanitary and public health concerns, excessive noise and crime, not only affecting residents, but also affecting persons who dwell in vehicles and are at a heightened risk of assault, robbery and other criminal activity;

 

WHEREAS, dwelling in vehicles on public streets diminishes the economic viability of the City and its many tourist attractions;

 

WHEREAS, the City has an interest in balancing the needs of those individuals who dwell in their vehicles and the needs of all City residents, businesses and visitors for clean, healthy and safe public areas;

 

WHEREAS, the City’s existing law addressing vehicle dwelling was found to be unconstitutional by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal in Desertrain v. City of Los Angeles; 1

 

WHEREAS, the City currently has no reliable information on the number and location of people using vehicles as dwellings or the impacts to health, safety and the physical environment, if any, resulting from this activity, and is unable to obtain such information from other sources;

 

WHEREAS, the City has reasonably determined that gathering the information necessary to evaluate the impacts to health, safety and the physical environment, if any, due to the use of vehicles for dwelling on public streets will take approximately eighteen months;

 

WHEREAS, the City intends to allow vehicle dwelling in order to gather data and information related to impacts to public health, safety and the physical environment, if any, for use in developing permanent regulations pertaining to the use of vehicles for dwelling on public streets in the City; WHEREAS, the City intends to allow vehicle dwelling only on non-residential streets and on streets that do not have a school, pre-school, day care facility or park;

 

WHEREAS, the restriction on vehicle dwelling regulates the conduct of dwelling in a vehicle on a public street and is not a parking restriction;

 

WHEREAS, the City has determined that the regulations will not result in a serious or major disturbance to an environmental resource;

 

WHEREAS, the City intends to provide public outreach regarding the provisions of this ordinance, including engaging the assistance of homeless service providers such as the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and making publicly available on the City’s website maps identifying streets where vehicle dwelling is allowed;

 

and WHEREAS, the Chief Administrative Officer will coordinate the collection and analysis of data and information by City departments and third party organizations with relevant expertise for purposes of determining the impacts to public health, safety and the physical environment due to the implementation of these vehicle dwelling regulations and will compile the resulting data and analysis into a report with recommendations for action to the City Council and Mayor within eighteen months of the effective date of this ordinance.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES DO ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Section 85.02 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code is repealed in its entirety and replaced as follows: SEC. 85.02. REGULATING THE USE OF VEHICLES FOR DWELLING.

 

A. Use of Vehicles for Dwelling Restricted on City Streets. No person shall use a Vehicle for Dwelling as follows:

 

Between the hours of 9:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. on any Residential Street; or

At any time within a one Block radius of any edge of a lot containing a park or a licensed school, pre-school or daycare facility.

 

Nothing herein precludes the enforcement of any other laws such as parking restrictions, including, but not limited to, prohibitions on overnight parking.

 

B. Definitions: As used in this section:

 

Block is defined as 500 feet.

 

Dwelling means more than one of the following activities and when it reasonably appears, in light of all the circumstances, that a person is using a vehicle as a place of residence or accommodation:

 

Possessing inside or on a vehicle items that are not associated with ordinary vehicle use, such as a sleeping bag, bedroll, blanket, sheet, pillow, kitchen utensils, cookware, cooking equipment, bodily fluids.

 

Obscuring some or all of the vehicle’s windows. Preparing or cooking meals inside or on a vehicle. Sleeping inside a vehicle

 

Residential Street means any street which adjoins one or more single family or multi-family residentially zoned parcel.

 

Vehicle means any motor vehicle, trailer, house car or trailer coach as defined California Vehicle Code.

 

C. Penalty. A first violation of this section shall be punishable as an infraction not to exceed $25. A second violation of this section shall be punishable as an infraction not to exceed $50 and all subsequent violations of this section shall punishable as an infraction not to exceed $75. Violators may be eligible for referral to a prosecutorial-led diversion program such as the Homeless Engagement and Response Team (HEART). D. Sunset Provisions. The provisions of this section shall expire and be deemed to have been repealed on July 1, 2018, unless extended by ordinance. E. Severability. If any portion, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this section is for any reason held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such a decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this section. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed this ordinance and each portion or subsection, sentence, clause and phrase herein, irrespective of the fact that any one or more portions, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases be declared invalid.

 

Dec 17

Immediate Job Openings In Van Nuys

Valley Value Center Needs Drivers!

Valley Value Center. Photo by Uncle Paulie

Valley Value Center. Photo by Uncle Paulie

The giant thrift operation known as Valley Value Center has an immediate need for drivers!  If you are out of a job, and have a good DMV record, get over there right away.  Bring a DMV printout with you.

Valley Value Center

13630 Victory Blvd, Van Nuys, CA 91401

 (818) 787-1019

 

Sep 13

North Hollywood Free Food Update

Food For Homeless in NOHO

by  Mr. Food Dude (anon)

Apt 042

The breakfast that was held each Saturday morning at St. David’s church hasn’t been going on for quite sometime.  The property was sold to the neighboring Oakwood School.  They have been buying up a good deal of property in the area.
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On the final Sunday of the month Angel Hanz still provides some pet care products, water, toiletries, and various services such as haircuts, vet examinations and pet grooming from volunteer providers.  But wha is available will vary from week to week.  There is also a group that dispenses some warm food such as pasta and also ice cream.  Angel Hanz usually gets underway at about 1pm.
Another small group shows up between 2 and 2:30 pm.  They used to be affiliated with a number of churches in LA such as New Life, and Tapistry, but now just one family is providing the meal and they are no longer affiliated with either of those churches.
The meal is always the samefried chicken pieces, white rice and plain beans.  They no longer bring desserts, but they do have some soft drinks.  They used to be able to bring more when they were backed by their church.
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The Hope of the Valley Mission has relocated from Sun Valley to a church at Tyrone and Victory in Van Nuys.  I don’t know if they have any meals on the week ends anymore but they do provide lunches during the week.  They also have a number of other services but the best thing to do to find out about them would be to contact them at their new locatoin, which they are sharing with the church. I don’t remember the church’s name or have their phone number. (Editor’s note:  See our updated info on Hope of the Valley on this website)
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The 1st Baptist Church of North Hollywood has discontinued providing a meal on the 3rd Sunday of the month, but I believe that they still provide a Tuesday morning breakfast at 10:30am.  They use to have a mobile shower truck show up there, but it can now probably be found at St. Matthew’s Church on Camerillo Street (just west of Lankershim).  On Wednesdays about about 11 or 11:30 am the church provides a meal and bag lunches to go.  I don’t know what time the shower truck is there, but it is probably on Wednesday as well.
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I may have previously mentioned the “Soup Lady” (Linda) who has been bringing food to *North Hollywood Park on Magnolia, west of Tujunga between and the over pass of the 170 freeway.
She arrives between 10:30am and 11am.  Linda is a very loving women who has been doing this for a while.
The variety and amount of food can vary from week to week, as can the number of volunteers and attendees.
Linda generally makes something that she brings, and often it is soup.  Vegetables, healthy.
Sometimes there are hard boiled eggs, often over-cooked.
Most of the other food is anything but healthy.  There are a lot of packaged sweets, and some bread, donated by super markets.
Sometimes a lot of volunteers show up and at other times few.
Unfortunately, the best or “proper” food handling practices aren’t observed.  None of the people handing and distributing food are wearing plastic gloves.  At times some of the food is handed out by young children. One volunteer who has attended often, will clean fingers that have gotten food on them in her mouth and then continue handing food.
It is terrific that these people come and donate their time and efforts, to help economically disadvantaged people, but they really should have to have some training in food handling and be supervised. Most of the common ailments going around are spread by hands.
Food handling practices often leave a lot to be desired when it comes to free meal distribution, but this particular meal, seems to me to be the worst offender.  There are too many people touching and handing out the food.  They unload cars and put things in carts and then on the tables.  Linda does have some sanitary wipes, but I don’t think that all of the people handling food are using them or using them appropriately.  I don’t think that it is a good idea for kids to be handling the food that are going to be distributed.
The other available Saturday meals that take place in Burbank weekly, at a rotation of churches in more sanitary controlled environments.
–   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   –   
I mentioned that the 1st Baptist Church of North Hollywood on Fair and Otsego have discontinued their Sunday meal that was held on the 3rd Sunday of the month.  However they are still providing a meal on Tuesday mornings for those who arrive at 10:30am.  It is generally a good meal and most is home made and donated by the participating church members.
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On Tuesday’s at about 5:30pm a group of people bring food to North Hollywood Park. About half of the food is homemade.  This meal happens quite quickly, and they are packed up and gone in 30 to 40 minutes  
There is no lighting there, so I don’t know what is going to happen when we go back on standard time. Most of the providers have jobs and so getting there earlier probably isn’t likely.  I will let you know when I know.  This group started bringing food in July of 2015.
–                                                                                     
* All of the meals provided at North Hollywood Park occur at approximately the same location.
–                                                                                       
The pantry at the First Christian Church of North Hollywood, which is held on Monday and Friday mornings lost the person who used to bring food from a Trader Joe’s, which is somewhere in the middle of the Valley.  They still give out the usual bag of packaged and canned food, but it just isn’t as good as what was coming from Trader Joe’s.  It would be great if there was another person who could get food from TJ’s and bring it to the church parking lot on Monday and/or Friday mornings.  The church is on the south east corner of Colfax and Moorpork in Valley Village.  The church donates the space but I believe that the pantry is actually under the auspices of a synagogue on Riverside in Studio City.
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The is a new entry from me: ↓
Free Taco Tuesdays
Check out the links below for more information:
As of Aug. 2016 the plan for Free Taco Tuesdays will to be held on alternate Tuesdays (2nd & 4th) at 5221 Cleon Street in North Hollywood from 4pm to 9pm (at least until “standard time’ starts again) (818) 626-7000.
However this meal has moved around a lot, so check their Facebook page before going.
The meal is just little tacos and up to four can be requested at a time.  Gaining popularity guests take a number and wait until it is called.  with only one cook it can take a while. Bottle water is provided and canned soft drinks are available for $1.
Vida-Life Ministries supports this effort and Jessica “Jesse” Alvarez is the women behind the Taco Tuesday as well as her “best friend” Chris (Chriztopher Garza) does the cooking.
They lost their place to live in the beginning of Dec. of 2015, and have been homeless ever since.  Living in a Dodge Charger and a donated RV which stores all of the equipment that is used in preparing and distributing free Tuesday tacos.
The event has been growing and hopefully it will remain on Cleon Street, but it is best to check the links for changes. The latest info from their Facebook page is every Tuesday on Cleon Street.
Even though they were homeless, Jesse and Chris started Taco Tuesday in March of 2016.
Recently tables and chairs were donated to accommodate the turnout.
https://www.google.com/#q=taco+tuesday+for+the+homeless –
https://www.facebook.com/TacoTuesday4Homeless –
@tacotuesday4homeless –
Sep 13

New Book By Skip Freedman

A New Book By Skip Freedman Has Just Been Released:

“Enema of the State” Reveals Exactly Who Is Behind The Globalist Created Misery

eots_cover

Skip Rorshach Freedman has just finished the second book in his Practical Living trilogy, directly from the road and the urban jungles in the Police State of America. EntitledEnema of the State: Practical Resistance Against a Corrupt and Criminal System, it exposes the hidden aspects of the world’s current problems: the thieving and manipulative banking system, politics in general, the menacing intelligence community, controlled mainstream press, Big Business, and the continually-expanding police state. Skip farts directly into the face of the New World Order and their mindless minions by offering up realistic ways to resist (and potentially even tear down) these offending institutions. And, as usual, he gives us more great tips on dealing with cops and other irritants. Going beyond Gypsies of the New Millennium, this book is packed with useful factoids and amazing revelations – plus it gives names and addresses of the major entities that are contributing to the destruction of our planet and its quality of life. The Windsors, Rothschilds, Rockefellers and other dinosaur Elites are blatantly exposed for the psychopathic parasites they are. In an insane world of manufactured attrocities and illusions, this is a easy read that will show you exactly how the world really works while empowering the 99% with knowledge to do something about it. You can handle the truth. This book has an extensive bibliography that lists hundreds and hundreds of books for further reading and research, as well as websites.

This book is currently ONLY available through www.Biblio.com.  Go to this excellent book site and order your copy today, only $15 plus shipping.

Also Available is Skip’s First Book:

Gypsies of the New Millenium

IMG_3165

A straightforward, no-nonsense manifesto on living the nomadic underground life. Clearly maps out the current insanity of today’s world situation while offering invaluable tips on food, health, security, money, van living, and dealing with cops. Gets you well on your way to dropping out of this oppressive system, then lists over 1,300 additional books where you can find everything else you need to help weather these uncertain and chaotic times.

This handbook covers everything you need to know to live on the edge and survive.  The author, Skip Freedman has lived the nomadic life in his van for over 10 years.  He knows every angle of how to survive in these urban mini-police states.  And by the way, a vast preponderance of folks who live nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyles have jobs and work when they need to.  As we have said on this website, if you have an indication that you are going to lose your job and not be able to pay your rent or house payment, do not wait for the ax to fall.  Do yourself a favor and prepare now.  Get a van, RV, or other suitable vehicle now, and trick it out.  You will be glad you did.

There are thousands of folks in the Los Angeles area who are living nomadic lifestyles.  Most of us work, but we were tanked by the economic collapse that started in 2000 that wiped out the good factory jobs, literally exporting them overseas.  It meant that many of us had to get lower paying jobs, and we soon found that after paying rent and bills we were underwater financially.  The solution was to cut living expenses:  move out of the expensive apartment, get a storage unit, join a health club for showers, and live in a vehicle. There are many articles on gypsycool.com about how to do this, with many more coming. We still work for a living, but have money to spend on what we want, not give it to some landlord for an overpriced roof over our heads.

I wish that everyone could get Skip’s book and read it.  The print is small to save printing costs, but the information is the best around.  As an added bonus, Skip spend several years compiling a fantastic bibliography of books on the subject that he has written about.  You can get most of these at your library, even if the library has to order them for you.  There is also youtube.com, which has thousands of great videos on the subject of van, nomadic, or semi-nomadic living.

This book is ONLY available through www.Biblio.com for $15.00 plus shipping.


 

Aug 07

Hope of the Valley

Here’s the Latest Information on Hope of the Valley

Van Nuys Help Center (6425 Tyrone Ave. Van Nuys, CA 91406). This is our main facility that daily provides homeless services to our clients. Here, we provide daily hot meals from 12:15pm-1pm Monday through Friday and most Saturdays. Additionally, we have showers available for our clients from 9-11:45 every day. We also have case managers onsite, Department of Mental Health, Veterans Affairs, etc. This is a one-stop shop for our clients seeking assistance.
Thrift Stores. We still have the thrift store in Sun Valley (but this will be closing towards the end of the year). So, we have 3 stores:
Sun Valley (8165 San Fernando Rd. Sun Valley, CA 91352).
Granada Hills (18167 Chatsworth St. Granada Hills, CA 91344).
Santa Clarita (19379 Soledad Canyon Rd. Canyon Country, CA 91351).
Hope Care Center (New Recuperative Facility). This facility, located at 11134 Sepulveda Blvd. Mission Hills, CA 91345, is where all of our Administrative offices currently are. In the downstairs portion, however, we have a recuperative care facility that acts as a shelter for homeless patients being discharged from hospitals. This facility accepts no walk-ins, clients have to be transported by a hospital and admitted by our team here. We have a full skilled nursing staff here that help bring our clients back to full health, as well as a case management team that works to find them appropriate housing. They are fed three delicious and nutritious meals a day here by our executive chef, Geronimo. The recuperative facility contains a brand new commercial catering kitchen that is capable of making 3,000 meals a day! In addition to the recuperative care portion of the building, we have a Federally Qualified Health Clinic (not up and running quite yet), but will provide health care for the surrounding community.

Aug 01

Ex-Marine Missing In Action

All That’s Left of Homeless Ex-Marine is his Sign and an Empty Shopping Cart

Photo by Uncle Paulie

Photo by Uncle Paulie

From the Halls of Montezuma

To the Cold Streets of L.A…………
 

 We fight our country’s battles
 In the air, on land, and sea;
 First to fight for right and freedom
 And to keep our honor clean;
 We are proud to claim the title
 Of United States Marine

Studio City – Gelson’s Market, August 1, 2016