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Speaker 1: Previously on winning a house.

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Speaker 2: Today, on this day, Homeless Remembrance Day, what things would

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Speaker 2: you do? The people out here are cold, poor and suffering.

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Speaker 1: This part is true.

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Speaker 2: The world continues and refuses to see and sadly won't

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Speaker 2: remember me.

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Speaker 1: God's talking.

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Speaker 3: And we found, unsurprisingly that we had a lot in common.

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Speaker 3: He and I had a very similar relationship, but from

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Speaker 3: opposite sides. He was a strange from his daughter and

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Speaker 3: I am a strange from my father. And so we

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Speaker 3: had a really interesting ongoing conversation around what it means

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Speaker 3: to forgive and what it means to be forgiven. And

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Speaker 3: I think he and I both I certainly at least

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Speaker 3: walked away, you know, reconsidering that relationship and understanding my

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Speaker 3: father a little bit better, and so we are always

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Speaker 3: going to.

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Speaker 4: Be giving free ring to dehumanize him. If you can

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Speaker 4: dehumanize a human being, then you could criminalize a human being.

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Speaker 1: I always say.

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Speaker 5: That, They always do that. I noticed that too, with

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Speaker 5: there's a lot of profiling with police when it comes

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Speaker 5: to houselessness. It's a lot of profile, especially if you

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Speaker 5: aren't unhoused person of color. Yeah, and there's somebody that

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Speaker 5: I give.

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Speaker 4: You welcome to the third episode of We the in House.

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Speaker 4: I'm your host, Theo Henderson. Happy New Year everyone, it's

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Speaker 4: a big year for the show. To kick off the year,

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Speaker 4: we're going to change things up a bit. First, there's

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Speaker 4: urgent unhoused news to discuss, including an exclusive interview. Then

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Speaker 4: we'll be talking about the dangers associated with our V

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Speaker 4: living and fancy unhouse us. There are many faces of houselessness.

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Speaker 4: There's the encampments that you see, and there's also unhoused

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Speaker 4: people living in RVs and fans that are targeted, and

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Speaker 4: this episode will cover that head on with interviews with

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Speaker 4: unhoused activists and journalist Elizabeth Chow. But first unhoused news.

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Speaker 4: Our first story, Gary Dotty was found not guilty of

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Speaker 4: three counts of assault and battery against former House City

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Speaker 4: employee Don carmg Naughty, fifty four years old. Car mag

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Speaker 4: Naughty was targeting Dottie, who was unhoused at the time,

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Speaker 4: using bear mace on him several times. Doddy contended in

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Speaker 4: court that he acted in fear of his life and

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Speaker 4: self defense. Our next story, care courts in eight counties

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Speaker 4: have chosen to delay a conservativeship expansion. Care courts is

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Speaker 4: a mental health initiative passed in twenty twenty two and

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Speaker 4: began implementation in October twenty twenty three. It allows people

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Speaker 4: with untreated mental illness to be placed in court mandated

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Speaker 4: treatment programs and housing. What this means for the unhouse

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Speaker 4: is omnous. For unhouse resident Ruth Lesser, there are graven

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Speaker 4: concerns that a city staff employee is going to use

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Speaker 4: this for conservativeship Weedian House that obtain letters addressing concerns

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Speaker 4: and her well being. According to Ellen van der Bosch,

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Speaker 4: who prizes herself on helping unhouse people for nine years,

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Speaker 4: Ruth is denying of her worsting situation. She feels Ruth

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Speaker 4: is in imminent danger and unable to help herself. Ruth

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Speaker 4: is concerned about the statement, and there's lots of reasons

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Speaker 4: why these statements could affect her agency and ability to

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Speaker 4: make decisions for her own life. In the earlier episodes

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Speaker 4: of Weedian House, I've made the point that when house

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Speaker 4: people are looking for housing options, they have the ability

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Speaker 4: to refuse certain options that don't feel their lifestyle, their

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Speaker 4: medical considerations, and their transportation decisions. As an unhoused person,

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Speaker 4: you're expected to be grateful for ver to be a

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Speaker 4: place for you to live at all, without considering how

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Speaker 4: difficult it might be to get yourself from place to place,

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Speaker 4: and could continue to work and live life as normal.

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Speaker 4: That's where the problem with care courts come in. Even

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Speaker 4: though it's presented to house residents as a way for

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Speaker 4: unhoused people to receive mental health treatment, that's not the case.

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Speaker 4: Care courts is forced and involuntary coarceration because unhoused people

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Speaker 4: have very little say and whether they even want to participate,

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Speaker 4: much less what the definition of treatment is. Care courts

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Speaker 4: is a way for house people and institutions to implement

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Speaker 4: what they believe is right for an unhoused person, it's

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Speaker 4: not a conversation. You cooperate with care courts or you're arrested.

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Speaker 4: Is that really a choice? Involuntary means something different to

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Speaker 4: unhouse people. Imagine this, You stub your toe, you cry out.

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Speaker 4: Maybe it's a little embarrassing and you're not at your best.

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Speaker 4: If your house, no big deal, you move on with

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Speaker 4: your life and people let you. But if you're unhoused,

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Speaker 4: you can be in that same situation and people will

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Speaker 4: make assumptions. Some assume that you're in a mental health crisis.

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Speaker 4: Some assume that you're using substances, and regardless of whether

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Speaker 4: or not that's true. Care courts empowers house people to

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Speaker 4: report on the unhoused as if this is a fact.

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Speaker 1: What can they do?

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Speaker 4: They can call services, They can take pictures and videos.

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Speaker 4: They can post them on citizen and next door. They

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Speaker 4: can catch you at your worst and vulnerable moment, and

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Speaker 4: against your will, can begin the process of putting you

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Speaker 4: into an involuntary incarceration situation through care courts. I'll give

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Speaker 4: you another example. I know an unhoused person who has

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Speaker 4: Tourette syndrome, a disorder that involves unwanted thousand ticks that

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Speaker 4: can't easily be controlled. One day, he felt an episode

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Speaker 4: coming on. He tried to find a private place to

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Speaker 4: allow it to pass, not only for his own comfort,

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Speaker 4: but so that house people did not call the cops

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Speaker 4: on him or publicly experiencing an episode. Even with the

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Speaker 4: private area, he found it wasn't enough. A house person

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Speaker 4: called the cops on him anyway, assuming that he was

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Speaker 4: a threat, when in reality he was having a Tourett's episode.

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Speaker 4: This is why statements like this can put unhoused people

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Speaker 4: at extreme risk. On House News feature story, this Week highlights.

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Speaker 4: K Kay, who does not wish to use a real name,

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Speaker 4: discusses how she came to be on house and live

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Speaker 4: in a van. K fits many of the current realities

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Speaker 4: of houselessness. There's a n uptick of elderly women that

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Speaker 4: are in house as well as unhoused people who live

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Speaker 4: in RVs and vans that are currently being targeted by

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Speaker 4: their cities. Here's my conversation with k.

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Speaker 6: My name is Kay. I'm homeless. I've been homeless since

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Speaker 6: two thousand and seventeen. I lost my apartment due to

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Speaker 6: my son and my daughter didn't want to pay rent,

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Speaker 6: and my husband was ill and he ended up going

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Speaker 6: to the hospital in and out, in and out cause

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Speaker 6: he's diabetic, had kidney failure and heart failure. And now

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Speaker 6: I'm alone in the street, but I stay at a van.

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Speaker 6: The landlord when I had the apartment, we were late,

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Speaker 6: only a thousand dollars. He just didn't care evicted us.

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Speaker 6: He came out telling us when he gave his eviction,

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Speaker 6: I didn't want to rent it to you guys, And

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Speaker 6: that's he told us that. And there's another people that

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Speaker 6: liveen there hasn't paid rent for two years and they're

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Speaker 6: still living there. But now I'm by myself. My husband

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Speaker 6: passed away three years ago, but I have a shelter.

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Speaker 6: I don't have to worry about being in the street

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Speaker 6: and everything. But that's my situation, being homeless alone, a

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Speaker 6: widow living in the street.

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Speaker 1: Was it like your first night to be out on

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Speaker 1: the street, Well.

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Speaker 6: The first time we were, we were living in a

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Speaker 6: hotel for six months. Then after that we went to

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Speaker 6: some people's house from there. When being in the street,

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Speaker 6: that was hardest because right after that my husband ended

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Speaker 6: up in the hospital.

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Speaker 4: I'm a diabetic and I know it's difficult to maintain

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Speaker 4: your sugar levels.

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Speaker 1: How was it able to maintain his diabetes out here?

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Speaker 6: Out here? It was hard because he was so bad

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Speaker 6: that twenty eighteen, I took him to the hospital because

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Speaker 6: we were already living in the street in Isaly. I

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Speaker 6: took him to the hospital. Bertie breathing. His sugar was

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Speaker 6: fifteen hundred, his pantasm was bouncing up the wall. They

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Speaker 6: didn't think he was and somebody but he did. But

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Speaker 6: after that he just kept on in and out, in

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Speaker 6: and out of the hospital. So he had grass stritis

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Speaker 6: at his phosophagus was already tearing, so that was another

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Speaker 6: thing that was to the point of him almost but

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Speaker 6: he survived until twenty and twenty. That's when they put

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Speaker 6: him into a hospice. They had to give him a

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Speaker 6: trick because he was making more more covered and oxide

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Speaker 6: than oxygen.

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Speaker 4: This was during the pandemic, right, yes, wow, you know

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Speaker 4: I'm with the pandemic concerns. That would have been really

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Speaker 4: very tough to be in the hospital because I know

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Speaker 4: that it was challenging for someone the house people to

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Speaker 4: be seen by the hospital.

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Speaker 1: So how did that happen?

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Speaker 6: He never got it? He was lucky he never got COVID.

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Speaker 6: I was the one that got COVID in December before

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Speaker 6: he passed away. I got COVID.

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Speaker 1: I'm so sorry. And has your children and you arena

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Speaker 1: United or yes?

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Speaker 6: My daughter she's homeless also, she's in a trailer, so

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Speaker 6: she has an income that she could support herself. My son,

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Speaker 6: he's living on his own. He has one bedroom. He

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Speaker 6: said he would like to take me, but he can't

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Speaker 6: because he has a room. Oney in his lander. Roelet him.

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Speaker 6: But yeah, I've been surviving.

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Speaker 1: On my own, living in a van. So how is

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Speaker 1: it different than the trailer?

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Speaker 6: While if they have the convenience of little restaurant. Me.

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Speaker 6: I have a bucket in every day finding a place

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Speaker 6: where I could deposit my yearine my waist. It's hard

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Speaker 6: to get money for rent if you're living on a

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Speaker 6: fixed income, and it's hard. Even though I put my

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Speaker 6: name on different desks for apartments, they take first choice

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Speaker 6: for other people instead of getting the people that will

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Speaker 6: meet the apartment because people already have the apartments. They're

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Speaker 6: moving into those new apartments and they only have sixteen

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Speaker 6: rooms just on the list to be on the list.

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Speaker 4: Sixteen rooms from where in Boyle Heights? Boy Heights, So

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Speaker 4: that's where you want to be.

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Speaker 6: I could be either Boyle Heights or Pasadena. I'm working

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Speaker 6: with the Union station in Pasadena.

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Speaker 1: So why Pasadena boy Heights?

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Speaker 4: Is it?

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Speaker 1: Is because you know the area.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I know el Sereno, Boyle heinz al Hamber, I

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Speaker 6: know all that area.

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Speaker 4: M oh well, kay, thank you very much for taking

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Speaker 4: your time. I would like to invite you back again

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Speaker 4: on the show, if that's okay. Yes, And Matt's Unhoused

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Speaker 4: news for this week. After we come back, we'll speak

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Speaker 4: with unhoused activists Paisley about our v living. Welcome back

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Speaker 4: to Willian House where today we're discussing our V and

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Speaker 4: van living. Our first guest is Paisley, an unhoused activist.

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Speaker 1: Who lives in in RV. Here's our interview.

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Speaker 4: I have one of the guests here that has been

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Speaker 4: very instrumental in getting and activating the community that he

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Speaker 4: lives in. And I will let him introduce himself and

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Speaker 4: then we'll take a conversation further from there.

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Speaker 7: Oh hey everybody, yeah, thanks for having me THEO. My

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Speaker 7: name is Paisley Maris. I am an unhoused organizer. I

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Speaker 7: live in my RV. I are organized with ETNA Street

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Speaker 7: Solidarity that works directly with folks living on the street

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Speaker 7: in vehicles in the Van Eyes area. And I also

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Speaker 7: have a creative collective called General Mischief that has a

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Speaker 7: few different projects, one of which that I started this

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Speaker 7: past year in twenty twenty three is RVTV, which is

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Speaker 7: bringing independent media that affects folks living on the street

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Speaker 7: straight to viewers from their homes.

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Speaker 4: Where did you get that idea to do that? Because

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Speaker 4: I always say when I saw it, I say, oh,

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Speaker 4: why goodness, this is cool, A cool idea. Then you

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Speaker 4: have my shirt of a name on say that's cool.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I mean definitely, you know, I mean for

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Speaker 7: sure inspired by you and others who have just seen

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Speaker 7: stories that aren't being told. So for me, what specifically

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Speaker 7: got me to do that was the community on Etna

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Speaker 7: while they were still living on Etna Street, having since

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Speaker 7: been displaced by the mayor, but while we were still

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Speaker 7: over there, they wrote a demand letter kind of hearing

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Speaker 7: about you know, the potential of inside Safe coming to them,

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Speaker 7: you know, to show that people aren't resistant but want

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Speaker 7: to be involved and want to have a say and

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Speaker 7: what happens, and has some very reasonable demands, one of

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Speaker 7: which is to get whatever was being offered and writing,

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Speaker 7: you know. But the Etna community created this demand letter

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Speaker 7: and published it, and I was like, well, not everybody

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Speaker 7: can read text easily, so it would be good just

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Speaker 7: to read the letter. And so the first episode of

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Speaker 7: URVTV was me and my RV basically just reading that letter,

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Speaker 7: just so that we had it and that could be

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Speaker 7: shared more widely. And then it was really satisfying and

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Speaker 7: fun for me to create that, and also in their response,

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Speaker 7: people really seemed to it seemed to resonate with folks

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Speaker 7: and seemed like a really good vehicle punintended for you know,

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Speaker 7: future stories to be shared in that way.

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Speaker 4: One of the things that I also wanted to point

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Speaker 4: out too, is like the ideas that there's agency in

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Speaker 4: choosing where they want to be. I know, more many

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Speaker 4: house people look at houses and get online and look

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Speaker 4: for apartments and things like that.

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Speaker 1: They do a host of things.

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Speaker 4: They look at the place, they look at the location,

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Speaker 4: they look at the availability of it and how many rooms,

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Speaker 4: if it's near their job or hospital or the other things.

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Speaker 4: And it seems like when on house people are asked

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Speaker 4: to have any kind of insight or say to it,

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Speaker 4: it is always easily dismissed or blamed or finger wagged.

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Speaker 4: And that's one of the things that would set the

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Speaker 4: ETNA to delective apart, because they were reintroducing like, hey,

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Speaker 4: we're still human beings. We still have quirks and lack

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Speaker 4: centricies like everyone else, but we also have basic things

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Speaker 4: that we want, just like it is required for everyone else.

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Speaker 4: What was the response to the letter from the city.

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Speaker 7: I mean, I think in one regard that the letter

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Speaker 7: as well as the ground organizing collaborating with people across

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Speaker 7: different groups, showing that unification across the people who are

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Speaker 7: living there, across people who you know are live inside

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Speaker 7: around the city caused the cities some pause and that

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Speaker 7: this inside Safe operation that we had heard of possibly

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Speaker 7: happening more towards the spring or summer, what didn't happen

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Speaker 7: until September. We did through a coalition of other communities

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Speaker 7: who had been displaced through Inside Safe, formed a coalition

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Speaker 7: called Inside Starving that similarly, you know, had similar demands,

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Speaker 7: some of there's there's a lot of overlap, and then

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Speaker 7: a couple that were you know, unique to different areas

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Speaker 7: because it's not a monolithic sort of situation though a

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Speaker 7: lot of things do translate. So that organizing effort led

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Speaker 7: to a meeting with the mayor. But ultimately, so far

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Speaker 7: these demands haven't been met, like point blank, and the

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Speaker 7: mayor pretty directly said that certain demands she refused to

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Speaker 7: meet them, you know, the demand to have something in writing,

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Speaker 7: which is demand number one. What she said is like

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Speaker 7: she can't do that. She could provide what inside Safe

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Speaker 7: is in writing, right, like to kind of say like, oh,

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Speaker 7: this is the what is what the program is supposed

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Speaker 7: to do generally speaking, which is not what we're asking right,

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Speaker 7: like we're asking hey, Like you're saying, if someone who's

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Speaker 7: getting an apartment, you're going to sign a lease, you

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Speaker 7: have a contract, you know how long you're going to

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Speaker 7: be there, the rules right, or you're not allowed to

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Speaker 7: smoke inside Da da da da da. So you're you're

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Speaker 7: not going in uninformed exactly.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you know.

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Speaker 7: It's like you're you have all the information you need

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Speaker 7: to make a considered a decision, but you're right, like

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Speaker 7: your agency when you're not paying rent, basically like you

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Speaker 7: lose that agency, your autonomy is taken from you.

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Speaker 4: It sounds a little as similarly to this paternalistic ideology

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Speaker 4: that's going on in social services really advances or pushes

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Speaker 4: this a notion that beggars can't be choos is they

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Speaker 4: have to choose whatever it is got there the dregs

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Speaker 4: you just buy as well, just suck it up and

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Speaker 4: go on and t with it. And what is so

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Speaker 4: refreshing in this times when now looking at the conversations,

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Speaker 4: it's like people are not accepting that they're not a

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Speaker 4: stepting it from family members, they're not accepting it from

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Speaker 4: the city. They're just saying, wait a minute, we're still

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Speaker 4: a human being. Just because we lose a shelter or

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Speaker 4: a structure of which is considers a home, doesn't mean

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Speaker 4: we don't have the same agency. We love our kids

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Speaker 4: like house people, we love our families. We're a slice

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Speaker 4: of humanity and we demand to be treated as as humanely.

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Speaker 4: It's with fairly and with our input and on how

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Speaker 4: we're going to live and how we're going to be

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Speaker 4: infolded back into. I hate to say if we want

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Speaker 4: to be in mainstream society, if there's ever such a thing, but.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, definitely, yeah, I mean I think that, yeah, that

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Speaker 7: dehumanization and other ring of you know, creating this underclass

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Speaker 7: of anybody.

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Speaker 6: Right.

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Speaker 7: You can see that happening across the world in Palestinians

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Speaker 7: being dehumanized by the occupying forces of you know, Israel.

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Speaker 7: I see that happening directly to people who live like

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Speaker 7: unsheltered on how it is homeless, however you want to

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Speaker 7: say it, in that they are very intentionally demonized and

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Speaker 7: patronized again, removed of having agency over their own lives.

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Speaker 7: Because I feel like they're a major threat to the

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Speaker 7: status quote to the mainstream society, right, because what is

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Speaker 7: the mainstream society as you know, we're laughing about it

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Speaker 7: because we're like, yeah, I mean, like what even is

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Speaker 7: that or like what is it? What function does it serve?

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Speaker 7: You know, it's often, at least as things are set

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Speaker 7: up now, it serves the function of capital and creating

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Speaker 7: profit for a fewer and fewer kind of a body

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Speaker 7: of people.

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Speaker 4: And I would add the car sotol boot on poor people.

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Speaker 4: I just read from the Washington Post. I believe, if

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Speaker 4: I'm quoting it right, that there is a major, like

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Speaker 4: for you, over twenty percent increase of how a houselessness

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Speaker 4: all across the country. That's just not just law sandealists

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Speaker 4: like across the country, and that just can't be despite

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Speaker 4: what people saying, people don't want to work or people

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Speaker 4: like being out here. People are all of these kind

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Speaker 4: of same clutching your pearls kind of ideology that's been

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Speaker 4: grappled or gripped so tightly with how society. It's just

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Speaker 4: simply not the factory anywhere. It's it's not really with

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Speaker 4: never a reality, but it's always been the idea of

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Speaker 4: deserving poor and undeserving poor. And therein lies where my

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Speaker 4: next question, which is what you were pointed out as well,

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Speaker 4: what makes Edna. It's extraordinary and I'm going to go

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Speaker 4: back in time, and Edna just wasn't just as Wilson

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Speaker 4: just wanted isolated incident where they stood sweep defense. They

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Speaker 4: had been doing sweet defense prior to over a year

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Speaker 4: when the former city council president Urie Martinez had created

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Speaker 4: this hostile environment against the un house there. But fortunately

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Speaker 4: the community came together, they made sure that they were

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Speaker 4: there to stay, and they were successful. This was not

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Speaker 4: and again an isolated said, we'll talk a little bit

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Speaker 4: about that.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I became involved in the community post pandemic.

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Speaker 7: I do understand it's a very special community. You know,

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Speaker 7: before people were living on specifically Etna Street, that community

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Speaker 7: of people were living. I believe it was like on

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Speaker 7: federal property outside of like the courthouse to the Van

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Speaker 7: Ey's Courthouse and the police station, right, and so they

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Speaker 7: were in a place that the city didn't have jurisdiction

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Speaker 7: to just you know sweep them as they do on

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Speaker 7: public streets. But having an encampment in this area makes

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Speaker 7: the city look like they're not doing their job. And

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Speaker 7: so like basically a deal was struck. As far as

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Speaker 7: I understand it, Folks were you know, so hey, move

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Speaker 7: to the street. Moved to Etna Street, which is off

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Speaker 7: of Van Ey's. It's not impeding on any apartments and

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Speaker 7: barely any businesses, Like it's not well, it's not a

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Speaker 7: heavily trafficked street. Still moved there, and people did and

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Speaker 7: then in the pandemic make the population balloon. But all throughout,

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Speaker 7: you know, just a really tight knit community, a community

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Speaker 7: of folks, some people coming and going, but you just

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Speaker 7: kind of have that kind of core heartbeat as far

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Speaker 7: as I have understood it, and then firsthanded experienced in

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Speaker 7: the years since, so definitely and to the point of

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Speaker 7: that organized assertion of people's rights, of like standing up

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Speaker 7: for themselves, for each other, standing up to the state

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Speaker 7: in you know, repeatedly and repeated efforts.

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Speaker 2: It did.

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Speaker 7: It did result in effectively being able to stay, you know,

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Speaker 7: and that's what made what happened in September. And sweeps

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Speaker 7: are devastating. They happen every day, these you know, sweeps

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Speaker 7: of major encampments of folks who have been living in

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Speaker 7: the same place for like over a year and have

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Speaker 7: not been forced to move everything in over a year,

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Speaker 7: so therefore been able to even though it was never

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Speaker 7: broadcasted by the city that you would not have to

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Speaker 7: move like they ultimately didn't. So there was like a

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Speaker 7: level of security that people were able to feel. And

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Speaker 7: during the chaos and the tumult of that operation, you know,

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Speaker 7: the people who did still choose to remain, having been

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Speaker 7: presented with that option by people directly from the mayor's office.

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Speaker 7: If you it's a voluntary program, you can take it

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Speaker 7: or leave it. If you want to stay, you can stay.

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Speaker 7: Heard that myself. Those who did stay were and continue

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Speaker 7: to be punished by the state just outright, like the

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Speaker 7: enforcement has been just just coming down incredibly hard. It's

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Speaker 7: hard to not feel like it is direct retaliation for

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Speaker 7: that very same like spirit of resistance, of community of strength,

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Speaker 7: and when people get pushed into these motels, the isolation

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Speaker 7: that comes with it. It all just feels again very

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Speaker 7: intertwined and intentional to continuing to keep people down, Like

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Speaker 7: how dare you stand up for yourself? You know, like

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Speaker 7: you take what we're going to give you and don't

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Speaker 7: get any ideas. Is the message that gets communicated, even

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Speaker 7: if that's not what they's say saying they're doing.

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Speaker 4: You know, well, also too, I want to point out

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Speaker 4: It's one of the things that I noticed as well

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Speaker 4: is when you guys had events like at Napalooza, had

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Speaker 4: other power ups and mutual aid kind of activities that

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Speaker 4: one of the things is once you have a community

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Speaker 4: connected together, they're able to quicker get to resources without

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Speaker 4: having to go and reinvent the wheel. One of the

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Speaker 4: also things I wanted to point out what our VTT

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Speaker 4: has been very effective as well as you guys have

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Speaker 4: been is creating events, Like there was a couple of

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Speaker 4: things that you did with UCLA. Could you talk a

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Speaker 4: little bit about that.

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Speaker 7: So Atnapaluza, for instance, as a free street festival, we've

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Speaker 7: been doing a couple of years running and this past

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Speaker 7: year we did a few in collaboration with a community

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Speaker 7: collaborative class at UCLA that had partially community representatives, so organizers,

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Speaker 7: folks who were unhoused have been unhoused or work alongside

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Speaker 7: people who'd had and then UCLA grad students from the

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Speaker 7: Urban Planning I think one undergrad student from the Urban

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Speaker 7: Planning Department. So it was a really interesting and collaborative environment.

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Speaker 7: Where As a part of that class for at Napalooza,

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Speaker 7: each of the groups that were designated in that class,

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Speaker 7: mixing all these people together did different projects and so

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Speaker 7: for instance, the group that I was a part of

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Speaker 7: went with an idea that I pitched was that we

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Speaker 7: would create moving platforms on wheels, take pallettes and add

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Speaker 7: some wheels, but make it in the higher quality way

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Speaker 7: with the resources that we were able to do. And

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Speaker 7: then as well as you know, create these platforms one

436
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,239
Speaker 7: off to document the process, talk to other people who

437
00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:47,840
Speaker 7: live on the street and create amazing structures and wheeled

438
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,400
Speaker 7: devices all the time, and take that information and kind

439
00:24:51,400 --> 00:24:55,600
Speaker 7: of disseminate that. Another fun event that we recently did

440
00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:59,520
Speaker 7: after the displacement on ETNA was for Halloween, a haunted

441
00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:03,920
Speaker 7: drive through experience where we highlighted the horror of what

442
00:25:04,040 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 7: had happened to our community, what happens across the city

443
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:09,920
Speaker 7: to other communities, and you know, really try to put

444
00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,159
Speaker 7: the person whoever was experiencing it in the seat of

445
00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,880
Speaker 7: somebody who is being proposed with this inside safe housing operation.

446
00:25:18,119 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 7: So it was designed as a drive through horror experience

447
00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 7: and the rioters would be driven as if they were

448
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,840
Speaker 7: being offered inside safe shelter, so they were not giving

449
00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 7: any information where they were going and then we drove

450
00:25:31,400 --> 00:25:34,240
Speaker 7: down the length of the street that is now fenced off.

451
00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:39,080
Speaker 7: But yeah, the collaboration with UCLA has hasn't continues to

452
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:43,440
Speaker 7: be really few fruitful. Another project that came out of

453
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 7: that same class and is continuing on is street Views newspaper,

454
00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,520
Speaker 7: which is a street sheet for Los Angeles, as the

455
00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 7: city doesn't have one currently, and so we've re visited

456
00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,800
Speaker 7: having a community newsroom, so in print, having stories and

457
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:06,879
Speaker 7: art and expose as investigations that can be disseminated, you know,

458
00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:09,280
Speaker 7: across the city and memorials.

459
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,080
Speaker 4: I wanted to take a different turn on There were

460
00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:14,480
Speaker 4: some of the community members that I did meet and

461
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,160
Speaker 4: I wanted if you wanted to bring up their names

462
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,159
Speaker 4: and bring who they were to our community. This was

463
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:23,400
Speaker 4: a good time to talk about them because they were

464
00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 4: very beloved and very respected as well.

465
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,639
Speaker 7: I appreciate the space. I think it is important that

466
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,639
Speaker 7: we make that time, but we don't always like we

467
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:35,680
Speaker 7: don't always get that opportunity, so I thank you for that.

468
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:40,520
Speaker 7: I do want to lift up two beloved community members

469
00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 7: that we lost this year, Terry Terry Mason Kendrick, who

470
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 7: is like our grandpa. My partner and I was like

471
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,840
Speaker 7: our grandpa and grandpa too many and it was just

472
00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,280
Speaker 7: a funny guy he had. He was one of the

473
00:26:56,359 --> 00:26:59,160
Speaker 7: first people I befriended when I started to go to ETNA,

474
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:06,120
Speaker 7: and and was grouchy and sarcastic and funny as fuck.

475
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,920
Speaker 7: And he had a stroke last year, so he was

476
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:14,520
Speaker 7: hospitalized for a year and was grateful that I had

477
00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:17,160
Speaker 7: the opportunity to visit him as much as we could

478
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:19,959
Speaker 7: while he was in the hospital, and we're very involved

479
00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:24,840
Speaker 7: with looking after that. My partner really was like his

480
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:27,960
Speaker 7: next of kin essentially, you know, like really filled that role.

481
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 7: And you really see that navigating the medical industry. When

482
00:27:33,520 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 7: people know your house once they learn your housing status

483
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,280
Speaker 7: is unhoused, you know, like that treat makes me really different.

484
00:27:38,359 --> 00:27:40,520
Speaker 7: And if you don't have somebody there fighting for you,

485
00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:45,440
Speaker 7: things could go sour. People get dumped, right, hospital dumped,

486
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,480
Speaker 7: people to just get like thrown out because of it,

487
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,480
Speaker 7: you know. So we were able to really like advocate

488
00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:53,560
Speaker 7: for him, and the hospital became his housing at a

489
00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 7: certain point, knowing that he couldn't really be discharged and

490
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:58,639
Speaker 7: receive the same care he would, you know, we were

491
00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,880
Speaker 7: trying to figure something out. We couldn't so he remained

492
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 7: and survived pneumonia and COVID and all these things, but

493
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,879
Speaker 7: I think ultimately was ready to not be in that

494
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:13,440
Speaker 7: that environment anymore. And so you know, he he left

495
00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:18,639
Speaker 7: us this year, and most recently, our good friend Mike Flow,

496
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,920
Speaker 7: who was another one of the first people who a

497
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:26,520
Speaker 7: lot of people met when they moved to Etna. Just

498
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:33,440
Speaker 7: a really gregarious guy. He unfortunately passed away and a

499
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,200
Speaker 7: really preventable death. And I think that's what makes that

500
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 7: especially tragic, is that he overdosed in a motel room

501
00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,560
Speaker 7: due to that isolation policy we were talking about earlier,

502
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:50,240
Speaker 7: you know, Like I'm sure you know, it's a whole

503
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:54,240
Speaker 7: other conversation to get into about, like drug use. I

504
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,440
Speaker 7: have strong opinions about that, but I know forcing people

505
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 7: to be alone isn't going to stop people from using drugs,

506
00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:05,000
Speaker 7: and it will only increase the likelihood that they'll die

507
00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:10,840
Speaker 7: alone because people can't narcan themselves and people look out

508
00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,360
Speaker 7: for each other. So again, you know the difference between

509
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:16,160
Speaker 7: being inside or outside, Like if you're inside and you

510
00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 7: can't have anybody over in your room, it's just there's

511
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 7: a major risk and threat that comes with that, and

512
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:25,600
Speaker 7: it's it's doesn't. It shouldn't be that way, and so

513
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,400
Speaker 7: Mike shouldn't have shouldn't have died like that. And it's

514
00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,120
Speaker 7: not because he used drugs, but because he's forced to

515
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:34,640
Speaker 7: use drugs alone in the facility that I'll also add,

516
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,720
Speaker 7: like I have discovered, is not nearly equipped with like

517
00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 7: enough narcan or harm reduction supplies to you know, show

518
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:48,200
Speaker 7: up adequately for the community that they have transplanted there.

519
00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 7: Basically very true.

520
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:53,480
Speaker 4: Like I said, that's another topic that really needs to

521
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:56,840
Speaker 4: be explored, our ideas about mental health and substant usage

522
00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,680
Speaker 4: and as well as like the understanding of how are

523
00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:03,000
Speaker 4: we we are blaming and judging society and how we

524
00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 4: can get better from that, because in anything, in order

525
00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,800
Speaker 4: for us to understand it, we have to really identify

526
00:30:09,880 --> 00:30:12,680
Speaker 4: what the issue is because most often, not many, tying

527
00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 4: substance usage is a symptom, it's not the cause. So

528
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 4: there is a conversation to be.

529
00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:18,480
Speaker 1: Had on that.

530
00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:23,440
Speaker 4: Lastly, I think we covered the majority of what I

531
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:26,480
Speaker 4: wanted to touch base with you on, but one last

532
00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:30,400
Speaker 4: thing before I forget, are you familiar with the terminology

533
00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:34,720
Speaker 4: that they're using about creating an ordinance for vanlords and things.

534
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:38,040
Speaker 7: Like that a little I was looking up and reading

535
00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:43,520
Speaker 7: some I do know that they were they were working

536
00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 7: on creating this ordinance that was going to target vanlords,

537
00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,200
Speaker 7: which you know, for anyone that it's exacy what it

538
00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,880
Speaker 7: sounds like. It's a landlord for vans and RV somebody

539
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:55,720
Speaker 7: who's like renting them out to people. It's all that,

540
00:30:55,920 --> 00:30:58,960
Speaker 7: as far as I have seen or I'm aware of,

541
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 7: as like issue that is really important to put our

542
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:07,480
Speaker 7: resources into pursuing, it just seems like unnecessary. I just

543
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:09,280
Speaker 7: don't see that as being like that is not like

544
00:31:09,400 --> 00:31:12,800
Speaker 7: the most pressing pressing issue I do. I remember when

545
00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 7: reading it when it first was announced, it was something

546
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 7: and like the way that it was written was like

547
00:31:17,080 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 7: redefining that basically that your RV or your vehicle was

548
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,560
Speaker 7: not a home. So like that was it seemed like

549
00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:24,760
Speaker 7: kind of the angle they were taking of like how

550
00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:26,800
Speaker 7: we can crack down on these like vandlords, like we're

551
00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,160
Speaker 7: not a landlord because this isn't an actual home. And

552
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:32,479
Speaker 7: so me reading that or seeing that and my RV

553
00:31:32,720 --> 00:31:36,680
Speaker 7: is my home, it makes me my alerts go up

554
00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:40,440
Speaker 7: right to like okay, well that's that's threatening the validity

555
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:43,520
Speaker 7: of my existence, and I do, and I was reading

556
00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 7: in other reports that essentially, you know, the RV is

557
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:51,479
Speaker 7: the vehicles are in the crosshairs in a really real way. Now,

558
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:54,560
Speaker 7: I think there's different statistics, but like the majority of

559
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 7: I think there was something like over fifty seven percent

560
00:31:57,240 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 7: of on house people are actually living in vehicles and

561
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 7: it's just a little more difficult to address. And then

562
00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 7: an encampment. So I think that it's gotten to a

563
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,000
Speaker 7: certain point now that the city is realizing like, hey,

564
00:32:11,040 --> 00:32:14,200
Speaker 7: this is a problem for them in their eyes, and

565
00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:16,400
Speaker 7: so different ways that they can kind of go after it.

566
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 7: So the Vanlord being one approach. I also have heard

567
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:21,240
Speaker 7: of like a cash for RVs.

568
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:21,800
Speaker 6: Yes.

569
00:32:23,800 --> 00:32:27,400
Speaker 4: Also you mentioned earlier about the conversation, which is a

570
00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:32,320
Speaker 4: very good conversation about Palestine and Israel and appropriate people

571
00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 4: and appropriate protests has been out here about speaking out

572
00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,200
Speaker 4: against it, and many of the people that are speaking

573
00:32:38,240 --> 00:32:41,240
Speaker 4: out are going to these rallies and are some of

574
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 4: the same people that are against dunhowuse community members. There

575
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:48,960
Speaker 4: is a mini or are miniscule type of Palestine and

576
00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:53,200
Speaker 4: erasure here. It's the forty one to eighteen Jim Crow Act.

577
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 4: It's the fifty six eleven. It's the sixty three forty four,

578
00:32:56,800 --> 00:33:01,240
Speaker 4: and you don't nearly see the rallies or the holding

579
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:05,000
Speaker 4: of these freeways against those conversations. But in fact, many

580
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:08,760
Speaker 4: of them, those people that do have created neighborhood business

581
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:13,360
Speaker 4: improvement district to run off the unsavory elements that they

582
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:17,000
Speaker 4: don't want to see. And so it's important that we

583
00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 4: speak up for the global, but we also need to

584
00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:21,360
Speaker 4: speak up for the local. And I'm looking for the

585
00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 4: same kind of conversation we do the can you see

586
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,160
Speaker 4: me memorials and things like that. I need the same

587
00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:29,920
Speaker 4: type of response. It shouldn't be only during the weekend

588
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,120
Speaker 4: or only when it's such a the atrocity is so

589
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,480
Speaker 4: out you cannot ignore it to say something. Because the

590
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 4: atrocities that we face here for fibrant house people today,

591
00:33:40,240 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 4: you can't ignore that either, and you must speak out

592
00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 4: it doesn't become a big Palestinian type of massacre or

593
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,000
Speaker 4: genocide that was going on.

594
00:33:48,560 --> 00:33:52,120
Speaker 7: And looking forward to looking ahead, you know, I see

595
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,440
Speaker 7: the activation that has happened in this past you know year,

596
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:58,520
Speaker 7: in the past few months in regards to what's happening

597
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 7: in the Middle East, and see the opportunity and necessity

598
00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 7: of building those bridges, and like in that intersectionality of

599
00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,440
Speaker 7: the fact that these struggles are all interconnected and you

600
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,560
Speaker 7: can't be fighting for fighting for one and not for

601
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:17,200
Speaker 7: the other. And and and to the point of the

602
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,680
Speaker 7: just sheer numbers of people that are dying on the

603
00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:24,080
Speaker 7: streets every day, that it's it's the invisible genocide that's

604
00:34:24,160 --> 00:34:27,120
Speaker 7: going on, and that it is it's imperative for people

605
00:34:27,239 --> 00:34:30,600
Speaker 7: to stand up against it's and I think I think

606
00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,839
Speaker 7: there's there is hope there and you know, anyone who's

607
00:34:34,880 --> 00:34:37,879
Speaker 7: getting involved now it's it's it's reminding me of twenty twenty.

608
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:40,960
Speaker 7: And in terms of the activation as someone who was

609
00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 7: a part of that kind of class of twenty twenty,

610
00:34:44,120 --> 00:34:47,439
Speaker 7: you know, becoming more mobilized, having that space to think

611
00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:50,320
Speaker 7: and to resist in different ways, just without the added

612
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,080
Speaker 7: context of this like lockdown. So I think I'm seeing

613
00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:55,640
Speaker 7: more and more of note not just weekend warrior. I'm

614
00:34:55,680 --> 00:34:57,360
Speaker 7: going to go to march because I can say I

615
00:34:57,400 --> 00:34:59,239
Speaker 7: went to the march, but like what I'm like, Hey,

616
00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 7: we need to actually like do something. Clearly, what's happening

617
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,960
Speaker 7: there is really broken. What's happening here is just as

618
00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,680
Speaker 7: it's just you know, they're not using light ammunition on

619
00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:10,920
Speaker 7: us yet, basically is how I see it. You know,

620
00:35:11,000 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 7: we haven't gotten to this gotten to that place, but

621
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:18,600
Speaker 7: the the atrocities are happening, and if we don't do something,

622
00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:22,040
Speaker 7: they will continue to get worse. And I believe that

623
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 7: that's not anything that the majority of us want, and

624
00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 7: we actually all we do want the same thing at

625
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:30,440
Speaker 7: our core, but it's just about sort of how we

626
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:34,400
Speaker 7: get there and illuminating that for people that the person

627
00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:37,360
Speaker 7: who lives under the bridge or in their car is

628
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:42,479
Speaker 7: not your enemy. That person is you, and your life

629
00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 7: is only as good as their life is, you know,

630
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:47,840
Speaker 7: the quality of it is how I really truly believe

631
00:35:47,880 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 7: that we're not living in vacuums, even if our you

632
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:56,800
Speaker 7: know America and raw raw US independent society tells you

633
00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,400
Speaker 7: that you can just like it's about you and yours like,

634
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:04,239
Speaker 7: that's a false belief in my opinion. You know, I

635
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,440
Speaker 7: do think as far as the autonomy that comes with

636
00:36:06,520 --> 00:36:09,839
Speaker 7: living in your vehicle, living on your own right, living

637
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:15,800
Speaker 7: outside of a rent burden society is one part of

638
00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,439
Speaker 7: the solution to like a liberated existence because as someone

639
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:23,279
Speaker 7: who moved out of that rent system as I was

640
00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:27,440
Speaker 7: able to and deemed it necessary. I never felt freer

641
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:32,880
Speaker 7: than when I was outside, if that makes sense, you know.

642
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 6: Well.

643
00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:36,239
Speaker 4: On that note, thank you Paisley for joining us. I

644
00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:39,279
Speaker 4: hope you everyone really drank into what we said and

645
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:41,719
Speaker 4: what's the reality going on out here. Thank you THEO,

646
00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:47,680
Speaker 4: thank you. Thanks so much to Paisley. Be sure to

647
00:36:47,719 --> 00:36:51,080
Speaker 4: follow him at RVTV. The links are in the description.

648
00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,880
Speaker 4: When we come back, we'll talk to Elizabeth Show, a

649
00:36:55,040 --> 00:36:58,719
Speaker 4: journalist from La Daily Press who's covered the RV beat,

650
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 4: offering her insight on the store. Welcome back to Edian House,

651
00:37:12,000 --> 00:37:14,400
Speaker 4: where we're taking a deep dive into the discussion of

652
00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,680
Speaker 4: our V living and van living. Joining us now is

653
00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:21,279
Speaker 4: Elizabeth Show, a journalist from the La Daily Press. Here's

654
00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 4: our conversation in the studios today. I have with me

655
00:37:28,239 --> 00:37:31,240
Speaker 4: Elizabeth Show. And to give a little bit of background,

656
00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:35,200
Speaker 4: I remember meeting at Echo Park. She was running some

657
00:37:35,320 --> 00:37:37,240
Speaker 4: of the stories what was going on with the unhouse

658
00:37:37,280 --> 00:37:40,040
Speaker 4: and Echo Park. Then I saw her in the valley.

659
00:37:40,560 --> 00:37:43,239
Speaker 4: Then I've seen her in other places. She has been

660
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:49,120
Speaker 4: covering in various parts about the unhoused experience and advancing

661
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:53,040
Speaker 4: the conversation, educating the public. Let me get her a

662
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:55,640
Speaker 4: chance to talk her story, because she can tell the

663
00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:59,959
Speaker 4: story better than I can without further ado, Miss show Hi.

664
00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:02,920
Speaker 8: Thanks for having me. I mean, I'm not sure if

665
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,600
Speaker 8: I can tell stories as well as you can, but

666
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,040
Speaker 8: I can talk a little bit about how I started

667
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:13,360
Speaker 8: covering this topic and running around trying to keep up

668
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:15,920
Speaker 8: with what's going on, because there seems to be a lot,

669
00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:19,319
Speaker 8: you know, that they do around the city in terms

670
00:38:19,360 --> 00:38:23,240
Speaker 8: of sweeps and displacing people. And when I first started

671
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 8: covering this, it was because I was working at a

672
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:29,359
Speaker 8: wire surface called City News Service. I was mainly called

673
00:38:29,440 --> 00:38:32,360
Speaker 8: vering city Hall, but at the time the topic of

674
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:36,160
Speaker 8: homelessness was up, but it was discussed in terms of

675
00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,160
Speaker 8: the different laws like fifty six eleven, which is the

676
00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:44,120
Speaker 8: law that restricts storage of property on the sidewalk or

677
00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 8: a public area. And then there's came up eighteen later

678
00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,520
Speaker 8: on that's an anti camping law. And so a lot

679
00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:53,000
Speaker 8: of what was coming across my desk was a lot

680
00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,520
Speaker 8: of things that affected people who are on house to

681
00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:58,200
Speaker 8: who are living out on the streets.

682
00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:00,759
Speaker 4: And I was in an.

683
00:39:00,680 --> 00:39:04,520
Speaker 8: Office city Hall talking to the officials about this topic,

684
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,960
Speaker 8: and I wanted to hear from people who were most

685
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:12,759
Speaker 8: affected by these laws. So that meant later on when

686
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:14,959
Speaker 8: I went to La Daily News, I had a little

687
00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 8: bit more time. I was able to go and ask

688
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:22,839
Speaker 8: people about these policies, which also included RV's people who

689
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,919
Speaker 8: lived in RV's. There were laws at the time where

690
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:30,160
Speaker 8: different council members would put oversized vehicle bands all across

691
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 8: the city, and that meant that people had to either

692
00:39:34,000 --> 00:39:37,920
Speaker 8: move their RVs during the night or just not be

693
00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:42,680
Speaker 8: someplace because there was just so much harassment. So yeah,

694
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,080
Speaker 8: that's sort of how it got started. And when I

695
00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:48,960
Speaker 8: say that I'm running around trying to keep up, it's

696
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:54,279
Speaker 8: because these kinds of enforcement actions or enforcement policies are

697
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:59,839
Speaker 8: happening multiple times on a daily basis, and often there's

698
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:03,680
Speaker 8: no way to know what actually does happen unless a

699
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:06,719
Speaker 8: reporter or just anyone is there to actually watch. And

700
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:11,200
Speaker 8: I know that there are groups like Streetwatch or other

701
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:14,560
Speaker 8: mini groups these days too who try to be out

702
00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:18,200
Speaker 8: there to monitor, and so I'm trying to also contribute

703
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:21,400
Speaker 8: to that effort to try to just have eyes on

704
00:40:21,520 --> 00:40:22,080
Speaker 8: what's going on.

705
00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:26,440
Speaker 4: Yeah, one of the things that I recall when you

706
00:40:26,520 --> 00:40:29,080
Speaker 4: were on the beat before I started to see you

707
00:40:29,239 --> 00:40:33,120
Speaker 4: moving about is that you were covering city Hall. And

708
00:40:33,400 --> 00:40:35,640
Speaker 4: one of the things when I first started really becoming

709
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:40,120
Speaker 4: much more noticeable in the community, speaking at city Hall

710
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:44,200
Speaker 4: and things, I noticed there was always this conversation about

711
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:50,480
Speaker 4: a safety of children near schools. Very rarely until recently.

712
00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,760
Speaker 4: Then I've heard about the smells of the people leading

713
00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:57,960
Speaker 4: out toilets out into other areas, but mostly it's been

714
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:02,040
Speaker 4: associated in the most deleterious way. Now it's just a

715
00:41:02,280 --> 00:41:07,720
Speaker 4: very big difference from how recreational vehicles were portrayed earlier

716
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:12,120
Speaker 4: part of our country's history. It was mostly an elite

717
00:41:12,440 --> 00:41:15,200
Speaker 4: or middle class kind of thing, getting back into the

718
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:20,200
Speaker 4: wild and going to new and uncharted places, pitching the tent,

719
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,920
Speaker 4: getting you know new people. And then there has been

720
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:29,680
Speaker 4: a different change. People are waving their fists angrily at RVs.

721
00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:34,560
Speaker 4: They don't move when they should, they say they stay

722
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:37,160
Speaker 4: in the places for a longer periods of time. And

723
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,960
Speaker 4: then I've heard some of the horrible stories where the

724
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,360
Speaker 4: police were being sicked on on house people, people separating

725
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:47,640
Speaker 4: their families, getting them deported. When COVID nineteen happened, there

726
00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 4: was a couple of families that were completely targeted by

727
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:53,040
Speaker 4: the police for it. They would put chalk on the

728
00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,120
Speaker 4: tires and see if it moved. All of those different

729
00:41:56,200 --> 00:42:00,640
Speaker 4: type of tactics to get people to self evicted neighborhood.

730
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,239
Speaker 4: So what what's your experience have when you've been out,

731
00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:05,960
Speaker 4: because I've seen you out in the field, so I

732
00:42:06,080 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 4: know you know a little bit more about it. Is

733
00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:10,719
Speaker 4: there anything kind of incidents that come to mind about

734
00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:11,319
Speaker 4: when they.

735
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:16,000
Speaker 8: Have this order out for people to do something, for instance,

736
00:42:16,480 --> 00:42:20,680
Speaker 8: in a care plus suite done by the sanitation under

737
00:42:20,880 --> 00:42:24,400
Speaker 8: the fifty six eleven law, which regulates storage of things

738
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:27,919
Speaker 8: on the public area, people are being required to move

739
00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:32,200
Speaker 8: their entire home and living space off of the street

740
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,840
Speaker 8: and then they are allowed to come back later. But

741
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:41,560
Speaker 8: the whole process is very sometimes laborious. Sometimes sorry, yes you're.

742
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:45,239
Speaker 1: Around, they put up fences to prevent them coming back.

743
00:42:45,640 --> 00:42:45,840
Speaker 6: It is.

744
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:51,440
Speaker 4: It is very nimb focused. It is very council member

745
00:42:51,520 --> 00:42:54,680
Speaker 4: and cop coordinated kind of displacement.

746
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:58,680
Speaker 8: So yeah, yeah, it's it's it's different depending on the

747
00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:03,000
Speaker 8: situation and how how different council members treat it. So yeah,

748
00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:06,080
Speaker 8: there would be sometimes people walking by and they would

749
00:43:06,120 --> 00:43:10,480
Speaker 8: be shouting and yelling about how you know this is

750
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:13,919
Speaker 8: a good thing that's happening, you know, very ugly things

751
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:17,239
Speaker 8: about the people living there, even though they don't seem

752
00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,680
Speaker 8: to have really talked to people who are living there.

753
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:23,680
Speaker 4: So this is the perfect segue to lead into when

754
00:43:23,719 --> 00:43:25,840
Speaker 4: we were talking about the foce lats. So talk to

755
00:43:26,040 --> 00:43:29,200
Speaker 4: us about that. You've been covering that story, walk us

756
00:43:29,239 --> 00:43:31,360
Speaker 4: through that to tell us how this is, how this

757
00:43:31,480 --> 00:43:32,480
Speaker 4: works and what happened.

758
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:35,600
Speaker 8: Okay, I think a couple of days before, it was

759
00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 8: probably a Monday, trying to recall exactly when somebody shared

760
00:43:40,680 --> 00:43:44,760
Speaker 8: with me a planning document for an upcoming inside safe.

761
00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:48,720
Speaker 8: And the reason that this was significant was because often

762
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:52,759
Speaker 8: insight safes aren't even announced until after the operation has

763
00:43:52,840 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 8: been completed. And I guess I should explain what an

764
00:43:56,080 --> 00:44:02,200
Speaker 8: insight safe is. It's La Mayor Karen Bass's initiative to

765
00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:06,880
Speaker 8: clear encampments across Los Angeles, and it happens, you know,

766
00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:12,160
Speaker 8: at different encampments that she decides to do those operations at.

767
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:18,480
Speaker 8: I don't think it's super clear, but it is definitely

768
00:44:18,560 --> 00:44:22,800
Speaker 8: something at the discretion of whoever is leading this, and

769
00:44:23,239 --> 00:44:24,759
Speaker 8: you know, as far as I know, it's the mayor

770
00:44:24,840 --> 00:44:27,520
Speaker 8: that's leading this. They don't know what it's about to happen.

771
00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:29,480
Speaker 8: They don't know for sure it's going to be an

772
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:33,719
Speaker 8: insights safe and that's often been the case. Like as

773
00:44:33,760 --> 00:44:36,279
Speaker 8: a reporter, you want to know ahead of time too

774
00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:39,880
Speaker 8: what's going on so you can properly report on something,

775
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,440
Speaker 8: and that's not something that is easy even for a

776
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:47,240
Speaker 8: reporter to get who has access often And so somebody

777
00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:51,040
Speaker 8: shared with me this planning document, which it is actually

778
00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:54,200
Speaker 8: something that I've seen before because you can obtain them

779
00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:57,239
Speaker 8: through public records requests, but tells me that this is

780
00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,840
Speaker 8: a public record, but usually only after so like a

781
00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:03,960
Speaker 8: few weeks or maybe months after an inside safe operation.

782
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:06,800
Speaker 8: So this contained a lot of information that you know,

783
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:09,359
Speaker 8: would be helpful for people to know about ahead of time,

784
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:12,920
Speaker 8: at least what you know the plans were for them.

785
00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:17,640
Speaker 8: It doesn't necessarily say a lot of necessarily promising things

786
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,239
Speaker 8: for people, because you know what, I think what people

787
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:23,480
Speaker 8: would like to know about is whether or not the

788
00:45:23,640 --> 00:45:27,040
Speaker 8: motels or the housing that's being offered is appropriate and

789
00:45:27,120 --> 00:45:30,279
Speaker 8: adequate and like. And then also you know whether or

790
00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:33,400
Speaker 8: not people will even get much of a say, and

791
00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,480
Speaker 8: a lot of how this planning happened, you know, So

792
00:45:35,920 --> 00:45:39,120
Speaker 8: that's at least there's some details in these documents they

793
00:45:39,200 --> 00:45:41,680
Speaker 8: with them. I guess if you want, I can read

794
00:45:41,719 --> 00:45:42,480
Speaker 8: a little bit from it.

795
00:45:42,600 --> 00:45:43,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, please, okay.

796
00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:47,560
Speaker 8: So this document, it says inside Safe objectives and they

797
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:50,360
Speaker 8: say the name of the operation inside Safe for slaan

798
00:45:50,880 --> 00:45:53,839
Speaker 8: CD four, which is the fourth district, and it talks

799
00:45:53,840 --> 00:46:01,480
Speaker 8: about city four is overseen by Councilwoman Nythia Rahman. So

800
00:46:01,800 --> 00:46:04,719
Speaker 8: one of the things that people don't usually have a

801
00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:09,400
Speaker 8: like a specific you know, they don't get much confirmation on.

802
00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:12,680
Speaker 8: They kind of get told kind of maybe that when

803
00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:15,920
Speaker 8: this inside safe will happen. So this planning document says

804
00:46:15,960 --> 00:46:20,319
Speaker 8: that the inside Safe is happening December sixth, twenty twenty three,

805
00:46:20,560 --> 00:46:23,879
Speaker 8: which is a Wednesday, I believe, am I correct? Yeah,

806
00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:26,480
Speaker 8: it's a Wednesday. And the time that it starts is

807
00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:32,319
Speaker 8: at seven thirty am and it will last until December eighth,

808
00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:36,040
Speaker 8: twenty twenty three. They have the weather forecast, they have

809
00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:39,839
Speaker 8: the operational personnel, so a whole list of people who

810
00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 8: are involved from different departments like the Mayor's office, the

811
00:46:43,120 --> 00:46:49,160
Speaker 8: council district, the LA Homeless Services Authority, the service provider

812
00:46:49,280 --> 00:46:55,920
Speaker 8: like LA Family Housing or Hope, the Mission LA Sanitation, LAPD,

813
00:46:56,680 --> 00:46:59,600
Speaker 8: Department of Transportation, and others.

814
00:46:59,640 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 1: They have a map of where.

815
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:04,160
Speaker 8: It's happening, from what end to what end. They have

816
00:47:04,719 --> 00:47:08,840
Speaker 8: what closures are happening. They have a huddle area, they

817
00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:11,759
Speaker 8: have pictures. They have location of where the motels will be,

818
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:14,880
Speaker 8: which is something that people want to know about, but

819
00:47:15,600 --> 00:47:19,719
Speaker 8: it's usually not known even as people are going on

820
00:47:19,880 --> 00:47:23,440
Speaker 8: to a shuttle to be set there. Yeah, so that

821
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:24,240
Speaker 8: kind of information.

822
00:47:24,400 --> 00:47:27,560
Speaker 4: Okay, so leading into what did you see when it happened?

823
00:47:28,000 --> 00:47:29,360
Speaker 4: Were you there when it happened or.

824
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:32,120
Speaker 8: Yeah, I was there for some of it. So I

825
00:47:32,239 --> 00:47:37,239
Speaker 8: got this plan on a Monday, because on the day

826
00:47:37,280 --> 00:47:40,160
Speaker 8: of an operation things are pretty hectic. People are being

827
00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:43,480
Speaker 8: told that something is about to happen. They have to

828
00:47:43,520 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 8: make a decision, you know, you want to get brought

829
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:51,799
Speaker 8: in to a motel or not. People have to really

830
00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:55,560
Speaker 8: make a lot of big life decisions. So yeah, I

831
00:47:55,600 --> 00:47:58,480
Speaker 8: don't really I didn't really want to cut in and

832
00:47:58,760 --> 00:48:01,320
Speaker 8: you know, make them stand and talk to me about

833
00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:04,000
Speaker 8: what's going on in the middle of that hectic and

834
00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:09,200
Speaker 8: chaotic time. So on Tuesday I went with an activist,

835
00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:12,680
Speaker 8: Peggy Lee Kennedy, who has done a lot of surveys.

836
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:16,800
Speaker 8: I went with her early on Tuesday. She showed about

837
00:48:16,800 --> 00:48:19,600
Speaker 8: six I showed have like on seven and she had

838
00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:22,280
Speaker 8: actually seen that they had posted up toe way signs

839
00:48:22,800 --> 00:48:25,400
Speaker 8: all over the place, up and down the street. And

840
00:48:25,560 --> 00:48:28,399
Speaker 8: so this wasn't in the plan. So it was something

841
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:32,320
Speaker 8: that you know, was happening at the same time, possibly

842
00:48:32,440 --> 00:48:34,080
Speaker 8: or maybe as part of we didn't know for sure

843
00:48:34,120 --> 00:48:38,800
Speaker 8: at the time, but whatever the case was, those signs

844
00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,200
Speaker 8: were up right before this plan operation. And what this

845
00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:44,080
Speaker 8: meant for a lot of people that I talked to

846
00:48:44,360 --> 00:48:47,680
Speaker 8: was they had to make a decision on okay, if

847
00:48:47,719 --> 00:48:50,200
Speaker 8: they stayed, they could lose their RV.

848
00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:53,719
Speaker 4: It sounds like an intimidation tactic, big fee, honest with you,

849
00:48:53,840 --> 00:48:56,759
Speaker 4: because they don't accept the services, then they're going to

850
00:48:56,800 --> 00:48:59,440
Speaker 4: get their thing told it can't stay there. That's like,

851
00:48:59,560 --> 00:49:01,160
Speaker 4: you know, you to have to make the choice that

852
00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:03,960
Speaker 4: they want you to make. But this voluntary, according to

853
00:49:04,040 --> 00:49:07,320
Speaker 4: Mayor Baz, We're going to take a break and we

854
00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:15,879
Speaker 4: will be right back. We're back.

855
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:17,600
Speaker 1: Yeah.

856
00:49:17,640 --> 00:49:22,440
Speaker 8: So the planetself mentions that word voluntary a couple of times,

857
00:49:22,920 --> 00:49:25,200
Speaker 8: but if you actually read it, it's very interesting how

858
00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:27,680
Speaker 8: they phrase it, I mean, just to like go back

859
00:49:27,719 --> 00:49:30,759
Speaker 8: to this plan. There were a couple of priorities that

860
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:34,560
Speaker 8: they had, which was to provide voluntary disposal of items,

861
00:49:35,719 --> 00:49:39,600
Speaker 8: which I mean, I don't know if they could in

862
00:49:39,719 --> 00:49:43,960
Speaker 8: voluntarily make people dispose of items because those belong to people.

863
00:49:44,040 --> 00:49:47,239
Speaker 8: I don't know if making people throw things away is

864
00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:52,839
Speaker 8: actually legal, but provide voluntary storage options for personal belongings

865
00:49:53,000 --> 00:49:58,239
Speaker 8: if needed and available. So I mean, I wish, you know,

866
00:49:58,400 --> 00:50:01,279
Speaker 8: the mayor's office and official were able to, you know,

867
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:04,840
Speaker 8: provide better information because I'm it's still unclear if it

868
00:50:05,080 --> 00:50:06,560
Speaker 8: was available.

869
00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:11,960
Speaker 4: They provided the information to be completely deliberately ambiguous so

870
00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:16,239
Speaker 4: they could avoid legal consequences. Let's just play it that way,

871
00:50:16,239 --> 00:50:19,120
Speaker 4: because they know exactly what they're doing. They knew, they

872
00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:21,960
Speaker 4: knew when they did the no toents. Now, but we'll

873
00:50:22,000 --> 00:50:23,600
Speaker 4: pretend for the audience.

874
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:26,800
Speaker 8: Well, as a reporter, I think it's also good to

875
00:50:27,000 --> 00:50:30,759
Speaker 8: pretend because there are some actual standards that should be

876
00:50:31,600 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 8: assumed as a given right. You know, this kind of

877
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:38,160
Speaker 8: information we have to point out is something that people

878
00:50:38,800 --> 00:50:41,480
Speaker 8: are old, you know, like this is not something that oh,

879
00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:45,000
Speaker 8: you're asking the world of the Mayor's office. This is

880
00:50:45,160 --> 00:50:49,600
Speaker 8: just basic information that should be available. And as a reporter,

881
00:50:49,800 --> 00:50:53,160
Speaker 8: you see the difference in how information is provided depending

882
00:50:53,239 --> 00:50:55,640
Speaker 8: on the situation. So this kind of information I have

883
00:50:55,800 --> 00:51:00,480
Speaker 8: experienced with like them giving in different context. You know,

884
00:51:00,600 --> 00:51:04,440
Speaker 8: it's not something that I expect to be difficult to

885
00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:07,400
Speaker 8: find out about. So when it's not being given in

886
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:13,160
Speaker 8: the situation, that for me raises a red flag. So yeah, voluntary,

887
00:51:13,920 --> 00:51:16,719
Speaker 8: that's something that is something that if you just read

888
00:51:16,760 --> 00:51:20,120
Speaker 8: a press release or something you heard the mayor talk

889
00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:23,320
Speaker 8: about it quickly. Sure, if she wants to say it

890
00:51:23,440 --> 00:51:26,279
Speaker 8: that way, but it's hot. It's a reporter's job. Usually

891
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:29,360
Speaker 8: it's just try to verify. So when we showed up,

892
00:51:29,440 --> 00:51:34,239
Speaker 8: I met Peggy at Forest Lawn. I watched as she

893
00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:39,520
Speaker 8: knocked on people's doors and she said, hey, by the way,

894
00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:43,320
Speaker 8: i'm here because there's an unsensafe about to happen. But

895
00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:46,319
Speaker 8: did you notice that there was also like a tow

896
00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,880
Speaker 8: way sign that's posted up all over the place. And

897
00:51:48,960 --> 00:51:51,800
Speaker 8: so one person, you know, had just gone up and

898
00:51:52,280 --> 00:51:56,320
Speaker 8: he said no, he didn't seem to have known about it,

899
00:51:56,719 --> 00:51:58,880
Speaker 8: and she had to tell him. You know, it's really important,

900
00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:00,920
Speaker 8: this is you have to be aware that this is

901
00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:04,400
Speaker 8: actually happening too, and so that person was really shocked.

902
00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:08,120
Speaker 8: He's in the story. His name's Alex, and he immediately

903
00:52:08,840 --> 00:52:11,040
Speaker 8: was like, this is not right. This sounds illegal to me.

904
00:52:11,840 --> 00:52:15,160
Speaker 8: It was very immediately parent that there's something wrong going on,

905
00:52:15,640 --> 00:52:16,920
Speaker 8: or there was just something.

906
00:52:16,760 --> 00:52:18,960
Speaker 4: Off, you know, I don't know if you read the

907
00:52:19,040 --> 00:52:24,239
Speaker 4: recent La Times article, she's claimed she applauds herself or

908
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:28,360
Speaker 4: make a dent into the house business crisis. She's fixing

909
00:52:28,400 --> 00:52:32,120
Speaker 4: the airplane while we are flying it. She's giving out

910
00:52:32,120 --> 00:52:36,680
Speaker 4: a completely different image, you know, what you're saying and

911
00:52:36,880 --> 00:52:40,160
Speaker 4: what you know Peggy had noticed, and it's a completely

912
00:52:40,200 --> 00:52:43,719
Speaker 4: different image. And if people that are listening to or

913
00:52:43,800 --> 00:52:48,319
Speaker 4: reading these newspapers are walking away with this information, they

914
00:52:48,480 --> 00:52:52,760
Speaker 4: were thinking she's actually doing something, or she's actually keeping

915
00:52:52,960 --> 00:52:57,000
Speaker 4: in or which is that paternalistic kind of idea that

916
00:52:57,120 --> 00:53:00,279
Speaker 4: we're doing the best thing for our house people, seeing

917
00:53:00,680 --> 00:53:03,880
Speaker 4: the right path for them and or in RVs and

918
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:06,800
Speaker 4: or whatever by tolling them so they can choose to

919
00:53:06,840 --> 00:53:10,600
Speaker 4: go into housing. You know, that's the message that she's

920
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:14,840
Speaker 4: been advancing subtly and not so subtly, you know, because

921
00:53:15,040 --> 00:53:18,560
Speaker 4: she's going around making like she's doing a lot but

922
00:53:18,840 --> 00:53:24,719
Speaker 4: you know, these kind of shocking incidences is bearing another reality.

923
00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:27,160
Speaker 4: So how did he navigate out of it? Did he

924
00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:30,400
Speaker 4: take the Inside Safe or so he.

925
00:53:30,440 --> 00:53:34,440
Speaker 8: Has a friend, they grew up together, and that friend

926
00:53:34,640 --> 00:53:37,960
Speaker 8: actually had come on the next day to help him

927
00:53:38,000 --> 00:53:40,920
Speaker 8: get out of there before you know, they started towing,

928
00:53:41,880 --> 00:53:44,600
Speaker 8: you know, like this friend I talked to him as well,

929
00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:47,000
Speaker 8: and he said that, like this is all wrong, Like

930
00:53:47,120 --> 00:53:51,160
Speaker 8: why are you putting this on the people living here

931
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:53,799
Speaker 8: when it was your job, it was all of her

932
00:53:53,880 --> 00:53:56,719
Speaker 8: jobs to be making sure that housing is available.

933
00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:00,879
Speaker 4: You know, why is it on them? You know, it's

934
00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:01,920
Speaker 4: on you. You're the one that.

935
00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:06,920
Speaker 8: We're saying that housing would be made available. And so

936
00:54:07,280 --> 00:54:09,239
Speaker 8: he was really angry for his friend. And he was

937
00:54:09,280 --> 00:54:11,879
Speaker 8: there running around on the day of the Inside Safe

938
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:16,000
Speaker 8: operation trying to help people, you know, get triple a

939
00:54:17,400 --> 00:54:19,799
Speaker 8: pay for towing of their own so that people can

940
00:54:19,880 --> 00:54:22,279
Speaker 8: get out if they couldn't on their own. I saw

941
00:54:22,320 --> 00:54:26,959
Speaker 8: people driving away themselves. And so even though inside Safe

942
00:54:27,239 --> 00:54:31,880
Speaker 8: is advertised as like a way for people to be

943
00:54:32,080 --> 00:54:36,320
Speaker 8: sheltered or placed inside at least for a situation with

944
00:54:36,560 --> 00:54:40,360
Speaker 8: r VS, a lot of people would prefer not to

945
00:54:40,600 --> 00:54:42,520
Speaker 8: lose a home that they've had and the things that

946
00:54:42,560 --> 00:54:46,800
Speaker 8: they've had, you know. I went to a different encampment

947
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:51,880
Speaker 8: where people did lose their RVs in a different operation,

948
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:57,280
Speaker 8: and that person had actually worked like eight months collecting

949
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:01,520
Speaker 8: or scooters or line scooters or one of those scooters,

950
00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:05,560
Speaker 8: worked for eight months in order to save up to

951
00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:08,880
Speaker 8: buy the RV that was then taken by the city.

952
00:55:09,200 --> 00:55:12,879
Speaker 8: And so, yeah, it's not like a small thing.

953
00:55:13,600 --> 00:55:16,360
Speaker 4: Is there any other points or anything else that we

954
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:19,200
Speaker 4: need to be aware of about the entire safe cover,

955
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:22,040
Speaker 4: what your coverage is, or you noticing anything else.

956
00:55:22,840 --> 00:55:26,920
Speaker 8: Yeah, So, after finding out that people were being threatened

957
00:55:27,000 --> 00:55:31,000
Speaker 8: by these Toway signs, I know that like numbers will

958
00:55:31,040 --> 00:55:33,719
Speaker 8: be put out, you know, in the days following, and

959
00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:37,760
Speaker 8: so I wanted to check how many RVs were around

960
00:55:37,840 --> 00:55:41,960
Speaker 8: the night before the day of, and according to the

961
00:55:42,719 --> 00:55:47,080
Speaker 8: inside safe plan it said that they anticipate there are

962
00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:50,640
Speaker 8: fifty four RVs there that night, I went back and

963
00:55:50,880 --> 00:55:54,080
Speaker 8: I counted thirty nine going up and down the street.

964
00:55:54,239 --> 00:55:56,680
Speaker 8: I have like video of it, of accounting, just so

965
00:55:56,800 --> 00:55:59,160
Speaker 8: I can view it, and then the next day I

966
00:55:59,280 --> 00:56:01,279
Speaker 8: also try to do that. I didn't haven't had a

967
00:56:01,360 --> 00:56:03,520
Speaker 8: chance to review the numbers on that just yet. But

968
00:56:04,360 --> 00:56:06,600
Speaker 8: one of the problems that I had on the day

969
00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:10,720
Speaker 8: of is that they blocked off the street, so initially

970
00:56:10,800 --> 00:56:12,440
Speaker 8: I was able to get in. I told them I

971
00:56:12,600 --> 00:56:16,080
Speaker 8: was there for inside safe. That's the only way I

972
00:56:16,160 --> 00:56:20,279
Speaker 8: was able to catch up with people there and see

973
00:56:20,440 --> 00:56:23,080
Speaker 8: how they were doing and do some interviews. And then

974
00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:28,040
Speaker 8: like a about an half an hour in the person

975
00:56:28,239 --> 00:56:32,880
Speaker 8: who's supervising or leading the effort staff of like the

976
00:56:33,040 --> 00:56:37,239
Speaker 8: Mayor's office came up to me with like three police officers,

977
00:56:37,560 --> 00:56:40,080
Speaker 8: maybe two or three, I don't know, telling me that

978
00:56:40,200 --> 00:56:42,759
Speaker 8: I was not allowed to be there, and that was

979
00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:46,880
Speaker 8: you know, probably interfering with the outreach conversations, which I

980
00:56:47,200 --> 00:56:50,960
Speaker 8: know is important for them to be confidential in some cases,

981
00:56:51,680 --> 00:56:54,160
Speaker 8: but you know, I mean I could step away.

982
00:56:54,320 --> 00:56:58,680
Speaker 4: Of course, the city and the police weaponize what they're doing,

983
00:56:58,880 --> 00:57:04,719
Speaker 4: so with there's reports reporting on inconsistencies or incompetence, they

984
00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:07,840
Speaker 4: will weaponize and use the police to say the safety

985
00:57:08,280 --> 00:57:11,680
Speaker 4: or they're keeping things confidential. I have been on site

986
00:57:11,800 --> 00:57:15,840
Speaker 4: with many incidence is when they're trying to intimidate on

987
00:57:15,920 --> 00:57:18,960
Speaker 4: house people and you're recording it, it makes it very

988
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:22,080
Speaker 4: difficult for mayorbaths to make it a big success or

989
00:57:22,160 --> 00:57:25,520
Speaker 4: any at the time, Marrik Garcetti or any politician that

990
00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:29,680
Speaker 4: they are doing a legitimately kind hearted work. See in

991
00:57:29,840 --> 00:57:32,640
Speaker 4: order for the lot to continue, they can have media

992
00:57:33,400 --> 00:57:36,840
Speaker 4: being there unfettered without control. But that's a reality. I

993
00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:39,920
Speaker 4: think it's really important for my listeners that are not

994
00:57:40,040 --> 00:57:43,520
Speaker 4: really familiar with some of the tactics that these officers do.

995
00:57:43,840 --> 00:57:44,680
Speaker 1: This is one of them.

996
00:57:44,960 --> 00:57:47,560
Speaker 8: Yeah, I should emphasize that the kind of work that

997
00:57:47,640 --> 00:57:50,360
Speaker 8: I was trying to do the person of the mayo's

998
00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:53,440
Speaker 8: Mayor's office is you know, I know you're doing an investigation, right,

999
00:57:53,960 --> 00:57:56,800
Speaker 8: And I don't really like it when people tell me

1000
00:57:56,960 --> 00:58:00,200
Speaker 8: that what I'm doing is at investigation because to me,

1001
00:58:01,520 --> 00:58:03,280
Speaker 8: when I look at my work, what I was doing

1002
00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:06,760
Speaker 8: was basic reporting that I needed to be doing. It's

1003
00:58:06,800 --> 00:58:09,200
Speaker 8: a basic, bare minimum thing that I was doing to

1004
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:11,800
Speaker 8: be there in person to talk to people and interview people.

1005
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:14,400
Speaker 8: That's not supposed to be held up as like a

1006
00:58:14,560 --> 00:58:18,960
Speaker 8: higher like law in deier like action. It's it's a

1007
00:58:19,080 --> 00:58:22,600
Speaker 8: very basic thing. And so when they're not allowing me

1008
00:58:22,760 --> 00:58:25,880
Speaker 8: to even do my basic work, it's it's not I

1009
00:58:25,880 --> 00:58:27,760
Speaker 8: don't know, I don't know what what justification there is

1010
00:58:27,880 --> 00:58:31,560
Speaker 8: for that. So if reporters are not allowed to just

1011
00:58:31,680 --> 00:58:34,400
Speaker 8: be there to watch what's going on, you know, how

1012
00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:37,400
Speaker 8: do you trust what they say later on? And so

1013
00:58:38,560 --> 00:58:41,560
Speaker 8: they escorted me out, and so I wasn't really able

1014
00:58:41,640 --> 00:58:45,200
Speaker 8: to see how the operation happened. I was told that

1015
00:58:45,280 --> 00:58:46,640
Speaker 8: I had to be on one end of the street.

1016
00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:47,920
Speaker 8: You can barely see anything.

1017
00:58:49,040 --> 00:58:51,440
Speaker 1: So and that's a tactic, deliberate tactic.

1018
00:58:51,960 --> 00:58:56,680
Speaker 4: And unfortunately that because there is not enough focused or

1019
00:58:56,800 --> 00:59:01,479
Speaker 4: laser point focused on the realities, many people walk away

1020
00:59:01,680 --> 00:59:05,439
Speaker 4: with this blind trust of what the city is doing

1021
00:59:05,840 --> 00:59:09,080
Speaker 4: with dunhouse or they are not doing with dunhus And

1022
00:59:09,240 --> 00:59:12,840
Speaker 4: it is important like this independent and investigative journalism that

1023
00:59:13,040 --> 00:59:16,560
Speaker 4: you and I and others do to be as a

1024
00:59:16,640 --> 00:59:19,920
Speaker 4: counterpoint to say, oh, this is what's going on in

1025
00:59:20,360 --> 00:59:23,560
Speaker 4: our kind of observations of what's going on. And secondly,

1026
00:59:23,680 --> 00:59:27,640
Speaker 4: most importantly, they're not congruent to the reality of what's

1027
00:59:27,680 --> 00:59:31,040
Speaker 4: going on when I was in housed. And I have

1028
00:59:31,160 --> 00:59:34,040
Speaker 4: to insert this here because I think it's sometimes missed.

1029
00:59:34,920 --> 00:59:40,080
Speaker 4: Imagine being told conflicting information and you're blindly trusting it,

1030
00:59:40,240 --> 00:59:42,840
Speaker 4: like many young house do too. They widely trust in

1031
00:59:42,880 --> 00:59:47,720
Speaker 4: our law enforcement and I legal beagles, and then all

1032
00:59:47,720 --> 00:59:50,400
Speaker 4: of a sudden, there's a different reality going on that

1033
00:59:50,600 --> 00:59:56,160
Speaker 4: causes anxiety, frustration, anger because now plans have changed. I

1034
00:59:56,200 --> 00:59:58,520
Speaker 4: don't know if anyone is house know, if you move

1035
00:59:59,080 --> 01:00:01,360
Speaker 4: and things just come out of whack. You know, the

1036
01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:04,600
Speaker 4: moving day is pushed up to maybe several hours or

1037
01:00:04,680 --> 01:00:07,880
Speaker 4: the day before, and you haven't getting babysitting done, or

1038
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:10,600
Speaker 4: you haven't you have appointments on the next day, and

1039
01:00:10,640 --> 01:00:12,040
Speaker 4: all of a sudden they want you to move out

1040
01:00:12,080 --> 01:00:14,560
Speaker 4: because get it. And it causes ups and downs, a

1041
01:00:14,640 --> 01:00:17,200
Speaker 4: roller coaster of emotions. So that's the same thing that

1042
01:00:17,320 --> 01:00:19,560
Speaker 4: goes on with unhoused people. You put up a toring sign.

1043
01:00:19,960 --> 01:00:22,000
Speaker 4: Now they got to figure out, you know, you know,

1044
01:00:22,080 --> 01:00:24,680
Speaker 4: where they're going to go now because they had it

1045
01:00:25,040 --> 01:00:28,680
Speaker 4: assume that they were targeting people that voluntarily was going

1046
01:00:28,760 --> 01:00:32,240
Speaker 4: to go. But now that they can't voluntarily stay there

1047
01:00:32,320 --> 01:00:36,640
Speaker 4: because it's a a self eviction and notification to move them.

1048
01:00:37,040 --> 01:00:40,480
Speaker 4: So now they have to coordinate or find ways to

1049
01:00:40,640 --> 01:00:45,760
Speaker 4: either get told drive, get gas money, find money to

1050
01:00:45,920 --> 01:00:48,200
Speaker 4: be able to get out of the towing thing that's

1051
01:00:48,880 --> 01:00:51,440
Speaker 4: being ann house. It's expensive anyway, but now that you

1052
01:00:51,600 --> 01:00:54,920
Speaker 4: have those kind of new elements that are being introduced.

1053
01:00:55,240 --> 01:00:57,680
Speaker 4: That's the longer and short of the conversation that I

1054
01:00:57,880 --> 01:01:00,720
Speaker 4: really want their audiences to walk away with to listen

1055
01:01:00,840 --> 01:01:03,480
Speaker 4: to some of the things that's being said, but some

1056
01:01:03,600 --> 01:01:07,120
Speaker 4: of the things that's unspoken. I thank you for your time.

1057
01:01:07,160 --> 01:01:09,320
Speaker 4: I won't keep you too long. But is there anything

1058
01:01:09,400 --> 01:01:12,440
Speaker 4: that's missing that you want to say or want to

1059
01:01:12,880 --> 01:01:13,440
Speaker 4: wrap up with?

1060
01:01:14,480 --> 01:01:17,919
Speaker 8: I guess some maybe. When I so as a city

1061
01:01:17,960 --> 01:01:21,640
Speaker 8: hall reporter, I'm still covering this as like a from

1062
01:01:21,680 --> 01:01:26,280
Speaker 8: a politics or government perspective, I usually ask people like

1063
01:01:26,520 --> 01:01:30,880
Speaker 8: what they think about different policies and how much power

1064
01:01:31,040 --> 01:01:34,320
Speaker 8: they think they have in the whole situation. And even

1065
01:01:34,400 --> 01:01:38,040
Speaker 8: though I try to say you are a constituent, you

1066
01:01:38,120 --> 01:01:42,320
Speaker 8: are a resident, and this person's mayor represents you, this

1067
01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:47,160
Speaker 8: council member represents you, and they need to be consulting

1068
01:01:47,200 --> 01:01:51,200
Speaker 8: you about this as well. You know, everyone's very cynical

1069
01:01:51,200 --> 01:01:53,600
Speaker 8: about it. They say, we don't have any power. What

1070
01:01:53,720 --> 01:01:56,240
Speaker 8: are you talking about? You know, we're not the ones

1071
01:01:56,280 --> 01:01:59,560
Speaker 8: that get listened to, which like, as a reporter, just

1072
01:01:59,720 --> 01:02:02,520
Speaker 8: doing my job in a very basic sense, you know,

1073
01:02:02,720 --> 01:02:05,840
Speaker 8: covering city hall. That's not supposed to be the assumption

1074
01:02:06,040 --> 01:02:10,080
Speaker 8: I mean, I know that's the reality, but I think

1075
01:02:10,240 --> 01:02:13,640
Speaker 8: even though this is democracy, everyone's you know one, you

1076
01:02:13,760 --> 01:02:17,400
Speaker 8: know this matters, there's more to it, and you make.

1077
01:02:17,320 --> 01:02:19,080
Speaker 4: It a very good point because I always tell on

1078
01:02:19,200 --> 01:02:22,560
Speaker 4: house people that similar thing is that where they don't

1079
01:02:22,600 --> 01:02:25,120
Speaker 4: want to get into politics or they just feel just

1080
01:02:25,240 --> 01:02:28,320
Speaker 4: basically beaten down. I says, you have to understand that

1081
01:02:28,520 --> 01:02:30,800
Speaker 4: you may not vote for these people, but these people

1082
01:02:30,840 --> 01:02:33,760
Speaker 4: are being voted for against your interests by people that

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01:02:33,920 --> 01:02:37,760
Speaker 4: want to see you being erased, eliminated, or jailed. So

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01:02:37,920 --> 01:02:41,080
Speaker 4: it behooves us, particularly the in the house community, to

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01:02:41,280 --> 01:02:44,600
Speaker 4: dial in and understand and then to let your voice

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01:02:44,640 --> 01:02:48,560
Speaker 4: be heard when public comment, getting an understanding on where

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01:02:48,720 --> 01:02:52,480
Speaker 4: you are as a citizen that's on, housed or displaced

1088
01:02:53,040 --> 01:02:56,040
Speaker 4: in this city because there are certain laws that are

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01:02:56,200 --> 01:03:01,240
Speaker 4: applicable to only you. Conversely, the House people is one

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01:03:01,360 --> 01:03:05,040
Speaker 4: primary Jim Crow example that I say, but there's many

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01:03:05,120 --> 01:03:10,160
Speaker 4: other examples that are in place to limit your existence

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01:03:10,240 --> 01:03:13,360
Speaker 4: and limit your freedom of ability and mobility as well.

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01:03:14,120 --> 01:03:14,880
Speaker 8: Thanks for having me.

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01:03:18,120 --> 01:03:20,680
Speaker 4: Thanks so much to Elizabeth. You can follow her work

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01:03:20,920 --> 01:03:30,120
Speaker 4: at the link in the description. I have an assignment

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01:03:30,200 --> 01:03:34,120
Speaker 4: for you. Can you tell the difference between mutual aid,

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01:03:34,800 --> 01:03:39,000
Speaker 4: charity and Philanthrophy. See if you can answer these questions,

1098
01:03:39,320 --> 01:03:41,840
Speaker 4: because our fourth episode will explore these turns fuller.

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01:03:43,120 --> 01:03:43,960
Speaker 1: Have a great new year.

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01:03:47,480 --> 01:03:51,720
Speaker 4: William Hows is a production of iHeartRadio. It is written, posted,

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01:03:51,960 --> 01:03:56,520
Speaker 4: and created by me Theo Henderson. Our producers are Jamie Loftus,

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01:03:57,000 --> 01:04:01,200
Speaker 4: Lyra Smith and Katie Fisher. Our editor it's Adam Wang

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01:04:01,480 --> 01:04:05,040
Speaker 4: and our logo artist also by Katie Fisher. Thanks for listening.