8) HELPING THE HOMELESS After years of feeding the homeless outdoors, City Hall finally reached an agreement with food providers to move indoors so that the down-and-out could be linked with social service providers.
City Hall, with the help of homeless czar Ed Edelman, established a homeless court that will begin hearing cases within weeks. The court will handle those cases involving quality-of-life crimes, such as public intoxication, camping and public defecation. The community court is expected to compliment City Hall’s current roster of homeless services, while simultaneously saving money by ridding the system of repeat offenders.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 30, 2006. Read the original PDF.