L.A. wanted to dismantle homeless RVs. A judge just shut that down

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

A judge has struck down the latest effort by the city of Los Angeles to tow and destroy broken down recreational vehicles, handing a legal victory to a group of Westside homeless advocates.In a two-page ruling, Superior Court Judge Curtis A.Kin said Los Angeles officials lack the legal authority to carry out a state law that permits the dismantling of abandoned or inoperable RVs in key parts of the state.Assembly Bill 630 allows just two jurisdictions — Los Angeles and Alameda counties — to create programs for taking apart and ultimately discarding RVs that are worth up to $4,000, Kin said in Thursday’s ruling.“AB 630 provides no such authority to the City of Los Angeles,” he wrote.Los Angeles County government covers 10 million people.

Los Angeles is one of 88 cities within the county.AB 630, and the city’s effort to implement it, had been strongly opposed by advocates for homeless Angelenos, who said it would make it easier for the city to seize and destroy vehicles that serve as much-needed shelter for the city’s unhoused residents.The state’s vehicle code currently requires that cities and counties sell impounded vehicles that are worth more than $500 at auction.AB 630, which Gov.Gavin Newsom signed into law in October, increased the financial threshold for L.A.

and Alameda counties, allowing them to dismantle vehicles worth up to $4,000.That, in turn, spares those jurisdictions from going through the more cumbersome process of auctioning off the vehicles, backers of the bill said.An aide to City Atty.

Hydee Feldstein Soto declined to comment on the judge’s decision, citing “pending litigation.” But City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents coastal neighborhoods, voiced dismay over the decision, calling it “another example of activist lawsuits impeding our ability to address urgent public health and safety concerns while moving people indoors.�...