Former State Sen. Kevin Murray, champion of urban parks and homeless services, dies at 66

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Set us as preferred During eight years in the California State Senate, Kevin Murray was an eclectic legislator who championed urban parks, solar energy and recording industry artists.His legislative record includes bills creating the Baldwin Hills & Urban Watersheds Conservancy and a program that installed a million rooftop solar systems.His pursuit of those passions positioned Murray as a maverick Democrat, at times fighting traditional allies, such as environmentalists and labor leaders, and working on legislation with a Republican governor.Murray, whose three decades of achievement were marred by his role in a real estate purchase that brought federal charges against a middleman last year, has died at 66.Murray had devoted his last 15 years in public life to homelessness in Los Angeles as president and chief executive of the Skid Row-based Weingart Center, one of the city’s prominent homeless services and housing providers.The Weingart Center announced his Nov.

10 death in a note on its website saying, “His commitment to addressing homelessness and tireless work leading our organization can never be adequately measured.”A cause of death was not reported, but a colleague said he he had been treated for cancer.As much a maverick in the field of homelessness as he was as a legislator, Murray frequently criticized the prevailing emphasis on permanent housing as the primary solution to ending homelessness.“We also need to expand transitional housing options, which provide indispensable, on-site mental health services, job training and life-skills education to help formerly homeless people be better neighbors when they move into permanent supportive housing,” he argued in a 2019 op-ed in The Times.He also advanced what, in the world of homeless services, amounted to dissenting views on law enforcement and civil rig...