State Senator Gil Cedillo Is Busy Fixing Skid Row

Central City East Blogger has a comprehensive report on Senator Cedillo’s response to homelessness on Skid Row. Skid Row (Central City East) is part of the Senator’s district.

Senator Cedillo led a delegation to New York City last week to study how NYC cleaned up Times Square. Now he wants to pass state legislation to put in place some strategic programs that will curb homelessness and crime in the downtown Los Angeles area.

Here are some of the proposals:

- Create a downtown Community Court. Alternative sentencing where people who participate in mental health or substance abuse programs don't have to go to jail.

- Create “Narcotics Recovery Zones” where stricter penalties would be enforced on people selling drugs near rehab centers.

- Create anti-“dumping” laws that would prohibit arresting agencies from transporting people into other jurisdictions for services.

- Revise release program that would require the LA County Sheriff Department to return released inmates back to the sheriff substation where an inmate was arrested or to the residence of the inmate.

- Create a “fair share zoning” law where "siting" of homeless programs would be part of the state housing element—in other words, local governing bodies could not veto a site location.