Los Angeles Times - 23.08.2019

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Los Angeles has long

been locked in battles over

where and how people can

bed down on its streets and

sidewalks — a debate that

has played out for decades in

City Hall, in the courts and

on avenues lined with squal-

id tents and bedrolls.

The city has been

brushed back in court by

homeless advocates, who ar-

gue that it is cruel and use-

less to punish people if they

have nowhere else to sleep.

Last year, those advocates

hailed a federal ruling

against a Boise, Idaho, law

that prohibited sleeping on

the street, saying the ruling

cemented their earlier victo-

ries in Los Angeles and set a

crucial precedent across the

western United States.

Now L.A. politicians are

weighing a new set of rules

that could bar people from

sitting or sleeping on streets

and sidewalks near schools,

parks and day care centers,

and in a range of other pro-

hibited areas — an idea that

has drawn fire from home-

less advocates.

With tens of thousands of

people bedding down on the

streets— far more than the

city can house in new home-

less housing or shelters built

to date — “You can’t do this

and expect that you’ll have

something that’s enforce-

able,” said attorney Carol

Sobel.

The newly proposed re-

strictions, put forward by

Councilman Mitch O’Far-

rell, would replace a blanket

ban on sidewalk sleeping

that has been on the books

for decades, but which L.A.

ANNA GARCIApushes her daughter Leilani past a man sleeping in Koreatown on Thursday. An attorney for

homeless residents called Los Angeles’ newly proposed rules on sidewalk sleeping “completely unworkable.”

Francine OrrLos Angeles Times

City

revisits

limits to

sidewalk

sleeping

L.A. plan to replace

an outright ban could

bar homeless from

camping near schools,

parks and other areas.

By Emily Alpert Reyes

[SeeRules,A10]

MARYSVILLE, Calif. —
Liyah Birru shot and injured
her husband after what she
says was months of physical
abuse. Now she is being
processed for deportation to
her home country of Ethi-
opia.
She has one last hope to
stay in the United States:
Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom has been giving
heightened consideration to
pardon requests from peo-
ple targeted for deportation,
prompted largely by the
Trump administration’s
widespread crackdown on
immigrants, especially
those with criminal records.
Of the 14 people Newsom
has pardoned since taking
office in January, three have
been refugees in the process
of being removed from the
country by federal immigra-
tion officials. The governor
took the time to call one of
those immigrants and spoke
to the family of another in
federal custody.
“I have petitions for
many, many others that are
pending or we’re consider-
ing,” Newsom said recently.
“Good people can disagree,
but I will continue to con-
sider that and put a lot of
weight on that — deporta-
tion.”
Newsom’s predecessor,
Jerry Brown, issued 273 par-
dons in his final year in of-
fice, with at least 19 going to
people who faced or feared
deportation.
A pardon from the gover-
nor restores legal rights and,
in most cases, eliminates the
grounds for deportation of
immigrants who are legal
permanent residents.
Newsom has repeatedly
criticized President Trump
as an anti-immigrant

Facing

removal,

her last

hope is

Newsom

Governor weighs a

pardon for immigrant

who shot her husband.

By Phil Willon

[SeeBirru,A10]

■ ■■ELECTION 2020■■■

BEDFORD, N.H. —

Cheri Schmitt keeps her to-

do list of more than 20 names

on a dry-erase board on the

refrigerator in her Bedford,

N.H., home. Joe Biden. Ka-

mala Harris. Elizabeth War-

ren. Bernie Sanders.

Schmitt, 56, is an elemen-

tary school teacher, and the

number of Democrats run-

ning for president this year is

larger than the average size

of her classes. But she’s de-

cided to see every single can-

didate — in person.

Like many New Hamp-

shire residents, the Demo-

crat is an eager participant

in the state’s influential pri-

mary election. After Iowa’s

caucuses in February, New

Hampshire holds the first

primary vote, which means

candidates campaign here

relentlessly, in town halls

and sometimes living rooms,

courting undecided voters

like Schmitt.

Schmitt, who is restlessly

inquisitive, loves seeing the

candidates up close, watch-

ing their campaigns evolve

as they graduate from awk-

wardly shaking hands in din-

ers to running stadium-fill-

ing victory machines. And

she views her job as helping

the candidates become

more perfect versions of

themselves.

Which is how Cheri and

her husband, Karl, a quiet,

66-year-old retired civil serv-

ant, ended up in the coastal

An early voter with a mission

New Hampshire woman aims to see every candidate for herself

By Matt Pearce

1

2

3

4

5

6

89

93

93

95

101

ConcordConcord

ManchesterManchester

PortsmouthPortsmouth

BedfordBedford

WarnerWarner

NEW HAMPSHIRENEW HAMPSHIRE

1.Andrew Yang, May 10

3.Kirsten Gillibrand, May 11

5.Cory Booker, May 13

2.Beto O'Rourke, May 11

4.Michael Bennet, May 12

6.Joe Biden, May 13

Source: Times reporting

C h r i s K e l l e r Los Angeles Times

Six campaign events in a weekend

New Hampshire’s Cheri Schmitt spent a four-day stretch

in May attending six campaign events for candidates

seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

MAINEMAINE

[SeeVoter,A14]

J

effrey Andrews’ head bobbed up
and down as he briskly weaved
through the crowds, his bright red
cap like a lighthouse in the mist.
The 33-year-old waved at the 30
students trailing him, calling in Canton-
ese: “We’re walking at Hong Kong pace!”
Some of the students’ eyes widened.
The Indian guy spoke Cantonese? He
even made jokes about being called
“acha,” a derogatory Cantonese term for
South Asians.
Andrews had just emerged from
Chungking Mansions, the famous center

of Hong Kong’s non-Chinese, non-West-

ern populations, feared by some for its

reputation for drugs and crime, revered

by others as the best place around for a

good curry. Here, the big banks and sleek

business suits of central Hong Kong give

way to hawkers and money changers,

food stalls and cell-like hostels.

The “mansions” are a labyrinthine

block of five buildings, each with its own

refrigerator-sized elevator shooting up

into narrow, dimly lit towers of tiny

rooms. Andrews, a third-generation

Hong Konger of Indian descent and the

first ethnic minority social worker in the

city, runs a center for refugees and asylum

seekers on the 17th floor.

JEFFREY ANDREWS,a third-generation Hong Konger of Indian descent,
leads students on a tour of the city, showing life for minorities and refugees.

Anthony KwanFor The Times

COLUMN ONE

Amid Hong Kong unrest,

a struggle for identity too

A growing embrace of its non-Chinese character

By Alice Su
reporting from hong kong

[SeeHong Kong,A6]

BIARRITZ, France —

French President Emman-

uel Macron, the host of this

weekend’s Group of 7 sum-

mit, recently expressed hope

that the leaders will reaffirm

a shared commitment to

democratic ideals and

multilateral cooperation in

an era of political and econo-

mic turmoil.

That’s probably wishful

thinking.

Even before President

Trump leaves Friday for Bi-

arritz, an elegant resort on

the southwest coast of

France, he urged the G-

leaders to readmit Russia to

the elite group. Russia was

expelled in 2014 after its

troops invaded Ukraine and

President Vladimir Putin

annexed Crimea in what

Western leaders called a vio-

lation of international law.

Trump also picked a

bizarre fight with a longtime

ally. He scrubbed a planned

trip to Denmark because its

prime minister refused to

consider selling Greenland,

calling the notion “absurd.”

He then called her com-

ments “nasty,” the latest re-

minder that the leader of the

nation that has anchored

the transatlantic alliance for

seven decades doesn’t fully

share the values of tradi-

tional allies.

“There are no illusions

anymore among the global

leaders about who [Trump]

is,” said Nicholas Burns, the

former U.S. ambassador to

the North Atlantic Treaty

Organization. “The global

economy needs coordina-

tion at the top and he’s not

doing it. He’s all for himself.”

The serene backdrop of

Biarritz, famous as a seaside

[SeeG-7,A4]

It’s the G-6 plus Trump

As 7 leading economic powers prepare to meet

in France, the U.S. stands alone on many issues

By Eli Stokols

Arrest in fatal Fullerton stabbing

Electric scooters

zoom; tickets too

L.A. police have issued

643 citations to riders

of the shared devices in

the first seven months

of 2019. CALIFORNIA, B

‘Chinese patriots’

or propagandists?

Users of suspended

Twitter and Facebook

accounts deny being

part of a Beijing-backed

group to foil Hong Kong

protests. WORLD, A

Weather

Mostly sunny.

L.A. Basin: 83/64. B

Printed with soy inks on

partially recycled paper.

Police say university employee Chuyen Vo, 51 —

shown in a booking photo — killed retired adminis-

trator Steven Shek Keung Chan in a targeted at-

tack Monday in a parking lot on the Cal State cam-

pus. The motive remains unclear. CALIFORNIA, B

Chris CarlsonAssociated Press

Sanders unveils

climate proposal

The presidential hopeful

visits fire victims in

Paradise, Calif., and re-

veals a $16-trillion Green

New Deal. NATION, A