LA Street Care & Mutual Aid

An important read that that illustrates the limits of electoral politics for dismantling structures of cruelty and making real change—or how building left power in our current system is still predicated on compromise that sacrifices marginalized communities despite the rhetoric of care.

While @hugoforcd13.bsky.social attempts to deflect accountability, we are fighting for decriminalization with URGENCY!

While @hugoforcd13.bsky.social attempts to deflect accountability, we are fighting for decriminalization with URGENCY!

While @hugoforcd13.bsky.social attempts to deflect accountability, we are fighting for decriminalization with URGENCY!

“I have voted against every single 41.18 motion that has come into City Council,” Soto-Martinez says in his defense during an interview with L.A. TACO at the protest.

The full story: lataco.com/soto-martine...

By Lizbeth Solorzano and @shoton35mm.bsky.social

No, you made a myopic argument. We never claimed there weren’t any steps to be taken, we said it was within his power. Hugo agreed it was. Very weird lib behavior to be twisting words when we are fighting to decriminalize poverty. Goodbye.

And btw, we brought this demand to two other “progressive” councilmembers. Each agreed it would be no problem to push through council. They won’t do it because they fear NIMBY backlash.

…but he also hasn’t introduced any motions to repeal any of Mitch O’Farrell’s 41.18 zones in CD13 🤔

Also, there is precedent. We gave him the exact example. It doesn’t imply it’s a heavy lift. We’ve strategized this with lawyers and more than 50 organizations with expertise in this area, not “asking around.”

Kerry, we literally have him on video agreeing he can do it. Be well.

we pointed out that when a councilmember introduces a motion about anything that
*only impacts their own district* those motions ALWAYS succeed. Hugo agreed this is true, and we have him on camera saying it. He agrees that he could meet our demand. He just won't do it.

Great question! Repeal of Mitch's zones does require a council vote. We obviously do not have 8 votes in LA City Council to repeal *all* of 41.18, which is why our demand is specific to Hugo repealing Mitch's zones. When we confronted Hugo to deliver the demand letter,

…but he also hasn’t introduced any motions to repeal any of Mitch O’Farrell’s 41.18 zones in CD13 🤔

how is this meaningfully different from Trump holding federal funding from sanctuary states?

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Can ICE access Flock cameras in L.A.? @marinamasako.bsky.social gets into the law versus the reality.

For further reporting, check out @shoton35mm.bsky.social’s coverage: lataco.com/flock-la-sta...

Logos of these organizations: 7th Street Collective ACAB Library Aetna Street Solidarity All People's Health Collective All Power Free Clinic Casa de Las Mariposas Chinatown Community for Equitable Development Color The Water Community Loving Community Solidarity Project Food For Comrades Free Medical Cannabis Collective Health Care For US - HC4US.org Hope Street Distro J-Town Action & Solidarity LA Food Not Bombs LA Street Care & Mutual Aid RVTV The Rent Brigade Save Our Seniors Network SFV Homeless Union SFV Mutual Aid South Bay Mutual Aid & Care Club Students For Justice In Palestine USC Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation LA Tenants Union Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Outreach Little Tokyo Against Gentrification Long Beach Assembly Mar Vista Voice Midnight Books Mutual Aid LA Network NOlympics Oat Boat Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid Pasadena For All People's Care Collective People's City Council People's Struggle San Fernando Valley Polo's Pantry POOR Magazine Reform LA Health System Tempest Trans Defense Fund Venice Justice Committee Water Drop LA We The Unhoused Westwood Mutual Aid White People 4 Black Lives Wolfpack Mutual

People who have been directly criminalized because of 41.18 in @cd13.lacity.gov and other parts of the city are members of our organizations and joined in delivering the letter to Hugo.

Graphic of Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez and an LAMC 41.18 sign with the caption Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez: Repeal Mitch O'Farrell's 41.18 Criminalization Zones!

Yesterday, organizers representing 50 community groups, including several Community Self Defense Coalition member groups, presented an urgent and simple demand to Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez:

Repeal Mitch O’Farrell’s 41.18 criminalization zones.

Everyone in the movement knows we must abolish 41.18, LA's law that criminalizes poor people for existing in public spaces. We don't have the votes to repeal the entire law right now, so we MUST push Hugo, Eunisses, and Ysabel to repeal the 41.18 zones their predecessors created in their districts.

Logos of these organizations: 7th Street Collective ACAB Library Aetna Street Solidarity All People's Health Collective All Power Free Clinic Casa de Las Mariposas Chinatown Community for Equitable Development Color The Water Community Loving Community Solidarity Project Food For Comrades Free Medical Cannabis Collective Health Care For US - HC4US.org Hope Street Distro J-Town Action & Solidarity LA Food Not Bombs LA Street Care & Mutual Aid RVTV The Rent Brigade Save Our Seniors Network SFV Homeless Union SFV Mutual Aid South Bay Mutual Aid & Care Club Students For Justice In Palestine USC Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation LA Tenants Union Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Outreach Little Tokyo Against Gentrification Long Beach Assembly Mar Vista Voice Midnight Books Mutual Aid LA Network NOlympics Oat Boat Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid Pasadena For All People's Care Collective People's City Council People's Struggle San Fernando Valley Polo's Pantry POOR Magazine Reform LA Health System Tempest Trans Defense Fund Venice Justice Committee Water Drop LA We The Unhoused Westwood Mutual Aid White People 4 Black Lives Wolfpack Mutual

People who have been directly criminalized because of 41.18 in @cd13.lacity.gov and other parts of the city are members of our organizations and joined in delivering the letter to Hugo.

To Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez: You have been outspoken about federal agents invading our city and kidnapping our neighbors. Forced to choose between going to work to afford rent or staying safe at home, a growing portion of LA's undocumented population has become housing insecure and unhoused. We are urgently calling on you to protect your most vulnerable constituents: repeal the 41.18 criminalization zones that were put in place by your disgraced predecessor, Mitch O'Farrell. Every day that you refuse to take this action, you are aiding ICE. During your inaugural campaign, you vocally criticized Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18, a city ordinance that criminalizes people for sitting, lying, or possessing personal belongings in public. Enforcement of LAMC 41.18 exposes vulnerable immigrant populations to targeted policing and displacement, forcing them to live in increasingly precarious situations that put them at greater risk of deportation. LAPD regularly uses 41.18 to destroy people's shelter, phones, and paperwork, turning documented people into undocumented people. You have spoken out about ICE targeting people solely based on the color of their skin, and you know that ICE has kidnapped people from encampments in your district. You must take immediate action to protect them. At a recent sweep in your district, your Homelessness Deputy, Carlos Castro, defended 41.18 enforcement, arguing that children shouldn't be exposed to visible poverty—a sentiment routinely espoused by Mitch O'Farrell. It's also what disgraced former LA City Council President Nury Martinez was caught saying on the tape that publicly outed her as a racist. When we understand white supremacy as a system that can also benefit brown people who use it to exclude others, we can understand 41.18 as a tool that can be used to erase immigrant and houseless populations-including their children—from Los Angeles.

We envision a Los Angeles where no person is criminalized based on their immigration or housing status. A Los Angeles where the city doesn't destroy vulnerable people's documents, life-saving medicines, and survival supplies on a daily basis. A Los Angeles where seven unhoused people don't die every day. A Los Angeles where people can't be violently displaced on a whim. That Los Angeles requires you and the other councilmembers who campaigned against 41.18 to stop cowering and lead by example. You wield immense political power. Use it to protect your most vulnerable constituents against ICE and LAPD. Stand on the right side of history. Stand with the people. We demand your written commitment to repeal all of Mitch O'Farrell's 41.18 special enforcement zones in Council District 13 within three working days. If you do not respond, we will take further action.

LA Municipal Code 41.18 criminalizes poor people for existing in countless public “zones.”

Graphic of Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez and an LAMC 41.18 sign with the caption Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez: Repeal Mitch O'Farrell's 41.18 Criminalization Zones!

Yesterday, organizers representing 50 community groups, including several Community Self Defense Coalition member groups, presented an urgent and simple demand to Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez:

Repeal Mitch O’Farrell’s 41.18 criminalization zones.

Mutual aid builds relationships, strengthens communities, and makes us safer. We take care of us!

Organize with us: tinyurl.com/joinlasc

💚💚

We had a blast at the Really, Really Free Market in Echo Park. Free Markets are a perfect example of how we can organize in our public spaces without inviting capitalism and all the other -ism horrors

If you don't oppose sweep you condone state violence.

LA has spent 5 years watching counterinsurgent liberals, masquerading as socialists, launder sweeps, criminalization of poverty, and police brutality.
This isn't socialism. It isn’t progress.
State violence is state violence.
No amount of "kindness" or "compassion" makes it stop being state violence

LA has spent 5 years watching counterinsurgent liberals, masquerading as socialists, launder sweeps, criminalization of poverty, and police brutality.
This isn't socialism. It isn’t progress.
State violence is state violence.
No amount of "kindness" or "compassion" makes it stop being state violence

come organize with us, Los Angeles!!!