Homeless people are NOT the problem - (but they will be rounded up and arrested) by Associated Press This sounds like government double talk that declares that the homeless are not the problem, but that the homeless will be rounded up and arrested to solve the problem. Skid Row cleanup plan agreed on by LA, ACLU Mar. 19, 2006 12:00 AM LOS ANGELES - Civil rights leaders, business interests and the city have a new plan for cleaning up Skid Row that involves a crackdown on crime without sweeping homeless people off the streets. At its heart is the theory that the city must reduce crime on Skid Row before it can tackle the underlying social and medical causes of homelessness downtown. Dozens of additional police officers would be assigned to patrol the roughly 50-block Skid Row area under the plan, with an emphasis on experienced beat officers rather than rookies. More undercover officers also would be assigned. For now, the area's estimated 8,000 to 10,000 homeless would be allowed to remain. Downtown business owners had favored aggressive sweeps to remove the homeless, but they now endorse the plan proposed by criminologist George Kelling and endorsed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Police Chief William Bratton is still considering Kelling's plan, as well as more aggressive sweeps to move homeless off the streets. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which has been critical of aggressive police sweeps of Skid Row, also agrees with the Kelling approach. www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0319skidrow0319.html