With El Niño danger passed, focus shifts on homeless river dwellers

[petronius]

--- Snip---

Villa's contrasting approaches reflect a wider conflict between the goals of serving the homeless and battling the health and safety problems they cause. The tension is particularly stark in the more than 100 miles of river channels that crisscross L.A. County.

A March count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority documented more than 600 people living in the San Gabriel, Rio Hondo and Los Angeles rivers and tributaries.

Largely out of sight, the camps for years attracted little public notice. But their hidden environmental costs were out of proportion to their numbers.

--- Snip ---

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-river-dwellers-20160424-story.html

Long article on the conflicting social and environmental concerns in the river channels, and the tangled jurisdictions and varied official actions across the state. I'm a bit skeptical of the apparent assumption that the homeless residents are the dominant source of trash and pollution runoff into the rivers, however...