Beverly Hills Mayor Blasts L.A. Times for Story on City's Homeless

Beverly Hills, CA — Beverly Hills Mayor John A. Mirisch is firing back at the Los Angeles Times, accusing the newspaper of seriously distorting the city's program to help the homeless.

On Tuesday, the Times ran a feature story on George Saville, a homeless person who had befriended several Beverly Hills residents, including retired talk show host Larry King. Several residents told the Times that Beverly Hills was trying to drive Saville out of the city by falsely charging him with two misdemeanors after a run-in with the town's privately funded patrol, known locally as "green shirts."

He was charged with battery and a hate crime, which police say was related to sexual orientation.

The city said the patrol members are ambassadors working to help the homeless, not drive them out of the affluent city.

"We are deeply disturbed by the Los Angeles Times complete misrepresentation of the City of Beverly Hills’ program to benefit the homeless in our community and homelessness in the region," Mirisch wrote in a letter posted on the city's website.

Beverly Hills has a generous budget and both full-time and part-time staff that reach out to homeless people as individuals and try to put together a program that addresses each person’s needs. We partner with homeless organizations in our area to provide both permanent and temporary housing and other services. This was communicated to the Los Angeles Times very clearly, but was not included in either the front page story or the editorial. Instead, quotes were selectively edited to create the most negative impression.

The LA Times did note that Beverly Hills has a generous budget to help the homeless — more than $800,000 dedicated to several dozen people. The city, however, can't help find housing for these people because it does not have any.

Mirisch said giving money to panhandlers is counter-productive to helping the homeless. Block by Block, the company that runs the private patrol for the city, called Saville an "aggressive panhandler" in the Times story. The city alleges Saville made hateful remarks toward gay people.

"Like many smaller cities in the region we support organizations with a proven record of success in dealing with a problem that is bigger than any one city," Mirisch wrote. "And readers should be aware that not all panhandlers are homeless. Aggressive panhandling is both illegal and unacceptable in any community, as are anti-gay hate crimes or any other threatening behavior, whether the alleged perpetrator is homeless or not."

He suggested the people who read the Times article visit Beverly Hills and judge for themselves the progress the city's made to help the homeless.

Here's the complete text of Mirisch's letter:

The Los Angeles Times published an article recently that seriously maligned and distorted the City's program to assist the homeless. Below is the Beverly Hills Mayor's response:

We are deeply disturbed by the Los Angeles Times complete misrepresentation of the City of Beverly Hills’ program to benefit the homeless in our community and homelessness in the region.

Beverly Hills has a generous budget and both full-time and part-time staff that reach out to homeless people as individuals and try to put together a program that addresses each person’s needs. We partner with homeless organizations in our area to provide both permanent and temporary housing and other services. This was communicated to the Los Angeles Times very clearly, but was not included in either the front page story or the editorial. Instead, quotes were selectively edited to create the most negative impression.

Giving money to homeless individuals is widely regarded in the social services community as a counterproductive approach to homelessness. Like many smaller cities in the region we support organizations with a proven record of success in dealing with a problem that is bigger than any one city. And readers should be aware that not all panhandlers are homeless. Aggressive panhandling is both illegal and unacceptable in any community, as are anti-gay hate crimes or any other threatening behavior, whether the alleged perpetrator is homeless or not.

A few years ago LA Times columnist Steve Lopez spent time in our community and came away very impressed with the compassionate approach Beverly Hills has toward the homeless population. Just last month the U.S. Conference of Mayors presented Beverly Hills’ with the 2016 City Livability Award for the Ambassador Program, which works directly with the homeless. We encourage readers to visit our city and observe our community outreach programs for themselves.

— Photo credit: Adrián Cerón/Wiki Commons