LA Councilman Joe Buscaino wants the city to resume enforcement of its ban on daytime camping.
The moratorium's been in place since last March.
It was implemented to try to keep people from moving around and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
As the city council took up the issue of whether to extend the local emergency declared last year due to the pandemic, Buscaino asked if the declaration could be amended to allow enforcement of the daytime camping ban, insisting that "Covid is essentially over."
"We're getting ready to reopen our economy. People are actually going to Dodger games nowadays, people are walking to work and school. We need to clean our sidewalks," he says.
Buscaino, who's running for mayor, has made homelessness a focus of his campaign.
Councilman Paul Krekorian explained that the moratorium and the local emergency declaration are separate matters
"The agenda item before us really has nothing to do with the issues Mr. Buscaino just described as wanting to include in the motion," he says.
So Buscaino immediately filed a separate motion seeking to rescind the suspension of enforcement of the daytime camping ban. The council unanimously voted to extend the local emergency.