OccupyLA Public Health Concerns Were Overstated in the Press

Great report by Dan Bluemel of the L.A. Activist on the supposed "public health concerns" cited in the press as a pretext to clear the Occupy LA camp. If you'll recall, in the run-up to the LAPD clearing of the City Hall camp, numerous press reports detailed the "obvious problem" of lice, staph infections and general uncleanliness. A November 18 editorial in the LA Times cited these concerns as among the chief reasons the city needed to clear the camp. Bluemel, however, just spoke with LA County Dept. of Health Environmental Health Director Angelo Bellomo, who said public health was never a serious concern at the camp. “The Times must have had a different source of input then we did.” In fact, they did. Times editorial page editor Nicholas Goldberg told Bluemel an LAPD spokesman told them about the lice and unsanitary conditions. The Times, however, apparently did not adequately confirm those conditions with public health officials. Writes Bluemel: [O]n the same day of the Times’ article, Bellomo sent a letter to Gaye Williams, Villaraigosa’s chief of staff, stating quite the opposite. In the matter of toilets, wastewater disposal, food safety, personal hygiene and refuse and debris removal, Bellomo reported minor infractions that were quickly remedied, and noted that bottled water had been “in adequate supply.” According to Bellomo, the letter was an attempt to lay out the agency’s standards so as to avoid any miscommunication with city officials and the occupiers. The letter gave an overview of the department’s actions, as well as their findings, at Occupy LA. Although Bellomo acknowledged the potential health risks with the sit-in demonstration, he told LA Activist the health dept. was never worried. Of course, anyone who actually visited the camp knew these reports of filth and vermin were hyperbolic. Yes, some people may have been a little ripe from camping out for weeks on end. But body odor is not a public health crisis. Things were nowhere close as bad as the city-sanctioned situation on Skid Row, four blocks east. Bluemel's report confirms what anyone with common sense already knew about the OccupyLA clearing--"public health concern" was an obvious manufactured pretext to wipe out a political protest that was gaining momentum.

Fishbowl

OccupyLA Public Health Concerns Were Overstated in the Press

Matthew Fleischer

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Matthew Fleischer