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State Sen. Gil Cedillo led a junket—er, fact-finding trip—to New York City this week to look into how that city has improved its homeless problem. If you wondered where City Council members Jan Perry and Bill Rosendahl went off to, look no further. Cedillo's press release ID's the party animals who went along:
On Thursday, Senator Cedillo and a delegation of more than 25 officials toured the Midtown Community Court, including California State Assemblymember Karen Bass; Los Angeles Councilmember Jan Perry; Los Angeles Councilmember Bill Rosendahl; Santa Monica City Councilmember Richard Bloom; Former L.A. County Supervisor Ed Edelman; Los Angeles County Chief Administrative Officer David Jansen; L.A. Housing Department Director Mercedes Marquez; Executive Director of the Central City Association Carol Schatz; Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Commissioner Estela Lopez, who also serves as the head of Central City East; L.A. Homeless Services Authority Commissioner Ramona Ripston, who is also the Executive Director of the ACLU; the Executive Director of L.A. Homeless Services Authority Mitchell Netburn; Deputy City Attorney Dena Carreyn; Orlando Ward who heads up public affairs for the Midnight Mission and serves as a city commissioner; Captain Andy Smith from the LAPD; Mark Klugman, Chief of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Correctional Facilities and representatives from the offices of L.A. County Supervisors Michael Antonovich and Zev Yaroslavsky.
Cedillo plans to introduce a package of bills in the state Senate to import some of New York's ideas for dealing with the homeless issue.