LA MESA CITY COUNCILMEMBER LAURA LOTHIAN CALLS FOR “15-STRIKES AND YOUR OUT” HOMELESSNESS POLICY
By Michael Howard
Photo: La Mesa City Councilmember Laura Lothian speaks during a January 14, 2025 City Council meeting. Screenshot from City of La Mesa meeting video.
January 19, 2025 (La Mesa, CA) - La Mesa City Councilmember Laura Lothian is calling for a “15-Strikes And You’re Out” policy to address the rising cost and associated risks of managing the homelessness crisis in the city.
“If you watch the [Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement] video on our website, they say, right there, that it takes at least 15 contacts before a person experiencing homelessness is ready to accept services,” Lothian reported during the January 14 City Council meeting. “My feeling is this,” the first-term council member continued. “If the City of La Mesa offers a homeless individual – approaches them – 15 times and offers them help, and 15 times that homeless person rejects that help, I think it’s time for the city to say you need to go,” she insisted.
Lothian’s comments came during the City Council's consent calendar portion of the meeting, when the Council typically votes to approve agenda items in bulk. La Mesa’s Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement (HOME) program’s 3rd Quarter report was an item on the calendar, prompting her to speak up.
“Despite increased spending on La Mesa’s Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement program, the 2024 count for La Mesa showed a 47% increase in unsheltered homelessness compared to 2023,” Lothian began. “The program is not reducing homelessness in La Mesa and we keep doubling down,” she went on to say. “If the L.A. fires tell us anything, it’s time we stop wishing for results and start getting them with common sense.”
Lothian’s statement comes amid the ongoing, but now slowing spread of fires in the Los Angeles area. Lothian associated fire risk with homelessness in her remarks.
“According to the news I’ve been reading, 54% of the fires that the LA Fire Department responds to are started by the homeless. NBC 7 investigation showed fire incident calls tied to homelessness is sharply on the rise in San Diego,” she cited.
It is true that a rising number of fires in L.A. are caused by homeless people; NBC Los Angeles reported last May that 13,909 fires in 2023 were tied to homelessness, double the prior year. However, according to Cal Fire, the cause of the major wildfires currently burning in L.A. have not yet been determined.
A number of small fires locally have also started at homeless camps. Most recently, according to a recent NBC 7 report, firefighters responded to a fire in El Cajon this past Wednesday that was started by a homeless man trying to stay warm, prompting warnings of a heightened risk of fires due to the cold and dry weather.
“When you have people that are homeless, and they're trying to survive outside, they will do what they need to do to try and stay warm. Sometimes that involves lighting a fire and, as we know, in these conditions, fires like that could potentially spread,” Heartland Fire and Rescue Deputy Chief Todd Nelson said in the news story.
To offset homelessness in La Mesa, the La Mesa City Council in February of 2021 adopted the “2021-2026 Homeless Action Plan” that outlined a proactive approach where the city would take a more “direct role in day-to-day engagement and outreach with the La Mesa homeless population.” The action plan is largely implemented through the HOME program, where the focus is to divert calls that would typically use city emergency and law enforcement services to this program that responds to nonemergency calls for service related to homelessness.
In the Quarter 3 2024 HOME report submitted to the January 14 La Mesa City Council meeting, the program reported a total of 6,246 instances of services to homeless individuals since 2020, 244 of those in Q3 2024. Additionally, the program has housed 177 people in this period, 4 of which were permanently housed in Q3 2024 and 2 temporarily housed in Q3 2024.
Photo: Excerpt from La Mesa's HOME program Q3 2024 report, highlighting clients served in the program's efforts to stem homelessness in the city. Courtesy of the City of La Mesa
La Mesa Police Chief Ray Sweeney also spoke on the issue, responding directly to councilmember Lothian’s suggestion to presumably remove homeless individuals from the city.
Photo: La Mes
a Chief of Police Ray Sweeney addresses the City Council during its January 14, 2025 meeting; screenshot from City of La Mesa meeting video.
“There’s that balance, Councilmember, we have to make sure we’re not violating their rights, especially if they are not committing crimes – if they’re not doing anything any other member of the public would do in public,” he said. “The balance of different methods and the things in our toolbelt, like you can see I have here, these are all things we’re thinking about, so it’s not just a single approach of progressive engagement.”
Vice-Mayor Patrica Dillard praised the HOME program and Chief Sweeney, noting the complexities of homelessness.
“People have different reasons why they turn down help. A lot of the times we don’t learn what those reasons are, ever,” she disclosed. “I feel the Chief [Sweeney] nailed it on this issue, we’re never going to get all of the homeless off the streets, it’s just not going to happen.”
Dillard finished with a sharp retort. “I believe doing something, and also being able to produce results, is better than nothing, or just complaining,” she said.
Members of the public did not comment on the issue.
In other actions, the Council divided up internal and external committee commitments among themselves for the new year.
SOURCES
Bremer • •, S. (2025, January 15). Dry, windy conditions in San Diego County raise concern over encampment fires. NBC 7 San Diego. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diego-county-encampment-fire-concerns/3725144/
Cann, C. (n.d.). What caused the LA wildfires? Here’s what we know about the possible origins. USA TODAY. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/15/what-caused-los-angeles-wildfires-california/77715865007/
City of La Mesa. (n.d.-a). 2021-2026 HOMELESS ACTION PLAN. https://www.cityoflamesa.us/DocumentCenter/View/17134/Homeless-Action-Plan
City of La Mesa. (n.d.-b). Archive Center • HOME Quarterly Reports. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.cityoflamesa.us/Archive.aspx?AMID=109&Type=&ADID
City of La Mesa. (n.d.-c). City Council—January 14, 2025. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://pub-lamesa.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=1c6ffa3c-b8f4-4626-bb67-aac9daee9e8d&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English&Item=9&Tab=attachments
City of La Mesa. (n.d.-d). HOME Program | La Mesa, CA - Official Website. Retrieved January 17, 2025, from https://www.cityoflamesa.us/1646/HOME-Program
City of La Mesa. (2024). City of La Mesa Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement (HOME) Program Quarterly Report: July – September 2024. https://pub-lamesa.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=17801
Doug Smith, James Queally, & Genaro Molina. (2021, May 12). LAFD: 54% of fire responses in first 3 months of 2021 related to homelessness. FireRescue1. https://www.firerescue1.com/fire-attack/articles/lafd-54-of-fire-responses-in-first-3-months-of-2021-related-to-homelessness-8pgDS8dKNw018Uyv/
Page • •, E. S. (2024, December 2). Homeless arsonist sparked 9 fires in November, including in East County: Cal Fire. NBC 7 San Diego. https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/homeless-arsonist-sparked-9-fires-in-november-including-in-east-county-cal-fire/3689620/
Grover, Joel (2024, May 9. Up in flames: Rising number of homeless fires threaten L.A. neighborhoods. NBC 4 Los Angeles. https://www.nbclosangeles.com/investigations/la-homeless-encampment-fires-electrical-supply-wires/3408775/
"I see this as disrespectful from you, the Council, the Mayor and the attorneys...This is going to create a lot of distrust in the community.” -- Jose Cruz, photo, left
Dr. Sergio Conti (photo, right), who is originally from Argentina, said his family moved to El Cajon last February and is enjoying “this beautiful city,” but is concerned that could change if the resolution passes. “Of the population in El Cajon, 28% speaks Spanish,” he said, noting that mass deportation could eliminate farmworkers and perhaps city workers who are Spanish-speaking. He emphasized that the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”We came here for one reason: to give a better future to our son,” he said, adding that his son is studying at the University of California, San Diego to be a history professor. “We work hard every day to make money to pay the rent and feed our families.” He said he opposes the resolution “because it will destroy the lives of many families who only want to work in peace and give a future to their children.”
Jesus Pacheco (photo, left) from Latinos en Accion voiced concern that the resolution would damage the relationship between immigrants and police. “You represent all of us. All of us pay taxes, and we try to the best we can,” said Pacheco, who said he’s lived here for 34 years and has long been a volunteer advocate for quality education, recently succeeding in opening a new building for a middle school locally. “Think about us, and make the right decision,” he urged the Council.
He told Mayor Wells, “I voted for you, Mr. Mayor, but this just breaks my heart, to be honest with you...I have a 7-year-old boy. I don’t want him to grow up in a place that feels like a police state for brown people. If this thing passes, I might sell my house and move,” he closed, drawing applause.
Violet Lombera (photo,right) with Latinos en Accion said after moving to El Cajon from Brawley, she was stopped by police in what she views as “racial profiling. I don’t want that to happen again...Doing this is really going to separate and divide us. It’s going to attack my community, Mexican Americans...I’ve been attacked. I’ve been segregated. I’ve been racially profiled. You guys need to reconsider this,” she said, voicing fears of people being stopped and asked for proof of citizenship. ”To do this is really going to hurt everybody in our community.”
Pedro Rio (photo, left) is director of the American Friends Service Committee’s border program. “I’ve been working with community members in El Cajon for two decades or more. Considering passing this resolution is showing your true colors,” he said, then accused the Mayor of “fearmongering” that would make people afraid to walk around or shop in the city. He criticized the city manager’s statement that state law prohibits cities from using Border Patrol agents to translate, noting that such use over the years has been a pretext that led to deportation, family separations and “suffering.” 
voiced fear for her daughter, who is African-American and Mexican-American, adding that she wants the city to focus on the homeless. Instead of targeting 
Stephanie Harper (photo, left) observed, “The last time I heard anybody talk about `let me see your papers’ was Nazi Germany. That’s really scary. A lot of people here are scared, too...We’re all immigrants, unless you’re Indian.” She quoted former president Ronald Reagan: “You can come to American and become an American. That’s what makes us great.” She said the resolution will cause “problems we can’t foresee,” then told the Mayor, “I think this is just a step in your political career, Mr. Wells, to show other people what you’ve done,” adding that this action would not be a good one. The crowd applauded.
Councilwoman Michelle Metschel (photo, right) said she’s talked to residents including in the Hispanic community and believes “they have a real fear that their community is targeted.” She voiced concern that her daughter, whose father is from El Salvador, could be targeted and noted that one relative “may be illegal.” She noted that our region has immigrants from around the world and wants to be sure if “bad actors” are the issue that Hispanics are not targeted. 
Vice Mayor 
Councilman Phil Ortiz (photo, right), who represents a heavily Latino district and is from a second-generation Latino immigrant family, thanked the audience for staying civil. “I don’t think there is a city in the county more welcoming to immigrants than El Cajon,” he began, noting that the city translates materials into several languages and offers grants within immigrant communities. But he said the conflict between state and federal immigration laws need to be worked out. “We need clarification as a city; are our police officers going to be prosecuted when we talk to Border Patrol agents or ICE about someone defrauding someone or a domestic violence suspect or someone getting ready to commit a crime?” He said police officers are “just as worried” as immigrants and suggests SB 54 could mean officers being locked up if they cooperate with ICE beyond what the state law allows.
Councilman Steve Goble (photo, left) said he agrees that California and America have thrived because of immigrants, and that trust between immigrants and officials is important. But he insisted that being asked for papers by police won’t happen because it’s prohibited by state law 
The Hamas attack killed over 1,200 Israelis. Israel’s military retaliation in Gaza has killed tens of thousands, displacing up to 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, according to the Associated Press. Many of those are injured, have lost homes, or at risk of famine.
A lieutenant nearby called for backup. Officer Evan Drescher arrived on the scene, shouting “Don’t move!” But Grube instead pulled forward, trying to run over Maxwell a second time even as both officers had guns trained on her.
oyed around 5,300 homes; another 12,000 structures are still threatened.
lifted.