Victim of LA poop attack on homeless crisis: 'A gangster's paradise'

Victim of Sherman Oaks feces attack speaks out

Sherman Oaks business owner Paul Scrivano is slamming city council over the crime crisis after video shows a homeless man throwing a bag of poop at him.

LOS ANGELES - Paul Scrivano and other business owners in Los Angeles' Sherman Oaks neighborhood are fed up with the city's lack of response in combating the area's growing homeless crisis.

But things really took a turn when a homeless person threw a bag of poop at Scrivano outside his Sherman Oaks restaurant recently. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, that homeless person has since been arrested.

Scrivano spoke to Good Day LA Thursday about the incident and why he feels helpless in the situation after pleading with city council for more support in tackling the issue.

He emphasized that he's not blaming the homeless, but rather calling out the local legislators and their lack of action.

"I can't blame these people [the homeless]. It's not that there's something wrong with them. They have mental issues. The fault lies squarely with the legislative process here in Los Angeles, which says basically they're not going to pass judgment on any bad behavior anymore," he said. "[The police] tell me there is nothing they can do for this level of crime. You know, public defecation, urination, assaults without a weapon, trespassing, loitering. But when you add all those up in the aggregate, it gives you what we have now, which is a scene on Ventura Boulevard that looks like a scene on San Pedro Street downtown. It's crazy now."

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman represents the 4th district which includes Sherman Oaks. Business owners say they have called, emailed, and tagged her on social media posts.

Scrivano had sent her office videos of the homeless making threats and going to the bathroom on Ventura Boulevard to raise awareness on the crisis. He was told to stop sending such graphic material.

"The city has no interest in taking care of any of their property. It's all destroyed, along with every piece of city furniture. And street furniture is destroyed along Ventura Boulevard. Businesses are closed, glasses, graffiti," he said.

LA Homeless Crisis: Man throws feces at business owner

Some members of the Sherman Oaks community have had enough with the area's homeless problem. For one business owner, his last straw was being targeted by a man who threw feces at his direction.

"I would like for my City Councilmember Nithya Rahman, to listen to me, to understand what's going on and to, you know, legislate in a way that allows this situation to be controlled," he added.

"Many business owners are at their wits end, they're not getting the responsiveness that they need and that they deserve," says Attorney Larry Slade, the Chair of the Homelessness Committee for the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association.

"The reality is that people who are experiencing homelessness are still individuals who are there on the streets because they don’t have a home," Raman said.

Raman said the only way to solve this crisis is to fix the problem that leads to homelessness and that she says, is lack of housing.

But Scrivano said that isn't a solution.

"The problem is the city will not pass, like I said, will not pass judgment on their behavior. And they will. They are giving people like the guy who, you know, threw the the the bag of poo at me. They're giving him the choice of housing. Giving him that choice is the cause of the problem we have right now for people like him. And that's a problem."

"These guys that are streaming into the city from all over the country. At the Greyhound bus station in downtown Los Angeles, coming from all over the country on one way bus tickets from judges and sheriffs from around the country saying, 'come to Los Angeles, it's a gangsta's paradise.'"

FOX 11 extended an invitation to Rahman as well as the LA County Housing Homeless Authority to respond and they have either declined or not gotten back to us in terms of our request.