Hollywood business owners upset over city's removal of planters used to deter homeless encampments

HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Some Hollywood business owners are frustrated over the removal of planter boxes aimed at deterring homeless encampments in the area.

The city says businesses installed those planters without a permit, but owners say they were forced to take matters into their own hands after their complaints fell on deaf ears.

The planters along Sunset Boulevard were removed Monday. Their removal comes with some controversy.

Local business owners put the garden bed planters out in early May to deter homeless encampments.

Blake Edwards works putting up ads in the area, and he wants the planters to stay.

"I can't even do my job when they're here because they're threatening people," he said about the homeless issue.

Those who support having the planters say the street was covered with homeless encampments and trash for more than two years.

Businesses say the city of Los Angeles didn't fix the problem.

"It just brings a lot of nasty stuff to the area," Edwards said. "Plus, there's a high school right across the street. I mean as a kid they shouldn't be subject to that, you know?"

When businesses put the garden beds on the sidewalk in May, owners say it cleared the encampment in days.

Then the city posted flyers announcing the planters would be removed.

A representative from City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez's office said the planters were removed since there were no permits for them. He also says the people who lived there were moved because of the Inside Safe program.

Crews cleared out the planters in the afternoon amid concerns from local businesses.

"If you're going to remove the planters put something in its place or some sort of beautification strategy as opposed to bodies on the ground," Andrew Monheim said.

"This is not a war on homelessness," Monheim added. "We love homeless people, and we want them to be safe. This is a war on neglect."