Article from For Liberty by Norm Leahy.

Party-goers in Los Angeles have been warned: the next bash could result in your host having his water and electricity cut off.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city would shut down utility service for residents who committed flagrant violations of health orders and hosted large parties that can fuel the spread of the coronavirus.

If the LAPD responds to repeated complaints and verifies that there have been violations at a home, the city will within 48 hours have the DWP shut off service at that home. Garcetti also indicated that county health inspectors and other city representatives would be on the lookout for violations.

Garcetti brushed aside legal concerns about the shutoffs:

“You’re breaking the law. Just as we can shut down bars breaking alcohol laws,” he said, “in places that are in criminal violations, we can shut them down.”

He said that city legal experts had vetted the measure and found it to be on firm legal ground.

It’s not the first time Garcetti has threatened to shut off utilities to enforce health orders. In April, the Mayor said he would shut down power and water for “non-essential” businesses that refused to close down despite a stay-at-home order. 

Unofficial word in LAPD circles is that law enforcement is reluctant to carry out the Mayor’s most recent threat against individual homeowners. Apparently, “cops will absolutely cite a homeowner for throwing an out-of-control party, but cutting someone’s power is not a burden they want to bear.”

Image Credit: By Jamelle Bouie [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons