Anger Management and Homelessness Buscaino staff keep getting into physical confrontations with homeless rights activists

As Joe Buscaino pursues a kinder, gentler homeless sweeps agenda to become the next mayor of Los Angeles, his staff looks increasingly like the brutish, thuggish bullies of people without homes that his campaign has been characterized to be.

On Aug. 16, Buscaino announced his plan to introduce a resolution the next day that would prohibit sidewalk camping around every Los Angeles Unified School District in the City of Los Angeles. He made the announcement outside Larchmont Elementary School in Council District 13. This is the second anti-camping motion that has been introduced to the city council in as many weeks.

Buscaino said he chose this location because their classes start on Wednesday while most other schools started Tuesday. He said he did not want to be disruptive on the first day of school.

StreetWatch LA, a community activist group opposed to the recent ordinance change that would make it easier to arrest homeless individuals who refuse to go into offered housing and restrict camping in public spaces, was accosted by Buscaino’s senior aide and communications director, Branimir Kvartuc.

The kerfuffle began when Kvartuc grabbed the sign of a woman standing near the councilman. That resulted in some pushing and shouting as the councilman told Kvartuc to “back off.”

Reportedly, Kvartuc later said his intention was to move the sign so it wasn’t blocking Buscaino’s face during the news conference. He explained that the sign broke when the woman jerked back from him grabbing it. The confrontation disrupted and ended the news conference with the

Jacob Haik, left, aide to Joe Buscaino, watches as senior aide and communictions director, Branimir Kvartuc confronts Jeffrey Perez de Leon, a StreetWatch LA activist. Photo taken from Street Watch LA’s Twitter page councilman left at the podium.

The homeless advocate holding the sign, who identified herself as Stevie, said the incident symbolizes Buscaino’s aggressive approach to the city’s homelessness issue.

“A representative for Joe Buscaino pulled down my sign and on many cameras pushed me,” Stevie said. “And then the press conference ended, because he assaulted me.”

“It’s more violence from Joe Buscaino. It’s what we’ve come to expect. Joe Buscaino loves to displace people and loves to be violent. Whether it’s what we saw today or the violence of criminalizing poverty and homelessness.”

Stevie later filed a battery report with the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPD is investigating the incident.

This isn’t the first time Kvartuc had to be told to calm down. A similar scenario went down a few months ago on April 15, in which fellow Buscaino aide, Jacob Haik, had to diffuse a Kvartuc tirade against StreetWatch LA.

The 5’9 Kvartuc got on his tippy-toes to force a much taller StreetWatch LA activist and Los Feliz resident, Jeffrey Perez de Leon, back. Kvartuc was apparently working on a campaign ad near an encampment on Berendo in Los Feliz far from his own backyard in the 15th District.

Perez de Leon said StreetWatch LA had been watching over the encampment’s residents in light of efforts to shut the site down regardless of whether the residents got help and shelter or not.

When he saw Buscaino filming what looked like a promo for his campaign, Perez de Leon’s only thought was to call Buscaino out on using his neighborhood as a backdrop for his campaign for homeless sweeps.

Eventually, a police officer who pulled up in a squad car diffused the situation with Haik’s help.

Napoleon Complex and short man jokes aside, these videos seem to show that it takes very little to provoke Kvartuc.