DEEGAN ON LA-There’s been no shortage of ideas, proposals, concepts, wishes and dreams for how to provide housing for our city’s homeless population. Maybe even some prayers said in private. Some cost estimates go as high as $2 billion to provide supportive housing. Now, if only someone would agree to pay for it! That someone is looking more and more like the taxpayers, but to get them to vote “yes” on funding will take a lot of strong messaging from a variety of sources. 

Lots of political will is pushing for solutions, at both the city and county levels. But why hasn’t Cardinal José Horacio Gómez, spiritual leader of over four million Catholics in 287 parishes in the Archdiocese, spoken out? And, what about Gary L. Toebben, President and CEO of the LA Area Chamber of Commerce that represents the interests of over 235,000 businesses in LA County, an organization that sponsors more than 25 advocacy events annually? 

The most Toebben has said recently about homelessness in our city, was on January 19, 2016 in the face of impending El Nino rains: “I applaud the City and County for preparing these comprehensive and complimentary plans” (to care for the homeless if it rains heavily.) 

Three weeks later, on February February 9, 2016, he marginally increased his soft voice on homelessness by saying, “I urge you (the County Supervisors) to take the next step in ending our housing and homelessness crisis by adopting the Comprehensive Homeless Strategy before you today.” 

To “applaud” and to “urge”, essentially to be a cheerleader sitting on the sidelines, is a very weak form of advocacy from a business leader representing “member companies who are working to promote the economic vitality and quality of life in the LA region.” 

Do Toebben and the Chamber think that “quality of life” is reserved for the business class and is irrelevant to the homeless whose “quality of life” would be dramatically improved if able to transition into supportive housing? Could one of his 25 annual advocacy programs become one that tackles homelessness? 

As weak as this advocacy from Big Business is, the Church leadership performs even worse on the civic stage. Cardinal Gómez has said nothing about how he may lead the Church into a region-wide solution to homelessness. He’s not even offering to pray for them. This is hard to understand from a spiritual leader that has one of the largest megaphones in this heavily Catholic city. Some loud and strong words from him could activate the huge apparatus of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles into action. Yet he has revealed no voice, no plan for the homeless. 

It’s not just taxpayers that should be carrying the burden of providing for the homeless: corporate Los Angeles and religious Los Angeles must form a coalition with political Los Angeles to start providing some solutions. This includes encouraging their constituencies of businessmen and parishioners to support programs that they, Cardinal Gomez and Chamber President Toebben, create, articulate and lead; they should mobilize their followers with a call to action to help the city and county that are facing an uphill battle to get the voters to approve revenue schemes on the November 8 ballot. 

There will be two ballot measures, one from the city and one from the county. The city measure calls for taxpayers to carry new debt through bond payments; the county wants a vote in favor of a tax on marijuana, but that relies on the approval of the marijuana ballot initiative, California’s Adult Use of Marijuana Act. 

The Los Angeles City Council agreed to place a $1.2 billion bond initiative on the November city ballot to build more housing for the homeless, although there are strings attached: by law, the bond money could be used only for housing construction, not to provide services. 

The County reached a point where it had to choose between a 1/4 cent sales tax or a 10% levy on the gross receipts of businesses that produce or distribute marijuana and related products. It voted for the tax on weed, a risk since it hinges on the California Adult Use of Marijuana Act being approved by voters. Strings include restricting the tax-on-weed revenue to pay for mental health and substance abuse treatment, rental subsidies, emergency housing and other services intended to get and keep people off the streets. Annual revenue from this tax is estimated at $130 million. If voters approve legalization, the marijuana market would be valued at $1.3 billion annually and growing. 

According to LA County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, “The Board chose an uncertain marijuana business tax to fight homelessness, rather than a reliable 1/4 cent sales tax to put on the November ballot. The Board selected an option that would generate the least amount of money and take the longest amount of time to generate funds.” 

On the upside, Fortune Magazine recently reported that Colorado, a state with a fraction of our population, collected $1 billion in marijuana tax revenues last year. In the long run, the 10% tax on marijuana could be a significant money maker for the county. 

Neither the city nor the county measure is pure, and both must fight for attention among some nineteen statewide measures, as well as a handful of local measures, all on the November 8 ballot. Statewide measures include votes relating to adult entertainment, regulation of businesses, campaign finance, the death penalty, education, elections and campaigns, the environment, firearms, government accountability, healthcare, and legalization of marijuana. 

Ridley-Thomas continued, “There is no guarantee that voters in November will pass a measure legalizing the use of marijuana, and there are also many unresolved questions as to the impact on public health and safety on our communities-- particularly those that are most vulnerable.”… “However, I remain committed to securing the funds needed to address the homeless crisis in LA County.” 

The politicos cannot be the only ones speaking out to rally support for their proposals to help the homeless -- especially when the Church and the Chamber have the resources to aggressively join the conversation with loud voices. They have the means to take their place in the civic discourse about homelessness, an issue that concerns everybody in the city. Will they become leaders and join the conversation? Will they bring their followers along, now?

(Tim Deegan is a long-time resident and community leader in the Miracle Mile, who has served as board chair at the Mid City West Community Council and on the board of the Miracle Mile Civic Coalition. Tim can be reached at [email protected].) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.

POLITICS--There is one place that the influence and power of California–the home of the sixth largest economy in the world, cultural icons and high tech gurus–is relatively insignificant: the Republican national convention.

Despite delivering the most delegates of any state and having the greatest representation in the Electoral College, California is little more than a side note at the GOP convention. The reason is simple: California cannot deliver those Electoral College votes for the Republican ticket. In the presidential election California is a Democratic stronghold.

The state’s delegates are being housed not in Cleveland, the convention’s host city, but in Sandusky, Ohio, an hour’s ride away from the convention. Officials will tell the delegates they are an hour away, but it will be longer. I’ve been to one of these events before. Delegates are told, for security reasons, the bus hauling the delegates cannot drive the same route all the time. Some of those side routes on city streets add considerably to the commute time. After convention hours, mingling with officials and other delegations or reporters is drastically reduced if delegates don’t want to miss the official bus back to Sandusky.

The California delegation can be grateful in one regard. In the recent past, the state delegation has been seated off to the side of the convention’s main podium, not directly in front of the podium and out of the camera’s eye. Out of site, out of mind. However, this year the large delegation is more or less to the center-right of the podium and up close.

The big question for state Republican leaders is how the Trump-Pence ticket will attract regular Californian Republican voters … or repel them. It may be a Trump-centric delegation in Cleveland, but Republicans from California not in Cleveland may not be as strong for the candidate and that could affect the party’s overall standing.

Trump supporters believe his stand on issues like immigration will grow support for the party. But the state party has been shrinking. The immigration issue, which is a major plank for the presumptive nominee, is played differently by California party officials, recognizing as they do, the demographics of the California electorate.

Trump advocates point out that he did his best in California capturing about 75 percent of the primary vote. But the nomination campaign was over by the time it reached the Golden State. Many Republican voters chose to vote for another name on the ballot or did not vote in the presidential primary election at all.

Can the California GOP withstand the negatives Trump has created over the course of the campaign? Will some Republicans follow the example of syndicated columnist George Will and re-register? I have heard from long time Republicans who said they are ready to register as No Party Preference voters when Trump is anointed. We’ll see, but the 27 percent Republican registration in California could fall even lower.

Before dismissing California’s as irrelevant to the national Republican Party, it must be acknowledged that California is important to the national GOP in one way — money. But big donors rarely are convention delegates. Candidates and party officials have to come to them so there will be plenty of fundraising pilgrimages to California over the course of the campaign.

Thinking optimistically, for the sake of the California GOP and its diminished influence, perhaps the seating arrangement is a bit of a positive sign.

(Joel Fox is the Editor of Fox & Hounds  … where this perspective was first posted … and President of the Small Business Action Committee.)

-cw

POLITICS--As if there weren't enough reasons for people to hate on notorious L.A. developer Geoff Palmer (photo above), who's brought the city such architectural atrocities as the Orsini and the Da Vinci, Palmer has given a Donald Trump Super PAC a cool $2 million, according to a Federal Election Commission quarterly report filed this weekend.

According to Bloomberg, that makes Palmer the biggest Trump donor in the country (besides, of course, Trump himself).

The Super PAC, Rebuilding America Now, which recently started running TV ads comparing Bill Clinton to Bill Cosby (!), is run by LA-based investor Tom Barrack, a close associate of Trump's. In June, Barrack told CNN that the Super PAC had attracted $32 million "in financial commitments" from four donors. But according to the quarterly report, the PAC has raised only $2,160,450 — though indeed, it is from four different donors. Nearly all the money has come from Palmer.

The man whom Curbed LA calls "Downtown's worst developer" owns at least six very large apartment buildings in Los Angeles, all with faux-Italian names: the Medici, the Visconti, the Orsini, the Piero, the Lorenzo and of course, the Da Vinci, which was set on fire in 2014 while it was still being built. 

In February, the city filed a $20 million lawsuit against Palmer, for not having an adequate fire protection plan.

The fire was only the latest in a series of misdeeds that have made Palmer the bete noire of urban boosters. There was the pedestrian bridge he wanted to build over Olympic Boulevard so that his residents wouldn't have to walk past homeless people; there was the historic 1880s Queen Anne house his construction workers "accidentally" destroyed while building the Orsini. 

Worst of all was his lawsuit, in 2007, over a city zoning law requiring downtown developers of large projects to reserve a number of units for low-income tenants. Palmer's victory in that lawsuit means California cities can't force developers to build affordable housing (though they can incentivize them to do so by granting density bonuses). 

So what's with Palmer's weird Italian fetish? In 2014, he told Los Angeles Magazine, “The Italians actually settled LA before the Spanish and Chinese."

(Hillel Aron writes for LA Weekly  … where this piece originated.)

-cw

GUEST COMMENTARY—(George Hofstetter’s column was written prior to former Sheriff Baca’s Monday appearance before Judge Percy Anderson … and proved to be prophetic. Judge Anderson threw out Baca’s plea deal saying that six months in jail was not enough.)  The medical diagnosis that former Sheriff Lee Baca is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease is unfortunate, and we sympathize with him and his family. 

Some may claim justice was achieved when Mr. Baca pleaded guilty  in February to lying to FBI agents and federal prosecutors investigating inmate abuse at the Men's Central Jail. However, the reality is that his maximum sentence under the plea is a slap on the wrist and he may serve no time at all when he is formally sentenced by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson on July 18. 

What should not be forgotten is that while Mr. Baca admitted his guilt, he also worked out a plea deal to avoid testifying under oath in any proceeding regarding his actions. As I have said before, ALADS does not celebrate the fact that the person the voters of Los Angeles County elected to lead our department has now been convicted of a federal crime. This conviction is a bitter lesson the current department leadership must absorb and overcome. 

While Mr. Baca's sentence will be the topic of the day, our focus and concern are for the deputy sheriffs who became mired in Baca's scandals. We remain disappointed by the sentences that were handed down to deputies in the past year for crimes relating to the Mr. Baca's jail scandal. These deputies and their families have already been punished, far more harshly than Mr. Baca. We believe the sentences handed down in those cases should have at least been proportional to the sentence Mr. Baca is facing.     

Justice requires that those who directed criminal conduct should not be the least punished. Mr. Baca's plea deal calls for a maximum of six months, which pales in comparison to the 18 to 41-month prison terms lower level personal are facing.  

Judge Anderson still must approve Mr. Baca's plea agreement and ALADS hopes federal prosecutors will revisit all of the sentencing that was handed out to the deputies who were following the directions given to them by Mr. Baca's leadership. 

Rank-and-file deputies are determined by our daily actions on the job, to show the public that the crimes committed by former department executives reflect only upon those executives and their leadership failures. We are not going to let the sins of former managers define our deputies, as that would not be an accurate representation of the honesty, hard work and integrity ALADS members and their co-workers exemplify every day. 

As we wait to hear Judge Anderson's decision in Mr. Baca's sentencing, we are confident the department's current leadership will ensure the failures of their predecessors will not define how we go forward from here.

(George Hofstetter is President of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs. ALADS is the collective bargaining agent and represents more than 8,200 deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators working in Los Angeles County.  George can be contacted at [email protected].) Photo: AP. Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams

LATINO PERSPECTIVE--In Los Angeles County the question is not whether a major disaster will happen, but when. Experts expect an earthquake measuring 7.0 or greater in the next 30 years. The area is prone to wildfires, floods, and other natural disasters. Infectious disease outbreaks and terrorist attacks are also possible. 

Though aware of the risks, less than half of the population is prepared for such emergencies. Surveys show Hispanic communities are least prepared of all. 

VOICES FROM THE SQUARE--Is there really something wrong with Watts? Or have we just taught ourselves to think that way? I grew up in Watts, and for as long as I can remember I have been hearing negative stories about the community from family, friends, and the people I knew. At a very early age I learned that the crime rate was high, that the neighborhood was drug-infested, that the schools were hopeless, and that Watts was home to many ills. 

I heard so much about its dangers that I planned my life around avoiding them. The safest way to live, I figured, was to focus on my education to protect myself—with the expectation that I might one day leave. I spent most of my youth indoors reading and writing, instead of playing outside with the other children. 

I must admit that, while I never challenged Watts’ reputation as a kid, I was curious about where it came from. Watts had its problems, but it never felt half as bad in the experiencing as in the telling. And I never felt fearful in the way that people expected me to be. 

As I got older, it bothered me that when people who didn’t live in Watts talked about the community, they always seemed to talk about the 1965 Watts Riots. The fact that this is still true more than 50 years later, in 2016, seems bizarre, given how neighborhoods change and how few of the people who were there are still here. 

As I studied journalism and learned to write, I decided I had the power to change how people thought about Watts. Three years ago, having entered my mid-20s, I started to publish essays about Watts. I didn’t shrink from Watts’ problems, but I also wrote about my life and family and the joys of it.

One essay I wrote for Zócalo Public Square in 2014 became a sensation. In it, I praised Watts for offering a lot of institutions to help young parents and kids, but I wondered why it didn’t offer what I needed as a young, childless college student who was also working. I couldn’t print out an essay or get college-related advice anywhere in Watts. I closed the piece by suggesting that Watts needed a local neighborhood center with computers and guidance counselors who can help people who are trying to get ahead. 

I was especially frustrated because, with every passing day, the distance grew between Watts’ bad reputation and its improving reality. 

The essay was also published in Time magazine and became so popular that reporters started calling to interview me. Of course, many of them were preparing pieces in advance of the 50th anniversary of the Watts Riots. NBC included me in their special on the anniversary. I used every opportunity to talk about the virtues of the community, the ways it had changed, and the need to improve some of the statistics around poverty that fuel our reputation. 

I was proud of my work and glad for the attention, but for some reason, it didn’t feel right. I took a hiatus from writing articles to continue my schooling and work while I thought about why I felt unsettled. Was I approaching the story of changing Watts’ reputation wrongly? Had I not done enough? 

I was especially frustrated because, with every passing day, the distance grew between Watts’ bad reputation and its improving reality. Schools were getting better, crime and violence were even less common, and there were all kinds of fairs and programs in the community that seemed to lead to people getting jobs and health care. 

I didn’t have to go far to see this. Two impressive developments had launched within walking distance of my home. Last year, a College Track program opened in Watts, helping high school students enter college and also working with them so they can successfully complete their degrees. The second development came this January when chefs Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson opened a much-needed restaurant down the street from me and it quickly became a favorite among people in the neighborhood.

Things were looking up for Watts, and for me. I even received a letter in the mail giving me permission to use an old community recreational room to jumpstart my own resource center—exactly like the one I envisioned in my Zócalo article.  

Pedestrian bridge over Blue Line tracks, Watts. 

But I was less than thrilled -- Watts’ reputation still wasn’t moving as fast as Watts. 

Then one day, I had a conversation with my neighbor for an article I was planning to write to end my self-imposed sabbatical. He had lived in Watts for as long as I could remember and was very popular in the neighborhood. I asked him what he thought of all the improvements in Watts, and his reply really hit me: “To be real with you, I just lay my head there. I’m like most people, I don’t really pay attention to that stuff.”

I thought this was funny at first. But then I thought about it some more, and some more after that, and it hit me. He was deeply right. 

I’m glad for the changes, but they didn’t really mean that much to me, or my own experience of Watts. Because Watts was never to me anything like the place people think it was. And if it didn’t really matter to him or matter to me -- we had built lives here -- why was I worrying so much about its reputation? 

My problem was mine, not Watts’. Why was I making myself unhappy worrying about a reputational problem that wasn’t in my power to fix? 

Watts is a fine place, with problems and virtues like other places; I’m proud to live here and I value it for what it’s given me. After all, hadn’t I learned the value of education here in Watts, sometimes from the same people who taught me about Watts’ ills? I have more positive to say about this place than negative (and I’m very grateful to see more and more positive things blooming here). And now that I’ve allowed myself to be happy about Watts, my goals feel even clearer. I won’t stay in my house, and I’m going to go outside and get my resource center up and running. 

You can think what you want about Watts. I’m too busy enjoying my neighborhood to care.

(Shanice Joseph, a journalist and student, lives in Watts. This essay is part of South Los Angeles: Can the Site of America's Worst Modern Riots Save an Entire City?, a special project of Zócalo Public Square and The California Wellness Foundation.) Photos by Steve Hymon. Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.