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ALPERN AT LARGE - There is a time for playing defense, such as during a pandemic or a recession. And then there’s a time to play offense, such as when a city or region is fighting to grow its economy…
…or to prepare for an Olympics.
Right now, we’ve got Mayor Bass, and many on the City Council, and to boot on the County Board of Supervisors, who are so caught up on playing defense that they’re either unwilling, conflicted, or incapable of playing offense.
In particular:
THERE IS NO ROOM FOR RAMPANT HOMELESSNESS AND CRIME IN A LOS ANGELES CITY AND COUNTY WHO WANTS TO BE A WORLD LEADER IN EITHER THE ECONOMY OR ESTABLISHING OLYMPIC GLORY!!!
1) Quonset homes (either as dormitories or single-family dwellings) are both durable and inexpensive to build, and ditto for inexpensive “small homes”, and they can be established in the unincorporated and/or more remote regions of the gigantic county that is Los Angeles.
2) The homeless have every right to visit the beach, but they have NO right to live near it. The city and county of Los Angeles have been granted free license by the federal and state government to demand those dwelling within homeless encampments move to free or low-cost housing that can be established away from expensive, tony areas that want to attract more businesses and sidewalk access.
3) If San Francisco can do it, so can we: Mayor Karen Bass, it’s time for you to be a “Karen” and demand that both low-cost homeless encampments be built (with accompanying medical and psychological and educational free access) to make the most of taxpayer money…and to issue criminal penalties when needed.
4) If Mayor London Breed of San Francisco can do it, Mayor Bass, so should you…presuming you want to be re-elected. Clearing up the homeless, and as well the similar-but-different affordable housing, crises requires grit and steadfast determination that comes from recognizing the need to achieve results in order to be truly “kind”.
5) The homelessness and security dilemmas are being treated as cottage industries, and that is NOTHING to be proud of—and the wasting of an opportunity to grow an economy based on jobs, low crime, and low urban blight won’t fly anymore as we confront the 2028 OIympics and a city/county of Los Angeles that needs to put the pandemic behind us.
6) Whether it’s Yaroslavsky or Horvath or any city/county leader, we have no business re-electing them if there are others waiting in the wings to replace them. We’re about ready to throw out District Attorney Gascón as Step #1 to fixing rampant crime in L.A. County, and if L.A. City Mayor Bass wants to embrace our city as a homeless magnet, then she deserves replacing, too.
7) We’ve been building a countywide rail system for well over a decade with the 2028 Olympics in mind, but if it’s earned a well-deserved reputation for being unsafe and a crime/homeless magnet, then that’s just throwing the taxpayers’ money right in their collective face (ditto for homeless taxes meant to fix, not extend, the problem).
In short, we’ve been giving the residents and taxpayers of L.A. City and County a raw deal for years, and forcing those we need the most to flee to other counties and venues. We treat homeowners, businesses, and commuters like dirt and to be perpetually treated like an ATM machine that just keeps on giving.
Well, no longer—to the left-wing dreamers in the L.A. City Council and L.A. County Board of Supervisors, we did things your way. And things got worse. Way worse.
The homeless need to be offered the choice of moving off public venues or go to jail.
Or be denied all funded benefits that draw them here from the rest of the nation.
Or be escorted to the county border.
To our elected: if you don’t pivot, evolve, grow, and otherwise adapt to altering course from the past mistakes you’ve made and/or inherited, then you deserve replacing—just as we’re going to see with Attorney General Gascón in a few short months.
We need leadership, and particularly so as 2028 draws nigh…but so far all you’ve proven is that our electeds have too often NOT behaved like true leaders.
And if our electeds won’t lead, then we need to do it for them, and replace them with those who will have the fortitude, maturity, and kindness to do what’s right.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father. He was active for 20 years on the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) as a Board Member focused on Planning and Transportation, and helped lead the grassroots efforts of the Expo Line as well as connecting LAX to MetroRail. His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth, and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
