Comments
THE BOTTOM LINE – Los Angeles is on the brink of falling below 8,000 sworn LAPD officers, and City Hall is still pretending this is normal.
It is not.
At the very moment public safety staffing is collapsing, the Mayor has demanded that the City Council identify millions of dollars within 48 hours—money the city does not have—to support new spending priorities. That is not leadership. That is panic management disguised as urgency.
You cannot govern a city of nearly four million people on press releases and wishful thinking.
Defunding by Neglect
City leaders insist they “support public safety,” yet year after year they fail to fund adequate police recruit classes. Retirements continue to outpace hiring. Patrol strength declines. Response times worsen. Neighborhoods feel the consequences first.
This is defunding by neglect.
You do not need a slogan to weaken public safety. All you have to do is stop replacing the people who provide it—and that is exactly what Los Angeles has done.
The Balanced Budget Fiction
Every spring, the Mayor and City Council congratulate themselves for passing a so-called balanced budget. The applause never lasts.
By the First Financial Status Report, the budget is already out of balance.
By the Second, City Hall admits trouble.
By the Third, Los Angeles is staring at a projected deep deficit.
Reserves are drained. One-time fixes become permanent habits. And taxpayers are told—again—that there was “no alternative.”
There were alternatives. City Hall simply refused to make hard choices.
Instead of reforming payroll and headcount, employees were shifted into proprietary departments and handed 15% raises, locking in long-term costs. At the same time, departments that actually generate revenue were cut, even as City Hall admitted revenue was drying up.
That is not fiscal stewardship. That is institutional denial.
Fire Protection: Decades Behind Reality
The Los Angeles Fire Department is now requesting tens of millions of dollars more, and the request is overdue.
For 30 to 40 years, LAFD has been systematically neglected. During that same period, Los Angeles grew from roughly 1.5 million residents to nearly 4 million.
Yet the city failed to keep pace with new fire stations, modern equipment, updated staffing models, and personnel levels required for a denser, more complex city.
We are asking firefighters to protect a 21st-century metropolis with infrastructure built for a city that no longer exists. That failure belongs squarely to City Hall—past and present.
This Is Not New — But It Is Accelerating
This crisis did begin with the current Mayor - and it has been compounded by years of inaction, denial, and misplaced priorities at City Hall.
While the roots of Los Angeles’ structural failures stretch back decades, the current administration has had the opportunity—and the authority—to reverse course. Instead, it has doubled down on the same failed strategies.
It is the cumulative result of successive mayors and city councils avoiding accountability and postponing reform.
But one truth has remained constant: Los Angeles is failing at the basic services it is obligated to provide.
What a City Is Supposed to Do
At a minimum, Los Angeles must competently deliver public safety, utilities and public works, community and social services, and administrative and regulatory services. These are not optional initiatives. They are the foundation of municipal government.
Homelessness: Spending Without Accountability
Yet while these core services deteriorate, City Hall continues to demand more money for homelessness—without proving that existing spending is working.
The uncomfortable truth is this: homelessness is not getting better.
Not one additional dollar should be approved until Inside Safe is fully audited, every homelessness program is independently audited, every nonprofit receiving public funds is audited, and every city-owned homelessness property is audited.
Accountability is not cruelty. It is responsibility. Spending without accountability is.
Until transparency exists, additional funding is irresponsible. Those dollars should be redirected to fire protection, policing, and emergency response—areas where outcomes are measurable and lives depend on performance.
The Report Card City Hall Earned
If Los Angeles were graded on required services, the outcome would be undeniable:
Public Safety — F
Utilities & Public Works — F
Community & Social Services — F
Administrative Services — F
Homeless Services — F
Affordable Housing — F
And the officials responsible?
Mayor’s Performance — F
City Council Performance — F
Enough Excuses
Angelenos are not asking for miracles. They are asking for a city that does the basics competently, honestly, and transparently.
The City of Los Angeles is proposing a new tax on Olympic ticket sales and an increase in the hotel Transient Occupancy Tax—two measures that directly discourage tourism and undermine Los Angeles’ competitiveness on the global stage.
We cannot follow the Governor’s failed approach of attempting to tax our way out of debt. That strategy only drives visitors, businesses, and investment elsewhere.
Instead, Los Angeles must look inward, rein in spending, and refocus on delivering core services. If we expect to host the world, we must first make this city safe, affordable, and welcoming—for residents and visitors alike.
Public safety is not negotiable.
Audits are not optional.
And a government that cannot deliver core services does not deserve more money—it deserves reform.
A city that cannot deliver safety, accountability, and basic services is not short on money—it is short on leadership.
City Hall can keep issuing statements. Angelenos will keep paying the price.
That is why Angelenos keep losing
(Mihran Kalaydjian is a public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, and community engagement. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has led numerous initiatives that promote transparency, accountability, and meaningful public dialogue across Los Angeles.)
(Jay Handal is a veteran community advocate and longtime CityWatch contributor known for holding Los Angeles City Hall accountable. Treasurer of the West LA–Sawtelle Neighborhood Council, he brings decades of grassroots leadership and remains a strong voice for transparency, fiscal responsibility, and empowering neighborhoods to challenge waste and mismanagement.)
