Tag: los angeles

No Enforcement of the ‘Small Stuff’ Is Turning Karen Bass’s Los Angeles into a Third World Hellscape

If Los Angeles and other troubled cities in the U.S. collapse into dystopian Third World hellscapes, it will not be with a bang — but a series of whimpers.

That became evident once more when a city garbage truck pulled up last week in front of my apartment, located on the city’s west side in a neighborhood populated by UCLA students, retired seniors, and young couples with preschool children.

As I sat at my desk, I watched the driver remove a small green bag of dog excrement that somehow was stuck to the outside of his truck, a vehicle designed for the sole purpose of consuming trash.

He examined the bag for a moment — then threw it on my lawn.

“Hey,” I said, scrambling out my door. “Don’t throw trash on my property.”

“It’s not my job,” he said, inexplicably.

Then he drove off.

Critics of Democratic leadership in the city and state typically blame the exodus of more than a million people from California since the 2020 census on “sky-high taxes and a sweeping regime of costly and onerous regulations,” as the California Post’s editorial board described it this week.

As someone who moved to L.A. in 2003, I have watched the city in two decades change into something I no longer recognize. But I will argue it’s not just regulations and monetary policies that have negated the promise of the Mama and Papa’s song “California Dreamin’.”

It’s the small stuff.

Angelinos are intransigent residents. They will tolerate wildfires, earthquakes, mud slides, traffic congestion, long lines everywhere, and a high cost of living, all in exchange for 10 months of sunshine, a Mediterranean climate, and a topography that can have you surfing in the Pacific in the morning and hitting the snowy ski slopes by late afternoon.

I certainly have tolerated it all, and still do, even despite the Pacific Palisades fire incinerating my home and all my possessions in 2025.

But when quality of life and flagrant lawlessness begin to resemble something out of John Carpenter’s Escape From L.A., people finally start looking elsewhere.

I could list a dozen things that have changed since I came here under contract to adapt my first true crime book to film. Many of the changes are the result of policy and funding decisions of Mayor Karen Bass and her city council, but previous administrations as well.

Ironically, I left the Detroit area where twenty of my years were spent reporting on the decline of a once-great Motor City, only to watch another one go downhill.

But instead of offering an L.A. laundry list, I will stick to two items officials consider the ‘small stuff’ they no longer sweat — cleanliness and behavior on the city’s streets.

First, a little background.

When I arrived in L.A., the mayor was Antonio Villaraigosa, who billed himself as an “unabashed progressive” but governed more towards the center as he pushed to hire more police and reform the city’s schools.

Not long after I arrived, HBO launched a show called Entourage. It was about a fictional young actor and his three pals who moved to L.A. so he could pursue a career in Hollywood. It was loosely based on the experience of its executive producer, actor Mark Wahlberg, who came to the city from Boston with his pals.

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Public Restroom in Los Angeles That Cost $1 MILLION to Build, Still Not Open Six Months After Completion

The city of Los Angeles spent a million dollars building a public restroom and six months after its completion, it’s still not open to the public.

This is a perfect example of government mismanagement. It also explains why it has been so difficult to rebuild there after the wildfires that happened over a year and a half ago. The city and state are drowning in red tape that comes in the form of permits and inspections.

To add irony to the situation, this restroom is in the district of Nithya Raman, the DSA candidate running for mayor of the city.

The New York Post reports:

Six months after completion, $1M Runyon Canyon restroom in Nithya Raman’s district still closed

Los Angeles hikers are fuming over a nearly $1 million public restroom that remains locked and fenced off six months after it was installed at Runyon Canyon.

The two-stall prefabricated facility was delivered by crane in February near the popular park’s Fuller Avenue entrance following months of controversy over its eye-popping price tag.

But despite the stalls, sinks, sidewalks and lighting appearing to be in place, visitors still can’t use it.

“I’ve had some close calls. I had to improvise, but that’s all I’ll say. I don’t want to incriminate myself,” frequent Runyon Canyon visitor Josh told FOX 11.

Construction began in January and was expected to take about 15 weeks, according to the Council District 4 website, which would have put completion around April or May.

The city later said the restroom was expected to open sometime this summer.

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OH PLEASE: Karen Bass Tries to Blame Trump for Rising Number of Homeless in Los Angeles

As the Gateway Pundit reported earlier this week, the number of homeless people in the city of Los Angeles is rising, despite billions of dollars being spent to supposedly ‘fix’ the problem.

And because Democrats can never, ever take responsibility for problems that they created or made worse, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is blaming Trump for the rise in homelessness.

It’s so ridiculous. She probably doesn’t even believe this herself.

RedState reports:

LA Mayor Karen Bass Blames Trump When Confronted on Growing Homeless Problem

The homeless crisis is worsening in California. And the Democrats who run the state there have a familiar excuse for why their state is in a constant state of decline. It’s all Trump’s fault.

Homelessness in Los Angeles grew by about 3.4 percent over the last year. A survey conducted the previous year found about 44,000 people living on the streets, and 72,000 people across L.A. County.

L.A. Mayor Bass recently blamed the president for exacerbating the homeless problem.

“The Trump Administration has driven up the cost of gas, groceries and rent, pushing more families to the edge, and slashed critical safety net funding,” Bass said in a statement.

Bass pointed to cuts in federal housing assistance by about half last year, which cost the city around $70 million.

“For two years straight, we drove down homelessness by historic margins, but as expected, last year our efforts ultimately couldn’t keep up with policies and funding cuts at the federal and state levels that pushed more people onto the streets,” the mayor claimed.

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REPORT: The Number of Homeless People in Los Angeles is RISING Despite Billions in Spending

New data has revealed that the number of homeless people in the city of Los Angele has gone up over the last year, despite the fact that the city and state have spent billions upon billions of dollars trying to ‘fix’ the problem.

Now that Spencer Pratt is out of the running for mayor, the next mayor will either be incumbent Karen Bass or communist upstart Nithya Raman, which means this situation will probably get even worse.

At what point do the people of Los Angeles, the law abiding taxpayers finally say that they have had enough?

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Homelessness has increased in L.A., dealing fresh setback to Mayor Karen Bass

The number of people living on the street, both in the city of Los Angeles and across much of Los Angeles County, is up compared to the previous year, dealing a fresh blow to Mayor Karen Bass as she runs for reelection.

L.A.’s unsheltered homeless population — those living outdoors or in their vehicles — went up by 7.9% after two consecutive years of decreases, according to two people familiar with the numbers presented by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in closed-door briefings.

Overall homelessness, which includes those living in shelters and other temporary facilities, increased by 3.4% compared to the previous year, those sources said.

Both asked to remain unnamed because they were not authorized to publicly discuss LAHSA’s presentation, which focused on this year’s annual point-in-time count conducted in January.

The numbers represent a significant setback for Bass, who is seeking a second term in the Nov. 3 election and has made the fight against homelessness a central part of her agenda, touting her administration’s progress in moving people indoors.

Bass, in a statement, attributed the increases to an array of issues, including funding cuts by the state and federal governments. She described a lack of adequate county services, such as mental health and substance counseling, as a contributor to the crisis.

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Los Angeles Spent $60 Million on Nithya Raman Plan to Get Homeless People Off the Street – It Has Housed THREE UNITS

Nithya Raman, the Democratic Socialist (communist) running for mayor of Los Angeles, is also a member of the LA City Council, who chairs their special council on homelessness.

Last year, the city enacted a plan that was championed by Raman, which was intended to get homeless people off the streets and into apartments.

Despite carrying out the plan, which cost $60 million, only three units have been housed as a result.

Los Angeles residents can look forward to more of this kind of success in the future, no matter who wins the current race for mayor, Raman or incumbent Karen Bass.

The New York Post reports:

LA blew $60M on homeless ‘fix’ — it housed just three units

Just three out of a promised 2,000 apartments have been used to relocate the homeless in Nithya Raman’s failed $60 million project to get people off the streets.

Councilmember Raman, the chair of the Los Angeles City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, introduced the Time Limited Subsidy program back in September as a cheaper alternative to Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe Program — meant to get homeless people into an established residence.

Raman’s plan was to lease and move homeless people into 2,000 apartments and subsidize their rent, rather than pay for them to stay in motels or shelters.

However, nearly a year after that plan was launched — with $62.6 million in taxpayer funds behind it — only three apartments are occupied.

The City Council first approved investing in the subsidy model last September as part of its strategy for complying with a court settlement with the Los Angeles Alliance for Human Rights.

Four months later, on January 28, the council approved resources for a redesigned program targeting 2,000 households…

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LA City Council tried to hide details of noncitizen voting — and failed

Ten days ago, the LA City Council voted to start moving noncitizen voting toward the ballot.

This week, the council ran away from it unanimously.

What happened in between? The proposal had to be written down.

Supporters said critics were overreacting. This was just the beginning of a conversation, they argued. The details would come later.

Well, the details came later.

And the details killed it.

Last week, city staff returned with the actual language needed to move the measure forward. That is when the wheels came off the car.

On Tuesday afternoon, the City Council unanimously voted to pull the proposal from the 2026 ballot and send it back for further study.

This is how bad policy gets laundered through City Hall. Politicians vote for a vague concept wrapped in moral language. They tell voters not to worry because the details will be worked out later. Then, once the authority has been granted, the real policy is written by the same politicians and activists who avoided spelling it out before the election.

That was the plan.

It just did not survive contact with paper.

The original council vote did not create noncitizen voting in LA, and it did not put noncitizen voting itself before voters. It started a process requiring city staff to come back with ballot language and a clearer explanation of what voters would be asked to approve.

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Insidious truth behind LA City Council’s push for noncitizen voting

Well, that was quick.

The LA City Council yanked its own ballot initiative proposal that, if passed in November, would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections.

There was nothing in the city’s proposal that would have prevented illegal immigrants from voting.

People with no right to be in the country would be making major decisions about the management and the future of one of America’s great cities.

What would prevent some future, federal administration from throwing the country’s borders open to tip the balance of power in LA toward one party or another — or, perhaps, toward socialism?

Nothing.

No one stopped to ask whether giving noncitizens the right to vote locally would even be constitutional. It is, at least, a complicated question.

Also, no one seemed to have given any thought to how the city would run such an election, and how noncitizens could appear on voter rolls for local elections while also being sequestered from state and federal elections.

It is telling that the initial vote to put noncitizen voting on the ballot was 10-5. It was framed as a way to give hard-working immigrants a voice. The subsequent vote to pull the ballot measure was 14-0.

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Illegal! University Of California Los Angeles Prioritizes Illegal Aliens for $7,000 Immigration Activism Summer Fellowship

According to Campus Reform, “The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is offering students a $7,000 stipend through its “Dream Summer” fellowship, a summer program that trains participants in immigrant rights advocacy and social justice activism.”

In other words, UCLA is rewarding illegals for law-breaking.

“The university describes the fellowship as a program that “positions immigrant youth as agents of change within the immigrant rights movement” and “empowers immigrant youth to become the next generation of social justice leaders.”

This program practices discrimination, as has sadly become the norm at many universities.

Woke credentials come before academics at this school.

”We strongly encourage and prioritize applications from undocumented applicants who identify as LGBTQIA+, Black, API, and/or Indigenous, as well as other individuals directly impacted by the immigration system,” the fellowship website states.

In other words, at UCLA, ‘Straight White men need not apply.’

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LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho resigns amid ongoing investigation

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Alberto Carvalho resigned on Sunday, bringing a abrupt end to his tenure leading the nation’s second-largest school system.

The resignation came nearly four months after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed early-morning search warrants at his San Pedro home and district headquarters, an ordeal that led the Board of Education to place him on paid administrative leave just days later.

Authorities have not publicly disclosed the exact nature of the federal investigation, though sources indicate it is tied at least in part to the district’s contract with AllHere, an educational technology firm that provided a short-lived artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot before collapsing into bankruptcy amid fraud charges against its founder.

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Voter Fraud: Los Angeles County Woman Pleads Guilty To Paying People In Skid Row To Vote

A woman who worked as a longtime signature collector for ballot initiatives pleaded guilty on June 8 to paying homeless people in Los Angeles’ Skid Row and elsewhere $2 or $3 to register to vote.

Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, of Marina del Rey, also known as “Anika,” entered a plea to one count of paying another person to register to vote, a federal charge that carries a penalty of up to five years behind bars.

Sentencing was scheduled for Aug. 31.

According to her plea agreement, for nearly 20 years, Armstrong periodically worked as a “petition circulator.” In that role, she was paid by coordinators to collect voter signatures on official petitions that qualify initiatives, referendums and recalls for California state ballots. Prosecutors said Armstrong drove around the Los Angeles area to find registered voters to sign the petitions.

After gathering enough signatures, Armstrong returned the petitions to her coordinators, who then paid her a set amount for each registered voter’s signature. The amount she was paid varied depending on the specific ballot initiative. Because her coordinators only paid for signatures attributable to registered voters, Armstrong endeavored to ensure the people who signed her petitions were registered voters, court papers show.

Armstrong admitted soliciting signatures in Skid Row, a convenient place for the defendant to collect signatures because of its high concentration of people in a relatively small area who were willing to sign petitions in exchange for cash.

Armstrong regularly paid amounts between $2 and $3 to induce people to sign her petitions, officials said.

Prosecutors said some homeless people did not have an address to put on the forms, so on occasion, Armstrong provided her own former address in Los Angeles to write on the registration form. Such registration forms simultaneously registered an individual to vote in California elections and in federal elections.

“This is not an allegation, this is not a theory, this is an example of admitted voter fraud,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said when Armstrong was charged. “We’re going to aggressively prosecute voter fraud.”

A video shot by conservative media figure James O’Keefe and reposted by an account called “Real America’s Voice” showed a woman handing cash to a homeless person. In a post on social media, O’Keefe said his video led to Armstrong being charged.

Essayli said on June 5 that his office has “multiple” probes underway into alleged voting fraud. While declining to provide any specifics, he pointed to the Armstrong case as an example of the sort of thing he is investigating.

“Yes, there is evidence of election fraud in California,” he said.

The comments came one day after President Donald Trump publicly accused Democrats of engaging in election fraud in California, pointing to the legally established mail-in voting process.

Essayli also said his office is working with Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon in an effort to audit the state’s voter rolls.

Essayli said previously that Armstrong’s arrest coincided with arguments in the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) appeal of the dismissal of a lawsuit over voter registration records.

The DOJ sued California Secretary of State Shirley Weber last year, demanding the state hand over the unredacted voter file, which includes registered voters’ full names, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.

The DOJ claimed it had the right to access the data under powers granted by the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the Help America Vote Act, and the National Voter Registration Act.

In January, a Santa Ana federal judge dismissed the case after finding that the DOJ’s request for the information violates federal privacy laws. The defense also argued that the Trump administration wants to use the data to help enforce its immigration policy.

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