When foolish politicians in thrall to ideology ignore a problem, sooner or later the public will take matters into its own hands.
We aren’t talking about lynch mobs in the Old West, we’re talking about business owners in Los Angeles.
Homelessness is overwhelming the downtown core of L.A. Leftist politicians who inhabit City Hall, like drug users inhabit tent cities, have taken the usual leftist approach: they are throwing millions of taxpayer dollars at the problem. Naturally, when you subsidize something you get more of it.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting on what politicians are ignoring, “So as the city struggles to clear encampments and get a handle on the trash and chaos that sometimes emanate from them, [Peter] Mozgo and others increasingly are taking matters into their own hands, putting obstacles in public spaces to protect their homes and businesses. By doing that, they can make homeless people feel unwelcome.”
Mozgo’s solution is to buy concrete planter boxes, fill them with dirt he buys at $120 per cubic yard and plant the very heavy boxes in front of his business — the Hungarian Cultural Center — in the south end of downtown L.A. It’s an ongoing battle, “How many tents do we have today? And who came in? And who moved out? And who flipped my boxes? And who graffitied the front of my work?”
Other business owners have constructed fences as tent city prevention obstacles.
Naturally, the response of city hall has been to fight the business owners. “LA has struggled to stymie the growing number of obstructions that residents and business owners are creating to target homeless people. There are now about 59,000 people without homes in L.A. County. Within the city of Los Angeles, the population soared 16 percent this year to more than 36,000 — the majority of whom are living outdoors on city streets.”
Mozgo’s solution has prevented the homeless from pitching their tents, but his plan has other flaws. First, who pays $120 for a cubic foot of dirt? Does Mozgo buy his dirt from the Pentagon? And second, his planters all have flat tops. He’s prevented the tents, but not the people.
The photos that accompany Benjamin Oreskes’ story show people passed out on top of the planters, sleeping in the planters and sitting in the planters. They may have even burrowed into the planters, but the photos don’t show that.
Our suggestion is to get rid of the planter boxes and replace them with concrete pyramids. Lying on top of a pyramid is extremely uncomfortable, there is no place to sit on the side and if Mozgo paints them different colors he can claim the pyramids are art.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.