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AN ANGRY ANGELENO - Former Mayor Eric Garcetti tried to use the 2028 LA Olympics (as if we needed or wanted the costly Summer Games that will ONLY last 17 DAYS) to distract from his horrible job performance. It didn't work for him and it's not going to work for Karen Bass. The City of Los Angeles has MAJOR problems, emergency crisis daily problems. We don't need the distraction of planning for a costly LA Olympics that is Four YEARS away. We need to focus on solving our many problems and NOT on producing the best Olympics for outsiders to watch on TV...honestly, who cares. Karen Bass should not have recently traveled to Paris for International Jet Set Photo Opps...behavior reminiscent of Garcetti (known as “The Mayor of Instagram”), as is her move into the Mayor's Mansion after crime hit too close to home (criminals stole her TWO guns from her home), living the high life for FREE sheltered and protected in Richy Rich Hancock Park. She should have sent a high-level staffer with appropriate staff to Paris...along with Council Members that want to tag along.
It also seems like the Mayor is keeping Council Member Traci Park busy working on the Olympics, which is convenient. Traci Park is the best alternative to Karen Bass and I would hope that she would consider running against Bass in 2026. I don't expect Rick Caruso to run, although I hope that he would. Caruso used to tease that he would run in order to get press coverage and get his projects approved. Then he finally ran and even after getting Big Union support and spending over 100 Million dollars, he still lost. Now, Caruso is busy running his business and he needs the sitting Mayor's help for that.
What we can hope for is that Bass runs for Governor in 2026, when Gavin Newsom is termed out. She cannot run for both Mayor and Governor in 2026. That would create an open Mayor position and hopefully somebody like Traci Park or Rick Caruso would win...I know, two very different people, but what they have in common is that they're not foolish dangerous Progressive Politicians. Actually, it makes sense that Bass would run for Governor because she's very similar to Eric Garcetti. He tried to use the LA Mayorship to run for US President (LOL). So, it would not be surprising if Bass tried to use Los Angeles as a steppingstone to the Governorship of California (this longtime politician has been in both the CA State Legislature and the US Congress), leaving the mess she's made of Los Angeles for somebody else to clean up, just like Garcetti left a huge mess for someone else to clean up.
Sherman Oaks On Fire
And not in a good way. Sherman Oaks has the distinct pleasure of being governed by BOTH Nithya Raman (who voted against more money for LAPD) and Mayor Bass, who just helped Raman get reelected (Bass campaigned for her both in person AND starred in Raman's campaign commercials). What's Next? Is Karen Bass going to campaign for George Gascon's Reelection too? Mayor Bass made the difference for Raman in a very close Election for Council District 4. So, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Studio City, Reseda, parts of Van Nuys, Hollywood Knolls, Hollywood Manor, Lakeridge Estates, Hollywood Hills West, parts of Hollywood, Doheny-Sunset Plaza, Laurel Canyon, Los Feliz, Silverlake, and Griffith Park can ALL thank Mayor Karen Bass profusely for Nithya Raman's Quick Reelection (without even a Runoff), which was a Huge Shocker, especially after Raman made it clear at a recent Debate that she's OK with homeless encampments next to schools! See the VIDEO below:
So, it's all over the news: (formerly) Beautiful Sherman Oaks is having huge problems with Homelessness and Arson. But that's OK. See, that way, the Big Developers (that back our politicians) get hold of all these properties from mom-and-pop sellers (after their commercial and residential tenants run away) and tear everything down to build luxury monstrosities. Here's one of the Sherman Oaks On Fire videos on YouTube (makes you want to visit a business there or live there, doesn't it? And these idiot politicians are worried about how the Olympics will make LA look on TV):
Homeless Druggy Almost Burns Down 10 Unit Apartment Building on My Block
My area has also had a lot of fires set by homeless people. Homeless guy playing with matches on a stairwell almost burned down the apartment building next door to me. Another homeless guy who set up shop in the alley started multiple fires next to an office building. Homeless people recently started a fire across the street from me while trespassing on an empty lot. Condo people next door called the fire department. Makes you wonder just how much resources are spent by LAFD racing around to various fires set by homeless people.
Now let's talk about dumpster fires. I've had two dumpster fires in the mall parking lot next door to my building. One of them almost lit an apartment building on fire. I ran with one of my building's fire extinguishers to help put out that fire. The building's residents (some with children) were terrified. The winds were whipping the construction dumpster's flames toward their building, they were pouring water on the fire with a pail, while I emptied the whole fire extinguisher before the fire department got to us.
Fire department response times are a problem, where any delay can lead to loss of life and total destruction of buildings, but Nithya Raman still supported Measure HLA and Mayor Karen Bass didn't have the backbone or spine to even take a position on HLA. Total Chicken Mayor...who owns 2 guns for her own protection.
I was awake past Midnight one time and smelled ANOTHER dumpster fire in the same mall parking lot (next door to my building), likely set by yet another homeless arsonist. I called it in to both 911 and mall security. One time, we had a dumpster fire in the alley that melted the dumpster cover. I recently walked by a public trash can on formerly beautiful West 3 rd Street, located in Dangerous Progressive Katy Yaroslavsky's council district, which is teeming with homeless people, spreading around their belongings, including shopping carts and tents. The public trash can was burned to the ground by an arsonist! Lovely. Businesses are leaving. No joke. And the Developers win.
So, on February 12, a Monday, at 6 AM, a homeless druggy started a trash fire between the landscaping and the building at 133 South Croft Ave, two buildings away from my building. Again, thank you Katy Yaroslavsky (who is also a close ally of Mayor Bass, was chosen by Bass to serve on the LA Metro Board, and was on the Paris trip with her). That particular building has been hammered by the homeless, living in their garages, doing drugs in their garages, leaving belongings in their garages, going in between the landscaping and building at all hours 24/7, sitting on their front stoop late at night or hanging out next to their windows. We are SO sick of it! I'm almost always the one that ends up cleaning the messes left behind including human feces. Thank you Karen Bass! Fire and police were called. I don't think the police ever came out. LAPD response time is typically TWO HOURS in my Beverly Grove hood IF you call several times. One time, I had to babysit a loaded gun on the sidewalk for 2 hours until the cops finally showed up!
But everybody was asleep in that apartment building when that 6 AM fire was started. Luckily, a tenant smelled the fire through a closed window and dealt with it. The whole building could have burned while everybody was sleeping...SO dangerous. That's Karen Bass' Los Angeles...and she's busy taking Pictures in Paris...ridiculous!
LA Homeless Count Scandal and Shenanigans and Rigging an UnderCount
Speaking of the homeless, the night “count” (it's not really a count, it's a guesstimate using multipliers, they don't actually get folks out of tents and vehicles to count them) already took place on the nights of January 23-25 and the results will be announced in several months, but Mayor Karen Bass needs those numbers to come down to salvage her political career...so she doesn't end up succeeding Garcetti as Ambassador to India. And there are some red flags emerging. First, why do we use volunteers? You really can't pay people for ONLY Three Nights for a Few Hours of Work? For a count that is SO important? Always amazes me the hypocrisy of these supposedly Pro-Worker Politicians. Why should these counters work for free? And what kind of counter is that gonna attract? Why not have paid training too?
Anyway, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (aka LAHSA) wanted 8000 volunteers, but they CLAIMED to have used only 5700 (source: Steve Scauzillo writing for the LA Daily News).
But the bigger news came out via investigative journalist Sue Pascoe over at Circling The News on February 21, with her article entitled “Homeless Not Counted On Local Beaches: LAHSA Orders.” The article discusses “...NOT counting areas where the largest concentration of homeless are found on the Westside: beaches and along the highway.” [emphasis added]
“This year, days before the...count, volunteers in Pacific Palisades were told by...LAHSA that volunteers were NOT to count Will Rogers State Beach or PCH [Pacific Coast Highway] – an area they have counted the past nine years.” Tip of the iceberg. Article quotes an involved neighborhood/community leader saying “...the following beaches were not counted by volunteers and/or may not have been included....They include all beaches and canyon areas in Malibu; Will Rogers State Beach and nearby areas along PCH; Santa Monica Beach; and Venice Beach....The same may be true of Topanga Beach and Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey...” Circling The News also noted that “For the past seven years, volunteers have also counted vehicle dwellers...along Pacific Coast Highway...”
The Scandal unfolds in this great investigative piece which you can find at the following link (that has pictures and an INCRIMINATING LAHSA Count Map for the area)...don't expect the LA Times to follow up on this Huge Scandal.
Financial Mismanagement by Mayor Karen Bass Leads to HUGE LA City Budget Deficit
I recently rode the Wilshire Blvd Rapid Bus 720 during Friday Afternoon Rush Hour. Most of the people entering the bus did NOT tap to pay their fares....there was no fare enforcement, not even at the driver door! Later, I discovered a Reddit post (on r/LAMetro) from 6 months ago entitled “Has There Always Been Lack of Fare Enforcement?” where the author experienced a similar situation on their ride: “Rode the 720 Rapid today and witnessed literally like 30 people board (or rather rushed in all at once) without any form of payment or tapping...In fact, I even saw one guy hop on, look the bus operator in the eye, and simply proceed to take a seat lol.” The author makes it clear that since he is only describing what occurred at one stop on one bus on one night, if you multiply that out, the financial impact is huge. “Is it any wonder why ridership numbers have been slow to recover? [assuming that ridership numbers are measured by riders tapping to pay fares]...Have there been any serious studies on how much money Metro loses out on by not enforcing fares?” I would add that some buses also appear to be missing tap readers at middle and back doors, which only encourages people not to pay their fares. And I would also add that Transit Ambassadors with the green polo shirts, as well as LAPD cops getting full overtime “protecting” LA Metro riders, SHOULD be riding buses, too!
I was shocked by all of this...but then I remembered that Karen Bass is in charge of the LA Metro Board. And it all made sense. Financial Mismanagement, similar to that of her predecessor Eric Garcetti, is common for Karen Bass. I've previously written about financial mismanagement for Commuter Express and DASH buses under Karen Bass. Commuter Express and DASH are run by LADOT, the LA Department of Transportation, a department of the Bass Administration. Commuter Express was kept FREE long after the freeway fire, likely caused by a homeless arsonist living nearby. That was a Karen Bass CHOICE, and a poor financial decision. Every dollar not collected is one less dollar to save our animals at the City's half dozen animal “shelters” So, how many animals has Karen Bass sentenced to death by throwing out fare revenue from ALL DASH routes since she took office? All DASH routes are still inexplicably FREE under Mayor Karen Bass. Massively irresponsible DECISION by the Karen Bass Administration.
The LADOT bus services are outsourced out to companies who employ drivers, mechanics, etc. Many years ago, I closely followed this process. At the time, there were 2 contracts, each for roughly half of LADOT bus services, and 2 different companies had each contract. One contract was up for renewal, and one company, the non-Union one, had the chance to control BOTH contracts in the future. That's because it was competing against a company using more expensive Teamsters employees. So, the City's Transportation Committee was supposed to use competitive bidding. The non-union company had the cheaper bid, and it became clear that they offered the same level of service, the same employee happiness, etc, etc. I believe they even offered the City more ad revenue from bus ads. But the committee council members chose the more expensive bid simply because it was a Union bid. That defeats the whole purpose of outsourcing work and competitive bidding! At the time, the City was cutting LADOT bus service, so by choosing the more expensive contract, the City was ensuring LESS service for riders/residents in the future. Ridiculous. Anyway, the company that lost did not sue the City. I imagine they feared they would lose the half of the business that they already had and they didn't want to rock the boat.
The reason I bring all this up is More Bad News for the City's Financial Situation, this time because of Yet Another Bass Administration decision at LADOT. City News Service (via KNX) has an article that just came out entitled “LA City Transportation Workers Authorize Strike.” These are 360 Teamsters drivers, mechanics, etc that work for MV Transportation, NOT the City, but MV Transportation has the contract with the City to provide LADOT bus services. Mayor Bass' new General Manager of LADOT recommends that the City CHANGE the contract with MV Transportation to increase wages! WHY? In my opinion, the company should eat the loss. I have not looked at the contract, but I would hope that it doesn't allow the company to dump its labor cost problems on the City and that the City would be able to terminate the contract if the company fails to perform its obligations for a long period of time and then be able to hand over the business to a Non-Union company. The City doesn't have the money to start increasing the costs of outsourcing that should have never been given to a more expensive bidder. Absolutely ridiculous. Starting wages might increase from 20 to over 24 dollars per hour. Bass' GM is treating MV's employees like they're City employees...they're not. Stop it already! Article mentions that the pay increase could cost the City over 6 Million dollars for the remaining fiscal year.
Karen Bass has already been handing out raises to actual City workers that the City will not be able to afford. The only raises I agree with are the reasonable ones provided to LAPD, although I strongly oppose LAPD officers working overtime “guarding” LA Metro Rail Stations and I think that lousy expensive deal should never have been extended.
Recently, Budget Watchdog Jack Humphreville, writing for CityWatch, had a scary headline: “Revenue Shortfalls Increase Budget Gap to Over 700 Million” WOW. The City of LA under Mayor Bass is in Financial Disaster Mode. Humphreville writes that pots of money saved for a rainy day are likely to be raided, “But aren't these funds for real emergencies like earthquakes, floods, and pandemics, not to cover operating expenses caused by fiscal irresponsibility?”
Humphreville: “Adding...revenue shortfall to the projected budget gap of 350 Million to 400 Million caused by the budget busting labor agreements, the City is looking at a projected deficit of around 700 Million for the upcoming year....This will result in...a call to increase our taxes and fees.” Truly scary.
Mayor Karen Bass' Progressive Antics Have Severe Consequences
Yesterday (Wednesday), David Zahniser at the Times came out with “LA Looks At Eliminating Up To 2000 Vacant Positions As The City's Budget Outlook Worsens”
Zahniser: “...Mayor Karen Bass...will need to consider...hiking City fees, delaying public works projects...”
Zahniser: “Although [Mayor Bass] pushed last year for LAPD to grow to 9500 officers, the department has continued to shrink and now has 8866 officers...”
Progressive Socialist City Council Member Eunisses suggests cutting “police overtime, police staffing...by the LAPD.” And, see, this is exactly why Karen Bass should have never allied herself with dangerous progressive politicians like Nithya Raman, who previously voted against the LAPD funding increase. The chickens are coming home to roost for Karen Bass. Why would you possibly help (relatively) unpopular dangerous politicians like this to get reelected?? “If police spending were scaled back, city leaders could cut down on the time it takes to repair sidewalks, trim trees, and fix broken lights, Hernadez said.” Classic. Karen Bass should treat Defund-The-Police cuckoos like this as if they were Kryptonite. But instead she does the opposite, focused more on her future political career than the welfare of the City and its Residents. Sound like someone we know? That's right: Eric Garcetti.
So, who's gonna end up getting hurt the most out of all of this? The helpless animals at the City's half dozen City “shelters”, of course. Kittens, dogs, cats, and puppies quietly getting killed under the radar.
Zahniser already made it clear in PREVIOUS reporting that a bunch of these vacant positions are at the City's Animal Services Department. It would have been nice for him to continue to remind the public of that and to focus on the Animals! It would be nice to see Zahniser fighting for the lives of helpless animals...I know he can't do everything...but still. The killing of helpless animals is historically the City of LA's Dirty Big Secret and the Local Media SHOULD be All Over That! If they threw a continuous spotlight on that, they would shame the politicians, and it would stop almost immediately, because most Angelenos love animals and so many Angelenos have pets. The public would be outraged.
The Helpless Animals Pay The Price for the Excesses of Progressive Politics
CityWatch currently has 2 interesting columns by Phyllis Daugherty. One is entitled “LA Animal Services 'No Kill' Plan Falls Short: [General Manager] Staycee Dains Announces Euthanasia for 800 Animals” LA Animal Services (aka LAAS) is the City's Department of Animal Services and the Mayor chooses the General Managers of the City's Departments. The planned “Disposing of 800 Animals” sadly appears to include lots of small helpless KITTENS. The column also mentions “lack of staffing” and “limited staffing” leading to horrible conditions for the animals. The column includes an email supposedly sent out by Jake Miller, Volunteer Coordinator of LAAS, on March 1 of this year entitled “All Volunteers Please Read This.” That email mentions “staffing shortages.” The email says that ALL DOGS have been categorized (during the previous month, a process heavily involving Bass' relatively new General Manager for the Department), categories 1 through 4: Category 1 is “Dangerous” (Stray dogs in this category are only kept for 3 days and then killed), Category 2 is “Unsafe” (might be safe at home but “...not safe to keep in the shelter”, these dogs are Red Listed for 2 weeks and “not available for foster care” WHY?), Category 3 is “Suffering” (Red Listed for 4 weeks), and Category 4 is “Thriving”. The email says: “Currently, there are approx 250 dogs in Categories 1-3. There are another 450 dogs in Category 4 that we do not have the space OR RESOURCES for.” [emphasis added]
Looks Like the Bass Administration is Going to Kill A Lot of Dogs
The email says “Red Listing our dogs has begun today. [March 1, the date of the email]...Category 1 dogs will have 0-72 hours...Category 2 dogs will be given 2 weeks, Category 3 dogs will be given 4 weeks, Category 4 dogs are not eligible for euthanasia for behavior [What the heck does that mean? They should not be killable, period. ]”
If it's a matter of a shortage of space, why isn't the department using the City's Mission Hills Shelter in the Valley that Best Friends LA is no longer using? That brand new shelter was not used by the City prior to Best Friends taking it over, by the way, for lack of funding/staffing. Really, overcrowding should never be an excuse for killing helpless adoptable animals. It is morally reprehensible for us as a society to do that. That's really just saying that the City's politicians don't want to spend the money to provide the space, while they're simultaneously writing a blank check for overly costly housing for young homeless druggies who just got here from other states. In my time as an activist, animals have always been the lowest budgeting priority of our City's politicians. It should also be noted that the City did a horrible job of adopting out animals during the Covid Years, not deeming adopting to be an essential service, and running the department almost like the Library Department was run during Covid. I had a horrible time trying to adopt from the City (they wanted me to adopt the cats without even seeing or meeting them first), and I ended up adopting from outside of LA County (LA County also did a horrible job of adopting out animals during the Covid Years) altogether.
