CommentsGUEST WORDS-I was absolutely shocked the other day when, low and behold, Councilman O’Farrell appeared on Twitter announcing a start of his safe camping pilot program.
I was shocked because I had proposed something similar in front of his CD13 field deputy at a PATH-sponsored meeting of Neighborhood Watch three years ago.
During the same meeting, I laid out in detail how we might help our unhoused neighbors by providing a safe place where they would be able to pitch their tents without the harassment by the LAPD or City that they presently face on the sidewalks and in public parks. My plan included wrap-around services to get the unhoused back on their feet. I even had a name for it: The Be Of Hope Intentional Encampment program (BOHIE, pronounced “Bowie”). I wrote about it on my DKos page back in 2018, going into great detail. At the meeting, I explained where the field deputy could find my proposal.
To add insult to injury, O’Farrell is presently setting up the pilot program one city block from where I live. He has gone out of his way to poke his finger in my eye. Why? Did I explain?
I have filed papers with the City to run against him for his Councilmember seat in CD13 in 2022.
Why else would he be paying $1.5 million of taxpayer money for eighty (80) camping spots during an eight (8) month period. It breaks down to about $19,000 a month. He could have done this elsewhere in the District, but he is Mitch O’Farrell and did it in my backyard to send a message. He certainly could have set up the program on City-owned property, where it would have cost nothing.
I am the President of the Rampart Village Neighborhood Council (RVNC). He has known for years I would be running against him. Any politician worth their salt would do their research, especially after I officially filed papers earlier this year. My guess is there’s more than one folder on his and his staff’s computers with my name on it.
I already knew how petty he can be when he told one RVNC board member to “keep that woman away from me.” In another incident, when I showed up to his Echo Park Field Office to volunteer for the homeless count in 2018, he made sure I was excluded. I wrote about that incident on DKos as well.
During his time in office he has supported policies that have been used to criminalize the houseless. At the same time, nothing meaningful, I am aware of, has come out of his office to help create the low-income housing we need for folks making $25k per year. He and his staff lack ideas and imagination to find solutions to a problem O’Farrell policies helped create. All of a sudden, because he is now challenged in the primaries by someone of substance, compassion, and high ethical standards, with solid ideas to get us out of this mess, he suddenly cares about the houseless? The only thing to understand about Mitch is he is a career politician who cares about his job, not constituents..
It is time for bold, knowledgeable leadership in the 13th District. Time to get rid of the vindictive pettiness and lack of original ideas we currently have in office from Mitch O’Farrell and his staff.
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(Rachael Rose Luckey is a progressive Transgender Political Activist and President of the Rampart Village Neighborhood Council. This month she will be stepping down as President of the RVNC to run full-time for L.A. City Council CD13. Once elected, Rachael Rose will become the first openly transgender L.A. City Council Member. You can find out more about her campaign at RachaelRoseForLA.com, and by listening to her podcast at ConversationsWithLA.com.) (Opinions expressed are solely her own.)
-CW
