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ONE MAN’S POV - I have been watching the Olympics---and it reminded me what this country should be about. The smiles and joys of the American Women Gymnasts makes the City of Lights burn even brighter---Simone Biles smile could light a city--and so could Sunisa Lee's---and every Olympian has lights burning in their eyes. As I watch all of the American Olympians compete in their sports--it shows what hard work, dedication, initiative and the pursuit of excellence can lead to. People working together, cheering for each other--and most of all happy for each other. And let’s not forget their parents and extended families and support systems--it takes a village to earn a medal. While we strive for diversity, its right in front of us---Men and women Americans of all colors, religions, sizes and ethnicity pulling together for a common goal---and all proud to wrap themselves in the American flag on the podium. You can't help but feel the emotion and joy--and smile.
Sadly, those emotions and results are not felt by our citizens in Los Angeles today. People are upset and angry---compassion for the homeless has turned our city into a dumping group for the disaffected in America. The homeless have become an industry and even have advocates---think about that--why should the homeless even have advocates--its insane. With the latest Supreme Court decision, cities all over the country will be clearing out their encampments--even the Mayor of San Francisco has begun a program. Billions of dollars have been spent---and so far, it’s solved little to nothing--where do you think people who are cleared out of encampments in other states are going to come. The Statue of Liberty doesn't say give me your tired, poor and your homeless--and neither should we. We must be prepared for what's coming---we need leadership and tough policies to clear our streets. The county has thousands of acres of empty land---temporary structures can be erected with support services. None of these people have the absolute right to live in Los Angeles----Inside safe does not have to mean in our city.
Los Angeles was built by initiative, by people who had aspirations and dreams---some were accomplished--some weren't--but that's life---and covet wasn't part of the narrative. What exactly has the Democratic Socialists done for our city?---where's the initiative--where are the dreams---socialism is an anathema to how America was created and became the greatest country in the world. When I think of socialism, I think of all the drab housing and unhappy faces I have seen in communist countries---in the absence of initiative and ambition, the only colors I see are drab and gray. Look at downtown Los Angeles--its an embarrassment--that's all that needs to be said---there are no smiles and there is no plan-broken filaments. It took so long make downtown viable--and now in a matter of years its almost abandoned----how sad is that?--and what business would want to relocate here. Before I hear the word white privilege, let me inform everyone my grandparents came here by boat in steerage between 1895 and 1905 and were working people and union people. Those generations came here --paid a difficult price to give their children and grandchildren the opportunity for a better life. Not once did they ever covet what anyone else had---their lesson to me was if you want it earn it.
Now we have politicians like Nithya Ramen who lied to their constituency--and are proud of misleading the public about ULA (calling it a mansionization tax--but really a tax on every construction project in LA) which was the idiotic brain cramp of a professor at Accidental oops Occidental University--which is a vehicle to waste more money on solving the homeless issues---one can only wonder how many projects and jobs were lost by this political idiocy. I called the author and asked him to explain to me why you would pay this tax even if you lost money on the transaction--his answer was NO! Read the 20 pages I wrote explaining it---ughh--what arrogance--what condescension---an example of the lack of real world understanding by the insular professors on the cocooned college campuses. And don't get me started on the protests about Gaza----The progressives forgot who Marched with them on Edmund Pettis Bridge---I didn't see any Palestinians and 2 of the 3 young men murdered in Mississippi had the last names of Goodman and Schwerner. It’s truly disgraceful how this generation has forgotten history--and watching the women and gays protesting (which is their right in America), I wonder if they understand none of that would be permitted under Hamas rule--burning our flag and defacing monuments in the name of terrorists is a bridge too far for me--and how would any of these people behave if this happened at Coachella or South by Southwest.
Before I finish, it would be foolish of me not to mention our District Attorney---Revolving Door Gascon---a darling of the progressives and criminals everywhere. The reason home invasions are up and the city is less safe are a direct result of his ineffective leadership and policies. We can do something about that--November----he can't be voted out of office quickly enough. As to Metro--another of my columns will be coming soon----but just let me say that giving Metro’s present incompetent leadership access to their own police force is equivalent to giving an alcoholic the keys to a bar or a drug addict access to a pharmacy. FYI---Metro announced 28 for 28 a few years ago---28 new projects that would be ready for the 28 Olympics--I think they are now down to 10 with excuses for the rest---actually they are a bad excuse for executives and a public agency--but they do have an endless supply of excuses of why they can't do anything on time or on budget!! Inept and Proud!!-and if you are looking for an excuse call them--they have a tunnel full.
It's really time to take our city back. We need to find a way to bring business back here with more jobs and get our politics to the middle and find ways to compromise and restore the economic engines and quality of life to our city. Sure, it’s about Inside Safe--it’s also about--Inside or Gone. Candidly--I'm sick of the woke progressive left who take themselves way to seriously (they clearly need to watch more Richard Prior concert films and when did they become the identity police) and the far right whose idea of democracy is do things only their autocratic way-there's more--but most of you know that. I am proud to be part of the 65%-70% exhausted middle---our city needs to be operated like scoring at the Olympics--which throws out the high and low scores for certain events. We need to do that here and bring smiles and quality of life back----Citizens for Common Sense and Making Los Angeles grow again.
( Fredric D. Rosen is a retired Businessman who has served on multiple corporate (both public and private) and charitable boards. He was Ticketmaster's CEO for 16 years and was responsible for making it the leading ticket company in the world.)
