Questions the ‘Well-Orchestrated’ Strategy

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger advocates “a well-orchestrated strategy” to remove homeless encampments (“Barger Issues Statement On L.A. County’s Homeless Encampment Strategy,” Aug. 8, 2024).

“Los Angeles County has solid partnerships to implement compassionate strategies that work,” she stated. “[Law] enforcement is certainly an important tool but it needs to be applied strategically and in a way that sustains permanent change.”

In the wake of the George Floyd riots, the Board of Supervisors, City Council and the mayor ordered law enforcement to stand down. The result? Homeless encampments sprouted like weeds. The Metro turned into a mobile homeless shelter plagued by drug use, stabbings and shootings. Like pigs at the trough, politically connected developers and non-profit organizations – the homeless-industrial complex – gobbled up gluttonous portions of $24 billion in tax money with little or no accountability.

How is the “well-orchestrated strategy” working? Ask the poor woman who survived a brutal attack on Aug. 7 at the Allen Avenue railroad station in Pasadena where a deranged man pushed her onto the tracks, then dragged her onto the freeway. Police arrested the suspect, who was charged with attempted murder.

Would anyone be surprised if he is an “unhoused Angelino?”

Les Hammer
Pasadena