Everyone’s fault
Re “Without a home,” editorial series, Feb. 25 - March 2
The homelessness problem in Los Angeles is not the cause of one entity or person or organization. We are all contributors. We will never fully eliminate homelessness, but if each of us and our interest groups give a little, we can make progress.
Those who insist that more housing is the answer need to concede that is so only with mandates requiring some new construction to be affordable to people with limited income. Activists who prioritize the civil liberties of homeless people must realize these people are dying in our city. And while panhandling and sleeping in public places should not be prohibited, perhaps we can gain greater voter support for programs by not compelling people to interpret these acts as constitutionally protected. Residents of nice neighborhoods where some homeless people congregate should accept that their aesthetics are not the raison d’être of good government.
Homeless people must also compromise. Not everything they have collected in life needs saving. Some things cannot be stored.
In building places for people to live, agencies ought to act now. They need not design architectural gems.
Finally, leaders must carefully balance all interests and act for the thousands of people without shelter. The lives and the dignity of the poor trump reelection or political advancement.
Joseph DiMento, Los Angeles
The writer is a professor of law and urban planning at UC Irvine.
I am guilty of looking the other way, of rolling up my windows from downtown Los Angeles to Beverly Hills and West L.A. I have become irritated, disgusted and angry. The editorials on homelessness should make us feel a sense of guilt.
We have elected officials to take care of these issues, and they have failed us. We have failed for not doing our part. We need leadership to give us all direction of what each of us can do. Daniel S. Mitrovich
Culver City
I wonder how many readers glanced, horrified at the grim pictures that ran with your editorials, and closed the Main News section and picked up the Calendar or other sections.
I was one of those readers, but I finally forced myself to go back and read your heart-wrenching editorials.
Good God, what will force our “thoughts and prayers” politicians to do something, anything, worthwhile? Charles Ruebsamen
Rancho Cucamonga
As homelessness has exploded, the Los Angeles City Council has spent the past two years approving resolutions supporting President Trump’s impeachment, requiring city contractors to disclose if working on Trump’s proposed border wall, labeling Los Angeles a “city of sanctuary,” taking legal action to oppose the cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, ceasing business ties with North Carolina due to its “bathroom bill,” calling for repealing the state’s death penalty, creating a Community Justice Initiative Trust Fund to implement “restorative justice” and replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day.
Of the 15 City Council members, 14 are Democrats, and each makes about $179,000 per year. Is the Democratic supermajority in such a progressive bubble that it does not realize there is a homelessness crisis? Stewart Easterby
South Pasadena