Major urban cities in Blue States are experiencing a lot of issues.
But the residents keep voting for more of the same.
Now one Democrat mayor is about to make one problem much worse.
Violent crime is up over the past few years in many major American cities.
A big reason why is the implementation of pro-crime policies by district attorneys, legislators, and executives.
Los Angeles has been one such city in turmoil, so much so that Angelenos nearly recalled George Soros-backed District Attorney George Gascón—he survived due to petition signatures being dubiously tossed out—and Rick Caruso almost won the race for mayor.
Caruso, who supported Donald Trump in 2016, recently switched his party affiliation to Democrat in order to make himself more palatable in Los Angeles.
Nevertheless, Caruso lost to communist sympathizer Karen Bass, and her first action as mayor should make city residents nervous.
Bass declared a state of emergency to combat homelessness, which has spiraled out of control in the city.
While homelessness is a serious problem, leftists are approaching the problem all wrong.
Bass claimed that her declaration will “recognize the severity of our crisis and break new ground to maximize our ability to urgently move people inside, and do so for good…It will create the structure necessary for us to have a true, unified and citywide strategy to set us on the path to solve homelessness…We know our mission: We must build housing in every neighborhood…We cannot continue to overcrowd neighborhoods that are already overcrowded.”
In one statement, Bass already proved that she has no real plan to combat the problem.
Homelessness in Los Angeles is not a housing problem; it’s a drug addiction and mental health problem.
Any homelessness solution that does not focus on those two issues is doomed to fail.
But so-called progressives always focus on housing.
The people sleeping in tent cities under the 101 Freeway (and every other freeway) are not there because they can’t find an apartment.
Los Angeles has thousands of vacant rooms and beds for people who need treatment, but they do not want to go because they want to stay on the street in order to score drugs.
Facilities often have sobriety and curfew requirements.
Those are nonstarters for people in the grips of addiction and mental distress.
Bass will likely turn homelessness into an industry for central planners to rake in massive salaries while the problem only gets worse.
That’s been the state of affairs in California—particularly San Francisco—thus far.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for more updates to this ongoing story.
