From the 6th Street Bridge under construction, Mayor Eric Garcetti said when giving his last report on the state of the city of Los Angeles, that his goal is to deliver next week a stronger budget plan than ever and an infrastructure program without equal in the country with a road to accommodate people.
But he stressed that the budget faces two major problems, “the city needs to be safe and provide services effectively ”.
He specified that the city is in the process of being cleaner. “This year we plan to hire 800 new cleaning workers.” Last year we hired 44 youth just released from incarceration as well as former homeless.
“Right now, it takes 7 days to respond to cleaning requests illegally dumped garbage. We want to reduce that wait to 3 days”.
Security
and housing
The Mayor Garcetti recognized that during the pandemic, crime rebounded throughout the country along with to the mental health crisis.
However, he said that last year, the Los Angeles Police Department through its gun purchase program , they took from 9th Street, and doubled the number of seizures of homemade drugs, linked to 19 homicides.
“In total, from 2013, we have removed from our streets near 68,000 dangerous weapons, and homicides have dropped 7% compared to last year”.
He acknowledged that not enough housing has been built for the people of Los Angeles, but he said that in the 9 years of his government he has made progress.
“From 2013 to 2022 we have tripled the number of dwellings with Built every year in Los Angeles. An increase of 150%; and of 600% for the homeless population”.
He said he was proud because they have doubled and redoubled the budget for the homeless, and they are going to repeat it this year with more than $1, millions.
“He challenged whoever comes after me, to do what they can to increase that number until helplessness is a distant memory.”
He specified that they built ten small towns of houses for the homeless population in just over a year, including the largest in the country, thanks to Councilman Kevin De Leon.
We open 20 new shelters A Bridge Home at 24 months, exceeding our goal of 15 in the midst of a pandemic, reaching 19 in Los Angeles.
Jobs
In terms of jobs, he said that they have worked to make Los Angeles International Airport a world-class one, with a massive investment of $15, million while $2 was allocated, 500 million for the port of Los Angeles.
“We have created jobs faster than the other four metropolitan regions in the country. We have Boosted the income of African Americans and Latinos in a 33 Y 43% respectively, when the nation has seen them increase only by 26 and a 34%.
The mayor invited Freddie Ríos to his government report as well as other members of the community .
Ríos moved to Los Angeles a year ago with his pregnant wife and his child, and due to their criminal record and low credit level, they had to go to live in a shelter. But thanks to the homeless assistance program, today he has a union job in construction at LAX.
“For the first time in his life, Freddie has a bank account and a credit card. He and his wife, their 7-year-old and 5-month-old children, now have stability,” said the mayor.
He made it clear that they have managed to give almost $1,150 millions in rent and utility assistance to tens of thousands of families, keeping them from ending up on the streets.
“We are investing almost $40 million dollars in the largest guaranteed income program”.
Reactions
Juan José Gutiérrez, director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition, said that Garcetti was a mayor who talked a lot and did little in those things that they matter to the average citizen, who pays taxes and who represents the vast majority of this incredible city.
“In terms of security, he left us very bad with a lot of problems in low-income communities.”
He added that on the other hand, the streets were filled with thousands and thousands of homeless people.
“He leaves and leaves that problem bigger than it was when he arrived to charge at 2013. It has been due to initiatives by councilors like Kevin de León that the problem is being addressed.”
Regarding immigrants, he commented that he He talked a lot about how he was going to help them. “He did no more than Antonio Villarraigosa, who promised to give them an identification card, and did not comply. And Garcetti created an immigration office that never worked”.
The only ones who have prospered in these years of Garcetti have been the great construction tycoons who built great skyscrapers in the center of the City , in which working people cannot live.
In conclusion, he stated that Garcetti leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
“The city that he received 9 years ago was not as bad as it is today. The streets were not infected with so much crime and people living on the sidewalks. He wasted a lot of time flirting with the idea of being president of the United States and then being ambassador to India, instead of addressing security, homelessness and homelessness.”
Luis Alvarado, political analyst, said Garcetti devoted many years of his life to serving as mayor. “He did a good job, considering how difficult it is to manage a city like Los Angeles that is so diversified and large.”
He added that he was able to contain the racial riots, work with leaders from different communities and Los Angeles, a city where people still want to live, in addition to surviving a pandemic”.
But he also acknowledged that it had its big flaws by raising large amounts of money to combat homelessness, a billion dollars, and leaving no trace that their strategy has paid off.
“The situation is worse. Not to mention the economy, and people suffer because there is nowhere to live and there is no plan to build affordable housing for the working class.”
Alvarado finished by saying that Garcetti will have to deal with it all his life policy with the statements that accuse him of perjury by saying that he knew nothing of the alleged sexual harassment by one of his closest former advisers.