Five hours before the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, presented her budget for the 2024-25 cycle to the media on Monday, January 22, a grandmother of Nicaraguan origin, probably the same age, had her life taken away. brutally at a Metro train station in North Hollywood.
This grandmother, who had just finished her night work shift as a security guard, was murdered by a homeless person, who had a criminal history, at least one of his crimes, for attacking another passenger on the Metro.
A day earlier, on Sunday, January 21, an intruder had broken into the Getty House, the mayor’s official residence.
The man only caused material damage by breaking the window through which he entered; and he was arrested, but a couple of years ago, in 2022 when the mayor was campaigning, they also broke into his house and stole two weapons. That is to say, he has been a victim of crime not once, but twice.
In that meeting with reporters to talk about his budget proposal, it was obvious that the issue of the robbery at his residence and the murder of the subway worker were going to come up.
Regarding the robbery of his house, he only said that he was fine and thanked the LAPD; As for the second issue, in addition to regretting it, she said that security in the Metro is much better now than months before.
Yes, but that argument is no consolation for the family of the murdered immigrant, nor for the thousands who depend on public transportation in Los Angeles to go to work every day.
How can we be better if they have just practically cut the throat of a working mother and grandmother in the Metro; and a week ago, the driver of a Metro bus was stabbed and was miraculously saved from dying.
The situation is so bad that even the Metro workers themselves are afraid to get on the buses and trains of this public transportation system for which they work. And is not for less.
Homeless people have a pass to get on Metro trains and buses without paying, as many times as they want. And just as they have made the city’s libraries their place to stay during the day due to the lack of entertainment and shelter alternatives, they have turned trains and buses into their refuge.
Everything would be fine, except that many of the homeless suffer from serious mental health problems and are not receiving or taking the medical treatments they need.
As a result, getting on the train and Metro buses these days is a waste of time, because you don’t know if you’re going to get out dead or alive.
Things get complicated because the issue of homelessness has become very politicized, and Metro managers have their hands tied, unable to do much, because the order of politicians and elected officials is to let the homeless pass. Lest this cause protests and make them lose votes. It does not matter that many of the homeless people represent a serious danger to passengers and to the workers themselves, due to their mental problems or addictions. We will have to ask ourselves how they are helping the homeless permanent Metro passengers.
The mayor of Los Angeles has greater responsibility because she happens to be the president of the Board of Directors of the Metro system.
So something has to be done, and urgently because it is not possible for crime to continue rampant in the Metro. It is true that efforts have been made, but it is clear that they have not been enough when innocent workers are dying.
On the other hand, how can we make Angelenos believe that public safety is improving when the mayor has been robbed twice in her own home? In other words, not even she escapes crime. And she lives in a rich, highly protected area.
In her defense, we must say that despite the criticism, she is committed to increasing the number of police officers and improving their salaries to retain them, and to prevent them from leaving in alarming numbers.
However, we cannot deny that crime and homelessness are out of control. It is time to review the strategies because there is a real fear among Angelenos.
Solís campaigns for Biden
Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis will be in Wisconsin this week to join the campaign Latinos with Biden-Harrisa national effort to attract the Latino vote to the Democratic ticket.
He will then visit several small businesses to talk about the support the Biden-Harris administration has given them.
Believe it or not, the fight for the Latino vote will be close. A poll last month from New York Times and the Siena College revealed that Latino voters favor Donald Trump over President Biden in the presidential election: 46% for Trump, 40% for Biden.