Opinion: Los Angeles mayor doesn’t need to ‘lie to succeed’ by exaggerating success of homeless housing

I love LA Mayor Karen Bass so much and whether she knows it or not, at least with me she doesn’t have to be “Superwoman” but damn she can be our anti-hero at this point, the voice for the voiceless, especially when it comes to the problems of the homeless in her city, because she does not need to appropriate someone else’s work and try to pass it off as her own.

I was reading David Zahniser’s latest article for the Los Angeles Times titled Mayor Karen Bass says the city will have 4,000 homeless people within the first 100 days. but he reported in the second paragraph that 3,000 of those people were already on the housing waiting list BEFORE she took office.

I know there is a great temptation to celebrate the success and/or the bar achieved by Bass during the first 100 days of her rule by allegedly sheltering 4,000 homeless Angelinos, but these numbers are clearly false and overblown by her office. In fact, she admits that many of these programs or mechanics were in place, giving her a head start. And while she brought a very different and much-needed energy to the homelessness conversation, on a more serious level, it sparked moments of deep reflection, in my opinion. As a result, there was no need to reinforce her so-called success when it came to her and her administration’s progress in addressing the homeless crisis.

Bass held a press conference about the matter and refused to allow cameras or videographers inside, and no one seemed to attach much importance to it other than comments made by residents on social media.

I love Karen Bass, and as much as I wanted to criticize her for lying, a friend corrected me and strongly reminded me that I was the one who sang her praises when she first started, and I should not fall into the trap so quickly. this era of social networking moments “gotcha” that can overshadow the big picture.

On behalf of myself and the black community, I want to say to Karen Bass, “You don’t have to lie to kick.” Oddly enough, while I defend this position, I must argue that if we were to make an exception in that we always held women, especially black women, to a higher, unrealistic, and almost unattainable standard when she tried to claim something for herself. that was in the works even then, it is no coincidence that the highest concentration of Angeleno homeless people are stubbornly black and Hispanic.

I can only imagine, from a deep and personal sense of responsibility, that this is what drives her temptation to sugarcoat her success, and frankly, I agree with that.

So, instead of loading my Twitter fingers with counterproductive motive for criticizing the newly elected mayor, I want to give Miss Bass her roses for her presence, severity, frankness and an appropriate dose of sympathy for our third … The world situation is what we need in this conversation for a long time, and we should all be eternally grateful, but it’s clear that the ambitious mayor is bogged down in her own hype, being Los Angeles’ first black female mayor and the weight and responsibility that comes with it, both spoken and unspoken. .

I’m more than happy with Karen Bass’s leadership and don’t expect her to be perfect because perfection is subjective and really never achievable due to homelessness and housing affordability issues coupled with devastating income inequality and the ongoing untold damage that The irritated homeless situation in Los Angeles due to the COVID pandemic should have been seen from a mile away.

This is what political scientists do. They look ahead and take appropriate action based on today’s conditions, as opposed to apolitical people who prefer to “throw everything down the drain” and let the next administration deal with it.

Again, I don’t expect Bass to be perfect, and I’ll even lie to her rescue from time to time, but now more than ever, facts matter, and until we start with facts and ugly truths, regardless , what pain and pain this truth we will continue to walk on the path of lawlessness and uncontrollability that we are seeing in real time. Do you think I’m exaggerating? See what’s happening to the Los Angeles transportation system as they try to prepare for the 2028 Olympics.

Marvin McCoy has lived in Inglewood all his life and can be contacted at [email protected] or on Twitter: @MarvinM83905936 | Instagram: @therealmccoymarketinggroup