On Friday, March 18th, 2016 Brian Engelman (The New American Media) participated in the Tiny Houses for the Homeless Rally on the steps of Los Angeles City Hall along with Dean Ryan, Adam Kokesh, Elvis Summers, Marisol Medina and about a hundred supporters. I was thrilled to be a guest on his radio show in the days that followed. We discussed how wonderful it would be to simply put the Tiny Homes that Elvis Summers built on Veteran Affairs property. And how endearing it would be for homeless, disabled veterans to share the Jackie Robinson baseball stadium grounds with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After all, this baseball stadium was, in fact, illegally built on VA property. I wanted to know what else transpired that day. Fortunately, one of my new Facebook friends, Bud Stratford, attended both the press conference (held by LA City Council Members) and the rally that day. He wrote "The Arrogant Bureaucracy: My day of press conferences and peaceful protests" (also published on The New American Media website): http://www.thenewamericanmedia.com/the-arrogant-bureaucracy-my-day-of-press-conferences-and-peaceful-protests In Bud's brilliant essay, he put it bluntly: "The city has adopted $2,030,300,000, and has 'helped' exactly 471 homeless people, in vague and undefined ways, with that money thus far." How the h*ll do they KEEP their government jobs?! Well, as Bud's mystery source summed it up: "By being well-paid city bureaucrats that make their living off of ‘helping the homeless’ ... it’s in their better interests to make sure that the homeless stay on the streets, where they’re highly visible." And sadly, that makes perfect sense. It brings in more funding for the City of LA (and explains why elected officials are resistant to low-cost, doable, solutions that Elvis Summers and his team have come up with). But there comes a point when we can all see that taxpayers' money is being grossly mismanaged. And it gets worse. After I published "The Truth About June Richard, George Palaziol, Joe Buscaino, Melissa Lacanlale Montes, Mitchell Englander, Anthony Lucido, and Gayle Fleury" on my blog: http://roserightswrongs.blogspot.ca/2016/03/the-truth-about-june-richard-george.html I was compelled to examine why San Pedro stakeholders have been so vehemently against the homeless (and those who help them). Turns out that LAPD Chief Charlie Beck spilled the beans when he disclosed that "five jails were currently closed due to civilian staffing issues but within 36 months, he and Mayor Garcetti would have the facilities re-opened." Yeah. This was on February 4th, 2016! Source: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2016/02/04/lapd-chief-beck-hears-from-san-pedro-residents-fed-up-with-rising-crime And it will take THREE years for them to be re-opened?! Proposition 47 (passed in 2014) reclassified drug-related felonies to misdemeanors which resulted in shorter jail sentences and "put thousands of criminals out on the streets – instead of prison." So now, the homeless have been lumped in together with the criminals who have been released early from jail. Think about THAT for a minute. Thankfully, Sgt. Catherine Plows, a longtime LAPD Harbor Division community relations officer, made it known in a Daily Breeze article by Donna Littlejohn and Larry Altman: http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20150327/despite-decline-in-violence-san-pedro-neighborhoods-dangerous-image-remains "Homelessness is a separate issue." Plows confirmed she's even "seen improvements in the area’s crime over her nine years at Harbor Division." Then, I remembered a horrible statistic in a must-read article Denise Keeran shared: "Homeless people are 13 times more likely to be the victims of violence than housed people. And homeless women are inherently vulnerable, with higher personal safety risks than men." Source: http://www.vox.com/2016/3/8/11173304/homeless-in-america And I realized how egregiously unfair it is that homeless people are painted as drug addicts (and worse) by two Facebook groups run by George Palaziol. When the fact is that many people become addicts AFTER becoming homeless, not before. Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration study via this excellent UrbDeZine Los Angeles piece by Michael Russell: http://losangeles.urbdezine.com/2015/12/22/un-homeless-la-homeless Other notable points from Russell's article: 1) One third are children (National Coalition for the Homeless) 2) 50 percent are women and children fleeing domestic violence (multiple studies) 3) 25 percent of homeless people ARE employed (National Coalition for the Homeless) 4) 23 percent or 345,000 are veterans 5) 25 percent suffer from mental illness Suddenly, I realized that the homeless are the FIRST to be targeted by the criminals who were released early from jail. And one of the key things they go after is documents (like SSNs and date of birth) to either sell or to profit from via identity and/or tax theft schemes. Yeah, have a read of a KrebsonSecurity post FTC: Tax Fraud Behind 47% Spike in ID Theft: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2016/01/ftc-tax-fraud-behind-47-spike-in-id-theft And there are seemingly "legit" business people ALSO taking advantage of the homeless, like those arrested in a Liberty Tax franchise scheme: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-tax-fraud-20160318-story.html In James Preston Allen's January 25th, 2016 City Watch post The Homeless Crisis: True Leadership Demands Action: http://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/the-la-beat/10384-the-homeless-crisis-true-leadership-demands-action He shared: "In the greater Los Angeles Harbor Area, only one emergency shelter exists -- the Long Beach Rescue Mission. There are no emergency shelters in San Pedro, Harbor City, Lomita, Harbor Gateway or, God forbid, in Rancho Palos Verdes. Wilmington’s Beacon Light Mission, with its combined total of 20 beds for men and 20 beds for women for seven days, is not considered emergency shelter." There are over "44,000 homeless people in the county but the Los Angeles County Grand Jury claims there are only 2,772 shelter beds." And Allen also made the case that "the California National Guard Armory on 13th Street has historically been used as an emergency shelter. There have to be hundreds of vacant or underutilized government owned properties throughout this district ..." He wrote a stern warning (that I second): "Homelessness is a problem the LAPD can’t arrest its way out of." Wait, it gets even worse. A March 4th, 2016 post titled VENICE COALITION SUES L.A CITY PLANNING: http://freevenicebeachhead.org/2016/03/04/venice-coalition-sues-l-a-city-planning revealed the following (BTW, Venice is 20 miles from San Pedro): The "City of Los Angeles Planning Department has illegally issued hundreds of Coastal Exemptions, which has enabled developers to by-pass important protections imposed by the California Coastal Act." And sadly, this has "completely blindsided residents, who often do not realize that construction has been approved on their streets until bulldozers arrive at 7 a.m." and it's too late to voice their concerns. The result? Not only are developers destroying Venice’s unique, historic neighborhoods, but they are pushing low and middle-income residents and communities of color out of the area. Couple this with what James Allen's point that "Councilman Joe Buscaino has emphasized enforcing the Municipal Code 56.11 INSTEAD of working on increasing the number of available emergency shelter beds in either the city or his district" and it is obvious why San Pedro groups (and certain LA City Council Members) are resistant to the solutions put on the table by the taxpaying public. In another Daily Breeze piece by Donna Littlejohn and Larry Altman titled Despite decline in violence, San Pedro neighborhood’s dangerous image remains: http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20150327/despite-decline-in-violence-san-pedro-neighborhoods-dangerous-image-remains Buscaino admitted: "My experience as a police officer says the only way we remove the criminal element is if we bring economic development into the area. I feel like I’m a marketing agent — I’ve been meeting and driving around developers who have expressed an interest ..." What's more, I read in Bud Stratford's piece that Elvis Summers was interviewed by National Public Radio (NPR). And Joe Busciano, from Council District 15, was also invited "to give the other side of the story." But in less than 30 minutes after the interview, Elvis had an email from the city. "What did it say…? “In a few words…? ‘Watch Your Ass’. The tone was definitely, very threatening…” Gee, I think it is time that the City of LA be investigated by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) which is why I've also added them to growing list of those we are petitioning. Oh and I also added civil rights attorney, Carol Sobel. This isn't over. Producer and film maker Dean Ryan reminded me that other rallies (including a fashion show) are planned when I had an impromptu Skype chat with him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VQ_PItPKSY He can be reached on Twitter @TheRealDeanRyan We are just getting started, Rose