Mayor Villaraigosa Touts His City

Tony parties while LA crumbles


"Most people living in poverty of any major city"

"Most homeless people of any major city"

"Most uninsured people of any major city"

That's how Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa described Los Angeles Tuesday-the city he has led as mayor for the past 5 years. Not exactly a ringing endorsement is it? The question is-why is the once-great city of Los Angeles in such a mess?

We could start off by pointing out that LA is the nation's largest magnet for illegal aliens coming from Mexico and Central America. Part of that is because Southern California has always had a large Spanish-speaking population. Part of it has to be blamed on the federal government's failure to secure our borders. But a large part of it is that LA has put out the welcome mat for illegal aliens. In fact, the LAPD has been saddled with Special Order 40, which prevents cops from effectively grabbing illegal aliens who are also known gang members-a subject I have written about often. The Jamiel Shaw murder case by an illegal alien gang member who had just been released from jail-and never turned over to ICE- is a classic example of the city's negligence. Why wouldn't an illegal alien (whether he be an honest worker or gang member) head for Los Angeles-or San Francisco, which is also a "sanctuary city"?

The practical effect of LA and San Francisco's sanctuary policies is that they are actively inviting the poorest of the poor to come to their cities. San Francisco has been especially receptive to the homeless (who are rarely Latin immigrants, by the way), who now patrol the city streets. In LA, my own-father-in-law and his neighbors in Venice are plagued by homeless who camp out in front of his house, which is located on a busy intersection. Complaints to the police and the city has achieved zero results.

So before Mayor Villaraigosa (who, along with San Francisco playboy Mayor Gavin Newsom, has dreams of becoming governor) complains about his city's dilemma, he might want to ask himself what his responsibility is for the situation. This is a mayor, who, along with the city government and a lap-dog police chief (William Bratton) has imported the very folks into the city who have now made LA the capital of virtually every negative statistic that can be applied to a municipality. This is a guy who hops around the country campaigning for Hillary Clinton and then Obama, and then comes home to LA, where he hops around the nightlife circuit while the city crumbles around him-and then complains about it. What is he doing to alleviate the problem-other than asking Washington for money? Nothing.

And this guy wants to be governor of California!