(PresidentialInsider.com)- Sheriffs don’t have the power to declare a state of emergency, but their opinions and advice should be pretty valuable to state leaders. So when Los Angeles Sheriff Alex Villanueva sent a letter for the Board of Supervisors urging them to declare a local state of emergency over the region’s homelessness problem, you know there’s a problem.
Speaking to reporters on June 23, Villanueva cited the rising crisis of homelessness, the lack of sanitation, rising crime rates, and struggling businesses in the region. He explained how the Sheriff’s department has been “inundated” with calls from concerned local people, and that the department has also received many emails and letters from people concerned about what is happening in Venice.
“Enough is enough,” he said, urging local officials to kick the response into “high gear.”
The Los Angeles Sheriff estimated that there are 200 homeless people living on the Venice Beach Boardwalk alone, and in the entire neighborhood, the number reaches around 2,000. It’s the second-highest population of homeless people in the area behind Skid Row, the famously dangerous region of Los Angeles that is wrought with crime and murder.
Villanueva’s department and the Homeless Outreach and Services Team have focused more on Venice Beach over the last few years, but he said that the problem just keeps getting worse.
The Epoch Times reported how community leaders have “sounded the alarm” about the problem for several months already, and those residents also took part in the press conference., One member of the community was Chie Lunn, a teacher who sits on the Venice Public Health and Safety Committee. She told the Times that there was a growing problem and children are becoming “enclosed.”
Villanueva also described the problem as a national disgrace, blaming the problem on the “homeless industrial complex.” A good example of this was the $2.8 million in salaries given to the top-earning employees from the Venice Family Clinic non-profit that provides services to low-income and homeless people in Venice.
When will the Democrats learn that strong policing and a free economy keep people safe and make homelessness numbers go down?
