Opinion: What an absolute disaster the city of Los Angeles is
Over the past week three sitting council members — Gil Cedillo, Kevin de León, Nury Martinez — found themselves embroiled in a scandal that quickly went nationwide for spouting racist nonsense in a meeting with a union boss as they schemed how to bend the city’s redistricting process in their favor.
Joining him on what was described as a “debauched” trip to Las Vegas was his aide and now Councilman John Lee . Englander reported to prison last year and was later sent to a halfway house. This particular scandal also brought down former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan. He is also awaiting trial.Then there’s Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was elected to the council in 2020 after a long stint on the county Board of Supervisors.
Is it any wonder that only narrow special interests, from select developers to big unions, seem to benefit most from whatever it is the city does?Is it any wonder that the city has continued its economic trajectory of wide inequality? They noted the lack of public engagement with and transparency out of City Hall, of the problems of bloated bureaucracies, City Hall insiders and special interest influence.Of course, there’s only so much any commission or report can do. And so here we are — if council members aren’t heading to court or the exits under a dark cloud, many of the rest are so far to the left that people should just start taking and placing bets on how long it will be before Los Angeles completely implodes.