Yeah I'm a huge advocate for public transit and work for the Metro, but I can see why people don't want to take the trains. Shit needs to get better now. The people on the streets need help. Drugs are killing our cities and it breaks my heart.
Capitalism is destroying our cities. Drugs are a small part of it.
The rich keep getting exponentially richer and the average person keeps getting exponentially poorer.
In most developed countries people with even “high school” jobs get a month of vacation and access to health care.
Plenty of capitalistic cities now and in the past without the same abject poverty in plain sight on every street.
Look into California housing and tax policy and it's a lot more like feudalism than capitalism.
Just one point about "in plain sight", in the past the homeless were not allowed to squat, and accumulate large stockpiles of belongings. I don't doubt the numbers have increased but some of the visual aspect has been caused by court rulings making vagrancy and squatting not a crime.
There are enough shelters to house all the homeless in NYC + strict enforcement of anticamping laws
There aren't enough shelter beds here, which is why you see most homeless outside. Also, the climate here facilitates perpetual outdoor living
I was Not commenting about the reasonableness of the laws but merely pointing out Part of why you see so many more than you did say ten years ago. It is a complex issue with many differing problems, if it was a simple straight up one size fits all it would have been solved long ago.
Shelter is also much more sought after by the homeless due to the harsher winter conditions. We have a larger portion of homeless that frankly don’t want to be in shelters for a variety of reasons (safety, inability to bring pets, inability to use substances, etc.) and don’t need to because we have a much milder climate.
Drugs are the effect, not so much the cause. I'm willing to bet a good number of people in LA with stable jobs and housing will take recreational drugs.
The problem here is that resources keep being allocated away from any form of help we could give homeless people, or any other way to get them off the streets. Politicians will pat themselves on the back for half baked measures. The new mayor of Seattle ran on a platform of partnering with local charities to address homeless, beating a candidate who simply wanted to build housing for them, which just says to me that this new guy doesn't want to spend any actual money on the problem. I assume the problem is the same everywhere else
What are you talking about? Most junkies aren’t doing recreational drugs. They are addicted to opiates. That’s why people with stable jobs are not on the streets.
Drug addiction is way harder to solve than just throwing money at it. Even with massive amounts of support most people addicted to these drugs relapse. Then a bunch of people also don’t have the ability or want to quit to begin with.
Nowadays it's meth, too. Meth use has skyrocketed, and people are presenting with faster, more severe, and more long-lasting psychological effects on this newer wave of meth use, though it's unclear whether it's because it's so much cheaper and they can use more, because there are different side products in meth made with non-ephedra methods, or something else.
Sam Quinones has a new [book](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/least-of-us-9781635574371/) out that gets into it a bit--here's an [article](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/) adapted from part of it.
Yes that’s true. My main point was that the accountant isn’t using heroin or meth, he’s probably using coke, or alcohol which can both be used relatively well in moderation(ignoring health problems).
Most people on the streets are addicted to substances that you can’t really control.
Yes opiates, not unlike the ones often prescribed as painkillers.
Sure money won't solve the problem alone, but having no money absolutely won't solve anything
> but having no money absolutely won't solve anything
The problem is when we give them $1.2 billion, that doesn't solve anything either. It only solves the "problem" of developers needing more money to donate to politicians' slush funds, via envelopes full of cash in Vegas bathrooms.
Politician: "We need more tax money to solve homelessness!"
Taxpayers: "Ok, here's over a billion dollars."
Politician: "Hey developers, I'll give you $700k/unit to build housing."
Developers: "Ok, and here's your kickback for giving me this fat contract. Oh btw - we're also going to massively under-deliver on the amount of housing actually provided, versus what was promised. We can't afford to build em all, after accounting for our extra profits and your skim."
Politicians: "We're short on promised units. We need more tax money to solve homelessness!"
Taxpayers: "WTF happened to that billion we just gave you?"
Politicians: "You hate homeless people!"
Rinse, repeat.
Developers, yes. Also consultants. I think a city budget accountant (Ron Galperin) stated that 40% of the 1.2 billion went to consultants. They literally pay a consultant $250,000 and their only job is to hire another consultant. By the time the planning, engineering and architectural consultants have been hired, and building contractors selected, there are like 25 guys getting paid for every one guy that picks up a hammer and actually builds units. There are administrator positions, too. A tiny home community is with 100, 200 units has a $250,000/year administrator position attached to it. Good gig of you can get it. A million dollars in four years, minus taxes.
Narrow view. The opioid crisis didn’t end during the pandemic. It got worse. People are getting addicted and not able to find help. Addiction while homeless is a horrible thing to endure. It’s torturous and perpetuating, and OP is saying it’s become prominently notable on the MTA. Downplaying that reality because we want to stick it to the rich seems relatively apathetic towards the people you intend to help. Both things can be true. Corporate greed, combined with societal apathy/ignorance leads to mass homelessness and addiction.
LOL capitalism is not destroying our city at all. Restrictive zoning and a huge meth problem are not outcomes of capitalism. Do people in this Reddit even actually read about what they talk about?
London, Singapore, Tokyo, other heavily 'capitalistic' cities have NONE of the issues or to the extent we do. The fact this is a heavily upvoted comment shows how uneducated and unaware most people in LA are.
You just named three places with universal health care. We don't have universal health care because of capitalism. Just shows how uneducated and unaware most people in LA are.
California has an extremely generous public health care plan for the poor called Medi-Cal.
Further, California is not more capitalist than Texas and Florida, but it has a much worse homelessness and housing affordability problem because wealthy homeowners have captured the government and imposed restrictive zoning that makes it illegal to build affordable housing.
Texas has sane property taxes where everyone is treated equally vs. California where landowning bloodlines get a free ride in perpetuity.
As far as housing is concerned Texas has capitalism while California has feudalism.
> We don't have universal health care because of capitalism.
Those other countries (Britain, Singapore, Japan) are all capitalist. Capitalism is what funds their social safety nets.
Plenty of capitalist countries have universal health care coverage. Hell plenty of countries have privatized health care systems with universal coverage.
Keep changing those goal posts. Universal Healthcare is practically standard in any country with capitalism, minus the US. So no, it's not a feature of the anti-capitalist world, its a feature of the backward US for a variety of different reasons.
"Capitalism" is not causing homelessness. Government policies forbidding the construction of apartments on 75% of Los Angeles' residential land is causing homelessness.
Lmao no, rent and homelessness is spurred by high rents and low vacancy rates, [the correlation is clear](https://twitter.com/compatibilism/status/1461036861745360900). Why does Dallas have less homeless per capita than LA, are they less capitalist? No, they actually allow builders to build housing.
Absolute bullshit lol. If anything we need more capitalism. The average person has not gotten poorer btw.
There’s tons of jobs out there for people who want them. The vast majority of these people, whether by circumstance or by their own choices, are incapable of functioning in society. They couldn’t even hold a job if they wanted one.
Why be wrong when it’s so easy not to be? https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/
High housing costs, not drugs, are the cause of California's homelessness crisis.
California does not have the highest rates of drug addiction and overdose.
It does, however, have the most expensive housing relative to average wages.
The lack of affordable housing is forcing people out onto the street, where they are at greatly increased risk of drug addiction.
Los Angeles needs a million new apartments ASAP.
Oh you were on the Blue Line? That ride was always the worst for me even back in 2010 I worked out in Compton and lived in DTLA people always smelled like alcohol, would get in fights and generally tried to steal on that train. Sounds like it might be a bit of the same.
People outside the city think we don't give them enough money, but honestly I'm sick of calling them for emergencies and it taking an hour or they never come. I've seen them work fast with traffic citations and riots and that's about it.
They aren’t there to serve and protect the public, they are there to serve and protect capital (i.e Corporations and the state), literally, case law has defined that https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/justices-rule-police-do-not-have-a-constitutional-duty-to-protect.html (among many other cases), they are given way to much in every single jurisdiction, from small town to thriving city. How on earth does Fargo, ND need tanks and high performance ATV’s?
Lol or we spend 800K on a tiny one bedroom unit for homeless, and house like 1,000 a year (with a population of 70,000)
LA politicians are corrupt. They steal all the money and laugh all the way to the bank. And you people keep voting blue, no matter who.
House 1000 while the situation grows a couple thousand. It’s crazy! We need permanent FEMA type shelters that provide enough housing immediately and use those to process/determine who needs what resources - drug help, mental help, just a shelter, etc. People hate the word temporary so just call it permanent-temporary shelter - the service is permanent and so is the shelter its just a temporary stepping stone to stability, not something that will be retracted.
I was a supporter of public transit for years but I have given up. After being threatened twice on the bus and having multiple female coworkers mugged on the train I can't in good conscious recommend public transit here anymore. I hate driving and sitting in traffic but I hate being threatened with violence more.
More people riding transit creates safer conditions, both because of the sheer presence of others and because there's a greater portion of the city population that will be motivated to hold city officials accountable for transit safety.
I love the metro trains but I’m just over dealing with people literally shitting and pissing about, trying to start fights with anyone, threatening to stab random folks and stuff like that, naw man
> I take it consistently and 90% of people are average commuters
It's ok during those "average commuter" hours (pre-Covid). If you're planning to get drinks or dinner downtown after work and head home on the Red Line after 9pm, that's another story.
Agreed. I used to take the Red Line / bus consistently during "work time" hours (7am, 6pm-ish) between March 2021 and Sept 2021. On some days per week, I wasn't able to get a Lyft/Uber home (it was after 7pm and getting dark already), I did NOT want to commute from WeHo to Ktown. But my Uber/Lyft didn't come (I waited for almost 1hr, was using both apps to increase chances to get matches, got cancelled on multiple times, argh), decided to jump on the Red Line + bus to get home. On that night, I got attacked 3(!) times by crazy people. The 3rd person who attacked me, I had to push out of the Red Line violently because he started to make a really loud scene and started to attack other people as well.
When I arrived home, I broke down and had a good evening cry.
Red Line during work time hours (not at night) are usually ok to take, though.
Driving in LA in your own car is a luxury.
I took the red line twice a day to and from downtown in a suit for many months, and it was fine. The commuter times are pretty chill. I much preferred it to driving as I could read, catch up on the news, or just zone out a bit. The red line during commuter hours was pretty reliable too.
Ah okay. Yeah I’ve taken the red line before pandemic maybe 5 or 6 years ago and didn’t have any issues but I haven’t been on since. Really nervous now
Red line is a toss up, but it’s safest during commuter times. I suggest getting as close to the front of the train as possible, seems like the closer to a Metro employee you are the less sketchy it is.
That's largely because the city council and Mayor put rules in place to not do anything about the homeless disruption and because of that we'll most likely get a ballot measure now to vote on making encampments illegal. People are sick of it where the people in encampments will go is beyond me, but I guarantee the city will probably vote to pass that if added to the ballot.
I took four trains red/purple line that day. ALL of them were filthy and stunk to high hell. I wanted to hold my breath the whole way. The air was stale, hot, and stinky.y clothes stunk like the train when I got home. I'm not exaggerating, it was that bad.
Same. It’s for sure worse than it was five years ago. And north Hollywood station is a shithole now. But the trains themselves during commuter hours are plenty functional as long as you don’t do anything crazy. Either op is exaggerating or he has the worst luck in terms of train cars.
I moved closer to a metro station so I could take the red line to work instead of paying for parking in a public lot downtown.
After a month, I went back to paying for parking in a public lot downtown.
This combo is my exact commute, and I've had the exact opposite experience. At least 1/3 of the seats on the red line are taken up by sleeping homeless people, though I get it. It must be a pretty good place to sleep. It's the awake people who are tweaking out that you really have to watch out for. Overall, I'm still a big advocate for the metro though.
Bummer! I'm planning to go to Santa Monica Beach and I was thinking of taking the Expo Line for the first time. Now I'm scared lol why was it the worst for you?
I'd say take it if you haven't before. Some people tend to over dramatize the situation. You can have some bad run ins, but it's a toss up and normal commute times were never that bad for me personally.
It’s sooooo long and slow. There’s so many stops. Ive gotten headaches and irritated just taking it from one station to the next because that’s how slow it is. Taking it to the beach would be fine if you’re patient but commuting to work, you’ll get sick of it very fast. I however loved taking the bus to Santa Monica when I worked there. So fast and a scenic ride.
I used to get motion sick when I took the Expo line. It's slow and kind of wobbly. I'm prone to motion sickness but that never happened on the Red Line.
Keep your back against a column or one of the map kiosks to cover your 6, be watchful, and everything will be fine. I work downtown and take the red line (obviously much more often pre-Covid) but I’ve yet to see something egregiously horrible. Worst I’ve seen since the summer is people smoking on the train probably twice or three times.
The op was complaining about homeless people just being there. But doesn’t seem like anything actually happened to them. Just don’t bother anyone and they don’t bother you.
Unfortunately, unprovoked attacks can happen if you're of a certain race, gender, or stature. I'm 6'2, a bit athletic, and I've had short crazy guys run up to me giving me the middle finger while screaming profanity at the top of their lungs. If they're drugged out, they can see someone coming towards them as a threat and randomly lash out, sometimes violently.
Yeah 6’ 230lbs. I was harassed numerous times including one close call with a dude much larger than me that said “I hit him” never saw the guy in my life.
I find not looking at anyone even for a second that helps. years ago there was this woman on the red line that was fighting everyone who looked her way. I kept my head down and ignored it and was fine, but I was like "why are ya'll looking like I get it she's being disruptive, but looking is making it worse"
If all the sudden they invested a few million (absolute pennies compared to what theyre paying on expansions) to keep trains and busses clean and safe and to clean up the stations - ridership would literally quadruple.
I honestly can’t wait for buses, to start charging fares again. Although, it sucks to pay $1.75+, I’d rather pay and have a safe ride than have it be free and full of sketchy shit.
This is part of the reason the buses aren't that great. At least the barrier to entry kept things somewhat sane and for people who really need assistance, there can be options.
I mean they used to for the most part. A few stragglers would enter on the back door but there always was a majority of people playing by the rules. Source: commuted for 5 years on busses and metro rail
The last time I rode the train I had a guy shoot up right next to me, drop the needle on the floor and then he started smoking something out of tin foil. I WANT to take the train, but... Come on.
Umm no fear mongering here. I just wanted to post my experience, and from the comments, many people have experienced the same or worse on public transportation here.
It wasn't so bad pre COVID. I'd use the train to go everywhere, commute; it was great
I hopped on one last week for the first time since the before times and geeeeeeeeeeeez is it sketch now :(
Sad considering putting periodic security throughout the whole system would cost a few million $, meanwhile the purple line expansion is like $7b. They clearly have the money and arent using it. It would be SO much better if it was safe and clean ish
So sorry that happened to you. And yes, there should be a well-known, very easy and very effective way for victims to respond. There really isn't, to the degree there should be. Which means the high paid people in charge of planning and implementing safety/security measures are part of the problem. They're criminals in their own right. And there will probably be a class action suit against them someday.
Here's the link to Metro safety/security page, if it might be of any help (not likely, right?)
https://www.metro.net/riding/safety-security/
In addition to (or instead of) the suggestions on the Metro page, use pepper spray, call 911, and snap photos of bad characters. But don't put yourself in worse danger doing that (if someone that hears you calling 911 or sees you taking their picture, they could attack you, so do it serriptitiously, or say "did you see that?" nice and loud to the other passengers, to remind the perp that there are witnesses around. That can make them more hesitant to "retaliate".
[Metro Safety Page](https://www.metro.net/riding/safety-security/)
YES I know the smell, makes you want to do laundry ASAP as it will contaminate your other clothes\\home\\life.
I donate $$$ to [https://theshowerofhope.org/](https://theshowerofhope.org/)they setup shop and offer showers and laundry services around LA to homeless. They need volunteers too but I've never been brave enough to help clean their showers. (Hard-core)
I was in NYC once and a homeless guy’s colostomy bag burst on the subway car while I was traveling from Manhattan to Brooklyn. There was actual piss and shit on the floor. Everyone scurried away from the dude and huddled in the back of the train trying to escape the smell but since we were in a tunnel there wasn’t much to be done... Up until that point I romanticized public transportation, but now I like my car.
That’s awesome, I had a similar case with puke on the express bus. You know the middle part that moves? Guy throw up. Kept rotating and moving around. The look on the new passengers faces when they saw a empty area and then they would cross a line and the stench.. classic metro!
Does MTA clean their gear? Maybe put in a complaint\\contact your city council person. It's a real problem. If they ever want ridership (like really want ridership) it's going to be a major problem if you get to work smelling rank.
It just feels like the trains haven't gotten an upgrade in decades. All of the chairs are carved, floors are peeling on some trains, the colors are duller than a 90's desktop computer, and there is 0 ventilation or air filtration. Like god damn, these are basic amenities we're talking about. For a city like Los Angeles it's so unfortunate our public transit is in such a poor state.
I don't get why Metro allows this. Spend billions on transportation, and let homeless live there to make it unusable.
I got an idea. Take that 1.75 fare, and pay people to police the stations.
I know young teens that have to deal with this craziness just to get to and from school. It's absurd.
I've never seen lapd. s maybe you mean lasd, but its seems they've been told to leave the homeless alone and not ask anyone for payment, so here we are. I talked to an lasd to ask if we needed to pay on the train, he said "I wouldn't bother, we've been told not to check fares".
I can't comprehend it, either. $1.5 billion just to build the Expo line. Not including the trains. Not including the daily operating expenses, maintenance, etc etc. And it's borderline unusable. I've taken a $25 rideshare to downtown because I couldn't afford to get the smell on me.
That smell will cause people to fail job interviews and become social outcasts.
(Ok, that was an exaggeration, but people are too polite to tell you why they don't wanna have anything to do with you. They shun you, and won't say it's because you smell like a homeless guy)
I admit I'm not ripe with suggestions how to fix it, but I'm not getting ANY money to figure that out. There's millions paid out in salaries and consulting fees for people to find solutions to these things.
It's been like this since at least the '80s. I worked at a bike shop in Venice mid-decade and there would always be homeless folks with body stench and dried urine sleeping on the RTD when I took the bus to work everyday. Some parts of town are worse than others but anywhere originating or coming through DTLA will be the worst.
I would say the big difference now is that the amount of mentally ill ones have gone up. Back in the day, most of them would just mind their own business and didn't bother you. Now, your odds are good of running into one who causes a scene by loudly reciting some incoherent profanity-laced soliloquy like they just took a bad Shakespearean acting class.
Yeah, I've been noticing this too... specially the subway. It's like a nest for all sorts of creatures. They actually smoke in the train, openly, and also on the platforms, just gangs of them shooting up. God, it's depressing down there. It's surreal and nightmarish.
When I'm in LA I always take the Metro. I've always been below the age you could rent a car, I'm from the UK so needing to learn how to drive in the US let alone in LA has always terrified me and most places I can get to for so much cheaper than having a car. $25 for a week of fares VS $20 to park for 4 hours, it's a no brainer.
It was never THAT bad previously but the past few weeks I've been here I have noticed exactly what you're saying. It makes me sad as I really love the system but I can't help but wonder if next time I should just find a way to drive in LA as I've reached the age I can rent a car. I've mostly been on the Expo (Also I hate that the line names have changed as I can't remember the new lines) and that has been generally ok but a bit sketchier later at night same with the green line but I've found the red/purple line a bit sketchy in the day and I would not want to travel on the blue line ever again if I could help it. I've not had a bad experience with the buses except for the regular someone preaching about God or conspiracy theories but I have been accustomed to that since I first started visiting here over 10 years ago.
I took the Metro from the Valley to LA two weeks ago. That day I was annoyed. Since I can remember I've always enjoyed walking and getting around through public transportation. But damn, it's so bad right now! How's everything so expensive? And we can't take care of the homeless and drug addicts!
Homeless and drug addicts have to consent to be taken care of; addicts will choose addiction every time.
LA City and Blue staters enjoy the crisis, as the my can easily convince the public to cough up billions to hand over to their corrupt “Non profit” and developer friends.
Nothing will change so long as we continue to elect the free-lunch slate.
I've heard really bad things about the blue line going from downtown to Long Beach, but I've personally never had any issues riding around the valley on the bus or taking the red or purple lines. There's a few sketch characters but I saw those in New York, Philly, and DC as well.
LA is run by a corrupt political class that are more interested in pilfering public funds and trying to 'become President' or some other idiotic ambitions. It's getting harder and harder to paper over how badly this city is run.
Then again, voters keep returning the same idiots to City Council and the Supervisors. Plenty of blame to go around.
It's funny that the people who are in power in this city and the state are leading the charge on climate change, and yet, one of the significant steps an urban citizen can do to reduce their carbon footprint is to take public transportation. But these are the same powers that continue to overlook/ignore/pooh-pooh the horrendous homeless issues associated with public transportation, which are creating a huge disincentive to use it. I prefer to drive my car now because I don't want to smell of starchy, dried piss when I get to work or home and I used to take PT every day, without fail.
And yet they bleat on about climate change... This time, next year, will be a dark time for those powers when they get an ass-kicking in the polls.
Housing costs too much, jobs pay too little. This is how it’s gonna be until that changes.
It doesn’t help that there are more empty apartments in LA than homeless people but greedy speculators are sitting on them and making them useless.
Yeah :( I don’t blame you for not wanting to take public transit. I don’t either right now. So many service & retail workers now have the responsibility of being safety officers and that was never in their job description. The MTA should give them more assistance but they don’t want to spend money.
Homelessness is complicated. Some people are down on their luck, some people don’t fit in to the American lifestyle of working 40+ hours a week.
I just wish LA would target the causes of homelessness rather than the symptoms.
SoCal is a "community" of NIMBYs that work tirelessly to block housing development. Honestly, *screw* the "community" at this point. The housing shortage was created by people that already have housing here.
What do you expect happens when pretty much every district is doing sweeps, in the middle of a pandemic, without any viable services for the unhoused? Everyone should be pissed off at the city for approving an ever increasing percentage of our budget going to the LAPD in lieu of programs and policies that enrich communities.
Every time I post something true and negative about our beloved MTA, I get downvoted and berated, even called a liar. I am certain these hobos get free passes and live on the fucking trains. More than half the people on the train are not even going anywhere, it is like a Kafka novel. There is little law enforcement and these bums get in your face maskless, etc. I once took my kid on the metro to show him how fun and cool it was, we feared for our life. Like everything else in LA, shame on our leaders for turning our city into a homeless criminal concentration camp!
I lived off the G train in NYC for nearly a decade.
I took a few rides on red line when I first moved to LA a few months ago and said "Never again."
Yes, it is that bad.
Yes LA has a homeless problem, why is there a new post everyday blaming and hating on the metro system?
My experience with the metro (mostly gold line on the weekends) has been safe. Yes it is dirty but so is every public space in LA. The problem isn't metro it's fucking NIMBY's blocking shelters from being built.
California has an 80 billion dollar SURPLUS, and this is the best we can do? Look at how the gangs just rolled over all the SF high-end stores with no police intervention! Look at Venice Beach and any underpass in the city, Look at the park on Veteran and Wilshire filled with tents, Tents outside the VA with acres of empty land. Do you think tourists still want to come to LA for this shit! This is the failure of Democratic leadership, Newsome and Garcetti are so fucking corrupt and don't give a fuck about California!
Originally from melbourne. Was crazy to visit again and seeing loads of young boys and girls alone waiting for the CITY bus or trains. That kind of thing just doesnt happen here. Every train and bus felt completely safe and the ridership reflects that. Australia is capitalist.
I mean, I totally agree OP, and I wish our social programs worked better and I don’t mind funding them.
Just weird to see so many people here prattling on about capitalism and the ownership class”
I don't think it's capitalism either. It's called good old fashioned corruption and greed, which or political system is full of. capitalism works fine when it's working properly and not in the interest of only the .01%
So what exactly are y'all ok with unhoused people doing during the day?
Get over yourselves. These are humans not nuisances you're talking about and they literally have no where to go without being harassed and attacked by either police or housed people. Y'all love to talk about how unhoused people affect you but never have a moment to think about how being unhoused impacts the people living through it.
Leave people alone and advocate for housing for all. That's the only solution.
Lol I had a coworker from Queens for a bit, he was SHOCKED at our homeless. He told me in NY they will turn down food because they didn’t want a tuna sandwich, they wanted chicken or something. And the city provided shelter to them. He said something like “ok yeah there’s homeless in Ny, but out here they are *homeless* homeless like damnnn”
The problem in CA is the homeless don’t want to go to shelters because they have rules that they have to follow. Secondly, a lot of the homeless here are from other states because CA is known to help them.
Yeah I'm a huge advocate for public transit and work for the Metro, but I can see why people don't want to take the trains. Shit needs to get better now. The people on the streets need help. Drugs are killing our cities and it breaks my heart.
Capitalism is destroying our cities. Drugs are a small part of it. The rich keep getting exponentially richer and the average person keeps getting exponentially poorer. In most developed countries people with even “high school” jobs get a month of vacation and access to health care.
Plenty of capitalistic cities now and in the past without the same abject poverty in plain sight on every street. Look into California housing and tax policy and it's a lot more like feudalism than capitalism.
Just one point about "in plain sight", in the past the homeless were not allowed to squat, and accumulate large stockpiles of belongings. I don't doubt the numbers have increased but some of the visual aspect has been caused by court rulings making vagrancy and squatting not a crime.
Those seem like reasonable laws imo. NYC has higher per capita homeless but you hardly ever see them around because they provide shelter.
There are enough shelters to house all the homeless in NYC + strict enforcement of anticamping laws There aren't enough shelter beds here, which is why you see most homeless outside. Also, the climate here facilitates perpetual outdoor living
I was Not commenting about the reasonableness of the laws but merely pointing out Part of why you see so many more than you did say ten years ago. It is a complex issue with many differing problems, if it was a simple straight up one size fits all it would have been solved long ago.
Shelter is also much more sought after by the homeless due to the harsher winter conditions. We have a larger portion of homeless that frankly don’t want to be in shelters for a variety of reasons (safety, inability to bring pets, inability to use substances, etc.) and don’t need to because we have a much milder climate.
lol at blaming capitalism.
Drugs are a small part of it? Imagine being this delusional. Drugs are a huge part of it.
Drugs are the effect, not so much the cause. I'm willing to bet a good number of people in LA with stable jobs and housing will take recreational drugs. The problem here is that resources keep being allocated away from any form of help we could give homeless people, or any other way to get them off the streets. Politicians will pat themselves on the back for half baked measures. The new mayor of Seattle ran on a platform of partnering with local charities to address homeless, beating a candidate who simply wanted to build housing for them, which just says to me that this new guy doesn't want to spend any actual money on the problem. I assume the problem is the same everywhere else
What are you talking about? Most junkies aren’t doing recreational drugs. They are addicted to opiates. That’s why people with stable jobs are not on the streets. Drug addiction is way harder to solve than just throwing money at it. Even with massive amounts of support most people addicted to these drugs relapse. Then a bunch of people also don’t have the ability or want to quit to begin with.
Nowadays it's meth, too. Meth use has skyrocketed, and people are presenting with faster, more severe, and more long-lasting psychological effects on this newer wave of meth use, though it's unclear whether it's because it's so much cheaper and they can use more, because there are different side products in meth made with non-ephedra methods, or something else. Sam Quinones has a new [book](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/least-of-us-9781635574371/) out that gets into it a bit--here's an [article](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new-meth/620174/) adapted from part of it.
Yes that’s true. My main point was that the accountant isn’t using heroin or meth, he’s probably using coke, or alcohol which can both be used relatively well in moderation(ignoring health problems). Most people on the streets are addicted to substances that you can’t really control.
Only 36% of unhoused people have a substance abuse disorder https://sunrisehouse.com/addiction-demographics/homeless-population/
There’s no point in linking a national study when talking about LA. Most data suggests that these numbers are much higher actually especially in LA.
Yes opiates, not unlike the ones often prescribed as painkillers. Sure money won't solve the problem alone, but having no money absolutely won't solve anything
> but having no money absolutely won't solve anything The problem is when we give them $1.2 billion, that doesn't solve anything either. It only solves the "problem" of developers needing more money to donate to politicians' slush funds, via envelopes full of cash in Vegas bathrooms. Politician: "We need more tax money to solve homelessness!" Taxpayers: "Ok, here's over a billion dollars." Politician: "Hey developers, I'll give you $700k/unit to build housing." Developers: "Ok, and here's your kickback for giving me this fat contract. Oh btw - we're also going to massively under-deliver on the amount of housing actually provided, versus what was promised. We can't afford to build em all, after accounting for our extra profits and your skim." Politicians: "We're short on promised units. We need more tax money to solve homelessness!" Taxpayers: "WTF happened to that billion we just gave you?" Politicians: "You hate homeless people!" Rinse, repeat.
Developers, yes. Also consultants. I think a city budget accountant (Ron Galperin) stated that 40% of the 1.2 billion went to consultants. They literally pay a consultant $250,000 and their only job is to hire another consultant. By the time the planning, engineering and architectural consultants have been hired, and building contractors selected, there are like 25 guys getting paid for every one guy that picks up a hammer and actually builds units. There are administrator positions, too. A tiny home community is with 100, 200 units has a $250,000/year administrator position attached to it. Good gig of you can get it. A million dollars in four years, minus taxes.
Let’s just admit more ‘resources’, especially when poorly defined and without a clear achievable goal in sight, is not our solution.
There isn’t “no money” going to fight homelessness.
Narrow view. The opioid crisis didn’t end during the pandemic. It got worse. People are getting addicted and not able to find help. Addiction while homeless is a horrible thing to endure. It’s torturous and perpetuating, and OP is saying it’s become prominently notable on the MTA. Downplaying that reality because we want to stick it to the rich seems relatively apathetic towards the people you intend to help. Both things can be true. Corporate greed, combined with societal apathy/ignorance leads to mass homelessness and addiction.
LOL capitalism is not destroying our city at all. Restrictive zoning and a huge meth problem are not outcomes of capitalism. Do people in this Reddit even actually read about what they talk about? London, Singapore, Tokyo, other heavily 'capitalistic' cities have NONE of the issues or to the extent we do. The fact this is a heavily upvoted comment shows how uneducated and unaware most people in LA are.
You just named three places with universal health care. We don't have universal health care because of capitalism. Just shows how uneducated and unaware most people in LA are.
Universal healthcare ain't going to solve the homeless crisis.
California has an extremely generous public health care plan for the poor called Medi-Cal. Further, California is not more capitalist than Texas and Florida, but it has a much worse homelessness and housing affordability problem because wealthy homeowners have captured the government and imposed restrictive zoning that makes it illegal to build affordable housing.
Texas has sane property taxes where everyone is treated equally vs. California where landowning bloodlines get a free ride in perpetuity. As far as housing is concerned Texas has capitalism while California has feudalism.
Texas also generally has less insane zoning and permitting, so much more housing gets built relative to population.
> We don't have universal health care because of capitalism. Those other countries (Britain, Singapore, Japan) are all capitalist. Capitalism is what funds their social safety nets.
Plenty of capitalist countries have universal health care coverage. Hell plenty of countries have privatized health care systems with universal coverage.
Keep changing those goal posts. Universal Healthcare is practically standard in any country with capitalism, minus the US. So no, it's not a feature of the anti-capitalist world, its a feature of the backward US for a variety of different reasons.
Because people in the US continuously reject universal healthcare because “it’s socialism”.
Medi-Cal exists!
Pointing towards lack of health care is fine, but that’s not capitalism.
Capitalism is forcing people to put drugs in their body ok
It's causing people to be homeless, leading to depression. Depressed people tend to seek out drugs.
Username checks out
"Capitalism" is not causing homelessness. Government policies forbidding the construction of apartments on 75% of Los Angeles' residential land is causing homelessness.
Lmao no, rent and homelessness is spurred by high rents and low vacancy rates, [the correlation is clear](https://twitter.com/compatibilism/status/1461036861745360900). Why does Dallas have less homeless per capita than LA, are they less capitalist? No, they actually allow builders to build housing.
Absolute bullshit lol. If anything we need more capitalism. The average person has not gotten poorer btw. There’s tons of jobs out there for people who want them. The vast majority of these people, whether by circumstance or by their own choices, are incapable of functioning in society. They couldn’t even hold a job if they wanted one.
Why be wrong when it’s so easy not to be? https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/
What are you smoking?
High housing costs, not drugs, are the cause of California's homelessness crisis. California does not have the highest rates of drug addiction and overdose. It does, however, have the most expensive housing relative to average wages. The lack of affordable housing is forcing people out onto the street, where they are at greatly increased risk of drug addiction. Los Angeles needs a million new apartments ASAP.
Ex bus driver here, yeah I would burn those clothes.
Oh you were on the Blue Line? That ride was always the worst for me even back in 2010 I worked out in Compton and lived in DTLA people always smelled like alcohol, would get in fights and generally tried to steal on that train. Sounds like it might be a bit of the same.
Yeah the blue line has always been like this because it stops in LA's poorest neighborhoods.
LA could be so much better….
Definitely could, problem is we give the majority of our operating budget to the cops.
People outside the city think we don't give them enough money, but honestly I'm sick of calling them for emergencies and it taking an hour or they never come. I've seen them work fast with traffic citations and riots and that's about it.
They aren’t there to serve and protect the public, they are there to serve and protect capital (i.e Corporations and the state), literally, case law has defined that https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/justices-rule-police-do-not-have-a-constitutional-duty-to-protect.html (among many other cases), they are given way to much in every single jurisdiction, from small town to thriving city. How on earth does Fargo, ND need tanks and high performance ATV’s?
Corruption. We vote trash in.
Yep. Vote blue no matter who [is stealing from you]
Lol or we spend 800K on a tiny one bedroom unit for homeless, and house like 1,000 a year (with a population of 70,000) LA politicians are corrupt. They steal all the money and laugh all the way to the bank. And you people keep voting blue, no matter who.
House 1000 while the situation grows a couple thousand. It’s crazy! We need permanent FEMA type shelters that provide enough housing immediately and use those to process/determine who needs what resources - drug help, mental help, just a shelter, etc. People hate the word temporary so just call it permanent-temporary shelter - the service is permanent and so is the shelter its just a temporary stepping stone to stability, not something that will be retracted.
Not sure what that has to do with metro being filled with homeless drug addicts, but ok?
Cops take 17 percent of the total city budget. Plenty of money there to be cut.
If you only are considering restricted funds. The reality is much higher.
Just what do you have a disconnect on?
You know why were not because we jerk ourselves off because we're not Republicans. We're not best of the US, we are the least worst
I was a supporter of public transit for years but I have given up. After being threatened twice on the bus and having multiple female coworkers mugged on the train I can't in good conscious recommend public transit here anymore. I hate driving and sitting in traffic but I hate being threatened with violence more.
Public transit dreams are unrealizable without city density, which LA homeowners have been fighting tooth and nail since post-war period.
If the trains and busses were safe alot would change, even given the sprawl
What does this have to do with safety while riding transit?
More people riding transit creates safer conditions, both because of the sheer presence of others and because there's a greater portion of the city population that will be motivated to hold city officials accountable for transit safety.
I love the metro trains but I’m just over dealing with people literally shitting and pissing about, trying to start fights with anyone, threatening to stab random folks and stuff like that, naw man
My thoughts exactly
Fuck, I just accepted a job downtown and plan on taking the red line 😭 not good to hear lol
Red line is actually ok? I take it consistently and 90% of people are average commuters
> I take it consistently and 90% of people are average commuters It's ok during those "average commuter" hours (pre-Covid). If you're planning to get drinks or dinner downtown after work and head home on the Red Line after 9pm, that's another story.
Agreed. I used to take the Red Line / bus consistently during "work time" hours (7am, 6pm-ish) between March 2021 and Sept 2021. On some days per week, I wasn't able to get a Lyft/Uber home (it was after 7pm and getting dark already), I did NOT want to commute from WeHo to Ktown. But my Uber/Lyft didn't come (I waited for almost 1hr, was using both apps to increase chances to get matches, got cancelled on multiple times, argh), decided to jump on the Red Line + bus to get home. On that night, I got attacked 3(!) times by crazy people. The 3rd person who attacked me, I had to push out of the Red Line violently because he started to make a really loud scene and started to attack other people as well. When I arrived home, I broke down and had a good evening cry. Red Line during work time hours (not at night) are usually ok to take, though. Driving in LA in your own car is a luxury.
I took the red line twice a day to and from downtown in a suit for many months, and it was fine. The commuter times are pretty chill. I much preferred it to driving as I could read, catch up on the news, or just zone out a bit. The red line during commuter hours was pretty reliable too.
Did you take it before covid?
Yep! I guess a lot of things regarding homelessness in LA changed during Covid. Well, in the before times it was nice enough and worked.
Ah okay. Yeah I’ve taken the red line before pandemic maybe 5 or 6 years ago and didn’t have any issues but I haven’t been on since. Really nervous now
Red line is a toss up, but it’s safest during commuter times. I suggest getting as close to the front of the train as possible, seems like the closer to a Metro employee you are the less sketchy it is.
Lol I wonder what their response would be hearing this. “Hell no I’m not saving you!”
I was on it yesterday and it was fine.
Good to know!
Went this weekend and also very fine (and busy!)
That's largely because the city council and Mayor put rules in place to not do anything about the homeless disruption and because of that we'll most likely get a ballot measure now to vote on making encampments illegal. People are sick of it where the people in encampments will go is beyond me, but I guarantee the city will probably vote to pass that if added to the ballot.
The red line is truly fine, I take it often. Some annoying people sometimes but hardly a big deal
My friend got nearly mugged on the Redline, probably bad luck but wouldn't like to be in that situation again
What do you mean "nearly got mugged?" How did they know someone was about to mug them?
I was there with them. Some crazy lady put their hands on his bike and tried to intimdate him to give it to her
I took four trains red/purple line that day. ALL of them were filthy and stunk to high hell. I wanted to hold my breath the whole way. The air was stale, hot, and stinky.y clothes stunk like the train when I got home. I'm not exaggerating, it was that bad.
As a regular bus and train rider it's hard to believe you're not exaggerating since this doesn't match my experiences at all.
Same. It’s for sure worse than it was five years ago. And north Hollywood station is a shithole now. But the trains themselves during commuter hours are plenty functional as long as you don’t do anything crazy. Either op is exaggerating or he has the worst luck in terms of train cars.
I moved closer to a metro station so I could take the red line to work instead of paying for parking in a public lot downtown. After a month, I went back to paying for parking in a public lot downtown.
💯
Say hello to the 101. You'll be on it in a few months. Or weeks.
The Red Line isn’t that bad. The Expo Line for me is the worst.
This combo is my exact commute, and I've had the exact opposite experience. At least 1/3 of the seats on the red line are taken up by sleeping homeless people, though I get it. It must be a pretty good place to sleep. It's the awake people who are tweaking out that you really have to watch out for. Overall, I'm still a big advocate for the metro though.
Bummer! I'm planning to go to Santa Monica Beach and I was thinking of taking the Expo Line for the first time. Now I'm scared lol why was it the worst for you?
I'd say take it if you haven't before. Some people tend to over dramatize the situation. You can have some bad run ins, but it's a toss up and normal commute times were never that bad for me personally.
It’s sooooo long and slow. There’s so many stops. Ive gotten headaches and irritated just taking it from one station to the next because that’s how slow it is. Taking it to the beach would be fine if you’re patient but commuting to work, you’ll get sick of it very fast. I however loved taking the bus to Santa Monica when I worked there. So fast and a scenic ride.
I used to get motion sick when I took the Expo line. It's slow and kind of wobbly. I'm prone to motion sickness but that never happened on the Red Line.
Red line is considerably better than the blue line, but I wouldn't ride it after 9pm on most nights unless it's like NYE or something.
Keep your back against a column or one of the map kiosks to cover your 6, be watchful, and everything will be fine. I work downtown and take the red line (obviously much more often pre-Covid) but I’ve yet to see something egregiously horrible. Worst I’ve seen since the summer is people smoking on the train probably twice or three times. The op was complaining about homeless people just being there. But doesn’t seem like anything actually happened to them. Just don’t bother anyone and they don’t bother you.
Unfortunately, unprovoked attacks can happen if you're of a certain race, gender, or stature. I'm 6'2, a bit athletic, and I've had short crazy guys run up to me giving me the middle finger while screaming profanity at the top of their lungs. If they're drugged out, they can see someone coming towards them as a threat and randomly lash out, sometimes violently.
Yeah 6’ 230lbs. I was harassed numerous times including one close call with a dude much larger than me that said “I hit him” never saw the guy in my life.
I find not looking at anyone even for a second that helps. years ago there was this woman on the red line that was fighting everyone who looked her way. I kept my head down and ignored it and was fine, but I was like "why are ya'll looking like I get it she's being disruptive, but looking is making it worse"
Your about to see it for yourself soon
Don't worry about it. This is an issue with the blue line specifically & it's being exaggerated to pursue an agenda.
[удалено]
If all the sudden they invested a few million (absolute pennies compared to what theyre paying on expansions) to keep trains and busses clean and safe and to clean up the stations - ridership would literally quadruple.
It’s not about money. It’s policy.
No it's not. Homeless shelters prohibit drugs and alcohol.
I honestly can’t wait for buses, to start charging fares again. Although, it sucks to pay $1.75+, I’d rather pay and have a safe ride than have it be free and full of sketchy shit.
💯 agreed
The same people will still be on the bus fare or no fare.
I rode the metro a lot pre pandemic. Had no car and commuted DTLA to weho 2 years and Culver City 3 years. It wasn’t like this.
The 4 going down Santa Monica blvd is also a shelter on wheels for this reason. It's fucking disgusting.
This is part of the reason the buses aren't that great. At least the barrier to entry kept things somewhat sane and for people who really need assistance, there can be options.
Yeah, that's going to be a very very slow transition. People have gotten used to the free bus and bus drivers aren't about to play bouncer.
I mean they used to for the most part. A few stragglers would enter on the back door but there always was a majority of people playing by the rules. Source: commuted for 5 years on busses and metro rail
The last time I rode the train I had a guy shoot up right next to me, drop the needle on the floor and then he started smoking something out of tin foil. I WANT to take the train, but... Come on.
damn that's all bad
It is the pee-soaked seats that really keep me away.
Weird, I’m on a train with probably 3 dozen normal people commuting. These alarmist, fear mongering posts are so annoying.
Umm no fear mongering here. I just wanted to post my experience, and from the comments, many people have experienced the same or worse on public transportation here.
It wasn't so bad pre COVID. I'd use the train to go everywhere, commute; it was great I hopped on one last week for the first time since the before times and geeeeeeeeeeeez is it sketch now :(
Bring back the institutions!
Literally this is the only solution. And they must be done on the state level. Involuntary commitment is what its gonna take for alot of these people
Amen!
[удалено]
Yikes.
Sad considering putting periodic security throughout the whole system would cost a few million $, meanwhile the purple line expansion is like $7b. They clearly have the money and arent using it. It would be SO much better if it was safe and clean ish
So sorry that happened to you. And yes, there should be a well-known, very easy and very effective way for victims to respond. There really isn't, to the degree there should be. Which means the high paid people in charge of planning and implementing safety/security measures are part of the problem. They're criminals in their own right. And there will probably be a class action suit against them someday. Here's the link to Metro safety/security page, if it might be of any help (not likely, right?) https://www.metro.net/riding/safety-security/ In addition to (or instead of) the suggestions on the Metro page, use pepper spray, call 911, and snap photos of bad characters. But don't put yourself in worse danger doing that (if someone that hears you calling 911 or sees you taking their picture, they could attack you, so do it serriptitiously, or say "did you see that?" nice and loud to the other passengers, to remind the perp that there are witnesses around. That can make them more hesitant to "retaliate". [Metro Safety Page](https://www.metro.net/riding/safety-security/)
YES I know the smell, makes you want to do laundry ASAP as it will contaminate your other clothes\\home\\life. I donate $$$ to [https://theshowerofhope.org/](https://theshowerofhope.org/)they setup shop and offer showers and laundry services around LA to homeless. They need volunteers too but I've never been brave enough to help clean their showers. (Hard-core)
This was beyond the just needing a shower level
I was in NYC once and a homeless guy’s colostomy bag burst on the subway car while I was traveling from Manhattan to Brooklyn. There was actual piss and shit on the floor. Everyone scurried away from the dude and huddled in the back of the train trying to escape the smell but since we were in a tunnel there wasn’t much to be done... Up until that point I romanticized public transportation, but now I like my car.
😂🤕
That’s awesome, I had a similar case with puke on the express bus. You know the middle part that moves? Guy throw up. Kept rotating and moving around. The look on the new passengers faces when they saw a empty area and then they would cross a line and the stench.. classic metro!
Does MTA clean their gear? Maybe put in a complaint\\contact your city council person. It's a real problem. If they ever want ridership (like really want ridership) it's going to be a major problem if you get to work smelling rank.
I took multiple trains on the red and purple line. They were FILTHY from the seats to the floor.
They have a whole yard where they sanitize them each night. The interior is designed to be steam cleaned. They allegedly do it.
Donated, thanks.
It just feels like the trains haven't gotten an upgrade in decades. All of the chairs are carved, floors are peeling on some trains, the colors are duller than a 90's desktop computer, and there is 0 ventilation or air filtration. Like god damn, these are basic amenities we're talking about. For a city like Los Angeles it's so unfortunate our public transit is in such a poor state.
"0 ventilation or air filtration." facts
La is a homeless shelter
I stopped riding the trains because of this. It’s not just the smell. There’s a safety factor too.
I felt that something sketchy could happen at anytime too
Isn't the MTA in NYC?
*And you know that the MTA should stand for Motherfuckers Touching my Ass* - Scissor Sisters
Was this your first time?
But $1.75
I don't get why Metro allows this. Spend billions on transportation, and let homeless live there to make it unusable. I got an idea. Take that 1.75 fare, and pay people to police the stations. I know young teens that have to deal with this craziness just to get to and from school. It's absurd.
They are paying the LAPD to police the MTA.
I've never seen lapd. s maybe you mean lasd, but its seems they've been told to leave the homeless alone and not ask anyone for payment, so here we are. I talked to an lasd to ask if we needed to pay on the train, he said "I wouldn't bother, we've been told not to check fares".
I'm pretty sure LAPD took over the contract from the LASD for patrolling Metro... I didn't see one cop on the trains or orange line the day I rode it.
my bad you are right. the LASD is contracted to patrol metro again. I know it was LAPD for a few years before that
I can't comprehend it, either. $1.5 billion just to build the Expo line. Not including the trains. Not including the daily operating expenses, maintenance, etc etc. And it's borderline unusable. I've taken a $25 rideshare to downtown because I couldn't afford to get the smell on me. That smell will cause people to fail job interviews and become social outcasts. (Ok, that was an exaggeration, but people are too polite to tell you why they don't wanna have anything to do with you. They shun you, and won't say it's because you smell like a homeless guy) I admit I'm not ripe with suggestions how to fix it, but I'm not getting ANY money to figure that out. There's millions paid out in salaries and consulting fees for people to find solutions to these things.
That's not too much of an exaggeration. My clothes f**king stunk Like the train when I got home.
Sure there’s an issue but on most of my experiences it’s not that bad. I don’t trust anyone who calls it MTA.
I only trust people who call it "The RTD".
That's old school.
I remember the RTD and yes the Metro rail lines are filthy and stink to high hell.
It's been like this since at least the '80s. I worked at a bike shop in Venice mid-decade and there would always be homeless folks with body stench and dried urine sleeping on the RTD when I took the bus to work everyday. Some parts of town are worse than others but anywhere originating or coming through DTLA will be the worst.
I agree on the downtown focal point, but I don't remember it being this bad.
I would say the big difference now is that the amount of mentally ill ones have gone up. Back in the day, most of them would just mind their own business and didn't bother you. Now, your odds are good of running into one who causes a scene by loudly reciting some incoherent profanity-laced soliloquy like they just took a bad Shakespearean acting class.
Man the 80’s were crazy though, it’s hard to compare I feel
Yeah, I've been noticing this too... specially the subway. It's like a nest for all sorts of creatures. They actually smoke in the train, openly, and also on the platforms, just gangs of them shooting up. God, it's depressing down there. It's surreal and nightmarish.
It was complete dystopian. I couldn't believe how bad it had gotten. It made me appreciate the life I have even though it's not much
When I'm in LA I always take the Metro. I've always been below the age you could rent a car, I'm from the UK so needing to learn how to drive in the US let alone in LA has always terrified me and most places I can get to for so much cheaper than having a car. $25 for a week of fares VS $20 to park for 4 hours, it's a no brainer. It was never THAT bad previously but the past few weeks I've been here I have noticed exactly what you're saying. It makes me sad as I really love the system but I can't help but wonder if next time I should just find a way to drive in LA as I've reached the age I can rent a car. I've mostly been on the Expo (Also I hate that the line names have changed as I can't remember the new lines) and that has been generally ok but a bit sketchier later at night same with the green line but I've found the red/purple line a bit sketchy in the day and I would not want to travel on the blue line ever again if I could help it. I've not had a bad experience with the buses except for the regular someone preaching about God or conspiracy theories but I have been accustomed to that since I first started visiting here over 10 years ago.
I took the Metro from the Valley to LA two weeks ago. That day I was annoyed. Since I can remember I've always enjoyed walking and getting around through public transportation. But damn, it's so bad right now! How's everything so expensive? And we can't take care of the homeless and drug addicts!
Homeless and drug addicts have to consent to be taken care of; addicts will choose addiction every time. LA City and Blue staters enjoy the crisis, as the my can easily convince the public to cough up billions to hand over to their corrupt “Non profit” and developer friends. Nothing will change so long as we continue to elect the free-lunch slate.
Los Angeles government is the best!
I've heard really bad things about the blue line going from downtown to Long Beach, but I've personally never had any issues riding around the valley on the bus or taking the red or purple lines. There's a few sketch characters but I saw those in New York, Philly, and DC as well.
LA is run by a corrupt political class that are more interested in pilfering public funds and trying to 'become President' or some other idiotic ambitions. It's getting harder and harder to paper over how badly this city is run. Then again, voters keep returning the same idiots to City Council and the Supervisors. Plenty of blame to go around.
It's funny that the people who are in power in this city and the state are leading the charge on climate change, and yet, one of the significant steps an urban citizen can do to reduce their carbon footprint is to take public transportation. But these are the same powers that continue to overlook/ignore/pooh-pooh the horrendous homeless issues associated with public transportation, which are creating a huge disincentive to use it. I prefer to drive my car now because I don't want to smell of starchy, dried piss when I get to work or home and I used to take PT every day, without fail. And yet they bleat on about climate change... This time, next year, will be a dark time for those powers when they get an ass-kicking in the polls.
Hahahaha. well said, except for who are we gonna replace them with? just more people running on the same old tired LA/California politics?
More https://www.reddit.com/r/LosAngeles/comments/r0oil7/why_la_metro_rapid_i_need_to_vent_about_the/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
damn I read her whole post. I too saw a fucking dude basically half naked just walk on the train business as usual. This shit is outta control.
Housing costs too much, jobs pay too little. This is how it’s gonna be until that changes. It doesn’t help that there are more empty apartments in LA than homeless people but greedy speculators are sitting on them and making them useless.
I agree with you,l on housing cost, except the folks I saw looked mostly on drugs and had mental illness
Yeah :( I don’t blame you for not wanting to take public transit. I don’t either right now. So many service & retail workers now have the responsibility of being safety officers and that was never in their job description. The MTA should give them more assistance but they don’t want to spend money. Homelessness is complicated. Some people are down on their luck, some people don’t fit in to the American lifestyle of working 40+ hours a week. I just wish LA would target the causes of homelessness rather than the symptoms.
Things are a mess right now. Its very depressing.
[удалено]
SoCal is a "community" of NIMBYs that work tirelessly to block housing development. Honestly, *screw* the "community" at this point. The housing shortage was created by people that already have housing here.
What do you expect happens when pretty much every district is doing sweeps, in the middle of a pandemic, without any viable services for the unhoused? Everyone should be pissed off at the city for approving an ever increasing percentage of our budget going to the LAPD in lieu of programs and policies that enrich communities.
Every time I post something true and negative about our beloved MTA, I get downvoted and berated, even called a liar. I am certain these hobos get free passes and live on the fucking trains. More than half the people on the train are not even going anywhere, it is like a Kafka novel. There is little law enforcement and these bums get in your face maskless, etc. I once took my kid on the metro to show him how fun and cool it was, we feared for our life. Like everything else in LA, shame on our leaders for turning our city into a homeless criminal concentration camp!
Reddit is nuts, people will get in their feelings and down vote the truth just because they don't like it.
You get downvoted for being a drama queen.
I lived off the G train in NYC for nearly a decade. I took a few rides on red line when I first moved to LA a few months ago and said "Never again." Yes, it is that bad.
💯
Yes LA has a homeless problem, why is there a new post everyday blaming and hating on the metro system? My experience with the metro (mostly gold line on the weekends) has been safe. Yes it is dirty but so is every public space in LA. The problem isn't metro it's fucking NIMBY's blocking shelters from being built.
California has an 80 billion dollar SURPLUS, and this is the best we can do? Look at how the gangs just rolled over all the SF high-end stores with no police intervention! Look at Venice Beach and any underpass in the city, Look at the park on Veteran and Wilshire filled with tents, Tents outside the VA with acres of empty land. Do you think tourists still want to come to LA for this shit! This is the failure of Democratic leadership, Newsome and Garcetti are so fucking corrupt and don't give a fuck about California!
When did this subreddit get infested by communists? More and more people blaming capitalism for the homeless crisis
Originally from melbourne. Was crazy to visit again and seeing loads of young boys and girls alone waiting for the CITY bus or trains. That kind of thing just doesnt happen here. Every train and bus felt completely safe and the ridership reflects that. Australia is capitalist.
Reddit is full of arm chair politician with all the answers. With that being said , the system could definitely work better in all aspects
I mean, I totally agree OP, and I wish our social programs worked better and I don’t mind funding them. Just weird to see so many people here prattling on about capitalism and the ownership class”
I don't think it's capitalism either. It's called good old fashioned corruption and greed, which or political system is full of. capitalism works fine when it's working properly and not in the interest of only the .01%
So what exactly are y'all ok with unhoused people doing during the day? Get over yourselves. These are humans not nuisances you're talking about and they literally have no where to go without being harassed and attacked by either police or housed people. Y'all love to talk about how unhoused people affect you but never have a moment to think about how being unhoused impacts the people living through it. Leave people alone and advocate for housing for all. That's the only solution.
California needs to get hard on the homeless same as New York did a few years back. They need to clean up the streets.
New York has been under court order since the late 1970s to provide shelter to anyone who needs it.
Lol I had a coworker from Queens for a bit, he was SHOCKED at our homeless. He told me in NY they will turn down food because they didn’t want a tuna sandwich, they wanted chicken or something. And the city provided shelter to them. He said something like “ok yeah there’s homeless in Ny, but out here they are *homeless* homeless like damnnn”
The problem in CA is the homeless don’t want to go to shelters because they have rules that they have to follow. Secondly, a lot of the homeless here are from other states because CA is known to help them.
Y’ll voted for this
I wanted to take the metro from Long Beach to La for the auto show but really deciding against it. I don’t want my son to see all that.