A Los Angeles city councilman just coined a new appellation for the drug-addicted vagrants who colonize city streets. They are “our neighbors,” says Hugo Soto-Martínez, a member of the L.A. Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. Who knew?
This new identity is even more cheeky than the original rebranding of such vagrants as “the homeless.” Soto-Martinez used the “neighbors” designation to persuade his fellow council members to allow homeless encampments near senior centers and libraries and around freeway overpasses. The previous occupant of Soto-Martinez’s seat had banned such encampments in his and, eventually, Soto-Martinez’s district, which includes Hollywood and Echo Park. Last Tuesday’s 10–3 vote repealed that ban. At present, the repeal applies only to what is now Soto-Martinez’s jurisdiction. But expect this green light for street squalor to extend more widely, as the Left pushes Los Angeles further toward uncontrolled anarchy.
