LA. Take your city back! This from a NYer. (Los Angeles: condos, neighborhood)

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

My sister lived in NYC for 15 years and moved to Sacramento. She expressed the same sentiments about the homeless/drugs situation there as you have.

Don't be fooled. NYC has one of the largest homeless populations in the United States. They just shelter them up in the winter. A good lot of the bunch just hang out on the subway all day.

LA just doesn't have the same hang ups as NYC. There is no WallStreet or Midtown. All Those business are either on Bunker Hill, Wilshire, or in Century City. So there's no high society movement to really push them out. In Manhattan, that is where the world is made. Those people complain, and the city listens. Just the same as it would if the homeless situation was critical mass in Brentwood, Palisades, Wilshire, or Hollywood Hills.

I mean compare a stroll down Mid Wilshire to a stroll in Skid Row. It's like night and day.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

^^This is a big part of the problem.

There's a stubborn arrogance/resistance/pride/denial to admit how bad the situation is and to admit what we've been doing (or not doing) isn't working--for anyone--the homeless, the drug addicts, or the taxpayers.

The documentary about the homeless situation in Seattle definitely applies to the situation we have up and down the West Coast:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw&t=3056s

Nobody, and I mean nobody, is “in denial” about how bad the homeless problem is. It’s just that some people love to tell others they are “wearing rose colored glasses”.

The documentary? It’s a classic piece of msm sensationalism: focus intense camerawork and jabber on a sad / ugly situation and make it full-screen armageddon. Seattle isn’t “Dying”. Neither is San Francisco or LA or San Diego. Quite the opposite. They are all booming with success. ... And an exploding homeless crisis is collateral damage - exactly because of the successes.

The crisis is real. Sad. Brutal ... for the homeless and the community both. Shameful. But exactly none of these communities are “Dying.” Marginalized poor populations are being displaced collaterally by development. Development of these scales doesn’t occur where cities are “Dying”.

Back to your many other conspiracy theories and prognostications of doom!

[Veritas Vincit]

It is a pretty dire situation and you have to have pretty good tunnel vision to avoid seeing it.

[Finper]

Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit

It is a pretty dire situation and you have to have pretty good tunnel vision to avoid seeing it.

I agree all the posters are saying BUT YOUR PLACE IS WORSE!!!! They sound like grade school kids on the play ground. typical Angelinos can't stand the truth right before their eyes

[vincenze]

Originally Posted by Texamichiforniasota

The Entertainment industry still has a little presence in LA

I have a neighbor. He is an actor. Does it count as the Entertainment industry?
5 jobs (Universal, bartender, shows) don't provide enough income to him. A $150,000 art degree from USC hasn't brought him "the big role".

Originally Posted by Texamichiforniasota

The aerospace factories closed primarily due to government contracts drying up in the early 1990's following the end of the Cold War, as well as massive consolidation in the industry in response. Taxes had little to nothing to do with it.

Somehow, it's profitable to make planes in Brazil and China, cars in Mexico, but not in LA.
Usually, salaries at these factories are higher than what service jobs pay.

Originally Posted by Texamichiforniasota

I'm not totally sure what this has to do with anything about LA, but I'm sure most of the seamstresses moved on to other jobs. American Apparel lost money for years before they declared bankruptcy. The textile industry has a hard time competing with South and SE Asia. It's not just LA.

American Apparel could've survived providing simple low-paying jobs.
But somebody instituted the minimum $15 wage and mandatory health insurance. The factory closed, of course.

[Texamichiforniasota]

Originally Posted by vincenze

I have a neighbor. He is an actor. Does it count as the Entertainment industry?
5 jobs (Universal, bartender, shows) don't provide enough income to him. A $150,000 art degree from USC hasn't brought him "the big role".


Somehow, it's profitable to make planes in Brazil and China, cars in Mexico, but not in LA.
Usually, salaries at these factories are higher than what service jobs pay.


American Apparel could've survived providing simple low-paying jobs.
But somebody instituted the minimum $15 wage and mandatory health insurance. The factory closed, of course.

Wages are lower in China, Mexico, Brazil, and Bangladesh. That's why those products are made there. It doesn't matter if wages are $10/hr or $15 in US garment factories when they are 40 cents an hour in Bangladesh. This isn't new, American Apparel lost money for 7 or 8 years in a row before declaring bankruptcy. It was probably an early part of the ongoing retail apocalypse.

As for heavy machinery like planes/cars, in Brazil heavy machinery factory workers make the equivalent of $6/hr, in China it's $5/hr, and in Mexico it's $3/hr. They also work longer shifts and don't get overtime or other protections. You're not going to find a lot of people in the US willing to work for those wages. The economy today is a challenge for low-skill workers. They now have to compete against a bunch of other low skilled workers all over the globe.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by Mr_Geek

What a constructive, well thought out post.

/s

Yours is amazingly informative!

[bad debt]

Originally Posted by Gerania

Yours is amazingly informative!

So is yours!

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by bad debt

So is yours!

Thank you!

[Cloudwalker]

The demise of American Apparel had much more to do with the antics of its CEO and the ongoing shift from brick and mortar stores to online shopping than the introduction of the minimum wage - which was $10 when American Apparel was sold in Jan 2017, not $15.