Even As LA Pours Money Into Homeless Crisis, City Gets Tied Up In Red Tape
An initiative to open public bathrooms on skid row was cheered as a step forward, but only three months later they're already gone again. "If we can't get something as simple as mobile restrooms up and running, that doesn't give me a lot of faith the city can produce the leadership needed to produce housing units," said Pete White of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a skid row anti-poverty group.
Los Angeles Times:
It Took More Than A Decade To Open Public Bathrooms On Skid Row. After Three Months, They're Already Gone
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti's unveiling of the first new public bathrooms on skid row in more than a decade was seen as a possible turning point for the homeless enclave, which remains mired in misery even as downtown development closes in around it. But after more than three months of operation, the trailers with toilets and showers shut down in late March for a planned expansion and now are gone. Across town, bathroom access for Venice's homeless people is hung up over approvals from other agencies. (Holland, 5/29)
In other news from across the state —
Ventura County Star:
Grand Jury Calls For Independent Monitoring Of VCMC Drug Program
The Ventura County Grand Jury has called for independent oversight to make sure Ventura County Medical Center complies with federal rules for a discounted drug program. The Ventura-based hospital and other health care facilities serving needy patients buy the drugs at significant discounts. Medicare and private insurers reimburse the institutions at higher rates, allowing the providers to keep the difference and pay for expanded patient services, officials said.But recent federal audits showed VCMC and other providers had violated rules for the 340B program, resulting in repayments to the drug companies. (Wilson, 5/29)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Illegal Pot Grows Spread Deadly Pesticides, Other Hazards, Despite Change In Law
The legalization of cannabis in California has done almost nothing to halt illegal marijuana growing by Mexican drug cartels, which are laying bare large swaths of national forest in California, poisoning wildlife, and siphoning precious water out of creeks and rivers, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said Tuesday. The situation is so dire that federal, state and local law enforcement officials are using $2.5 million from the Trump administration this year to crack down on illegal growers, who Scott said have been brazenly setting booby traps, confronting hikers and attacking federal drug-sniffing dogs with knives. (Fimrite, 5/29)