Many Californians who are used to cleaner streets cite homelessness as the No. 1 issue affecting their lives. Politicians end up playing hot potato when asked to deal with the problem. We don’t need academic studies or think tanks tackling this issue; sometimes, we simply need the homeless to find shelter other than camps in front of our houses or businesses.
Joseph Gharib, whom I met recently, is the owner of several paid parking lots in Hollywood. He also has his main offices in the heart of one of America’s favorite tourist attractions. Pre-COVID-19, 48 million tourists came annually to Los Angeles, and Hollywood is a top Los Angeles destination. Sadly, even before the shutdown and the exacerbation of the homelessness crisis, Hollywood was starting to develop a reputation as an underwhelming slum.
Gharib describes the view of Hollywood Boulevard as “horrific.” Though his office is gated, the homeless have been regularly camped out on the staircases to his office. Sometimes a random homeless person would walk inside his office wanting to use the bathroom. In Los Angeles, it is legal for the homeless to sleep outside, even if they are affecting access to people’s businesses.
At one of Gharib’s parking lots, the homeless had taken over the sidewalk with their tents and blocked access to the lot. This affected his business for about two months before he could actually get them removed. During this time, they took power from the ground and had full-on enclosures.
Gharib called the police, but they were not allowed to move the homeless due to COVID. The police referred the business owner to a Hollywood business improvement district, which then referred him to street services. Street services gave the same answer, “We can’t touch them,” and kicked the responsibility football over to a homeless liaison, who at least gave lip service to Gharib’s request: “No problem. We will talk to them and move them.”
Little did Gharib know it would take many more weeks. He brought the issue to his city councilman, whose field deputy tried to help.
Finally, after three weeks, the tents blocking access to Gharib’s lot were removed. But not by any power of the government entities that played hot potato with this case.
Funnily enough, it was a private entity that ultimately solved the problem. One of the people in the neighborhood was annoyed with the homeless encampment and figured out that the only way to move the homeless was to pay for a tree service to cut the nearby trees, thus clearing the area. This citizen paid for the service with his own money.
To this day, encampments are still everywhere and growing by the number. This has affected Gharib’s business, as customers are reticent to park in his lot because, while he can keep the lot safe and hygienic, the optics of the outside quickly turn off potential customers.
Naturally, crime has increased, and there’s a new problem of street races on Hollywood Boulevard, where there is hardly any police presence anymore, especially on weekends. Meanwhile, everyone is tiptoeing around the problem, and no one is taking any tangible measures.
Gharib, an honest business owner tired of the inefficacy of government, told me, “Bring Hollywood back. That was a dream. It’s not Hollywood anymore. It’s a walk of shame, not a walk of fame anymore. Shame on the city council. Shame on the mayor’s office. Shame on the bureaucracy. Shame on everyone who completely ignored the businesses. Every Hollywood business would attest to how much they have been ignored.”
It is clear that we need action, not an endless loop of government officials who won’t take responsibility.
Marc Ang ([email protected]) is the president of the Chinese American Citizens Alliance in Orange County, co-chairman of “Recall Gascon Now,” and the founder of AsianIndustryB2B. His book Minority Retort will be released in late 2021.
