People are leaving Los Angeles, California, in droves because of the city’s public safety problems and persistent fiscal difficulties.
Despite the city’s feckless efforts, Los Angeles continued to struggle in 2023 with alarmingly high rates of emigration, homelessness, and drug overdoses.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the blue-run city may have to increase taxes, suspend employment, eliminate public programs and services, and postpone infrastructure projects.
The Times reports that to address the worsening financial situation, Mayor Karen Bass’s administration is considering eliminating 2,000 open public jobs, or about 5% of the total. Unfilled positions in the Bureau of Sanitation, Transportation, Parks and Recreation, Police, and Fire Departments are among those that may be eliminated in the next layoffs.
City Controller Kennet Mejia has said that slashing these agencies’ budgets might be necessary to achieve fiscal parity. The Times reports that while crime is still sparing, Mejia suggested that Bass and the city increase prices for essential services like garbage collection, sewage management, and public infrastructure like lighting.
The number of people killed and shot in 2023 was more than in 2019. While robberies decreased in frequency in 2023, the majority of those that did occur featured weapons. Thefts of both personal items and automobiles were up during that year.
Los Angeles ranks fifth among 48 large cities ranked by the Brookings Institute for the most homeless individuals per capita. Los Angeles spends more than $1 billion annually to attempt to alleviate the homelessness epidemic, which affects over 47,000 individuals. That is over 20,000 dollars a year per homeless person, which begs the question, where is the money going?
Los Angeles is still struggling with the drug and overdose problem. Los Angeles saw a 1,652% spike in the number of overdose fatalities caused by fentanyl, from 109 in 2016 to nearly 1,900 in 2022, according to national statistics. Overdose fatalities among the homeless population increased by 105% from 2019 to 2022, according to a study issued in 2023.
In some cases, the city has reportedly given drug paraphernalia to people with an addiction so that they may use narcotics securely.
Los Angeles saw the worst dip of any U.S. city or county by a ratio of two, with a population drop of 56,420 from 9,719,765 in July 2022 to 9,663,345 in 2023, according to Census Bureau statistics.
Between July 2022 and July 2023, the population fell in almost 40 of California’s 58 counties. At the same time, most counties in Arizona, Florida, and Texas saw the most significant gains in population.
