Gary Horton’s column May 26 on homelessness was spot on! We have the cash to handle this problem appropriately. Throwing cash at the problem is not the solution. Using common sense in spending and enforcing laws is the only way out. I don’t know where the idea came from that people have the right to set up camp on anyone’s sidewalk? That is not freedom for anyone, including you and me if it is the sidewalk in front of your house! Homeless are dying on the street on a regular basis because they are not getting the services they truly need, i.e., health care, drug treatment and mental health. If money went into these services instead of $750,000 condos that no one will stay in, we would see progress.
I travel around the L.A. basin for work regularly. I find it interesting that Burbank and Glendale have no obvious homeless people on the streets, yet the San Fernando Valley and L.A. look like a third world country with trash and tents everywhere you look. Why is it that Glendale and Burbank can enforce the law of no public camping on sidewalks and L.A. County does not? I wonder if L.A. County is willing to allow this during the 2028 Olympics. What an embarrassment in front of the whole world.
Lore Bertuch
Santa Clarita
