In Los Angeles, failure has become a funding strategy.
Streetlights don’t work? Raise taxes.
Crime increases? Raise taxes.
Businesses leave? Raise fees.
It’s the same cycle — over and over again. Not because we don’t know how to fix these problems. But because it’s easier for government to bill you than to fix itself.
Let’s talk about the latest proposal: charging property owners more to repair streetlights. Sounds reasonable — until you ask the obvious question: Why are we paying again for something we already paid for? Streetlights aren’t broken because taxpayers didn’t do their part.
They’re broken because leadership didn’t do theirs.
Copper wire theft continues. Infrastructure gets vandalized. Repairs take too long.
And instead of fixing those root problems, the solution is: Send the bill to you. Again.
That’s not public service. That’s passing the buck — literally.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles is piling on new taxes everywhere you look — hotel taxes, business fees, assessments — at a time when families are stretched thin and small businesses are barely holding on.
And here’s the truth no one in Sacramento wants to say out loud: You cannot tax your way out of bad governance.
As a small business owner and community leader in the San Fernando Valley, I’ve sat across from families choosing between rent and groceries; entrepreneurs deciding whether to stay or leave California; and workers asking why they keep paying more while getting less.
They’re not asking for handouts. They’re asking for something simple: A government that works.
That means enforcing the law. Protecting infrastructure. Spending responsibly. And, delivering results before demanding more money.
Because if government can’t manage what it already has, giving it more won’t fix the problem. It will only make the failure more expensive.
If Los Angeles leaders can’t keep the lights on with the money they already take, what makes anyone believe they’ll do it after they take more?
Andreas Farmakalidis
Granada Hills
