The Los Angeles City Council, the Mayor and the LAPD finally evicted the squatters from Occupy LA yesterday. It took about 1,400 police, some of them wearing hazmat suits to do it, which meant they weren't on the streets fighting crime or answering radio calls. Almost 300 people were arrested.
The City Hall Park,in downtown Los Angeles used to have grass in the area shown above. It doesn't anymore, even with the rain Los Angeles has had lately and will have to be reseeded at taxpayer expense.
Over 30 tons of trash will have to be removed from the site, and 3,000 gallons of water in what amounts to a small swamp in a catch basin was vacuumed up and tested for hazardous materials.
Sanitation workers, many of them wearing hazmat suits complained about the stench and the vermin present. Many of them described it as a garbage dump, which is exactly what it was.Except garbage dumps are usually better maintained.
The estimated cost to the taxpayers for the cleanup alone is estimated at $500,000. That doesn't account for the costs incurred during their stay, police overtime, use of city facilities, the cost of incarcerating those protesters who refused to leave or the cost of repairs to the park.
Mayor Tony Villaraigosa went public about how proud he was that there was no violence surrounding the eviction of the Occupy protesters. It amazes me that he or anyone else could be proud of anything connected with this sordid affair.
It was the mayor and the majority of the city council who welcomed Occupy LA,passed a resolution applauding what they were doing and allowed them to break the city's laws with impunity. The fact that the mayor and most of the Council are Democrats likely had something to do with that.Particularly in the case of the mayor, who's making noises about running for governor next time out.
After making these vagrants welcome on public owned land at taxpayer expense, they were forced to pull the plug when it became an actual health hazard. And now,the mayor and the council expect the taxpayers of Los Angeles to pay the bill for their party.
You know what? You invited them to stay, you applauded them, you stood by as they created a garbage dump on publicly owned land.
It's your mess. The cost to an already cash strapped city is probably just shy of a million dollars. You pay for it - out of your own pockets.
don't make the mayor/city council PAY for the clean up.
ReplyDeletemake the mayor/city council DO the clean up themselves.
the police were in hazmat suits?
when was the last time you saw police hesitant to put their hands on you?
one other thing i've noticed is how all the talking heads are now trying to draw similarities between the tea party and "these" people.
ReplyDeleteThe key difference between an OWS protester and Tea Partier is OWS protestor = non taxpayer/recipient of government largess, tea partier = taxpayer. Essentially OWS personnel primarily comprise those folks in America who don't pay taxes. Tea partiers make are in the group who does.
ReplyDeleteYour last two paragraphs are spot on, however, I'd add to that the OWS people who made the mess should be the ones who should carry out the labor to clean this up. This should be done at gun point if necessary. Also, as much of the cost of the clean up as is possible should be deducted from the government benefits that OWS personnel are receiving. This way they bear some of the costs of their actions.
How taxpayer money is spent is a VERY serious business. Since the country is at or near bankruptcy how taxpyaer money is spent takes on even more urgency. I think I get why tea partiers are so upset. The money they pay in taxes is being squandered in this manner.
I never heard of the Tea Party leaving behind a virtual garbage dump in their wake like these beggars have.
ReplyDeleteUCSP Panther,
ReplyDeleteI have not heard of this either. If they had, the media would have been all over it to criticize the tea party. As pointed out eariler, tea party personnel are generally net taxpayers. As such, they realize that if they made such a mess they would be ones who would bear the cost of cleaning it up. On the other hand, OWS personnel, are generally net recipients of government spending programs. Since they are not bearing the cost of these actions, they have no concern for the damage caused.
Frankly, America is at or near bankruptcy, its debts are massive, its infrastructure is crumbling, and it is hard pressed to be capable of coming up with the funds necessary to address the crumbling infrastructure. Then these idiots go out and trash public property forcing funds to be diverted from where it needs to be spent to fix this!!
Americans are an unserious people who are in serious times. Unless this changes its hard to envision a scenario where America can survive. Some states are not as far along on the destructive path as others are. If things continue on the current path, those states may be forced to seceede from the union. We cannot allow ourselves to be pulled down by these incompetent, thieving boobs.