In partnership with

Normally, when we think of the American Revolution, what usually comes to mind first are the lofty ideals of the emerging democratic age:

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

“Give me liberty or give me death”

That kind of thing. But we forget that what the colonists were really upset about was taxes. Some things never change, right? 

It’s probably a good moment for our current President, who absolutely love tariffs, to remember the Boston Tea Party. As Americans, it’s in our blood to hate taxes, especially on the things we love, and we are certainly just as addicted to cheap foreign goods as the colonists were to their daily tea! 

Anyway, “No taxation without representation” was as important of a rallying cry as liberty and the right to self-governance.

I started thinking about all this a few weeks ago after a crazy weekend. I don’t know what was in the air—besides smoke and ash, I guess—but we had quite a day. We’re, more or less, always encountering unhoused individuals but usually it amounts to nothing. This weekend was different and it struck me that our failure to properly address the homelessness crisis amounts to a kind of unfair tax on the community.

The Daily Newsletter for Intellectually Curious Readers

If you're frustrated by one-sided reporting, our 5-minute newsletter is the missing piece. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you comprehensive, unbiased news—free from political agendas. Stay informed with factual coverage on the topics that matter.

Join for free today!

Let me explain.

In recent weeks, there’s been a lot more unhoused individuals around the neighborhood. Clearly, the fires have displaced more than just homeowners. This is probably inevitable in a town where there are over 75K unhoused individuals. Some mini-encampments have even started to form down the street and I had another “fake citizen” moment with my wife about one near the house. While I’ll save that story for another day, you can bet that she was right once again. LOL

The first weekend after the fires, as we went about trying our best to live our normal lives, we had a series of back-to-back situations that really put me on edge and opened my eyes to this tax idea. 

It started at Fatburger. This is a place we go to often so we’ve come to know most of the employees there. I walked in and, in my usual friendly way, said “Hi” to everyone and asked if they were all staying safe. Expecting a response related to the fires, our friend said:

“Other than getting attacked and punched in the face yesterday by a deranged homeless person, I’ve been ok.” 

It was then that I noticed the big forming bruise below her right eye.  By the way, she’s about 5 foot 1 and the nicest person. She told me that this safety threat was a daily problem. Yikes! The manager later told me that they have had to adjust staffing levels to make sure there’s enough people in the store at all times—a strength in numbers thing.  

Strike 1.

There is a Subway right next door to the Fatburger and while the boys and I are eating burgers my wife will often go for a “healthier” option next door. I don’t mind because the soda machine is better there. 

That same day, I went next door to get a soda and the machine was turned off. “Oh No!” I thought. When I asked the employees there if it was broken, they said, “Oh no, we just turn it off because the homeless people keep coming in and using it without paying or even asking.” “Of course,” I thought to myself.

This is something that is happening all over town. We’ve essentially outsourced a huge chunk of the cost of feeding and hydrating our unhoused population to restaurants and coffee shops, without really getting their consent and certainly without compensation. This is neither fair nor right. 

Strike 2. 

Later that day, we went to the Smart and Final down on Wilshire to pick up some snacks and drinks for a first responder drive going on at the school. This is when things really took a turn.

We grabbed all our stuff and got in line. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone staring aggressively in my direction. He had that menacing look in his eyes, like a rage. “Obviously, he cannot be looking at me,” I thought as instinctively checked over my shoulder behind me. 

But he was, indeed, looking at me and was saying all kinds of crazy things. I couldn’t make most of it out but it had something to do with not letting me “snitch on him” and me being a “punk b@tch”--his words, not mine! He was going on and on and getting louder and louder. I told my wife to take the kids to the car just in case.

Meanwhile, someone walked up behind me in line who I thought was involved in some kind of heated phone discussion. We made eye contact and for a second as I scanned the room behind me and I thought I overhead him talking about the deranged guy yelling at me. I imagined he might be an ally. But when I glanced back again, I realized he had neither a phone nor a headset and was just talking to himself.

At this point, I didn’t know where to look so I just kept my head down and focused on getting out of there without a scene. The aggressive individual kept going on and on yelling in my direction and several would-be customers turned tail at the door. Meanwhile, all the clerks just kind of kept their heads down and went about their business, clearly used to this kind of situation. 

Strike 3.

As we were driving away, I realized that this crisis operates as a giant, unfair tax on our community. To be sure, homelessness impacts us all but some are clearly paying a bigger price than others. Small businesses all over town are having to adjust staffing levels to create a safer environment for employees and customers (increase cost), limiting their service offerings (reduced revenue), and regularly losing customers (lost revenue). None of this is right, fair, or good for the city. 

Homelessness taxes us in other ways as well:

• Our public parks are unsafe and their restroom facilities often unusable

• Our public transit system is dangerous, dirty, and arguably unusable

• It’s rare to find an open customer bathroom in coffee shops and restaurants all around town

• Owners and employees of local business are stressed

• Our police and fire stations are inundated with calls and distracted from other critical work

• Our kids feel unsafe

What to do? 

Up until now, I’ve been supportive of the idea of the Housing First strategy.  Homelessness is a very complex issue and getting people off the streets and into stable living conditions is absolutely helpful and maybe even critical to the success of rehabilitation efforts.  However, it feels like we have just run out of time and simply don’t have and never will have the resources to see it through.  In a town like this, where development is near impossible, waiting around to find enough money to build all the housing we need is a ludicrous idea.  We have to do something else.  

The time has come to reclaim our public spaces, eliminate unfair taxes on the community, and make Los Angeles safe for everyone. While our political leaders have been afraid to stand up and tell the truth, I am not. Homelessness must simply not be allowed to proliferate in our city, no matter what. 

While I wholeheartedly support all the on-going efforts we have to support housing resources, we need to get serious about building shelter capacity and creating a less permissive environment. This will be expensive no doubt and require new taxes. But Angelenos, who are already paying the price every day, will welcome this burden if it comes with a strategy that can actually work to rapidly decrease homelessness.

Like what you’re reading? Join us on our socials for more content throughout the week. 🙏 Thank you!