A homeless man who is often seen in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles wielding an axe and chopping branches off trees has frightened residents, according to the UK Daily Mail.
The man, described as wearing a headdress, nose plugs, and homemade sandals strapped to his feet, was spotted by the Daily Mail as he hacked branches off trees. He did not seem to be threatening anyone, but residents are nonetheless concerned.
The Daily Mail reported:
On Tuesday, DailyMail.com saw the man roaming the area with self-made sandals strapped with tape to his feet, and nose plugs in his nostrils attached to some sort of headdress.
The man was brandishing his axe and chopping branches off trees.
Another man was seen sitting nearby holding a makeshift sword.
There were nearly 42,000 homeless people on the streets of Los Angeles, as of last year’s homeless count.
Newly-installed Mayor Karen Bass has made managing homelessness a priority, moving 1,000 people into alternative housing in her first 100 or so days in office. But she has largely continued the policies of her predecessors, proposing more public spending on hotels and motels while the underlying problems remain.
Critics say that such policies, including Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort to send 1,300 RV’s to house the homeless during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, have an uneven track record. Some of the trailers sit unused today. Newsom has proposed a similar number of “tiny homes,” but these will only house a fraction of the homeless.
Many of the homeless suffer chronic mental illness or addiction. Some are homeless by choice, preferring an environment in which they can do as they wish without interference from city authorities who are less and less inclined to enforce the law.
Homelessness in California is also driven by the high cost of housing, by generous welfare benefits, by exploitative drug treatment programs, and by mild weather that makes street living easier.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Photo: file
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