August 12, 2026 • 31 mins
Hour 1- Monks and Merrill are covering the latest with LA28, the suspension of LAHSA from federal grant activity, and an accounting glitch that caused LA's increase in the homeless count. PLUS Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez wants to revoke 12 special enforcement zones. We explain why and what all this means on KFIAM-640.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Je Merrill.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
II.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Monks and Meryl. Give us the news.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Baby, I'm uncomfortable. I'm also uncomfortable. Hosted by Michael Monks
and Chris Merrill on K I.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Thank you as always for making us a part of
your afternoon. I'm Chris Merril. The good looking one is
Michael Monks.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
You'll find us on the social media's at Monks and
Merrill at Monks and Marilyn. If you haven't done y,
please subscribe. We would invite you to the podcast on
the iHeartRadio app. Michael, I gotta tell you for those
that are unfamiliar behind the scenes here, Michael does such
a fine job of finding stories that other places have
not even found yet.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
This goes back to your your acumen as a reporter.
Oh thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, and you sent me one this morning that I
thought this looks really good.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I don't understand it. It seemed very.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Much uh wonk speak or I guess a official speak,
because I was a bit lost on this Enhanced City
Resources Mastery Agreement for the twenty twenty eight Olympic at
Paralympic Games.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
You want to help me understand what this really means? Well, yeah,
that is wonk speak.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
That's the way a lot of stuff is labeled at
city Hall, and the La City Council today is voting
on this Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement for the games
that are coming in just a couple of years, probably
the last Olympics that the world we'll ever see after
LA gets finished with it. And Kenneth Mahea, the City Controller,
put out a statement yesterday that I caught online that says,
(01:35):
we're not happy about this. This is going to put
us in financial vulnerable state.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I read the report that was turned in the report
for the motion or whatever, blah blah blah, but I
was reading it, I didn't see what the issue was.
Let me see if I can interpret this is not
wonk speak. Basically, what they're saying is the city is
going to provide normal resources. Anything beyond normal, well, in
other words, we're if we have one hundred cops on
(02:02):
the street at that time, there will be a hundred
cops in the street at that time. That's part of
our cost. Anything beyond that will provide the cops, for instance,
but we need reimbursement from LA twenty eight. That's been
the big fear for local people, especially politicians. In a
city with it because they are contractually obligated to be
stuck with it. I think it's like the first two
(02:23):
hundred and seventy million dollars or so that if there
are cost overruns associated with the city with the Olympics,
the city has to cover at first, and then the
state has to cover and then the rest will come
back to the city.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And so what they're saying is no, no, no, we're not
going to pay any of this LA twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
You have to pay this. That seems like everything that
we wanted. So what is Kenneth Mehea's issue? The controller?
I mean, he's the guy that has the control of
the purse strings, right.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
And keep in mind he has now inserted himself in
the laaoral race. He is supporting Nifia Rahman, the challenger
the city councilman against incumbent mayor Karen Bass. So while
he's not while this type of statement's not unfamiliar to him,
you have to look at it through that lens. Now
he is basically part of the Raman campaign. And I
don't know if this is an attempt to make Karen
(03:05):
Bass look bad. But she said, excuse me, Mahea says,
the people of LA were promised to zero cost games,
and that's true, right, this was not supposed to cost
as anything. We're not building anything new, and we're not
really sure if that's completely true.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yet.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
He says that means all excess city services provided to
the Olympics should be reimbursed. No money should go to
a legacy entity until the city is made whole. And
he says it's the council's responsibility to protect taxpayers.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Okay, so if I understand this, right. He's upset that
this doesn't go far. And he says there's not enough transparency. Okay,
there aren't enough guarantees that we all be stuck with
the bill. And do you think the leadership at Los
Angeles City Hall is strong enough not to be hoodwinked
by the smart people who were putting together the Olympics. No, right,
And but I think this is a good first step though.
(03:53):
I mean, this is what you have to have. They're saying, Look,
anything that is beyond what we would normally prove for
safety and security in the city at this time of this,
you know, this year, whatever it is, you guys have
to cover the costs on that. I guess the problem
is where's the where's the where's the teeth to that motion?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, that's what he wants to know. That's the issue.
That's what he wants.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
It's like they're saying, it would be really nice if
you pay us back, not if you don't pay us back,
here are your consequences. This is what we're going to do.
So it's it's a it's a motion without any teeth.
It sounds like that, that's right, He says.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
LA twenty eight must be transparent about how they're spending
your tax dollars before it's too late to do anything
about it. So that's what he wants to know, is,
so what do we do since LA taxpayers are on
the hook if this thing does not go well.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Okay, So if LA twenty eight says, wait a minute,
we're not paying that bill. You didn't give us this
many cops. We said we needed this many cops, and
you were supposed to open up this street. You didn't
open up this street or you didn't close this street.
So LA twenty eight says, well, we're not going to
pay for that. So if they go line item through
things and they refuse to pay certain bills, again, there's
really no teeth and we.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Don't know how much some things are going to cost.
In fact, we won't get the final venue agreements until
July of next year, and then we will get a
clearer picture of what final monthly cost estimates will look
like in October next.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Year, kids, and we don't have a venue agreement in place.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
And I think that's part of Mehia's concerns is that
this the games are going full speed ahead, and there's
a lot of interest in these games. I mean, there
have been some successes. I think I've expressed some pretty
reasonable doubts about whether LA is going to be responsible
with this gift of hosting this international competition. Because the
city looks like crap, and the city itself is so
(05:40):
poorly managed. I would prefer that the city kind of
stay out of it as much as possible, But because
we tax payers are on the hook, we do need
to make sure that leadership is paying close attention.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well. That is a really frustrating spot for us to
be in.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Of course, and again we don't know the venue agreements
until July of next year. We won't know the final
monthly cost estimates until October of last year next Halloween,
in fact, almost November, so we're more than a year
away from knowing that this master Agreement just establishes the process.
But because there are so many consequential financial decisions left
up in the air, Kenneth Mehea is ringing the bell. Okay,
so this seems like it's sort of a blanket statement.
(06:14):
Then that says, yeah, you guys should pay us things
that you owe us. But what Mahea is basically saying
is this isn't covering contingencies. It's just saying, yeah, you
should pay us, which leaves far too much wiggle room
for somebody to say, you weren't specific about that, not
clear to tell us more, not clear.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
What you'll lois that's great, and we won't know until
we get up to it. And the problem is this
is a city that has proved year after year recently
that they're incapable of handling finances. And Kenneth Mehea is
inarguably the most popular politician in the city based on
vote totals. I mean, he's sailed through his first election
(06:51):
four years ago. He was re elected handily, this time
more votes than the mayor got. Yeah, so I mean
he's worth listening to on this, even though he has
politicized the office a bit by endorsing Nithia Will.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Yeah, the council members are very busy, though they've got
important things to do, like protecting tents on sidewalks rather
than protecting sidewalks.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Boy, there's a city councilman here in Los Angeles. So
they have this mechanism called forty one eighteen. That's the
ordinance that allows city council people to ban homeless camps
from certain parts of their neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And I've blown away that we had to have a
separate ordinance to allow people to get rid of homeless.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Well, I think everything they do is technically documented. They
just because it's so controversial, they refer to it by
its ordinance number. Well, clean up the clean up the
crap ordinance is what it should be called. Well, there's
one city councilman that wants to clean up the ordinance
by not enforcing it in his district. He's going to repeal,
recind some of the orders. We'll talk about that a
little bit bad news for Hollywood plus the Lakers sold.
(07:43):
We're going to get into that a little later in
the show as well. Big big news out of local
sports land. More to come on Monks and Merril on
this Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
Am sixty more stimulating talk.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Monks and Roll. Great to have you with us on
a Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Is it Wednesday? Is it Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Sometimes they get scared, that's why you say it so frequently,
but it is Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Oh that was very helpful. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
We know what they're gonna do with the body of
our beloved big bear eagle Jackie, who passed away.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
What is the parlier this week? Wildlife officials have shared
those plans. They will do a neck ropsy. Yep, it's
like an autopsy, but I'm a bird.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, we did learn a little bit more about health.
It was just bad cause of death.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
And I think there's a lot of people that want
to find out if there's pesticides or rodent sides that
maybe the bird got into, or maybe eight like a
mouse or something that had been into some decon or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, don't eat the rats. Don't eat the rats. Did
they come from Taylor Farms? Stop it?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
So they're going to do this neck Ropsy at the
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and then her remains will
be transported to the National Eagle Repository. This is a
federal facility operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Services
Office of Law Enforcement Okay, and the National Ego Repository receives, evaluates, stores,
(09:06):
and distributes eagle remains, parts and feathers.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Where do they distribute the things?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
They will give them to enrolled members of federally recognized
tribes throughout the US for religious, cultural, and ceremonial purpose.
So Jackie will live on in the spirit of other
people who are celebrating the land in the in the
history of the of the wildlife.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I don't I don't fully understand that line, though I
know that Native Americans are involved.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, but they're going to take parts.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Of her and give it to various tribes, pluck her feathers, jittiplue,
Marilrie know what this means. But yeah, sounds like good.
I think that's a wonderful way to pay tribute to her.
Of course, I think that's great. Yeah, you would say that.
What I can't be happy about this.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
I mentioned that there's an LA City councilman who wants
to get rid of the law and his district that
allows him to remove homeless camps from vulnerable areas like
in front of parks. And keep in mind, this is
the guy represents Hollywood Boulevard, one of our great tourist attractions,
which looks like hell right now, we'll get into that
in the bottom of the hour. But it's just another
microcosm another example of how can't get rid of homeless tents. Well,
(10:18):
just how varied the response is here. It's why it's
a problem is because you don't have everybody walking in
lockstep to one acknowledges a serious problem and to how
to deal with it. So the Trump administration got involved.
They suspended federal funds to the LA Homeless Services Authority.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And oh, I've got the a little bit of the press.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, let's hear any okay, Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Todd Turner holding up what he says is being given
to LA's drug addicted homeless population.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
This is not a continuum of care that I'm that
I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
These are this is drug paraphernalia. It was what just
drug paraphernalia.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Drug paraphernalia like he said, drug paraphernalia, just drug paraphernale.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Turner was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Junior at a news conference Tuesday, vowing to crack
down on what they say is widespread waste, fraud, corruption,
and abuse of taxpayer dollars. That is, quote, expanding the
drug fueled homeless industrial complex instead of delivering real resultsdults
(11:18):
end quote.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Oh end quote, sir, I mean I don't disagree with them, no.
And when he held up the bag, it had like
needles and crack bikes. You know, there is something to
be said about the Trump administration's actions in La. We
know that the immigration enforcement efforts here were I think
widely unpopular on the whole here. I know there were
(11:39):
people who support it, but you saw local officials and
a lot of residents speak out against the way that
they were handled. However, when it comes to the homelessness
and the crime and the drug the open air drug
markets that they've targeted in places like MacArthur Park and
now with the fraudulent behavior that we know exists, which
then the LA Homeless Services Authority, you have to applaud
them because they're doing what local officials have had the
(12:02):
capacity to do for a long time. Now, LASA sued
went to court to get their federal funds. It looks
like a judge is on their side right now. But
this press conference is effective because it highlights in a
grand way what the response locally looks like, which is,
we know you have a homeless problem here, Let's give
(12:23):
them materials to do their drugs with while they're outside
in your kid's park. I think it's very frustrating for
all of us, and I think that people have spoken
out about this time and time again, and yet the
problem doesn't get any better. And I would even say
the establishment of enabling these people continues to grow. Now,
forget the judge says lassa federal government, you can't cut
(12:46):
off the funding to loss it, probably because it's been
designated as a congressional thing, this sort of stuff. But
I think you made a really good point when you said,
this draws eyes to it. Amen, This draws eyes to it,
and I hope that it continues to put pressure on
the politicians who continue to waste the money. What we're
seeing now is this homeless industrial complex. They use the
(13:07):
phrase the homeless industrial complex is something that perpetuates itself. Wow,
curing homelessness might turn off the spigot of our of
our gravy train that we've got going on here. So
we've got what consultant, subcontractors, outreach teams, We've got admins.
We've got one CEO from one company that's living in Hawaii,
(13:27):
makes one point six million dollars a year, doesn't even
know where California is. And that's just hunky dory. That's fantastic. Meanwhile,
homelessness is it's up. It's up again this year. It's
up almost sixty percent. Over the course of the last
ten years. Everything that they've done has backfired. This experiment
is over over. I don't mind people thinking outside the
(13:49):
box and taking big swings, but I got to tell you,
if you take the big swing and it doesn't work,
that's when you have to go back and you got
to figure out a different swing, because.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
This is just not doing it.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
And you have multiple swings happening. Whether it's the Mayor's
inside Safe program, whether it's LASA doing its ridiculous contracting
with these nonprofits that don't do anything, whether it's Nitiya
Rahman saying sure, we'll take sixty million dollars from taxpayers
to subsidize the rent, and after all these months, have
three leases signed, or whether it's the County of Los
Angeles saying, oh, don't worry, we'll create a new LOSSA,
(14:20):
but it won't be the old loss It'll just be
LASA with more money and the exact same staff.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
But it's not LASA. It's a rebrand, that's all of it.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
It's ridiculous, all of these responses, and so HUD Secretary
Scott Turner and Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Junior.
What they said was our aim is that LASA does
not receive another dollar until it has accountability.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Amen. How many people outside of the progressive wonk class
in Los Angeles, how many people are opposed to that?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah? Exactly.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Look, I want to see I want to see some
federal dot. We pay more into the federal government than
we get back from the federal government. I'd like to
see that money go toward trying to end homelessness. But
I don't blame them for saying what you're doing now
doesn't work. You can't have another dime until until you
figure out a different way to do it.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Because this isn't it.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
No, draw all the eyes you want to it, But
until you draw the right eyes, the ones who pull
the levers of power, it doesn't matter. And they're still
running around talking about especially at LA City Hall. But
what do we do with loss in now? If you
don't have the answer, now, what are you doing holding
any position of leadership?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
So we were told that homelessness film, and then we
were told, oh, it's up over three percent this year.
And then yesterday you found out why the politicians were
telling you not to believe your own eyes. Come to
find out they didn't know how to count things. People
never even left the street, and the homeless agencies couldn't count.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
That was the issue.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
They literally couldn't even put their fingers and toes together
to count to ten who lost them?
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Who lost the homeless that we've just found.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
That's next. Monks and Merril k I am six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio ed.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Have a gander at the social media is at Monks
and Merrill. At Monks and Merrill. On the social media,
it's easy to find, easy to do, and we want
to invite you to see us behind the scenes where
Michael gave Juggling a shot today. Not good, well done,
My Star of the Movies attributed to John Williams. Coming
to Hollywood bul September fourth, fifth, and sixth, David Newman
leading the La Philharmonic in a concert celebration of John
(16:22):
Williams scores with specially edited scenes from movies like Star Wars, Indiana, Jones,
Harry Potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Moore on the Bulls
Big screen tickets around sale now Hollywood Bowl dot com.
We were talking about the homeless Industrial Complex and how
the the FEDS have said they're not going to give
another penny to the Helly the Hella Homeless Services Authority
(16:46):
tired of watching it get just funnel through waste, fraud
and abusive schemes.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Monks and Merril loved the show. Thank you. Listen.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
The Homeless Industrial Complex has turned into a massive scam.
The people that don't believe that are the ones that
are actually involved in it. The only way this will
ever get fixed, and it won't ever get fixed, is
if California spent billions and billions of dollars building mental
health facilities way out in the desert and then just
shipped most of these people there and they would actually
(17:14):
have to live there long term, along with other homeless people.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It sucks. I even known that it needs to be
out in the desert.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
I don't know where it has to be, but it
had to be fifteen years ago. They've already spent billions
of dollars on other things when this was clearly the problem.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
It's one thing if you've got and you've brought this
up before, you've got people who are down in their luck.
You've got families, somebody lost their job. They may need
some temporary housing, rent assistance, that kind of thing. I
understand that, but I do think And my wife asked
me this morning, she said, to any roosters outside today?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
And I said, just two?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Just two people getting off the metro and then getting
out and yelling at nothing.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Nothing.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, just yelling into the air, just screaming. Right, they're
having arguments in their own head. We're talking about people's
schizophrenia here. I mean, we're talking about people that are
seeing ghosts, that sort of thing. They're going to need
that permanent supporting care. Yeah, they need that it's that's
the way it's gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
And in five years from now, when locals realize that,
the local leaders realize that they're gonna come and they're
gonna put a measure on the ballot and ask us
to raise the sales tax again because they're gonna need
additional five to ten billion dollars or whatever to finally
do what should have been done already.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
And as far as the drug addicts go, there's we're
gonna have to have some some mandated treatment, enforced treatment.
It's gonna have to happen with the drug addicts on
the streets. I was watching Fox eleven had a story
where they were they were on I think they were
on Hope Street, and they were talking about how the
oh these buildings have new ways of boarding up their windows.
I thought, you got to be joking. Well, there was
a fire there and they were showing that the remains
(18:38):
of the fire people crawling into the building that had
just burned so that they could try to scavenge whatever
they could. While they were doing the video, they had
somebody breaking into the building behind them. It was crazy,
and you think we're just okay with this, So frustrating.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
We talk about it a lot on the show. I
know occasionally we get a comment or a note from
folks like you guys talk too much about a homelessness that's.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
The biggest issue facing us.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Factly, what I try to emphasize is that it's not
just the issue itself, it's all of the related issues
and the issues that it causes. The reason you see
empty storefronts, whether it be downtown in LA which is
too close to skid Row, or other parts of the region,
you can bet that you've got a thriving homeless camp nearby,
right And there's only so much that a small business.
On top of all the regulations and the expensive rent
(19:22):
that you have to pay to do business at all
in California, the high wages that you have to pay,
you can't keep up with the amount of maintenance and security. No,
you can't, the loss prevention efforts that you have to
go through. And that's all related to this homeless drug
addict problem.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
And then we've got this HeLa homeless services authority that
is supposed to be counting the people on the streets.
Now we understand you can't have an exact account, but
they do have a system. They have a method of
trying to determine how many people are on the street,
and one of those things has to do with reaching
out to the different shelters and saying how many people
you got.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
It's the point in time count that they have.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
The last two years, they said, well, there's been a
decrease to the number of people that are living on
the street, and of course may Or Bass has come
out and said, everything I've done has.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Been working great. This last year that number went up.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Then what we found out yesterday is that, oh, they
actually weren't getting some of the numbers from at least
one at least one rescue mission, and that rescue mission,
the numbers didn't come into LASA. There's a question about
whether or not LASA requested those numbers and didn't get them,
or if they LASSA just forgot to reach out and
(20:33):
ask how many you got this year. But in the meantime,
we're gonna have to revise some of those numbers from
the last two years. Homelessness did not drop as much
as we thought the last couple of years, but then
also this last year when it went back up, it
didn't go up quite as much as what we would
have assumed as well.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
So it's basically been flat.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
It's is still a problem whether you thought you were
turning in the right direction or this year, if you
thought you were turning in the wrong direction. Flat is
the wrong direction. What are we getting for the billion dollars?
That's request, Sam bro We talked about this yesterday and
this story that the La Times had, and so we
had actually some people from the Union Rescue Mission reach
(21:10):
out to us after the show and they said, hey,
we've got a statement. I want to make sure you
guys get a chance, and I told them we'll update today.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Mark Hood, the CEO of the Union Rescue Mission, put
out this statement. We obviously take the homeless count very seriously,
since maintaining an accurate account is the only way we
can truly know if we are making progress and reducing
the number of men, william women and children living on
the streets of LA a mission that is at the
core of the Union Rescue Mission. He says, for that reason,
we have maintained a meticulous record keeping of our homeless
count for the one hundred and thirty five years we
(21:41):
have operated on skid Row. This is one of those
organizations that does show progress in their reporting, okay, that
they had about a seventy percent success rate right with
people exiting homelessness after going through this pro if they
come to our mission, we're going to get him into
a home, and there's a seven out of ten chance
that they're going to stay housed. It's why, frankly, even
(22:02):
you and I need to be maybe a little more
nuanced or specific when we talk about the industrial complex,
because there are some nonprofits that do work in that
ecosystem and collect federal funds that are disseminated through the city,
and they have good record keeping and they work in
good faith and they have results, but there are far
too many who do.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Let me tell you why you're wrong.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Oh God, there's an adage that says, one bad apple
spoils the bushel, is right.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
The problem with our show, mister bad apple.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Listen, one bad apple spoils the bushel, right, and we go, Okay,
I've been into this apple.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
It's got a worm inute.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
I'm gonna throw out the whole bushel because I can't
take the risk of the It doesn't work the other way.
And what we have going on here is the assumption
that hey, there's one good nonprofit. Now the rest of
these must be good.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
They're not.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Every single person, every single group that is contracted with
the city needs to be continuously audited, agreed. When you've
got places like the Union Rescue Mission that are doing
a good job and our showing progress and our showing
that their money is being spent wisely, that should be
held up as the standard. Instead, we've got the group
that doles the money out to these different places, LASA,
(23:07):
that says we forgot that they were even part of this.
So to continue with the statement, they say, Elie's first
and oldest mission, Rescue Mission is also committed to participating
with loss's annual account as we have for decades.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
While two years of reporting homeless.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Data were not sent to LASA, our Director of Emergency
Services does work directly with them to ensure the organization
receives our homeless data in a timely manner.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
We're doing our.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Due diligence to verify in our records that there is
a documentation of a request from LASA during those unaccounted years.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
So they're being responsible. They are, and I appreciate lossas not.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
If LOASA set the request, then it sounds like United
Rescue Mission is saying we got the request and we
didn't do the paperwork correctly.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Okay, good, you admit the mistake, you fix a mistake,
we move on. That's great. My issue is, LASA, did
you not know that I I mean, that's what I mean.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
You don't call them back and say, hey, don't have
your paperwork yet. Yeah, what's the deal here? You checked
a boxing correctly. Who's doing the auditing? Because you want
audits every year. They do audits every year, that's the
shame of it.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
They have to. But they're flimsy.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
They're not backed by data, and you don't know whether
these contracts have any measurable metrics to show success. And
the amount of money that we're spending.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Out of the audits. What a mess.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Okay, it's gonna get mess here. Every time you shake
your head, you hear one of the Progressive City Council
members vote against cleaning up camps. Right, there's four of
them on the DSA. Every single time they vote against
moving encampments. And now one of those members wants to
make sure those homeless camps in his district stay there forever.
It's next on monks in Maryland.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on de Mair from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Available anywhere on the iart radio app. A little bit
of feedback as we were talking about the Union Rescue
Mission whose numbers were not being turned into LASA. The
question is, did LASSA put their request out to say
how many people do you have there as part of
their annual homelessness count and then Union Rescue didn't give
the numbers to LAS or did LASSA forget to ask them?
And in either case, LOSSA certainly didn't follow up and
(25:04):
say we're missing numbers from the oldest mission in Los Angeles.
We dig some feedback and I think this is important.
We'll offer clarity.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Here in to memice. Guys, are you aware that Union
Rescue Mission gets zero government money. That's because they don't
let the people that come to them continue to use
drugs and drink in their facilities.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, I did, thank you. This is a very good
point that you're making. They don't receive the government funding. However,
LASA does work with them as part of their responsibility
to count the number of homeless people. The people that
are living in the shelter are considered homeless and they
fall then into the annual count. So when we talk
about homelessness going up or dropping, that count is where
(25:50):
we where we derive that information. It doesn't matter if
the if the if the shelter or the mission is
receiving funding or not, They're still considered part of that count. Okay,
So just point of clarity, and I appreciate you calling
up and make you mention that.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
I mean imagine being an organization serving that part of
Los Angeles for one hundred and thirty five years and
not being reliant on.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
The industrial combat.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
This is why RFK and HUTT are coming out and saying,
let's stop giving money to LASA. Let's let's put some
pressure on the local religious groups because they do a
better job.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
And I think Rick Caruso was running from mayor or
even after the campaign, and when he was flirting with
possibly running again, Union Rescue was one of those organizations
that he would sign like there are good examples. Yes,
there are people doing good work and it's not a
scam like so many of the other ones down there.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Pathetic your buddy there, Hugo Southra Martinez has introduced emotion
now and he wants to and again this is a
little bit of wonk speak. He wants to revoke twelve
special enforcement zones created by his predecessor, Mitchell Ferrell under
Municipal Code forty one eighteen. What that means is the
last guy that was there Farrell said, oh Ferre, excuse me.
(27:04):
He said, I want to use forty one eighteen to
clean up these homeless encampments in these areas. Hugo Hugosta
Martinez has now said I want to make sure these
homeless encampments never.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Get cleaned up.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
He is one of the regular votes against the other
council members who want to execute forty one eighteen operations
in their districts, want to clean Democratic Socialists of America
members who votes consistently along with Nythia Rahmen and Isabelle
Herrado and Unisses Hernandez. Here's what I think has happened.
Hugos to Martinez represents a vital district. By the way,
(27:36):
Hollywood is part of it. So Hollywood Boulevard, all those
landmarks that people come from all over to visit, and
why they look like hell is because they have somebody
that doesn't care what it looks like and now to
get rid of forty one eighteen in his district, he's
basically enshrining it. And here's the thing, we know his
position now. He hadn't gone as far as saying I
(27:57):
don't want this executed at all my district ever, but
he was lax on it, so lax on it in fact,
that there was supposed to be a fundraiser for his
re election. I'm sorry, I didn't put this in the
notes for you. It just occurred to me, go ahead,
this is what it's so stupid, la. Sometimes all the time,
(28:17):
he just got reelected despite his position on some of
these terrible issues facing us. He got re elected with
like sixty five pers Yeah, and he had some challengers
who are typically minded and well known and could have,
you know, done a fine job. But during the campaign
he was have a fundraiser with some pretty well known
comedians and they canceled on him. The comedians did, because
(28:42):
he had not done this related to forty one eighteen.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
The comedians canceled.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
The comedians said we're not doing the show because some
activists started tagging them on Instagram and saying, Hugo Soda
Martinez won't get rid of forty one eight.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
See, these are just people could pitul it into a
few nutcases on Instagram exactly. And just because you get
a few, do you people who are home bound on
Instagram that decide they're going to become keyboard warriors.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
You can't uproot your entire life over that stuff.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Well, sometimes you can put In this instance, this relates
to city policy that affects a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Don't let social media decide what is good and bad entertainment.
Don't allow that.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
As a reminder, section forty one eighteen Chris restrict sitting, lying, sleeping,
and storing personal property. In other words, homeless camps and
specified public spaces is not used broadly. Anytime you see
a camp, it has to be in certain areas like
blocking EDACSS streets and bike lanes, and it has to
be away from certain public spaces like schools, parks, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Okay, What this does, though, is this removes this as
you made mention from the predecessor.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Now it's permanent.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Yeah, And so that means that even if Hugosta Martinez
gets booted during the next election, the next person taking
over would still not have the ability to remove those
encampments unless they go back and they try to reinstall
the forty one eighteen provisions in these places where Mitchell
Farrell had him to begin with.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yep, unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
He's trying to make sure that, even after I'm gone
and can't vote against tearing down the tents in my neighborhood,
I want to make sure that those tents are on
every sidewalk, every street corner, and certainly everywhere five hundred
and one feet.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Of a school.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
It's interesting to hear you say that, mister Merrill, because
I see him recall. Maybe Jesse can pull up the
archived audio from the various programs and whish. I said,
these are people who want homeless camps on the streets,
and you say, no, they don't, And now you know
they do. Monks Wan Meryl Zero, what.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Of Hollywood's most famous studio, says that California has until
October to become more accommodating. Wait until you hear how
the elective officials are responding to the threat. Because it's
getting juicy. I can't wait for Act three on this one.
The political panic. Next, Monks and Meryl k, I am
six forty We're live everywhere in the iHeartRadio Appfi on demand,
(30:53):
you've been listening to Monks and Merrill. Hear the show
live weekdays from noon to three on KFI Am six
forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
Je Merrill.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
II.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Monks and Meryl. Give us the news.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Baby, I'm uncomfortable. I'm also uncomfortable. Hosted by Michael Monks
and Chris Merrill on K I.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Thank you as always for making us a part of
your afternoon. I'm Chris Merril. The good looking one is
Michael Monks.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
You'll find us on the social media's at Monks and
Merrill at Monks and Marilyn. If you haven't done y,
please subscribe. We would invite you to the podcast on
the iHeartRadio app. Michael, I gotta tell you for those
that are unfamiliar behind the scenes here, Michael does such
a fine job of finding stories that other places have
not even found yet.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
This goes back to your your acumen as a reporter.
Oh thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Yeah, and you sent me one this morning that I
thought this looks really good.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I don't understand it. It seemed very.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Much uh wonk speak or I guess a official speak,
because I was a bit lost on this Enhanced City
Resources Mastery Agreement for the twenty twenty eight Olympic at
Paralympic Games.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
You want to help me understand what this really means? Well, yeah,
that is wonk speak.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
That's the way a lot of stuff is labeled at
city Hall, and the La City Council today is voting
on this Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement for the games
that are coming in just a couple of years, probably
the last Olympics that the world we'll ever see after
LA gets finished with it. And Kenneth Mahea, the City Controller,
put out a statement yesterday that I caught online that says,
(01:35):
we're not happy about this. This is going to put
us in financial vulnerable state.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
I read the report that was turned in the report
for the motion or whatever, blah blah blah, but I
was reading it, I didn't see what the issue was.
Let me see if I can interpret this is not
wonk speak. Basically, what they're saying is the city is
going to provide normal resources. Anything beyond normal, well, in
other words, we're if we have one hundred cops on
(02:02):
the street at that time, there will be a hundred
cops in the street at that time. That's part of
our cost. Anything beyond that will provide the cops, for instance,
but we need reimbursement from LA twenty eight. That's been
the big fear for local people, especially politicians. In a
city with it because they are contractually obligated to be
stuck with it. I think it's like the first two
(02:23):
hundred and seventy million dollars or so that if there
are cost overruns associated with the city with the Olympics,
the city has to cover at first, and then the
state has to cover and then the rest will come
back to the city.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
And so what they're saying is no, no, no, we're not
going to pay any of this LA twenty eight.
Speaker 3 (02:37):
You have to pay this. That seems like everything that
we wanted. So what is Kenneth Mehea's issue? The controller?
I mean, he's the guy that has the control of
the purse strings, right.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
And keep in mind he has now inserted himself in
the laaoral race. He is supporting Nifia Rahman, the challenger
the city councilman against incumbent mayor Karen Bass. So while
he's not while this type of statement's not unfamiliar to him,
you have to look at it through that lens. Now
he is basically part of the Raman campaign. And I
don't know if this is an attempt to make Karen
(03:05):
Bass look bad. But she said, excuse me, Mahea says,
the people of LA were promised to zero cost games,
and that's true, right, this was not supposed to cost
as anything. We're not building anything new, and we're not
really sure if that's completely true.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yet.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
He says that means all excess city services provided to
the Olympics should be reimbursed. No money should go to
a legacy entity until the city is made whole. And
he says it's the council's responsibility to protect taxpayers.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Okay, so if I understand this, right. He's upset that
this doesn't go far. And he says there's not enough transparency. Okay,
there aren't enough guarantees that we all be stuck with
the bill. And do you think the leadership at Los
Angeles City Hall is strong enough not to be hoodwinked
by the smart people who were putting together the Olympics. No, right,
And but I think this is a good first step though.
(03:53):
I mean, this is what you have to have. They're saying, Look,
anything that is beyond what we would normally prove for
safety and security in the city at this time of this,
you know, this year, whatever it is, you guys have
to cover the costs on that. I guess the problem
is where's the where's the where's the teeth to that motion?
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Well, that's what he wants to know. That's the issue.
That's what he wants.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
It's like they're saying, it would be really nice if
you pay us back, not if you don't pay us back,
here are your consequences. This is what we're going to do.
So it's it's a it's a motion without any teeth.
It sounds like that, that's right, He says.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
LA twenty eight must be transparent about how they're spending
your tax dollars before it's too late to do anything
about it. So that's what he wants to know, is,
so what do we do since LA taxpayers are on
the hook if this thing does not go well.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Okay, So if LA twenty eight says, wait a minute,
we're not paying that bill. You didn't give us this
many cops. We said we needed this many cops, and
you were supposed to open up this street. You didn't
open up this street or you didn't close this street.
So LA twenty eight says, well, we're not going to
pay for that. So if they go line item through
things and they refuse to pay certain bills, again, there's
really no teeth and we.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Don't know how much some things are going to cost.
In fact, we won't get the final venue agreements until
July of next year, and then we will get a
clearer picture of what final monthly cost estimates will look
like in October next.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Year, kids, and we don't have a venue agreement in place.
Speaker 4 (05:17):
And I think that's part of Mehia's concerns is that
this the games are going full speed ahead, and there's
a lot of interest in these games. I mean, there
have been some successes. I think I've expressed some pretty
reasonable doubts about whether LA is going to be responsible
with this gift of hosting this international competition. Because the
city looks like crap, and the city itself is so
(05:40):
poorly managed. I would prefer that the city kind of
stay out of it as much as possible, But because
we tax payers are on the hook, we do need
to make sure that leadership is paying close attention.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Well. That is a really frustrating spot for us to
be in.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Of course, and again we don't know the venue agreements
until July of next year. We won't know the final
monthly cost estimates until October of last year next Halloween,
in fact, almost November, so we're more than a year
away from knowing that this master Agreement just establishes the process.
But because there are so many consequential financial decisions left
up in the air, Kenneth Mehea is ringing the bell. Okay,
so this seems like it's sort of a blanket statement.
(06:14):
Then that says, yeah, you guys should pay us things
that you owe us. But what Mahea is basically saying
is this isn't covering contingencies. It's just saying, yeah, you
should pay us, which leaves far too much wiggle room
for somebody to say, you weren't specific about that, not
clear to tell us more, not clear.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
What you'll lois that's great, and we won't know until
we get up to it. And the problem is this
is a city that has proved year after year recently
that they're incapable of handling finances. And Kenneth Mehea is
inarguably the most popular politician in the city based on
vote totals. I mean, he's sailed through his first election
(06:51):
four years ago. He was re elected handily, this time
more votes than the mayor got. Yeah, so I mean
he's worth listening to on this, even though he has
politicized the office a bit by endorsing Nithia Will.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Yeah, the council members are very busy, though they've got
important things to do, like protecting tents on sidewalks rather
than protecting sidewalks.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
Boy, there's a city councilman here in Los Angeles. So
they have this mechanism called forty one eighteen. That's the
ordinance that allows city council people to ban homeless camps
from certain parts of their neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
And I've blown away that we had to have a
separate ordinance to allow people to get rid of homeless.
Speaker 4 (07:22):
Well, I think everything they do is technically documented. They
just because it's so controversial, they refer to it by
its ordinance number. Well, clean up the clean up the
crap ordinance is what it should be called. Well, there's
one city councilman that wants to clean up the ordinance
by not enforcing it in his district. He's going to repeal,
recind some of the orders. We'll talk about that a
little bit bad news for Hollywood plus the Lakers sold.
(07:43):
We're going to get into that a little later in
the show as well. Big big news out of local
sports land. More to come on Monks and Merril on
this Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (07:51):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI
Am sixty more stimulating talk.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
Monks and Roll. Great to have you with us on
a Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Is it Wednesday? Is it Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (08:05):
Is it?
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Sometimes they get scared, that's why you say it so frequently,
but it is Wednesday.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Oh that was very helpful. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
We know what they're gonna do with the body of
our beloved big bear eagle Jackie, who passed away.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
What is the parlier this week? Wildlife officials have shared
those plans. They will do a neck ropsy. Yep, it's
like an autopsy, but I'm a bird.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, we did learn a little bit more about health.
It was just bad cause of death.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
And I think there's a lot of people that want
to find out if there's pesticides or rodent sides that
maybe the bird got into, or maybe eight like a
mouse or something that had been into some decon or
something like that.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yeah, don't eat the rats. Don't eat the rats. Did
they come from Taylor Farms? Stop it?
Speaker 4 (08:45):
So they're going to do this neck Ropsy at the
San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, and then her remains will
be transported to the National Eagle Repository. This is a
federal facility operated by the US Fish and Wildlife Services
Office of Law Enforcement Okay, and the National Ego Repository receives, evaluates, stores,
(09:06):
and distributes eagle remains, parts and feathers.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Where do they distribute the things?
Speaker 3 (09:13):
They will give them to enrolled members of federally recognized
tribes throughout the US for religious, cultural, and ceremonial purpose.
So Jackie will live on in the spirit of other
people who are celebrating the land in the in the
history of the of the wildlife.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I don't I don't fully understand that line, though I
know that Native Americans are involved.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Yeah, but they're going to take parts.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Of her and give it to various tribes, pluck her feathers, jittiplue,
Marilrie know what this means. But yeah, sounds like good.
I think that's a wonderful way to pay tribute to her.
Of course, I think that's great. Yeah, you would say that.
What I can't be happy about this.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
I mentioned that there's an LA City councilman who wants
to get rid of the law and his district that
allows him to remove homeless camps from vulnerable areas like
in front of parks. And keep in mind, this is
the guy represents Hollywood Boulevard, one of our great tourist attractions,
which looks like hell right now, we'll get into that
in the bottom of the hour. But it's just another
microcosm another example of how can't get rid of homeless tents. Well,
(10:18):
just how varied the response is here. It's why it's
a problem is because you don't have everybody walking in
lockstep to one acknowledges a serious problem and to how
to deal with it. So the Trump administration got involved.
They suspended federal funds to the LA Homeless Services Authority.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And oh, I've got the a little bit of the press.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, let's hear any okay, Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Todd Turner holding up what he says is being given
to LA's drug addicted homeless population.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
This is not a continuum of care that I'm that
I'm looking for.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
These are this is drug paraphernalia. It was what just
drug paraphernalia.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Drug paraphernalia like he said, drug paraphernalia, just drug paraphernale.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Turner was joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Junior at a news conference Tuesday, vowing to crack
down on what they say is widespread waste, fraud, corruption,
and abuse of taxpayer dollars. That is, quote, expanding the
drug fueled homeless industrial complex instead of delivering real resultsdults
(11:18):
end quote.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Oh end quote, sir, I mean I don't disagree with them, no.
And when he held up the bag, it had like
needles and crack bikes. You know, there is something to
be said about the Trump administration's actions in La. We
know that the immigration enforcement efforts here were I think
widely unpopular on the whole here. I know there were
(11:39):
people who support it, but you saw local officials and
a lot of residents speak out against the way that
they were handled. However, when it comes to the homelessness
and the crime and the drug the open air drug
markets that they've targeted in places like MacArthur Park and
now with the fraudulent behavior that we know exists, which
then the LA Homeless Services Authority, you have to applaud
them because they're doing what local officials have had the
(12:02):
capacity to do for a long time. Now, LASA sued
went to court to get their federal funds. It looks
like a judge is on their side right now. But
this press conference is effective because it highlights in a
grand way what the response locally looks like, which is,
we know you have a homeless problem here, Let's give
(12:23):
them materials to do their drugs with while they're outside
in your kid's park. I think it's very frustrating for
all of us, and I think that people have spoken
out about this time and time again, and yet the
problem doesn't get any better. And I would even say
the establishment of enabling these people continues to grow. Now,
forget the judge says lassa federal government, you can't cut
(12:46):
off the funding to loss it, probably because it's been
designated as a congressional thing, this sort of stuff. But
I think you made a really good point when you said,
this draws eyes to it. Amen, This draws eyes to it,
and I hope that it continues to put pressure on
the politicians who continue to waste the money. What we're
seeing now is this homeless industrial complex. They use the
(13:07):
phrase the homeless industrial complex is something that perpetuates itself. Wow,
curing homelessness might turn off the spigot of our of
our gravy train that we've got going on here. So
we've got what consultant, subcontractors, outreach teams, We've got admins.
We've got one CEO from one company that's living in Hawaii,
(13:27):
makes one point six million dollars a year, doesn't even
know where California is. And that's just hunky dory. That's fantastic. Meanwhile,
homelessness is it's up. It's up again this year. It's
up almost sixty percent. Over the course of the last
ten years. Everything that they've done has backfired. This experiment
is over over. I don't mind people thinking outside the
(13:49):
box and taking big swings, but I got to tell you,
if you take the big swing and it doesn't work,
that's when you have to go back and you got
to figure out a different swing, because.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
This is just not doing it.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
And you have multiple swings happening. Whether it's the Mayor's
inside Safe program, whether it's LASA doing its ridiculous contracting
with these nonprofits that don't do anything, whether it's Nitiya
Rahman saying sure, we'll take sixty million dollars from taxpayers
to subsidize the rent, and after all these months, have
three leases signed, or whether it's the County of Los
Angeles saying, oh, don't worry, we'll create a new LOSSA,
(14:20):
but it won't be the old loss It'll just be
LASA with more money and the exact same staff.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
But it's not LASA. It's a rebrand, that's all of it.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
It's ridiculous, all of these responses, and so HUD Secretary
Scott Turner and Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Junior.
What they said was our aim is that LASA does
not receive another dollar until it has accountability.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Amen. How many people outside of the progressive wonk class
in Los Angeles, how many people are opposed to that?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Yeah? Exactly.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Look, I want to see I want to see some
federal dot. We pay more into the federal government than
we get back from the federal government. I'd like to
see that money go toward trying to end homelessness. But
I don't blame them for saying what you're doing now
doesn't work. You can't have another dime until until you
figure out a different way to do it.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Because this isn't it.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
No, draw all the eyes you want to it, But
until you draw the right eyes, the ones who pull
the levers of power, it doesn't matter. And they're still
running around talking about especially at LA City Hall. But
what do we do with loss in now? If you
don't have the answer, now, what are you doing holding
any position of leadership?
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (15:23):
So we were told that homelessness film, and then we
were told, oh, it's up over three percent this year.
And then yesterday you found out why the politicians were
telling you not to believe your own eyes. Come to
find out they didn't know how to count things. People
never even left the street, and the homeless agencies couldn't count.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
That was the issue.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
They literally couldn't even put their fingers and toes together
to count to ten who lost them?
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Who lost the homeless that we've just found.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
That's next. Monks and Merril k I am six forty.
We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio ed.
Speaker 5 (15:55):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on demand from KFI.
Speaker 3 (16:02):
Have a gander at the social media is at Monks
and Merrill. At Monks and Merrill. On the social media,
it's easy to find, easy to do, and we want
to invite you to see us behind the scenes where
Michael gave Juggling a shot today. Not good, well done,
My Star of the Movies attributed to John Williams. Coming
to Hollywood bul September fourth, fifth, and sixth, David Newman
leading the La Philharmonic in a concert celebration of John
(16:22):
Williams scores with specially edited scenes from movies like Star Wars, Indiana, Jones,
Harry Potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Moore on the Bulls
Big screen tickets around sale now Hollywood Bowl dot com.
We were talking about the homeless Industrial Complex and how
the the FEDS have said they're not going to give
another penny to the Helly the Hella Homeless Services Authority
(16:46):
tired of watching it get just funnel through waste, fraud
and abusive schemes.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Monks and Merril loved the show. Thank you. Listen.
Speaker 7 (16:53):
The Homeless Industrial Complex has turned into a massive scam.
The people that don't believe that are the ones that
are actually involved in it. The only way this will
ever get fixed, and it won't ever get fixed, is
if California spent billions and billions of dollars building mental
health facilities way out in the desert and then just
shipped most of these people there and they would actually
(17:14):
have to live there long term, along with other homeless people.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
It sucks. I even known that it needs to be
out in the desert.
Speaker 4 (17:21):
I don't know where it has to be, but it
had to be fifteen years ago. They've already spent billions
of dollars on other things when this was clearly the problem.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
It's one thing if you've got and you've brought this
up before, you've got people who are down in their luck.
You've got families, somebody lost their job. They may need
some temporary housing, rent assistance, that kind of thing. I
understand that, but I do think And my wife asked
me this morning, she said, to any roosters outside today?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
And I said, just two?
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Just two people getting off the metro and then getting
out and yelling at nothing.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Nothing.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
Yeah, just yelling into the air, just screaming. Right, they're
having arguments in their own head. We're talking about people's
schizophrenia here. I mean, we're talking about people that are
seeing ghosts, that sort of thing. They're going to need
that permanent supporting care. Yeah, they need that it's that's
the way it's gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (18:03):
And in five years from now, when locals realize that,
the local leaders realize that they're gonna come and they're
gonna put a measure on the ballot and ask us
to raise the sales tax again because they're gonna need
additional five to ten billion dollars or whatever to finally
do what should have been done already.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
And as far as the drug addicts go, there's we're
gonna have to have some some mandated treatment, enforced treatment.
It's gonna have to happen with the drug addicts on
the streets. I was watching Fox eleven had a story
where they were they were on I think they were
on Hope Street, and they were talking about how the
oh these buildings have new ways of boarding up their windows.
I thought, you got to be joking. Well, there was
a fire there and they were showing that the remains
(18:38):
of the fire people crawling into the building that had
just burned so that they could try to scavenge whatever
they could. While they were doing the video, they had
somebody breaking into the building behind them. It was crazy,
and you think we're just okay with this, So frustrating.
Speaker 4 (18:52):
We talk about it a lot on the show. I
know occasionally we get a comment or a note from
folks like you guys talk too much about a homelessness that's.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
The biggest issue facing us.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Factly, what I try to emphasize is that it's not
just the issue itself, it's all of the related issues
and the issues that it causes. The reason you see
empty storefronts, whether it be downtown in LA which is
too close to skid Row, or other parts of the region,
you can bet that you've got a thriving homeless camp nearby,
right And there's only so much that a small business.
On top of all the regulations and the expensive rent
(19:22):
that you have to pay to do business at all
in California, the high wages that you have to pay,
you can't keep up with the amount of maintenance and security. No,
you can't, the loss prevention efforts that you have to
go through. And that's all related to this homeless drug
addict problem.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
And then we've got this HeLa homeless services authority that
is supposed to be counting the people on the streets.
Now we understand you can't have an exact account, but
they do have a system. They have a method of
trying to determine how many people are on the street,
and one of those things has to do with reaching
out to the different shelters and saying how many people
you got.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
It's the point in time count that they have.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
The last two years, they said, well, there's been a
decrease to the number of people that are living on
the street, and of course may Or Bass has come
out and said, everything I've done has.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
Been working great. This last year that number went up.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Then what we found out yesterday is that, oh, they
actually weren't getting some of the numbers from at least
one at least one rescue mission, and that rescue mission,
the numbers didn't come into LASA. There's a question about
whether or not LASA requested those numbers and didn't get them,
or if they LASSA just forgot to reach out and
(20:33):
ask how many you got this year. But in the meantime,
we're gonna have to revise some of those numbers from
the last two years. Homelessness did not drop as much
as we thought the last couple of years, but then
also this last year when it went back up, it
didn't go up quite as much as what we would
have assumed as well.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
So it's basically been flat.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
It's is still a problem whether you thought you were
turning in the right direction or this year, if you
thought you were turning in the wrong direction. Flat is
the wrong direction. What are we getting for the billion dollars?
That's request, Sam bro We talked about this yesterday and
this story that the La Times had, and so we
had actually some people from the Union Rescue Mission reach
(21:10):
out to us after the show and they said, hey,
we've got a statement. I want to make sure you
guys get a chance, and I told them we'll update today.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Mark Hood, the CEO of the Union Rescue Mission, put
out this statement. We obviously take the homeless count very seriously,
since maintaining an accurate account is the only way we
can truly know if we are making progress and reducing
the number of men, william women and children living on
the streets of LA a mission that is at the
core of the Union Rescue Mission. He says, for that reason,
we have maintained a meticulous record keeping of our homeless
count for the one hundred and thirty five years we
(21:41):
have operated on skid Row. This is one of those
organizations that does show progress in their reporting, okay, that
they had about a seventy percent success rate right with
people exiting homelessness after going through this pro if they
come to our mission, we're going to get him into
a home, and there's a seven out of ten chance
that they're going to stay housed. It's why, frankly, even
(22:02):
you and I need to be maybe a little more
nuanced or specific when we talk about the industrial complex,
because there are some nonprofits that do work in that
ecosystem and collect federal funds that are disseminated through the city,
and they have good record keeping and they work in
good faith and they have results, but there are far
too many who do.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
Let me tell you why you're wrong.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Oh God, there's an adage that says, one bad apple
spoils the bushel, is right.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
The problem with our show, mister bad apple.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Listen, one bad apple spoils the bushel, right, and we go, Okay,
I've been into this apple.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
It's got a worm inute.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
I'm gonna throw out the whole bushel because I can't
take the risk of the It doesn't work the other way.
And what we have going on here is the assumption
that hey, there's one good nonprofit. Now the rest of
these must be good.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
They're not.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Every single person, every single group that is contracted with
the city needs to be continuously audited, agreed. When you've
got places like the Union Rescue Mission that are doing
a good job and our showing progress and our showing
that their money is being spent wisely, that should be
held up as the standard. Instead, we've got the group
that doles the money out to these different places, LASA,
(23:07):
that says we forgot that they were even part of this.
So to continue with the statement, they say, Elie's first
and oldest mission, Rescue Mission is also committed to participating
with loss's annual account as we have for decades.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
While two years of reporting homeless.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Data were not sent to LASA, our Director of Emergency
Services does work directly with them to ensure the organization
receives our homeless data in a timely manner.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
We're doing our.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Due diligence to verify in our records that there is
a documentation of a request from LASA during those unaccounted years.
Speaker 4 (23:35):
So they're being responsible. They are, and I appreciate lossas not.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
If LOASA set the request, then it sounds like United
Rescue Mission is saying we got the request and we
didn't do the paperwork correctly.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Okay, good, you admit the mistake, you fix a mistake,
we move on. That's great. My issue is, LASA, did
you not know that I I mean, that's what I mean.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
You don't call them back and say, hey, don't have
your paperwork yet. Yeah, what's the deal here? You checked
a boxing correctly. Who's doing the auditing? Because you want
audits every year. They do audits every year, that's the
shame of it.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
They have to. But they're flimsy.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
They're not backed by data, and you don't know whether
these contracts have any measurable metrics to show success. And
the amount of money that we're spending.
Speaker 1 (24:16):
Out of the audits. What a mess.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Okay, it's gonna get mess here. Every time you shake
your head, you hear one of the Progressive City Council
members vote against cleaning up camps. Right, there's four of
them on the DSA. Every single time they vote against
moving encampments. And now one of those members wants to
make sure those homeless camps in his district stay there forever.
It's next on monks in Maryland.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
You're listening to Monks and Merrill on de Mair from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
Available anywhere on the iart radio app. A little bit
of feedback as we were talking about the Union Rescue
Mission whose numbers were not being turned into LASA. The
question is, did LASSA put their request out to say
how many people do you have there as part of
their annual homelessness count and then Union Rescue didn't give
the numbers to LAS or did LASSA forget to ask them?
And in either case, LOSSA certainly didn't follow up and
(25:04):
say we're missing numbers from the oldest mission in Los Angeles.
We dig some feedback and I think this is important.
We'll offer clarity.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Here in to memice. Guys, are you aware that Union
Rescue Mission gets zero government money. That's because they don't
let the people that come to them continue to use
drugs and drink in their facilities.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah, I did, thank you. This is a very good
point that you're making. They don't receive the government funding. However,
LASA does work with them as part of their responsibility
to count the number of homeless people. The people that
are living in the shelter are considered homeless and they
fall then into the annual count. So when we talk
about homelessness going up or dropping, that count is where
(25:50):
we where we derive that information. It doesn't matter if
the if the if the shelter or the mission is
receiving funding or not, They're still considered part of that count. Okay,
So just point of clarity, and I appreciate you calling
up and make you mention that.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (26:04):
I mean imagine being an organization serving that part of
Los Angeles for one hundred and thirty five years and
not being reliant on.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
The industrial combat.
Speaker 3 (26:17):
This is why RFK and HUTT are coming out and saying,
let's stop giving money to LASA. Let's let's put some
pressure on the local religious groups because they do a
better job.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
And I think Rick Caruso was running from mayor or
even after the campaign, and when he was flirting with
possibly running again, Union Rescue was one of those organizations
that he would sign like there are good examples. Yes,
there are people doing good work and it's not a
scam like so many of the other ones down there.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Pathetic your buddy there, Hugo Southra Martinez has introduced emotion
now and he wants to and again this is a
little bit of wonk speak. He wants to revoke twelve
special enforcement zones created by his predecessor, Mitchell Ferrell under
Municipal Code forty one eighteen. What that means is the
last guy that was there Farrell said, oh Ferre, excuse me.
(27:04):
He said, I want to use forty one eighteen to
clean up these homeless encampments in these areas. Hugo Hugosta
Martinez has now said I want to make sure these
homeless encampments never.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Get cleaned up.
Speaker 4 (27:16):
He is one of the regular votes against the other
council members who want to execute forty one eighteen operations
in their districts, want to clean Democratic Socialists of America
members who votes consistently along with Nythia Rahmen and Isabelle
Herrado and Unisses Hernandez. Here's what I think has happened.
Hugos to Martinez represents a vital district. By the way,
(27:36):
Hollywood is part of it. So Hollywood Boulevard, all those
landmarks that people come from all over to visit, and
why they look like hell is because they have somebody
that doesn't care what it looks like and now to
get rid of forty one eighteen in his district, he's
basically enshrining it. And here's the thing, we know his
position now. He hadn't gone as far as saying I
(27:57):
don't want this executed at all my district ever, but
he was lax on it, so lax on it in fact,
that there was supposed to be a fundraiser for his
re election. I'm sorry, I didn't put this in the
notes for you. It just occurred to me, go ahead,
this is what it's so stupid, la. Sometimes all the time,
(28:17):
he just got reelected despite his position on some of
these terrible issues facing us. He got re elected with
like sixty five pers Yeah, and he had some challengers
who are typically minded and well known and could have,
you know, done a fine job. But during the campaign
he was have a fundraiser with some pretty well known
comedians and they canceled on him. The comedians did, because
(28:42):
he had not done this related to forty one eighteen.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
The comedians canceled.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
The comedians said we're not doing the show because some
activists started tagging them on Instagram and saying, Hugo Soda
Martinez won't get rid of forty one eight.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
See, these are just people could pitul it into a
few nutcases on Instagram exactly. And just because you get
a few, do you people who are home bound on
Instagram that decide they're going to become keyboard warriors.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
You can't uproot your entire life over that stuff.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
Well, sometimes you can put In this instance, this relates
to city policy that affects a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
Don't let social media decide what is good and bad entertainment.
Don't allow that.
Speaker 4 (29:15):
As a reminder, section forty one eighteen Chris restrict sitting, lying, sleeping,
and storing personal property. In other words, homeless camps and
specified public spaces is not used broadly. Anytime you see
a camp, it has to be in certain areas like
blocking EDACSS streets and bike lanes, and it has to
be away from certain public spaces like schools, parks, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Right.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
Okay, What this does, though, is this removes this as
you made mention from the predecessor.
Speaker 1 (29:43):
Now it's permanent.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Yeah, And so that means that even if Hugosta Martinez
gets booted during the next election, the next person taking
over would still not have the ability to remove those
encampments unless they go back and they try to reinstall
the forty one eighteen provisions in these places where Mitchell
Farrell had him to begin with.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yep, unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
He's trying to make sure that, even after I'm gone
and can't vote against tearing down the tents in my neighborhood,
I want to make sure that those tents are on
every sidewalk, every street corner, and certainly everywhere five hundred
and one feet.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Of a school.
Speaker 4 (30:17):
It's interesting to hear you say that, mister Merrill, because
I see him recall. Maybe Jesse can pull up the
archived audio from the various programs and whish. I said,
these are people who want homeless camps on the streets,
and you say, no, they don't, And now you know
they do. Monks Wan Meryl Zero, what.
Speaker 3 (30:33):
Of Hollywood's most famous studio, says that California has until
October to become more accommodating. Wait until you hear how
the elective officials are responding to the threat. Because it's
getting juicy. I can't wait for Act three on this one.
The political panic. Next, Monks and Meryl k, I am
six forty We're live everywhere in the iHeartRadio Appfi on demand,
(30:53):
you've been listening to Monks and Merrill. Hear the show
live weekdays from noon to three on KFI Am six
forty and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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