December 11, 2024 • 33 mins
LA City Councilwoman Traci Park comes on the show to talk about new public safety measures that she announced alongside new LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell. Rich McHugh comes on the show to talk about drones flying over New Jersey. 1 in 4 shelter beds went unused costing taxpayers millions of dollars according to a homeless audit.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on every day from one until four. You should
be here. If for some reason you miss any part
of the show, then you go to the iHeartRadio app
after four o'clock and listening to John Cobelt Show on demand.
It's the podcast. It's the same as the radio show,
and you can hear what you missed. We're going to
(00:22):
talk right out with my councilwoman, Tracy Park, who I
hold up as one of the few shining lights in
politics in the entire States. She replaced the idiot Mike
Bonden some years ago and has really transformed the West
side of Los Angeles. There is far fewer homeless encampments.
(00:44):
I drive around and I look for them, and I've
called her office a few times to report stuff I've seen,
and they've taken care of it. And now she Jim McDonald,
the new LAPD Police chief, and the new District Attorney
in La County, Nathan Hockman, they got together to announce
a new crime fighting measure for the district on the
(01:06):
west side of Los Angelet's get Let's get Tracy park
On Tracy.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
How are you, John, Hi, I'm good, great to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
When are you running for mayor?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
That's a good question, you know. Right now, I am
focused on cleaning up the mess on the West Side
that we were left with after a decade of neglect
and crime.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You're telling me talk about this this initiative because it's
got several parts to it and it's all good to
fight crime and to make life better for people on
the West Side.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So go through the whole package.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Sure, So, I am really excited about this. You know,
residents on the West Side have been subjected to home burglaries, mashions,
mashin grabs, retail theft, and they are absolutely fed up
with it. We also know that we have serious, dangerously
low understaffing levels in LAPD, so in the interim, I
(02:08):
have introduced this package that includes about a half a
million dollars spend on automated license plate readers that will
be installed around strategic entry points and within the district.
That will be a tool to help our police with
situational awareness in real time, as well as a source
(02:29):
of evidence that can be used to apprehend and prosecute criminals.
We also are funding dedicated over time to LAPD so
that we can increase the number of police patrols present
on the streets in our community. Also, for the first
time in history, we have secured a dedicated park ranger
(02:54):
presence for Ocean Front Walk, which is our city's most
frequently used creation and tourist destination. And we also think
that environmental changes are important as well, because when the
lights are out and the trees aren't trimmed, it gives place,
It gives crime a place to thrive. So we are
(03:15):
also investing money and our partners at Bureau of Street
Services to help us with those And I was incredibly
proud to stand with our new police chief and our
new district Attorney in sending a loud and clear message
that the West Side is a great place to live,
to work, and to visit. But I also am sending
(03:38):
a message that if you come here and commit crime,
you will be arrested and you will be prosecuted. The
failed social experiment in CD eleven is over.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
This is so exciting.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I want to have a party, because this is consumed
life on the West Side, as you know. For you,
in fact, every one of these initiatives that you laid
out as part of your plan. I've had to deal
with it on my neighborhood. On my block, for example,
there were four major street lights on my block that
all went out recently.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
I don't know if the copper.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Wire was stolen or what the story was, but suddenly
the whole neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Went dark, which is scary.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
It is scary, and it makes the neighborhood inviting to criminals.
It gives them the cover of darkness that they need
to commit their crimes. And we're all sick and tired
of it. John. I speak to constituents every day that
have had their homes broken into, their cars broken into.
I speak to business owners every day that are holding
(04:43):
on by a thread because they can't keep up with
the retail theft. We have families who are leaving our
West Side communities to find safer cities to raise their
families in them boarding up and those are jobs in
people's livelihoods leaving with them. And so that is why
(05:05):
we're standing together, united in the message we are taking
our streets back, We're done with the nonsense, and we
are going to clean this mess up.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
In CB eleven, you are this is not hyperbole.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I know several families that have moved out or are
working on moving out, you know, as soon as they can.
And crime is a big part of it. I mean,
everybody's sick of that police helicopters over our neighborhoods almost
every night. Three times this week we had police helicopters
at night, and I had that they.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Must be chasing the same guys over and over again.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, and because under the watch of people like Mike
Bonnon and George Gascon, criminals got the message that it
was perfectly acceptable to thieve and steal and distribute drugs
without any kind of consequence. And voters in Los Angeles
and across California made it clear in the landslide elections
(05:58):
of our new district Attorney and in the passage of Prop.
Thirty six, that the party is over, that we are
going to take back our streets, We are prioritizing cleaning
up the crime problem in this city, and we are
going to get our communities back on track. The constituents, residents,
and stakeholders in Council District eleven deserve nothing less.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, I know we're short on police, and I know
there are some neighborhoods that have far more criminal activity
going on than ours. But we've got a fair amount
with the burglaries, way more than anything I ever remember
been out here thirty years, and the police presence is
minimal to non existent in fact neighbors because my wife's
(06:43):
on the phone and she's in all these neighborhood groups.
People are thinking of signing up with two security services
just in case the first one is not available at
any given moment. So people are paying double security fees
on top of all the taxes they pay for LIPD.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
That's right, and that is an untenable burden to put
on people, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet.
It's not fair that our businesses have to hire private security,
that they have to make investments in changing around the
store layout, in locking up products. None of this is pennable.
It's not sustainable and we've got to fix this. And
(07:26):
you know, unfortunately, with police staffing levels being what they are,
we are going to have to supplement with technology. We
know these licensed plate readers are a great way to
do this. We actually thought a rollout in Council District
twelve a few weeks ago and just in the first
twenty four hours of the camera's going live to major
(07:48):
arrests by LAPD, someone that was on the FBI Most
Wanted list and someone else that was out committing smash
and grab robberies in another part of the city. Look,
we have criminals coming from all over the world to
Los Angeles. Yeah, just to commit crime because they thought
they could get away with it. Well, now the police
chief and the district attorney, and at least this council
(08:11):
member are standing together saying not here, not on the
West Side, not in this council district. You do it here.
We're coming for you.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Tracy. You are terrific. You really are the best. And
let's talk again soon. I know you have to run.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
You got it, John, have a good day, Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Tracy Park the councilwoman on the West Side, I wasn't kidding.
She ought to be the mayor. Uh more coming up?
Oh this hour. This fascinates me, this story. If you
heard about the drones in New Jersey. Every night, there's
all these drones up in the sky. Nobody knows what
they are. They're hovering a lot of them near Trump's
(08:48):
golf course in Bedminster, and a lot of them are
hovering in the area where I grew up, and nobody
wants to say in government what these are, and everybody
claims they don't know. But New York posted a story
on what some experts think it might be. And the
reason the government says they don't know is maybe because
(09:11):
it's the government that sent up the drones. All there's
a secret agency that even most people in government are
not aware of. I don't know if it's behind these drones, but.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We're going to explore it.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And we're still going to have a reporter from a
newsdation coming on after that, and.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
I actually have a drone story to tell you about.
Oh you have a drones story?
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I do?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
All right, yes, all right, Well we'll get to all
this coming up, jam Packed Show.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
You should be following us at John Cobelt Radio. At
John Cobelt Radio, we need eight hundred and seventy three
more followers and we'll hit twenty thousand. Yay, so at
John Cobelt Radio. All right, now, we are going to
talk with Rich McHugh from News Nation in the next segment,
(10:05):
the FBI doesn't know why there are dozens of drones
flying over New Jersey every night for weeks. They a
lot of have been flying over Trump's golf course in Bedminster.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I know.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I grew up in New Jersey and worked there for
a number of years, so I know all the counties.
I've driven in every county, probably every town, every highway
because they used to be a sports reporter and I
had to cover just hundreds and hundreds of high school
and college sporting events. And then Ken and I worked
at several radio stations in New Jersey, and one of
(10:43):
the counties is Burton County, North Jersey.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's where I grew up. There are drones probably over
my old.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
House and Sacon Morris County, in Hunterdon County in South Jersey,
and they're asking all the officials, and the officials are going,
I don't know, I don't know. We don't know anything.
And the governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, said there
were forty nine reports of drones just on Sunday, and
(11:13):
one state representative named Brian Bergen says he's not getting
enough information as to what's going on. He said there
were no answers nobody has any answers what could be
going on here. Well, in New York, Push has a
story quoting some experts who say this may be a
government a special, secret government agency that most government officials
(11:35):
don't even know about. This is according to Clinton Emerson,
a retired Navy seal, and he owns a security company
called Escape the Wolf.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Listen to this.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
My first guess is there are potentially government programs kept
within what's known as a Special Access program, which is
personally purposely put together to keep even the most well
even to keep the people with the highest clearance, the
highest security clearance out. So even if you're at the
(12:08):
highest security level, there are still people who know secrets
that you don't or can't get to. This is why
the government says we don't know. They're being truthful because
the people in government don't even know the program exists.
The circle could be as small as a dozen officials.
So this is a secret government agency doing drone tests.
(12:30):
It may be the technology they're carrying, not the drones themselves.
It could be different types of collection capabilities, different types
of cameras, high definition, infrared, thermal, or it could be
a payload that has hardware that scoops up all the
cell phone data in a given environment. Let's say we
got ten drones where they fly in a grid. Remember
New Jersey is the most densely populated state. How much
(12:52):
cell phone traffic can we pick up? Not actual conversations,
but the signature of millions of cell phones. What can
ten drones pick up going on over an area. That's
a legitimate test. They're not invading your privacy. It's legitimate data,
and that's their capability. He said, that's my number one guess.
It's a very closely held program and they're doing what
they need to do to ensure their technology actually works. Now,
(13:17):
this is why people who say they've seen UFOs, and
pilots have seen UFOs, and there's a lot of activity
in Nevada and Area fifty one, they've all seen something real.
It's just not space aliens. These are government projects because
they're always working on new military capabilities and flying capabilities.
(13:37):
That's why these things will glow in the dark and
turn colors. They seem to be strained shapes, and they
seem to be moving in unusual ways. This is our
tax money working on stuff that we could use. I
guess in wartime. Where have you seen the drone.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Right outside my window at my house? Well, my husband
did this week. He said that a drone came literally
right up to our bedroom window and so and the
dog went crazy. It was this huge drone. So we
went outside to try and figure out, you know, who
it was, and there was some guy on a skateboard.
So we went up to that guy and said, hey,
is that your drone? Guy says no, then a real
(14:18):
estate agent, because there's a house across the street from
us and he's selling this house. He said, oh, I'm sorry,
it's mine. And my husband said, I'm sorry, but you
can't fly a drone right up to our bedroom window.
First of all, you need to tell the neighbors that
you have a Drone's.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
It's a peeping tom. Exactly how long was it hovering?
A while?
Speaker 4 (14:40):
And it was my dog was going crazy. It was
it was a big drone and it was right there.
We don't have any window covering, right, and.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
This guy might have taken video of you.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I know.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, fortunately my husband said, it's a good thing my
wife's not home. She would have been freaking.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
You know, you're always running aroun and a towel.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
I know, I do.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
I you told me that I don't have a drone.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
That's because you when I get out of a shower
because of an earthquake, well, when I get out of
a shower, doesn't matter if it's an earthquake, I throw
a towel on like every brice.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Didn't you have two earthquakes hit while you were in
the shower? Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I did.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, that's why I remember the story. So maybe this
guy heard us talking about it and he goes out, Yeah,
just in case there's a shake today.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
I'm gonna have the drone right there.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I've got a video and a recorder going and uh,
we'll take that.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
That is creepy.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Those things always look creepy to me the way they
way they hover, because they look like giant insects.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
And I'm sorry if you can't control your drone. I mean,
the house that's going up, it is for sale now,
is across the street. So why is the drone flying
in our right by our window instead of over that house.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Well, if it was targeted at your know, then I
think the guy was up to no good. That's just
my jolly.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You should know.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Because they're you know, when they're caught. No, they're always
going to deny it and say, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. Oh, yes,
you did know. Because he can see. He should have
a screen where he can see what the drone is
looking at. So if he looks at his screen, he
can see the east side of your bedroom.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Yeah, well wasn't made that day, So there you go.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
He wanted to see if it was toll all day.
That's what he was about.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Also, there's this representative Jeff Andrew, a congressman in New Jersey,
and he claims that very qualified and reliable sources say
that the drones are originating from an Iranian mothership parked
off the east coast of the United States. I'm on
the Transportation Committee, on the Aviation subcommittee, and I've gotten
(16:52):
to know people and very high sources, very qualified sources,
very responsible sources. I'm going to tell you Aron launched
a mother ship a month ago that contains these drones
and it's off the East coast. And he says it
Ran made a deal with China to purchase the drones,
the motherships, and the technology to go forward. These drones
should be shot down, which is what you need to do.
(17:14):
Next time, this creepy real estate agent. Oh yeah, I'm
going to you know, just give that.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Drone of blast. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
When we come back, all right, I'm going to talk
with Rich McHugh from News Nation about this.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI A sixty.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Let's go right now to Rich McHugh follow up on
what we were talking about in the last segment, Drones
all over New Jersey. Rich with the News Nation. Rich McHugh,
how are you.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I'm good, How are you?
Speaker 6 (17:44):
Thanks for having me?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
What do you know about this? What are they saying
in Washington?
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Well, not a lot, that's for sure. That are saying
they don't know. The FBI saying we don't know what
these drones are, we don't know the origin, We don't
really know anything. I'm in the I'm at a location
that was supposed to be a homeland security briefing for
mayors throughout the state and legislatures and legislators, and I
(18:11):
gotta say I talked to several of them. They came
out of the meeting. We were rather upset. The state Rep.
Brian Bergen came out. He said, this is an amateur hour.
We didn't get a single answer. It was the biggest
waste of time. Why am I even here? Another mayor
of Middletown, Tony Reid, said the same thing, like they
got to start taking this seriously because people are concerned.
(18:31):
We don't have answers until you tell us the origin
of these things, like we need answers. We don't just
need a you know, a pr job. And so people
are upset. There's been hundreds and hundreds of sightings of
these drones throughout New Jersey since mid November, and on
a clear night, the videos speak for themselves. You know,
(18:53):
you look at these things and it's terrifying. And as
a resident of New Jersey, I'm also upset. I'm like,
you know, where's the account?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Oh here?
Speaker 6 (19:01):
And so far we have none of it, and.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Nobody's been able to capture one of these drones.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Not yet, not yet, but I imagine that is coming. I mean,
the anger over this issue has grown in the past,
you know, forty eight hours, so people are you know,
officials are certainly saying, don't do that. But I think,
you know, the longer this goes out without answers, someone's
going to take it upon themselves to get one of
these drones out of the sky and say, okay, somebody,
(19:28):
somebody unpacked this thing and figure out where it came from.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Anybody giving credence to what the Congressman from Jersey, Jeff
Andrews said that this is uh, these are Iranian drones
from an Iranian mothership that's hovering off the coast of
the Atlantic.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Yeah, we just we just talked to him, muse nation.
He said they might be He dialed it back a
little bit. They might be Iranian drnes. He doesn't have proof,
but his intelligence sources stay that that's the case. It's
something I've heard talked about because there was a sheriff
in Ocean County, New Jersey who said he saw with
his eyes like fifty of these drones coming off of
(20:06):
the ocean heading England, which gives kind of credence to
this theory. But at this point it's just a theory,
homeless like the Pentagon says no. So the DC is
shooting that down, but you have no other real explanation.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
If if it's one of their own programs.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Did you see that New York Post story where where
some experts are saying that that the government has all
kinds of secret programs that they never admit to.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
So you then, I was at a meeting today where
they certainly had an opportunity with Homeland Security and legislators
from around the state of New Jersey just say hey, guys,
wink wink, it's us or we're controlling this, don't worry.
And they did not do that. So they had the
(20:54):
perfect opportunity to come clean if it's in fact them.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah uh, I mean, if you're going to do an
experiment over literally millions of people, I mean, you know
you live there.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I used to live there.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Jerseys incredibly densely populated, so you can't get away with
hundreds of drones in the air that that can't stay
a seat.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
There's a munition site Earl, you know, is a naval site,
and they even confirmed to me they had a drone
over that. So it's it's alarming, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
All right, I know, you gotta you gotta get on.
Rich McHugh from News Nation, thank you for coming on
with us and giving us a few minutes.
Speaker 6 (21:36):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
All right, that's Rich mceu from News Nation, and he
mentioned the NAVA in the Naval Weapons Station Earl. According
to Tony Perry, who's the mayor of Middletown, New Jersey,
we had one confirmed drone directly directly over the top
of Earl. If anyone knows the weapon station, if you
(21:59):
come within five one hundred feet of Earl, they're already
authorized to fire upon you, even if you're just a
fishing boat. And fortunately, it seems like we're unable to
take any action when a foreign, unauthorized drone is flying above.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
According to this story, drones are legal in New Jersey
for recreational and commercial commercial use, but they're subject to
local and FAA regulations and flight restrictions, and drone operators
must be FAA certified, and most, but not all, of
the drones spotted were larger than those typically used by hobbyists.
(22:39):
Because I was wondering if this is just some drone
geek who's pulling a prank, or he might be so
oblivious he doesn't realize the panic he created. They've seen
also drones near the Picatinny Arsenal, which is a US
military research and manufacturing facility, and like I said, over
Trump's golf course, most of them have been out of
(23:00):
the long coastal areas, some of them over a large
reservoir in Clinton, New Jersey. The FBI is asking residents
to share any videos or photos, but I always wonder
if everybody's just playing along, playing pretend. Maybe the FBI knows,
but somehow they have to assuage the residents say yeah, yeah,
(23:22):
send us videos and photos and we'll follow up on it.
I mean, they actually held a meeting for all the
mayors and told them and told them nothing that makes
me suspicious. It was like we're in the Chinese balloon
that floated over the country last year. Remember that went
(23:42):
on for quite a while and nobody wanted to explain it,
and it turned out to be that it was a
Chinese balloon and they were hovering over military basis. Well,
something's up, and I think they know that they know
what it is. But we'll talk more. Coming up.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI A
six forty.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Coming up after three o'clock Todd Benjman from the Center
for Immigration Studies. He's a journalist who's been covering border
issues for years now, and he is going to tell
us what he has found inside the Mexican migrant camps.
That proves that Trump's hardline policy is already working. And
(24:33):
we will talk to Todd Benjman coming up after three o'clock.
This story is going to make you crazy. If there's
one thing I wish I could magically convince people of
is stop voting for homeless taxes. A few weeks ago,
the idiots of La County voted to double the homeless
sales tax and make it permanent. Even though enormous amounts
(24:55):
of money have been wasted, homelessness is not better in
most of the city. Karen Bass has failed with all
her promises. Well, here's the latest insult. Over a five
year period, twenty five percent of shelter beds in La
(25:17):
City went unused. Twenty five percent. We have a report
here from KTLA and Omar Lewis.
Speaker 7 (25:27):
Despite efforts from the city to convert former hotels into
shelters like this one here in Woodland Hills, that audit
revealed some major gaps in how resources for homelessness are managed,
finding that one in four interim housing beds went unused
over a five year period, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions
(25:47):
of dollars.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
We can tell you more information this morning.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
From that audit by the LA City Controller, it found
that from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty three, one in
four city funded shelter beds went unused, costing life Los
Angeles taxpayers and estimated two hundred and eighteen million dollars.
That's according to the audit released on Tuesday by LA
City Controller Kenneth Mahea. The report revealed that only twenty
(26:12):
percent of interim shelter residents transitioned to permanent housing, while
more than half returned to homelessness or had unknown outcomes.
Mahia called the findings unjustifiable, saying any bed that goes
unfilled means an unsheltered person living on the streets is
waiting longer than they need to move into a safer
space and begin their path to permanent housing. Now, the
(26:35):
Los Angeles Housing Services Authority, or LASA, said many of
the issues occurred before current leadership took over. Lasa's current
CEO says that her team has prioritized improvement since day one,
and that includes a record eighteen percent increase in permanent
housing placements last year and new systems to track bed
availability and performance. Still, the audit emphasizing systemic issues, including
(26:59):
severe day quality problems and a lack of formal reservation policies.
Mehia also pointed to barriers like landlord discrimination against people
using housing vouchers, urging lawmakers to address these challenges head on.
In a statement from Controller, Mahia reads, in part, this
is unjustifiable, especially giving that there's a massive bed shortage.
(27:22):
Local lawmakers should pass legislation that would prevent landlords from
requiring credit checks for people using vouchers or subsidies. It
would eliminate an unnecessary barrier to permanent housing now. That
audit also went on to recommend other things to the city,
like adding more housing navigators and also clarifying some of
(27:43):
the ways that the city collects his data.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Here from that report, we have reached.
Speaker 7 (27:48):
Out to representatives from LASA and the City Controller's office
to react and respond with an interview to this latest audit.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Of course, we'll bring that to you as soon as
it happens.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
So over a five year period, twenty five percent of
the beds were unused cost US two hundred and eighteen
million dollars.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
That's our tax.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Money, and you all went out and doubled the homeless
tax that's good idea. So maybe next time they do
an audien, we'll find out they wasted four hundred million
dollars and mentioned in the report, and I want to
explore this one. Officials have cited several challenges preventing i'll
(28:28):
call them vagrants from acquiring permanent housing. Well, acquiring permanent well,
they're not going to acquire anything. They have no money.
You acquire something when you pay for it.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
He has said when a person receives a voucher or
a subsidy for permanent housing, they often face discrimination to
get a lease because landlords want credit checks. Yeah, landlords
want credit checks exactly you're supposed to. They want a
state law that would forbid landlord from require a credit
(29:00):
check from a homeless person with a voucher. So if
the voucher runs out, then the landlord would be stuck
with the drug addict or the mental patient. Because you know,
it's nearly impossible to evict anybody, so how the hell.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Would you get rid of them?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Because giving them this home with a voucher does not
cure their mental illness or their drug addiction. Landlords ought
to be able to discriminate you because you're a drug
addict or because you're a mental patient, and having a
housing voucher proves that you are nearly all the homeless people.
Our drug addicts mental patients are both nearly all of them,
(29:44):
the ones out in the street.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Absolutely, so we.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
All, oh my god, we spend our lives paying our
bills to ensure our credit rating. That's the most important
thing in the world. When you're a responsible adult, and
I you know what I don't. I would never want
to rent anything out to anyone.
Speaker 7 (30:07):
Mhm.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Because everything is about forcing the landlord to risk their property,
to risk control of their property, to.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
The to a lunatic.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
You know, landlords or business people, they're grown up, they're mature,
they take responsibility, they're they're they're trying to make money,
God forbid, you make when you're when you're you're leasing
out property, renting out rooms or whatever you're doing, you're
trying to earn profit, maybe live off that money. That's
(30:42):
that's like your job. Your job is is renting out
real estate or leasing out homes. Mahea that he did
the audit, but then all his ideas are nuts and
he's one of these socialists as well. Local lawmakers should
pass legislation that prevent landlords from requiring credit checks. This
(31:04):
is something that's been proposed at the state level but
has not been implemented. It would eliminate an unnecessary barrier
to permitted housing. There should be barriers to mental patients
and drug addicts from taking over your home forever.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Of course you should have a credit check. This is correct. Well,
I thought they were going to build all this housing.
What happened to that? Remember they were building at a
million dollars a pop. What a racket? What a bunch
of thieves? And then.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Some of the other recommendations which kind of got blown
by in that report formalizing reservation policy.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
But they don't have a database.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
When when when uh, when crazy homeless guy comes up?
There's that's there's not a clerk who says, Okay, we've
got you booked at this motel room on December seventeenth,
and you're allowed to stay there for two months, but you.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Got to get it. They don't have that.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
They don't have the reservation policy, they don't have the
data of bed capacity, housing navigators, whatever the.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Hell that is.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
We've given them billions of dollars, billions of dollars. Every
audit they do comes up with the same result. There's
still tens of thousands of people on the street. We
don't know where the money went. We think it's unfair
that landlords want credit checks. Can you imagine having a
(32:43):
home or an apartment building and the state saying you
can't do a credit check on this guy who's shown
up at your front door. By the way, he's not
wearing any pants, and he's got a crack pipe hanging
out of her out of his mouth, and he screams
at the moon all night. But it'd be discriminatory to
(33:05):
ask for a credit check. All right, We come back
Todd Bensman, and he's with Center for Immigration Studies. He
also writes a lot of great articles journalists, and he's
got a new piece in the Daily Mail what he
discovered inside these migrant Mexican camps, proving that Trump's policy,
(33:26):
as harsh as it is, is already working.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Todd ben Todd Benjman is going to explain next. Hey,
you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
I am six forty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobel Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on every day from one until four. You should
be here. If for some reason you miss any part
of the show, then you go to the iHeartRadio app
after four o'clock and listening to John Cobelt Show on demand.
It's the podcast. It's the same as the radio show,
and you can hear what you missed. We're going to
(00:22):
talk right out with my councilwoman, Tracy Park, who I
hold up as one of the few shining lights in
politics in the entire States. She replaced the idiot Mike
Bonden some years ago and has really transformed the West
side of Los Angeles. There is far fewer homeless encampments.
(00:44):
I drive around and I look for them, and I've
called her office a few times to report stuff I've seen,
and they've taken care of it. And now she Jim McDonald,
the new LAPD Police chief, and the new District Attorney
in La County, Nathan Hockman, they got together to announce
a new crime fighting measure for the district on the
(01:06):
west side of Los Angelet's get Let's get Tracy park
On Tracy.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
How are you, John, Hi, I'm good, great to talk
to you.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
When are you running for mayor?
Speaker 3 (01:17):
That's a good question, you know. Right now, I am
focused on cleaning up the mess on the West Side
that we were left with after a decade of neglect
and crime.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
You're telling me talk about this this initiative because it's
got several parts to it and it's all good to
fight crime and to make life better for people on
the West Side.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So go through the whole package.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Sure, So, I am really excited about this. You know,
residents on the West Side have been subjected to home burglaries, mashions,
mashin grabs, retail theft, and they are absolutely fed up
with it. We also know that we have serious, dangerously
low understaffing levels in LAPD, so in the interim, I
(02:08):
have introduced this package that includes about a half a
million dollars spend on automated license plate readers that will
be installed around strategic entry points and within the district.
That will be a tool to help our police with
situational awareness in real time, as well as a source
(02:29):
of evidence that can be used to apprehend and prosecute criminals.
We also are funding dedicated over time to LAPD so
that we can increase the number of police patrols present
on the streets in our community. Also, for the first
time in history, we have secured a dedicated park ranger
(02:54):
presence for Ocean Front Walk, which is our city's most
frequently used creation and tourist destination. And we also think
that environmental changes are important as well, because when the
lights are out and the trees aren't trimmed, it gives place,
It gives crime a place to thrive. So we are
(03:15):
also investing money and our partners at Bureau of Street
Services to help us with those And I was incredibly
proud to stand with our new police chief and our
new district Attorney in sending a loud and clear message
that the West Side is a great place to live,
to work, and to visit. But I also am sending
(03:38):
a message that if you come here and commit crime,
you will be arrested and you will be prosecuted. The
failed social experiment in CD eleven is over.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
This is so exciting.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I want to have a party, because this is consumed
life on the West Side, as you know. For you,
in fact, every one of these initiatives that you laid
out as part of your plan. I've had to deal
with it on my neighborhood. On my block, for example,
there were four major street lights on my block that
all went out recently.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
I don't know if the copper.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Wire was stolen or what the story was, but suddenly
the whole neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Went dark, which is scary.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
It is scary, and it makes the neighborhood inviting to criminals.
It gives them the cover of darkness that they need
to commit their crimes. And we're all sick and tired
of it. John. I speak to constituents every day that
have had their homes broken into, their cars broken into.
I speak to business owners every day that are holding
(04:43):
on by a thread because they can't keep up with
the retail theft. We have families who are leaving our
West Side communities to find safer cities to raise their
families in them boarding up and those are jobs in
people's livelihoods leaving with them. And so that is why
(05:05):
we're standing together, united in the message we are taking
our streets back, We're done with the nonsense, and we
are going to clean this mess up.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
In CB eleven, you are this is not hyperbole.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I know several families that have moved out or are
working on moving out, you know, as soon as they can.
And crime is a big part of it. I mean,
everybody's sick of that police helicopters over our neighborhoods almost
every night. Three times this week we had police helicopters
at night, and I had that they.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Must be chasing the same guys over and over again.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Well, and because under the watch of people like Mike
Bonnon and George Gascon, criminals got the message that it
was perfectly acceptable to thieve and steal and distribute drugs
without any kind of consequence. And voters in Los Angeles
and across California made it clear in the landslide elections
(05:58):
of our new district Attorney and in the passage of Prop.
Thirty six, that the party is over, that we are
going to take back our streets, We are prioritizing cleaning
up the crime problem in this city, and we are
going to get our communities back on track. The constituents, residents,
and stakeholders in Council District eleven deserve nothing less.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Yeah, I know we're short on police, and I know
there are some neighborhoods that have far more criminal activity
going on than ours. But we've got a fair amount
with the burglaries, way more than anything I ever remember
been out here thirty years, and the police presence is
minimal to non existent in fact neighbors because my wife's
(06:43):
on the phone and she's in all these neighborhood groups.
People are thinking of signing up with two security services
just in case the first one is not available at
any given moment. So people are paying double security fees
on top of all the taxes they pay for LIPD.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
That's right, and that is an untenable burden to put
on people, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet.
It's not fair that our businesses have to hire private security,
that they have to make investments in changing around the
store layout, in locking up products. None of this is pennable.
It's not sustainable and we've got to fix this. And
(07:26):
you know, unfortunately, with police staffing levels being what they are,
we are going to have to supplement with technology. We
know these licensed plate readers are a great way to
do this. We actually thought a rollout in Council District
twelve a few weeks ago and just in the first
twenty four hours of the camera's going live to major
(07:48):
arrests by LAPD, someone that was on the FBI Most
Wanted list and someone else that was out committing smash
and grab robberies in another part of the city. Look,
we have criminals coming from all over the world to
Los Angeles. Yeah, just to commit crime because they thought
they could get away with it. Well, now the police
chief and the district attorney, and at least this council
(08:11):
member are standing together saying not here, not on the
West Side, not in this council district. You do it here.
We're coming for you.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Tracy. You are terrific. You really are the best. And
let's talk again soon. I know you have to run.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
You got it, John, have a good day, Okay.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Tracy Park the councilwoman on the West Side, I wasn't kidding.
She ought to be the mayor. Uh more coming up?
Oh this hour. This fascinates me, this story. If you
heard about the drones in New Jersey. Every night, there's
all these drones up in the sky. Nobody knows what
they are. They're hovering a lot of them near Trump's
(08:48):
golf course in Bedminster, and a lot of them are
hovering in the area where I grew up, and nobody
wants to say in government what these are, and everybody
claims they don't know. But New York posted a story
on what some experts think it might be. And the
reason the government says they don't know is maybe because
(09:11):
it's the government that sent up the drones. All there's
a secret agency that even most people in government are
not aware of. I don't know if it's behind these drones, but.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
We're going to explore it.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And we're still going to have a reporter from a
newsdation coming on after that, and.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
I actually have a drone story to tell you about.
Oh you have a drones story?
Speaker 5 (09:30):
I do?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
All right, yes, all right, Well we'll get to all
this coming up, jam Packed Show.
Speaker 5 (09:35):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
You should be following us at John Cobelt Radio. At
John Cobelt Radio, we need eight hundred and seventy three
more followers and we'll hit twenty thousand. Yay, so at
John Cobelt Radio. All right, now, we are going to
talk with Rich McHugh from News Nation in the next segment,
(10:05):
the FBI doesn't know why there are dozens of drones
flying over New Jersey every night for weeks. They a
lot of have been flying over Trump's golf course in Bedminster.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I know.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I grew up in New Jersey and worked there for
a number of years, so I know all the counties.
I've driven in every county, probably every town, every highway
because they used to be a sports reporter and I
had to cover just hundreds and hundreds of high school
and college sporting events. And then Ken and I worked
at several radio stations in New Jersey, and one of
(10:43):
the counties is Burton County, North Jersey.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
That's where I grew up. There are drones probably over
my old.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
House and Sacon Morris County, in Hunterdon County in South Jersey,
and they're asking all the officials, and the officials are going,
I don't know, I don't know. We don't know anything.
And the governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, said there
were forty nine reports of drones just on Sunday, and
(11:13):
one state representative named Brian Bergen says he's not getting
enough information as to what's going on. He said there
were no answers nobody has any answers what could be
going on here. Well, in New York, Push has a
story quoting some experts who say this may be a
government a special, secret government agency that most government officials
(11:35):
don't even know about. This is according to Clinton Emerson,
a retired Navy seal, and he owns a security company
called Escape the Wolf.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Listen to this.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
My first guess is there are potentially government programs kept
within what's known as a Special Access program, which is
personally purposely put together to keep even the most well
even to keep the people with the highest clearance, the
highest security clearance out. So even if you're at the
(12:08):
highest security level, there are still people who know secrets
that you don't or can't get to. This is why
the government says we don't know. They're being truthful because
the people in government don't even know the program exists.
The circle could be as small as a dozen officials.
So this is a secret government agency doing drone tests.
(12:30):
It may be the technology they're carrying, not the drones themselves.
It could be different types of collection capabilities, different types
of cameras, high definition, infrared, thermal, or it could be
a payload that has hardware that scoops up all the
cell phone data in a given environment. Let's say we
got ten drones where they fly in a grid. Remember
New Jersey is the most densely populated state. How much
(12:52):
cell phone traffic can we pick up? Not actual conversations,
but the signature of millions of cell phones. What can
ten drones pick up going on over an area. That's
a legitimate test. They're not invading your privacy. It's legitimate data,
and that's their capability. He said, that's my number one guess.
It's a very closely held program and they're doing what
they need to do to ensure their technology actually works. Now,
(13:17):
this is why people who say they've seen UFOs, and
pilots have seen UFOs, and there's a lot of activity
in Nevada and Area fifty one, they've all seen something real.
It's just not space aliens. These are government projects because
they're always working on new military capabilities and flying capabilities.
(13:37):
That's why these things will glow in the dark and
turn colors. They seem to be strained shapes, and they
seem to be moving in unusual ways. This is our
tax money working on stuff that we could use. I
guess in wartime. Where have you seen the drone.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
Right outside my window at my house? Well, my husband
did this week. He said that a drone came literally
right up to our bedroom window and so and the
dog went crazy. It was this huge drone. So we
went outside to try and figure out, you know, who
it was, and there was some guy on a skateboard.
So we went up to that guy and said, hey,
is that your drone? Guy says no, then a real
(14:18):
estate agent, because there's a house across the street from
us and he's selling this house. He said, oh, I'm sorry,
it's mine. And my husband said, I'm sorry, but you
can't fly a drone right up to our bedroom window.
First of all, you need to tell the neighbors that
you have a Drone's.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
It's a peeping tom. Exactly how long was it hovering?
A while?
Speaker 4 (14:40):
And it was my dog was going crazy. It was
it was a big drone and it was right there.
We don't have any window covering, right, and.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
This guy might have taken video of you.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I know.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
Well, fortunately my husband said, it's a good thing my
wife's not home. She would have been freaking.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
You know, you're always running aroun and a towel.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
I know, I do.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
I you told me that I don't have a drone.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
That's because you when I get out of a shower
because of an earthquake, well, when I get out of
a shower, doesn't matter if it's an earthquake, I throw
a towel on like every brice.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Didn't you have two earthquakes hit while you were in
the shower? Yes?
Speaker 3 (15:20):
I did.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, that's why I remember the story. So maybe this
guy heard us talking about it and he goes out, Yeah,
just in case there's a shake today.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
I'm gonna have the drone right there.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
I've got a video and a recorder going and uh,
we'll take that.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
That is creepy.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Those things always look creepy to me the way they
way they hover, because they look like giant insects.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
And I'm sorry if you can't control your drone. I mean,
the house that's going up, it is for sale now,
is across the street. So why is the drone flying
in our right by our window instead of over that house.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Well, if it was targeted at your know, then I
think the guy was up to no good. That's just
my jolly.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You should know.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Because they're you know, when they're caught. No, they're always
going to deny it and say, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know. Oh, yes,
you did know. Because he can see. He should have
a screen where he can see what the drone is
looking at. So if he looks at his screen, he
can see the east side of your bedroom.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Yeah, well wasn't made that day, So there you go.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
He wanted to see if it was toll all day.
That's what he was about.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Also, there's this representative Jeff Andrew, a congressman in New Jersey,
and he claims that very qualified and reliable sources say
that the drones are originating from an Iranian mothership parked
off the east coast of the United States. I'm on
the Transportation Committee, on the Aviation subcommittee, and I've gotten
(16:52):
to know people and very high sources, very qualified sources,
very responsible sources. I'm going to tell you Aron launched
a mother ship a month ago that contains these drones
and it's off the East coast. And he says it
Ran made a deal with China to purchase the drones,
the motherships, and the technology to go forward. These drones
should be shot down, which is what you need to do.
(17:14):
Next time, this creepy real estate agent. Oh yeah, I'm
going to you know, just give that.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Drone of blast. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
When we come back, all right, I'm going to talk
with Rich McHugh from News Nation about this.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI A sixty.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
Let's go right now to Rich McHugh follow up on
what we were talking about in the last segment, Drones
all over New Jersey. Rich with the News Nation. Rich McHugh,
how are you.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
I'm good, How are you?
Speaker 6 (17:44):
Thanks for having me?
Speaker 1 (17:45):
What do you know about this? What are they saying
in Washington?
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Well, not a lot, that's for sure. That are saying
they don't know. The FBI saying we don't know what
these drones are, we don't know the origin, We don't
really know anything. I'm in the I'm at a location
that was supposed to be a homeland security briefing for
mayors throughout the state and legislatures and legislators, and I
(18:11):
gotta say I talked to several of them. They came
out of the meeting. We were rather upset. The state Rep.
Brian Bergen came out. He said, this is an amateur hour.
We didn't get a single answer. It was the biggest
waste of time. Why am I even here? Another mayor
of Middletown, Tony Reid, said the same thing, like they
got to start taking this seriously because people are concerned.
(18:31):
We don't have answers until you tell us the origin
of these things, like we need answers. We don't just
need a you know, a pr job. And so people
are upset. There's been hundreds and hundreds of sightings of
these drones throughout New Jersey since mid November, and on
a clear night, the videos speak for themselves. You know,
(18:53):
you look at these things and it's terrifying. And as
a resident of New Jersey, I'm also upset. I'm like,
you know, where's the account?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Oh here?
Speaker 6 (19:01):
And so far we have none of it, and.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Nobody's been able to capture one of these drones.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
Not yet, not yet, but I imagine that is coming. I mean,
the anger over this issue has grown in the past,
you know, forty eight hours, so people are you know,
officials are certainly saying, don't do that. But I think,
you know, the longer this goes out without answers, someone's
going to take it upon themselves to get one of
these drones out of the sky and say, okay, somebody,
(19:28):
somebody unpacked this thing and figure out where it came from.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Anybody giving credence to what the Congressman from Jersey, Jeff
Andrews said that this is uh, these are Iranian drones
from an Iranian mothership that's hovering off the coast of
the Atlantic.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Yeah, we just we just talked to him, muse nation.
He said they might be He dialed it back a
little bit. They might be Iranian drnes. He doesn't have proof,
but his intelligence sources stay that that's the case. It's
something I've heard talked about because there was a sheriff
in Ocean County, New Jersey who said he saw with
his eyes like fifty of these drones coming off of
(20:06):
the ocean heading England, which gives kind of credence to
this theory. But at this point it's just a theory,
homeless like the Pentagon says no. So the DC is
shooting that down, but you have no other real explanation.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
If if it's one of their own programs.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Did you see that New York Post story where where
some experts are saying that that the government has all
kinds of secret programs that they never admit to.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
So you then, I was at a meeting today where
they certainly had an opportunity with Homeland Security and legislators
from around the state of New Jersey just say hey, guys,
wink wink, it's us or we're controlling this, don't worry.
And they did not do that. So they had the
(20:54):
perfect opportunity to come clean if it's in fact them.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Yeah uh, I mean, if you're going to do an
experiment over literally millions of people, I mean, you know
you live there.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
I used to live there.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Jerseys incredibly densely populated, so you can't get away with
hundreds of drones in the air that that can't stay
a seat.
Speaker 6 (21:15):
There's a munition site Earl, you know, is a naval site,
and they even confirmed to me they had a drone
over that. So it's it's alarming, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
All right, I know, you gotta you gotta get on.
Rich McHugh from News Nation, thank you for coming on
with us and giving us a few minutes.
Speaker 6 (21:36):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
All right, that's Rich mceu from News Nation, and he
mentioned the NAVA in the Naval Weapons Station Earl. According
to Tony Perry, who's the mayor of Middletown, New Jersey,
we had one confirmed drone directly directly over the top
of Earl. If anyone knows the weapon station, if you
(21:59):
come within five one hundred feet of Earl, they're already
authorized to fire upon you, even if you're just a
fishing boat. And fortunately, it seems like we're unable to
take any action when a foreign, unauthorized drone is flying above.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Now.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
According to this story, drones are legal in New Jersey
for recreational and commercial commercial use, but they're subject to
local and FAA regulations and flight restrictions, and drone operators
must be FAA certified, and most, but not all, of
the drones spotted were larger than those typically used by hobbyists.
(22:39):
Because I was wondering if this is just some drone
geek who's pulling a prank, or he might be so
oblivious he doesn't realize the panic he created. They've seen
also drones near the Picatinny Arsenal, which is a US
military research and manufacturing facility, and like I said, over
Trump's golf course, most of them have been out of
(23:00):
the long coastal areas, some of them over a large
reservoir in Clinton, New Jersey. The FBI is asking residents
to share any videos or photos, but I always wonder
if everybody's just playing along, playing pretend. Maybe the FBI knows,
but somehow they have to assuage the residents say yeah, yeah,
(23:22):
send us videos and photos and we'll follow up on it.
I mean, they actually held a meeting for all the
mayors and told them and told them nothing that makes
me suspicious. It was like we're in the Chinese balloon
that floated over the country last year. Remember that went
(23:42):
on for quite a while and nobody wanted to explain it,
and it turned out to be that it was a
Chinese balloon and they were hovering over military basis. Well,
something's up, and I think they know that they know
what it is. But we'll talk more. Coming up.
Speaker 5 (24:04):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI A
six forty.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Coming up after three o'clock Todd Benjman from the Center
for Immigration Studies. He's a journalist who's been covering border
issues for years now, and he is going to tell
us what he has found inside the Mexican migrant camps.
That proves that Trump's hardline policy is already working. And
(24:33):
we will talk to Todd Benjman coming up after three o'clock.
This story is going to make you crazy. If there's
one thing I wish I could magically convince people of
is stop voting for homeless taxes. A few weeks ago,
the idiots of La County voted to double the homeless
sales tax and make it permanent. Even though enormous amounts
(24:55):
of money have been wasted, homelessness is not better in
most of the city. Karen Bass has failed with all
her promises. Well, here's the latest insult. Over a five
year period, twenty five percent of shelter beds in La
(25:17):
City went unused. Twenty five percent. We have a report
here from KTLA and Omar Lewis.
Speaker 7 (25:27):
Despite efforts from the city to convert former hotels into
shelters like this one here in Woodland Hills, that audit
revealed some major gaps in how resources for homelessness are managed,
finding that one in four interim housing beds went unused
over a five year period, costing taxpayers hundreds of millions
(25:47):
of dollars.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
We can tell you more information this morning.
Speaker 7 (25:50):
From that audit by the LA City Controller, it found
that from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty three, one in
four city funded shelter beds went unused, costing life Los
Angeles taxpayers and estimated two hundred and eighteen million dollars.
That's according to the audit released on Tuesday by LA
City Controller Kenneth Mahea. The report revealed that only twenty
(26:12):
percent of interim shelter residents transitioned to permanent housing, while
more than half returned to homelessness or had unknown outcomes.
Mahia called the findings unjustifiable, saying any bed that goes
unfilled means an unsheltered person living on the streets is
waiting longer than they need to move into a safer
space and begin their path to permanent housing. Now, the
(26:35):
Los Angeles Housing Services Authority, or LASA, said many of
the issues occurred before current leadership took over. Lasa's current
CEO says that her team has prioritized improvement since day one,
and that includes a record eighteen percent increase in permanent
housing placements last year and new systems to track bed
availability and performance. Still, the audit emphasizing systemic issues, including
(26:59):
severe day quality problems and a lack of formal reservation policies.
Mehia also pointed to barriers like landlord discrimination against people
using housing vouchers, urging lawmakers to address these challenges head on.
In a statement from Controller, Mahia reads, in part, this
is unjustifiable, especially giving that there's a massive bed shortage.
(27:22):
Local lawmakers should pass legislation that would prevent landlords from
requiring credit checks for people using vouchers or subsidies. It
would eliminate an unnecessary barrier to permanent housing now. That
audit also went on to recommend other things to the city,
like adding more housing navigators and also clarifying some of
(27:43):
the ways that the city collects his data.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Here from that report, we have reached.
Speaker 7 (27:48):
Out to representatives from LASA and the City Controller's office
to react and respond with an interview to this latest audit.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
Of course, we'll bring that to you as soon as
it happens.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
So over a five year period, twenty five percent of
the beds were unused cost US two hundred and eighteen
million dollars.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
That's our tax.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
Money, and you all went out and doubled the homeless
tax that's good idea. So maybe next time they do
an audien, we'll find out they wasted four hundred million
dollars and mentioned in the report, and I want to
explore this one. Officials have cited several challenges preventing i'll
(28:28):
call them vagrants from acquiring permanent housing. Well, acquiring permanent well,
they're not going to acquire anything. They have no money.
You acquire something when you pay for it.
Speaker 6 (28:38):
I mean.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
He has said when a person receives a voucher or
a subsidy for permanent housing, they often face discrimination to
get a lease because landlords want credit checks. Yeah, landlords
want credit checks exactly you're supposed to. They want a
state law that would forbid landlord from require a credit
(29:00):
check from a homeless person with a voucher. So if
the voucher runs out, then the landlord would be stuck
with the drug addict or the mental patient. Because you know,
it's nearly impossible to evict anybody, so how the hell.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Would you get rid of them?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Because giving them this home with a voucher does not
cure their mental illness or their drug addiction. Landlords ought
to be able to discriminate you because you're a drug
addict or because you're a mental patient, and having a
housing voucher proves that you are nearly all the homeless people.
Our drug addicts mental patients are both nearly all of them,
(29:44):
the ones out in the street.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
Absolutely, so we.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
All, oh my god, we spend our lives paying our
bills to ensure our credit rating. That's the most important
thing in the world. When you're a responsible adult, and
I you know what I don't. I would never want
to rent anything out to anyone.
Speaker 7 (30:07):
Mhm.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Because everything is about forcing the landlord to risk their property,
to risk control of their property, to.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
The to a lunatic.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
You know, landlords or business people, they're grown up, they're mature,
they take responsibility, they're they're they're trying to make money,
God forbid, you make when you're when you're you're leasing
out property, renting out rooms or whatever you're doing, you're
trying to earn profit, maybe live off that money. That's
(30:42):
that's like your job. Your job is is renting out
real estate or leasing out homes. Mahea that he did
the audit, but then all his ideas are nuts and
he's one of these socialists as well. Local lawmakers should
pass legislation that prevent landlords from requiring credit checks. This
(31:04):
is something that's been proposed at the state level but
has not been implemented. It would eliminate an unnecessary barrier
to permitted housing. There should be barriers to mental patients
and drug addicts from taking over your home forever.
Speaker 1 (31:20):
Of course you should have a credit check. This is correct. Well,
I thought they were going to build all this housing.
What happened to that? Remember they were building at a
million dollars a pop. What a racket? What a bunch
of thieves? And then.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
Some of the other recommendations which kind of got blown
by in that report formalizing reservation policy.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
But they don't have a database.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
When when when uh, when crazy homeless guy comes up?
There's that's there's not a clerk who says, Okay, we've
got you booked at this motel room on December seventeenth,
and you're allowed to stay there for two months, but you.
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Got to get it. They don't have that.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
They don't have the reservation policy, they don't have the
data of bed capacity, housing navigators, whatever the.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Hell that is.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
We've given them billions of dollars, billions of dollars. Every
audit they do comes up with the same result. There's
still tens of thousands of people on the street. We
don't know where the money went. We think it's unfair
that landlords want credit checks. Can you imagine having a
(32:43):
home or an apartment building and the state saying you
can't do a credit check on this guy who's shown
up at your front door. By the way, he's not
wearing any pants, and he's got a crack pipe hanging
out of her out of his mouth, and he screams
at the moon all night. But it'd be discriminatory to
(33:05):
ask for a credit check. All right, We come back
Todd Bensman, and he's with Center for Immigration Studies. He
also writes a lot of great articles journalists, and he's
got a new piece in the Daily Mail what he
discovered inside these migrant Mexican camps, proving that Trump's policy,
(33:26):
as harsh as it is, is already working.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
Todd ben Todd Benjman is going to explain next. Hey,
you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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John Kobylt
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