Quality-of-life issues, voter disgust, fear-mongering: is this politics in L.A. or O.C?
We now have a full field of candidates for Los Angeles mayor. Can any of them solve the homelessness crisis?that grants me perspective on the subject. So trust me when I say this: as L.A. prepares for the most consequential mayoral election in a generation, an Orange County state of mind is infecting the body politic. The whines, the paranoia, the bromides against the status quo, the pining for simpler days — Los Angeles in 2022 sounds like Orange County circa 1994.
I’m not dismissing concerns residents have about how things are. As someone who has seen loved ones deal with criminal violence, having your sense of safety shattered is never good. But neither is ignoring how good you actually have it. I’ve never understood the doom-and-gloom so many people throw on L.A. Sure, traffic is bad, but not much worse than what we in Orange County have to deal with on 405 and 55 freeways any time after 1 p.m. Poverty and crime? Name me a huge American city that doesn’t have either. And name me another huge American city that, despite its troubles, still has L.A.