LAs burst water mains are result of city leaders unforgivable neglect

The constant infrastructure failures in Los Angeles are symptoms of a deeper political rot.LA’s local government bodies ignore infrastructure because they fail to prioritize the needs of local residents.Nothing has changed since the massive negligence that caused the horrific Pacific Palisades Fire last year.

Clearly, the decay runs deep — deeper than a burst water main.Earlier this month, burst pipes caused three sinkholes in three different part of the city.One of them was on Sunset Boulevard, arguably the most famous street in LA.

The exact area of that leak happened to be in the city of West Hollywood, but the whole area shares a common infrastructure. These sinkholes occurred because rather than prioritizing responsible maintenance in their communities, city leaders have been spending their money on other “priorities.”One of those priorities is homelessness.Everyone agrees that it is an urgent problem.

But Mayor Karen Bass believes that the solution is simply to pay for hotel and motel rooms, and urge street-dwellers to move indoors.The city spends billions of dollars on this “Inside Safe” approach.Despite that massive spending, homelessness actually grew over the last year, rather than falling, according to figures released last week.

Many residents think that Los Angeles has a large homeless population because of the beautiful warm weather that makes it easier to survive a winter outside. But another major draw is the fact that LA offers homeless people significant benefits that allow them to maintain their homeless status. And another reason is that LA’s elected officials don’t confront the two principal issues causing people to become homeless in the first place: drug use and mental illness. While encampments spread on the streets above ground, the city’s infrastructure crumbles below.

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