Follow-Up: Los Angeles Officials Moved To Clean Up Piles Of Rotting Garbage After Report Details Health Dangers
[guest post by Dana]
[Ed. Ignoring pleas for help from residents of the city, and the subsequent procrastination of city officials to confront the enormous health threat posed by the mountains of rotting garbage and a dangerous rat infestation speaks to why so many Americans loathe elected officials in general.]
In a follow-up to my post about the mountains of rotting garbage and subsequent rat infestation on the streets of Los Angeles, we are learning today that the city has begun to clear the garbage. Funny how far bad publicity can go toward motivating politicians. It’s also sad that that is what it takes:
Just 48 hours after the I-Team exposed a mountain of trash, that stretches for almost a city block, Los Angeles appears to finally be taking action.
Sanitation crews started clearing away the mountain of garbage on Ceres Avenue late Wednesday afternoon, as rats scurried all around in an alley between downtown LA and the Fashion and Produce districts. The giant public health hazard has been expanding just a mile and a half from Los Angeles City Hall and LA’s mayor has ignored the filth.
As the I-Team has documented, this pile had been left to fester and rot since last fall, even though business owners have been calling the city to have it cleaned up.
[…]
Minutes after the city cleared away the trash on Ceres Avenue, I-Team cameras caught rats running all over the area, which is next to LA’s Produce District.
But really, this is some serious bullshit pushed by city officials who said earlier this week that it would take at least 90 days for the city to clear the garbage. Angelenos should be relentless in the public shaming and calling out of their city officials for their blatant lies and bureaucratic laziness.
Residents and business owners realize that, at best this is but a temporary fix given that the city still has no rat abatement plan in place. This, as well as there being a seeming lack of interest in tackling the problem in both the short and long term. And if Mayor Garcetti’s refusal to answer questions from NBC’s I-Team is an indicator. After having made numerous requests to talk with the Mayor, his spokesperson told the I-Team that they could possibly catch the mayor at a public event.
Note: Los Angeles City Hall has already encountered a problem with rats in the building. Worse, Deputy City Attorney Liz Greenwood, whose office is at Los Angeles’s City Hall, was diagnosed with typhus in November of last year. She believes it was the result of being bitten by fleas in her office.
(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)
–Dana
These are just bad people in charge.
Dana (779465) — 5/23/2019 @ 6:42 pmTake every doomed cat in the pound and release them in city hall. The only danger is that they’d mistake the politicians for rats.
Kevin M (21ca15) — 5/23/2019 @ 6:55 pmRat terriers are better than cats by far
steveg (354706) — 5/23/2019 @ 8:46 pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Pyu-Cj0gg
All those well fed rats just relocated.
Once upon a time I bought a house with old decrepit RR Tie walls all falling down. I tore into the old wall with my excavator and watched a parade of rats run out and then head for the foundation vent screens (which were old and decrepit too). About 20-30 rats found their way inside the walls and attic.
All night long for weeks there was the rat olympic games going on in my walls and attic. Then they’d take a break and start mating (again). My attic was “sealed” except up and down the vent pipes. So I sealed them in and I had to poison them. Never a good choice. I’d put those one way out only screens in, but most of the rats were not venturing out. The house stunk of dead rat for weeks. I left the windows and doors open 27/7.
My favorite moment was the night I turned the ceiling lights on and the maggots/flies starting dropping out of the fixtures and trying to fly. Wet flies dropping on my face as I looked up at the ceiling.
Point being, those rats today went somewhere and became someone elses problem. Letting rats build up like that is a city government failure. A failure they just passed on to some poor dupe who runs a business and pays taxes
steveg (354706) — 5/23/2019 @ 8:59 pmOmg, Steven, that’s a horrendous story. Did you end up fixing it up or ditching it?
Someone else’s story and off the front page. Win-win.
Dana (779465) — 5/23/2019 @ 9:09 pmAnother rat hater video
steveg (354706) — 5/23/2019 @ 9:12 pmhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3-Z2oCoVqU
Squeaky wheel gets the oil. Its not just liberal democrats but also conservative republicans who hear squeaking wheels.
lany (a7c80f) — 5/23/2019 @ 11:36 pmGenerally speaking, yes. But only children and fools believe there are conservative Republicans in the Los Angeles city government. The few that may be there are deep under cover, not daring to let their political leanings be known.
Bill H (383c5d) — 5/24/2019 @ 12:00 am8 I was talking about the country in general.
lany (a7c80f) — 5/24/2019 @ 12:21 amI don’t know how were going to be able to fund municipal pensions if we have to do things like pick up trash. I suppose next they’ll want the roads fixed, and incompetent teachers let go. Ungrateful wretches.
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (6b1442) — 5/24/2019 @ 11:07 amQuestion from the peanut gallery – if basic sanitation and rat control is no longer a priority of the Los Angeles government, what, pray tell, is?
George Orwell's Ghost (a7616a) — 5/24/2019 @ 4:24 pm