The Corona Virus Forces Californian Leaders To Do Their Jobs

California has about 60k homeless that use the sidewalks as their toilets. Their trash has attracted rats and fleas. They are just a step away from carrying the plague. So now that a pandemic is here local governments are finally doing something about the homeless. An L.A. Mayor has commandeered recreation centers and turned them into shelters. He is trying to contain the homeless population so that they don't catch and spread the Corona Virus to the rest of the population. I guess only at the eleventh hour do they think to act and help their community.

"Mayor Eric Garcetti is going ahead with a plan to move thousands of homeless people in Los Angeles into recreation centers in residential neighborhoods as part of the city’s response to the coronavirus pandemic."

"Mayor Eric Garcetti’s plan for transforming 42 recreation centers into homeless shelters got its start on Friday, with city crews bringing in supplies, spacing cots and laying tarp on gymnasium floors. The initiative is part of a larger strategy to blunt the spread of the novel coronavirus among the city’s most vulnerable residents."

"At each site, the city will provide workers with protective equipment, including coveralls, face masks and gloves, said Ashley Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Department of Recreation and Parks. Those who move in will receive socks, blankets and personal hygiene kits, she said.

Still, some of those living on the streets expressed serious doubts about making the move.

David Busch, a longtime activist who is homeless and lives in Venice, said he has been trying to isolate himself in his tent — and would need far more reassurance from public health experts before going into one of the converted recreation centers.

“All over the city, they’re telling people not to congregate, yet they’re telling homeless people to congregate in these recreation centers,” he said. “What protection are we going to have?”

Eight of the shelters were scheduled to open by the end of Friday, and another five will be added over the weekend. Located in neighborhoods stretching from Woodland Hills to South Los Angeles, they are expected to accommodate a total of nearly 1,600 people.

It represents a massive jump in the shelter capacity of Los Angeles, which has long had one of the nation’s lowest ratios of shelter beds to homeless people.

The recreation centers were selected because they are wheelchair accessible, have showers on-site or nearby and are located near existing homeless encampments, according to a fact sheet circulated at L.A. City Hall."

They should have been opening shelters long before now. Business fronts and sidewalks are being squatted on by the homeless and leaving residents stuck cleaning up after them. This is by no means a new problem, the government in California has just never properly dealt with their homeless problem and now they have no choice.