"MacArthur Park has come to symbolize some of Los Angeles' most intractable issues. Homeless people crowd the park and streets nearby. Drug dealers peddle fentanyl in public. Businesses struggle to stay afloat. The mayor and other city leaders have searched for answers. Now, a City Council candidate is vowing to live in a trailer at the park if he is elected."
""We need to do something out of the box," Claros said. "MacArthur Park itself and the immediate area has now become a disaster zone, a multilayered crisis." Claros, who lives in Chinatown, acknowledged his plan is a publicity stunt but hopes the publicity will get results. "We definitely do want the attention," he said. "We want the attention of every department and resource.""
MacArthur Park faces concentrated problems including homelessness, public fentanyl sales, and struggling nearby businesses. Raul Claros, a 45-year-old community organizer, vows to live in a trailer at the park and use it as his home and office until the area is cleared and cleaned. Claros described the area as a disaster zone and called for out-of-the-box solutions. He acknowledged the plan serves as a publicity stunt but expects it to attract department-level attention and resources. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez's office stressed ongoing deployment of cleaning teams, violence-prevention workers, and street medicine teams.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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