I think I will be writing a lot more about the problem of crime in Los Angeles.

Just now, listening to KPCC, I heard it announced that L.A. led the nation in homicides. I'm nort sure how they measure that kind of thing, becasue the title of *murder capital* seems to move around the country like a wild west show. East St. Louis, Detroit and New Orleans are usually the other contenders for the title.
What's troubling about it here is that no one really seems to care. Southern Californians will just buy bigger SUVs, and invest in ever greater security systems. No one has faith in the system. It's like they've already given up on the public life. Every debate about crime here descends into a polemic about race, class, root causes...

And the prediction is we are going to see it all get worse, as a result of the budget cutbacks, fewer cops, fewer treatment beds - Less in the way of resources over all. So that image of me the other night, watching someone get beat up in front of my house by a gang through the spyglass, holding a loaded gun, afraid to go outside... while a woman with a baby in her arms is screaming outside. What the fuck is wrong with people?

Taking a loaded gun out in public will get you sent to jail - not that I would anyway. So I'm sorry neigbhour, but I can't help you.

Do we enjoy too much freedom in this country? As Americans we are very quick to sign away those freedoms. If there are half a dozen hardcore gang guys chillin' and selling drugs in front of a liquor store, should the cops roll up and start hassling them? If you're a scumbag, are you entitled to constitutional protection? And if we treat every piece of shit killer like a sacred member of our great democracy, can we live with the consequences?

No. Society will split like an amoeba. Districts that don't have such issues will simply break off from the metropolis (L.A.) and become neat little incorporated cities like Glendale and Burbank. Hollywood tried to break off from Los Angeles last year, but L.A. wouldn't let them go. Hollywood is like the youngest child of a large fucked-up family, whose brothers and sisters have already moved out and made good on themselves.

As L.A.'s problems grow, Hollywood will keep trying to get out. Eventually all that will remain of the city of Los Angeles are the super-ghettos: Pico Union, South Central, Boyle Heights...

It's not a racist thing you know. The proponents of separation are very quick to point this out. Hey, we're diverse down here! We have all the trendy euphemisms of tolerance. I'm against the separation thing, because I think Los Angeles is a great city, but I'm aware of my growing alienation towards the so-called process here. It's a bunch of fucking political bullshit. And if Hollywood does break apart from L.A., I already know my that my house will fall into the new Hollywood. My street is actually the eastern border of the proposed new city. Across the street begins L.A., where my neigbhour got beat up two nights ago, while his wife screamed for help.