Wet Streets Cause Rain

The ongoing headlines regarding 50 parents, who are alleged to have been involved in a college exam and admissions fraud scheme at eight colleges, has been marginalized by the media. Two female actresses have become the primary focus of news updates. However, seven of the eleven other Los Angeles residents under investigation and possible indictment, are connected to USC and UCLA!

• A chair of the periodontology department
• A director of a private school in L.A. who also had been compensated for working as a standardized test administrator with the College Board and ACT
• A senior associate athletic director at USC
• The head coach of UCLA men's soccer
• The head coach for both the USC men's and women's water polo teams.
• Two additional parents had connections to USC in 2013 as women’s soccer coach and assistant coach.

An inaccurate narrative of wealth and celebrity entitlement has been created by the media rather than addressing the corruption by college staff.

Meanwhile, the lucrative solution for the “homeless problem” has once again become more complex as residents discover the conversion of homes on large lots to rehabilitation residences with as many as 15 people living in an expanded dwelling which previously housed families with five to eight members.

United States Attorney Nick Hanna describes another layer of narcotic distribution “drug dealers armed with prescription pads”referring to the physician responsible for illegally supplying prescriptions to the shooter at the Borderline Bar and Grill, November 2018. “This doctor is accused of flooding Southern California with huge quantities of opioids and other dangerous narcotics by writing prescriptions for drugs he knew would be diverted to the street. Prosecutors in my office, working with their law enforcement partners, will tirelessly pursue everyone involved in the trafficking of opioids as part of our persistent and ongoing efforts to stop the trail of misery that follows these dangerous drugs.”

This coincides with recent news reports of a crime ridden motel with a fifteen-year history of “violence, crime and disorder” along with at least 20 narcotics-related arrests since 2016 (involving heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine). It seems only the district attorney has proposed a solution in a lawsuit requiring management live in the dwelling until it is cleaned up and detriments to criminal activity be put in place; apparently to force a conscience come alive.

So how does a college admission fraud compare to abuses in the permitting of excessively large rehabilitation sites, narcotic distribution at notorious motels, and physicians who monetize illegal writing of prescriptions?

When the media recites a narrative, which skirts the larger issue, it undermines the best interests of the community, it gives elected officials an alibi to apply money, not theirs, as a bandage rather than a solution, and it minimizes public reality of the issues.

Currently, the solution could start (in our opinion) with representative leadership in the Los Angeles City Council. The upcoming election June 4 gives voters in the Northwest San Fernando Valley an opportunity to support a candidate who has not followed the coattails of a politician or worked in the vicinity of an office currently under investigations by the FBI.

We like how candidate Brandon Saario understands there is a limit to the fund’s taxpayers can provide and uses it as the parameter for resolving community issues.