Join the conversation with former LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, as I, Ben Maynard, explore the depths of law enforcement and local politics. With a career spanning over three decades, Alex sheds light on his journey from military life to the front lines of policing in LA, navigating us through the intricate political web that governs the county. In this candid discussion, we dissect the roles and impacts of the LA County Board of Supervisors and the significance of Alex's continued engagement in the local political arena, offering a unique perspective on the administration of law and order.
Tensions rise as we address the contentious topic of law enforcement accountability amidst the echoes of the 2020 riots. We scrutinize the stark differences between elected sheriffs and appointed police chiefs, emphasizing the dire need for decisive leadership during societal upheavals. The discussion takes a turn towards the controversial policies of figures like District Attorney Gaskon and the movement to defund the police, questioning the balance between justice and political pressures. Yet, amidst the debate, we find common ground, contemplating a future where bipartisan cooperation could pave the way for a united stance on fundamental values.
The episode doesn’t shy away from the community's heartaches—public safety and homelessness. With a grassroots approach to these pressing issues, we uncover the realities faced by LA's streets, the homeless industrial complex, and the profound effects of skyrocketing homelessness despite billion-dollar investments. As we wrap up, I extend my gratitude for the enlightening insights and encourage you, the listener, to join the discourse on our various platforms. Together, we can foster a community dedicated to meaningful change, one conversation at a time.#tellyourstory #familymatters #spotify #alexvillanueva #lacountysheriff
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com
Join the conversation with former LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, as I, Ben Maynard, explore the depths of law enforcement and local politics. With a career spanning over three decades, Alex sheds light on his journey from military life to the front lines of policing in LA, navigating us through the intricate political web that governs the county. In this candid discussion, we dissect the roles and impacts of the LA County Board of Supervisors and the significance of Alex's continued engagement in the local political arena, offering a unique perspective on the administration of law and order.
Tensions rise as we address the contentious topic of law enforcement accountability amidst the echoes of the 2020 riots. We scrutinize the stark differences between elected sheriffs and appointed police chiefs, emphasizing the dire need for decisive leadership during societal upheavals. The discussion takes a turn towards the controversial policies of figures like District Attorney Gaskon and the movement to defund the police, questioning the balance between justice and political pressures. Yet, amidst the debate, we find common ground, contemplating a future where bipartisan cooperation could pave the way for a united stance on fundamental values.
The episode doesn’t shy away from the community's heartaches—public safety and homelessness. With a grassroots approach to these pressing issues, we uncover the realities faced by LA's streets, the homeless industrial complex, and the profound effects of skyrocketing homelessness despite billion-dollar investments. As we wrap up, I extend my gratitude for the enlightening insights and encourage you, the listener, to join the discourse on our various platforms. Together, we can foster a community dedicated to meaningful change, one conversation at a time.#tellyourstory #familymatters #spotify #alexvillanueva #lacountysheriff
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com
Hey there, welcome into the Ben Maynard program. Thanks for being here. Before we get started, a little bit of housekeeping to take care of. As always, this program is available on multiple podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, amazon Music and Spotify, or you can just search the Ben Maynard program. You'll have multiple options to choose from. Pick your option and go with it. Of course, if you can't resist this right here and you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. I love comments. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Simply Ben Maynard program. So plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And with that we're going to skip the recap of our last episode. And, as you can see, I've got a guest on the show today and with that I'm going to introduce that guest. We have former LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva on the program. Thanks for being here, alex.
Speaker 2:My pleasure to be here, ben. Hopefully all is well with you.
Speaker 1:Everything is going really well. I'm excited for this and we kind of have some common friends. But this is really other than in December you meeting my very good friend Santa Claus. This is our first meeting right here on this show. So again, thanks a lot, and thanks to Troy Silva and Deb Silva, thanks to Richer I mean Eddie Sanchez I know Eddie does some work for you and so thanks because they've kind of helped to facilitate this and also our very common friend Frank Dominguez who really was instrumental in putting this together.
Speaker 1:So again, thank you very much. So I don't know. Let's get started with you being the former sheriff of LA County. You had a long career with the LA County Sheriff's Department, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, I did 32 years before I became sheriff.
Speaker 1:OK, so tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 2:Well, I was a prior military enlisted in the Air Force back in the early 80s.
Speaker 1:And from the Air Force.
Speaker 2:I switched to the Air National Guard, then Army National Guard and that's about the time that I started with the Sheriff's Department. This is back in 86. Went through the Academy, went to the Imminent Reception Center. You know the Jailston you got to do. Then I did patrol at East LA Station. Then from there I went back to the Academy as an instructor and from there promoted to Sergeant, went to Lenox Station in which no longer exists Now it's combined, it's called South LA Station and spent my first years as a Sergeant there. Then I was briefly at Carson Station Community College Bureau. Then back to the Academy at the Advanced Officer Training Unit, now as a supervisor and instructor.
Speaker 1:There.
Speaker 2:I worked as an instructor supervisor, did a couple of administrative jobs, then I got promoted to a tenant, went to the Women's Jail, central Regional Detention Facility, then from there to Pico Station and I spent my last four years at Pico Station as a watch commander before I retired and by then I was already challenging Jim McDonald for the Sheriff's job.
Speaker 1:OK, so when you became Sheriff, you actually were officially retired from the department? Yes, so is that kind of how that works? You can't be on the job to be Sheriff, is that how that works?
Speaker 2:No, you could do it. It's just this. I ended up retiring in February of 18. But I didn't get elected until November of 18. Ok, but I had already retired back in February.
Speaker 1:So then they pulled you back in a little bit yeah.
Speaker 2:I would have rather had it been continuous.
Speaker 1:Trust me.
Speaker 2:Financially, it would have been better for me.
Speaker 1:OK, I got you and you said you were challenging Jim McDonald. And then a couple of years ago, there was another election and I'm trying to get the current Sheriff's name. It just slips me and I don't want to shuffle through my paperwork here. Michael.
Speaker 2:Bob Luna.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, that's right. What's up with the city of Long Beach? It seems like former chiefs of Long Beach want to be LA County Sheriffs.
Speaker 2:Well, it's actually more the political establishment recruits thinking oh well, that's a big launch force and agency, so we'll just kidnap them and make them Sheriffs, OK.
Speaker 1:That's really all. It is All right. I just thought there was something in the water, but nothing at all. Ok.
Speaker 2:We've confirmed it based on the performance of the current guy.
Speaker 1:All right, so tell us about how you lost your marbles and wanted to get into the political realm.
Speaker 2:This is after being sheriff or when I'm after.
Speaker 1:Yes, after your time as sheriff, and we'll go back to that a little bit too, because I find that fascinating.
Speaker 2:Well, actually it's a pretty simple decision. The mess that LA County is in right now? We're in a downward spiral of doom loop, just like San Francisco, just at a slower pace because we're bigger. So a lot of the incompetence, the corruption, the atrocities that we're seeing happen on a far bigger scale, that's all. San Francisco is just more densely populated and more visible. Ok, what's happening here is bigger than San Francisco, just the scale is different. And I could not in good conscience just walk away and let it be, because I know it's fixable. The problem of LA and California is political. It's not anything else but political will.
Speaker 1:OK, Look, I certainly won't disagree with you on that. Now I'm just going to leave it there. I won't disagree with what you just said. So tell the audience exactly what is the LA County Board of Supervisors? Is it basically like city council but on a county level? Is that kind of what that is?
Speaker 2:Partly.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:County government is responsible for the health, safety and welfare of all county residents.
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:And for the unincorporated communities, they are their city council. Ok, they have to provide everything the municipality provides and they have to provide what the county provides For the independent cities. There's 88 cities in LA County. 46 of them have their own police departments, 42 of them are contracted with the sheriff's department. Ok, so you can kind of see how it's kind of a mishmash of a lot of things. But county government has that big obligation in terms of health, safety and welfare. And that's where they fell miserably short on all counts. And they do so willfully, because they're driven by an ideology that is so far to the left of normal that they just I show up, just say, hey, let's do the obvious. You know X, y and Z. And the reaction from the political establishment was oh my god, how dare he suggest that a board of superiors needs to be held accountable? He doesn't know his place, he didn't know the way things run. I've heard it all.
Speaker 1:So sort of not to disparage any women, but sort of a good old boys club so to speak.
Speaker 2:This was a good old girls club. Oh OK, All right. Oh yeah, no, Definitely is. And as soon as I took over the job as sheriff, I could not point one thing they did to help me succeed as sheriff. But I can point you. I could write a book about everything they did to oppose everything I was doing.
Speaker 1:Let's go back to your time as sheriff, then Expound on that.
Speaker 2:Well, heck, when I was being sworn in the damn being sworn in. John is hot, my opponent in this race she said don't forget, we write the checks. I mean, how inappropriate is that at this moment?
Speaker 1:OK.
Speaker 2:But to show the disparity in how the public really is not really participating in the affairs and the political world. They're so separate. That same day I was sworn in we were at East LA College. That was for the public ceremony, ok.
Speaker 2:We had a full house sold. Not that we sold tickets, but it was standing room only. Over 2,500 people showed up for that event. Hilda Solis was sworn in a few hours earlier at the Hall of Administration. There may have been 100 cats in the audience and you could just see where the people are involved and excited and change and are desperate for it. In the business as usual. Hey, same old, same old. We're just going to keep doing what we're doing. The public is kind of shielded and really has no say in it.
Speaker 1:So before we started rolling here, I explained to you a little bit about my family and that I have a lot of members within law enforcement, be it my children or through my marriage, that kind of thing and I know the struggles that they go through. But you are on the leadership level and you oversaw the entire department. What is it that? Maybe you can help me out here as to why it seems that there's a lot of public distrust for law enforcement. It doesn't matter if it's a city agency or a county agency. Where does that come from, in your opinion? Or maybe factually, where does that come from?
Speaker 2:Well, it actually comes from the political establishment. There's a small handful of activists who are dedicated to get rid of law enforcement. They want to defund law enforcement until there is no cops left. Everyone is singing kumbaya and holding hands in circles, literally, and they want to empty out the prisons and they want to empty out the jails, and it's a Marxist, communist, socialist Ideology that is based in pretty much smoking, a lot of crack and very little substance.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I think that it Doesn't take much to See that it's just a matter of wanting to believe exactly what it is, that you see.
Speaker 2:True, but the problem is that if that group of activists were left to their own devices, I Think people realize, okay, there's a village, idiots, they do what they do, will ignore them, yeah, but they have the ear of the political establishment. So the political establishment is their echo chamber and they actually, they actually do some of the bizarre things that they're asking for or yelling about. They'll actually do them, like defunding the sheriff's department, the hiring freeze, a measure, a hey, let's, let's vote to get rid of the sheriff, even though the people elect them. All that bizarre stuff they did, they actually follow through and carried out. Then they tell the community oh my god, there's deputy gangs and they run the sheriff's department and they convinced the public because, probably, things while they're in a position of authority, they must know something. So a certain segment of the public actually starts believing, while we can't trust law enforcement anymore.
Speaker 1:Right to their own demise.
Speaker 2:Because it's not because what cops do or don't do, there's gonna be a handful of cops that do incredibly stupid things. Yes, like any profession, right, exactly yes. The key is and this is the the hard, the hard, simple fact the board of supervisors, the entire Left universe in the political establishment, can never admit that law enforcement holds their personnel accountable. Because if you see any incident, any tragedy, that happens right away, oh my god. We must refront law enforcement, we must hold them accountable right.
Speaker 2:They already are, but they just don't accept that because it doesn't fit the narrative. So they keep beating this drum about accountability and transparency. We give them accountability. We treat, be given transparency. They just ignore it. They I literally. For all the people that I fired, I guess I should have fired up twice to make them feel better, because they wouldn't accept it.
Speaker 1:You know, I think, the one, the one thing that and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but the one thing that from an outsider's perspective and just from my my life experience with with law enforcement, is what I appreciated about your position as the sheriff over the chief of police is the chief of police is appointed by the city commission where you and the position of sheriff is an elected, you're an elected official, basically. So it. It seems as though I Don't want to say you have an easier time, but you can really be much more forceful in Doing your job, doing what you should be doing, what you're supposed to be doing, to serve the public and not have to worry about reporting or begging permission to get the job done, to go out and initial or just fight crime, whereas it seems that Things in the city of Los Angeles have become very soft over the last probably 10 or 12 years.
Speaker 2:They have, and the riots we had in 2020 were a perfect example of that. Okay you had the problem that happened in the Fairfax district of LA, right, you had Santa Monica, you had Long Beach and what is a common denominator? The political establishment Telling the chiefs of police, oh, don't do anything or we don't want to offend anybody. And Mia's share. I said screw that, it's an LA County, it's not gonna happen on my watch. Go get them. And that's exactly what the deputies did. I think that's I mean as it should be.
Speaker 1:If laws are being broken, then the laws need to be enforced. People need to be held accountable, you know, for for their actions. Yes, yeah, so you were talking about the emptying of jails, and it seems as though there's a certain district attorney by the name of Gaskon who doesn't really like to Enforce the law, who likes to be soft on crime and likes to, for all intents and purposes, turn and look the other way. Yeah, and he always talked well with the law.
Speaker 2:With his Kermit, the frog voice, he always talks about the date of the science tells us this and that, but then you look at the date of the science, you realize he's full of shit Whenever it doesn't suit the narrative. All sudden, the data science argument disappears right, right, right, right.
Speaker 1:You know I Don't talk politics on this show. I don't. So you know, in reality you're my first politician, but that's not the the. I mean what this Podcast is about, as people telling their story and that's what we're doing right here. And truth be told, alex, as far as Party affiliation, you and I don't necessarily align, but everything that comes out of your mouth so far in the first 17 minutes of this show is Everything that I stand for and believe. So it isn't always about to me anyway. It isn't always about whether you have a D or an R in front or behind your name. It's your belief system, yes, and so, again, I wholly stand behind everything that you have said to this point. Law and order every time.
Speaker 2:You know Well if you look at what the Democratic Party stands for the real original Democrat. Not this weird socialist experiment, every with purple hair and nose rings and don't know what gender they are. Not that crowd. I'm talking normal Democratic Party, normal Republican Party, yeah, all right. Not the ones with the Mohawks and you know, trying to run down DC or whatever. Not those extremes. I'm talking the middle of the road. From both parties they agree about 70% of the time. Imagine if both parties came together and worked on hey, let's get this 70% knocked out and we'll let majority rule on the other 30%. How much further were the interests of our nation advance with just that simple mindset? Hey, let's work together on what we agree on and we'll agree to disagree, but we'll still be agreeable in the process on what we can't agree on and then respect the outcome when the majority rules. Really not that hard.
Speaker 1:For a simpleton like me, you're right, it doesn't seem like it's that hard. I lost my train of thought for a second. So again, what was the inspiration for wanting to, once the election was over for sheriff and that was done and over? What was the inspiration for wanting to move on to the county board of supervisor position? Was it just a? Things are just nuts here, and and I think I could be the one to turn this ship around.
Speaker 2:Well, things are nuts, yeah One. I turned the ship around on the sheriff's department. I mean massively. It was dying under Jim McDonald. They were losing a net loss of about 200 deputies a year.
Speaker 1:Holy cow they were on a downward slide.
Speaker 2:When I took over, I hired 1100 deputies my first year on the job. We set a record. I hired another 500 the first, I think four months of the second year and then they imposed a hiring freeze. Why? Just to screw around with me? For no other reason than to screw around with me because we were doing so well. But we brought the workforce back up to 10,000.
Speaker 1:Right, and 10,000 is nothing for this, for for the size of LA County, Exactly that's nothing.
Speaker 2:We are the most understaffed agency in the entire nation, with 10,000, because the size of the population is so huge. Yet the board wants to keep basically monkeying around with this experiment to see how much low, how lower can they go. Well now we're down to 8600 and falling.
Speaker 1:You've, you've got what in the city of Los Angeles? We'll just say 4 million, because it's easy math. You got 4 million residents in the city of Los Angeles. The county is what's? What's the population? Roughly for the county of Los Angeles.
Speaker 2:Well, for simple math is 10 million.
Speaker 1:Okay, I have 10 million. So for 4 million, in the city of Los Angeles there's like less than 10,000 officers. Now you're talking 10 million and that same number, go figure.
Speaker 2:It's not even that same number. It gets worse.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because you realize a big chunk of the personnel the sworn are working custody, they're working court services. They're working assignments that a police department doesn't have to work. Yeah, if you go down to the actual people that are patrolling, of the 4,000 square miles of LA County, 3,115 is Sheriff's Department jurisdiction More than three quarters. But they have to do it with less than 3,000 deputies. Now you start doing the math and the population in that is 3 million.
Speaker 1:What is that? You know? One officer for every 50,000 or 60,000 residents.
Speaker 2:Here's a math, a real good comparison Chicago PD second largest agency in the nation with 12,500 sworn, or at least they had a few years ago. Yeah, they're doing the job with the same population but crunched into, I think, 285 square miles. That we're trying to do over 3,100 square miles, but with only 3,000 deputies. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's just not to say it's easier in a more densely populated area, but you're still covering fewer square miles, Whereas LA is just I mean, it's just so spread out.
Speaker 2:There are deputies working Lancaster and Palmdale Right. They roll code three to emergency call license sirens for 45 minutes. Oh God, that's how remote some of these places are.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that makes no sense. That makes no sense. And there maybe that's why, or partly why, you would have residents or citizens complaining so much about law enforcement. They can't get what it is that they feel their tax dollars are paying for. And it's not because law enforcement doesn't care, it's not because the sheriff's department doesn't care, because who really wants to go out and start, you know, arresting people? No, you'd like it when it's better, when it's peace and quiet out, but when you don't have enough manpower to do that, there's so many, so many things that fall through the cracks and first it becomes the very minor crimes and it just builds from there.
Speaker 2:Oh, we're already hearing it. Now the department is deciding we're not going to start rolling to these type of calls, we're going to reduce our response. Or, when we normally assisted other municipalities on big crimes like murders and things like that, well, not going to do that much anymore. Oh, we can't respond because we don't have anybody available. I heard that for the first time about two months ago. That blew me away, because the sheriff's department historically has always been the 911 for police departments. When they're in trouble, we come and help them out. That's the way it works. However, when also you have less cops than your police departments, you're not bailing anybody out. You can barely hold on to what you got.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, you got to try to take care of your own before you can go in and help anyone else out. I'm going to talk about Um. You've got an event coming up this evening the fundraiser correct and the reason why I'm asking is because I want to put let me get to this, I want to put your banner up on the screen here so that we can let's see, let's remove that and let's do this. I want you to talk about your fundraiser tonight.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's actually the. My website is the easiest way to go. Just go to Alex for.
Speaker 1:Supervisor dot com. Okay, say that again, alex. For Supervisor dot com Number four oh, the number four Supervisor dot com.
Speaker 2:Alex, the number four Supervisor dot com there's a link for the fundraiser and there's a link for volunteering, there's a link for endorsement. Okay, you know, campaign news stuff like that it's all on there.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm going to leave this up here for a little bit too, and when we're finished here I'm going to you know, I'll put this together, I'll publish it and I'll take my post on Facebook as well. So I will put, in fact, just so I don't forget, I'm going to write Alex for Supervisor dot com. Good, so now I'll also put that up on my Facebook page as well, and I'll see if I can get my wife, who is my who's, my social media team. I'll get her to put it on my Instagram as well. She takes care of all that for me. So tell us about your event tonight.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's going to be an Arteja. We have a good group of people there that are basically inviting all their their friends and associates there, and it should be a nice event. We were today. We were walking in Downey, we were canvassing, door to door. Oh, okay, and so busy day today. We'll be back at it. Tomorrow We'll be visiting a church, I believe, in La Marada, and then we'll be going to a barber shop in La Marada.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, oh, all right. Barbershops are big things. You know they're big things now. But if you want to get the word spread, you go into a barbershop, because everybody's doing this, you know? I bet you put you're putting a lot of miles on your shoes, aren't you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we walked today for about two hours and back and forth, up and down everywhere, and it's a, but you know. The reception, though, has been wonderful for us. No, we're not interested, we'll get six. Oh, hell, yes, so that ratio has been pretty consistent for everywhere we walked.
Speaker 1:That's good and that's just like old school campaigning. You know that's door knocking and and and you know really shaking hands and really meeting people and really kissing babies, you know that kind of thing. To me there's nothing better than a human touch and that kind of thing to me makes there's no better way to make somebody feel like they're important than to have that you know that personal contact with someone, I get that all the time when I knock is oh my god, it's you. Do they hand you. Can you sign this for me?
Speaker 2:I signed my flyers, I signed shirts and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna get the selfies.
Speaker 1:You know that's right.
Speaker 2:They're like a regular like a regular rock star out there right now.
Speaker 1:aren't you Just a working man? That's cool. Um, so kind of tell us some of your plan or your platform is and what it is that you can and you want to and you will do if you are elected to the, to the Board of Supervisors.
Speaker 2:Well, one thing on the public safety front. My goal is to end the war against law enforcement. I want to put that baby to rest, yeah, and I want to flip the script like let's start actually supporting law enforcement and let's go after the crooks. You'd have thought that would not have been a novel concept. But who would have thought?
Speaker 1:Kind of makes too much sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there were the. You know, the criminal is now the victim and the cops are the criminals the way they're trying to sell it. Now we got to we got to change that around.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I want to create a lock box for law enforcement funding when they can't be rated just because someone wants to be, you know, virtue signaling. Okay, because it harms people, it physically harms people, it threatens people's lives and just harms safety of the entire community. So I want a lock box public safety.
Speaker 2:Okay, we got to restaff the Sheriff's Department, probation department, the district attorney's office. Now I mean they've all fallen apart, but remember, the establishment is so far left. For them, that collapse of the district attorney is a positive event. That's that's how they brand it. So they don't care. Yeah, they had a thousand prosecutors. Now they got less than 800 and they're like oh great, that's a problem, we need to fix those things.
Speaker 1:So If you get elected, obviously that becomes a victory for law enforcement, that becomes a victory for public safety. Um, where does it go from here? And and Certainly it doesn't sound like anyone on the left wants you to to to win, oh no, they're against everything that you're standing for. But why is it, in your opinion then, whether it's city government, county government or even our state government, why does it seem to be that there's, um, there's an outcry for more public safety from the citizens, there's an outcry for law enforcement, but then there's a bashing of law enforcement because it, because, like we talked about, there's a lack of staff, so the, the, the, the, the citizens can't get what it is that they pay for. But why is it that it seems that the citizenry continues to elect these same types of public officials.
Speaker 2:I think, uh, the part where the wheels fell off the wagon on this whole progressive movement was 2020 in george floyd, I think. Literally that was the fork in the road where everything bad happened after that.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Voters haven't quite caught up to that yet, but they're starting to understand that you put bad politicians in office. Bad things are going to happen. That's going to screw you over. And so far, prior to this year, the politicians have been able to maintain a distance from what they create. They don't suffer the consequences for it.
Speaker 2:And now I think the public is starting to realize. You know, if I keep putting this guy who wants, you know, a 900 thousand dollar condo for all homeless people and now I got twice as many homeless people Maybe I shouldn't put that person back in office. And that is the second prong of my, my concern dismantling the homeless industrial complex, separating the good charities that are actually doing a decent job In terms of providing services that are not creating more homeless, and then getting rid of the fly-by-night nonprofits that are very profitable for very few people. Wow, we need a governance model for these nonprofits in the homeless area. We don't have it. There's no transparency, there's no accountability and all that telling you is hey, vote proposition one so we can throw Six billion dollars after the 22 billion we already misspent right right totally against pro or prop HLA.
Speaker 2:They're the one for the city of LA.
Speaker 1:So so you're saying that there are Non-profit organizations that are making profit, that are exploiting homelessness?
Speaker 2:Yes, they have no desire to see homelessness in because their gravy train ends. Imagine that.
Speaker 1:You know, I've heard, I've heard from, I've heard from my kids as I said, they're with the department I've heard from them that you know there are some people that they choose to be homeless. They want to be homeless. That's their thing, um, and I don't understand it, but okay, but I know and I'm look, we're pretty darn close in age, alex. I'm 58 years old, so I have been around the block of time or two.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what? I think by a whole two years. So, um, you know, I have been around the block of time or two and I have seen a lot of stuff and and I know, for me it doesn't take much to notice that homelessness is just absolutely so far out of control. It almost seems as though it's impossible to to, to wrap around it and start to reel it back in. Now, I don't know, I'm just like I said, I'm a simpleton here. I'm a simpleton here.
Speaker 1:It seems to me that it started to begin when government, I think maybe on the state level, started to shut down a lot of, um, a lot of mental facilities. Now there's no place for these folks to go except on the street. And what? What can we do as citizens, as you, a public official? What can we do to Correct that, to, to try to get some of these facilities on board again, to have a place to help these folks? Because I Look, not everybody that's homeless and on the street has a mental disorder, but so much of it Is and and and. How can we change that?
Speaker 2:Well, you know what one. You have to have adults in the room. We'll never have that situation. Okay, because they look at the homelessness as an opportunity and not to opportunity to further a political career, to build a political nest that they're gonna feed off and enable their friends and family and associates to continue feeding on this. Everyone's got their, their, their pigs snout in the trough right now, okay, and no one's taking a look back and wait a minute. Are we doing? We're doing two really bad things we're enabling dependency and we're normalizing deviancy, the twin sins of the homeless industrial complex.
Speaker 2:So what that does? It attracts more people. 70 percent of your homeless population has either mental illness, substance abuse or a combination of the two right right, which leaves you with about 30 percent that are just here for the party. And so how many people does LA county generate that become homeless? I think we have an obligation for that crowd. I'm sorry, but I don't really care to spend LA taxpayer dollars on some fool from Oklahoma or Tennessee or Maryland or minnesota. You know what. Those are problems for those states to handle, not for LA county. But they won't even touch it because they tell you they'll even pay for expensive reports.
Speaker 2:It says oh, the homeless are all, 100 percent here, 90 percent here, concentrate a popular belief. I said bullshit. We've done the surveys ourselves with our homeless outreach service team. When we went to the venice boardwalk 220 tents we got everybody housed or everyone sent back to their state of origin. Okay, 23 states were represented on those 220 tents, holy Toledo. And they're trying to sell you the idea that they, oh, they're all homegrown. No, they're not they're all local.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now the ones that, oh, they'll also tell you. Someone say I keep picking on Oklahoma, let's pick another state, uh, nebraska. Somebody from Nebraska comes here to smoke some good dope, gets fuzz to go to jail, and then he leaves jail. He's a california resident, because his last place of residency was it was a jail. That's how they play the game. So you were. We have to rethink the entire thing. If you have a light bulb outside your backyard at night, what's gonna happen?
Speaker 1:You're gonna attract flies or not flies, but but mods, you're gonna attract everything that flies at night, right, right, okay, we have to turn off the lights in LA. Yeah, all right, that's a pretty bright beacon right now.
Speaker 2:It might either be the light bulb or the stupid sign that politicians have on their forehead, but we got to turn the light off. We have to stop attracting people coming here. We have to start sending people back. We have to build the capacity to treat our mentally ill. But these are our homegrown mentally ill, not somewhat from another state.
Speaker 1:Can we, as as as a county is LA county can and is there funding for, is there money available to begin this process, to to To either reopen or rebuild, in some cases, facilities that were used to help out the people with mental disorders or drug problems, or both, and keep them housed and keep them on a healthy path, or put them on a healthy path instead of kicking them to the curb. Is there that funding available?
Speaker 2:Yes, there was funding available. Just recently, in 2019, the Board of Supervisors voted to cancel the construction of the Mental Health Treatment Center. They were going to tear down Men's Central Jail, replace it with a Mental Health Treatment Center, which is fine, because 40% of the jail population and more has mental illnesses.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that was a perfect match. And who else is going to welcome in the footprint of a? Hey, let's have a big psychiatric hospital for people that are dangerous too. In your backyard Everyone's going to say, well, hell, no, we don't want to hear it. You could build it on the footprint of Men's Central Jail and the Board paid an $80 million penalty for not building it $80 million penalty. They also wasted probably upwards of $20 million in 10 years worth of planning, engineering, architectural drawing, contracting, the whole process, the bidding process. So you're looking at about a $100 million Boondoggle where we got absolutely nothing out of it.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:That is the LA County Board of Supervisors. Why? Because they were trying to play with the act of. They call themselves the decarceration crowd, the abolitionists Yep, that was their whole schick and that was 2019.
Speaker 1:That just doesn't make sense. So you mentioned building a facility on. Would it be on the same property beside Men's Central Jail, or would Men's Central Jail close and relocate?
Speaker 2:No Men's Central Jail tear down completely.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:And in this place, this facility was going to have 3,888 beds. Okay, some were going to be top security, some outside of security, some step down capacity, outpatient basis Because it serves multiple populations. And then they'd have to build up a couple of custody facilities that are mothballed East facility up at Santa Carita, a Mariloma facility up in Lancaster, in order to be able to accommodate the shifting the populations around.
Speaker 1:But it was achievable.
Speaker 2:We could have done it, but they tried. Let's just pay $100 million and let's just pretend that we're going to have a community-based solution. They're never going to have a community-based solution. They know it and they lie about it Because they know it'll never happen on their watch.
Speaker 1:So they run on this platform of wanting to fight homelessness, wanting to well, I won't say fight crime, because it seems like they just they campaign on being soft on it, but certainly wanting to curb the homelessness, but it seems like just to get elected and then, once they're in office, it's like we're really not going to do much about it.
Speaker 2:Yes, the whole thing is about kicking the can down the road and making sure their friends and family are well taken care of in their jobs.
Speaker 1:Wow, I've never had this kind of conversation with them.
Speaker 2:The top 10 CEOs of nonprofits in LA. Their salary is $800,000 a year. The top 10. The top 25, $625,000 a year. So these nonprofits are very profitable.
Speaker 1:Very profitable and somebody's making a boatload of money. My gosh For nonprofit. It seems like there's a lot of profit there, right, Exactly so they're collecting all this money and basically paying themselves and not putting out the funds where they're supposed to be going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what goes down to the actual need is like a little trickle.
Speaker 1:Right, right.
Speaker 2:Get rid of all the overhead and all the politicking and all the campaign contributions and all that. Just a little bit is left.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's just.
Speaker 2:They'll hire kids. You know $20 an hour to hand out water and croissants, but what does?
Speaker 1:that do Not a lot, that's just wow. I'm just shaking my head over this, Alex. It just blows me away.
Speaker 2:Here's a number that's going to piss you off 2011. I got a lot of numbers that'll piss you off, but these are two in particular 2011. Homeless count in LA County was 39,000. Okay, I'm writing this down Okay. Fast forward 10 years, 2021. The homeless count we estimate the population grew to about 83,000. It more than doubled. Yeah, it's more than double. It spends six and a half billion dollars over that 10 year period, just LA County alone. Okay, six and a half billion to see a problem double in size?
Speaker 1:No, Throwing six and a half million at the quote and quote no no no, no Billion, oh, I say million, billion.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Six and a half billion dollars, throwing it at the quote and quote homelessness problem, just to see it double.
Speaker 2:Wrap your mind around that. You tell me what business in the private sector would spend any amount of money to see a problem get twice as bad and not say, hey, you know what, this ain't working, let's do something different. You know, let's change our plan here because this is a bad plan. No, they're asking you for more money now. While they did that, the state spent $22 billion and now they want 6.4 billion ona loan because they really want to help this time.
Speaker 1:I saw some measure I think I received a sample ballot or whatever it was at least something in the mail that had some some measures and candidates in my area and all that. And I saw something about a state measure for homelessness and I said okay, I said there's no way I'm voting for that. I don't know how many times we have to. We have to vote a bond measure for either homelessness or roads or something along those lines. We voted in it's approved, it's put him. You know the money's there and then nothing gets done and I just it was like, yeah, definitely not going to happen.
Speaker 2:Here's something else that's going to make you leave it with cold, clammy sweats at night the director of the LA homeless service authority, or the czar, whatever they said they're very proud to announce that they housed permanently 25,000 people in the year 2023.
Speaker 2:So I remember asking the LA homeless service authority director that same question in 2019. He said oh well, we we housed 21,000 people. So, wait a minute, so we're housing 21,000 people permanently. One who's paying the bill? Why no, they could basically bankrupt county government because there's no end to the formula. They're going to keep bringing in more people, they're going to house them permanently the taxpayers on the hook. So they're going to have to start eliminating other services to accommodate this expansion. There's no end to the equation, which is my point. How can you continue going on a path that has no end?
Speaker 1:It's like the definition of insanity you do the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Except in this instance, it seems like they're doing the same thing over and over again because there is no end result. They just wow.
Speaker 2:And then the fiscal irresponsibility is mind-boggling. Yeah, because what they're doing is they're encumbering a greater and greater share of the total budget of the county that's going to go to people that are not going to ever work or produce anything. Where does it?
Speaker 1:end Right, and I don't want to bring up this subject, but with the situation. Oh okay, what kind of dog you got there.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's Simon. Let's see if I can get Simon over here.
Speaker 1:He sounds like a big dog, and I love big dogs.
Speaker 2:He's a genetic mutant. He's a cross breed between a kangaroo and a hummingbird. Yeah, simon Simon, right here, let's go, come on Maybe. Oh, yeah, there we go. He says his name's Simon Simon. All right, simon. Oh, love me. Some dogs, yes. He's a handful right here yeah.
Speaker 1:Love me some dogs, and the bigger the better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's a 90 pounds and he's a missile, All right he can outrun a coyote like nobody's business. Nice.
Speaker 1:Ready. Oh, so getting back to what I was starting to get, to which I really didn't want to, but this problem just is exacerbated by the situation we have with our southern border. Yes, people coming in, more people come in, more funds going out and, what you said, less money for the resources that it needs to go to.
Speaker 2:Here's when I started campaigning the border crisis was getting bad, but had it really really met its test size yet? And I said homelessness and crime are major existential crisis that we're facing. Yes, and we have to add the open border to that equation, because when you're flooding the whole nation with millions of people that are unvetted, they're going to strain our safety net beyond capacity. And the people in charge right now are, like you know, living la vida loca, I guess, because they're not even factoring in the fact that every one who shows up means there's less resources for the people that are already here. You can only throw so many people into a rowboat before you capsize it.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, there's a huge mess and I'm really pulling for you to be able to clean this thing up, to get the ball rolling in the right direction, because it's something that isn't going to happen overnight. It is going to take time, but it has to start somewhere.
Speaker 2:In fact, I made the observation when I started the campaign that I'm trying to land the beachhead of sanity on a corrupt county government. So we'll see where it takes us.
Speaker 1:Well, I talked to my buddy, eddie Sanchez, this morning. He's doing pretty well. He just wanted to make sure that I said hello to you for him. He says, hey, alex is coming on today, right? I said yeah, he's coming on this afternoon. And he says, all right, well, I'll just tell him. I said hi and throw my name out there. All right, he's a character.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:He's a character, but he's such a good guy. And what is he doing for you? I think he's doing some photography for you, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, he's been doing photography. He's been at the events documenting them. That's a wonderful job. Yeah, we love it. I mean, we have so many volunteers now that have been coming out knocking on doors doing things like he's doing. Yeah, Other people have been doing canvassing, phone banking, putting up yard signs, social media. We have some good social media folks out there. That's great.
Speaker 1:Look, when we're done here and I get this posted, I can either still email it to you or I can text you the link and get it to your social media person. Get it out there. Get it out there. Put it on your socials. Let people watch this. Let people see what it is that you bring to the table here. Let's get some exposure out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, we'll definitely share it Look.
Speaker 1:I don't have. I don't. I mean, I've been doing this show here for almost four months. It's certainly not my job, but I enjoy it and, as I said before, this is a little left of what I normally do, but I do bring people on to tell their story and this is fabulous here. I'm enjoying this immensely and it is a message that deserves to get out there. I don't have a large audience it's slowly growing but if we can get it out to the people, I want to do that. All right, I want to do that.
Speaker 1:So I you know this is this has been great. I greatly appreciate your time, the time that you've given to come on here. I'm looking at my, my, my clock on the computer here and we're getting close to four o'clock and you got to be somewhere at six. So you know I'm going to let you go and I appreciate it very much. So, and again, people, if you see that right there at the bottom of the screen, that ticker, we're talking a former LA County Sheriff, alex Villanueva, and he's running for LA County Board of Supervisors. His opponent in this election is Janice Hahn and in my opinion, the Hans had been in office too long. And the election is California. Election is when it's March 5th, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Well, it's more like election months. Oh yeah, the last day of voting is March 5th.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2:But people have been voting already.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which. That's another thing, but you know I you know. Again. Thank you so much for your time. Do me a favor, stick around. I'm going to, I'm going to close out the show and then just stick around for a moment if you could. I'd greatly appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Well thank you.
Speaker 1:That's a wrap. Again, this program is available on multiple podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and Spotify, or just search the Ben Maynard program. You'll find an option there amongst many. Choose your option and go with it. If you're watching on YouTube, please subscribe to the channel, Give us a thumbs up and leave a comment, especially on this one. Let's leave a comment. Come on now. Uh, last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Ben Maynard program. All one word. With that, we're done. This is the Ben Maynard program. Call a friend.