California Doing California Things

[Politesse]

Locals are furious after the park under the Hollywood Sign allegedly sees fruit vendors defecate and urinate before serving food. Exclusive photos obtained by The California Post appear to show unpermitted sellers using the bushes at Lake Hollywood Park before returning to slice and sell products to customers. The images were provided by outraged residents who say they have spent years documenting vendors relieving themselves in the park, dumping wastewater into the street and leaving behind piles of trash while city officials have repeatedly failed to stop the growing operation. “It’s disgusting,” longtime resident Cindy Cobb told The Post. “They go to the bathroom in the bushes … then they come back. Mind you, there’s no hand washing because there’s no bathroom. They’re urinating and defecating in a park space, and then they come back and cut fruit.”
Residents also say vendors are dumping dirty wastewater into storm drains and streets, leaving behind fruit containers and plastic utensils, and creating fire hazards by cooking inside a designated Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone beneath the Hollywood Hills.

News

Third world country.

What do you think caused this situation? What do you think should be done about this situation? What are you doing about this situation?

The local politicians whose policies allow this stuff to start in the first place and continue for years are the ones who are on the hook for answering those questions. And why do you keep asking "what are you doing about this situation" to a local town citizen?

I guarantee you, when I complain about things, I always have an answer to that question. The fact that "vigilante violence" and "let someone else handle it somehow" are the only two options you can thimk of says a lot about your worldview.

The local politicians whose policies allow this stuff to start in the first place and continue for years

What politician, what policy, and what are you doing to change it? If you weren't full of shit in this thread, if you were actually making important, targeted critiques of the state, if you truly believed that this kind of petty culture wars bullshit is what's turning your "home" into a third world country, why the fuck wouldn't you be doing simething about it?

 

[Toni]

I've had some versions of elotes that you would definitely not like. I can't recall chocolate dipped ones exactly, but sweets? Por cierto. The trick is to also make it spicy as hell.

Sweet and spicy is a classic combo, and not just in México.

I can take it only so much. Yes I am finally copping to the fact that I never really outgrew my childhood picky eater tendencies. I learned that I like a lot more vegetables if they are prepared correctly (ie not over cooked and smothered in salt and/or fat) I've tremendously expanded my palate but I guess I am what I am....

 

[Elixir]

I've had some versions of elotes that you would definitely not like. I can't recall chocolate dipped ones exactly, but sweets? Por cierto. The trick is to also make it spicy as hell.

Sweet and spicy is a classic combo, and not just in México.

I can take it only so much. Yes I am finally copping to the fact that I never really outgrew my childhood picky eater tendencies. I learned that I like a lot more vegetables if they are prepared correctly (ie not over cooked and smothered in salt and/or fat) I've tremendously expanded my palate but I guess I am what I am....

My mom raised us to eat ANYTHING that was EVER considered food by ANYONE.
We were required to take at least one bite. After that we could leave it if it gagged us.
But that meant going hungry. She grew up through the Great Depression. Her parents provided straight-backed chairs at the dinner table, with nails sticking out from the back so there was no leaning back. Un-eaten dinner was served for breakfast.
We had it better than that, but still, we were practically forced to try an array of foods that no young child would ever eat voluntarily. I thank her for that - there aren’t a lot of things I won’t eat.

 

[Toni]

I've had some versions of elotes that you would definitely not like. I can't recall chocolate dipped ones exactly, but sweets? Por cierto. The trick is to also make it spicy as hell.

Sweet and spicy is a classic combo, and not just in México.

I can take it only so much. Yes I am finally copping to the fact that I never really outgrew my childhood picky eater tendencies. I learned that I like a lot more vegetables if they are prepared correctly (ie not over cooked and smothered in salt and/or fat) I've tremendously expanded my palate but I guess I am what I am....

My mom raised us to eat ANYTHING that was EVER considered food by ANYONE.
We were required to take at least one bite. After that we could leave it if it gagged us.
But that meant going hungry. She grew up through the Great Depression. Her parents provided straight-backed chairs at the dinner table, with nails sticking out from the back so there was no leaning back. Un-eaten dinner was served for breakfast.
We had it better than that, but still, we were practically forced to try an array of foods that no young child would ever eat voluntarily. I thank her for that - there aren’t a lot of things I won’t eat.

Yep, same only for us, it was clean your plate. Except for the nails in the chairs thing. OMG. And no uneaten dinner for breakfast: We were not allowed to leave the table until our plates were clean.

My younger sister and I were always last to leave and since it was our job to clear the table and wash up, we developed a system where we ignored it if the other scraped her plate into the garbage and covered the offense. Rare bit of cooperation with the sister I had tremendous conflict growing up.

At family pot lucks, we did get special dispensation to pass over anything prepared by Aunt Louise. Marshmallows in sweet potatoes or in jello were not ok by me and my mom overlooked the fact that I avoided them. Aunt Louise was the wife if my mother’s oldest brother who was a bully and a blowhard. I don’t know why there was bad blood between those two siblings/families but there was. It may have started because my older sister and my cousin were in the same grade in the same class/school. My sister was embarrassed that he was her cousin because he was ‘the meanest boy in the whole school.’ In other words, a chip off the block. My sister was a perfect student. My cousin was not. My grandmother paid a dollar for straight A’s. My uncle resented that my family got money from Grandma that his did not. Grandma eventually had to stop the practice. Bad blood continued.

 

[Toni]

My experience is that Americans seem to like their food much sweeter than I find pleasant. But each to their own.

Indeed. Servings are also seem to be too large.

The complaint I hear most often is that American food is too salty ( not from Asians) and that we too often combine salt with sweet, which we do. To me, Indian desserts are far too sweet. I like baklava if it is done just right—otherwise too sweet for me.

Have you ever had sweet tea? It’s a southern thing and my exposure was from my favorite aunt who was born in Kentucky. Her tea was too sweet for me to handle! And I sometimes stole sugar from the sugar bowl.

 

[thebeave]

I've had some versions of elotes that you would definitely not like. I can't recall chocolate dipped ones exactly, but sweets? Por cierto. The trick is to also make it spicy as hell.

Sweet and spicy is a classic combo, and not just in México.

I can take it only so much. Yes I am finally copping to the fact that I never really outgrew my childhood picky eater tendencies. I learned that I like a lot more vegetables if they are prepared correctly (ie not over cooked and smothered in salt and/or fat) I've tremendously expanded my palate but I guess I am what I am....

My mom raised us to eat ANYTHING that was EVER considered food by ANYONE.
We were required to take at least one bite. After that we could leave it if it gagged us.
But that meant going hungry. She grew up through the Great Depression. Her parents provided straight-backed chairs at the dinner table, with nails sticking out from the back so there was no leaning back. Un-eaten dinner was served for breakfast.
We had it better than that, but still, we were practically forced to try an array of foods that no young child would ever eat voluntarily. I thank her for that - there aren’t a lot of things I won’t eat.

Same here, except we were expected to eat it all. I spent a few after-dinners alone at the table, staring at some half eaten vegetables on my plate. We had a big old antique, expandable dinner table, and I discovered that it had a few little "nooks and crannies" on the underside that I could easily stuff a handful of peas or brussel sprouts. That plan worked, until they dried out and fell on the floor. Sometimes my mom would buy a cheap chuck steak that takes about 15 mintues of chewing before its ready to go down the throat. I would ask to go to the bathroom during that time and just spit it into the toilet bowl.

 

[Elixir]

we did get special dispensation to pass over anything prepared by Aunt Louise.

For some reason my mind wants to see that as the root of your lib’rul bent- and really funny!

we were expected to eat it all. I spent a few after-dinners alone at the table, staring at some half eaten vegetables on my plate.

Been there, done that plenty. Until adulthood I never understood my mom’s sadness and frustration while enforcing that “sometimes rule”.

 

[Politesse]

Read this SFGate article that Facebook recommended, about a vicious murder that happened a decade ago in a farmhouse in Dixon and hasn't been solved. The entire comments section was people arguing about whether, as the title of the article implies, Dixon counts as "the Bay Area".

 

[Tigers!]

My mom raised us to eat ANYTHING that was EVER considered food by ANYONE.
We were required to take at least one bite. After that we could leave it if it gagged us.
But that meant going hungry. She grew up through the Great Depression. Her parents provided straight-backed chairs at the dinner table, with nails sticking out from the back so there was no leaning back. Un-eaten dinner was served for breakfast.
We had it better than that, but still, we were practically forced to try an array of foods that no young child would ever eat voluntarily. I thank her for that - there aren’t a lot of things I won’t eat.

Been there done that.
Clean your plate, eat what was put in front of you. Please, thank you. Mum said you only not eat food that you are allergic too. Damn I had no known allergies.
Mum & Dad had missionaries around a lot so we got try food from all over the world esp. East African.
To this day I do not like tuna or salmon, only white fish. Yet if I go to dinner and someone puts them in front of me I will eat without a murmur.

 

[Toni]

My mom raised us to eat ANYTHING that was EVER considered food by ANYONE.
We were required to take at least one bite. After that we could leave it if it gagged us.
But that meant going hungry. She grew up through the Great Depression. Her parents provided straight-backed chairs at the dinner table, with nails sticking out from the back so there was no leaning back. Un-eaten dinner was served for breakfast.
We had it better than that, but still, we were practically forced to try an array of foods that no young child would ever eat voluntarily. I thank her for that - there aren’t a lot of things I won’t eat.

Been there done that.
Clean your plate, eat what was put in front of you. Please, thank you. Mum said you only not eat food that you are allergic too. Damn I had no known allergies.
Mum & Dad had missionaries around a lot so we got try food from all over the world esp. East African.
To this day I do not like tuna or salmon, only white fish. Yet if I go to dinner and someone puts them in front of me I will eat without a murmur.

I don’t think my parents ts had heard of food allergies. My husband is somewhat lactose intolerant ( he can eat cheese) and my dad was always a bit bemused: city boy don’t know what’s good for him. We ate midwestern at our house and at the Joe’s of our relatives which meant meat and potatoes, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and milk gravy for Sunday dinner—which was noontime. During season we had lots of fresh vegetables and berries and apples. Dad and uncle hunted so we also had small game ( rabbit and squirrel—when I was really young: frog legs) later they took up bird hunting: pheasant and quail mostly. I was an adult, married with kids before I learned that pheasant and quail were ‘rich people’ food. Oh, and we fished—freshwater only

I cannot imagine my parents sitting down to dinner with a ‘foreigner.’ We never even. had pizza until my older sister was in high school and then only if Dad wasn’t home.

 

[TSwizzle]

This is what we have to put up with in the fourth largest economy in the world.

 

[ZiprHead]

This is what we have to put up with in the fourth largest economy in the world.

That's a city problem, not a state problem.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

This is what we have to put up with in the fourth largest economy in the world.

That's a city problem, not a state problem.

It's representative of what's happening and has been happening in the populous areas of California for far too long. L.A. and. the L.A. area in general is a big part of what makes California what it is. Watching it steadily go to pot while so many overly idealistic people pretend everything's fine is maddening. It's a refusal to acknowledge just bad things have gotten and the basis for that refusal to admit it is baffling in the highest.

 

[Elixir]

Watching it steadily go to pot while so many overly idealistic people pretend everything's fine is maddening.

It was maddening in the 1960s. One of the biggest reasons I left.

 

[Politesse]

This is what we have to put up with in the fourth largest economy in the world.

That's a city problem, not a state problem.

It's representative of what's happening and has been happening in the populous areas of California for far too long. L.A. and. the L.A. area in general is a big part of what makes California what it is. Watching it steadily go to pot while so many overly idealistic people pretend everything's fine is maddening. It's a refusal to acknowledge just bad things have gotten and the basis for that refusal to admit it is baffling in the highest.

Because for those of us who actually live here - and actually go outside from time to time - its obvious that the whole thing is a politically motivated media cook up. California does face certain challenges, but they are the challenges any prosperous state will inevitably face, and facing those challenges pragmatically is far better than screaming back at the television and voting brainlessly for wannabe fascists. Discount fascisti, who perpetually and paradoxically promise "change" and "back to the good old days", but only ever deliver scams and transparent propaganda, decade in and decade out.

 

[Politesse]

Watching it steadily go to pot while so many overly idealistic people pretend everything's fine is maddening.

It was maddening in the 1960s. One of the biggest reasons I left.

Dear gods, man. The 1960s were 60 years ago. They are not a good guide to the present state of Los Angeles, and I most assuredly would not want to go back to them. Racialized redlining, deadly smog, open gang wars, the loss of the citrus industry, functional transit getting ripped out only to be replaced by an army of shitty city buses and parking lot deserts. No thank you.

 

[Toni]

This is what we have to put up with in the fourth largest economy in the world.

That's a city problem, not a state problem.

It's representative of what's happening and has been happening in the populous areas of California for far too long. L.A. and. the L.A. area in general is a big part of what makes California what it is. Watching it steadily go to pot while so many overly idealistic people pretend everything's fine is maddening. It's a refusal to acknowledge just bad things have gotten and the basis for that refusal to admit it is baffling in the highest.

The problem of derelict buildings and the issues they cause (including fire) is not unique to LA or to California. Unfortunately.

I agree that nationwide, cities and municipalities need to look at how derelict or abandoned buildings are dealt with and preventing abandoned buildings. Unfortunately, that will cost money and everybody is all about not spending money but some problems can only be solved with money and if you aren't willing to spend the money, then you will have those problems.

It is quite tragic, especially given the shortage of housing in the US that buildings are left derelict and not rehabbed for low income housing where appropriate or otherwise re-utilized. Even if they do not burn down, such buildings can cause dangers to neighboring properties.

 

[ZiprHead]

This is what we have to put up with in the fourth largest economy in the world.

That's a city problem, not a state problem.

It's representative of what's happening and has been happening in the populous areas of California for far too long. L.A. and. the L.A. area in general is a big part of what makes California what it is. Watching it steadily go to pot while so many overly idealistic people pretend everything's fine is maddening. It's a refusal to acknowledge just bad things have gotten and the basis for that refusal to admit it is baffling in the highest.

There are three empty homes within two blocks of me. Two have burned. There may be more because I don't go down the streets parallel to the street I live on.

The city property taxes cease being paid. They have to not have been paid for two years for the city to begin foreclosure procedures on the property. That costs the city money. They then have to decide what to do with the property. Some they try to sell on the cheap. Some they have to tear down, like the burned properties. But that also costs money. Money that neither you nor swiz want to pay.

Again, the arrogance of thinking this is only happening in California.

 

[Toni]

My experience is that Americans seem to like their food much sweeter than I find pleasant. But each to their own.

Indeed. Servings are also seem to be too large.

They really are. They seem to be geared towards the caloric needs of teenaged male athletes who can inhale a day's worth (for a regular person) calories in under a minute and still need more. Plus, in case you did not know, Americans are cheap and love a bargain and eating out is considered a luxury so you better get your money's worth.

Personally, I prefer quality over quantity, something that is not immediately apparent by my own physical appearance. Many restaurants serve very large servings. Fast food restaurants and chains tend to also serve very large servings with a LOT of extra calories (sugar, fat) and salt plus preservatives. Do not recommend. BUT if you are ever in the US and find yourself needing a quick meal at a fast food restaurant, I would recommend Culver's for their fish sandwiches which are actually made of real fish. I cannot attest to any other food, although their fries are decent if you indulge. Calorie count is still obscene.

 

[TomC]

Watching it steadily go to pot while so many overly idealistic people pretend everything's fine is maddening.

It was maddening in the 1960s. One of the biggest reasons I left.

It was happening all over the country in the 60s. Taxpayer funded "freeways" made white flight to the suburbs easy. Anyone who could afford an expensive product from a carmaker, the fuel and insurance, could leave the cities. And they did by the millions.
Get a good picture of Detroit or Baltimore for comparison. It was ugly, but hardly a California thing.
Tom