{"id":465743,"date":"2025-12-23T03:21:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T03:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/465743\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T03:21:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T03:21:15","slug":"la-landlord-tells-dsa-councilwoman-to-clean-up-her-zombie-drug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/465743\/","title":{"rendered":"LA landlord tells DSA councilwoman to clean up her zombie drug"},"content":{"rendered":"

A fed-up LA landlord is telling a DSA-backed councilwoman to clean up her zombie drug den<\/a> \u2014 blasting the fentanyl-soaked collapse of MacArthur Park as a policy failure that\u2019s wrecking public safety and slowly strangling the working-class businesses trapped around it.<\/p>\n

John Alle, a longtime landlord whose buildings sit directly across from the park and on nearby blocks, says the policy failures have turned his tenants into collateral damage in the very heart of Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez\u2019s district<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-police Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez is the poster child of a bloated government machine with no accountability and no realistic solutions,\u201d Alle told The Post.<\/p>\n

John Alle stands outside Langer\u2019s Delicatessen, a building he owns, as the iconic eatery and surrounding working-class businesses struggle amid the ongoing collapse of MacArthur Park. Barbara Davidson for NY Post<\/p>\n

Two people openly use drugs inside MacArthur Park \u2014 just a small snapshot of the hundreds who now occupy the park daily as it spirals deeper into chaos. Ringo Chiu for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cShe needs to clean up the mess in MacArthur Park,\u201d Alle said. \u201cPeople who make messes don\u2019t clean them up \u2014 they leave others to deal with the damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past two weeks, reporters from the California Post repeatedly entered MacArthur Park to assess conditions firsthand.<\/p>\n

What we found was a park in visible decline: open-air drug use in broad daylight, people smoking from glass pipes on benches, hand-to-hand drug deals, encampments spreading across walkways, discarded paraphernalia, vandalized fixtures and trash-strewn paths.<\/p>\n

Alle says he has repeatedly reached out to Councilwoman Hernandez for help, sounding the alarm as conditions deteriorated, only to be met with silence.<\/p>\n

So have her constituents.<\/p>\n

MacArthur Park continues to spiral under Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez\u2019s watch, with open drug use and disorder now a daily reality. Ringo Chiu for NY Post<\/p>\n

Area businesses struggle to stay open as DSA-driven politics and unchecked disorder around MacArthur Park take a mounting toll. Ringo Chiu for NY Post<\/p>\n

And, so has The Post. We contacted Hernandez at least 15 times via email, phone calls, and public information officers requesting comment or an interview. There was no response.<\/p>\n

That silence broke only this weekend \u2014 not through her office, but on Instagram.<\/p>\n

After a local blogger reposted <\/a>a New York Post article criticizing Hernandez\u2019s absence from community forums and deteriorating conditions at MacArthur Park, the councilmember sent a direct message accusing the blogger of sharing \u201cfat-phobic\u201d and \u201ctrans-phobic\u201d content.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles City Council District 1 candidate Lou Calanche speaks at a forum, with a life-size cutout of incumbent Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez beside her. Ringo Chiu<\/p>\n

Storefronts struggle to stay open as chaos around MacArthur Park continues to spread. Ringo Chiu for NY Post<\/p>\n

Screenshots reviewed by The Post show Hernandez writing: \u201cIt\u2019s a damn shame that you are sharing this\u2026 If you\u2019re cool with that, it shows me exactly who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article by The Post <\/a>focused on public safety, business impacts, and debate absences \u2014 not gender identity or body image. Community members who reviewed the exchange described it as retaliatory, another example, they say, of private social-media responses instead of public engagement.<\/p>\n

Beyond the park\u2019s borders, the damage radiates outward.<\/p>\n

Business owners report smashed security gates, shattered storefront windows, stolen cash registers, graffiti tagging, and repeated overnight break-ins that have become routine.<\/p>\n

Shattered glass has become routine. Graffiti reappears almost as fast as it\u2019s painted over. Ringo Chiu for NY Post<\/p>\n

Pastor Julio Fundetes has led Ministerio Impacto De Dios Bajo Su Presencia for a decade. The church sits just down the block from the park. He says the last two years have turned his block into a war zone.<\/p>\n

Broken glass is routine. Graffiti never stops. People drink and use drugs outside the church. Unhoused individuals sleep in the doorway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI move them along,\u201d Fundetes said. \u201cThey come right back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He now spends about $400 a week to keep the outside of the church clean \u2014 $200 per power wash \u2014 plus another $120 to cover graffiti. Evening services are gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have kids,\u201d Fundetes said. Sundays once ended with children playing in the park after church. \u201cThat\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few blocks away, fear has reshaped daily life behind locked doors.<\/p>\n

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For 36 years, Ruby Aparicio has worked out of the same building, serving the same neighborhood. Now she barely recognizes it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter COVID, everything changed,\u201d Aparicio said. \u201cThe homelessness got worse. The neighborhood is nothing like before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aparicio owns Ruby Aparicio Travel, a small, family-run office just up the street. One coworker has had his catalytic converter stolen twice \u2014 each theft costing about $1,500.<\/p>\n

A cluster of drug users and unhoused individuals congregated inside MacArthur Park. Ringo Chiu for NY Post<\/p>\n

Customers are afraid to come inside. Many now handle business by phone. Others have stopped coming altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get scared,\u201d Aparicio said. \u201cOur customers get scared.\u201d<\/p>\n

The office used to close at 6 p.m. Now it shuts down at 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Alle says business owners are still waiting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe residents deserve better from the woman who cannot make the park safe. \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fed-up LA landlord is telling a DSA-backed councilwoman to clean up her zombie drug den \u2014 blasting…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":465744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,7265,2961,224,5337,1154],"class_list":{"0":"post-465743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-homelessness","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-us-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115766734800789212","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}