Gov. Gavin Newsom And That Weird L.A. Homeless Encampment Cleanup Photo Op

Governor Gavin Newsom is really serious about homeless encampments. He wants you to know that. Scratch that. He really, really wants you to know that. Just, you know, try not to think back what he was doing with encampments his first five and a half years in office and, it looks like he has done some amazing things as of late.

Like last month, when he gave his new executive order where he basically said that that the state can now remove homeless encampments because of safety and health and environmental issues, give more funds to local governments for increased mental health and substance abuse help, and gives more funding for shelter and affordable housing. Many homeless advocates and a few lawmakers blasted this decision, but so many more approved it. Even Republicans gave him their rare line of “Wow, great job Gavin!”, with the worst things said that he should have done this years ago and that GOP lawmakers had the idea first. (Which they did).

Newsom even doubled down on the order this week by saying that state funding would be pulled from any city or county who weren’t doing enough to clear encampments and put people into shelter. Speaking in L.A. on Thursday in t-shirts and jeans, AKA the closest things to work clothes he owns, Newsom said “I want to see results. I don’t want to read about them. I don’t want to see the data. I want to see it.”

Which brings us to why exactly he was in Los Angeles on Thursday. It was a mix of further stressing his his recent charge on homeless encampments, but also helping CalTrans cleanup roadsides and highways through his Clean California Initiative. Yes it was a suit-less and Cotopaxi-less Gavin Newsom doing, well, this:

According to his Twitter, his photo op helped underscore his executive order intent of the homelessness crisis by addressing it with “urgency, dignity, and compassion.”

The homelessness crisis must be addressed with urgency, dignity, and compassion.

The state has provided unprecedented resources for local governments to address dangerous encampments — and provide individuals with the care and services they need.

No more excuses. pic.twitter.com/9mikuKCDGz

— California Governor (@CAgovernor) August 9, 2024

His press release went deeper, saying that “Following Governor Newsom’s recent executive order directing state agencies to urgently address homeless encampments with dignity and compassion, today the Governor helped clean up multiple sites in Los Angeles County through the state’s Clean California initiative.”

But what really went on on Thursday? Simple: Photo op.

First of all, it is pretty bad optics. Despite his very own San Francisco and other cities in NorCal doing similar cleanups, he just had to choose L.A. for this. He chose L.A. for a reason, and it wasn’t a good one.

Second, it all feels so staged. Wherever Newsom is, things have already been sorted somewhat. One photo literally shows the work crew far ahead of him with a lot of clean space between them, showing that most of the work had been done and they found a good photo spot. Another photo has him picking up trash on a pretty clean median.

Newsom was out there, and he legitimately did some clean up work. But the photos either really didn’t sell it, he didn’t do a whole lot, or were really poorly thought out. Oh, and let’s not forget him in that median photograph not even having a safety vest on. CalTrans must have some new safety guidelines. All he did was walk a little stretch of freeway for a bit. Honestly, it would have been more impressive after the fact if no media was there and it came out he did it anyway. Still, at least he is working for the state instead of, say, doing a very, very off-putting podcast.

Bad photo op aside, the statement on withholding funding was a strong one, especially in the middle of L.A. County where some County officials are against his order (although not most cities in the county interestingly enough). And that adds more context why he was there. He wants everyone on board, especially the largest population County in the state.

Which adds to the confusion. All he really had to do was get some L.A. lawmakers up in Sacramento to flank him during a speech like the one he gave in L.A. Then add on, like work with Dems and the GOP to further this even more. If he wanted to, he could have even said that the push was to help prepare L.A. for the next several years as a dry run on cleaning up encampments, as the city hosts World Cup games in 2026, the Super Bowl in 2027, and then the Olympics in 2028.

Newsom had the momentum for his encampment order going into Thursday. But he just staged a bad photo op and pretended to help out CalTrans for a bit. All the while wearing a hat, t-shirt, and jeans combo that didn’t scream “Governor” or “Working man”, but rather “marketing consultant for a boutique firm down in Santa Monica”.

He has a lot of people on his side on his newest encampment order. The Thursday clean up was his first stumble on this.