MacArthur Park, Los Angeles. (Photo: Hector Barajas)
MacArthur Park Exposes California’s Failed Compassion
City leaders insisted federal law enforcement sweeps were cruel, clearing out the park, removing encampments, drug activity, and violence
By Hector Barajas, October 20, 2025 6:42 am
This past weekend’s “No Kings” protest was a display of free speech. That was their right. But part of what they were protesting was the use of federal and state assistance to clean up our streets. I can’t speak for Chicago or Boston because I don’t live there, but I can talk for Los Angeles, the city where I grew up and still care deeply about.
Last week, on October 12, 2025, I drove past MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, a place I knew well growing up. Months earlier, the Trump Administration sent in federal law enforcement officers to clear out the park, removing encampments, drug activity, and violence. At that time, Los Angeles City Leaders, the Mayor, and media figures condemned the action. They called it a farce, a clown show, and an all-out assault on the city’s most vulnerable.
These city leaders insisted the sweep was cruel. That families and children were being displaced. That compassion was under attack.
What I saw the other day told a different story.
As I sat waiting for the traffic light to change, a man fell to the ground. Within seconds, a crowd formed, not to help, but to rob him. They took his shoes, his shirt, and went through his pockets in just a few seconds. No one stepped in.
All around him, people slumped in addiction. Some were openly using drugs. Others stared into space. Pedestrians walked by, unfazed. It was just another day in MacArthur Park, the so-called symbol of progress and diversity that city leaders defended so fiercely.
I grew up in nearby Echo Park. My parents took us across from MacArthur Park to buy school supplies. Even then, it was rough.
This is not a place for families or children. It is a place that represents the collapse of compassion and accountability.
The same officials who blasted the federal cleanup have gone silent as the park slides back into chaos. They demanded empathy but delivered neglect. They fight the federal government harder than they fight crime, addiction, and decay.
MacArthur Park isn’t a symbol of resilience. It is a warning of what happens when political blinders outweigh public safety.
As an Angeleno, it is painful to see my city in this condition.
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The corrupt city leaders have looted so much money from the taxpayers that they have their own, personal parks at their giant mansions away from and protected from all the chaos. I wonder if they would be so “compassionate” about allowing the homeless to stay in their yards.
Belkabeast: They don’t care. They just let it go on and then point fingers at others, when they should point that thumb at themselves. Thank you for the comment.
Homelessness, drugs, and despair are a democrat cash cow, even better than the Bullbleep Train.
Amish Warrior: It is also a cash cow for their NGOs. Someone is getting paid without tax dollars to do nothing.
Vote NO on Prop 50 and send a STRONG message that California is SICK of Democrat policies and MISMANAGEMENT of all of these social, economic and political issues that cost us time, money and safety…
California Democrats AIN’T YOUR FRIENDS, folks….. they LIE, GASLIGHT and CHEAT you on a DAILY basis….. stop the madness and send a message that we ain’t gonna take it from the Democrats any longer… do NOT believe their lies about “Yes on 50” – they are 100% LIES and the opposite of what they say is true….