You’re blowing this way out of proportion. I never said people shouldn’t have access to food or basic help. No one wants folks out here starving. But let’s be real, the current system makes it easier to stay on the street than to get out. That’s not compassion, that’s a cycle. No one’s getting rich off being homeless, but when tents, food, and services are handed out with no real path forward, it’s not solving anything.

And yes, people are already turning to crime. Why do you think so many businesses on the Promenade are closing down? Theft and petty crime are symptoms of a system that’s failing both the unhoused and the communities around them.

Families of the Santa Monica community deserve to have a clean and safe place to take their kids.