The ballot initiative campaign to quarter the homeless in Los Angeles, California hotels is beginning to heat up.
"Initiative A" is the brainchild of Unite Here a union that purports to represent hospitality workers. We say "purports" because the union appears to put a premium on supporting leftist ideology at the expense of the union’s members.
If passed the initiative would work this way, "hotels would need to notify the city of what rooms are still available by 2 p.m. each afternoon.
"The establishments would then be required to take in a homeless individual in exchange for a fair-market voucher from the city."
Another reason we don’t think the union bigwigs checked with the membership is that most hotels let people check in hours after 2:00pm.
Hotels are either going to have to assume everyone with a reservation will eventually check in or be prepared to deal with discord when a Hilton Diamond member finds out his room is occupied by one man and seven personalities.
One of the co-presidents of the union local proves our point.
His left-adherent justification for the initiative is as incoherent as the language of the proposed law is insensitive to union members.
Kurt Petersen told Forbes, "Rents have gone out of control. We want the hotels to take responsibility for that.
"Our initiative is part of that, but also paying people a wage that allows people to live in Los Angeles is as much their responsibility as anything else."
"Initiative A" does nothing to address those "problems" but it does mean hotel housekeeping and front desk staff members are going to be dealing with an ever-changing collection of crazy, addicted, drunk and dangerous ‘guests’ where they work.
We guarantee the street people won’t be tipping the housekeeping staff, but they may be leaving other mementoes of their stay.
The Washington Times has found an association of hotel owners has begun running a commercial to warn voters of the initiative’s implications.
"A cheeky ad released last month by the Center for Union Facts shows an unkempt man with a shaggy beard panhandling in the hallway and wringing out his underwear in a hot tub as uneasy guests and hotel employees seek to avoid him.
"The union’s idea would force hotels to provide rooms to homeless, putting tourists and paying guests at risk and exposing hotel employees to hazardous situations," the "Hotel Hell" ad narrator says. "It would be funny if it wasn’t so scary."
The state of New York has already provided an example of how dangerous housing uncivilized people with civilized people is.
Paul Kutz, a 53-year-old CPA from Long Island, was visiting his son at Marist College during Family Weekend and staying in a Courtyard by Marriott in Poughkeepsie, New York.
Kurz was preparing to check out and went down to the lobby for a cup of coffee when a pair of sidewalk squatters staying at the hotel got into a typical crazed homeless dispute with hotel staff.
The duo fired 30 rounds from a pistol modified for fully automatic fire.
The visiting father was hit and killed by a stray round from the fusillade.
This initiative is so harmful to the Los Angeles hotel industry that we wondered if it was a clever ploy by the bed and breakfast and Airbnb crowd to cripple their competition.
If this imbecilic proposal passes those owners will be able to advertise: "Guaranteed — No Homeless in the Room Next Door!"
That’s an unbeatable sales point for females traveling solo and families of all kinds.
You can read our earlier columns on this referendum here and here.
In the meantime, surprisingly enough, we are in complete agreement with City Councilman Paul Krekorian who said, "Any ridiculous policy proposal that can get enough Trader Joe's shoppers to sign a petition should not be the law of the city of Los Angeles just because a petition qualifies."
(A related article may be found here.)
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.