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Juan Carrillo, Palmdale City Councilmember and candidate for California State Assembly District 39, is inviting Rep. Karen Bass, candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles, to visit Palmdale following her offensive proposal to push Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis aside by exporting it to Palmdale.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, released Sunday, Rep. Bass told columnist Steve Lopez, “There’s a big chunk of land in Palmdale and maybe we could create a village out there.” The article continues, “in her [Bass’] perfect world, that wouldn’t be the only one.”
Upon learning of Bass’ disparaging comments, Carrillo stated: “I found opportunity in Southern California when I immigrated here from Mexico at 15. For most of my adult life – over 15 years – my wife and I have been blessed to live in beautiful Palmdale, California, and to raise our four children here.
“For far too long, politicians have neglected the Antelope and Victor Valleys. And too often the Big City dismisses our community – where families like mine live and send our kids to school – as a dumping ground where they can ship off the problems in their communities that they cannot solve themselves. We’ve had enough.
“Like Los Angeles and the rest of California, Palmdale and the Antelope and Victor Valleys are struggling with housing affordability and homelessness, too. Unlike Los Angeles, our local governments have been proud to take direct action to curb these crises, including streamlining the permitting of desperately-needed, new, affordable homes.
“The idea that Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis can be sent away to our working class, family-oriented desert communities that already have their own challenges to tackle is deeply insensitive. We need equitable, community-based solutions to California’s homelessness crisis – not L.A. politicians trying to pass the buck by laying society’s failures at our feet. That’s why, today, I’m inviting Congresswoman Bass to visit the Antelope Valley to meet with our community, learn our rich history, and work collaboratively – without burdening Valley residents – to address a humanitarian crisis that knows no geographic boundaries.”
