Steve Hilton: “California has become a state where if you do the right thing, you're punished, and if you do the wrong thing, you're rewarded. That is upside down, but that's the story beneath everything, and that's what we need to turn around. That's what this election is actually about.”
“There's this Latino couple who wanted me to come and see their business in South Central LA. It's not Skid Row, but it's pretty rough, and it's the usual squalor that I'm afraid we're used to in this city because they don't know how to run the place.
But in the middle of all that squalor, this beautiful little store. It's a shoe store, and they've been running it fourteen years. Latino couple.
We went in, we were talking, they gave me all the usual things that I'm very familiar with; the taxes, the ridiculous bureaucracy, the permits that get more complicated and costly every year, the electric bill, et cetera.
They said, ‘But that's not why we wanted you to come here. Come with me.’ They took me outside.
We went for a walk, two city blocks. Could have gone even further. Every single part of the sidewalk: street vendors.
You think, ‘Illegal street vendors. What are they selling?’ Shoes and apparel and T-shirts. Just the entire sidewalk.
This 14-year business, a lovely little local business, everything spotless, everything clean, exactly what we would want to see, is going out of business because you've got people there that are not paying taxes, not paying electric, not paying rent, not complying with any licensing.
And then I said to the guy, ‘When did all this happen? Has this been here all the time you've been here?’
‘No, it's the last six or seven years.’
I said, ‘Is it something to do with the pandemic?’
‘No.’
I looked into it. Eight years ago, in 2018, they passed a bill in Sacramento to legalize street vending in California across the state. Cities can't do anything about it. Counties can't do anything about it.
What does it tell you when you take that into account?”
@SteveHiltonx
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