This once beautiful area, which provided a green space for residents, 28% of residents in the zip code have a median income of $43,000, was taken over by junkies and the mentally ill.
Today, in the Los Angeles Times, columnist Gustavo Arellano spent an hour with Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez in MacArthur Park. Even though he wrote that there were people lying on sidewalks and overflowing trashcans, he proclaimed the park a Rorschach test about how people see the park: that it could be viewed as improving.
Hernandez told him a recent accomplishment was repainting the faded red curbs. During his hour tour, he noticed the place smelled like urine, but said “I see progress.”
So far, $28 million has been spent on MacArthur Park through city, county, state, federal and private funds.
Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez
Hernadez told Gustavo that “It’s easy to blame me for the dereliction of duty that has been going on here fore many, many years before I came to office. And part of my time in City Hall is trying to do things differently because for so long, they’ve been doing things the same way.”
(Editor’s note: the Ballona Wetlands was being fouled by junkies, those living in broken down RVs and the homeless throwing trash in the wetlands. When Traci Park was elected councilmember in 2022, she figured out how to make a change. Maybe Eunisses could ask Traci for help.)
Hernandez is hoping she can improve water quality on the lake so paddle boats can return.
She mentions that solarized streetlights were put up because “they are far more resilient to copper wire theft.”
The problem according to the oversized personality, “I think people and conservative media—and oftentimes even, you know, not conservative media—they paint MacArthur Park as if the sky is falling,” She said.
Gustavo said an overdose team had arrived and was checking in for the day. [How many parks have their own overdose team?]
He said, “There’s still a long way to go, I thought – but Hernandez is getting there. She certainly seems to be trying, despite what her haters insist.
“The councilmember got in her SUV and drove off, but not before rolling down the window to shout out one more message: ‘You can tell everyone that the sky isn’t falling here and we’re just getting started.”
Few Facts:
Hernandez was elected in 2022 and has already spent three years ‘fixing’ the problem.
USC Annenberg reported in 2023 that there were 83 fatal overdoses in the zip code encompassing MacArthur Park, more than any other zip code in the county, according to data from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner. More than 28% of residents in the zip code live below the poverty line and the annual median household income is about $43,000, according to the U.S. Census.
Jamie Paige reported in the California Post click here. that “In late October, Hernandez pushed a motion to funnel another $160,000 to a city-funded nonprofit to expand ‘street-based harm reduction’ and ‘overdose prevention’ around the park.
“A contract reviewed by The Post shows the nonprofit distributed 25,000 safer-smoking kits, 125,000 syringes, 10,000 fentanyl test strips and other supplies over a single year — while collecting only 50,000 of the 125,000 syringes handed out. The group also dispensed 35,000 doses of Narcan during that period.”
Los Angeles Fire Department Station 11 covers MacArthur Park and is one of the busiest in the nation for medical emergencies and drug overdoses.
What’s Up for Tomorrow for MacArthur Park?
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When I read the LA Times article 1/22/26 on Hernandez and her running commentary on how she has chosen to address the crisis of homelessness and drug activity and safety measures in MacArthur Park by proudly proclaiming spending tax dollars to “… paint the curbs red” I laughed out loud. I thought surely she was joking. But then she said, “But the amount of labor and resources that we had to put in to get this done, even if it’s not pretty anymore, that’s just a tiny bit of the work you do around MacArthur Park”. Rampant drug use, trash, broken street lights, broken playground structure, gang activity, filthy lake (filled with dead bodies?)… and she allocates money to paint the street curbs red. SHAME. This council district is doomed.
The Ballona problem vs. the MacArthur problem is apples vs. oranges. The MacArthur Park problem goes back to the mid 1980’s (at least). However, let’s just make the councilwoman an easy target and not give credit for this massive problem she’s trying to combat.
Michael,
I disagree. I think if you do not give out free needles and promote drug use – and if you find the homeless places to sleep, then you don’t have a problem in the park. That lake is so disgusting that even if you don’t wand to help the people, birds swimming in there should be helped. The people who live around that park deserve a place to take their families. I support the hard-working lower class with their right to have a park. When I was little we didn’t have much money and on the weekends our parents would take us to a park for a picnic to get out of an apartment. Not to do it for these people is cruel and there is no excuse.
Sue
Please reread what I wrote. I didn’t say the problem should not be addressed. I said MacArthur Park can’t be compared to Ballona. It’s two different problems. Ballona required tow trucks and cleanup crews. MacArthur Park is much more difficult due to the high amount of gang activity (38th street & MS 13) in the area which runs the drug and sex trade. Look at Pacific Palisades. Even the teenagers here can’t be controlled. I’ve often thought that if I were a judge, I’d sentence our little local criminals to a few nights of sleeping in MacArthur Park so that they could find out just how tough they are.