Okay, I am six forty. Mister Mokelly here, it's Later with mo
Kelly. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. We got the latest on
the protests and the fallout from all around the country. We have an update
on LAUSD's pledge to protect workers. Here is the update. They're not protecting
workers. And also LA County Supervisor Catherine Barger, representing District five will join
me. She will be calling in at the bottom of the hour as we
talk about La Metro, the City of Los Angeles and this overlap into La
County and what's wrong and what needs to be done to get it right.
That's Supervisor Katherine Barker at the bottom of the hour. And there's this.
Lamarada Theater for the Performing Arts has been celebrating their presentation of Jersey Boys,
The Story of Frankie Valley in the Four Seasons. Lamarada Theater is one of
the best Broadway style houses in southern California, as reported in the Los Angeles
Times. Sunday, May twelfth is the final performance of Jersey Boys, the
Story of Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons, and we're giving away a pair
of tickets tonight tonight. It's been one of the hottest shows of the spring
and it is coming to an end. You can try to get some of
the few remaining tickets at Lamarada Theater dot com. That's theater tr dot com.
Or you could just keep listening to Later with Mo Kelly for your chance
to win that is coming up tonight. And let me circle back to the
protesters there. There will be consequences for your protests. There will be consequences
for protesters. If you think that you're doing something right now that is not
going to come back and bite you in the ask later on you are incorrect,
it may be suspension, it may be expulsion, and depending on your
role and behavior, may be criminal charges. Let's go to UCLA for a
moment. UCLA they're trying to find out about the counter protesters. Specifically,
they want to know who they were, the people who are maybe throwing fireworks
into the encampment, the people who had weapons of some sort, who were
trying to engage in fights and escalation. UCLA detectives are now scanning hundreds of
images of that night in question in an attempt to identify the attackers. The
attackers they intend to use technology that captures facial images and compare them to other
photos on the internet and social media to put names to faces. If this
sounds eerily reminiscent of what was done for the January sixth, yes, it's
exactly the same. And thank goodness, they didn't have social media when I
was in college. There was no facial recognition. There were no pictures on
social media to compare. And of course everyone in college, every single student
has a social media profile. They do why because they have to take a
picture of everything. Look at me, I'm having lunch. Look at me,
I'm getting in the shower. Look at me, I'm going to the
park. Look at me, I'm walking my dog. There are pictures everywhere
of you doing everything. And you know what, if January sixth is any
indication, I'm quite sure these counter protesters or protesters in general, even though
you think you're hiding your identity, you probably took pictures, You probably posted
some video somewhere, and you probably are just leaving breadcombe crumbs a Hansel and
Gretel style right back to you, and they will be able to figure out
that you were one of the people engaging in the illegal behavior. Again,
there will be consequences for your protests anonymity and privacy. They are illusions.
If you think that just because you covered your eyes and wrapped some sort of
garment around your face that no one knew who you were, you are wrong.
Why because you probably posted the video somewhere which links back to you stop
filming your crimes. There will be consequences. If you thought that you were
just going to camp out in the center of UCLA's campus or Pomona or UCI
wherever, and there wouldn't be any consequences, that people wouldn't know your name,
that you wouldn't get arrested, that there wouldn't be sanctions, that you
wouldn't be suspended, you wouldn't be expelled. Well, you would be wrong.
And Yere's the thing I have been consistent. I may not agree with
the reasons for somebody's protests, but my stance regarding protests had never changed.
If you were willing to accept the consequences of your protest, then okay,
going back to Colin Kaepernick. If you're willing to end your career, so
be it. If you're willing to risk losing your job, so be it.
If you feel that strongly. Then do what you need to do within
legal reason. I don't want you to do anything which is going to bring
harm to someone's property or someone's person. But if you're willing to suffer the
consequences, then go right ahead. And the consequences here for these protests,
like it or not, will probably include suspension, expulsion, and possibly incarceration.
It's later with mo Kelly KFI AM six forty. We're live everywhere on
the iHeartRadio app psych. If you thought LAUSD was going to actually protect people's
jobs in education, you would be wrong. You fell for it. Let's
see if they'll fall forward again. You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on
demand from KFI AM six forty. And if you didn't know, I am
the son of two music educators and general educators. My mother taught vocal music
and also English, a father taught instrumental music and other subjects. I am
pro education, without exception, without apology. At this point, what I
see going on in LAUSD and around the country more generally, but specifically,
what I see going on in LAUSD, I cannot in good conscience recommend to
a young person, Hey, you ought to go into education. You ought
to become a teacher, because the way I see how teachers and educators and
those people in professions associated with educations, school workers is abominable. And every
single year I hear story after story of teachers having to pay for their own
supplies, having to do for themselves, not making enough money given usually they
have advanced degrees, they have master's degrees, they have teachers credentials, and
we as a society, as a state LAUSD, don't respect the contributions of
educators. We go round and round about whether they're being paid enough, whether
there are enough teachers for a certain number of students. Classes are overcrowded,
they don't have enough one on one attention. The books are inferior. The
textbooks are inferior, the facilities and supplies are inferior. It's the same discussion
again and again and again. And there was this huge street rally yesterday during
the LA Board of Education meeting, school union leaders spoke out against expected budget
cuts again, budget cuts that are already affecting decisions at individual schools, where
administrators are making plans that will likely cut employee hours or student programs. We
keep having the same discussion, why is there never money or enough money set
aside for the education of our children and the people who are entrusted with educating
them. Why is this always an issue. We've already had the discussion of
what happened to the state lottery. Why that isn't enough? We know that
California lags behind most of the country in quality of education on the secondary school
level. What is it that has to happen before we make the connection between
quality of education and quality of society. There's a correlation, there's a causal
relationlationship. A better educated society, better society, better educated society, or
more well to do, better financial outcomes, better job prospects. All these
things are connected. And we wonder why La City, La County may be
going to hell in a handbasket, and we never stop and think, hmm,
what about education? What role does education play in that scenario? How
much of a variable is that? And I admit I have not been in
school for a number of years. I did work as a tutor for a
number of years in I'll say in the past ten fifteen years for another number
of charter schools and magnets, But I have not been in the educational system
for quite some time. I can't tell you exactly what it is like,
but I can read the thing, the statistics of how unfairly teachers are treated,
how poorly teachers are paid. And I remember when we were going through
the strikes, how these promises were made about how teachers were going to be
paid and they were going to be protecting jobs. And I look at LAUSD's
cravallo. He doesn't seem to remember a lot of those promises made. He
says, quote, there are over one hundred and ten districts right now that
are facing teacher layoffs, layoffs, layoffs. He says, this is not
a scare tactic. This is what we know. LA School officials have projected
general fund revenue for next year of nine point one four billion. Spending for
next year is estimated at ten point eight nine billion. The district cannot sustain
such a deficit indefinitely, according to officials, Well, we need to make
a decision whether we're going to increase the revenue or we're going to cut things
which are not connected to the educational component. Because we always talk about there's
never enough money for more teachers, there's never enough money for better salaries for
teachers. There's never ever enough for the bare minimum for our kids. I
cannot, in good conscience recommend anyone who has gone through the trouble of going
to undergraduate and getting a graduate degree and a teaching credential. I cannot,
in good conscience recommend them becoming a teacher in today's workplace. I just I
can't. I can't. And I look at you, to Waller Sharp,
and you are an administrator, as at a school, you are much more
closely connected to these issues. You know what teachers are needing every single day.
You know what they're wanting, what they're lacking. The same story every
day, every week, every month, every year. It's the same thing.
And at no point do I feel as if the State of California or
LAUSD has made the affirmative promise to change. Since the end of the strike,
one thing that we've noticed, especially with a lot of our pair of
professionals who are trying to enter the teaching field, is that once they made
all these promises, they made it damn near impossible to get your credentials.
All of the things that you must now have to become a credentialed sub a
credential teacher are now that much further out of reach for people who are or
otherwise qualified. We have one pair of professional who was sharing with us today
that she actually left the field of teaching in kindergarten because they were not only
were not paying enough as a teacher, but every single craft, every single
idea that she wanted to come up with, had to come out of her
own pocket. Said, now y'all go back to being a paraprofessional where you
all at your school. You not only pay more, but there is more
creative input and there is more developmental guidance within what we do. Every single
teacher I work with, they're like, I have to get a second job
because teaching alone isn't enough. People I know in LAUSD who used to teach
dropped out and said I can't hack it. Not only just the bad kids,
but just the bad treatment of teachers. Well, and more good news.
We'll be joined next segment by La County Supervisor Catherine Barger, who will
give us her state of LA and La County. But before she joins us
on the line, got to remind you. Lamarade Theater for the Performing Arts
has been celebrating their presentation of Jersey Boys. The Story of Frankie Valley and
the Four Seasons. Lamarade Theater is one of the best Broadway style houses in
southern California, as reported in the La Times Sunday, This Sunday, Bay
twelve is the final performance of Jersey Boys, the Story of Frankie Valley and
the Four Seasons. And we're giving away a pair of tickets tonight, Not
right now, but sometime tonight. You better keep listening. In fact,
it's one of the hottest shows of the spring, and it's coming to an
end unfortunately, but you can get a pair of tickets tonight here on later
with mo Kelly later on this evening. But up next is La County Supervisor
Catherine Barger, representing District five. That's next when mo Kelly one Kay five
six FI. We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Catherine Barger is
the La County Supervisor representing the fifth District. The fifth District covers Ventura Kerrent
in San Bernardino County lines and includes portions of twenty cities, sixty three unincorporated
communities, and fifteen neighborhoods in the City of Los Angeles. It is my
pleasure to welcome Supervisor Barger to later with mo Kelly. Supervisor Barger, A
pleasure to speak with you this evening. How are you. I am great.
It's great to be with this evening as well. It's difficult to separate
the fortunes of Los Angeles, the city from Los Angeles to county. Just
about every issue which plagues the city of La plagues the county from crime,
homelessness, to illegal immigration and more. From where you sit, what is
at the top of the list of what's staring La County in the face and
must be addressed. Well, obviously you know the whole issue surrounding the homeless
population. And I've said this and I believe that we're not going to build
our way out of what's going on unless we address the mental health crisis on
our streets as well as the drug abuse that's taking place. And we're seeing
it firsthand, not only with what's going on at the metro with the increased
violence, but also what we're seeing happening on our streets that those that are
acting out and I've been told antedotally and I believe it that meth combined with
mental health, you see a lot of aggression and a lot of paranoia facing
individual on our streets. Yes, there is a lot of overlap with these
issues when we talk about crime, homelessness, and mental health. But you
mentioned Metro, so let me go there. Days ago, I saw that
you spoke out regarding the state of Metro, how you wouldn't feel safe writing
it, solo, I said, when I read your remarks, if Supervisor
Barker is saying this publicly, I can only imagine what she's been saying privately.
Let me put it in my terms, what the hell is going on
with Metro On the administrative side, Hey, I said it last year.
I've been very public with my concerns about the fact that this board needs to
take action as it relates to safety of our passengers and also the people that
work there. This has been like a pot of water on a stove that
has been simmering and now is boiling over. We are seeing on our buses,
on our light rails, on our subways, individuals that are attacking and
in one case murdering somebody, an innocent bystander that was merely taking the Metro
home. And then yesterday, a couple of days ago, a transit officer
was attacked and ended up killing They ended up killing an individual that was aggressive.
So I mean this is as a result of wanting to take the public
safety side out, put ambassadors in, and when I talked to our ambassadors,
they say the one tool they need is public safety in order for them
to do their job. There's a political aspect to this. I heard Eli
Mayor Bass say recently when she was giving her public budget proposal that La Metro
is safe. Why is it? How is it? She's making those public
statements and they are in stark contrast to what our own I see what you've
seen and what you've said. I have the utmost respect for the mayor.
But when I look at the stats there were one hundred and sixty assaults on
our public trans operators in twenty twenty three and over seventy percent increase in the
number of assaults committed in twenty nineteen, it tells me that it is getting
worse. It is not a simple matter. Security services are provided by a
complicated web of agencies. We've got, you know, our transit security officers,
We've got the Sheriff's Apartment, LAPD and Long Beach. But there is
no question in my mind perception becomes reality, and I personally have had an
experience at one of our garages that truly scared me to death, and I
bought it up at the Metro meeting. I will continue to voice my concerns.
I believe we need to let law enforcement dictate what is needed to keep
our transit system safe instead of instead of us telling them what they need to
do or what they cannot do, which I believe is in start contrast to
what needs to be done the issues of the Metro apart and parcel of the
larger issues in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles County, we have the World
Cup, NBA All Star Game, the Olympics, all on their way to
Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. I mentioned Mayor Bass, she's the chair
of the Metro Board of Directors. She's made it clear that she wants LA
and the Metro to be ready to meet the moment. You said we need
law enforcement to dictate what they need to make our public transportation safe. I
would ask this question, humbly, what is it we don't know at this
point which would make it safe. In other words, let me be flippant
for a second. I could respectfully we have Metro ambassadors, but it doesn't
seem like Metro ambassadors are the problem or even approaching the solution. So why
is it we keep nibbling around the edges. That's not being flippant, that
that is a fact, that that is true. The ambassadors serve a purpose,
but safety is not their purpose. And you know, let me be
clear, we are not going to be able to arrest our way out of
the safety crisis. But there are things that we are are doing and the
mayor has been supportive and in fact, when I brought into motion a couple
of weeks ago at Metro, she supported it. And that is you know,
fairgate hardening. Right now, we have a porse system where anyone can
walk on and that's both on our heavy and light rail stations, and implement
latching fair gates upon exit right now, again people can come in and out.
There is no way to stop individuals and that are not paying the fairs
to get on our Metro and are living on the Metro. And let me
be clear, not all criminals are ferravadors, but what we're seeing is the
far evators are committing the crimes. So we need to address the fact that
people getting on our system are not paying and they are opportunists in some cases
where they are robbing people. But there are also those that are unhoused homeless
that are getting on our train and are having psychotic episodes that are impactings.
Supervisor Barker, could you make it clear for me, I know the most
recent incident and involved a Metro security either contract employee or security employee. What
type of security does Metro employ presently, so it's a blend. We've got
the transit security officers which are armed and that was the case that I mentioned
the most recent case where an individual attacked and in the end with shot.
We have Transit Ambassadors which are unarmed and they are the ones that are in
green shirts that typically will kind of help direct you to where you're going.
We also have the Sheriff's Department LAPD and Long Beach who are doing a phenomenal
job under the circumstances. And Metro has outsourced security to these three agencies for
over thirty years, so we know what they can do, but it makes
accountability difficult. It's a very blended system. So I'm looking to our CEO
working with the fifty personnel over at Metro to bring us a plan that makes
sense and is going to in fact for tech not only our employees, but
also the writers that, by the way, have no choice. I mean
I have a choice whether to get in my car or not. There are
individuals that are transit dependent that have no choice. I mean Murda. Murda
who was murdered. The sixty seven year old grandmother that was stabbed in the
throat had no choice. She was coming off of work early morning and dependent
upon our transit system to get her home. If you're just tuning in,
my guest right now is La County Supervisor Catherine Barker, who represents the fifth
District. We'll have more in just a moment. Keep it right here.
It's Later with mo Kelly. You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand
from KFI AM six forty. On the line with me is my guest,
Supervisor Catherine Barger, who represents the fifth District of Los Angeles County. And
Supervisor Barger our feelings and facts. Then people will use facts and statistics to
represent or misrepresent the state of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. I hear
conflicting information about crime is down depending on if his violent crime versus property crime.
Let me move all that out of the way. You are someone who
is inside Los Angeles County that matrix. What is the state of Los Angeles
County as it relates to crime? Are we moving in a worse direction or
a positive direction? You know, I truly do believe the pendulum is swinging
back toward understanding that that law enforcement is a vital component to keeping our community
safe. So I'm seeing Sheriff Luna, I'm seeing you know, the new
cheap over, the acting chief at LAPD recognizing that quality of life begins with
public safety. So I do have hope, but make no mistake if we
do not invest in the mental health and recognize is that we don't have the
capacity to hospitalize individuals that need it right now. We need to build an
infrastructure that is going to address what's plaguing us right now, and that is
the lack of mental health services to get these people to help they need.
And then also substance abuse treatment. I mean, I truly do believe that
that decriminalizing substance abuse use has created this problem. And it didn't happen overnight.
It did not happen overnight. This has been slowly, slowly percolating up
and now we are seeing it hit the streets and hit the quality of life
of each and every one of us that can't walk their child to school,
can't get our public transit system. You know, it is in fear of
being being out late. I don't like driving late at night because you know,
I wonder if someone next to me going to shoot. I mean,
this is not the society that I grew up in, nor is it something
that I'm going to tolerate. You've mentioned mental health and substance abuse more than
once, but that is directly connected to the homelessness issue. That is something
which is also often discussed. But it doesn't seem like eyeball tests that we're
making any headway. Are we making any headway? We are, but not
to the level that I believe is satisfactory. I mean, if you look
at if you ask people how they identify the homeless on the street, they're
going to say those are the most disruptive. Those are the ones that we
have to provide the services for, and many of them is going to be
involuntary. I mean, they do not want it involuntary. They do not
want it, but the reality is they need it, and it's a danger
to themselves and it's a danger to others. And I use that criteria as
it relates to the gravely disabled. We need to build a system that is
going to keep them out of our jails, which right now seventy percent of
the people in our jails are suffering from some sort of mental illness. I
don't want to criminalize the people that want to keep the status quo are criminalizing
the very people that they say need need understanding and help. So my goal,
and I'm going to continue to fight for it, is to build a
mental health infrastructure within LA County, working with our federal partners, because we
need a federal waiver in order to build that capacity in our hospitals and building
infrastructure that's going to support what's needed. Right now, before I let you
go to Supervisor Barker, thank you for the spending this time with me this
evening. I made the point on my show a few days ago that not
only has society in a violence and criminality sense, change, I think we
as citizens have changed. I make note of the fight which was caught on
video between the LA Dash bus operator and a homeless person tying all these things
together. And I was amazed and also disappointed and disenchanted with how no one
tried to intervene, no one tried to help. I think that there's something
that we have we've lost in our community. You said that this city is
not what it once was, or this county is not what it once was.
I also wonder have we as people and sit and read changed and abrogated
our responsibility to our fellow man and woman. So I have two responses to
that number. One twenty years ago, if I saw someone laying on a
sidewalk, I've called nine. When one now as a common occurrence, people
walk by and don't even think twice about it. So that tells me that
we've become desensitized to that. But on the ladder, when you talk about
people not getting involved, far too often you hear about a good smart and
getting involved and ending up costing his or her life. I get it because
I'm one of these people that likes to jump into action and think I can
save the world. I take a step back now because I recognize that you
don't know what's going on with that individual, and you could be the victim.
It's important to call nine when one. It's important for us to work
with our law enforcement officers to make sure they have the support and the number
of people they need on the streets in order to protect us. But that
I think is playing more in the role of people's fear about the fact that
getting involved could cost them in their lives. And we've seen that. How
many times do you turn on the news and heard about a vit smarton that
was trying to help somebody and ended up being the victim. So you know,
it's a slippery slope, and I give grace to those that are there.
I mean, I know I would want to jump into action. That's
just in my DNA, And you know, I think twice now, Supervisor
Barger, is there any good news that you'd like to report? There is
good news. The good news is that I got reelected for four more years
and I'm not going to let down my voters that expect me to be a
voice of reason, common sense and to continue to fight to make sure that
we have a system not only at Metro but also within the county. Because
as a Metro board member, my job is to make sure we have a
state transit system. But as an LA County Board of Supervisor member, my
job is to make sure that our mental health system is in fact operating to
the degree that needs to and that people are getting the services that they need.
Supervisor Catherine Barger is the LA County Supervisor representation in the fifth district.
This was our first conversation and Supervisor Barker, I sure hope it's not our
last. Thank you for opening this line of communication, and let's stay in
contact and make the city and also county better than what it presently is.
You got it. I look forward to many more conversation with you to solve
all the world's problems. Amen to that. It's later with Mo Kelly CAF.
I am six forty. We're live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, phone,
car radio, smart toaster. We don't care how you listen, just
that you do KF I'm KOST HD two Los Angeles, Orange County, live
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