As Congress celebrates tax cuts, Los Angeles walks past urine-soaked streets and Olympic dreams wrapped in graffiti
#LARealityCheck #WilshireAndWreckage #OlympicIrony #UrbanDecayUSA #BigBeautifulBillSmallUglyStreets #WhereDreamsSmellLikeUrine
By D. Cheon | July 3, 2025 | Wilshire & Western, Los Angeles
While House Republicans triumphantly passed President Trump’s new tax plan—nicknamed the “Big Beautiful Bill”—one might expect celebration in the streets. And indeed, there are people lying in the streets here at Wilshire and Western. Not out of joy, but out of despair.
This isn’t a forgotten alleyway in a crumbling third-world capital. This is the beating heart of Koreatown—one of the busiest intersections in Los Angeles, and the route your reporter walks every single day. The smell hits first: sour human waste, rot, chemical cleaners battling futility. Then your eyes adjust to the chaos—filthy sidewalks, sleeping bodies, trash piles, a stray dog licking at a torn takeout box.
Here, humans and animals share the concrete not as citizens of a great nation, but as survivors of civic collapse.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, lawmakers are busy congratulating themselves for passing a “historic” tax cut. They say it will “revitalize America.” But here in LA, you don’t need a bill—you need a broom. And maybe a hazmat suit.
Mayor Bass recently launched a program to “bring NGOs together to erase graffiti downtown.” That’s right. The Mayor’s priority isn’t fixing housing, public safety, or mental health infrastructure. It’s covering spray paint. Maybe she’s hoping if we paint over the symptoms, we’ll forget the disease.
And while City Hall dreams of hosting the 2028 Olympics, the city can’t even host its own residents with dignity. Who’s going to run the marathon—rats?
Los Angeles isn’t lacking money. It’s lacking moral clarity, administrative spine, and basic sanitation. You can’t tax-cut your way out of decay, and you can’t power-wash a city’s soul.
