As a seventeen year old young man, I see many problems in my community. I live in the community of South Los Angeles. It is not a very wealthy or safe place, but it is a charming community in its own sense. Although it has a special sort of charm, there are some pressing problems concerning hygiene, violence, and quality of life. These problems don’t necessarily stem from the people being unorganized and erratic, but from a lack of government attention. As mayor of the southern section of Los Angeles, I would do many things concerning cleanliness and safety.

My family lives in a three-story apartment building overlooking an alley. The view of the surrounding area is nice, but the alley is a blemish to the eye. It is extremely dirty and unsafe. This past week, a new homeless group moved in. They caused an odor that brought tears to my eyes. Yesterday a man was getting into a fight with his girlfriend, and armed police arrested him and made a large scene at around eleven at night. The alley is also covered in beer bottles and urine, since bums find it a nice place to party. Last week a man was attacked and mugged in there. These stories go on and on, and provide an image to the atrocity that is that alley. As mayor, I would form a department to clean the alley up , prohibit loitering in the area, and increase police presence in the area. I would also do this in every alley in LA.

In the year 1992, there were 2,589 murders in the Los Angeles metropolitan district. This number has since then fallen, but crime is still an issue. There were about four shootings in just the last two days, and in the past five years crime has been steadily increased. This is due to the high amount of gang activity in the area. Gangs have been around in Los Angeles a very long time, and it is time they are abolished. There are about ninety gangs in Los Angeles, and they have been a problem in the community for decades. We can insure the safety of the populace by eliminating gang presence. This can be done if more policemen are hired and if gang sweeps are done again. They were done in the 90’s and 2000’s, and really helped to reduce sky-high crime rates. There are about ninety different gangs in Los Angeles that put the lives of innocent people in danger, and the disbanding of these gangs will reduce crime to a manageable level.

Due to a high crime rate and a population of about 3.9 million, there is a high amount of air traffic at night. This traffic may be induced by planes flying too low, or too many police helicopters due to the unhealthy crime rate. Every day, at about eight o’clock, there is an influx of planes going to the LAX airport. When these planes land they decrease their altitude to about 4,000 feet, and the noise can reach up to 150 decibels. They can be heard for miles, and the noise from the planes can be particularly disruptive at night. It is extremely annoying and the noise feels never ending, since a new plane always comes to replace the previous. Planes are not the only issue. There are always helicopters coming in to patrol the streets and catch criminals. These helicopters can be heard for up to one miles, and pass by very frequently. You cannot sleep with all the noise emitted by this traffic. A solution to the plane problem is to prohibit low flying when low flying isn’t necessary to land. The LAX runway can also be moved up around one mile, so planes wouldn’t have to decrease altitude so early. Helicopter noise can be reduced if they require them fly at a specific height, and give them stronger lights to catch criminals. This would help give Los Angeles citizens get more sleep and not be scared to go out at night.

South Los Angeles is a community with personality and charm, but has glaring problems that are reminiscent of the high crime rate and dirty streets of the early nineties. Safety has been improved slightly in the past twenty years, but it still has more work to do. These problems can all be solved money and government involvement. South Los Angeles is very diverse and to ensure diversity, security, safeness and cleanliness actions must be made to secure a better future for all citizens of community. These issues might not seem like the biggest problems, but every step forward is a step in a better direction, and better tomorrow for our the less fortunate in my community.