One day after a drug raid was conducted at MacArthur Park, Westlake business owners say that more action needs to be taken to clean up the area once and for all.
Norm Langer, whose family has been running Langer’s Deli near the park for decades, told KNX News’ Pete Demetriou that city officials must change policies on drug abuse to achieve solutions.
“As long as they maintain a needle giveaway in the park, you are going to continually get more and more participants and people that are coming from needles,” he said.
He noted that while Mayor Karen Bass committed to stopping the needle giveaway program during Wednesday night’s debate, he wants to know when this is happening.
“This week or next week? That needle giveaway program has brought in sick people who are medically challenged from all over Southern California,” he said. “It's not just the L.A. basin.”
John Ally, who owns multiple businesses and apartment buildings in the Westlake area, says stopping the scourge of drug abuse near the park needs more than a one-time effort, involving people who can stop drug dealing.
“We need armed sworn officers, and they've been cut back,” he said. “They've been cut back from every day. Two at a time in the park from four days a week, five days a week, and two days where there's nobody in the park.”
Demetriou reached out to two separate groups involved in needle exchange programs in the city. Neither one responded.
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