Thread by @mikebonin

Today, opponents of homeless housing on the Westside, backed by anonymous “dark money” donors, turned in signatures to recall me from office.

If you care about solving our homelessness crisis in LA, it’s time to "Break Glass in Case of Emergency."

Here’s why. (thread)

This recall, and my reelection (they would take place just several weeks apart), isn’t really about me.

It’s about how we, as a city, should respond to homelessness.

And the outcome will shape decision making on this issue for some time to come.

This recall is really a choice about how we respond to homelessness:

It’s a choice between housing and services, which work, or criminalization, which fails.

It’s a choice between helping people off the street, or wasting money pushing them from neighborhood to neighborhood.

It’s about whether we create solutions to homelessness with housing and services, as I have done, or whether we block solutions to homelessness by suing, opposing, and protesting affordable and homeless housing, as my opponents have done.

It’s about whether we recognize our problems are systemic -- not enough housing, not enough renter protections, not enough treatment beds -- or whether we scapegoat officials or groups offering real solutions, as my opponents do.

It’s about whether we see our unhoused neighbors as mothers with children, veterans, foster youth, and people fleeing domestic violence, as I do, or whether we vilify people for being unhoused, labeling them service-resistant criminals, as my opponents have done.

It’s about whether we do the tough, often unpopular work of ending homelessness, as I have done, or whether we pander to people, offering false solutions that only succeed in pushing unhoused people from block to block to jail cell and back again, as my opponents have done.

The leaders of the recall are people who oppose homeless housing in their neighborhood, and people who are angry that I refuse to criminalize homelessness.

They’re exploiting legitimate frustration about our crisis, and misleading people about what causes it and what ends it.

If the recall succeeds, it will empower those who think homelessness can be solved with handcuffs, something our city has tried and failed at for decades.

We risk giving up on an evidence-based approach of housing and services, which began in earnest in just the past few years.

If the recall succeeds, officials across LA will be tempted to shy away from tough but necessary choices.

Those fighting for the housing and services we need will be discouraged, and the crisis will worsen.

Some may decide it’s not worth running at all.

If we prevail, we will double down on what works, as I did at Venice Beach, and expand our encampments-to-homes model across LA.

We’ll invest our scarce resources in evidence-based solutions, not waste them on criminalizing a condition that can only be solved with a home.

If we prevail, officials will see that housing and services don’t just work, but they also win at the polls.

A new generation of leaders will be buoyed by the conviction that Angelenos are bonded by love, and want to help each other. They just need to see how.

LA is at a tipping point. This recall is the canary in the coal mine.

If you care about the kind of city we become when it comes to addressing homelessness, now is the time to get involved.

The recall can legally raise and spend unlimited sums of money against me. The largest amount by far is coming from a “nonprofit” that won’t disclose its donors.

We can only imagine the special interests - from the Police Protective League to large polluters - behind it.

We need to counter this with people power.

To help fight the recall, please donate at: secure.actblue.com/donate/oppose-…

If you want to support my re-elect, please do it here: secure.actblue.com/donate/bonin20…

If you have time to volunteer, please do so here: bit.ly/stoprecalls_vo…

If you want to offer your endorsement, host a gathering or mobilize your friends, please do so here: bit.ly/endorsemikebon…

We can do this, together.

With strength, and love, and solidarity, we can make Los Angeles a city that leaves no one behind, a community that brings everyone indoors, a place where we all thrive -- together.