The MacArthur Park trash disgrace

The scales don’t lie.

MacArthur Park produced nearly 13 million pounds of trash and hazardous waste last year — including 71 tons of human waste.

That’s two tons of human waste per acre — a massive amount of filth.

It’s hard to think anything could be worse — until you consider that city workers also hauled away 24,000 pounds (12 tons) of discarded “sharps,” i.e. needles and syringes.

That’s hundreds of thousands of syringes, in one year — a silent, heavy testimony to the scale of the drug problem that city officials have inexcusably encouraged.

Many of those needles were given away by the city itself, under programs supported by the local member of the City Council, Eunisses Hernandez.

In 2023, Hernandez even diverted $250,000 from scholarship programs into free needles and crack pipes for addicts, ostensibly to help them avoid overdosing and transmitting diseases.

In reality, free drug equipment only encourages more drug addiction, and keeps MacArthur Park a disgusting mess that is a public hazard rather than a public amenity.

The California Post reported that last year’s waste haul in MacArthur Park also included more than 50 tons of flammable materials and nearly ten tons of toxins and poisons, among other horrific substances.

It’s just a glimpse into the massive effort it took to clean up MacArthur Park last year — and that was before local media started noticing how bad the problem was.

The City of Los Angeles had to send its “Comprehensive Cleaning and Rapid Engagement (CARE+)” workers into the park no fewer than 7,111 times in 2025.

That’s at least 19 times per day, on average. The cleaning never stops — because the trash never stops. 

That’s not “care.” That’s catastrophe. 

CARE+ will cost the city at least $41 million this year — $56 million with the cost of administration and support staff included.

The city is paying to clean up a mess that it has created on its own — through encouraging addiction and failing to enforce the law against homeless people camping out in parks and on city streets.

The worst part? LA voted for this.

The voters of City Council District 1 re-elected Hernandez to a second term last month. The Democratic Socialists of America-backed incumbent won an outright majority. She won’t even face a November runoff.

Until the voters of LA wake up, the trash will continue.

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