Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters’ 43rd District is home to some of the filthiest, disease-ridden slums in the world, with conditions in vast swathes of the district worse than in slums found in third world nations in Africa and Central America.
According to an NBC investigation, large sections of Rep. Maxine Waters’ 43rd District are covered in human feces and needles, and rats, fleas and roaches are rampant. Diseases such as typhus are making a comeback and American citizens in Waters’ district are falling ill in record numbers due to the contamination.
Rep. Maxine Waters’ district also boasts “Death Alley”, Los Angeles’ murder mile, one of the deadliest zones in the United States. Dozens upon dozens of people have been murdered on this stretch of Vermont Ave in the last 10 years.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
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With Rep. Maxine Waters set to take control of the nation’s finances if Democrats take the House in the midterm elections, it is worth casting a critical eye on her track record in the 43rd District she has “served” for 27 years, winning the Most Corrupt Member of Congress award a record four times in the process.
‘Typhus zone’
NBC reports: Los Angeles County’s typhus outbreak, which began in the summer, has expanded to as many as 92 cases, including 20 in Pasadena and a possible 18 in Long Beach, where five were still under investigation by the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services.
The average number of typhus cases the county sees in a year is 60, which itself has doubled in recent years, according to the Los Angeles County Health Department.
“With increased rat density, diseases like typhus are very likely to occur,” said Dr. Lee W. Riley, an infectious disease researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.
A typhus infection can cause high fever, headache, chills and, in rare cases, meningitis and death. It’s contracted when “the feces from infected fleas are rubbed into cuts or scrapes in the skin or rubbed into the eyes,” the county health department says on its website.
“We’re deploying every available resource to help control and stop this outbreak,” said Alex Comisar, spokesman for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “The city and county have formed a dedicated task force … and we’re putting new funding into intensifying cleanups in the affected area so that we can keep our streets and sidewalks safe for everyone.”
County health officials declined to comment.
Los Angeles 43rd District Compared to Some of the Dirtiest Slums in the World
Based on the findings of the Investigative Unit survey, many health officials believe parts of the city may be even dirtier than slums in some developing countries.
Los Angeles County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn are expected to introduce a motion Tuesday that would create the Housing for Public Health program, a coordinated effort to reduce the spread of typhus and other diseases on skid row by cleaning, housing and educating the homeless.
Barger and Hahn introduced a motion last week to “seek flea collar donations that can be distributed to homeless individuals that have pets.”
Lopez, of the Central City East Association, said “illegally dumping, food being discarded, accumulation of blankets and pillows, and human waste” is creating “Third World conditions.“
Dried Feces can Lead to Airborne Viruses
Jerry Jones, public policy director at the Inner City Law Center, called the squalor and inhumanity on the streets “shocking” and “surreal.”
“There’s definitely an abundance of rats and roaches and horrible conditions,” he said.
Social service providers say the county and city could reduce human waste by installing more 24-hour public bathrooms in an area that has only two. They also blame charities for handing out food and clothing that ends up being dumped on the spot, attracting rats.
On Saturday, nearly a dozen people from a local church handed out food on Ceres Avenue, which KNBC identified as a hot spot for rats. Volunteer Karina Dominguez-Gonzalez said the nondenominational group was careful to hand out only peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches in paper bags to those who asked.
She said she’s seen other organizations put boxes of food “on the sidewalk, like people are going to rush in like animals.”
‘Human Tragedy’ in Maxine Waters’ district
In 2012, the rats nests, human waste and hypodermic needles got so bad on skid row that county health officials cited the city for health code violations and filthy conditions that the county later said contributed to a Hepatitis A outbreak.
The city responded by launching Operation Healthy Streets, but since then homelessness has exploded, increasing 47 percent from 2012, according to data from the county Homeless Services Authority. Many experts blame exorbitant housing costs.
The median rent for an apartment in Los Angeles is $2,483, which over 12 months comes to more than the individual median income of $29,301 for the county, according to data cited by the University of Southern California’s Center for Social Innovation.
