the LA Times JUST exposed me...

want to meet Kevin here so you all know

by now I'm running for governor of

California and I know I'm not dressed up

like that right now but I'm kind of

bummed because I wanted to respond to

something that the LA Times said and

it's really frustrating because here's

the thing I this is this sounds so like

silly I really believed that reporters

when they would write a story would at

least try to go out of their way to make

sure what they're saying is true and I'm

really disappointed because the LA Times

just did a solid bash small bash but

it's a solid Bash

and it's totally untrue and I want to

hear what your thoughts are in this am I

losing my mind so here's the context I

went to Echo Park this weekend oh

actually yeah this week a few days ago

and uh we basically went to the

reopening of this park where 200 ish

homeless individuals were essentially

evicted by the police and we went there

to the reopening the opening of the

fences and that and we talked to

homeless Advocates about uh homelessness

here's a gentleman who had an active

discussion with me this is a public

YouTube video you could see these

discussions and uh we're talking about

problems with homelessness and how this

person was homeless now he's trying to

get ahead and the difficulties of

getting ahead I talked to the chief of

uh police of LAPD spoke with the I'm

sorry this is a captain uh captain of

LAPD I spoke with the chief of parks and

recs of Los Angeles County about

homelessness spoke to folks who were

initial skep initially skeptical about

my plan plan but later we're more

interested in what I had to say spoke

again to uh Advocates or other people

who are interested in learning more

about the plan or again more Advocates

to understand hey you know how can folks

who are homeless this lady right here

she is still homeless I talked to her

how can folks

who are going through homelessness be

helped and I so I spoke to all sides

whether they were officers or they were

uh ranking officers homeless Advocates

homeless people it didn't matter and

that's apparently not how the LA Times

saw it so this is the LA Times piece

right here Echo Park Lake reopens new

grass new paint and no tents blah blah

does the story L.A times you know kind

of a important newspaper for Los Angeles

uh and California people throughout

California read the LA Times just like

somebody in La might read the sac b or

the SF times

but folks this is just

I don't know it's just it's to me

like I never want to bag on anyone

because like I I want to see the best

like maybe maybe Benjamin just didn't

know maybe Benjamin just caught a

glimpse and didn't care uh or didn't

have time to learn more uh you know I I

don't know what it is but look when you

type in my last name pafrath okay look

at this

several of the homeless participants

spoke about the challenges of living in

hotels and the rules that governed when

they could come and go and limited whom

they could interact with this is true

but there were also many homeless people

talking about getting evicted from the

space having their stuff thrown away or

not even being placed into a home so

there's a lot more here but then the

author goes on to say their speeches

were initially interrupted by Kevin

pafrath a recall candidate for governor

who wandered through the park with a

posse who filmed him that's it that's it

really we spent three and a half hours

at the park talking to homeless

Advocates to police officers I mean you

see this is this is a 55-53 minute video

and and we were there three times as

long as this clip uh it's unbelievable

to think that and watch our interviews

that'll give you much more context but

it's unbelievable to think that this is

considered wandering through the park

interrupting people being followed

around or following people around

interrupting them with with a posse

who's what is that like I don't know

like

it's just very frustrating I sent him a

message too I go rough hit peace and

untrue uh I sent a message on Twitter I

mean like look

I mean I I think Benjamin's probably a

really nice dude I don't know but he

didn't come up to me so obviously he

knew who I was could it easily like I

would gladly talk to him in fact there

was somebody from NPR who specifically

pulled me aside like hey right here on

the spot give me five minutes let's do

an interview no problem here's an

interview multiple people gave me their

business cards we scheduled interviews

I'm working on scheduling I've got the

cell phone number to the the chief of

parks and recs and we're working on

scheduling a ride along so we can

actually explore homelessness from the

point of view of law enforcement and

then we've got activist numbers so we

can explore homelessness from the point

of view of activists so we could see

both sides and seriously that's the

mention we get in the LA Times come on

man like this is this is why things get

misconstrued in the media and at the

very least like add some clarity to the

article because it's it doesn't look

good on the LA Times that's it's not

even close to Accurate which is very

disappointing

I don't know I'm disappointed uh that's

that's all I can say and again maybe

maybe it was just a mistake uh you know

I I don't know that you know maybe they

didn't know who knows maybe it was a

second-hand report maybe maybe they're

in an office writing the report and and

somebody sent them a picture and a tip

or something and and maybe it was a game

of phone tag or something I I don't know

it's just it's just really sad that's it

anyway thanks everyone we'll see in the

next one

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