美国国家公共电台 NPR--LA's mayoral candidates have big plans to fix homelessness. Can they follow through?

LA's mayoral candidates have big plans to fix homelessness. Can they follow through?

Transcript¹

The Los Angeles mayor's race is turning into a single-issue election: What to do about the city's enormous homeless population? It's not clear either candidate could solve the problem.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to turn our attention to the race for mayor in the city of Los Angeles. Both candidates in the running there are making promises about reducing the city's huge homeless population, more than 41,000 people by last count. But as Anna Scott from member station KCRW reports, those promises might be hard to keep.

ANNA SCOTT, BYLINE²: Ask anyone on the street in LA what issue they care about most, and chances are you'll hear something like this answer from Adele Wallace.

ADELE WALLACE: Everywhere you go, you see tents on the street. It really breaks my heart because it doesn't have to be that way.

SCOTT: The two people running to become LA's next mayor say they agree. On one side, Karen Bass³, who already represents parts of LA as a U.S. representative.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

KAREN BASS: In Los Angeles, we have an absolute emergency with tens of thousands of people sleeping on our streets every night.

SCOTT: When Bass talks about solving homelessness, she emphasizes her ties to the Biden administration and the socioeconomic issues behind the crisis. The other contender, Rick Caruso, is a billionaire real estate developer. He talks more to voters who are fed up.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RICK CARUSO: And then you have the amount of drugs that are on the street, the amount of waste that's on the street, the smell in the area.

SCOTT: This is Caruso in an ABC7 news segment. But as different as they sound, there's overlap⁴ in what Caruso and Bass say they'll do. They both say they'll make it easier to build new, affordable⁵ housing, ask the Biden administration for more low-income rental⁶ vouchers⁷, expand the city's shelter system, things outgoing mayor Eric Garcetti says he's done, too.

ERIC GARCETTI: I know it's election time, and people should put really bold goals forward, but homelessness isn't going to turn around in a year.

SCOTT: Some promises, Garcetti says, like dramatically expanding LA's shelter beds, would cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

GARCETTI: There's no cavalry⁸. And the mayor of Los Angeles is not some all-powerful being.

SCOTT: That's not a great campaign slogan. Still, unhoused advocates say LA's next mayor could do plenty of things better than the current one, like leading LA's 15 city council members, who have 15 different approaches to homelessness. Tommy Newman is a vice⁹ president with the United Way of Greater LA.

TOMMY NEWMAN: I think that the mayor has a lot of deference¹⁰ to the city council. I've heard both candidates talk about the need for the mayor to push and do more.

SCOTT: Yet the economic forces driving homelessness in LA and other large cities are bigger than any mayor, according to Margot Kushel, a physician who directs a homelessness research center at UC San Francisco.

MARGOT KUSHEL: The underlying¹¹ drivers of homelessness are the lack of deeply affordable housing, income inequality and structural¹² racism¹³. It's going to be hard to solve this problem without effort from the federal government.

SCOTT: Standing¹⁴ outside the tent she lives in Koreatown, Maria Dimitriou told me what she'd like to ask the mayoral candidates.

MARIA DIMITRIOU: This is California. It's one of the richest states in this country. Why is this happening, this homelessness?

SCOTT: When she lost her apartment just blocks from here, she had few options.

DIMITRIOU: It wasn't because I didn't want to pay my rent or because I was - I fell into drugs or - no. I lost my job.

SCOTT: For many voters, the crisis is about much more than tents on sidewalks, says Lora Spangler, who has a home.

LORA SPANGLER: I mean, if I didn't own my house and I wasn't an old lady, there was no way in - can I say hell?

SCOTT: Oh, yes (laughter).

SPANGLER: ...That I would be able to live here, you know?

SCOTT: It's a reminder¹⁵ for every voter of the chasm¹⁶ between many people's incomes and housing costs in LA For NPR News, I'm Anna Scott in Los Angeles.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

4 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

5 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

6 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

7 vouchers   

n.凭证( voucher的名词复数 )；证人；证件；收据

参考例句：

• These vouchers are redeemable against any future purchase. 这些优惠券将来购物均可使用。
• This time we were given free vouchers to spend the night in a nearby hotel. 这一次我们得到了在附近一家旅馆入住的免费券。 来自英语晨读30分（高二）

8 cavalry   

n.骑兵；轻装甲部队

参考例句：

• We were taken in flank by a troop of cavalry. 我们翼侧受到一队骑兵的袭击。
• The enemy cavalry rode our men down. 敌人的骑兵撞倒了我们的人。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 deference   

n.尊重，顺从；敬意

参考例句：

• Do you treat your parents and teachers with deference?你对父母师长尊敬吗？
• The major defect of their work was deference to authority.他们的主要缺陷是趋从权威。

11 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

12 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

13 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

14 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

15 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

16 chasm   

n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突

参考例句：

• There's a chasm between rich and poor in that society.那社会中存在着贫富差距。
• A huge chasm gaped before them.他们面前有个巨大的裂痕。