L.A. Homeless Man Charged with Arson as Councilmember Mike Bonin Pushes for Shelters in Area

Suspected homeless arsonist and Mike Bonin (LAFD / Getty)
LAFD / Getty

L.A. City Council member Mike Bonin pushed for his plan to build temporary homeless shelters at a beach parking lot on Tuesday evening — even as firefighters continued to battle a wildfire nearby that was allegedly set by a homeless arsonist.

As Breitbart News reported, a homeless man, Ramon Santos Rodriguez, 48, was charged with arson on Tuesday in connection with fires that threatened residents in Bonin’s 11th district. Yet Bonin continued to push for a plan to build “temporary” homeless shelters on local beach parking lots — even though firefighters had used one of those lots as a staging area to battle the blaze.

Palisades Fire (Breitbart News)

(Breitbart News)

In an interview with local Fox affiliate KTTV-11, Bonin criticized those whom he said had “stood in the way” of solutions such as his plan.

He also tried to deflect criticism from homeless people themselves. “I think that a lot of folks that you talk to on the street who say they don’t want something, haven’t seen what there can be to be offered,” Bonin told KTTV’s Elex Michaelson.

Asked by reported Phil Shuman why Bonin had not made an impact on the problem since taking office in 2013, Bonin blamed those he accused of “road-blocking” his plans. He said he expected more state and local funding to help solve the problem.

The Palisades Fire has burned over 1,000 acres and had forced the evacuation of residents from nearby Topanga until Tuesday. Some residents of nearby Pacific Palisades were also told to prepare to flee. The fire was 47% contained as of Tuesday evening.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new e-book, We Told You So!: The First 100 Days of Joe Biden’s Radical Presidency. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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