DISPATCHES FROM VENICE-ZUELA: Squalor By the Seaside. Homelessness and RV fires have overrun Venice Beach, California.

Fires, pollution, and disarray are increasingly common not only in Venice but also around Los Angeles. The city’s 15 councilmembers act as demi-mayors, directing policy and policing in their districts. Mayor Eric Garcetti has seemed missing in action in the two years since his failed presidential attempt, leaving a vacuum to be filled by anarchy and lawlessness.

Garcetti’s legacy of inaction and incompetence has led to blighted living conditions in Los Angeles that are starting to rival those of the Third World. It’s somehow fitting that the city’s failed mayor aspires to be named ambassador of India: he has created conditions in Venice Beach that evoke some of the suffering in that country, along with a modern-day caste of homeless untouchables, exempt from laws and accountability.

Gooder and Harder, California.