Skid Row in Los Angeles is a pretty frightening place, not only because of the lowlifes camping there, and making a mess with every kind of bodily waste, but because of ACLU litigation, and court decisions that have tried to make it illegal to enforce the law. Heather Mac Donald had a good article in the Autumn 2007 City Journal about clean-up efforts:

Crucial support came from the city attorney and the local councilwoman, both of whom bucked Los Angeles political traditions to fight for sanity in Central City East. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa broke with his own past as president of the ACLU of Southern California to back the cleanup.[The Reclamation of Skid Row by Heather Mac Donald, City Journal Autumn 2007]

Well, of course Villaraigosa is more enthusiastic about the exercise of the Mayor's police powers once he's got them himself. Remember Bill Clinton? He was a Sixties hippie who dodged the draft, loathed the military, and smoked dope.

In office, he bombed Serbia Iraq, and Sudan, threatened Haiti with invasion, and set fire to a commune. Villaraigosa's sudden pro-law enforcement attitude is just a matter of the shoe being on the other foot.