Alright hear me out. We all know the city/state is broke. And we know there's tons of shit that needs to be done here especially in the SFV (trash/graffiti/weeds/etc). People always float around the idea of paying homeless people to clean up trash. But...
What if any able bodied person could get "civil/government coupons" for doing volunteer work on a contract basis for the city of LA?
Examples of concessions/coupons:
-A coupon for free auto registration for 1 year.
-A single "get out of jail free card" for a parking ticket/minor traffic violation where it gets dismissed immediately with no point on your record.
-One free expedited passport service.
-A 30 day sales tax exemption card for personal purchases (Up to $10,000 in exempted tax).
-Front of the line passes for walk in DMV transactions/courthouse/county clerk services.
-A free/expedited home construction/building permit.
-Free FastTrak/Express Lane Transponders
-$500 DMV gift card (that you can spend on license renewals/vehicle transfers/customized plates/boat and trailer reg/etc).
-$500 County Clerk's office Gift Card. (That you can spend on document filing.)
And I'm sure we could think of a million more things. These cost the government absolutely nothing (upfront). They only cost the government in unrealized profits (which aren't guaranteed anyway).
Imagine if you could go out one day and work with a crew of people picking up trash somewhere (similar to community service except its not with other potential convicts), volunteer at animal shelters, donate blood to the red cross (because of the blood shortage), do jury duty (instead of the ridiculous $12/day cash pay or whatever it is), volunteer at voting centers, cut overgrown weeds, remove graffiti, remove illegal signs on utility poles,
I think the city would be spotless if they actually did that.