Moving from Chicago to Hawthorne, CA came with challenges we never anticipated. Looking back, we were unprepared in many ways—but we also didn’t expect to encounter the level of problems and lack of accountability we did. Early on, I didn’t understand the reactions of not one, but four different city employees—each at separate times—who blatantly asked me why I chose Hawthorne. We had our reasons: convenient freeway access on the Westside of Los Angeles and the opportunity to build a small but curated home with an ADU for work and visiting senior parents from Michigan. Five years later, we still don’t have that ADU. Had I known then what I know now, we would have made very different decisions.

Let’s take a look at Hawthorne and my personal experience here to offer a glimpse into how the city has handled certain issues—issues I never imagined facing. Naïve? No. Gaslit? Absolutely. It’s important to share this because if a city fails to enforce accountability where it should, how can you trust it to function properly anywhere else?