home on the Row

homeless health

2007-08-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

When people live practically on top of each other, not separated by walls, not sleeping in beds, unwashed by the masses and malnourished as a rule - guess what? Homeless people are prone to illness. The TB rate is through the roof, and now (cue the scary music) Dahm dumn dummmmmmmmmmmmm a STAPH INFECTION is spreading like a weed among the population and servants on 90021.

It is called Skid Row Staph and it comes on quick and hard. Homeless residents, non-profit out reach agency workers, prison workers, jailed inmates, police officers and fire fighters: everyone is getting it. It is a nasty epidemic that no one is talking about or willing to admit.

If you have a sore that looks like a spider bite, a boil, ingrown hair, cellulitus, RUN to the hospital and demand they check for Staph!

Back on the row - Carl

2007-06-25T22:30:00.000-07:00

No end to homelessness - yet

2007-06-16T18:25:00.001-07:00

There is no end to homelessness yet, but I continue to have hope.

Homelessness is everywhere, not just on the "Skid Rows" of large cities. Maybe you, or someone you know is Couch surfing. Do you have a friend or family member who is "crashing" at your place because they have no where else to go? Guess what? That person is homeless.

I am still working with the Homeless populations in and around Los Angeles. Currently I am exploring to from the position of a Welfare Worker.

As much as I would like to stop Homelessness from starting, and also to end it - I find the individual stories of those surviving it to be compelling. California Welfare enacted the GAIN program as a means to guide people off the Welfare rolls.

I will let you know how it goes!

the fix it and clean it crew

2006-09-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

fire and compassion

2006-09-13T16:44:00.000-07:00

Someone was having a bad day and setting her stuff on fire. a friend came over to comfort her.

work picnic

2006-08-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

Chay, April, and Jack

2006-07-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

drug deal

2006-07-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

right in fromt of my car.... lovely

Pictures of Ron

2006-07-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

He is one of my favorite members.

I love this shirt!

2006-06-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

of course I also gave it to him!

sting op. on 5th street

2006-06-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

2006-06-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

Pamela has died

2006-06-21T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is Pamela. She was found today.

Death on Crocker St

2006-06-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

how I know I am at work

2006-06-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

I took a day off yesterday and came back to ANOTHER dead roach in my office - I have about 3 a week. No, no food in here, just a grungy building with people living on the sidewalk 7 feet away.

Maybe i need a better job or should restart my hunt for a husband so I can stay home and just take care of family for a change?

art

2006-06-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

I took several pictures of people I know and portrayed them to tell stories about other people I know- peoplewho have hidden secrets and addictions

more story pictures

2006-06-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

a picture tell the story

2006-06-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Mission Outreach

2006-06-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

the Mission Health worker showed me how she gets the attention of people on the streets. Everyone loves bubbles!

parade of police cars

2006-06-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

I threw my camera hand out the window after I crossed the intersection - there was about 20 police cars with sirens and lights going down 6th street this morning at 9:08.

name flame

2006-06-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

art deco meets the street

2006-06-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

the mission building with it's plastic balcony above the toy store. odd. the non-profit is better looking than the one for money.

Ragman holds his photrograph

2006-05-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

One of my passtimes is taking pictures of the people I am frinedly with and giving them a copy.
For many of them, it has been years since they last held a photograph of themselves.

Why I work here

2006-05-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

May 06

Why do I work here?

Why do I work here?

Unlike some of you who have glamorous jobs and get to travel the globe, I drive the 15 miles from a lovely suburb into Los Angeles. I pass neighborhoods, schools, a hospital, freeways, industrial areas, warehouses and then cross the First Street Bridge. I turn left at the Fish restaurant into the warehouse district filled with cold storage units and toy shops and notice that the vehicle traffic has slowed down. Soon there are more people in the streets than cars and the sidewalks are landscaped with tents, boxes and morning dreamers. My little car gets parked next to broken glass and a tent full of people; some of whim are already hitting the pipe. As I open my door the stench of urine and burnt trash sticks in my nose and I have to pick my way across the pot holes in the street to an opening between parked cars (2 of them had the Orange Boot on them this morning) up to the tilting and broken sidewalk and finally into the door of the building where I work. This morning as I stepped in the door a cockroach was near my feet. Wearing open toed sandals, I was a little alarmed and noticed the bug was the same size as my big toe. I tossed the remaining drops of water from the cup i was drinking from at the bug . . and it charged me. I sweat it bowed it's tiny head and scampered purposefully in my direction, which made me jump and shriek a pip of fear as I started to scoot back/ About this time I realized I was running away from a bug... a BUG! I regained my composure and left the roach to it's approach and I walked across the building to my office. Sitting in a chair by my door was a man with a months old baby boy. As I took the baby and talked to him so the father could go to money management, it occurred to me:

I only have to work in a broken down part of town with giant roaches and foul smells. If the problem is not solved - the problem of poverty, homelessness and a need for Skid Rows, this drooling bright eyes baby boy would continue to be one of thousands who will grow up here and accept this as normal. He will expect his world to smell like a toilet and he will expect to be invisible.

No one deserves a life like that, and that is why I come to work every day. Monday though, I am bringing Boric Acid for the roach!

these are the faces of Skid Row

2006-05-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

City Flags

2006-05-01T16:38:00.000-07:00

I love the "You are Here" flags for designated areas of the city like "The Flower District", "Toy District", "Business District" . . . I feel a little discriminated against that none of the flags say "Skid Row"

Los Angeles Mission Clinic and LAMP

2006-05-01T15:33:00.000-07:00

Every other week the LA Mission Clinic comes into LAMP and does Diabetesm blood pressure and HIV Screenings.

2006-04-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

A"Treasure of Los Angeles", Lamp was honored on Thursday for it's achievements. These men live in an independent apartment building owned and run by Lamp. Lamp has placed Supportive Services into the building to help the tenants transition form homelessness to successful independent adults.

2006-04-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

Dignity

Even in the shelter, he irons his clothing

2006-04-26T03:28:00.000-07:00

These are some of the men who keep us up and running. They fix everything.

2006-04-26T03:24:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I forget to come back and show you the beauty of Skid Row. Some philanthopist will say the beauty is the social work, but I believe it is the faces of the people on the street. Majestic or withered, people are beautiful.

2006-04-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

You know you are on Skid Row when this is how the streets are cleaned!

Yes, the police are guarding the workers. I am dtrying my best not to mention that you can sell drugs right next to the police cars while they are out on guard duty and you won't get arrested and unless an official or reporter are out and about, you won't see them again until the next street cleaning day. Aren you proud of my restraint and self control?

2006-04-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

This is Stoney, I knew if Ilooked hard enough I could find a picture I had taken of him,
I told him about the NPR article and he smiled ad said "yeah, they paid me 10 bucks for that".

2006-04-18T10:55:00.000-07:00

It is odd to see someone you know in the news . . . this NPR article has a picture of Stoney whom I have known for years.

He is not exactly who I would pick to write a story on homelessness about; but on the other hand, this man is a scrapper. He can sell a single tennis shoe for $4.00 then buy 2 shirts with the proceeds and sell them for $10.00 and on and on. Recently there was a news article about the man who turned a red paperclip into a house through barter, well, he has nothing on Stoney Bob.

I have found this man asleep in my car, under my car, outside my office door, in the stairwell, seen him fleeing the back of a delivery truck, pulled printers from out under his shirt., If it is not nailed down Stoney will find it, get it and turn it into a tool for survival. And really, more power to him. Although I never appreciate being robbed by anyone, including Stoney, he does not have the Entitlement issue so many other people have, He does not think the world owes him a living, he will find a way to survive on his own terms. Now I know you probably just shuddered and shook your heads and said "What a criminal", some of you did, I can see you through the screen! Take a moment to wonder why it is such a horrible thing and why you despise what he does to survive when you cheered on a younger version of him in Aladdin. . . Perhaps it is food for thought.

"One Jump Ahead"
Aladdin:Gotta keep
One jump ahead of the breadline
One swing ahead of the sword
I steal only what I can't afford
( That's Everything! )

One jump ahead of the lawmen
That's all, and that's no joke
These guys don't appreciate I'm broke

2006-04-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Live, Love, Laugh!
These stickers are on the outside of a transitional housing program on Crocker Street on Skid Row.
I like it. I also think there should be one that syas "Eat, Shower, and Be Safe"

2006-04-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

Gil Cedillo - local hero or really good at political double talk
The following is an excerpt from his interview with LA Downtown News Online.

Q: What did you see?

A: A lot of drugs. Lots of drug abuse and alcoholism. I'm familiar with that. I've had my brother-in-law go through recovery Downtown. I don't think there's a family in America that is immune from the challenges of alcoholism or drug abuse regardless of their economic situation.

So from that emerged our desire to create a recovery zone - a place, a sanctuary, for people who do have the challenge of drug or alcohol dependency to seek treatment and to do so in an environment that does not tolerate drug dealers preying upon their vulnerabilities. We're not liberal about that. We wouldn't tolerate that anywhere in the city, why would we tolerate that Downtown?

[One of our bills] would create the drug free zone, and one would enhance penalties for drug dealers. Then we want to [create] a drug court that deals with people who are drug or alcohol dependent or people who suffer from mental illness and who can make those distinctions. And then not criminalize those people but make circumstances for them to make a recovery.

There's also this question of dumping. Many people in this county, many people in this region and throughout the southwest send people to Downtown Los Angeles. They do not embrace their responsibility to members of their communities to provide services. Downtown cannot bear the burden of services for 13 million people.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pardon me for beingCaptain Obvious, however, I thought that the law of the land made all of America a Drug free zone? Is there some special sanctuary for crack that I am yet unaware of? Does Skid Row exist in this magical land? Yes, I know my tone is obnoxious, but Good Lord Man! Could you stop using political Double Talk and just say the following:

“I want the police to enforce out drug laws. I want them to protect these laws with the same effort they protect the Earth Movers on Street Sweeping Days on the Row. I want the police to be a visible presence and occasionally look the residents of Skid Row in the eye. I want the police to see the residence as PEOPLE and not as PROBLEMS. The police might as well not exist when they are never here on the streets and when they are here like the people here are invisible to them.

I want the residents of Skid Row to see and respect and trust the police officers. I want the drug users to know that their use in not unseen so that they either seek help for their addictions and come out clean onto drug free streets, or use somewhere other than the row because we will not tolerate drug use.

I want the police to stop turning a blind eye to the Lexus and Mercedes that stop in the middle of the street on the 1^st and 3^rd of every month, roll down their windows and deal drugs from their cars. I want the police to stop racially profiling and if they have a need to discriminate anyone, let them investigate anyone with a car worth more than my annual wage. If they look scared then they are lost, if they drive a little too slowly they are looking to sell.”

Okay, wait: there is more. Lets talk about this :a drug court that deals with people who are drug or alcohol dependent or people who suffer from mental illness.

I would like to introduce you and Mr. Cedillo to a little thing we call Homeless Court. What follows is a quote from their site "

The Homeless Court (HC) program was created by the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, the Los Angeles Public Defender’s Office and advocates for the homeless including Public Counsel and the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA).

This program helps impoverished individuals with a history of homelessness to clear tickets and warrants for minor offenses such as traffic tickets, infractions, and various minor misdemeanors including jaywalking, riding the metro without a fare, sleeping in public places, illegal use of shopping carts, possession of an open container of alcohol in public, obstructing traffic on the sidewalk, sleeping on a bus bench, as well as any warrants that arise for failure to resolve these offenses"

Pardon me - I as am in an off mood today. As I read that article it brough back memories of eating at the Green Bamboo watching 8 police, yes, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 police officers arrest a homeless man who took a really long time drinking his coffee outside of Starbucks. The SWAT team was seated behind me at an outside table. They left and as they passed the short policeman leading the arrest, the SWAT leader said "We don't want none of your kind of action." My love for our SWAT team grew three sizes that day.

2006-04-04T12:18:00.000-07:00

There were more stories about homeless dumping. This one is in the Whittier Daily News. It even made it into international news with the Times Online UK. Perhaps international scrutiny will speed up the change?

You already know my view. We don't need stabilization centers. We need a broad spectrum of services and varying levels of housing to be made available to the residents of Skid Row. It is my hope that Supportive housing models, long term Transitional Living residences, and other new non-traditional housing types will be implemented. I know that non-traditional is scary to the main stream populous, but homeless people live a non-traditional lifestyle so meeting their needs head on with non-traditional means might be the answer we have over looked. I also hope that it will create stabilization levels for people in the process of becoming homeless so the most motivated of them can find somewhere to stick before they are permanently homeless.

2006-03-31T10:04:00.000-08:00

Somehow that is the phrase in my head every time I hear this man play. Beautiful rich clear tones that echo off pealing graffiti slathered walls, harmonic melodies that reverberate off the urine stained sidewalk housing a host of hibernating rats.

When he plays, he turns the ugly ducking of the row into a surreally beautiful experience. He is pictured on the corner of 4th and Towne.

2006-03-27T15:29:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I am jaded . . . . How is this news? The sky is blue grass is green, and skid row absorbs all the people you would rather have unseen. When I saw this picture my first reaction was to note how clean the sidewalk is there. Out side my office door someone just vomited and 8 people are asleep.

Long Term Skilled Nursing places have to keep you if you have no family and no where to go - even if you have no way to pay.

They cross their fingers and pray you get sick and go to the hospital for more than 3 days so they can give your bed away. Hospitals know that and try to have you out in less than 3 days . . but when you are not, they have to have a discharge plan.

Because of the food and shelter available here on the row, hospitals and SNF's justify leaving people here.

2006-03-24T13:21:00.001-08:00

These are more of my favorite outreach services for the
homeless. Some of them are not based in Skid Row.

A Community of Friends ACOF is able to provide housing for homeless, disabled and very low-income persons – creating permanent, affordable housing and an environment that promotes stability.

Step Up on Second in Santa Monica. Step Up on Second involves individuals with severe and persistent mental illness in developing opportunities to reintegrate into the community. Step Up is dedicated to long-term support of people in recovery and their families, offering quality housing, educational, social and work experiences. Step Up is committed to increasing public understanding and acceptance of mental illness.

Ocean Park Community Center AKA OPCC OPCC, (formerly the Ocean Park Community Center), is a network of shelters and services for low-income and homeless youth, adults and families, battered women and their children, and people living with mental illness.

Volunteers of America
Volunteers of America is one of the nation's oldest organized charities. We are committed to bringing lasting solutions to the less fortunate in the greater Los Angeles area.

If you know of any service that I have overlooked, please inform me.

2006-03-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

Beyond Shelter

211 (Los Angeles County Hotline)
Have questions? Need help? Like 911 and 411 before it, "211" is very useful to the average person, It can teach you how to navigate the Public Assistance systems and where to apply for what services.
Interagency Council on Homelessness

Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty
The Weingart center . . . healthcare, education, an social services.

LAMP
Lamp is one of my favorite agencies especially with it's public toilets and showers. Lamp is a one stop mall of homeless services with an emergency shelter, drop in center, laundry mat, showers, drug program, AB34 outrezch, supportive housing and case management.

Larry James Urban Daily

Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness
This politically active agency educates other agencies and works to make the homeless more visable in order to get them on the public adgenda.
Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority

Los Angeles Housing Department

National Alliance To End Homelessness

National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness

People Assisting The Homeless

Public Counsel

Shelter Partnership

St. Joseph Center

The Homeless Guy

Westside Shelter and Hunger Coalition

this is Krystal

2006-03-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

Personal Hygene

2006-03-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

can you tell these are pictures of the same man?
Personal Hygene makes a world of difference in the way we see outselves as well as how we invite the world to see us. Motivation is ofte tied to a clean body, clean clothing and a decent haircut. All the women who clog the spas and salons might be on to something. I have a friend, Krystal, who volunteers on skid row for me and gives free haircuts.

2006-03-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

Why Los Angeles Needs a Residential Hotel Preservation Ordinance.

taken from http://www.saje.net/index.php

When you think about some of the things that Los Angeles needs, your thoughts might lean toward our city needing some serious traffic relief, some air quality improvement, a few more independent bookstores, or even how the Lakers need another three-peat. Chances are, your thoughts aren't lingering on how Los Angeles needs a Residential Hotel Ordinance.

But for the thousands of low-income residents living in Downtown Los Angeles, the area's residential hotels are the only housing they can afford. It's the only housing that keeps them from joining the ranks of Downtown's 90,000-strong homeless population and it desperately needs to be preserved.

Why Do We Need An Ordinance?
Residential hotels provide much-needed housing of last resort for the lowest income tenants in Los Angeles , many of whom are elderly, disabled, and families with children. Hundreds of residential hotel units have been lost in the past two years and thousands more are at risk of closure, of conversion into luxury-style apartments, or demolition. It's important for an ordinance to be passed—and soon—to ensure that this type of trend does not continue to push more people into homelessness.

How Does It Work?
A Residential Hotel Preservation Ordinance would preserve Los Angeles' housing of last resort by requiring replacement housing for any lost residential hotel units due to demolition or conversion, and it would require replacement prior to the demolition and conversion of these units to luxury or high income housing.

How Can We Do It?
State law allows Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco to exempt residential hotel units from the Ellis Act , thereby protecting residential hotel units from demolition and conversion.

San Francisco and San Diego have already successfully enacted similar Ordinances protecting residential hotel housing, and Los Angeles must follow.

There are more than 5,000 unprotected residential hotel units in the downtown area alone, and thousands more City-wide. The Ellis Act exemption provides a unique opportunity to preserve affordable housing and help prevent our affordable housing crisis from getting even worse.

What Are The Benefits Of Taking Advantage Of This Preservation Opportunity ?

If LA enacts a residential hotel preservation ordinance, we will:

Prevent homelessness for thousands of tenants living in hotels at-risk of conversion.
Contribute to the revitalization of downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, San Pedro, and other areas and ensure that long term residents can continue to live in their improved neighborhoods.
Affordable housing developers in Los Angeles will be able to leverage available funds from Propositions 48 and 63 to build on their past successes in renovating residential hotels into safe and affordable housing for extremely low income people.

What Are The Costs Of Ignoring This Opportunity?

If LA does not act now to protect residential hotels, we will:

Fail to prevent the loss of thousands of affordable housing units in the midst of LA's most severe housing crisis.
Force elderly and disabled people, as well as hundreds of families with children, into homelessness.
Displace hundreds of mentally ill tenants who have secured and maintained housing through the State of California 's hugely successful AB2034 Program and other mental health programs.

At this critical juncture, our City officials must make every effort to preserve affordable housing in the midst of our severe housing crisis.

The Ellis Act is a state law that states that landlords have the unconditional right to evict tenants to 'go out of business.'

To evict under the Ellis Act, the landlord must remove all units in the building from the rental market, i.e., the landlord must evict all the tenants. When a landlord invokes the Ellis Act, the apartments can not be re-rented, except at the same rent the evicted tenant was paying, for five years following the evictions.

Ellis Act evictions generally are used to 'change the use' of the building. Most Ellis Act evictions are used to convert rental units to condominiums, using loopholes in the condominium law.

2006-03-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

More blogs about homelessla.

2006-03-07T18:38:00.000-08:00

this picture says so much about the owner of this ashtray

2006-03-07T18:36:00.000-08:00

Easily converted into crack pipes . . go look at our corner store for glass tubes with roses in them

http://www.sptimes.com/News/081001/Floridian/A_crack_pipe_by_any_o.shtml

2006-03-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

In training last week, I learned the difference between the Red Shirt Security and real police. All this time I thought that the people with Billy Clubs and handcuffs and guns on bikes were the cops. Alas, they are private security hired by the local businesses to keep their specific properties safe. Some how this translated into them harassing and waking up the homeless on Skid Row.

2006-02-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

Happiness is not the balance of your bank account . . friends come in all income ranges

2006-02-28T10:45:00.000-08:00

2006-02-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

2006-02-27T11:13:00.000-08:00

I swear, one of the few things I find funny about the LAPD . . they make my parking look GOOD!

2006-02-27T11:00:00.000-08:00

sometimes, the view from my car is depressing.

2006-02-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

Homelessness is the White Elephant in Los Angeles.

While the best solution to Homelessness is Housing, it is a topic that gets little attention. If no one thinks about it, talks about it, considers how to successfully address the issue and plans to end Homelessness an end can never be reached.

Recently a local news station and The City of Los Angeles held a forum to explore the topic. My friend, Casey Horan, was a speaker.There is a link posted on the L.A. Times website (click on video link on right side) at:

http://www.latimes.com/homelessinla

2006-02-21T11:12:00.000-08:00

2006-02-21T10:41:00.000-08:00

L.A.Times Articles

This is the link to the series of articles written by Steve Lopez in the LA times about Homelessness in LA.

2006-02-21T10:03:00.000-08:00

LAist Interview: Joel John Roberts

from PATH
LAist article
This is a link to his BLOG LA Homeless Blog by Joel

2006-02-19T12:22:00.000-08:00

to block the "Voices" , many people wear hadphones and blast music

2006-02-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

This is Tommie, sometimes he gets into my car and says he is comming home with me. I admit it, we have become frineds.

2006-02-19T11:47:00.000-08:00

2006-02-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

While there are increasing numbers of women on The Row, African American men dominate the population

2006-02-19T11:43:00.000-08:00

A social worker talking to Marvin on Stanford Avenue

2006-02-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

2006-02-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

These are the faces of homelessness, hunger, mental illness and addiction.

Adults on Skid Row are some of the hardest people to sympathize with. “Responsible Government funding” seems to focus on children and attempt to prevent the cycle of homelessness but write off the adults who are trapped already.

The people on Skid Row are like any other group, here are some of their faces.

2006-02-19T10:32:00.000-08:00

Home, Home on the Row

On my first day I walked for hours looking for the street called “Skid Row”. There is no one street named “Skid Row”. Skid Row in Los Angeles is a 9 block containment area in the industrial and fish district just south of the tall buildings in downtown Los Angeles.Sometimes I walk from Skid Row (where there are more people in the streets than cars) to downtown where the skies are filled with glass, money, historical architecture and steel. Everything changes as you pass Wall Street. The fact that Los Angeles' "Wall Street" is on Skid Row is an irony that amuses me everyday. The further north you go the more movement you see, in cars, in people, and distance from home to work.

I work for a non-profit agency that provides services to the homeless, poor, and local residents of Skid Row. My goal for this blog is to explain what Skid Row is, how it works, and what changes could eventually successfully eradicate the need for places like Skid Row in modern American cities.