Scott Gold, Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2008
Thirteen-year-old Kevin Cedano steps onto the stoop of the Ohio Hotel.
“Watch out for the doo-doo.”
The words tumble out through the peach fuzz on Kevin’s upper lip. They come with no hint of judgment, or pain. He might as well be warning you about a pothole or a low-lying tree branch, though the deposit has been left outside his home, and not by a dog but a woman in a blue cardigan who is now toddling off down Ceres Avenue in Los Angeles.
Kevin lives on skid row, where the streets, despite the recent efforts of the Los Angeles Police Department, remain littered with the detritus of failure and addiction and poverty—half-eaten cans of baked beans; spilled suitcases; the occasional corpse.
It seems almost frivolous to worry about playtime. But kids must be kids, even here. So over the last two months, city officials, skid row advocates and police have hatched a plan that seems radical only here: to let children play in a park, once a week.
{snip}
These days, scores of homeless people and addicts gather there in relative peace, to sleep, to play cards. But at times, the park has degenerated into a “crime orgy,” said LAPD Officer Deon Joseph, who has spent 10 years patrolling skid row. Not long ago, a heroin enterprise left behind piles of colored balloons used to package drugs.
Now, on Friday afternoons, a phalanx of police cars pulls up to the park shortly after noon.
Adults are cleared out. Officers pick over every blade in the tiny section of grass, on a hill overlooking a colorful mural and six palm trees, to make sure there aren’t any stray syringes. Then they open the green iron gates, this time for kids only.
“They don’t have any place to play,” Joseph said. “This is one place for them to come and get away from everything.”
{snip}
Still, the district’s 50 square blocks are believed to be home to 400 registered sex offenders and 3,000 people on probation or parole for violent crimes or drug charges. According to some estimates, though no one knows for sure, half the residents have some form of mental illness. Just a few blocks from Kevin’s hotel, there is a woman known to all as the Doctor because she can find a vein for intravenous drugs when even the most hardened junkie has given up.
Authorities concluded long ago that this was no place for a kid to grow up. But even though hundreds have been relocated in recent years, there are still at least 150 children on skid row. For many, the future is dark.
{snip}
Even now, a hand-written sign next to the front desk, just a few feet from Kevin’s apartment, is meant to ward off troublemakers: “Sí, su visita es problemática.” Yes, your visit causes a problem.
Outside, it’s no better.
“¡Todos son animales!” a tiny, hunched woman, clearly mentally ill, screamed at Kevin one recent afternoon after he walked outside. “You’re all animals!”
{snip}
It’s not easy, officials have found, convincing kids who’ve been effectively home-bound that they can suddenly start playing outside.
“What are you up to?” asked Officer Stephen Nichols, 49, an 11-year LAPD veteran and one of the officers overseeing the program.
“Nothing,” Kevin said quietly.
“Well,” Nichols said, “hang out for a while. This is your park.”
Kevin plopped down on a bench, not bothering to take off his backpack, not convinced that there was anything for him here.
Soon, a few more kids filed in, then more, until there were 65 kids inside, a few whom Kevin knew from school.
Someone started a blacktop soccer game.
{snip}
“¡En tu masca!” shouted the lanky boy who scored the goals. It’s a colloquialism they use to one-up one another; it translates loosely to “In your face.”
{snip}
Original article
Email
Scott Gold
at scott.gold@latimes.com.
(Posted on February 15, 2008)
Comments
I worked with the “homeless” for ten years in community mental health. And I can tell you one thing for certain, what they do has nothing to do with “failure” or “poverty”. And it only has tangentially to do with “addiction”.
The truth is there are plenty of homes for the homeless and an aggressive, well funded system for re-enfranchisement. All of the “homeless” are serious drug addicts. Most of them are hardened criminals of the worst sort. What they are doing is living an outlaw lifestyle designed to give them maximum access to depravity and minimal exposure to law enforcement. What they want are victims to rape, rob, murder and steal from. That is the bottom line for them….hurting others while avoiding being hurt by those even more dangerous than they.
They move in and out of the system to get what they want but work incredibly hard to avoid any effort at rehabilitation whatsoever. What little they get comes through force, after they are arrested.
Whenever you see a bum out on the street. Or more correctly, when you see a dangerous, drug addled criminal cruising the neighborhood for victims, understand that every last one of them is in this category.
There are legitimate homeless people. None of them would be caught dead out on the street because they’d quickly be killed. At most, they spend a few days homeless, in a shelter, until they are placed. They are quickly and effectively reintegrated into society with homes and work. Even the mentally ill and substance users are given generous access to treatment, including rehab (I know, I sure placed enough of these people during my career). Someone who wants to normalize their life is given EVERYTHING they need and damn quick.
People out on the street need to be thrown in prison to protect the community from them.
Posted by at 8:12 PM on February 15
Now, on Friday afternoons, a phalanx of police cars pulls up to the park shortly after noon.
Adults are cleared out. Officers pick over every blade in the tiny section of grass, on a hill overlooking a colorful mural and six palm trees, to make sure there aren’t any stray syringes. Then they open the green iron gates, this time for kids only.This is disgusting. I wonder what fool enabler started all this.
Posted by at 10:27 PM on February 15
Once a week isn’t much…but it’s a lot more than many inner-city kids get. I applaud the LAPD for their efforts.
Posted by Dark-Star at 10:34 PM on February 15
I don’t feel sorry for the chronically homeless here in the US anymore after I realized many wanted to be homeless. They get free money and everything else free and they just want to have their fun. Drugs, sex, crime, etc… We should stop giving these criminals money!!!
Posted by realist at 12:26 AM on February 16
“The truth is there are plenty of homes for the homeless…” (Posted by at 8:12 PM on February 15).
Please tell me in which city you assisted the homeless, so I can tell the homeless here in Berkeley, Ca., many of whom are not criminals and who want desperately to be housed, where they can go to have the extraordinary opportunities and assistance you describe. That degree of assistance is certainly not available in Berkeley.
“What they want are victims to rape, rob, murder and steal from.”
In Berkeley, more of the homeless are the victims rather than the perpetrators of such crimes.
Many (I would guess a majority) of the homeless here in Berkeley are white, and unlike the other white social classes here, they have a very clear understanding of where most of the violence directed at them comes from. From blacks, housed and unhoused.
Posted by H. Dumpty at 4:08 AM on February 16
Liberal policies created this. Liberal policies can’t solve it.
Posted by at 7:55 AM on February 16
H. Dumpty should visit Los Angeles. There are countless places for the homeless to go for help. Most of them prefer to roam the streets and badger people for change by day, do their drugs, and then prowl for victims at night. Some of the white “homeless” are mental cases, but most of the ones here in L.A. are criminals, just like the blacks who are the vast majority of the “homeless”. We are now seeing a few more latino “homeless” each month.
This program by the LAPD is a waste of time and money, especially when they should be arresting the illegals whose children they take to the park. Illegals who despise the policia but who are also used to having their derrieres kissed by the stupid gringos.
Posted by It's Obvious at 1:09 PM on February 16
Too bad the police had to do this “clearing out of the park” thing, but what does anyone expect in the ghetto? If these kids had parents that cared about them, the latter would be on that playground everyday clearing out bums and other thugs. Then again, these ghetto mommas won’t pull themselves away from the TV long enough to actually raise and protect their children. They expect the government to do it — and everything else.
Growing up years ago, I know what my father and those of my friends would do so we could safely play in a local park. Let’s just put it this way; thugs wouldn’t dare set foot in our play area, they’d be too afraid.
Posted by Proactive at 2:35 PM on February 16
Many (I would guess a majority) of the homeless here in Berkeley are white, and unlike the other white social classes here, they have a very clear understanding of where most of the violence directed at them comes from. From blacks, housed and unhoused.
This is true. I can assure you that no white (or Hispanic) person who’s ever been homeless harbors any delusions about racial equality. We know that blacks are to be avoided at all costs. It’s a simple matter of self-preservation.
Posted by qwerty at 5:34 PM on February 16
Thank the ACLU and other liberal groups for creating this mess. They advocated letting all the crazies and drug addicts out and this is now what we have to deal with.
I say euthanize all the bums and clean society up.
George Manuelian
San Jose, CA
Posted by George Manuelian at 6:15 PM on February 16
Plenty of the homeless have serious mental issues; a civilized country would not let untreated schizophrenics and other assorted crazies wander the streets to be victimized by thug predators.
It is a shameful thing to allow the mentally ill to be abused and rot in the streets.
Posted by Sonya at 7:21 PM on February 16
The brilliant writer Heather McDonald covered this issue in her article “Reclaiming Skid Row” (specifically about the skid row in Los Angeles):
“…For 25 years, the advocates used lawsuits and antipolice propaganda to beat back every effort to restore sanity to Skid Row…”
“…Skid Row’s 50 blocks had reached a level of depravity that stunned even longtime observers. Encampments composed of tents and cardboard boxes covered practically every inch of sidewalk. Their 1,500 or so occupants stretched out in lawn chairs or sprawled on the pavement, injected heroin and smoked crack and marijuana in plain view, day and night. Feces, urine, and drug-resistant bacteria coated the ground…”
“…By the early 1980s, a new Skid Row population had emerged: drug addicts, overwhelmingly black, often mentally ill, who camped out on the streets. This population was younger, more hostile…”
“…the Central City East Association (CCEA), had to negotiate in a judge’s chambers the arcane question of whether feces in a plastic bag constitute ‘property.’ Defending the property label were lawyers from the prestigious law firm… the ACLU, had sued CCEA over its efforts to remove encampment detritus from the sidewalks in front of members’ businesses..”
http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_4_skid_row.html
Pity this article is not headlined in the LA Times or other MSM rag. Is it any wonder their subscribers have been drastically dropping off for years?
I highly recommend this article to everyone—it points out the utter idiocy of do-gooders who truly believe that their (what they see as heroic) efforts ‘make a difference.’
Of course, they want to use YOUR money for their fruitless efforts—or worse, place these racist, mentally ill drug users in YOUR community, as is happening in S. California. Downtown LA is being re-gentrified and re-developed so the homeless must be MOVED OUT. Dont’ want it in your community? You are a Heartless Racist (according to the MSM and the local idiot politicians who lived behind 24-hour guarded iron gates).
PS: Can’t wait until you read the part about the idiots who drop off food every day on the streets of Skid Row—I promise it’ll be your laugh for the day.
Bon
Posted by BonBon at 10:19 PM on February 16
All of the “homeless” are serious drug addicts. Most of them are hardened criminals of the worst sort.
Not true. Many are seriously mentally ill people who have fallen through the cracks. And there are many, many cracks for them to fall through, at least in this state.
Things may be different where you’re at.
Posted by qwerty at 7:07 AM on February 17
Mentally ill or drug addicted, same difference!
(of course, most are both)
They should be in an institution, not unleashed into our society.
Posted by at 11:36 AM on February 17
Is there a humane solution to dealing with the homeless?
From my experience with urban homeless, I get the strong impression that most of these people have varying degrees of mental illness. Many of them can avail themselves of shelters and charities but they seem want to live on the streets. There are outreach programs and people dealing with them on at least a weekly basis and yet the stay on the street.
How do you help people who either don’t want to be helped or are incapable of making healthy life choices? Do we just accept them as part of the urban landscape? Do we force them into treatment? Even if we force them into treatment, would it do any good? Is it just good money and time wasted?
I don’t know what the solution is but these people are around us and their presence is a big part of driving good people away.
Posted by sbuffalonative at 9:33 PM on February 17
>>>though the deposit has been left outside his home, and not by a dog but a woman in a blue cardigan who is now toddling off
An occurrence we also encounter on parking lots in Houston, and most certainly, in our parks — thanks to illegal immigrants passing through “in search of a better life” as the pro-immigration liars are quick to tell you.
We have… HAD would be the more accurate term… a fairly nice park nearby. Where I walk my dog evenings, weekends. Then the Mexicans discovered it. Now the park resembles a dump every Monday morning. With trash everywhere, thanks to Mexican picnics held on the weekend. You also see plenty of empty beer and booze bottles, condoms, even empty baggies (draw your own conclusion of what kind of powder was once in the baggies).
I consider myself a decent-living, patriotic American. But one sickened by the way our country, our culture is being trashed by the illegal Hispanic invaders. Obey local laws? Don’t be silly amigo, those laws are only for Gringos. Look for a bathroom? Why bother, what do you think that tree is for? No loud noise? Feel free to blast your car radio as loud as it will go. We Mexicans are taking over… the Gringos better learn to live with the idea, right?
Posted by Fed Up at 1:31 PM on February 18
One of the reasons why I moved from San Francisco was because of the incredibly intrusive homeless population there. There are countless numbers of social service and homeless programs in the city but most homeless people are addicted and like their life style.
They barge into shops and businesses and the idiots there just put up with it even when these homeless are filthy and smelly. I just couldn’t get the stench of them out of my nose after a while. You see them urinating and defecating all over the place. The Tenderloin area is right in down town and just horrible, full of homeless hotels, shelters, and very dangerous at night. I had my car broken into next to the downtown mall.
There is a huge homeless camp in front of city hall and everybody treats them like they are someone’s infantile younger child. They coddle them and encourage them to demand their rights. The homeless feel they are entitled to demand money from you!!! There is another poster here who lives in Berkeley and I cannot imagine how that would feel for a sane average person.
SF is a beautiful city but I just couldn’t bear the liberal nonsense anymore. I had to leave!!!!
Posted by realist at 1:56 PM on February 18
At any one time there may be as many as 2,000,000 homeless people in America. About 90% of these are what you might call ‘working homeless’. These are lower-middle class people who through one circumstance or another (they lost their job, got a divorce, went broke paying a medical bill, personal crisis; etc) find themselves without permanent shelter of their own. Almost all of them are temporarily homeless and will be re-integrated into society and some kind of shelter in one year. Interestingly they later tend to become per-capita the most generous of donors because they know what its REALLY LIKE to be down on your luck. The other 10%, about 200,000 people, are what you could call your ‘hard-core homeless’. These are people who have been on the streets for over a year and usually over five years. Almost all of these people are either drug-addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill, etc. It is very difficilt to help these people. One key factor in creating America’s ‘permanent homeless’ was the actions of the Ultra-Liberal Warren court in striking down all the ‘vagrancy laws’ in the 1960’s. This made it very difficult for coercive action to be taken by the authorities. The off-loading of patients from mental institutions to local communities also turned out to be a disastrous decision. The urban hardcore homeless are basically just a cost of having a modern urban open free society.
Posted by at 4:11 PM on February 18
“There is another poster here who lives in Berkeley and I cannot imagine how that would feel for a sane average person.” (Posted by realist at 1:56 PM on February 18).
It feels lousy, but judging from the posts I read, apparently the racial attitudes of whites in the rest of the country are the same as here.
Posted by H. Dumpty at 5:05 PM on February 18
“Many are seriously mentally ill people who have fallen through the cracks. And there are many, many cracks for them to fall through, at least in this state.
Things may be different where you’re at.
Posted by qwerty at 7:07 AM on February 17”
Most are criminals where I live. I live in Los Angeles. I’d bet that most of the “homeles” in the US are criminals or drug addicted criminals. It’s also a good way to hide out if you’re on the lam. Very few deserve pity or help. They are just another coddled, aggrieved group that is now used to having its collective rear-end kissed by the powers that be, with middle class whites having to putting up with the problems created by them.
Posted by Los Angeles Resident at 5:37 PM on February 18
It’s hard to believe there was a time when public parks were supposed to be for children and young families, and when the people who currently drink alcohol in public, drop used heroin needles on the lawns and defecate behind bushes were arrested.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 4:02 PM on February 19
I have been enjoying Cypress Creek park in Houston since my son was born thirty years ago. The park was in what was innitially a predominatly white middle to upper middle class area. The park visitors were mostly white and Vietnamese with a few blacks and Mexicans. A few years ago I took my family to that park on an Easter Sunday and virtually every table and every barbeque station had been commondeered by Mexicans. Mariachi music blared from every boom box and Spanish was all one could hear. These had planned this take-over well in advance and it was their “in your face” declaration of conquest. No sign of racial or cultural “diversity” to be seen anywhere. These invaders are incapable of behaving any other way and this is why we can not allow them to remain in our country…
Posted by at 11:51 AM on February 21
