Quote:
Originally Posted by plinko
Yes, but you are also being highly defensive in way that glosses over something that is indeed a huge problem. I was downtown last Friday. The situation along the 101 from Hollywood all the way into downtown is visually jarring. Huge camps under multiple overpasses, trash everywhere, and tent cities on top of numerous overpasses.
To say that it's really only a problem over in Skid Row is quite disingenuous.
That being said, NO, 1/2 of downtown LA is not covered in encampments. I walked from the Music Center through the financial district, South Park, and over along Broadway and it's relatively clean in comparison to the areas between the Civic Center and Chinatown and particularly to Skid Row.
Even my wife, who grew up in the Bronx in the 80s, was pretty shocked at how bad it was, though she isn't down there nearly as much as I am.
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Yeah, defensiveness and denial aren't very effective strategies for dealing with issues. Is literally half of downtown Los Angeles covered in tents? No, of course not. Are there encampments and large clusters of tents, trash etc. scattered throughout many different areas of DTLA? Yes, there are.
You go out to Westlake and Macarthur Park and it's awful there. Random residential streets in Koreatown have had the sidewalks taken over by tents. Echo Park...the park itself...has all but been taken over by tents and homeless. It's actually quite jarring to see. There was always a presence of some tents and homeless at the edge of the park, but now it is a complete free for all. In fact, cruising around much of the eastern side of the city (I rarely go west of La Brea, so idk the situation west of there, or the valley), you'll see encampments scattered about pretty frequently.
Of course, I know this issue is less prevalent in wealthier neighborhoods, which I think is why some of the usual suspects are reacting the way they are. They don't have to deal with walking past needles and shit on the sidewalk while walking to work or taking the dog around the block, because that shit isn't tolerated in wealthier neighborhoods. The reaction against the tent cities and trash piling up everywhere isn't a result of being bothered by people's poverty. It's a rejection of antisocial behavior and standing up, not just for the middle and working class neighborhoods who have this stuff dumped in them, but also for the homeless themselves. A tent and a sidewalk latrine does not extend dignity to anyone. It's not compassionate. There are better solutions available, and I bet if the issues plaguing Koreatown, Westlake, HiFi, South LA, Boyle Heights...suddenly relocated to Brentwood and and Beverly Hills and Westwood, we'd see some pretty immediate action. But nah, fuck the middle and working class, and let's criticize them for daring to assert that they don't deserve to have to live in filthy, unsafe neighborhoods.